Drianx
Member
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@OWA This is more like a discussion on some main topics rather than a suggestion thread. But OK, I will give my input on it, but I will focus on the topics rather than on the pinpoint suggestions which I hardly see - no offense. 1. The varium-nonvarium issue. Well, first of all, what most people fail to understand is that varium is what keeps the game going. This is what devs thought about implementing to gather resources aka money. What you get for that money is actually the issue. The game right now is 'pay to win'. I disagree with that, but there is not much hope for a change soon. Basically the main topics about varium are focused on the frustration of nonvariums about constantly losing to variums. My opinion is, people who decide to buy varium are generally those who take the game more seriously, that's why their commitment involves real money. In time they tend to become better players than non-variums, mostly because they are allowed to experiment more and are taken more seriously by faction founders and other experienced players. And they have another big advantage - much less frustration. Some non-variums say 'I get beaten by varium, not by skill'. That is not true actually. In fact they get beaten because, well, that's how this game was decided to work - varium beats non-varium - because this is what keeps the money coming. If non-varium could beat varium, then varium becomes useless, and the game is shut down. This will not change soon. The best thing non-variums can do is accept this, let frustration go, and keep playing. 2. The build copying issue. People easily copy others winning builds. - It is a way for some to learn from others, and this is a good thing. - It is a reason for frustration for some because their own builds get replicated and used by others, and sometimes others take credit for their work. This is a bad thing, but not bad enough to stop build displaying ingame. Frustration should be left behind nevertheless. 2. The enhancements issue. I agree these were meant to milk more money from the players, but not only that. Enhancements were also meant to differentiate people who own the same equipment, and offer them more flexibility. This is not a bad thing, but the main issue is different. The main issue with enhancements is actually related to class balance. If plenty of builds were equally successful, people would spend enhancements in various ways, therefore that initial freedom could be achieved. But because class balance sucks, there are only a couple of successful builds available, so people are abusing enhancements for getting and edge against other players using the same or a very similar build. In order to limit money milking from players, I have suggested in the past that enhancements should be capable of being moved from one weapon to another. Actually the enhancements would be character-bind, not item-bind. There was no answer about that, and the idea got no support from the community, maybe because thay failed to understand what I was talking about. 3. Weapons/items issue. Well, releasing weapons and armors is the main source of money for EpicDuel, but this raises multiple issues. - If weapons get released too often, people will not be able to keep up, and will also rage that their recently purchased equipment got outdated too soon. - If weapons get rarely released, people will become bored with the game and complain they need to wait too long for a weapon release. In my opinion a weapons release plan (for keeping the community informed) and a weapons lifecycle plan (for preventing weapons to go outdated too soon or to stay for too long) are needed. 4. Balance issues. The game mechanics have become rather complicated and difficult to balance. This fact has made balance changes to be difficult to be made without creating further imbalance. Balance team is too small to test changes thoroughly. And there is a core of experienced players in the game that can spot successful builds very quickly. There are two concepts here that I want to mention, which oppose each other, creating a balance trap. - Fight length. Currently fights are really short. A fight rarely lasts until the second Rage, and this happens because the damage/defense ratio is high. This fact allows for builds to be extremely easy to use by any noob, and little skill is needed to win. But if this is adjusted, the next issue arises. - Class survivability. Some classes run out of energy quicker than others. If fights would be long - as they were in Beta - classes that use Reroute are in a big advantage against the others. Creating balance between these two concepts is the key to bring consistent balance. This is generally speaking. One more challenge is to achieve balance between offensive stats (strength and support) and defensive stats (dex and tech). Right now support is in a disadvantage. I hope I covered all the issues you mentioned.
< Message edited by Drianx -- 9/3/2012 8:54:57 >
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