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xxomegafaustxx -> RE: The Gap (8/6/2011 18:24:24)
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@theSunguardian
First of, I would like to thank you reading my post as you seem to be the only one to respond to it or even consider; I also sincerely hope that forum users abroad take the time to reflect and gain invaluable insight from my perspective offered. I also hope that constructive input as well as inductive and deductive reasoning be exercised to further invoke a sense of maturity and rationale derived from one’s opinion regarding the idea of imbalance.
In response to your post, I firmly say yes; I totally agree that Varium users should have the “edge in battle since they paid”, but not necessarily a too large window of inequality undermining a nonvarium to compete in the game. Varium is provided as an incentive for individuals to win however, the “edge in battle” granted to such players should not necessarily dictate or manifest itself as victory against nonvarium players but rather, should encourage both sides to evolve and adapt over time. And what does this mean? It means that nonvariums and variums may peacefully coexist and that healthy competition between the two can be invoked to fix such imbalance. Thus from such reasoning, one can extort the assumption that varium should not compromise one’s ability to compete in the game nor should it correlate to one’s ability to win. And to add on to your point, yes, varium should be moreso focused on new features and whatnot, not creating such a jarring GAP between the deprived and the wealthy. The GAP is getting enlarged over time with a large market of flashy promos that won’t sustain or even last long to the varium user. And as stated earlier in my post, Nonvarium users are a viable commodity to the ED community as they provide lesser competition and over time, perhaps fair competition to the higher tier varium users.
Now, back to my rationale:
Browsing through the posts, I see that many have argued about the idea of “purchase”, spending $100.00 or even more on the game which is by far a strong solid rebuttal thoroughly supported by varium users. Why then should nonvariums be able to compete against those who spend an exorbitant fortune at the expense to win a mere PVP flash game? Shouldn’t those who support the game as quantified by the amount of purchase be entitled a far greater advantage remotely over those who play for free? To answer such a question, consider this string of reasoning.
Since the very beginning of ED’s history during the “larvae” phases of testing, varium users have always been granted an edge of victory. Whether such an “edge in battle” involved higher resis/def, better weaponry, or privileges to certain fundamentals within the game, varium users had the cutting edge, better equipment, and better-everything that compromised as an early evolving advantage over free users. Fast forward and much of what I said holds true, except the use of varium is entirely different. In the early Alpha and beta stages, varium was introduced as an incentive and monetary appeal to win over nonvarium players. This was because during Alpha and midway Beta, the gap between nonvariums and variums was small and allowed nonvariums to healthily compete with upper tier players. Now, varium is used on a ridiculous level and the prices of varium only continue to soar. Armours last year are no longer “top notch” to current updated weaponry. Funny thing is, once you spend varium, you’ll spend more varium over the life expectancy of your character, not knowing and almost ignorantly believing that the varium that you once purchased a week or two weeks ago literally goes down the drain. And why might this be the case? To elaborate and illustrate such thoughts, here’s a small diagram to simplify and classify the actors of ED’s history for such understanding:
NonVarium Tier (ranks 1 and 2)
1. Premature Nonvarium user (No enhancement in nonvarium weaponry whatsoever and lack poor knowledge in rudimentary and solid builds, can’t compete ED due to premature experience in the game as they are usually newcomers and suffer a tremendous amount of losses to ranks 2-6). They are relatively new to the ED atmosphere, hoping to enjoy to PVP experience however, are crushed easily by ranks above them. Usually equipped with “noob” and starter weapons, they stand no chance with ranks above theirs. They are the real victims to ED’s imbalance GAP and are devoid of competing.
2. Evolved Nonvarium user (Semi or full enhancements in nonvarium weaponry and have strong rudimentary knowledge of builds, can compete but with semi-luck or unluck due to having lesser stats in comparison to ranks 3-6, a very small elite minority of this rank have contested faithfully with much or little success and the majority have diverted to NPC’ing). They are constantly in struggle with ranks 3-6 and in the majority of situations and although evolved from rank 1, are still not strong enough to compete with 3-6. A very few cream of the crop users have solidified their ranking in the ED community but the majority or left to bite the soil. They are also victims to the varium created GAP in ED’s history.
Varium Tier (Ranks 3-6)
Varium Tier (ranks 3-6)
3. Premature Varium user (No enhancements or semi-enhancement in varium weaponry and lack poor knowledge in rudimentary or solid builds, can compete in ED but has use varium for the very first time to try to remedy their losing situation prior when they were rank 1s, are constantly pressured to purchase varium to compete with ranks 4-6 and in some cases rank 2). They are the victims in the angst of imbalance created by the varium Gap and are pressured to purchase more varium to support their character’s ability to compete in the PVP atmosphere.
4. Traditional Varium user (Semi or full enhancements in nonvarium and varium weaponry and have a strong rudimentary knowledge on good builds, can compete in ED and has used varium very little than ranks 5 and 6 and possible 3, usually maintaining old weaponry in the form of past promo’s for as long as they can and enhancing them, evolved from ranks 3,2 and possibly 1 through experience and have adept knowledge and background to PVPing). With lesser and older “antique” varium and nonvarium equipment, they can compete successfully but not against ranks above 4. They are the lost forgotten remnants before ED’s GAP and are similar victims to it if they continue to stay at their ranking.
5. Evolved Varium user (Semi or full enhancements in varium in weaponry and have strong rudimentary knowledge on O’PED builds, can compete with almost any rank under 5 and has used varium extensively over the period of their character’s life, finds ranks below pose as a small miniscule challenge and are power-hungered to obtain the best weaponry existent in the game. Usually spending more than $100.00, their thirst for greater weaponry is always in conflict with balance issues). They are the winners of ED’s GAP and support a larger GAP to increase and maximize their playing potential.
6. Premium Varium user (Full enhancements in exclusive varium weaponry, spent a fortune on the best possible equipment and are in the highest state of luxury and advantage known to the game, similar to rank 5, spent an incredulous seeming fortune on varium as the ranks below them pose as NO CHALLENGE whatsoever, the ability from them to compete is SO ENLARGED that only rank 5s and 4s may healthily compete with them). Constantly replenishes varium daily, weekly and monthly and are avid supporters of the GAP. They are the ultimate winners and may not condone or support nonvarium advancement in the game.
So with such background knowledge, I would like to draw some interesting statistics extorted from such understanding. In the context of ED’s history, let’s go back in time to see ED’s timeline. Please avert your attention below.
Alpha--------------------Beta-----------------Gamma-----------------Delta
In Alpha, there existed only two ranks. Ranks 1 and 3. Since it was in the most earliest of the testing phases, unique and diverse builds emerged out of spontaneity because the atmosphere allowed for it. The gap was not as large and was very small and players felt that simple and creative builds could be successful. Even against varium users who had a slight edge in battle, with no enhancements in weaponry, Ranks 1 and 3 continued to evolve peacefully together where the time for creativity was a driving appeal for the game. This stage was the most happiest of Epic Dueling and perhaps opened and geared toward many players.
In Beta, with the introduction of factions, faction wars, flag capture and bikes, the game became extremely appealing and a surge of players soon pulled into the frenzy of social networking with a twist of PvP battling. Bots were going to be enabled for the very first time and arcade battles were ideal additions to the PvP atmosphere. Just when things were going smoothly, enhancements kicked in and were implemented resulting a the GAP to increase from nonvarium players and varium players. No longer were ranks 1 and 3 successful. Players were forced to evolve into ranks 2 and 4 and so alienated the creative ranks 1 and 3 prior before the implementation. Still, there were creative builds such as Heal Looping and high support builds, smoke +mass, but all soon fell victim to limitors such as agility. Thus, enhancements tried to fix this problem which resulted into a far greater divide of the nonvarium and varium tier. With a greater divide in players, Nonvariums were forced to adopt less-unique and impressive builds as well as Variums often leading to quick games or unsatisfying dueling. Users became more power hungry for varium and soon distorted the usage of varium. This stage was the most controversial of stages.
Moving onwards to Gamma, the features of ED slowly diminished and less of the promised updates soon took weeks over a long period of time and disappointment. The reasons of this was can be extrapolated by large imbalance distortions created by enhancements and the GAP between the nonvarium and varium tier. More seasonal promo weaponry like the gamma bot and bike and less modes were introduced in the life span of this stage to remedy varium hunger to channel interest for purchase. With more and more varium equipment, the GAP became larger and larger and even soon, ranks 1 and 3 were almost out of the picture. With more weaponry and enhancement slots, ranks 5 and 6 evolved and left ranks 2 and 4 their ability to compete with higher stat-users. This stage met very little advancements other than fuel varium hunger.
And finally Delta, the anticlimactic struggle for all ranks below 5. Now since ranks 1,2,3, and 4 are out of the picture, the use of varium has been greatly inflated. Why are the prices so high now? It is because there are less nonvarium users who play the game which invalidates the purpose of varium being used in the first place – to achieve an edge against nonvariums. But since the GAP is so large, nonvariums can’t compete making the purpose of varium obsolete. And such a purpose is using varium against varium players -purchasing a ridiculous $100 just to compete with those of the higher tier. Was ever purchasing varium a costly feature in Alpha?
It has also occurred to me over the last year, after Alpha and Beta, the creation of upper tier ranks has only evolved themselves by separating the healthy competition between nonvarium and varium players into varium and varium players. And it is because of this separation which in due time, has made varium more expensive. WHY? Because varium is an entity dependant on the amount of nonvarium users. It’s value is directly proportional to how many nonvarium users play the game because it’s value can only be qualified by having a monetary set value for having an edge in battle. And why is this?! Because the orgins of varium were solely that of granting players an advantage over nonvarium players back in Alpha and Beta BEFORE the Gap between them in terms of stats became so enlarged. And with the GAP enlarged, more nonvariums are startled and discouraged to continue playing seeing they don’t have a fair way to compete. And EVEN IF they do adopt varium, they are entering the risk in spending more than $100 just to compete in a firkin FLASH GAME! With less nonvariums because of the Gap, less players and new ones alike are discouraged, forcing ED to fix balance issues and make varium more pricey dicey.
AND TO ANSWER THE SAME QUESTION ABOUT THE MONEY SPENT ON THIS GAME, and WHY NONVARIUMS SHOULD BE ABLE TO COMPETE FAIRLY WITH VARIUM USERS . . . IT IS BECAUSE (Excuse my Caps, this is very important)
The GAP has created varium Turmoil! This also explains the reason why varium is in poverty all the time, why players a constantly spending more and more varium when in due time, it depletes in a matter of seconds. This is because the divide between nonvarium and varium players has been so grossly enlarged that it has excluded and moreso “eradicated” the nonvarium tier’s opportunity to successfully compete against an unsettling dynamic un-equilibrium with the higher tier varium users. And with more and more varium needed to supply the higher ranks, the game would soon become a PAY-to-PLAY daily game. So with varium users fondled with the belief that nonvariums should ever come close to competing with them I ask you, please think again. What has the GAP produced? It may have benefited you but in the long run, but has denatured the PVP atmosphere of ED’s success as an enjoyable and playable game. Varium users are moreso FORCED to pay to compete with other Varium users. It should be Variums and Nonvariums competing!
And if you still disagree with this idea, if you remove nonvariums (ranks 1 and 2) out of the picture for viable competition, you get varium users brawling to obtain a cutting edge in the game. But wait, there’s more! Now since you exterminated the nonvarium tier, the game is moreso orientated for varium players. And since each and every varium players of rank 3-6 have the desire and pulse to win, they would spend even more varium and more money to preside victory amongst varium players, even spending more than $100.00 worth of incredulous spending to fuel their ambitions to stay top notch. But from what we know, varium never has a fixed price and continues to cost more and more. The Gap is just a losing situation for both varium and nonvarium users if it continues to consume this community.
Whilst, increase or maintaining the GAP between nonvarium and varium players also does a disservice to players who pay a seeming fortune. And I ask varium players this; aren’t you tired on spending more than $100.00 on a mere-children’s flash game? And if you are already, I would imagine such individuals spending more than $500.00 just to compete with varium players. If not, be prepared to send in your school tuition and working salary to ED lol. Varium is just another meager delusion that won’t sustain for long. This is why varium users must constantly purchase more varium to compete with other varium users who hone the same interests of winning. The price of varium has been deeply inflated and none of us are thoroughly addressing it!
@ur going to fail
I totally agree with you. I am also a nonvarium user with a reasonable amount of enhancements and I have fared with both nonvarium and varium users quite nicely despite of not having a bot. I have invested a painstaking fortune to maintain a build that is able to compete with each tier but have moreso, lost to the the upper elite varium class of users. If you are satisfied with the GAP as of now, please reconsider the victims of this ordeal (those who do not have or lack the capacity to compete). And yes, I’m talking about ranks 1 and 2s. To say they are weak, yes, they are to a certain extent but have they really benefited out of this experience? I’ll let you think on that.
However, I disagree that ED should only be played by with the sheer attitude and belief to be pressured to win but one should enjoy the social dynamic atmosphere that is of PvP battling. Players should not be FORCED or PRESSURED to pay to win but rather, it should be a VOLUNTARY decision to obtain a small upper edge. I stand by the victims and WEAK players of ED and not just the strong. For a community, strength comes in numbers, not in one.
And if you to are to “LOL” are say others or “weak” because of this post or even directed to me, please also consider this; the GAP between nonvarium and varium users will only, as I foresee, continue to increase in due time. Look at the win/lose ratios of a varium user to that of a nonvarium user. You can certainly tell who is doing better based on their rank. And even suggesting a larger Gap will only create problems as stated earlier in this post. For a game like this to continue, we must remedy the divide that is of the struggling nonvarium class and luxurious royalty of the varium elite. A larger and greater gap? Be my guest. I'm content with not spending crazy amounts of dollars on a mere child's flash game.
So of course, I feel that because I’m a nonvarium player, many would see this post as an obvious glaring predisposition towards varium users. However, I feel that much of what I said is also for the sake of VARIUM PLAYERS TOO! No one should spend more than $100.00 just to play a flash game with many bugs and lags! By closing the Gap, nonvariums may increase in number, lessening the cost of Varium and providing a rich plethora of builds like what was experienced in the early phases of Alpha and BETA! We’re reversing the evolution of this game to be successful. Please RECONSIDER!!
I favour rationale and reason~
"Unknown" Lvl 33 Nonvarium Mage
And if my words do not change you, I hope ED’s situation does.
"It may take many people to screw in a lightbulb but one enlightened individual to fasten it"
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