You should consider giving some kind of a bonus zen or coupon to your beta testers that have spent money. It might also be good for you guys to read about virtual equity, eroding it and the issues it causes.
I think supjeremiah's idea of knight's challenge could be really interesting. Or maybe a (personal defense+threat)/(offense+team benefit) stance shifting mechanic might be interesting. (just spitballing here) That's something that struck me when I played my first DC post GF, was just how interesting and fun Channel…
That's all well and good, but there is a virtual goods store that is completely live. There is an in game auction house tied to RMT. There are already promotional items being sold, including chance based "lotto" boxes. I didn't see any of that covered under the definitions you've provided.
While your first post was reasoned, informed and provided a developer's viewpoint - you are also ignoring how terribly muddy Cryptic/PWE have made the waters on "beta". It's an MMO beta, but there will be no wipes before launch. It's an MMO beta, but has none of the trappings that beta testers usually have (such as free…
Your drow didn't suffer any downtime, and therefore did not lose anything to the rollback. It's a token of appreciation guys, what did you actually think we were going to get? At least the devs have a sense of humor about all of this.
In a game filled with adds, the AoE damage dealer should be several miles ahead of the single target damage dealer by sheer volume of targets alone. So your statement actually seems to prove what others are saying.
So you are saying you don't require Clerics in your teams then, and you can complete endgame dungeons with just TR? Or do you actually need Clerics and CW? Insert "cleric" where "tank" is, and suddenly that statement is completely valid. Which is why your entire premise fails.