It's not easy. And it's not fast. My JG set took six months with an AT, off and on. And that's the problem with the changes. It's all about slowing down people who are farming recog, trying to prevent frantic effort from going through content "too fast". Which those types of player will always find a way to do. In the meantime everyone else, who was just playing because it was fun, in the hours that they could... they'll take a hit which could stop them playing altogether.
That couldn't be further from the truth. It is actually about making it fair all around, considering the random chance system favored people that had alts to spare. While people do and continually make up excuses that having multiple alts did not drastically increase the speed at which you got tokens (it did) thus enabling you to gear characters up faster (dramatically), it wasn't a fair system or those who did not have a plethora of alts to spare and or did not like alting in general. It's as much as slowing down those who have tons of alts as it is about giving people who don't have tons of alts a chance to get in on it.
Well, durr. Of course they are to you. You could probably roll a new toon and level it up with your eyes shut. A newbie would find Kevin Poe an impassable barrier. That's because you've got all this internalised knowledge of the game - going back half a decade, or so, pre-On Alert - which you're drawing on. And it's the same in the end game. There's a whole generation of level 40 CO players who've never even run a Lair. So what you think is unchallenging is, to them, incomprehensible and a certain fail. And to buy themselves the in-game time to work anything out, the other players look to the known solutions - gear and builds. A few hundred extra CON or a bit of DR might let them work out what to do, rather than Boom! You're Dead! But the current dev approach doesn't allow that. We've now got a triple whammy of difficult content (Did I read Bluhman say that the Shadow Destroyer gives "0% chance for error"?), bind-to-character currencies and high currency requirements for end-game gear... all of which is going to make it difficult for the people who don't currently understand the content to work it out. And that's a problem.
It's hardly internalized when the answers are given to you on a silver platter. Most "newbies" just refuse to pay attention and would prefer to tunnel vision through things. And sorry to say, I don't know many who would think the old lairs of Champions are even remotely challenging beyond the first time and saying oh that's how it works. In fact, one of the things Champions gets lauded about is it's too easy.
And sorry, the current dev approach does allow for it. Again, this is player just don't want to do things and prefer to be carried. Most would rather never pay attention to the most obvious things. And they are obvious. Instead many just prefer to be carried through just like it was a Grab Alert.
Unfortunately, this doesn't add "choice" to the player's grind, it just makes them have to grind more things.
It's not about adding choice, it's about adding variety -- which usually requires limiting choice, or otherwise people gravitate to the most efficient options.
To an extent. I'm not sure how familiar you are with how STO mark acquisition works, so just in case: Each day, your first run of [faction-related content] awards a decent amount of bonus marks related to that faction. What I do (because I like the path of least resistance) is run 1 short thing every day to get my lump of bonus marks, then call it good. Makes sense, right? Yet, there's plenty of people who chain-run the stuff because it's faster than just milking the daily bonus.
Quick & easy vs long and harder is a legitimate choice. People who like challenge, have time to invest, and want the good stuff ASAP will of course take the route with the biggest payout, but people like me, who would rather just play alts and don't mind the slower climb, will take the efficient way.
Seems to work fine in STO. When the Terran stuff was current, I just did my daily stuff and called it good, but a friend of mine was like in the Badlands zone for hours at a time--they of course got their gear well before I did, and that's fine. Point is, the system worked perfectly for two very different playstyles and approaches to gearing up. Certainly a healthier approach than "kiddy gear for the easy way, real gear for the hard way."
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
A lot of people seem to simply repeat the same tired taglines like silver platter and don't really have any convincing arguments aesica.
You just summed up the majority of the forumites and loud minority that have driven direction of this game. But suppose if they only ones speaking than they have to go that route at the end of the day. My take on it is best appeal to gamers of all playstyles and types because bottom line in the end means more revenue gained as a company due to sheer volume of customers.
But I'm just a realist labelled a troll what the hell do I know. -shrug-
Why do people seem to equate "people who have a lot of alts" with "doesn't have a lot of time to play"? There's this weird assumption that all the people with altitis are also the people who can't play a lot, and all the people with few characters are the ones who have a lot of time to play.
Comments
And sorry, the current dev approach does allow for it. Again, this is player just don't want to do things and prefer to be carried. Most would rather never pay attention to the most obvious things. And they are obvious. Instead many just prefer to be carried through just like it was a Grab Alert.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Quick & easy vs long and harder is a legitimate choice. People who like challenge, have time to invest, and want the good stuff ASAP will of course take the route with the biggest payout, but people like me, who would rather just play alts and don't mind the slower climb, will take the efficient way.
Seems to work fine in STO. When the Terran stuff was current, I just did my daily stuff and called it good, but a friend of mine was like in the Badlands zone for hours at a time--they of course got their gear well before I did, and that's fine. Point is, the system worked perfectly for two very different playstyles and approaches to gearing up. Certainly a healthier approach than "kiddy gear for the easy way, real gear for the hard way."
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
But I'm just a realist labelled a troll what the hell do I know. -shrug-
My super cool CC build and how to use it.