[...] I personally refuse to do the mindless Mote grind insult that it is to the player. Not doing it. Thanks but no thanks (I did start it but then felt like a tool for even doing such a repetitive task in my free hours.) That is NOT content or progression. That is a smack in the face something that could be developed in somebody's lunch hour. Any foundry author will know this.
...this is basically my stance since Tiamat launch. But even there, the asides, rehashed though they were, were a lot more interesting.
And ever since it's only gone downhill. Less and less novelty - and that's interpreting the term with a lot of goodwill. And whenever something new-ish comes, you'd have to grind it so often that it's boring after two weeks max.
At no1: Would be nice, and yes it would make leveling less of a grind. And perhaps people would actually do them before attempting to do tiamat, which would be a nice improvement. However, just to be sure, Tiamat has to be gated better. Without that, you'll accomplish nothing. At no2: Won't make much difference in the end. Nobody plays for more than 12h at the time. Not unless they want to risk their sanity for the sake of playing a game.
#1) You do realize (maybe I didnt make it clear) I suggested this with ONLY modules 1-3. Tiamat is module 4/5 so it would not be affected and this system WOULD gear people up prior to doing it. #2) Its 12 hours so you can get on in the AM play for 30-45 minutes and log back on later in the PM and do it again if you want. You dont have to play for 12 hours straight, you can do it, take a break and come back later if you want to speed through it. It makes it much easier and "paves the way" to make the other suggestion about 1 "set" of boons more plausible since they are much easier to get.
I see what you're trying to accomplish, but a few 100 points here and there isn't going to make much of a difference in the endgame. Besides, people work way too hard for those boons. They deserve them. No, the required steps need to be much more drastic. Artifact and enchantment ranks are what's giving people too much power, not a few boons.
Its not a few 100 points its a few THOUSAND points. Below you complain about the difference between rank 8s and rank 12s. Which you have what, 7 offensive and 6 defensive enchants? I would say that a fresh 70 can have all rank 8s VERY easily... You get so many rank 7s just from day to day stuff, and not to mention rank 7s are SO cheap you can buy several of them with a few days of getting your alloted AD. So within a 2 weeks of actually playing the game @ lvl 70 you could probably have ~full rank 9s. Either way, you do realize that each boon is ~ the same difference between a rank 8-> rank 12?
Each boon offers +400 stats. So that *4 for several campaigns would drop players down ~ 8000 stats which would level the playing field even more. Whats silly is you take a mildly geared person against a BIS player and the sheer stat value the BIS player has in advantage over the average player is just stupid. Probably in the range of 15k-20k in stat advantage. Thats just too much. reducing the # of stats the boons offer would atleast cut that number down and remove some "power creep" at the same time. Modules 1-3 stay relevant since its a way to level up as well as get access to boons. So that can be done easily. Then @ 70 ideally they would have those modules near complete, have a choice of 3 boon options there which would make the gear gap considerable less when they go into PVP.
Now that would make a difference. At least for PvP. But it won't be enough to counter the high ranking enchantments normal players can't get. All R12 vs R8s is still a no-brainer, regardless of artifacts. It needs more, but it would be a good start.
Artifacts are again another one I would say to make it so you only have ONE artifact. This alone would again remove about 8000 of stats a BIS player might have over a newer player.
So think about that, we just removed over 7k in stats from boons and over 7k in stats from artifacts. Sure having full 12s versus rank 8s will be a big deal but the intent here ISNT to make it a "fair" fight between a Rookie and seasoned vet, the intent is to lessen the gear gap between tiers of players.
Take a 2k ilevel player versus 3k, then 3k versus 4k. There is such a MASSIVE jump between those players is a joke. Doing the above system, the 2k would actually have a fighting chance against the 3k, but still be at a disadvantage. The 2k isnt meant to play the 4k at a "fair fight" that would be silly.
I just think anything we can do to lessen the gear divide in PVP would be worth it to make it more fair and less power creep as well.
I think I know where you are going with this, the team's creative direction was better in the past than it is now. Hopefully as more people like you speak out against the creative direction, interesting reforms to the game might take place. I hope I understood what you are trying to say.
Exactly as I said earlier (or perhaps somewhere else, not sure). It's similar to your idea, but it goes a bit further: For PvE: Available power matching the content + a little for the wallet warriors. To take the current state of the game as an example: We have 2500IL content. That's...roughly T2 seal gear, R8s, Normal enchantments and 4 purple artifacts (plus purple weapon and gear set). That means that when someone has done every part of the game, and has his new gear, his total IL should not exceed 2.8k IL, which will be the new requirement for the next mod's content. The remaining points can be earned by upgrading to R9 enchantments and the new gear set. Nothing more is required. No more mythical this or that. It's overkill. Add higher level enchantments when the difficulty of the game demands it. The two grow together. Currently it's still out of whack, because a clean 2500IL player will still not be able to complete the current content. Augment or yeti pets are still required in most cases and they do not add to GS. Gear on these augments (as well as boons) should count towards IL and Cryptic should simply learn how to gate their own content properly. No "cheating", no shortcuts. 2.5k=2.5k. Not 2.5k+4k bonus stats plus boons. This creates stability for the players while Cryptic remains in control of the available power in the game. This is the solid foundation every game requires.
Something I would encourage you to consider is "ideal versus probable". It seems most of your suggestions here would be "ideal" but not probable because it would require TOO much DEV time and your asking for something they have NEVER before been able to do - scale PVE difficulty correctly. Its either far too hard, until you pick up a paladin or gear up insanely and then its far too easy.
I dont even fully understand what you are saying here either. For instance, we need to take where the game is today, make changes, and then hopefully arrive at where you want it to be. It seems you are saying they should remove anything above rank 9 + anything above a lvl 35 artifact but they will NEVER EVER EVER do this as people have paid RL $ for these items.
Now another way of looking at what you are proposing would be to be an "ilevel CAP" on ques and then gear lock players once inside. But even that wouldnt be something they consider because they want you to spend RL $ on this stuff, not make it so its not needed.
It seems for PVE one of the biggest fails is they WAY they try and make content harder - rather than things requiring coordination, they just make it longer, more boring, or the mobs deal 120120x more damage so they 1 shot you, then hey its hard! The REAL issue is the lack of ability to make content that is hard enough. As I said before its either too easy or too hard. They probably will never get this "right" so its kinda moot to say some of this stuff. As I said before, I havnt seen a REAL recommendation. Something a DEV can take to a white board, write down "X,Y,Z" changes and evaluate. What you have wrote here is an "ideal" not necessarily helping the game get from Point A to point B.
For PvP: Similar to the above: Nothing above R9s should be possible until PvE requires it and it gets added. Artifacts (as well as artifact gear) are capped at lvl35 (Purple). Only the active artifact adds any stats to make strategic choices mandatory and to prevent too much pay2skip. - Players have 90% of the max amount of tenacity added to their character sheet. The remaining 10% can be added using reinforcement kits made with the appropriate armor profession. The weapon professions all get an extra lvl25 task: A BoE reinforcement kit that pierces tenacity by 5(?)%. These kits can be applied to both main and off-hand. Now everyone can gear for PvP and it becomes a skill-based event rather than a game of my-wallet-is-bigger-than-yours. People can still pay2skip if they wish, but they will not have access to stats other people don't. Now you can add/remove tenacity buff/debuffs to certain skills in PvP to regulate their power and maintain a reasonable balance between the classes without effing up PvE. - By default, people use the regular gear from the game as they see fit. For the PvP fanatics, gear can also be bought with glory, fallen banners and whatnot, but has slightly -100-150 points max- less stat value. This entices PvPers to do PvE content. That may sound unfair, but I think the game should reward players for participating in every part of the game and not just PvP. This levels the playing field sufficiently to allow a little Pay2Skip for those that don't want to grind, but does not allow any power for sale that's out of reach for the majority of the players. - Then split the queue: 1 that includes SH boons and 1 that does not. The "SH queue" allows for the new stat mounts to count as well. Perhaps allow a 2nd or 3rd artifact to add its stats. The normal queue obviously allows neither.
Stronghold is the real problem here. Because you're depending on other players more than your own work as well as the insane values these boons give, there's simply no way to allow them to be used in a generic PvP queue and keep the game fair. The grind is simply too long and paying for it is just too much pay2win. It has to be split. I'd rather not split the queue at all, but it would be unfair to the people who spent their sanity, sweat and money on these boons to disregard them from PvP completely, which is the only other alternative.
See again, R9s possible etc etc. So what? Delete rank 12s? Again its just not realistic nor probable. I dont think Rank 12 enchants are the issue TBH, the BIGGER issue are other things.
_ I agree and I would REMOVE tenacity on gear altogether. Add it to the character sheet as a BASE and forget about it. And I agree the GOAL should be to make PVP fair but you also have to mrember the type of game it is - F2P which means they need to make $ from somewhere which means they need to let you buy things that help. They have gone overboard forsure.
- "Then split the queue:" - Bad idea friend. Que times are already bad enough, this would make it MUCH worse.
As I posted above, the best thing to do is start scaling back all the added stats to things. Especially in PVP. Make PVP "stripped down" to the point where its basic. PVE can be the place where they add all the fluffy power stats like companions to it.
Things to be removed in PVP: - Secondary Artifact Stats - Mount stats - Companions (already in effect) - Multiple Boon "sets" (see earlier post) - Tenacity (added to base character sheet for all rather than on gear)
Now you have the most level playing field possible in PVP. PVE is always going to be wonky and that falls on Cryptic. Atleast with a stripped PVP youll have much more fun and a much better level playing field.
thefabricantMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 5,248Arc User
So with mod 9 we once again see more power creep with no added difficulty @strumslinger, this is a serious issue. Literally the entire game at this point is aimed towards new players, once you have geared a character, there is nothing to do. You say you are worried about new players, well, does it not make more sense to worry more about your old players, the ones who have stuck around for a long time who are finding the door looking more and more tempting.
Think of this: New mount system New weapon enchants New boons
All of this is new power added to a game already brimming with it. PVE does not need this power, this power is destroying the game. What you need is content to contain this power...that content is sorely lacking.
So with mod 9 we once again see more power creep with no added difficulty @strumslinger, this is a serious issue. Literally the entire game at this point is aimed towards new players, once you have geared a character, there is nothing to do.
Refining dude, it's the real end-game, well according to Cryptic
Our pain is self chosen.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
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hammbo1969Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 165Arc User
Refining is all well and good, but if your're purely concentrating on one toon then for all intents and purposes, they're throwing RP at you, I have 4 toons purely working for my main, all have leadership and are churning out RP boxes .constantly. What I don't use on the main toon, I sell during 2XRP weekends,
The reason I don't run more active toons is that I won't do the campaigns again as I found them boring and labourious. I have a second toon that I will boost from time to time, but even that is just to pass some time,
What I mean from this post is, unless you're unlike me and want to run multiple toons, there really is not a great deal to do in this game. I basically have all my daillies done in half an hour.
I'd like to see you delay a future mod release (never gonna happen) to include several new campaigns of mid-high difficulty, which can be run in sequence. i.e, for a solo player, you need to complete stage 3 in the first to move to the second campaign - but for a dungeoneer you can find a key at any stage with an xRNG chance from a random dungeon to move on to the next campaign. And so it progresses.
This would give decent progressive content to see you to the next mod - at which point, you will probably revert to standard and give new artifact weapons...
When we had 5k pages of ranked PvP players, a few Mods ago, they implemented a propper ELO for a few days. We had +30 min que time. Even with twice as many players playing PvP then atm, que time with a propper ELO system would be +90 minutes. This train has left the station long ago.
While I found this an excellent read (Yes, I even read the spoilers) I do wish to reply on a few of the topics you touched:
1: "Cryptic's team is spread too thin". I'm not denying it. Whatever happened after mod3 is anyone's guess, but we've all seen the downward spiral starting there and the end in nowhere in sight. And that's fine. Or, at the very least, we will have to accept the fact, liking it or not. It's not the real problem. The real problem is that Cryptic pretends that nothing ever happened and acts like they are Ao's gift to the worlds of MMO and DnD alike. I realize I've played this record over and over, but I'll play it again: Cryptic needs to communicate. Properly and clearly. No more marketing talk nobody believes or wants to read in the first place. I don't care that the game is in trouble. I even understand it. But Cryptic's fooling nobody but themselves by remaining silent except for the repetitive marketing talk. Even a simple yes or no question has to be answered in a way that makes us wonder what's behind those very well-chosen words where a simple yes would suffice. And that's a Communications Manager speaking. If he can't even communicate in normal English, I can only fear what's going on in those ivory towers over at Cryptic. As long as Cryptic chooses to keep expectations at the current level, this game will sink. If Cryptic should ever decide to start being honest with the people responsible for their paychecks, -a novelty in economics in the 12th century, I'm sure but I can assure you it works in this time and age- then we might have the patience to endure the torment and support the game either by testing on preview, bug hunting or even downright spending money.
Don't come here bragging about the "largest map to date" when the game is falling apart beneath your feet! Quit with the marketing and be honest. Create honest expectations and take it 1 thing at the time. If the AD income need changes, fine. Come up with a plan, throw it on the test server and see what happens. Not 10% now and 90% whenever you feel like it! If you need a mod for the return of dungeons, say it. Don't give me the "rework" BS for 8 months only to find out that 2 of the dungeons we all expected to return got "reworked" into the Salvatore questline and will not return as a dungeon. In short, so far the rework has been a lie covered up in marketing language. They've been tearing them apart to be used in "new" content. I can personally promise a howl you can hear from Neverwinter to Sigil with an echo resonating over every other DnD realm at the Hasbro HQ if I see 1 more of the old dungeons in "new" content. I'm deadly serious. I'm sick of the marketing talk. Promise what you do, and do what you promise. We can understand difficulties. We do not respond well to lies and silence.
2: "It would help the pvp community a lot if you normalized pvp. You can do this by firstly separating pvp and pve. " True to the first, the second is not required. Not in the way you describe. All you have to do is disable (or limit the effective rank of) enchantments, only allow 1 artifact (effective level 60 max) and change artifact gear to an effective level of 35 max during PvP and you have a levelled playing field. The only technical separation should be made in how skills are affected by tenacity. That's what the bleeding stat is for. Use it. PWE can tell them how to do it. They've done it in both PW and FW. It's just a matter of overpowered skills needing a tenacity penalty. Add 0.5% (or whatever value required) tenacity bonus to the target when using certain skills. The other way around is fine too if that's easier to code. Not exactly rocket science.
The separating should be done by choice, not by force, and it's easier the other way around. Grant everyone a free (or easy to get) T1 PvP set (use the old T2 GG sets if you can't afford the time to make new ones) upon reaching lvl70. T2 and T3 (the current T1 and 2) can be earned by glory. Create brackets based on the gear tier people own using the collection page instead of their inventory. More than half of T2 gear puts you in T2, more than half of your gear in T3 moves you to the next bracket. Then you can play with it, host tournaments, events and whatnot. Voilla, fun PvP for the entire world to enjoy. Make money by selling what people want to buy. Not what people need to buy. I think that point has been stressed more than once as well.
A lot of D&D lore started in the 13th Century and it's closer to 15th almost 16th Century now.
3: Class Balance:Take note PVP players... ...spent a long time working on this write up, so please, don't ) Long Article:
The issue of class balance is an extension of the power curve... (Chess balanced game) ...This however is a type of balance that is unforgiving of newcomers, because when everything is perfectly balanced, complex strategies evolve which a new player has to learn in order to compete. The longer the game continues, the more complex it becomes... ...The issue in neverwinter is that at the moment, you have classes and mechanics which either fall way above the power curve or way below it... ...Obviously all classes are different and where 1 class is strong, another class is weak, however over all the average power level of classes should fall roughly around the power curve. If you look at the paladin though for example, this is clearly not the case as they can make a party completely invulnerable, or if devotion, they can mitigate damage to the point where only if the stars align and a player is in all the wrong places at the wrong times and the attack hits so hard that its a 1 shot will the player die... ...the fact that they can make a party of 5 immune would still be over powered. Paladin is not the only class that is above the power curve...
tl:dr Form: When it comes to class balance over all, it is important to keep the over all power of all classes roughly equal. When introducing new classes, the new class needs to fall into the same power bracket as the old ones... otherwise ... it simply raises the power curve & creates a situation to upset someone... someone ...who feels hard done by because there is a class clearly above them.
4: Some General suggestions It would help the pvp community a lot if you normalized pvp... ...It creates a form of balance. I will probably be hanged, drawn and quartered for suggesting this but anyhow, ill bite the bullet.
It would help if you trusted those of us on the preview server more and provided us with more tools for testing. Think of it as free labor, myself and the other players who use the preview server are going to test stuff anyhow, make it easier for us and it gives you better community feedback. It is a win/win.
Anyhow, thanks all for reading these posts, I know they are long, but I put a lot of effort into stringing them together Note, I also have concerns about strongholds in general, but I will not be including those in this thread.
A Community Moderator liked (most) of your comments; I'd largely in part agree. Also Paladin's directly TANKING 300% above base HP is a little much. I'm also NOT sure if Devotion assigns HP to team for Templar's Wrath? A Protection Paladin with 72K HP obtains about 218K in additional HP for a total of about 290K HP. I've posted in another Thread, Templar's Wrath (TW) does 300% HP (above) their HP not 300% weapons damage. I've suggested they change it to reflect 233-266% of HP (above) HP, but if they DEBUFF further they MUST always consider a BUFF to a far weaker skill that makes them a more rounded leader. Protection Paladin's I've already argued for 5-10% healing buff for Devine Judgement (DJ) and I'd make it 20% healing/recovery buff if tanking reduced per above; DEVOTION a 15-25% BUFF to healing for DJ DEBUFF or if Team Tank (Temp HP) impacted a range increased to 20-30% to Healing (HoT) Time buff to base. Too much debuffing of ONE skill without buffing a weaker one is just dirty pool; especially with so many not even mini bosses, but Yeti or Barbarian one shots. The problem is caused not by DEBUFF of an OP (but when others don't even TRY things out with similar effort), and if still considered OP then one must equally buff a far weaker skill or trait, in a particular character class.
Some classes have similar overall powers or mitigation strategies, damage, or combinations that work together or don't. It varies greatly based on skills, paragons, feats choosen along with the enemy they fight. <font color=white>Even my CW Disintegrate does far less damage that described. I even recommended against a DEBUFF to ROGUE but if necessary it should buff another far weaker power that removes the OP but diversifies the character--take the ZAP out of it. I'm not liking the DEBUFF to Paladin's but adding HoT is fair compromise for Paladin's. Rogue's however stay hidden while unleashing a FURY in your back, while most can't even ever find them 95% of the time, hopefully a new MONK (psionic) class will help uncover hidden dangers -- like Lattern of Revalation -- I've around monk or hit by monk depending on Paragon choosen. Wizards & HR (Shift) distances need to be improved by 30%, Rogue roll forever at rate equal to mount, Wizard's jump at same pace as walking.
The one point I disagree with is #4 in particular. Now I'm also NOT going to say your premise is unsound, because that would be unfair, the point you make is very valid point. The problem by seperating out PvE from PvP is players should want to play TOONS for both PvP & PvE. How does one level a toon to 70 without massive PvP expansion then earn XP rewards? Then you also have to worry about TOONS or characters you build and your unable to do any PvE content it would be equally if not more frustrating. So that is my PREMISE while I'm also agreeing with your PREMISE but for offering an ALTERNATIVE solution here: IGNORE PvE PARTY for PvP: Allows better balanced teams with strong players on both. R.ROBIN/HGS sep ration PvP TEAM: Random or weighted queuing to teams. TEAM GEAR SCORE Announced: Weaker team given alternate rewards at 1 of 3 stages.
For example: 1st team has obtained 33% of WIN requirements
2nd team have not achieved 25% of points awarded
< given different bonus for enemy killed not near FLAG locations
1st team has obtained 50% of WIN requirements
2nd team has not achieved 33% of points awarded
< given bonus for capturing & defending points + above if met
1st team has obtined 66% of WIN requirements
2nd team has not achieved 39% of points awarded
< given bonus flags to capture & return to position defended
Gwenn my Control Wizard [CW] is a Spellstorm Paragon, she is fully outfitted in PvP 137 purple gear and does most PvE in her gear, despite loosing a few points for Tenacity; she is certainly still able to compete effectively perhaps not anywhere close to ideal. I do have some gear specific towards PvE in the BANK, I would disagree with the statement that PvP players can't do PvE content especially if their GS (Gear Score) is above 2400+. Most players even with a GS of 2000 can't even adventure in most PvE 70 area map's without a team of at least one, or waiting till others show up to do a quest.
Now the ONE area I've spoken about in the past is around CRYPTICs TEAM. Which also goes to quality improvement for introducing less BUGS & fixing more of the BUGS they do have. Trendy has assigned me as a STO [BUG HUNTER] but even some of the BUG fixes I suggested could save them hundred's, thousands, 10's of thousands or more go unfixed? But I don't have easy access to data to do a full analysis.
Still I agree I don't like it when people cut people, it should only be a last resort, after all others failed to produce results. People should also feel confident in their abilities & growth obtained at an organization personally or professionally so they don't feel the grim reaper is lurking. Not to mention best possible transition PLANNING that can be made with other organizations in the event of a layoff. Hopefully however the employer rewards good employees & allows managers honest feedback in reviews, independant of any bonus compensation that may be tied to a bonus incentive plan, that correctly seperates out team evaluations from distribution of bonus--A high performer could obtain a low bonus, but incentivized to TRY new opportunity, or be trained or be Coached by others at organization.
Yet it seems everything CRYPTIC does is CRYPTIC. I'm borrowing words from others in forum? In STO works & neverwinter it requires also BBCODE references [ edged bracked not < pointed. Now each language has often >2 ways to achieve a similar thing but be consistent or least >90-97% of the time. I realize different divisions of Cryptic reside in different regions, as is true in many corporations, but CORP standards for process should align (who use the service | not who pays for it) customers expectations.
At the end of the day the company needs to make money, and it requires good judgement, that requires appealing or having something that draws them in -- love it or hate -- they talk about it provided there's no sting to them. Some might also argue Chess is not equally balanced, often the player who moves first starts behind the eight ball, a more advanced player can adapts quicker to overcome, but in rare cases even a good or great knowledge, can and will beat an Superior foe.
Comments
And ever since it's only gone downhill. Less and less novelty - and that's interpreting the term with a lot of goodwill. And whenever something new-ish comes, you'd have to grind it so often that it's boring after two weeks max.
#2) Its 12 hours so you can get on in the AM play for 30-45 minutes and log back on later in the PM and do it again if you want. You dont have to play for 12 hours straight, you can do it, take a break and come back later if you want to speed through it. It makes it much easier and "paves the way" to make the other suggestion about 1 "set" of boons more plausible since they are much easier to get. Its not a few 100 points its a few THOUSAND points. Below you complain about the difference between rank 8s and rank 12s. Which you have what, 7 offensive and 6 defensive enchants? I would say that a fresh 70 can have all rank 8s VERY easily... You get so many rank 7s just from day to day stuff, and not to mention rank 7s are SO cheap you can buy several of them with a few days of getting your alloted AD. So within a 2 weeks of actually playing the game @ lvl 70 you could probably have ~full rank 9s. Either way, you do realize that each boon is ~ the same difference between a rank 8-> rank 12?
Each boon offers +400 stats. So that *4 for several campaigns would drop players down ~ 8000 stats which would level the playing field even more. Whats silly is you take a mildly geared person against a BIS player and the sheer stat value the BIS player has in advantage over the average player is just stupid. Probably in the range of 15k-20k in stat advantage. Thats just too much. reducing the # of stats the boons offer would atleast cut that number down and remove some "power creep" at the same time. Modules 1-3 stay relevant since its a way to level up as well as get access to boons. So that can be done easily. Then @ 70 ideally they would have those modules near complete, have a choice of 3 boon options there which would make the gear gap considerable less when they go into PVP. Artifacts are again another one I would say to make it so you only have ONE artifact. This alone would again remove about 8000 of stats a BIS player might have over a newer player.
So think about that, we just removed over 7k in stats from boons and over 7k in stats from artifacts. Sure having full 12s versus rank 8s will be a big deal but the intent here ISNT to make it a "fair" fight between a Rookie and seasoned vet, the intent is to lessen the gear gap between tiers of players.
Take a 2k ilevel player versus 3k, then 3k versus 4k. There is such a MASSIVE jump between those players is a joke. Doing the above system, the 2k would actually have a fighting chance against the 3k, but still be at a disadvantage. The 2k isnt meant to play the 4k at a "fair fight" that would be silly.
I just think anything we can do to lessen the gear divide in PVP would be worth it to make it more fair and less power creep as well.
How do you lessen the gear gap and remove power creep?
I dont even fully understand what you are saying here either. For instance, we need to take where the game is today, make changes, and then hopefully arrive at where you want it to be. It seems you are saying they should remove anything above rank 9 + anything above a lvl 35 artifact but they will NEVER EVER EVER do this as people have paid RL $ for these items.
Now another way of looking at what you are proposing would be to be an "ilevel CAP" on ques and then gear lock players once inside. But even that wouldnt be something they consider because they want you to spend RL $ on this stuff, not make it so its not needed.
It seems for PVE one of the biggest fails is they WAY they try and make content harder - rather than things requiring coordination, they just make it longer, more boring, or the mobs deal 120120x more damage so they 1 shot you, then hey its hard! The REAL issue is the lack of ability to make content that is hard enough. As I said before its either too easy or too hard. They probably will never get this "right" so its kinda moot to say some of this stuff. As I said before, I havnt seen a REAL recommendation. Something a DEV can take to a white board, write down "X,Y,Z" changes and evaluate. What you have wrote here is an "ideal" not necessarily helping the game get from Point A to point B.
See again, R9s possible etc etc. So what? Delete rank 12s? Again its just not realistic nor probable. I dont think Rank 12 enchants are the issue TBH, the BIGGER issue are other things.
_ I agree and I would REMOVE tenacity on gear altogether. Add it to the character sheet as a BASE and forget about it. And I agree the GOAL should be to make PVP fair but you also have to mrember the type of game it is - F2P which means they need to make $ from somewhere which means they need to let you buy things that help. They have gone overboard forsure.
- "Then split the queue:" - Bad idea friend. Que times are already bad enough, this would make it MUCH worse.
As I posted above, the best thing to do is start scaling back all the added stats to things. Especially in PVP. Make PVP "stripped down" to the point where its basic. PVE can be the place where they add all the fluffy power stats like companions to it.
Things to be removed in PVP:
- Secondary Artifact Stats
- Mount stats
- Companions (already in effect)
- Multiple Boon "sets" (see earlier post)
- Tenacity (added to base character sheet for all rather than on gear)
Now you have the most level playing field possible in PVP. PVE is always going to be wonky and that falls on Cryptic. Atleast with a stripped PVP youll have much more fun and a much better level playing field.
Think of this:
New mount system
New weapon enchants
New boons
All of this is new power added to a game already brimming with it. PVE does not need this power, this power is destroying the game. What you need is content to contain this power...that content is sorely lacking.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
The reason I don't run more active toons is that I won't do the campaigns again as I found them boring and labourious. I have a second toon that I will boost from time to time, but even that is just to pass some time,
What I mean from this post is, unless you're unlike me and want to run multiple toons, there really is not a great deal to do in this game. I basically have all my daillies done in half an hour.
I'd like to see you delay a future mod release (never gonna happen) to include several new campaigns of mid-high difficulty, which can be run in sequence. i.e, for a solo player, you need to complete stage 3 in the first to move to the second campaign - but for a dungeoneer you can find a key at any stage with an xRNG chance from a random dungeon to move on to the next campaign. And so it progresses.
This would give decent progressive content to see you to the next mod - at which point, you will probably revert to standard and give new artifact weapons...
Some classes have similar overall powers or mitigation strategies, damage, or combinations that work together or don't. It varies greatly based on skills, paragons, feats choosen along with the enemy they fight. <font color=white>Even my CW Disintegrate does far less damage that described. I even recommended against a DEBUFF to ROGUE but if necessary it should buff another far weaker power that removes the OP but diversifies the character--take the ZAP out of it. I'm not liking the DEBUFF to Paladin's but adding HoT is fair compromise for Paladin's. Rogue's however stay hidden while unleashing a FURY in your back, while most can't even ever find them 95% of the time, hopefully a new MONK (psionic) class will help uncover hidden dangers -- like Lattern of Revalation -- I've around monk or hit by monk depending on Paragon choosen. Wizards & HR (Shift) distances need to be improved by 30%, Rogue roll forever at rate equal to mount, Wizard's jump at same pace as walking.
The one point I disagree with is #4 in particular. Now I'm also NOT going to say your premise is unsound, because that would be unfair, the point you make is very valid point. The problem by seperating out PvE from PvP is players should want to play TOONS for both PvP & PvE. How does one level a toon to 70 without massive PvP expansion then earn XP rewards? Then you also have to worry about TOONS or characters you build and your unable to do any PvE content it would be equally if not more frustrating. So that is my PREMISE while I'm also agreeing with your PREMISE but for offering an ALTERNATIVE solution here:
IGNORE PvE PARTY for PvP: Allows better balanced teams with strong players on both.
R.ROBIN/HGS sep ration PvP TEAM: Random or weighted queuing to teams.
TEAM GEAR SCORE Announced: Weaker team given alternate rewards at 1 of 3 stages.
For example: 1st team has obtained 33% of WIN requirements 2nd team have not achieved 25% of points awarded < given different bonus for enemy killed not near FLAG locations 1st team has obtained 50% of WIN requirements 2nd team has not achieved 33% of points awarded < given bonus for capturing & defending points + above if met 1st team has obtined 66% of WIN requirements 2nd team has not achieved 39% of points awarded < given bonus flags to capture & return to position defendedGwenn my Control Wizard [CW] is a Spellstorm Paragon, she is fully outfitted in PvP 137 purple gear and does most PvE in her gear, despite loosing a few points for Tenacity; she is certainly still able to compete effectively perhaps not anywhere close to ideal. I do have some gear specific towards PvE in the BANK, I would disagree with the statement that PvP players can't do PvE content especially if their GS (Gear Score) is above 2400+. Most players even with a GS of 2000 can't even adventure in most PvE 70 area map's without a team of at least one, or waiting till others show up to do a quest.
Now the ONE area I've spoken about in the past is around CRYPTICs TEAM. Which also goes to quality improvement for introducing less BUGS & fixing more of the BUGS they do have. Trendy has assigned me as a STO [BUG HUNTER] but even some of the BUG fixes I suggested could save them hundred's, thousands, 10's of thousands or more go unfixed? But I don't have easy access to data to do a full analysis.
Still I agree I don't like it when people cut people, it should only be a last resort, after all others failed to produce results. People should also feel confident in their abilities & growth obtained at an organization personally or professionally so they don't feel the grim reaper is lurking. Not to mention best possible transition PLANNING that can be made with other organizations in the event of a layoff. Hopefully however the employer rewards good employees & allows managers honest feedback in reviews, independant of any bonus compensation that may be tied to a bonus incentive plan, that correctly seperates out team evaluations from distribution of bonus--A high performer could obtain a low bonus, but incentivized to TRY new opportunity, or be trained or be Coached by others at organization.
Yet it seems everything CRYPTIC does is CRYPTIC. I'm borrowing words from others in forum?
In STO works & neverwinter it requires also BBCODE references [ edged bracked not < pointed.
At the end of the day the company needs to make money, and it requires good judgement, that requires appealing or having something that draws them in -- love it or hate -- they talk about it provided there's no sting to them. Some might also argue Chess is not equally balanced, often the player who moves first starts behind the eight ball, a more advanced player can adapts quicker to overcome, but in rare cases even a good or great knowledge, can and will beat an Superior foe.