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Progression Stagnation
tempus86
Member Posts: 165 Arc User
While I appreciate there has already been a couple of changes to the damage and healing formulas since the release of mod16, there is still a big elephant in the room, and that is stagnation.
With the removal of recovery, and capping critical strike at 50%, which from a DPS perspective at least is very easy to reach, the very limited sources of AP gain, and Critical severity, there really is nowhere to go, no real character growth in the limits of this system, as it pretty much boils down to reach current stat caps of current content then go all in for power, which diminishes pretty quickly.
Not only does this massively devalue virtually every insignia, enchantment, mount bonus and companion bonus that isn't power, it also devalues power itself.
We are already at the point where 250,000 power is achievable, and still be capped for current content, and at this stage you need 3500more power just for 1% increase which is barely noticeable yet to gain that extra 3500 power you pretty much need a whole new tier of gear, to be introduced.
So unless the power increase from a 1010 item to the next tier that comes out is dramatically increased, the best you can hope for is 4000-5000 more power from a whole new gear set, which is not even a 2% difference
As time goes on this is only going to get worse, power will become less and less impactful per point gained, and there is nowhere else to turn to.
Then there is the problem with the counter stat system, which is a very nice system for PvP I guess, it doesn't really achieve anything in the long term since with the new companion gear you can still slot power in every enchant slot, insignia slot, and companion slot, boons and mount bonus and still reach the relevant caps.
All it really does is delay this eventuality while the "new gear" is farmed, and has the negative effect of actually making us WEAKER than previous tiers, every time the stat cap bar gets raised, as we have to sacrifice power to reach the new caps until the new gear is gained and for me personally, backwards progression is not really that appealing.
So, I guess the point im trying to make is this system is doomed to provide no noticeable character progression in the very near future and isn't that mostly the point of an mmorpg? building a character and making it stronger and stronger?
Now I can only really offer my own take on this, and im sure some people wont agree, but to me it boils down to the caps being too easy to reach, power is too valuable per % increase, as is critical strike and combat advantage. the crit cap is a mistake the removal of recovery is a mistake Id much rather there be more of a choice between the stats I want to stack than POWER ON EVERYTHING. Enchantments and insignias are stale, there's no reason to have anything other than radiants, everything else is just a stepping stone or WORSE, a trap until you realise radiants everywhere is inevitable.
I don't need to be hitting for millions per hit, what I want is to see consistent progression each tier and to see my choices measured against other players choices, what stats we are using, is it a crit build, a pure power build, a CA build, a mixture of all 3, at what point would it be better to have an extra 1000 crit, or power? or would it be better to slot a recovery speed enchantment, or insignia or an actionpoint jewel or something.
you reduced the amount of player choices when you trimmed down the class feats and skills, I understand this, class balance is important, and this will make it easier to achieve. but please.... you have the ability to bring back choices via enchants and gear and artifacts etc, things that are available to every class so use them, because right now, everyone eventually will have the same of everything.
The same enchants
The same gear pieces
The same insignias and bonus's
The same companions
the same companion gear items.
And that.... is boring
With the removal of recovery, and capping critical strike at 50%, which from a DPS perspective at least is very easy to reach, the very limited sources of AP gain, and Critical severity, there really is nowhere to go, no real character growth in the limits of this system, as it pretty much boils down to reach current stat caps of current content then go all in for power, which diminishes pretty quickly.
Not only does this massively devalue virtually every insignia, enchantment, mount bonus and companion bonus that isn't power, it also devalues power itself.
We are already at the point where 250,000 power is achievable, and still be capped for current content, and at this stage you need 3500more power just for 1% increase which is barely noticeable yet to gain that extra 3500 power you pretty much need a whole new tier of gear, to be introduced.
So unless the power increase from a 1010 item to the next tier that comes out is dramatically increased, the best you can hope for is 4000-5000 more power from a whole new gear set, which is not even a 2% difference
As time goes on this is only going to get worse, power will become less and less impactful per point gained, and there is nowhere else to turn to.
Then there is the problem with the counter stat system, which is a very nice system for PvP I guess, it doesn't really achieve anything in the long term since with the new companion gear you can still slot power in every enchant slot, insignia slot, and companion slot, boons and mount bonus and still reach the relevant caps.
All it really does is delay this eventuality while the "new gear" is farmed, and has the negative effect of actually making us WEAKER than previous tiers, every time the stat cap bar gets raised, as we have to sacrifice power to reach the new caps until the new gear is gained and for me personally, backwards progression is not really that appealing.
So, I guess the point im trying to make is this system is doomed to provide no noticeable character progression in the very near future and isn't that mostly the point of an mmorpg? building a character and making it stronger and stronger?
Now I can only really offer my own take on this, and im sure some people wont agree, but to me it boils down to the caps being too easy to reach, power is too valuable per % increase, as is critical strike and combat advantage. the crit cap is a mistake the removal of recovery is a mistake Id much rather there be more of a choice between the stats I want to stack than POWER ON EVERYTHING. Enchantments and insignias are stale, there's no reason to have anything other than radiants, everything else is just a stepping stone or WORSE, a trap until you realise radiants everywhere is inevitable.
I don't need to be hitting for millions per hit, what I want is to see consistent progression each tier and to see my choices measured against other players choices, what stats we are using, is it a crit build, a pure power build, a CA build, a mixture of all 3, at what point would it be better to have an extra 1000 crit, or power? or would it be better to slot a recovery speed enchantment, or insignia or an actionpoint jewel or something.
you reduced the amount of player choices when you trimmed down the class feats and skills, I understand this, class balance is important, and this will make it easier to achieve. but please.... you have the ability to bring back choices via enchants and gear and artifacts etc, things that are available to every class so use them, because right now, everyone eventually will have the same of everything.
The same enchants
The same gear pieces
The same insignias and bonus's
The same companions
the same companion gear items.
And that.... is boring
3
Comments
This forces new players into spending RL money as the only reliable way to catch up. Which I don't begrudge the devs for wanting to make a buck. I give what I can when I can to support them, but there is no way I could ever afford what I really would need to spend to catch up in any reasonable time frame. It is just a bit too harsh atm.