I am not so muh against new gear being introduced regularly, but I do not want to have to get it through repetitive grind of mind numbingly boring content such as lots of repeated daily quest in 1 area. I do not mind say a few daily quest like first dungeon of the day gives you a token, first foundry mission gives you token, first pve event , and frist pvp ebvent, but not more than that. 4-5 dailies are plenty ever. I do not want o have to do 20+ a day, that makes it feel like work. It should be for doing what you would normally do, ie dungeons, pve/pvp events, so could be tokens for any event/dungeon you do, the daily just add a few more tokens.
Also you are right that new gear does not have to be a lot ore powerful, but can have effects maybe, say for tank absorbs some amount of damage, or dps adds some amount of damage and so on, I would like some clickies, but not too many, maybe have clickies effects only on say chest pieces? or rings? and anything else is a passive effect?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am not evil, I am just cursed.
0
nikkalMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
30 years here too, 33 to be precise, (uggh that's just so awful to admit) and I have certainly quested for gear sometimes. It's all dependent on campaign style, alignment of the party and the REASON you want the gear. Of course, that's not to demonize your style, only to recognize that we all have different approaches to the game, all of them valid.
It takes all kinds folks, people play these games for different reasons, with different motivating factors. I've said it before, I'll say it again, hand a module off to 4 different gaming tables, then circle around each table as they play. Each game has a very unique flavor and in the end, a slightly different outcome. That's one of the great and beautiful things about D&D.
I've played with GMs who actually design/write actual D&D product, you'd be amazed at how some of them play fast and loose with the rules. When it comes time to GM, they take their rules lawyer hats off and just have fun with the game in the style and method they prefer.
As for gear grinding specifically, I'll have an opposite problem. I fear that the "coolest" looking gear, for RP purposes, will be payola gear, (that I'll have to transmogrify better stats to as I rise). So I expect not to have to invest a lot of time grinding, rather I expect to have to open up my wallet and cough up real bucks.
It takes a village, I guess.
Pfft. This is the internet, what I want is the only thing that matters.
I really don't want to be able to scope out the end gear that I want, know where it all comes from, and zero in on it. That's boring, there's no mystery, I might as well just be led by the nose. It's why most MMORPGs bore me to tears, everyone puts up datamined wikis, the best pieces of gear are mapped out and identified, so you just follow the path that's laid out.
I much prefer the random roguelike style of gear generation - that way every monster kill is exciting because there is always the chance of getting something sweet - I'm not simply following a treadmill already determined path. That's why the AD system intrigues me so much. If it works the way I think it does - it's not a roguelike random generation system, but it's *even better* , because I can be doing *anything* and still working toward the stuff I want.
0
elewyndylMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
For the love of Godthis is not some casual care bear game in loot policy like Guild Wars 2 that lacks PvE endgame!
Sure I like low-medium level DD FOUNDRY adventures they can be great.
For those of you who does not understand what endgame is it is the game content suitable for max level characters.
Confirmed endgame content: A. Heroic 5 player Dungeons. B. Raids! Exact raids size is unknown but maybe 10 players+their NPC companions. Raids will NOT be available at release, but that is ok and we should have patience that in time they add more classes and content like raids. After all this is a free game and even WOW added raids after release.
Source: Skip to 3.57... RAIDS ARE CONFIRMED! WOHOO! YEEEEEES!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EeicfJGm-k8 C. PvP. I don't know about PvP except that it will be bigger scale then some 5 vs 5 Battlegrounds. There is no full open world PvP it will be in restricted/instance zones.
Raids will provide with 90 % certainity more powerful loot. Simple math which Dragon will have the best treasure? The 5 player young Dragon or the old Dragon for 10 player raid? I don't know the raid size that was an example/guess of possible raid size.
I would be ok if you can get through PvP also best items. Honestly l am completely in dark where to get best items still if you think about PvP also.
The only problem with FOUNDRY is that while I agree you should get to max level and yeah quite good items that FOUNDRY can be exploited. Since you can get lots of Astral Diamonds through PvP and lot of AD can be converted to ZEN I believe that through PvP you can get really good items.
I don't know if WOW everlasting lootmill is paradise,but if you play 40 hours/week it should take at least many months to maximize your character!
For the love of Godthis is not some casual care bear game in loot policy like Guild Wars 2 that lacks PvE endgame!
Sure I like low-medium level DD FOUNDRY adventures they can be great.
For those of you who does not understand what endgame is it is the game content suitable for max level characters.
Confirmed endgame content: A. Heroic 5 player Dungeons. B. Raids! Exact raids size is unknown but maybe 10 players+their NPC companions. Raids will NOT be available at release, but that is ok and we should have patience that in time they add more classes and content like raids. After all this is a free game and even WOW added raids after release.
Source: Skip to 3.57... RAIDS ARE CONFIRMED! WOHOO! YEEEEEES!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EeicfJGm-k8 C. PvP. I don't know about PvP except that it will be bigger scale then some 5 vs 5 Battlegrounds. There is no full open world PvP it will be in restricted/instance zones.
Raids will provide with 90 % certainity more powerful loot. Simple math which Dragon will have the best treasure? The 5 player young Dragon or the old Dragon for 10 player raid? I don't know the raid size that was an example/guess of possible raid size.
I would be ok if you can get through PvP also best items. Honestly l am completely in dark where to get best items still if you think about PvP also.
The only problem with FOUNDRY is that while I agree you should get to max level and yeah quite good items that FOUNDRY can be exploited. Since you can get lots of Astral Diamonds through PvP and lot of AD can be converted to ZEN I believe that through PvP you can get really good items.
I don't know if WOW everlasting lootmill is paradise,but if you play 40 hours/week it should take at least many months to maximize your character!
AD can be converted for zen, but only through other players...which means the total amount of purchased Zen is finite. SOMEONE is buying that zen. There is no such thing of "play the game and you can unlock everything)" because it's just plain out not true.
Play the game constantly non stop, and if a majority of the other players are also playing the game without buying zen, all the AD in the world isn't going to get you squat. You only get ANY zen for AD if other players are willing to spend Zen to buy your AD.
In effect, 50% or more of the player base has to be willing to purchase AD for zen, in order for the other 50% to sell their AD for zen and buy account upgrades with it.
Each game is different, but many FTP games have less then 30% of the player base willing to spend money at all to play the game. Of those 30%, a much, much smaller % will be willing to spend real money for something they can get in game already (AD)...instead of on account upgrades for themselves.
I would be amazed if over 10% of the player base is willing to spend money on AD (after the initial founders packs...which will still be available at launch).
By flooding the initial market with AD, and giving large amounts of AD through founders packs (that are available to everyone) the market for AD on the AH for zen is going to be non-existent.
Whats more, the people who need the zen for account unlocks, are going to be the ones with the least amount of AD for a long time (considering how much you get from the founders packs that could be even over a month or two).
Personally I think account unlocks should be purchasable with AD...and AD should be purchasable with Zen. That would solve the whole problem instantly, but would make cryptic less money from players who already bought founders packs. That of course is fair since those players have already SPENT MONEY!!
As far as long term potential for players to get everything just by playing the game and saving up AD...that is fixed easily by limiting how much AD they can get each day to increase how long it would take to save up enough to unlock things. That would create an economy for AD (So people would spend zen to purchase them) but still give founders etc value for their money.
Dungeon delving and grinding for weapons will be central to the game, take that away and boredom will rapidly set in. I want my character to always be getting stronger, richer and more overloaded with goodies to pass down to my new characters.
The "grind" and never ending search for treasure is iconicallly DnD. I dont necessarily want huge numbers, WoW has gotten stupid, but more powerful weapons and armor dont have to have huge numbers.. Vorpal anyone? Or wounding of puncturing, weapons that bypass damage reductions.
High end power doesn't have to mean six digit damage.
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elewyndylMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
AD can be converted for zen, but only through other players...which means the total amount of purchased Zen is finite. SOMEONE is buying that zen. There is no such thing of "play the game and you can unlock everything)" because it's just plain out not true.
Play the game constantly non stop, and if a majority of the other players are also playing the game without buying zen, all the AD in the world isn't going to get you squat. You only get ANY zen for AD if other players are willing to spend Zen to buy your AD.
In effect, 50% or more of the player base has to be willing to purchase AD for zen, in order for the other 50% to sell their AD for zen and buy account upgrades with it.
Each game is different, but many FTP games have less then 30% of the player base willing to spend money at all to play the game. Of those 30%, a much, much smaller % will be willing to spend real money for something they can get in game already (AD)...instead of on account upgrades for themselves.
I would be amazed if over 10% of the player base is willing to spend money on AD (after the initial founders packs...which will still be available at launch).
By flooding the initial market with AD, and giving large amounts of AD through founders packs (that are available to everyone) the market for AD on the AH for zen is going to be non-existent.
Whats more, the people who need the zen for account unlocks, are going to be the ones with the least amount of AD for a long time (considering how much you get from the founders packs that could be even over a month or two).
Personally I think account unlocks should be purchasable with AD...and AD should be purchasable with Zen. That would solve the whole problem instantly, but would make cryptic less money from players who already bought founders packs. That of course is fair since those players have already SPENT MONEY!!
As far as long term potential for players to get everything just by playing the game and saving up AD...that is fixed easily by limiting how much AD they can get each day to increase how long it would take to save up enough to unlock things. That would create an economy for AD (So people would spend zen to purchase them) but still give founders etc value for their money.
Ok maybe there are no NPC vendors that can change AD to ZEN. However I do NOT believe that the only way to get ZEN is to buy it from other players or use real money!
I agree with you that it would be good if we can buy with AD new character slots etc. That said there is Charge ZEN
Currently it says:
Your account needs to be at least one week old and have
a character at least level 10 in order for you to take
advantage of this feature.
Thanks,
Perfect World Entertainment
This is Beta. No normal(not Cryptic) Beta player has 1 week old account. I really believe you can earn ZEN when the game is released without buying with real money or to have to buy it from other players.
However unfortunately that is true that earning lots of AD is much easier then earning ZEN likely. ZEN is the highest currency no doubt about that and much more worth then AD.
Ok maybe there are no NPC vendors that can change AD to ZEN. However I do NOT believe that the only way to get ZEN is to buy it from other players or use real money!
I agree with you that it would be good if we can buy with AD new character slots etc. That said there is Charge ZEN
Currently it says:
Your account needs to be at least one week old and have
a character at least level 10 in order for you to take
advantage of this feature.
Thanks,
Perfect World Entertainment
This is Beta. No normal(not Cryptic) Beta player has 1 week old account. I really believe you can earn ZEN when the game is released without buying with real money or to have to buy it from other players.
However unfortunately that is true that earning lots of AD is much easier then earning ZEN likely. ZEN is the highest currency no doubt about that and much more worth then AD.
I saw a podcast that talked about it fairly extensively and they said that you could only buy zen with AD through the auction house. That at least was what I got out of the interview. The implication was that anyone could eventually buy anything they wanted by selling AD at the auction house for Zen.
That is true to a point.....but it's very limited as well. The method they were talking about means that ALL account options (that can only be bought with zen) must eventually be paid for by somebody. It is paid for either directly through zen purchases for money, or through other players buying AD for zen themselves. Either way though, players are paying for the content to be unlocked.
Even if AD was VERY easy to obtain, it would not matter at all. It's not the AD that is the problem, it the amount of Zen players are willing to spend on AD. Actually, the easier AD is to obtain, the less likely anyone is going to spend Zen on it.
What is worse, I HATE buying things in a game to make my experience "easier"...as in less challenging. I won't buy equipment off the AH (since I actually want to feel good about what I get from quests) and I'm not a big fan of cosmetic changes either. Account options like more character slots, bigger bank sizes (and backpack sizes) more classes/races etc...those I'll be happy to spend money on, but you spend ZEN on those, not AD.
I literally will never have any reason to spend even 1 zen on purchasing AD...since at least from what has been mentioned, I won't have any reason to ever spend AD at all. I'll need zen for account options, but not AD. And i'll have a freaking ton of AD to start with anyway.
While everyone may not be the same as me, I think most people with money to spend are going to want to spend it on zen and account options directly...not on AD.
Now if there is a way to exchange AD for zen in the game without going through players, then why not just give founders packs Zen right from the start instead of AD..and then let them spend that zen buying AD in game if they want (kickstarting an economy. By having players start with huge pools of AD instead of zen, you pretty much cut the starting economy off at the knees.
I don't know the value they have put on the AD they gave us, but if it's $100 wroth (750k AD), I'd rather have $50 worth of zen personally then $100 worth of AD. Or better yet, $50 worth of zen and $50 worth of AD (best of both worlds.)
I was wondering the exact same thing as well. I really hope that Neverwinter does not become a game of insanely big numbers. I don't really want to be hitting and critting for 10K. That means the bosses will start to be in the millions of hit points at high level and that to me is just annoying. If it were up to me, I would have a 5K Crit be a rare thing even at high levels. Attacks from so many characters make it so the numbers have to be inflated to some point. I am just curious what those numbers will be.
This, DDO was pretty bad with inflating player HP past the norm, and monster HP was insanely high (level 3 pirates with 72 hp) but DDO did keep with the PnP rules with gear and numbers did not get too bad. Spells still reached in 2000 + range. From what little I have read it seems like 4th ED gives players slightly more hp than 3.5 did but the numbers look more like FF damage than DnD in Neverwinter.
0
armalasMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 18Arc User
While I am for new expansions and content releases upping how powerful gear is, I seriously hate the gearflation that has gone on in different MMOs. It is unnecessary to up the power of baseline gear 200% in an expansion. 10% is plenty to make gear better.
A million times this.
Similar to someone posting above, I too welcomed the non-gear based progression in Guild Wars 2, but the reality is that once you take that out, a lot of people (not all) but a lot of people loose motivation.
The truth is, most people need to have a carrot dangled in front of them at all times, and there's nothing wrong with gear progression being that carrot, it just has to be done with a modicum of restraint.
People in my old vanilla WoW guild were gutted that their legendaries were made completely obsolete the second TBC was released, so just up the power level by 5-10% making it worth upgrading, but not a catastrophe if you don't.
Alternately, allow us to upgrade existing items through crafting using materials released in whatever expansion that might be released.
I too am an old school DnD fan/player and in fact, that is one thing I don't think Dungeons and dragons online never got right. Questing should be for a reason, and quite often that reason should be for some really nice loot. It's not a random chance to get the loot, but a quest FOR THE LOOT!.
Named loot etc should be part of quests, something you actively hunt for etc, and not by doing a quest 23 times for a random drop. That +4 flaming sword of orc bane should be named and known throughout the realm, and a reason you do a specific quest in the first place. Various quests with different "named" loot should be available so you can pick and choose which quests you do, based on the equipment you will get or other rewards (not just exp being the primary factor).
Random loot is great, but the best equipment?.......It should be well known...and players should have to do hard quests in order to get it. I'm not saying EVERY equipment slot should be filled with epic named loot mind you, but I do think there should be a decent selection out there for players to adventure for...it's one of the main reasons we would do quests in the old days...and due to MMO mechanics, it's been ignored or replaced with (small chance of epic weapon dropping etc).
Your raiding a dungeon infested with undead, Orcs, Oozes and even a beholder.....why?....just for the heck of it? Because someone asked you to save their niece or something (not all characters are motivated by being a goody two shoes)....no...because you heard of the Bartok the Barbarian who was last seen alive venturing into that dungeon and his famous Ring of Stoneskin which allowed his skin to ignore blows that would kill most men. The wizards do quests to find scrolls or items that boost their magical power etc.
What ever happened to questing based off the equipment you would get?
Actually, though I agree questing is a good way to get stuff, if everone got the same reward, would you ever wish to do that quest again? It would also mean everyone will have that same weapon.
However, I like the idea that you get to the best items by questing. What I would suggest if that it is combined with either crafting or NPC that can "craft". You then quest for "magical" item say orbs, orbs might have of flaming, of cold etc, get a finely crafted item of a certain material, combine with orb and created , say if you used a sword a flaming sword of, then allow modification to what it looks like (within set parameters) and name it. This way each item will look different and though I am sure some popular items will be name and look similar it should mean atleast you do not have to have it like that.
Though I supose you could just let poeple modify and rename items that are purple or above?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am not evil, I am just cursed.
0
elewyndylMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Actually, though I agree questing is a good way to get stuff, if everone got the same reward, would you ever wish to do that quest again? It would also mean everyone will have that same weapon.
However, I like the idea that you get to the best items by questing. What I would suggest if that it is combined with either crafting or NPC that can "craft". You then quest for "magical" item say orbs, orbs might have of flaming, of cold etc, get a finely crafted item of a certain material, combine with orb and created , say if you used a sword a flaming sword of, then allow modification to what it looks like (within set parameters) and name it. This way each item will look different and though I am sure some popular items will be name and look similar it should mean atleast you do not have to have it like that.
Though I supose you could just let poeple modify and rename items that are purple or above?
Well you have a valid point that loot randomness can make it interesting. There will be also an Auction house where players can buy/sell sweet loot. I am WOW veteran. That said I also played Age of Conan for well 6+ months.
Old school? Yeah well I have not played really old MMO:s like Everquest, but I played Baldurs Gate games on PC from the 90ies together with my brother though LAN network. Anyway Baldurs Gate 1 had super excellent story and I loved it. Despite BG greatness there was one thing that bugged me. Max level was 7 in old BG1(before expansion pack) and when you maxed your characters in level it became less interesting. However to BG1 defense you had to explore at least 90%+ of the world before you could max your character in level and it also had some rare sweet loot drops in hidden corners of the world after max level.
We all want great story. Agree and I also like low-medium level Foundry adventures. That said sweet powerful loot is that final touch like a master cook add that flavor to a super meal.
For the love of Godthis is not some casual care bear game in loot policy like Guild Wars 2 that lacks PvE endgame!
This: Sure I like low-medium level DD FOUNDRY adventures they can be great.
For those of you who does not understand what endgame is it is the game content suitable for max level characters.
Confirmed endgame content: A. Heroic 5 player Dungeons. B. Raids! Exact raids size is unknown but maybe 10 players+their NPC companions. Raids will NOT be available at release, but that is ok and we should have patience that in time they add more classes and content like raids. After all this is a free game and even WOW added raids after release.
Source: Skip to 3.57... RAIDS ARE CONFIRMED! WOHOO! YEEEEEES!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EeicfJGm-k8 C. PvP. I don't know about PvP except that it will be bigger scale then some 5 vs 5 Battlegrounds. There is no full open world PvP it will be in restricted/instance zones.
Raids will provide with 90 % certainity more powerful loot. Simple math which Dragon will have the best treasure? The 5 player young Dragon or the old Dragon for 10 player raid? I don't know the raid size that was an example/guess of possible raid size.
I would be ok if you can get through PvP also best items. Honestly l am completely in dark where to get best items still if you think about PvP also.
The only problem with FOUNDRY is that while I agree you should get to max level and yeah quite good items that FOUNDRY can be exploited. Since you can get lots of Astral Diamonds through PvP and lot of AD can be converted to ZEN(UPDATE: very difficult a player has to be willing to buy it from you with ZEN) I believe that through PvP you can get really good items.
I don't know if WOW everlasting lootmill is paradise,but if you play 40 hours/week it should take at least many months to maximize your character!
Comments
Also you are right that new gear does not have to be a lot ore powerful, but can have effects maybe, say for tank absorbs some amount of damage, or dps adds some amount of damage and so on, I would like some clickies, but not too many, maybe have clickies effects only on say chest pieces? or rings? and anything else is a passive effect?
Pfft. This is the internet, what I want is the only thing that matters.
I really don't want to be able to scope out the end gear that I want, know where it all comes from, and zero in on it. That's boring, there's no mystery, I might as well just be led by the nose. It's why most MMORPGs bore me to tears, everyone puts up datamined wikis, the best pieces of gear are mapped out and identified, so you just follow the path that's laid out.
I much prefer the random roguelike style of gear generation - that way every monster kill is exciting because there is always the chance of getting something sweet - I'm not simply following a treadmill already determined path. That's why the AD system intrigues me so much. If it works the way I think it does - it's not a roguelike random generation system, but it's *even better* , because I can be doing *anything* and still working toward the stuff I want.
Sure I like low-medium level DD FOUNDRY adventures they can be great.
For those of you who does not understand what endgame is it is the game content suitable for max level characters.
Confirmed endgame content:
A. Heroic 5 player Dungeons.
B. Raids! Exact raids size is unknown but maybe 10 players+their NPC companions. Raids will NOT be available at release, but that is ok and we should have patience that in time they add more classes and content like raids. After all this is a free game and even WOW added raids after release.
Source: Skip to 3.57... RAIDS ARE CONFIRMED! WOHOO! YEEEEEES!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EeicfJGm-k8
C. PvP. I don't know about PvP except that it will be bigger scale then some 5 vs 5 Battlegrounds. There is no full open world PvP it will be in restricted/instance zones.
Raids will provide with 90 % certainity more powerful loot. Simple math which Dragon will have the best treasure? The 5 player young Dragon or the old Dragon for 10 player raid? I don't know the raid size that was an example/guess of possible raid size.
I would be ok if you can get through PvP also best items. Honestly l am completely in dark where to get best items still if you think about PvP also.
The only problem with FOUNDRY is that while I agree you should get to max level and yeah quite good items that FOUNDRY can be exploited. Since you can get lots of Astral Diamonds through PvP and lot of AD can be converted to ZEN I believe that through PvP you can get really good items.
I don't know if WOW everlasting lootmill is paradise, but if you play 40 hours/week it should take at least many months to maximize your character!
AD can be converted for zen, but only through other players...which means the total amount of purchased Zen is finite. SOMEONE is buying that zen. There is no such thing of "play the game and you can unlock everything)" because it's just plain out not true.
Play the game constantly non stop, and if a majority of the other players are also playing the game without buying zen, all the AD in the world isn't going to get you squat. You only get ANY zen for AD if other players are willing to spend Zen to buy your AD.
In effect, 50% or more of the player base has to be willing to purchase AD for zen, in order for the other 50% to sell their AD for zen and buy account upgrades with it.
Each game is different, but many FTP games have less then 30% of the player base willing to spend money at all to play the game. Of those 30%, a much, much smaller % will be willing to spend real money for something they can get in game already (AD)...instead of on account upgrades for themselves.
I would be amazed if over 10% of the player base is willing to spend money on AD (after the initial founders packs...which will still be available at launch).
By flooding the initial market with AD, and giving large amounts of AD through founders packs (that are available to everyone) the market for AD on the AH for zen is going to be non-existent.
Whats more, the people who need the zen for account unlocks, are going to be the ones with the least amount of AD for a long time (considering how much you get from the founders packs that could be even over a month or two).
Personally I think account unlocks should be purchasable with AD...and AD should be purchasable with Zen. That would solve the whole problem instantly, but would make cryptic less money from players who already bought founders packs. That of course is fair since those players have already SPENT MONEY!!
As far as long term potential for players to get everything just by playing the game and saving up AD...that is fixed easily by limiting how much AD they can get each day to increase how long it would take to save up enough to unlock things. That would create an economy for AD (So people would spend zen to purchase them) but still give founders etc value for their money.
The "grind" and never ending search for treasure is iconicallly DnD. I dont necessarily want huge numbers, WoW has gotten stupid, but more powerful weapons and armor dont have to have huge numbers.. Vorpal anyone? Or wounding of puncturing, weapons that bypass damage reductions.
High end power doesn't have to mean six digit damage.
I agree with you that it would be good if we can buy with AD new character slots etc. That said there is Charge ZEN
Currently it says:
Your account needs to be at least one week old and have
a character at least level 10 in order for you to take
advantage of this feature.
Thanks,
Perfect World Entertainment
This is Beta. No normal(not Cryptic) Beta player has 1 week old account. I really believe you can earn ZEN when the game is released without buying with real money or to have to buy it from other players.
However unfortunately that is true that earning lots of AD is much easier then earning ZEN likely. ZEN is the highest currency no doubt about that and much more worth then AD.
I saw a podcast that talked about it fairly extensively and they said that you could only buy zen with AD through the auction house. That at least was what I got out of the interview. The implication was that anyone could eventually buy anything they wanted by selling AD at the auction house for Zen.
That is true to a point.....but it's very limited as well. The method they were talking about means that ALL account options (that can only be bought with zen) must eventually be paid for by somebody. It is paid for either directly through zen purchases for money, or through other players buying AD for zen themselves. Either way though, players are paying for the content to be unlocked.
Even if AD was VERY easy to obtain, it would not matter at all. It's not the AD that is the problem, it the amount of Zen players are willing to spend on AD. Actually, the easier AD is to obtain, the less likely anyone is going to spend Zen on it.
What is worse, I HATE buying things in a game to make my experience "easier"...as in less challenging. I won't buy equipment off the AH (since I actually want to feel good about what I get from quests) and I'm not a big fan of cosmetic changes either. Account options like more character slots, bigger bank sizes (and backpack sizes) more classes/races etc...those I'll be happy to spend money on, but you spend ZEN on those, not AD.
I literally will never have any reason to spend even 1 zen on purchasing AD...since at least from what has been mentioned, I won't have any reason to ever spend AD at all. I'll need zen for account options, but not AD. And i'll have a freaking ton of AD to start with anyway.
While everyone may not be the same as me, I think most people with money to spend are going to want to spend it on zen and account options directly...not on AD.
Now if there is a way to exchange AD for zen in the game without going through players, then why not just give founders packs Zen right from the start instead of AD..and then let them spend that zen buying AD in game if they want (kickstarting an economy. By having players start with huge pools of AD instead of zen, you pretty much cut the starting economy off at the knees.
I don't know the value they have put on the AD they gave us, but if it's $100 wroth (750k AD), I'd rather have $50 worth of zen personally then $100 worth of AD. Or better yet, $50 worth of zen and $50 worth of AD (best of both worlds.)
This, DDO was pretty bad with inflating player HP past the norm, and monster HP was insanely high (level 3 pirates with 72 hp) but DDO did keep with the PnP rules with gear and numbers did not get too bad. Spells still reached in 2000 + range. From what little I have read it seems like 4th ED gives players slightly more hp than 3.5 did but the numbers look more like FF damage than DnD in Neverwinter.
A million times this.
Similar to someone posting above, I too welcomed the non-gear based progression in Guild Wars 2, but the reality is that once you take that out, a lot of people (not all) but a lot of people loose motivation.
The truth is, most people need to have a carrot dangled in front of them at all times, and there's nothing wrong with gear progression being that carrot, it just has to be done with a modicum of restraint.
People in my old vanilla WoW guild were gutted that their legendaries were made completely obsolete the second TBC was released, so just up the power level by 5-10% making it worth upgrading, but not a catastrophe if you don't.
Alternately, allow us to upgrade existing items through crafting using materials released in whatever expansion that might be released.
this guy has it right.
However, I like the idea that you get to the best items by questing. What I would suggest if that it is combined with either crafting or NPC that can "craft". You then quest for "magical" item say orbs, orbs might have of flaming, of cold etc, get a finely crafted item of a certain material, combine with orb and created , say if you used a sword a flaming sword of, then allow modification to what it looks like (within set parameters) and name it. This way each item will look different and though I am sure some popular items will be name and look similar it should mean atleast you do not have to have it like that.
Though I supose you could just let poeple modify and rename items that are purple or above?
Old school? Yeah well I have not played really old MMO:s like Everquest, but I played Baldurs Gate games on PC from the 90ies together with my brother though LAN network. Anyway Baldurs Gate 1 had super excellent story and I loved it. Despite BG greatness there was one thing that bugged me. Max level was 7 in old BG1(before expansion pack) and when you maxed your characters in level it became less interesting. However to BG1 defense you had to explore at least 90%+ of the world before you could max your character in level and it also had some rare sweet loot drops in hidden corners of the world after max level.
We all want great story. Agree and I also like low-medium level Foundry adventures. That said sweet powerful loot is that final touch like a master cook add that flavor to a super meal.