test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
My thoughts on the balance patch and beyond
pizzamurai
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
Fan-freaking-tastic.
Yes, I said it. This patch was absolutely fantastic. Far too many positive things to comment on. The AH fixes, the class re balancing, all of it. Even PVP has been better overall since there are no unbalanced team numbers anymore (for the most part, will touch on this later). Thank you, so many times thank you for making my tank a tank.
If this is a sign of things to come, we need more of it. A lot more. Keep up the good work.
Now, that said. A couple things need addressing. Badly.
First, plaguefire/tenebrous enchants. Honestly, I would be perfectly happy if these were entirely removed from the game. Either way, they NEED to be balanced. If anyone, anywhere, had to make a case for the game being pay to win in ANY fashion... this would be it. Now that people won't be able to buy tier gear, this ABSOLUTELY needs to be looked at. No question. Please, please, acknowledge this as an issue. This is, quite literally, gamebreaking when we talk normal tenebrous/plaguefire enchants.
Item preview for stuff you do not own (AKA the auction house, random drops, everything). This still needs to happen, very badly. I don't think I need to explain why
PVP is not yet entirely fixed, but I think it's close. This one is difficult. Problem atm is that there are still a ton of bots. Your fix did not work, like I said it wouldn't. Why? Because bots are still participating in the matches... sort of. They are very obviously programmed to run on a set track, and then attack anyone who goes near them (usually just spamming at wills). That makes the stipulation of participating in a match utterly useless as far as bots go. There's rarely AFKers anymore, so that part worked. What I think might help a great deal is bring kicking back, but require a 3 person vote (that's 3 out of 5) for it to pass. That way, we can regulate bots on our own without the leader being able to outright abuse the system.
I don't know if this is a bug, but GWFs are still being pushed back during unstoppable by CW repel. This is pretty much game over for any GWF trying to kill my CW. That needs to be fixed.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
So, I'll end this on a positive note. I'll probly also get flamed for this... but what has two thumbs and doesn't care? *points to self* This girl.
You guys are absolutely doing the right thing with the BOP stuff. I'm not sure how your salvage thing will work, probably nowhere near what people would get selling rares, but that is so not the point. The point is that nobody will be hitting 60 and already having the best gear in the game without setting foot in a heroic. Ever. This is absolutely the right idea, so please do not cave into all the knuckle draggers telling you how awful your decision on this is.
That said, BOP for need and BOE for greed could also very well work now that not everyone and their grandmother can need on anything they want (also a good fix). However, you'd still have people dinging 60 and having a full set of gear. So if that's what you're trying to 'fix' then don't sway your course.
Yes, I said it. This patch was absolutely fantastic. Far too many positive things to comment on. The AH fixes, the class re balancing, all of it. Even PVP has been better overall since there are no unbalanced team numbers anymore (for the most part, will touch on this later). Thank you, so many times thank you for making my tank a tank.
If this is a sign of things to come, we need more of it. A lot more. Keep up the good work.
Now, that said. A couple things need addressing. Badly.
First, plaguefire/tenebrous enchants. Honestly, I would be perfectly happy if these were entirely removed from the game. Either way, they NEED to be balanced. If anyone, anywhere, had to make a case for the game being pay to win in ANY fashion... this would be it. Now that people won't be able to buy tier gear, this ABSOLUTELY needs to be looked at. No question. Please, please, acknowledge this as an issue. This is, quite literally, gamebreaking when we talk normal tenebrous/plaguefire enchants.
Item preview for stuff you do not own (AKA the auction house, random drops, everything). This still needs to happen, very badly. I don't think I need to explain why
PVP is not yet entirely fixed, but I think it's close. This one is difficult. Problem atm is that there are still a ton of bots. Your fix did not work, like I said it wouldn't. Why? Because bots are still participating in the matches... sort of. They are very obviously programmed to run on a set track, and then attack anyone who goes near them (usually just spamming at wills). That makes the stipulation of participating in a match utterly useless as far as bots go. There's rarely AFKers anymore, so that part worked. What I think might help a great deal is bring kicking back, but require a 3 person vote (that's 3 out of 5) for it to pass. That way, we can regulate bots on our own without the leader being able to outright abuse the system.
I don't know if this is a bug, but GWFs are still being pushed back during unstoppable by CW repel. This is pretty much game over for any GWF trying to kill my CW. That needs to be fixed.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
So, I'll end this on a positive note. I'll probly also get flamed for this... but what has two thumbs and doesn't care? *points to self* This girl.
You guys are absolutely doing the right thing with the BOP stuff. I'm not sure how your salvage thing will work, probably nowhere near what people would get selling rares, but that is so not the point. The point is that nobody will be hitting 60 and already having the best gear in the game without setting foot in a heroic. Ever. This is absolutely the right idea, so please do not cave into all the knuckle draggers telling you how awful your decision on this is.
That said, BOP for need and BOE for greed could also very well work now that not everyone and their grandmother can need on anything they want (also a good fix). However, you'd still have people dinging 60 and having a full set of gear. So if that's what you're trying to 'fix' then don't sway your course.
Post edited by pizzamurai on
0
Comments
Those enchants are the main source of P2W nowadays. That said, Buying rank 10 stat enchants would be pretty insanely OP, too.
I do so want a preview feature.
As an aside, I don't think knockbacks are considered control effects, as they're just a repositioning, and not any sort of debuff. Does Unstoppable even give resistance to ANY knockbacks? I can't remember...
I will have to respectfully and whole-heartedly disagree with you on the BoP change, though. So what if they get good gear without so much as touching the heroic stuff? This is a game, and is meant to be played and enjoyed. What if I, for example, don't like group PvE content? I have to do them anyway to get gear that I need to level to playing field in every other type of content (such as PvP)? Ideally, one should be able to play how they want and get the same progression for it regardless.
That said, I also don't believe that you should EVER be able to buy the BEST gear. The runner-up is fine, but when the BEST is purchasable, it becomes a problem.
In essence, having gear/other rewards locked solely behind certain types of content is "carrot and stick" gaming. The MMO industry is FULL of games that are all stick and carrot. We don't need more. As the game is now, it's a more casual style. There's that carrot and stick if you want to go for it, but you can bypass that completely (point: the "completely" part is the problem here), and thus have the ability to do the content because you ENJOY it rather than due to the chance of rewards - much like offline games.
I wrote more about my outlook on the BoP changes in the official thread: http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?350242-End-Game-Loot-System-Changes-Ready-for-Testing-Soon!&p=4475311&viewfull=1#post4475311
Don't know. If not, they should be. Not gonna bother debating the BOP thing, since that was a minor part of my thread, and I still don't agree with your stance
Why is it considered a good thing that you have to run dungeons to get the best gear in the game? E-peen? I don't see what else the reasoning here is.
I personally am very content with people spending money to support the game and in returns getting good gear. Change to BoP means less money going to the devs. I mean if someone hit 60 and literally bought every BiS item and enchant we are talking about hundreds of dollars here. CN weapons go for about 20 bucks individually, once the "ease to acquire" these is fixed they would probably be going for 40-50 bucks again.
Perhaps that money could be spent to upgrade the dialup patching servers.
It's a question of burst spending vs. sustained spending. If people buy a block of zen to convert to AD to buy the gear, they do it once and they're done. On the other hand, if the act of obtaining that gear is prolonged then the average player is playing for that much longer; the longer someone plays, the more likely they are to buy zen sooner or later.
These changes are not accidental. They are the result of analyzing data collected since launch about our playing & spending habits. In conjunction with these changes, I would expect to see more items introduced to the store that are compatible with long-term sustained spending habits.
Most likely. That is why they are dropping mount prices. They were simply too rediculously high for anyone not rolling in extra money to buy one. Imo the 25% discount should stay the price permanently.
The problem there is the mount prices were not all that bad. Being full account unlocks. Not to mention that you really don't even need a mount for much of the game. The prices that needed to be looked at are the bag and companion prices. They are priced way to high for items locked to a single character. And they are far more useful in game then simply being able to move faster between campfires.
On what pricing model were you basing that the mount prices are not bad? Yeah, they're full account unlocks, but that doesn't soften the blow of 40 dollars for a single item any less. I think we can both agree that far more people would buy a mount at 25 people than would at 40, and the profit from it would be significantly larger given the fact that it costs them absolutely no money to create new ones on demand (this little test sale should show them that). While it's true that they are useful, it doesn't negate the fact that people can't justify paying enough money for a full game for a single item, that's just ludicrous on many levels and it's simply not working (obviously, given the price drops).
I fully endorse them making money, and I'm more than happy to throw it at them (as evidenced by purchasing over 10k zen, the hero of the north pack, and the guardian pack), and obviously want them to succeed. I just also want to feel like I'm getting my moneys worth, and there's no way in hell I'd ever buy a mount at 40 bucks. Ever. Unless I get one IRL too :P
You're not buying a mount at 40 bucks. You are buying 2 mounts at 20 each. Or 4 for 10. The more characters you have the more efficient it becomes. Id rather have a higher price, but account wide. Then a lower price locked to one character.
Who says they'd have to be for a single character if they dropped it down to, say, 25 bucks? It's not as if they're going to lose money on production cost, only sell a whole lot more.
I am seeing GF's deal more damage than rogues and wizards..
LOL ... TS must be either a GWF or GF ....
But yes the other game fixes were most welcome
Agreed. "Class balancing" was absolute over reaction and too severe. Need button grayed out, awesome! Most everything else, nice. "Class balancing" not so much.