RE: the (D)evolution of Gameplay now that everyone has R8

Wont change people still wont be sought out for squads unless they have 5.0 :P

Even if they do that , some ppl will get r9 and refine it sky high . Also , r9 armors won't keep up with the r9 weap combined with the extra attack over def lvls it gives .

I just saw an archer with an rank 8 +4 bow and TT90 +2 armor. Should I be scared? b:question

Rank8 gave about every archer and sin I know 5aps.

So instead of spending $300 on -0.05 interval tome, they spent $72 on -0.10 interval.

Grats! b:victory

Bobzl - Sanctuary wrote: »

You forgot to add that, in addition with everyone having r8, very few people can actually afford charms anymore and charm prices are just going to get higher (unless they put them on sale soon for like 2-3 gold b:surrender)

So ya, people with greater clicking speed will win in average-geared pvp xD

1) Charms are a coin sink / luxury/ bandaid for poor builds: not a necessity.
2) I only got Rank 8 for one of my characters which started at 59k rep before the sale: it's still uncommon.
3) Incomes are just going to get higher.

I don't understand why non cash shoppers complain. It's the CS'ers that have lost far more by this sale.

tweakz wrote: »

1) Charms are a coin sink / luxury/ bandaid for poor builds: not a necessity.
2) I only got Rank 8 for one of my characters which started at 59k rep before the sale: it's still uncommon.
3) Incomes are just going to get higher.

I don't understand why non cash shoppers complain. It's the CS'ers that have lost far more by this sale.

1) Fail logic. Charms are not a coin sink. They are a gold sink. No coin disappears when you buy one except from your inventory. That doesn't mean they vanish.

2) Fail assumption. In my faction, we had 2 Rank 8's. Two days after the sale we have over 50. Even my wifey bought Rank 8 for her lvl 60 mage to use when they hit 100. Pretty much everyone has Rank 8 now.

3) lolwut?

No, pretty much everyone is screwed, except for the classes that benefit most from R8. Archers, sins, mages and psychics.

Michael_Dark - Lost City wrote: »

1) Fail logic. Charms are not a coin sink. They are a gold sink. No coin disappears when you buy one except from your inventory. That doesn't mean they vanish.

2) Fail assumption. In my faction, we had 2 Rank 8's. Two days after the sale we have over 50. Even my wifey bought Rank 8 for her lvl 60 mage to use when they hit 100. Pretty much everyone has Rank 8 now.

3) lolwut?

No, pretty much everyone is screwed, except for the classes that benefit most from R8. Archers, sins, mages and psychics.

o.O only 2?

michael i can think of at least a dozen people who had rank 8 before the sale and there were many more working on it.

doesnt really change the point though every man and thier dog has it now, hence why im going for rank 9 :P

hehe am i a rank 8 noob?

Michael_Dark - Lost City wrote: »

/facepalm

Did you even read what I said?

I said there probably wasn't even TWO DOZEN.

Please name more than 2 dozen.

Also, please name more than 2 or 3 Rank 8 that was in Essence immediately before the sale.

If not, GTFO.

b:bye

/thread

Nerd Rage Much? b:chuckle

Michael_Dark - Lost City wrote: »

My join date > your join date.

I win.

b:pleased

my join date > your join date

I win.

b:cuteb:victoryb:pleased

Michael_Dark - Lost City wrote: »

My join date > your join date.

I win.

b:pleased

My join date > your join date.

I win.

b:pleasedb:chuckle

both of them are me so i win.

The devolution of gameplay, to coin your term, did not begin with people being able to easily obtain rank8 gear. In fact I would not say that the gameplay devolved if I define gameplay strictly in terms of skills, mechanisms etc and how they work together to give you control over your character and determine how it interacts with the game environment.

What I would say is that the methods required for certain achievements have changed and that the developer have not made the necessary changes as yet to reflect those changes.

A prime example is PvE and bms. Due to interval gear many bms are able to obtain 3-5 attacks per second. How has this changed the game? Well they do not have to rely on skills to kill bosses. If they are charmed and have assassin blood buff they do not need a cleric for certain bosses. If they have enough hp they do not need a barb to come tank a boss. A bm at this point is capable of far more than what perhaps the developers originally envisioned OR perhaps they envisioned it but not to the extent that so many players would have achieved it by now. Considering that packs allowed alot of the gear into the game that gave rise to the 'aps' craze I doubt it was not envisioned by the developers or once they realised the profitability of the craze they allowed it to go full throttle.

Another example is Venomancres using hercs and phoenixes. In one instance Hercs allowed the veno class to become the defacto solo kings (until the aps craze hit in full) and in the other flesh ream on nixes gave them a very nice pvp advantage (I remember when harshlands first started the top faction had a good few nix/reamers doing the TWs), of course 5aps bm and sins wreak far more havoc than the firey birds now.

The game advanced to the state also that many top players have well refined and sharded gears. On harshlands I will never forget watchnig a certain unbuffed sin with +12 Nirvanas downing a bh boss that 2 decently geared 9xs struggled with in exactly 4 seconds (I counted real time).

My points from these few examples are that the characters have been quite powerful for quite some while just not many of them.

What this R8 era has done is to empower more players and in light of the fact that so many players have 90+ characters I see little wrong with pushing the game into a higher gear provided that the developers make upgrades to the PvE in terms of making higher level areas that are difficult even with R8 gear as well as the PvP by making the requisite skill nerfs/boost or perhaps PvP damage calculations.

To me all the buthurting aside because certain people don't feel elite anymore this r8 era has upped the level of competition and now the game seems more competitive as other factions being able to offer up more of a challenge to the top factions.

All of what I have said is evidence enough to me that far from devolving, the gameplay has evolved and its time the dynamics shifted to reflect the evolution. This has happened in many other mmos that I have played (and I have seriously played quite a few of them). As the player got better gears and better skills the developer upped the ante. Making r8 cheap was just thir way of giving the population that little push so they can up their ante as well.

on an aside to the person talking about a certain psychic on harshlands:

said psychic is r9 and has about 4 pieces of r9 gear from what I saw, soulsphere, chest,ring, belt. Said psychic also has nirvana +12 gear etc. Said psychic has alot of money to spend and is playing a class that does a tremendous amount of damage. The belt I believe adds an additional 2500 soul force and said character has +def level stones in every socket. Said character was always (prior to rank sale) heads and shoulders above the average and even not so average players. Please do not use said player as an example of what r8 has done because they were pwning almost everyone well before the rank sale.

Which brings me to a point I have made elsewhere before. Even in the aftermath of the rank sale the order of things still has not changed. Even though a lot of player have benefitted from r8 and are now better able to compete, the top factions on Harshlands still remain at the top and the top players still remain pwn everyone in their path.

Embrace change and adapt. The processes of evolution or even (d)evolution do not wait for those that cannot adapt and leave them behind.

Michael_Dark - Lost City wrote: »

Now.... there are hundreds. Someone was talking about being in-squad with a Rank 8 wizard with only 2k hp. lol

Rank 8 requires level 100. A level 100 PURE MAG wiz has over 2k HP w/o equips. Rank 8 pants and shirt alone unrefined adds over 300.

I heard pigs fly.