The excess xp and current 10x quest exp has trivialized 95% of the game content.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by OzzyOsbourne, Apr 23, 2020.

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  1. Illiaro

    Illiaro Avatar

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    I've been working with some new players and doing the quests myself. There's no way that a new player could finish the quests in 4 hours. Some of our min/max'ers could, but not the majority. Also, crafting thousands of wolf heads/catapult toys/scrolls/potions for XP isn't really crafting, it's just grinding. If crafting is an important part of the game, why put even more barriers up than we already have?
     
  2. Scoffer

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    Thats where the pay to win RMT comes into play unfortunately.
     
  3. Anpu

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    I don’t get crafting resources with RMT though.
     
  4. Violet Ronso

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    But you can buy gold from RMT to then buy ressources, that is what he is saying, but what people with this argument do not mention is that it was as simple to buy gold, then buy mats to make the best crafting exp per hour, then buy the ressources the items, the only difference is that now you get experience from questing instead. As if there was a huge difference
     
  5. Anpu

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    I don’t do any RMT stuff at all. Am I doing it wrong?
     
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  6. Tailz

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    It is not just about you...


    Simply put, with all these changes the game is pointless for many veteran players.
    New players will enjoy until they burn out too, this will also happen faster now than before.
    We have seen this before in other games, outcome = bad unfortunately.
     
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  7. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    Specifically, @Tailz , what changes have made the game "pointless for many veteran players" ?
    I suspect removing the RMT from this forum is what you're referring to, but not certain.
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2020
  8. kaeshiva

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    The faster you go, the sooner you get to the end.
    Its a simple, and linear function.

    When I start a new game, typically I last a month or two until I've reached the level cap, consumed all available content and then I'm done. There's literally no longer any reason to log in because I've got all I'm going to get, and if I really like it I'll make a few alts and do the same, but there's a hard limit on how much playtime (and how much money) they're going to get out of me.

    SotA's kept me interested a lot longer than most (albeit, with a few hiatuses for a few weeks/months at a time to play other games that I quickly "win" and am done with). I've always referred to it as a marathon, not a sprint. There's much more to Sota than "level up, raise skills, level up more, repeat - and I really wish more attention was being put into those systems instead of just adding more and more combat grind and pushing everything to the right. We see it in other systems as well - like artifact combinability - pushing "done" just a bit further out of reach.

    To a new player, getting to the point where you are "done" gets further and further away. So in response, we crank the progression rate up.
    To a veteran player, we think - well, crap, I've been at this for years, and this 2 week old account has blown by me. That's a crappy feeling. And we lose a few people, who bow out of the ratrace.
    We saw this a couple years back with the "first" round of 2x progression, which was made permanent. Now we're seeing it again.
    By this precedent, I'd be better off quitting for a few years and coming back and doing in a week what I could have accomplished in the intervening time.
    I don't really think this is a good model.

    The game needs players. The reality is that I think if you're looking for grind-level-gear up-pvp-repeat game, there's a lot of options out there. Where SotA shines is in _everything else_ it offers, in content that has been completely marginalized by the experience bonanza. It used to be that you did your thing, you lived in a living world, and while you were out chopping wood to make a table to put in your house, you got some exp. While you were out killing evil to take its stuff and sell it to get some money to pay your taxes, you got some exp. You progressed more organically, and while there's always been those who have gravitated toward 'the most efficient fastest xp gain ever', there was always plenty of other stuff to engage in. The whole crafting/industry/economic game could be a game ON ITS OWN if the inefficiencies and clunkiness of it were addressed. The social/deco/dressup/event/roleplay/virtue stuff could be another whole game on its own if it got some love and actually got more fleshed out systems. Instead we see almost all dev time going to: combat balance and related bugfixing/exploit fixing, and adding new stuff to the cash shop to keep revenue coming in.

    It seems our target audience are the combat grind types - and there's nothing wrong with that - but the cash shop stuff? Crafting stations, crafting tools, CF vendors, decoration, and clothes. The very player types that we don't seem to be targeting.

    So, the game needs players. Accelerating the progression to where new players can be on par with people who have been around for years appears to solve 1 small problem: the feeling that people can't catch up. Of course, it means that the people who grind hard are just going to get that much further ahead. The goal's been moved to the right again. I play this 8-10 hours a day, but I'm not an aoe-grinding fire-mage and I don't like parking at CPs. I'm years behind the top players at my current rate of play. And more casual players are probably decades behind me. But yeah, okay, exp bonanza lets you skip past all the early struggles, fine. However I'm concerned that this causes a loss to player retention. If you can get everything done in a month, what's going to keep you here? Why explore a tier 1, 2, 3, 4 or hell, even a tier 5 scene nowadays?

    Now, from a business perspective, if we can get a steady stream of new players who come for a couple months and spend some money before they move on, great. But I know for me personally, I'm far more likely to invest $$ in a game I plan to stick around in. And I feel like the exp floodgates is really hurting the game's "sticking power." Where does this acceleration end? Will we keep pushing it to the right until you can get level 200 skills in a few months and actually hit the hard cap? Should I just put a pin in this, and come back in 5 years' time, assuming the game's still around, and we're on 50x experience or 100x experience and people can grandmaster forestry by chopping down 6 trees (or doing 1 unrelated quest), and spend a week or so 'catching up' on what everyone's able to accomplish while I was away?

    All I know is my best memories of this game have nothing to do with time spent standing at a CP or watching my exp pool climb up. I remember how good my first grandmaster felt, and what an achievement it was. Now you get enough experience to get a grandmaster'd skill before you're out of the outskirts. Its kinda like spending years saving up money to work on fixing up and lovingly polish your car and then someone hands you the keys to a free Ferrari. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but its a completely different experience.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2020
  9. Illiaro

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    Other games have tiered equipment so that it had to be replaced throughout the lifetime of a character several times. It's always amusing to see a new player wearing better gear than I could craft after starting with the game. There are a lot of ways to improve the game, but Catnip needs time and staff.
     
  10. Warrior B'Patrick

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    Greetings all
    There is a saying that I learned a log time ago. I have updated it to be PC correct, "Give a person a stick and they make it a weapon, give another person a stick and they make it a Doll"

    I have been here since 2013 and have just recently complete the main quest. I am more interested in exploring and talking to NPCs to see what is hidden/build into the game. So many Easter eggs! The 2x and 10x exp just means I can now raise my crafting level and craft more and higher level items. Or I can explore areas that I could not enter before due to my adventure level. To me it is better to be an Optimist than be unhappy.
     
  11. Drilikath

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    Glad you waited and did not help at all with the bugged quest for the years the rest of us did. I do not get to share in the bounty of being a slacker. I used my reset when the NUE came in to test that out. Now I do not get that great xp you are talking about. You might be one of the Louder SOTA supporters, but sometimes even you get egg on your face.
     
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  12. Warrior B'Patrick

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    Greetings @Drilikath
    Yep I spent my time enjoying the game, exploring, doing quest, oh yeah and reporting bugs. I just don't go around proclaiming I am doing a service. I just do it and go have some more fun.
     
  13. Drilikath

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    It has nothing to do with RMT, I spent 2k+ hours playing sota over the years to watch all my progress get wiped out by one guy in a week now... That is what I am sure he was talking about.

    With that same player now being over adv 100 in week. What content is left 3-4 places to do, How long until that gets old and they leave?
     
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  14. FrostII

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    How did all YOUR progress get wiped out by someone else ?
     
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  15. Violet Ronso

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    My question is, apart from the fact that mobs are easier, how is it that all the rest of the content dissapeared?

    Those who wanted to get as much exp as possible have always done just that, get as much exp as possible, be it the monkey room, control points, UT, or ANY other method we have had over the years, those who didnt care about other scenes never went, and that isnt something that just started happening now. You know what did happen though? People who had never done quests before have started doing them because they know how rewarding it is now! Now, people are actually interested in going in other zones to find quests for that juicy bonus, and it helps them discover new areas. Meanwhile, people who aim to actually discover things can still do it, and are rewarded for it.

    That is how I see all these new changes : those who didnt care still dont, some who werent sure actually decided to go for it now, and those who want to explore are finally rewarded for it, sorry for those who "wasted" their time enjoying a game for so long, guess now more groups can enjoy the same game which seems somehow to ruin your fun...
     
  16. Drilikath

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    Because the time and effort I put in, thousands of hours = 500m xp. On a new character In 1 day I can get 500m xp. I spent 1,000's of hours with xp at 250k max.

    I do not have a quest reset. So I can not get that same XP on an older character as I can a new one either.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2020
  17. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    2 questions @Drilikath :
    1 - You still haven't told us how your progress ( your thousands of hours = 500m xp) got "wiped out" by someone. (You lost it all, right? - Which is what wiped out means to me)
    2 - I don't think you can get 500mil xp's in one day... Can you explain how?
     
  18. CarlNZ

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    But how does them having that xp affect you? It hasn't made you any weaker or cost you anything . Like those who are massively ahead have always said to others complaining about catching up, other people's progress doesn't effect your game.
     
  19. Drilikath

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    It does, I can not do the quests and get that massive xp, so it is an unfair advantage.

    WTH are you talking about, does not make me weaker? Welcome to shroud have you played it?
    Having 1/2 the xp I should makes me 100% weaker in any skill(s) I would want to invest that 500m xp, including resist.

    Not to mention getting the shaft from not being able to do the quest line with 10x xp, but you keep saying how I am not losing/lost.
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2020
  20. Drilikath

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    A brand new player has no xp cap until level 100 adventure = 125m xp. AKA No attenuation. Then do the Main Quest Line, Plus side quests/Cabs/etc. It has been shown through this thread how a brand new character can do what an old vet can not.


    And it is lost, I did not get a X10 to my xp pool like all these brand new people, its a giant slap in the face like every single other choice. 500m xp * 10, hell even * 2 gets me twice as much..


    And as the OP stated, it makes 95% the game pointless because these people gained 100m+ in one day 1-100 adv. But thanks...

    If they wanted to change xp caps/gains, it should be retroactive, not punish vets who did the quests. Award the same amount of xp, or give them a reset. Simple.
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2020
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