Post#26 » Tue Aug 09, 2022 12:15 am
When it comes to gear I definitely agree with Wargrimnir here, as touching gear or trying to implement something along the lines of "streamlined" gear for sc's, or "skin" items would directly kill anything other than cookie cutter builds and WAR would stop existing on the day that would be done.
Which is also why my suggestion does not touch on gear balancing at all and I only responded to the poster suggesting this as it has difficult implications and would derail the conversation about the suggestion, and it is also not on class balancing, but rather only on the one aspect of pushing numbers to even out fights to be more enticing and overall fun for all players, both in challenging the players that today may have issues finding a good fight, and for those who feel that many of the fights today are completely unbalanced.
I never believe we can have, or should have perfect equality, just for everyone to have a fighting chance while learning to become better players. Being chucked into the deep end and fighting the same premades on repeat if you don't have the gear/skill or players to field a premade to counter them is over time toxic to the growth of the game. In no way am I saying that you should not group up and learn to play the game better, but if the game is to have any hope of longevity there is not enough players with weak skills or gear for beginners to face anymore.
The game is old, the playerbase is old, you can't shove experts vs beginners on repeat and expect a better outcome with equal numbers, unless the goal is to keep 1 out of xx amount of players that manage to push through that phase. I desire the game to grow again, for new players to be able to have fun even while doing the long gear grinds, and for premades to have a functional level of enemy to face every day.
The entire idea behind the original suggestion and the adjustments done with several helpful posts from the community along the way, is to highlight that within the tools available there is the possibility of giving both sides of the coin, both veterans and beginners a bigger arena to fight on without having to change classes or change gearing speed. The grind can be kept at it's current speed so longevity is preserved, while getting more interesting fights for everyone.
Keep gearing speed as it is, a slight nudge to renown might be appreciated by some, and I would definitely not be hollering for wanting bolster in t4. The gear is what makes so many of the classes and builds work, and balancing that would be a horrendous job if anyone ever tried to strip stats out of the equation and would frankly ruin the game.
I wanted to air a possibility, and see what the community would come up with to fine tune the suggestion. And I have frankly been impressed with how well that has gone over, with constructive posts, interested voices that have aired their ideas and contributions in pointing out both the upsides and the downsides of the original proposal and how to fix those issues.
On the side of nudging the players into being motivated to group up and organize better, that could be done in tandem with a system like this, if suitable rewards are implemented by the developers, and as the system would make certain that at least an acceptable level of wins would happen for everyone it would be a steady grind that could be sped up by organizing, while still being within reach for anyone no matter class, build or gear. Though that is a much more complicated job, and therefore not something I wanted to include in my suggestion as just getting a more vivid and engaging level of fighting for every player was my main goal. A entertained playerbase is a healthy playerbase.