Aluviya wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 12:21 pm
Balance is a very fragile construct in this game. Introducing new liniments or consumeables that can only be aquired in an event will most likely harm specific areas of the game:
- small scale pvp -- Here you'd always want the best possible liniments and consumeables - not having them on the other hand can cost you a victory over your enemies. I do like the idea of new liniments, don't get me wrong. But having a liniment with +5 % Healcrit, 60 Wounds is just way way more superior than 50 Healpower 60 Wounds. Consumeables like "Haakt" which we've seen in the prior event are simply broken.
- overall ingame economy -- People selling regular consumeables are doomed to sit out events like this or are even forced to take out the offer as they won't sell for quite a long time. While trades are allowed and even encouraged, players that already have a fortune or a lot of time can buy/grind important ingredients like Oak Wood in this event and can get even richer by selling these rare liniments at a later time or stash a lifetime supply.
- elitist gaming encouraged -- Events like this are the times when veterans that usually don't play return back to the game to grind event scenarios in premades- forcing PUGs, in order to finish event influence quests, into a pretty harsh and frustrating game experience while facing them. Of course one could/would say they could create a party on their own but let's face it - you can't compensate years of experience in this game just by building a "premade" yourself that consists out of other pugs. I am pretty convinced that events are - despite raising the overall population for a little time- harming the aquisition of entirely new players.
I view the first and second points as positives, actually.
Giving players extra incentive to get some limited edition consumables to give them an edge in certain situations. This is precisely what makes it engaging for veteran players, gives them a reason to play and a feeling of progression or reward. Of course this should always be within certain bounds, but in my opinion the Kislev and Pie Week events did this quite well. I would argue for making them all tradeable, though. That way there may develop a market for them and players who missed out are able to catch up by spending their gold on the AH.
In terms of economy, I can assure you there hasn't been a single event in which new players could have made more gold than this one, so I disagree that it had a negative impact. This was people's chance to empty the pockets of "elite" players, because I haven't seen a gold sink as great as this one before and it's a good thing - the game needs more.
Lastly, premade vs. pug and the painful new player experience it can bring is a persistent problem in RoR. However, I disagree the root cause has anything to do with the seasonal events.