Returning Player Experience - Things got better, worse, didn't change

[mynban]

Been a real while since I last played and saying having found a lot changed would be an understatement. I tested things on my old toons nicely geared 70+, as well as some fresh toons. My experience with fresh toons is of course bound to be more informed than an actual new player.

RR70+ experience This is much better with warcrests replacing unique crests. I feel like translation value makes the gain less than what it would be in previous system but still better since those toons had nothing to gain from anything but forts and cities. Now they can actually participate in lakes and benefit from it.

Fresh toon experience This is somewhat underwhelming and rushed due to removal of xp reduction scrolls. I can see why they are removed since actual new players didn't even know about their existence and only veterans utilized it. But in its absence I even skipped gear brackets due to how fast it was levelling.

Fresh T4 experience with fresh 40 low RR toons In all my time in WAR and ROR this has never been as bad as it is now. In the past with xp reduction scroll a new toon would reach T4 with RR50+, and they would practically start their T4 with vanq. Now it starts in conq, and I have seen many other fresh T4 toons that doesn't even have full conq. It is extremely hard to find a reason to keep playing a fresh T4 toon. I think bolster could be easily extended to pre-vanq gear. Those toons desperately need it.

RvR It is just as bad as it always were, practically nothing but PvDoor. I have been in 30+ keep captures so far, and the only time it wasn't PvDoor was once at Calendor where both sides actually decided to fight around the bridges before camps. With that exception it is just PvDoor again and again. There is literally no incentives for underdog to attempt a defense. AAO is as pointless as ever, where it only incentives roaming party who hunt strays trying to reach main zerg, but those groups never engage the zerg or defend the keep; so lake remains PvDoor regardless of people wanting to benefit from AAO. If it weren't for genesis crests being separate from warcrests, I doubt people would bother with PvDoor even. AAO needs to be replaced with something that actually intensives people to go and defend their keep.

Scenarios I saw Discordant SCs, and I loved the idea. But didn't took too long before I noticed you can queue duo, and discord coordinated premades abusing this to get into disc SCs. Usual disgusting behavior. What I dont get is why did devs even allow for duo queueing? let anyone who wanna party to go to regular SCs, and keep discord SC completely pug. It almost feels like a backdoor for premade exploit was intentionally left in there, so that certain premades can keep roflstomping pugs.

Ranked Dead as ever, but one good thing is that you can now get ranked gear with normal crests. I am glad devs finally realized how pointless ranked was.

[CozyFren]

Good write up - I also recently returned and agree with much of what you’ve noted.

To the point of leveling and being a fresh 40: even without the reduced xp scrolls I was able to get a new character to rr60 before I dinged 40. I was able to immediately wear vanq tier. I am lucky that Bloodlord is desirable for my build so after just 3 runs in Bastion I will be in invader tier after only a week or so of being level 40.

I say all this just to illustrate that you don’t *have* to be fresh 40 in conq or lower. The main way I accomplished it was to avoid pve completely other than 1 sewer run to get my Keeper set and the quest line in the dwarf city to get the renown pots, which you definitely want to use as much as possible - always take the rr pot reward for weekly rvr as well! I also only did scs when rvr was completely dead (ie in the first hour post-fort) or in order to complete the current live event tasks. My focus was mainly rvr, even during pvdoor times.

Even with doing this to slow down xp gain it still only took about 5 weeks of somewhat casual play to get to 40/60 so it wasn’t like it severely slowed me down to get to 40. If you play more than a few hours a day it will take even less time.

[rejndjer]

you can do something like that, but no new player will ever do it like that. they'll all be in green lvl 30 gear when they hit 40.

[cromathor]

I agree that hitting CR40 can feel pretty tough, but the scrolls were only used by people to make smurfs and terrorize mid tier SCs and some levels of bolstered play. You can go from rr40 to rr60 in a matter of a day or two by just doing the weekend SC, so it's not that big of a deal. Yes, you're gonna feel weak, but progression is part of why people play RPGs in the first place. You're supposed to feel weak before you feel strong.

[Fallenkezef]

The best solution, as suggested in other posts and I think the devs may even be considering it, is some SCs being gear capped.

[Bozzax]

A real solution would be adjusting the gear curve RR35-RR55 and some end gear reverts such as the 4pc/5pc option

[Fallenkezef]

you can do something like that, but no new player will ever do it like that. they'll all be in green lvl 30 gear when they hit 40.

I'm actualy quite surprised, i'm in mid tier with my new toon atm. Most of the players I'm in the Scs with are in current crest gear for their level. It seems the community and other factors are in play that properly sign post people to get gear as they level.

[DirkDaring]

Good write up - I also recently returned and agree with much of what you’ve noted.

To the point of leveling and being a fresh 40: even without the reduced xp scrolls I was able to get a new character to rr60 before I dinged 40. I was able to immediately wear vanq tier. I am lucky that Bloodlord is desirable for my build so after just 3 runs in Bastion I will be in invader tier after only a week or so of being level 40.

I say all this just to illustrate that you don’t *have* to be fresh 40 in conq or lower. The main way I accomplished it was to avoid pve completely other than 1 sewer run to get my Keeper set and the quest line in the dwarf city to get the renown pots, which you definitely want to use as much as possible - always take the rr pot reward for weekly rvr as well! I also only did scs when rvr was completely dead (ie in the first hour post-fort) or in order to complete the current live event tasks. My focus was mainly rvr, even during pvdoor times.

Even with doing this to slow down xp gain it still only took about 5 weeks of somewhat casual play to get to 40/60 so it wasn’t like it severely slowed me down to get to 40. If you play more than a few hours a day it will take even less time.

You were able to get from lvl 1 to 40 and renown rank 60, after 5 weeks as Destruction player ? that`s good, it used to take a lot longer to level, and gear up.

[CozyFren]

You were able to get from lvl 1 to 40 and renown rank 60, after 5 weeks as Destruction player ? that`s good, it used to take a lot longer to level, and gear up.

I was able to replicate this process on both sides, on destro I did it on a rdps character and on order side on a 2h tank class. I found it was slightly faster on the rdps character rr-gain wise per kill but I found it harder to find groups other than pug wbs. Even as a 2h it was easy to find people to play with as a tank.

If a player doesn’t have a guild (imo they should join one, makes everything easier) or friends to roll with, playing heals or a tank class that guards and assists compulsively will allow them to find a group easily and thus plenty of opportunity for increased renown gain. Going it alone on a dps class is harder-mode imo - yes you get kills and that gives you renown but personally I find group play (along with an rr pot) yields much better rr gain per hour played.

[Fallenkezef]

You were able to get from lvl 1 to 40 and renown rank 60, after 5 weeks as Destruction player ? that`s good, it used to take a lot longer to level, and gear up.

I was able to replicate this process on both sides, on destro I did it on a rdps character and on order side on a 2h tank class. I found it was slightly faster on the rdps character rr-gain wise per kill but I found it harder to find groups other than pug wbs. Even as a 2h it was easy to find people to play with as a tank.

If a player doesn’t have a guild (imo they should join one, makes everything easier) or friends to roll with, playing heals or a tank class that guards and assists compulsively will allow them to find a group easily and thus plenty of opportunity for increased renown gain. Going it alone on a dps class is harder-mode imo - yes you get kills and that gives you renown but personally I find group play (along with an rr pot) yields much better rr gain per hour played.

The game drops new players into a guild early on. Forces of destro or forces of order. The single best qol improvement I've seen. Made it allot easier early on.