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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
What is a 'backup' to you?
It's a pyramid, in BDO.
If you have +18 (TRI) Gear, and you want to attempt +19 (TET) gear, while not losing power, you must obtain a second piece of +18 (TRI) Gear.
Except that to get that, you had to have a backup DUO gear.
And to get that you had to have a backup PRI gear (until you are higher level).
It works, it's just UNFAIR in a way that is hard to explain to someone with your mindset on PLAYING these games.
The people are not necessarily quitting because they 'Blew up their TRI and it went back to DUO' or even that they don't have a backup.
They are quitting because they want to participate in content that goes MUCH better with TET gear and every time they try to Enhance it they fail, then have to use the same annoying streaky system to get a new backup.
If this is somehow NOT what L2 does, please explain it precisely.
The lower bound at which BDO items do not lose their enchantment is PRI. Your base chance of upgrading from PRI to DUO is about 20%.
*talking to more people that played linage as well and their experience with the enhancement system
Side note *unique weapon is cool and should feel powerful and very special, that i agree with it being destroyed overtime, not really through enhancing though.
"There is durability in the game... It's not going to be a trivial durability. There is a potential to destroy gear (weapons and armor), but there is also an ability to reforge that destroyed gear using a portion of the materials necessary as well as finding an item creator who can reforge it.[2] – Steven Sharif"
Ya that is why I'm unsure how i missed the weapons destroyed through using it, 've never heard that before. But I'm sure even keeping up there are plenty i miss with the game.
Or as hapy said, you have a "raw" version of your weapon/gear (no horizontal enchantments no nothing, which makes it quite a bit cheaper) and you just risk that one instead of your main.
And yes, those who hate grinding would obviously hate this kind of system. But again, in L2 you didn't need to have some +6 uberweapon to clear content or win in pvp, so people didn't feel too bad if they went back to +3 instead of to +6.
As I've been saying since the very beginning of this thread - for me OE is the last step in your character's progress. It gives you marginal power growth for a huge cost, but when you're already at the very top, even 1-3% of power could give you an upper hand in pvp, and from what I understand of usual "top difficulty pve" - the same applies there. As we've already discussed with you, BDO's gear design fucks up this system so much that it feels waaay worse than L2's ever did, because you feel like you HAVE TO OE to progress, and iirc in some places you literally have to.
Then the question is back to the same one as always, and I truly thank you for the input.
This technically means that the Enhancing System is not the flaw, the content 'gating' is. I know this, but then one must question, is this form of content 'gating' innate to MMOs? I would argue that for Fantasy MMOs with open world builds, it is, but I hope to be proven wrong.
I do not know of a reasonable way to build challenging PvE Content where a player with the equivalent of a +3 gear piece is able to perform effectively compared to a +6 gear piece without either:
1. Giving the +6 Player a massive boost by simply improving their efficiency.
or
2. Having the +6 Player be BORED due to ease of content and therefore more willing to OE gear just for the chance of being returned to the state of having something interesting to do.
I know people who have experienced both of these in BDO during the time before they were willing to add high end content on Console. Basically, the hardcore players hit the end fast and then had nothing to do because 'there were not enough non-hardcore players to justify adding the next tier of content'.
The result was catastrophic in my opinion. The few 'diehard tryhards' just used their additional power to overwhelm the economy and save up for the moment that new content was released, and then as soon as it was, blitzed their way to having the best gear for that too. Now, the system PROBABLY prevented a situation in which ALL of those players succeeded (EDIT for Clarity Was Here). Did those players enjoy that? Who knows.
The complaints though, were obvious. And the complaints of 'top players' spread to the non-playing community that one hopes will eventually get interested in your game.
"This is boring."
"Pearl Abyss is holding us back."
"Caphras when?" (this is a game specific 'meme')
The psychology of this is imo, terrible. There are entire zones in BDO that time was spent to create that maybe 3% of players can reasonably access. This is fine, technically. What is not fine, in this paradigm, is that the player who WANTS to push to access this content, is THEN gated by RNG.
But if their alternative is 'just don't add more content', then what's the point?
tl;dr if OE gear is not required, OE success players win by being so strong that they have efficiency boosts. Winner decided by RNG, even amongst the top.
If OE gear IS required, OE success players win by having access to better grindspots than others. Winner decided by RNG, ESPECIALLY amongst the top.
Hopefully this doesn't matter. But it's also, from every angle I can see, unnecessary, and your system is better. I'm mostly saying 'don't go defending L2's system and saying it's much different from BDO', because it apparently really is not, the GAME is different, and not necessarily in a good way, as its PvE experience is ... lackluster, which may be the thing ALLOWING basic OE to work.
Exactly why as a more hardcore mmo player where there is a system that is fun challenge, has its own risk but doesn't create a reason for friends to jump ship and just gamble their gear and have no reason to come back to the game. I don't want people to see that and be like nope im not playing that because its going to end up as a gambling simulator where someone can lose all their gear.
There is no reason not to create something fun, with the mix of linage 2 vertical and horizonal enhancement without gear destruction.
Cause I feel like reliance on the trinity+buffers of L2 allowed OEing to not influence ease of pve too much. Yes, you'd kill mobs maybe 1-3 secs faster, but you could only do that because you had your full buffs, a tank/bard kiting them around and a healer behind you if you needed it. You super cool OE gear didn't contribute all that much.
So I think Intrepid just needs to properly design mobs around classes and their potential combinations (which is obviously a difficult task to pull off well enough). Give mobs some growing resistances against weapons that hit them the hardest in the party. Maybe do it in an "evolution" way, where, the more one party grinds the same group of mobs (if that is even viable) - the higher those mobs' resistance to the gear used would be. So you'd either have to change out DPS' weapons (at which point you lose your OE) or you'd have to move to some other place (which might not be optimal/desired farm).
Though obviously that's the plainest and easiest way to put a soft lock on OE powers. Ideally you'd have some cool mechanics and combat abilities for mobs that make it harder for parties to farm them and requires everyone to excel at their role and not just make the OE boi the star.
That would be kind of funny lmao "O shit don't let him enhance" lmfao
Overenhance special rare item that once you use it, it makes it clear to everyone and it last for 30 min. At the end of the time your weapon/gear is destroyed. But it gives you a 20% bonus and some special effect.
Right but then I ask, why do all this to protect a system that by the nature of what you are doing, you are TRYING to negate? Why not just... not add it?
I'm not even disagreeing with you. I would play that game, I DO play that game (FFXI does this in different ways in various places). But FFXI therefore doesn't HAVE much that can be considered 'OE' because there's no need to build a system of that type when your content is actively opposing it. Who are you building it for?
If the content is so enjoyable without the OE power, the point of the system would be entirely back to:
"Giving a rush to gamblers and bored people who want to throw away their money."
"Taking materials out of the economy via those gamblers and bored people."
Part of why I never actually enchant in BDO is exactly this. I don't CARE about the content, the only reason I'd have to care is because someone with better gear will PvP me and annoy me.
If you're not giving people power over others in PvP, efficiency, extra money, or even additional satisfaction in PvE encounters because they're so good without it... just don't add it?
The idea of over-enchanting is to just make things easier/making a single player's presence more-impactful; We have no indication that this will be required in order to be competitive/viable in PvE Raids.
Also - why not just reserve it for a *2nd* item? If Enchanting is safe up to a certain point, then why in the WORLD would you not reserve Over-Enchanting for a *2nd* item or set of gear?
Did he not know the risks going in? It seemed like he DID know.
If he ended up doing this to his ONLY set of gear, is it *really* the game design's fault? What moron would destroy his ONLY set of gear, in such a poorly-done OE process as BDO's?
Also, the potential for an OE system killing a game is just your opinion; I feel it's potential impact is far less. As has been pointed out in this thread already: It's a good time/resources sink for players who *DO* have the time/resources to gamble on OE. From what we know so far, you'll never NEED to OE your gear - but for long-term players, why not make it an option?
Yours truly would have to agree that an OE fail shouldn't mean the complete destruction of an object; just a loss in the stat-gains, as to leave the potential to re-gain progress, should the OE'er decide to continue onward, in the attempts.
Again, this is your opinion. This very much feels like the ethic of a VERY fragile personal gaming-ethic. As Steven Sharif states in the latest monthly update video "There will be winners, and there will be losers." Potential failure will simply be a possibility of the game.
As someone who will be in this for the long run, I'd greatly prefer this, over some over-grindy system of guarantees.
THIS, at least, we can agree upon; I'm not a fan of complete destruction of a rare item, in OE. HOWEVER: I'd support it if you're nearing the VERY TOP TIER of that OE. If we have safety up to +4 and never NEED more than +4 to an item, anything beyond the safe-point should be a gamble; A player is just going for over-kill/super-leetness on their gear, beyond this point. That said, at first? Why not just have something like the +5 to +10 range risk a stat-reduction, and anything OVER the already-extreme level of +10 *then* risk destruction?
This plays into the vision of the greater the risk, the greater the potential for both reward AND for ruin.
This is right-on; In gambling with higher-order OE, players WILL know that there are to be risks; It's not going to be a bunch of rando's stumbling onto something and rage-quitting upon being negatively affected by a system they knew nothing about, ahead of time.
@Mag7spy seems to be obsessed with the notion that players will be OE'ing and breaking their ONLY set of gear. We have NO INDICATION that this will be a forced aspect of the game; Why not do OE'ing only with expendable pieces of gear, instead of your ONLY gear?
And if it's a party v party, your few % of power can be amplified by buffers and you now might get crits that can kill an enemy in 30 secs instead of 40 secs (and that's huuuge in pvp).
And if it's a huge pvp in a siege, with all tiers of gear on your enemies, your hits might oneshot some robe-wearing boi few tiers below you, while you might've not done so before. And your dps throughout the siege is way bigger now, because your 3% from OE applies to each your hit against each enemy, and that shit builds up over time.
And what's most important for me personally - a meaningful treadmill. Grinding some pve just to upkeep my gear is cute and all, but I'd rather aim for smth higher than that. Obviously I'm in the minority here, but it's not like there's no other mechanics that appeal to minor parts of the mmo gamer group.
That was prob one of his only pieces of gear that he doesn't use, but overall that is enhancement in a nutshell 6 months of effort for nothing. Something that is far out of reach of any casual and average player.
Its very easy to say just have more gear, its not that simple with the effects of constantly gambling of ones gear. Its the same argument people use in games "Just don't pay to win." There will be a lot of reasons or breaking points that will have a percentage of player base reach a point where frustrations win over. From pvp content, pve content, allies, failing, etc.
You can create an amazing system that has risk, without gear destruction. Im unsure how many mmos you played with gear enhancing but a lot of people really dislike it. There is no reason for ashes for follow something that most people really dislike rather then have their own spin on it that invites long term progression and isn't as toxic without the risk of losing players over frustration.
Oh, well I'd be fine with that, except now you've effectively said 'if you're luckier you get PvP benefits'. I'd opt out of that game if I was unlucky or lucky and probably play more if I was average until I started to lose to lucky people, then stop.
To each their own.
And like I've said before, I've seen people overcoming RPS balancing through OE and I've seen OEd people lose to non-OEd ones due to the latter one's skill.
At the end of the day it's all about the overall balancing of everything. If additional 3% of gear power makes you a bit too OP, I'd say that's a design problem. But if those 3% just give you a 3% higher chance of winning a, previously, 50% winnable fight - that's, imo, fair. Like Noaani said "in mmorpgs, the ones who play the game better win".
I definitely don't agree here, and neither does 'Classical Statistics', but I've made that point enough times already.
"GM, 20d100: 49, 69, 33, 46, 31, 36, 34, 14, 34, 24, 14, 13, 66, 38, 24, 73, 47, 90, 28, 89 = 852"
Hope you didn't have to roll 10 or lower for your upgrade.
EDIT: Or 91+, for that matter.
All i see is fluff, you don't need to make gear destroyed to have all of that. The only reason you make gear destroyed is to make it so they go all in for the increase with the time investment to do it or they don't have it. You can easily do all of that with destroyed gear and still have the rng involved with enhancements with other risk involved. "Reduced stats, reduced durability, reduced stats, etc.
Regardless of gear destruction enhancement can still be challenging and ensure players don't end up quitting when they are eventually introduced to a system that has there gear going bye bye by rng. There are 100 other great methods that will keep the player base short, long and mid term. I want the game to be successful as a lot of people I just know from not just my by others experience including people that have played linage as im finding out more people around me that have done so have issues with this kind of system.
+
Hey, I'm curious about this third "just don't add it" option - don't you think the exclusive "glow" effect on weapons adds a big incentive?
If OE gives:
- +5% stat advantage compared to 0 OE
- exclusive aesthetic glow
Do you think this is significant enough to make OE desireable to the population?Without tipping the balance too far in OE's favour?
(As long as weapon glow cannot be attained by any other means)
Hey Intrepid! I don't want your sparkles all the time, make sure there is a separate particle effect switch off button just for the gear 'rarity' and enchants vfx. The more layers we can turn off individually the better.
OE in this case refers to 'A thing that is attained by pushing a limit through RNG'.
It being desirable is, in my perception, a negative.
"If you want that glow on your weapon you should make a backup, because this isn't intended for the average player, it's a way to reward those who take a risk. Go, Dice Roll!"
I think I'm not really following. Why add OE as 'the path to get a cosmetic glow'? The thing I'm addressing is never actually about the power gap the Enchanting system adds, that's just balance. I'm addressing 'why some players get to do it for much less effort than others with nothing to show for it and no alternate direction option. You play BDO, so you know how this goes.
Dice> GM, 20d100: 55, 9, 41, 9, 69, 34, 29, 77, 94, 23, 34, 44, 34, 98, 63, 64, 44, 9, 24, 43 = 897
This person gets OE 11 immediately, then wants OE12 so they buy OE10 again and raise it to 11, then attempt OE12. After failing roll #1 (the 34), they buy another OE10, upgrade it to 11 on the 77 roll, get to OE12 on the 94 roll, get another OE10, try until OE11 on that (so that they have two OE 11), get it on a 98 (ooh so close on that 45), OE12 again on the next roll, so now there's a backup, roll for OE13 once... nothing. Final result after 20 attempts is OE12 and a leftover OE11 (give or take strategy).
Total Spent, assuming that their 'Adding 15% chance scroll' was not used every time once they started to get higher, is 18-20hrFarm depending on strategy.
Dice> GM, 20d100: 63, 97, 56, 85, 37, 68, 75, 56, 26, 83, 88, 18, 97, 93, 74, 96, 61, 25, 19, 39 = 1256
I don't even need to calculate this person's outcomes. And I invoke my integrity to assure you that TODAY (I did this yesterday and got a relatively even spread over 11 separate 20d100 and explicitly 'cherry picked' the worst one on the curve because my point is that there IS ALWAYS A WORST ONE) these were back to back rolls from our DiceBot. The 'worst' outcome this player could possibly have is that they fail to use a scroll on that 83 roll and/or waste it on a new OE11.
You can just look at that and know the person is RNG-carried by comparison. Especially because of how human mentality to gambling goes. If you were a super careful person, within the first 3 rolls you have 3 OE11 and on the fourth you have your OE12 even if you ran out of ChanceBuffScroll. Total cost to that person $6hr Farm. If you were a 'crazy big bet' style player though, you could literally 'get OE12 in two rolls without a scroll' here. Total cost, $1hrFarm for the same RESULT as the first player, since they might just go 'ooh sweet a good day' and stop.
Good days do NOT even out across 'people', or bell curves wouldn't look like that.
So yeah, why make a system that randomly rewards players that is ALSO not going to give them ANYTHING of value if it fails? It may seem like other systems do this, but generally they don't, because if you 'take the risk' of attacking a Mob you don't know, you normally gain either exp and drops or just personal experience and a 'nice fight'/'interesting memory'.
In the case of OE, the player gets an explicitly negative memory. It's not 'an experience' that they benefit from or enjoy (masochistic gamblers REPRESENT! - if I'm wrong about that) as long as their goal was 'to get an OE weapon' and not 'to enjoy the rush of gambling'.
So if the OUTCOME of an RNG system with a LOSS and no personal experience/memory is DESIRABLE I would greatly prefer that less RNG was involved with it OR that a proper personal experience/ALTERNATE positive was the result.
And I personally took the losses as the sacrifice required for the potential beauty. Yes, losing felt bad, but L2 also had 60% chance crafting recipes so by the time you came to OEing your gear - you were more than used to losing mats.
Haha, but on-topic I remind, I've got no problem with sacrifices, I've got a problem with Player A sacrificing 20h and Player B sacrificing ONE. I personally don't even put up with this stuff in single player games unless the action I am taking for 20h is one I enjoy enough to take anyway.
But I'm definitely selfish enough (you could say 'attuned to my own self-care') that if I was person A and knew Person B and they were my rival and not my friend, I will quit the game even though we BOTH NOW HAVE OE12 gear to have an even match with.
That is what people mean when they say a game 'does not respect their time'.
And if it's closer to 20 for everyone, then you're fucking over all the people who can't spend that time for an upgrade (especially if it's extra content and not a necessary one). So imo having a range for those things is fairer.
Now you could say that the game could have some skill-dependent range of time instead of pure rng, but this too would cut off a part of the playerbase who don't have that amount of skill or the time to acquire it.
Obviously this opinion comes from a person who's super used to rng mechanics in their game, but I think it's important to have a different outlook in such discussions
Its a video game... i dont think gear destruction on enchanting. A decision you make as a player. Can mean your time was disrespected. (Within reason) like if you can play 95% of the game without needing a perfect OE weapon. Then its your decision how much you want to invest in making it that last 5%
Again i think alot of this is a very "solo player perspective" if you want a maxed out sword, and you dont want to spend your time trying to enchant it and it failing..... grind gold.... and buy one.... from a guild or something.... and then boom. Go play your game.