I get that you are trying to promote crafting...but the economy changes exposed serious problems

Comments

• Ludullu Member, Alpha Two

  May 5

  Imo the issue also comes from the current themepark mob lvl distribution.
  
  People don't need nodes to grow in order to farm higher lvl mobs with better loot tables, so people just don't care about nodes at all. Which then makes said nodes lvl slowly, which in turn slows down the potential crafting buildings - all the while the hardcore players that are farming high lvl mobs have already reached max lvl and are now farming world bosses who'll drop items better than anything we'll be able to craft in the next month.
  
  I understand that it's gotta be difficult to properly implement the "mob lvls grow with node growth", but what exactly are we testing right now then? Is it just the first 5 lvls of character progress? Cause even that wouldn't really be realistic to the supposed final product.
  
  Right now people can't really leave the starting area because they don't have the gear to fight stronger mobs, but literally all the mobs outside of the starting area are way higher lvl and are strong as fuck. This then means that servers lag and crash way more often (cause people haven't dispersed) and this creates player behavior that will not match the one that we'll hopefully have on release.
  
  My gameplay plan has always been "I login on release and just fucking book it to my preferred node, because that node will have lvl1-5 mobs for me to kill", exactly because the promise has always been "mob lvls rely on node lvl and its ZOI, so the world will be player-driven". I tried enacting this plan in this fresh server by going to Azmaran at lvl9 with a few pieces of gear and 2 Sanctus weapons.
  
  The only mob that I could BAAAARELY kill is the Broodling, but even then I had to handpick the lvl13 ones (cause everyone else was 14-16) and I'd be left at ~10% hp every time. And that's with me doing a full combo with a strong reflect hit, a trip and a stun on that fucker.
  
  In other words, my plan literally doesn't work right now. I sure as hell hope this will not be the case for release.

  2
• Azherae Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two

  May 5

  Our feedback, from a group that likes grinding, is that the foundations of grind are not there. Since the current focus of testing is the FTUE I will try to explain it from that lens but it's so far off that I must explain it by referencing another game as usual.
  
  In FF11 you start in one of your three nations with weak starter Armor. Body, Legs, Shoes, Gloves. And ofc your Job's main weapon at the lowest quality (Bronze, for them). You chat to some nearby NPCs and ofc there is one nearby that you can ask the questions of how to go out into the world and beat things up.
  
  At the gate there is an NPC that explains why. The concept of Crystals ties together a lot here, basically informing the player that the first thing they need to care about is collecting crystals, it's their livelihood. The Conquest system (basically Node Exp) is also explained but isn't as vital to remember.
  
  At this point the player knows that if they want to progress they should get Signet (so Crystals drop and the Conquest Points are earned) go kill things and get Crystals. If they chose to go the other way, the 'crafting' path', there's an established guild in the starter cities. If you talk to someone there, they will randomly mention a recipe or give you a quest.
  
  This Crafting quest will provide you with one of: Hat, Ring/Earring, Cloak, depending on where you started. Thematically tied to some stuff (in Ashes I'd almost say it is justifiable for this to be polish but at the same time why not implement something?
  
  For now, that's it. If you log in with a plan, it's just an advanced version of the same plan that a person who is playing an RPG will find within 10 minutes. Once you're outside it doesn't matter what you kill, Crystals will happen. You can play the game like this for many levels, and the Crystals then 'force' you to interact with other players/economy.
  
  I want to stop here, I don't know if the perspective in the studio is that you don't/didn't have the time, that modern players need more handholding or need the pain point of 'having to interact with others early' removed, or even just 'wanting to test what happens when players are pushed moreso into feeling adventurous than they are to understand Glint'.
  
  There's so much that I wish I could understand if designers understand without writing essays.
  
  But let's start small. In Ashes this is what I would be expecting based on the prior 'personal baseline'.
  
  I come through the portal, someone asks me to 'look over here' (Cam Tutorial), then if I can walk alright (Movement Tutorial), then makes some joke about me coming through with just the shirt on my back, implies I will need a hat at least, explains Glint a little ('You'll need it in this world to do just about anything, adventurer!), tells me to grab a weapon until I can make my own, and sends me on to all the other people (Crafting stations, Meds shop, etc). The cloth-crafter explains that newbies can make hats out of scraps of cloth that Goblins have (not me, though, I come from a world where Goblins are REFINED and wear near-full armor) or metal stuff out of earrings they drop and I'm off to fight Goblins because I don't have a hat or earrings.
  
  But ofc this barely works as a 'real unifying incentive' since the gear formulae don't reward it as much... meh.
  
  Ah well, did my part I hope.

  Stellar Devotion.

  1
• Imnotkio Member, Alpha Two

  May 6

  I agree that there are issues, but I disagree with some of the solutions.
  
  If you look at the codex, there are a lot of "redundant" gear pieces inside its own tier that provide roughly the same stat lines, but are way weaker. These items are marked with an item level that ranges from, for example, 10 to 19. I think you should have all the level 10 items unlocked, with a comprehensive build diversity inside those, and the recipe drops for items with higher level power (11 to 19) should have the rarity appropriate for their item level. And of course, this would go for the other tiers as well.
  
  I'd say the resource costs were mainly fine for P2, but the increase in P3 doesn't make much sense, especially since we rely more on crafting now. I would also say tier 0 crafting is way too complex for the first tier of the system, and some tier 1 resources are way too scarce in the world.
  
  I don't think increasing the common drop gears in the answer. Players who want that dopamine hit won't be satisfied with trash gear. At the same time that trash gear could be used for players to bypass the crafting through the leveling period. Ppl hit level 25 in this wipe without any items basically. Any slight increase in power given by gear drops will make crafting ignored before the max level.
  
  The solution is not to increase gear drops, I'd even go further and say remove any gear drops rare or below, and create a system where grinding becomes very rewarding and fulfilling through crafting material drops from mobs. The solution is to make early crafting a lot more affordable and streamlined, so players can easily craft a tier 1 piece of gear, and then, over time, work towards improving their gear with tier 2s, until journeyman benches unlock.

  1