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[PraetorPlato]

Obviously getting a proper gear set and a good build is more efficient than grinding past lives, but only up to a certain point.

Yes—I'm saying you'd be surprised how far in that point is, IME, about 90-95% of players who want more endgame power should not be grinding lives. Numbers people throw around as good for endgame ubercomp tanks outside of push raiding guilds (say 8k hp, 550 prr) are almost achievable on a first lifer; the numbers typically given for a first-lifer are about 1500-2k hp lower than what you can actually hit. The number of optimizing DPS players I see that exceed the DPS of a well-built first lifer is very low, essentially all of them are push raiders (think 8 ish second kobold)

 

[KylerrTheMajty]

when you put black ants in to jar with red ants nothing happens but when you shake the jar black ants will kill red1 and red1 will kill black1 bc they take each other as enemy , the real enemy is jar shaker


And that's what we starting to get here...

 

[Guntango]

Obviously getting a proper gear set and a good build is more efficient than grinding past lives, but only up to a certain point.


Nothing stops them from getting perfect gear and excellent builds. Most likely they don't because they find the past life grind more fun than the end game grind.

Many more ubercomp players have far better char sheet numbers than first life builds.

Nothing stops you from doing an R5 PN next raid night on your Uber completionists, but I’ve seen plenty fail. Our first lifers got it done, though.

 

[Shear-buckler]

Nothing stops you from doing an R5 PN next raid night on your Uber completionists, but I’ve seen plenty fail. Our first lifers got it done, though.

So? You would get it done with less effort if you did it with uber completionists.

 

[Guntango]

So? You would get it done with less effort if you did it with uber completionists.

So? If the goal is to get high level content done with your friends and have fun, grinding out 189 PLs and 156 RPs first is the longest, most boring, worst way to get there.

You're having a hard time with this idea.

 

[Shear-buckler]

So? If the goal is to get high level content done with your friends and have fun, grinding out 189 PLs and 156 RPs first is the longest, most boring, worst way to get there.

You're having a hard time with this idea.

No I have no problems with that idea. If the goal is to run high level content then you should just run high level content.

That does not change the fact that a uber completionist character will be significantly stronger than a first life character when played by the same player.

Yes i agree that the first life character can be "strong enough", but that's just because the game is easy, imbalanced and exploitable.

 

[rabidfox]

No I have no problems with that idea. If the goal is to run high level content then you should just run high level content.

That does not change the fact that a uber completionist character will be significantly stronger than a first life character when played by the same player.

Yes i agree that the first life character can be "strong enough", but that's just because the game is easy, imbalanced and exploitable.

But are you having fun? That's the real question. And your final bit about "the game is easy, imbalanced and exploitable" would indicate everyone should be able to melt content and that's not the case, plenty of people get smacked around even on easier settings (and it also implies people cheese content to beat it which equally isn't true).

 

[Cordovan]

I meant to post this on Friday but got distracted, but I wanted to echo the information I was able to get out on the livestream, which is that the Sentient Gem will be 6,000 Sentient XP. So, in the first year you'll have up to three VIP Bag(s) of Many Things, so can get up to 18,000 Sentient XP.

 

[Lagin]

any word as to when the vendor in HoH will be fixed?

 

[Cordovan]

any word as to when the vendor in HoH will be fixed?

I expect to know more in the coming hours but we are targeting a fix for the coming days.

 

[Shear-buckler]

But are you having fun? That's the real question.

Exactly. Hence if you want to run endgame content you should run endgame content.

And your final bit about "the game is easy, imbalanced and exploitable" would indicate everyone should be able to melt content and that's not the case, plenty of people get smacked around even on easier settings (and it also implies people cheese content to beat it which equally isn't true).

Wait a minute, isn't you whole thing that everyone can be taught to run just about any content with a proper build and understanding of game mechanics?

 

[rabidfox]

Wait a minute, isn't you whole thing that everyone can be taught to run just about any content with a proper build and understanding of game mechanics?

My whole thing is people can run any content in the game on a difficulty level that's appropriate to their build, understanding of the game, and reflexes. No one should feel like they're not able to go into raids or run a given quest because they're new or on a 1st lifer. They should feel like they can contribute to the group because they can. Not everyone will be able handle to the same difficulties for a multitude of reasons, but getting a solid build/gear and learning a fight's mechanics can be done in a short period of time if one enjoys that. But I don't go around using terms like "imbalanced and exploitable" to explain the success of groups.

 

[Shear-buckler]

My whole thing is people can run any content in the game on a difficulty level that's appropriate to their build, understanding of the game, and reflexes. No one should feel like they're not able to go into raids or run a given quest because they're new or on a 1st lifer. They should feel like they can contribute to the group because they can. Not everyone will be able handle to the same difficulties for a multitude of reasons, but getting a solid build/gear and learning a fight's mechanics can be done in a short period of time if one enjoys that. But I don't go around using terms like "imbalanced and exploitable" to explain the success of groups.

Sorry but the game is imbalanced and exploitable. The difference between builds is massive even discounting past lives and reaper points. That's imbalance.
The game is full of safe spots, the AI is predictable and easily kiteable. As a new player there are countless "tricks" that you learn from groups that makes the game far easier.

I don't mean exploit in a bannable sense.

The game is also easy. That is evident from the fact that this entire conversation comes from posters saying the massive bonuses from past lives are superfluous. In hard games the player base eek out every possible stat bonus to get ahead.

 

[Guntango]

Sorry but the game is imbalanced and exploitable. The difference between builds is massive even discounting past lives and reaper points. That's imbalance.
The game is full of safe spots, the AI is predictable and easily kiteable. As a new player there are countless "tricks" that you learn from groups that makes the game far easier.

I don't mean exploit in a bannable sense.

Cite your proof, or I call it poppycock. There is a very small pool of people who have "tricks." Many of us have played for more than 10,000 hours and just know the game. You'd probably have found chess to be terribly imbalanced if you played Bobby Fischer in his prime.

The game is also easy. That is evident from the fact that this entire conversation comes from posters saying the massive bonuses from past lives are superfluous. In hard games the player base eek out every possible stat bonus to get ahead.

Nah. D4, you're doing millions of damage per pack in a few weeks. What game is "hard?"

 

[Cordovan]

Cite your proof, or I call it poppycock. There is a very small pool of people who have "tricks." Many of us have played for more than 10,000 hours and just know the game. You'd probably have found chess to be terribly imbalanced if you played Bobby Fischer in his prime.



Nah. D4, you're doing millions of damage per pack in a few weeks. What game is "hard?"

Take your argument out of this official discussion thread immediately.

 

[rabidfox]

I meant to post this on Friday but got distracted, but I wanted to echo the information I was able to get out on the livestream, which is that the Sentient Gem will be 6,000 Sentient XP. So, in the first year you'll have up to three VIP Bag(s) of Many Things, so can get up to 18,000 Sentient XP.

Any other changes from the initial stuff or is everything else pretty much locked in place now?

 

[mikarddo]

I meant to post this on Friday but got distracted, but I wanted to echo the information I was able to get out on the livestream, which is that the Sentient Gem will be 6,000 Sentient XP. So, in the first year you'll have up to three VIP Bag(s) of Many Things, so can get up to 18,000 Sentient XP.

Well, thats obviously better.

But seeing a fully fed item is 210k a mere 18k is very little. I have 4 full items already and others have more so 18k is not a big deal.

Make it 20k each for 60k a year and it would begin to slightly register on the "interesting" scale. Make it 50k each and it would be actually interesting.

Handing out rewards that excite people makes for a positive mood and more spending. Handing out items that the players are not even sure if they want to bother to collect does the opposite. Better to hand out fewer but much better rewards than to hand out an endless stream of less than mediocre stuff.

 

[seph1roth5]

6k is better, but I still think the whole small bag is junk. Make it just a monthly bag you get as part of VIP, with the 500 pts, and that'd be a big improvement. Then it's like you're getting a little bonus something every month. Kind of like getting a little extra store pts (which would've been better) to play around with.

And please remove ethereal rest, flawless dragonshard, omnidust, and even glamer dust. These are embarrassing and insulting, just traps for new people that might not know how bad they are, or easily obtained. Yes technically they all have uses, but in no way is it a "reward." I'd honestly get more use out of holy aura scrolls and sun flasks.

Glamer dust MIGHT be okay if it was a monthly add-on, so you can save up to cosmetic up something, though I'm not sure how much dust that takes. 50 MIGHT be a negligible amount.

These grab bags need to be better AND more frequent. Not a 3/year pick one. Or better and get ALL of the items inside.

 

[Zvdegor]

Well, thats obviously better.

But seeing a fully fed item is 210k a mere 18k is very little. I have 4 full items already and others have more so 18k is not a big deal.

Make it 20k each for 60k a year and it would begin to slightly register on the "interesting" scale. Make it 50k each and it would be actually interesting.

Handing out rewards that excite people makes for a positive mood and more spending. Handing out items that the players are not even sure if they want to bother to collect does the opposite. Better to hand out fewer but much better rewards than to hand out an endless stream of less than mediocre stuff.

I say instead of sentient exp they should give us a 5 slot sentient gem at least so we can put in a full set. The 2nd and 3rd VIP bag can gives us the sentient exp. That would feel more VIP to me!

 

[Vox]

I meant to post this on Friday but got distracted, but I wanted to echo the information I was able to get out on the livestream, which is that the Sentient Gem will be 6,000 Sentient XP. So, in the first year you'll have up to three VIP Bag(s) of Many Things, so can get up to 18,000 Sentient XP.

6000sxp is as useful as your QA.

Seriously, can SSG please hire some new staff that can bring fresh eyes to the problems you keep having?