The gear grind is too much
- Thread starter woq
- Start date
I have to agree.... does anyone even like repeating the same quest dozens of times? Or does anyone even think this is good gameplay?
Compared to for example, every level appropriate quest can give you an upgrade, or you collect tokens and can buy stuff, like many other MMOs do it.
The old gear drop system with 5 items max per quests (no rares and without augments diluting the table) was more bearable, but still it could take ages to get a specific item.
Compared to for example, every level appropriate quest can give you an upgrade, or you collect tokens and can buy stuff, like many other MMOs do it.
The old gear drop system with 5 items max per quests (no rares and without augments diluting the table) was more bearable, but still it could take ages to get a specific item.
Before Rare gear I was fine with the loot system but rare gear have cause me to not even want to bother with new gear at all. For me part of the fun (which I know many will disagree) is doing the gear tetris and figuring out the gear set that I like then working toward it. The problem is if I don't feel like I making progress toward my goal gear set after doing so many runs it stops being fun and I stop wanting to engage in the end game at all.
Pre Myths of Dramor every expansion the day I finally finish the gear set I been working on was a joyous moment for me.
The Day I got Autumn Equinox the final piece a gear I needed for what I been working on, there was no joy, my only reaction was about fing time and I ended not playing much for the next 6 months after getting it. I still using that gear set because I did not bother even coming up with a gear set for Larmodia the first time a new expansion ever release and I decide not to bother with new gear.
I sorta on a wait and see with the next expansion how I handle gear. I wait to see what every quest will drop and if I come up with a set I like that include no rare gear. If every gear set that excites me include rare gear I probably just skip upgrading again and play the expansion very little like I played larmodia very little (compare to past expansions).
Pre Myths of Dramor every expansion the day I finally finish the gear set I been working on was a joyous moment for me.
The Day I got Autumn Equinox the final piece a gear I needed for what I been working on, there was no joy, my only reaction was about fing time and I ended not playing much for the next 6 months after getting it. I still using that gear set because I did not bother even coming up with a gear set for Larmodia the first time a new expansion ever release and I decide not to bother with new gear.
I sorta on a wait and see with the next expansion how I handle gear. I wait to see what every quest will drop and if I come up with a set I like that include no rare gear. If every gear set that excites me include rare gear I probably just skip upgrading again and play the expansion very little like I played larmodia very little (compare to past expansions).
. On top of that, there's the grind for mats too.
Rusty_helmet
Teh_troll’s Fluffer
I remember the glory days when you could have alts and not 3 full time jobs just trying to gear out more than a single toon. I have two near max life toons and a third well on his way, but the gear grind is such that now it's not even worth playing them. Thus I have barely played for the last 8+ months. Make loot great again.
DMtastic82
Well-known member
To kind of couple onto this...if you have a Potion of Discovery to up your named loot chances, and then you hit the chest ransack...what do you do? You don't want to waste the potion, because they're rare. So, when I was trying to get a specific item I just...stopped playing for a week so I didn't lose my potion. Which *surely* can't be good for the game, right? Incentivizing people to *not* play your game means risking that they just don't come back.
Honestly, the base loot should be relatively easy to come by. As stated earlier, getting those coveted Mythic and Reaper bonuses *should* be where the grind comes in - it's a way to keep engaging if you want to, but once you've got the base gear, you can at least walk away with what you were hunting for to make your build work.
I know they want to keep us playing for as long as possible, but once you get poked by a needle too many times sticking your hand in the cookie jar...you start looking for a new cookie jar.
Honestly, the base loot should be relatively easy to come by. As stated earlier, getting those coveted Mythic and Reaper bonuses *should* be where the grind comes in - it's a way to keep engaging if you want to, but once you've got the base gear, you can at least walk away with what you were hunting for to make your build work.
I know they want to keep us playing for as long as possible, but once you get poked by a needle too many times sticking your hand in the cookie jar...you start looking for a new cookie jar.
Dandonk
Beater of Dead Horses
I wanted the Heartshard. I mean, don't we all.
I have looted the chest 65 times. Mostly solo, but I've witnessed in the order of twenty more openings from others. Never seen it.
Rare loot is a stupid, stupid thing when we get new and higher level gear every year. You can ransack chests from one expansion to the next, and there's still a decent chance you won't see the item.
Now, if we get a permanent cap at 40, by all means, rare gear has a place there. But until then, what gear we have is getting obsolete just as fast as we can grind it. It is demoralizing, infuriating and stupid. Did I mention stupid?
Also, I Want To Believe in many things, but I don't even dare to believe this will ever change. Meh.
I have looted the chest 65 times. Mostly solo, but I've witnessed in the order of twenty more openings from others. Never seen it.
Rare loot is a stupid, stupid thing when we get new and higher level gear every year. You can ransack chests from one expansion to the next, and there's still a decent chance you won't see the item.
Now, if we get a permanent cap at 40, by all means, rare gear has a place there. But until then, what gear we have is getting obsolete just as fast as we can grind it. It is demoralizing, infuriating and stupid. Did I mention stupid?
Also, I Want To Believe in many things, but I don't even dare to believe this will ever change. Meh.
Dandonk
Beater of Dead Horses
So much that. We ALREADY had a "rare" system in place - getting the right combination of mythic and reaper bonuses (and now curses). There was no need for this silly rare mechanic.
The VIP bonus to loot just feels like a slap in the face - first the make gear so rare as to feel non-existent. Then give us a small bonus (that is hard to even figure out if it is working) to make up a tiny amount for it.... IF you are VIP long enough. Really?
DMtastic82
Well-known member
It's a stacking 1% bonus per year! Absolutely ridiculous. Why couldn't they just hard bake a 10 or 20% increase into VIP and call it a day? And, it only affects whether a named item will appear, not that it will be the one that you want. With each quest having multiple named items that will occupy that pool, and now with rare items having a different chance that they'll show up at all, and with chest ransack, and with mythic/reaper bonuses, I don't know why they think we would enjoy this. (Granted, I'm sure they're making bank on astral shard rerolls).
Darlyaa
Well-known member
It's the player's own choice to repeat quests in order to get very specific items. None is that required that it forces you into that.
I farm sometimes now... but if it's not fun then I just don't. Game has been totally playable with the loot I had found without even knowing it existed (nice surprises found by chance in random chests), just by playing.
Also there's crafting, augments...
I farm sometimes now... but if it's not fun then I just don't. Game has been totally playable with the loot I had found without even knowing it existed (nice surprises found by chance in random chests), just by playing.
Also there's crafting, augments...
woq
Well-known member
Indeed! I don't need the gear, my characters are not weak for the difficulties that the game has to offer. But I used to love farming gear and thinking about tetris, but it's too hard/grindy now.
The implication that players should ignore focusing on or caring about looting and gear to enjoy it is very much a "the gear grind has gone too far" -symptom.
The endgame specifically is not in a very good spot in terms of balance/difficulty/gear acquisition - certain builds overperform, and other builds - especially low/medium damage ones - are edged out from relevance by overly tanky raid bosses that only make sense if people are on super high end dps focused characters. But that's a bit of a separate tangent and heading towards offtopic.
This is a shame because SSG has gotten many things right recently: the move to 64bit is now behind us and the lag situation is much better than it used to be and we have many players to play with.
I think the game is doing pretty well otherwise. Low lag, lots of content, plenty of people to play with. But the endgame in general and new expansion looting system doesn't feel like it's in a good place.
Oliphant
Well-known member
DDO not required! Game playable! Augments exist! What a revelation!
norriskwondo
Well-known member
Agreed. I found sticking with iod for legendary is best until they a higher end game. It's easy to figure out cusomizing to what you need, and you get what you're wanting with reasonable amount of grinding. I'm upgrading my weapons with viktranium though, since it's essentally the same as iod but 3 levels higher.