The Alliance/Influence grind is not alt-friendly

[Dreamquencher]

lol, it's clear you two don't understand the concept of work or a work ethic. Work encompasses far more than the common 9 to 5 description.

 

I started working at my father's hardware store in 1973. I worked through college, then went to medical school in the military, then finished residency, which involved working up to 100 hours per week back then (now illegal). After 15 years as a military physician, including deployment overseas to serve my country, I have worked in the civilian world for another 10 years. Oh, and I raised three kids, the oldest of whom is 25. Please don't lecture me about work. Thank you.

 

Now, back to leveling my alts to 65 without starting KotFE, which I consider non-work. I played through Chapter IX with my free insta-60. I refuse to grind alliance shinies or start KotFE with another alt until I can dress Lana Beniko as I wish, and change her melanin-challenged face and stringy blonde hair to a look which is more aesthetic to me personally. 十人十色, as the Japanese say (ten people, ten [favorite] colors= to each his/her own). Oh, and I worked to learn 6 languages other than my native English, I forgot to mention...

[Max_Killjoy]

The amount of work you put forth into achieving certain objectives in a video game. Can range from nothing to little effort to medium amount of effort to a large amount of effort.

 

It's not hard to understand.

 

It's a game.

 

 

Narrow-minded? No, realistic. Video games are a form of entertainment, which means fun and unwinding. The day you have to consider work ethic or achievement in a video game, a digital toy, as something tangible and actually life-measurable, is the day I say that individual has a bit of a life priority problem.

 

But this is an argument I've been having for years. So, you all just go ahead and think of your video game as something to work on in life.

 

Indeed. QFE.

 

 

I started working at my father's hardware store in 1973. I worked through college, then went to medical school in the military, then finished residency, which involved working up to 100 hours per week back then (now illegal). After 15 years as a military physician, including deployment overseas to serve my country, I have worked in the civilian world for another 10 years. Oh, and I raised three kids, the oldest of whom is 25. Please don't lecture me about work. Thank you.

 

Now, back to leveling my alts to 65 without starting KotFE, which I consider non-work. I played through Chapter IX with my free insta-60. I refuse to grind alliance shinies or start KotFE with another alt until I can dress Lana Beniko as I wish, and change her melanin-challenged face and stringy blonde hair to a look which is more aesthetic to me personally. 十人十色, as the Japanese say (ten people, ten [favorite] colors= to each his/her own). Oh, and I worked to learn 6 languages other than my native English, I forgot to mention...

 

Yes. Exactly. Some of us work for a living, or to take care of our families (or even friends), or for other things in real life that matter. The last thing we want from a game is for it to feel like another job.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Max_Killjoy

[Sardorim]

What's the purpose of maxing out the alliance though?

 

I'm sure there will be story checks down the line.

[Sardorim]

Why would I ever dream of doing such a thing? I'm not going to get angry with them because their work isn't compliant with ocd regulations. The developers, as most all mmorpg developers have done before & after them, created these differing classes & stories to give players the ability to live out their own personal character fantasy within the sw universe. This is further reinforced by one of the devs directly stating not too long ago in a kotfe twitch stream that the warrior story was designed to let players experience the Darth Vader fantasy. In your greedy race for perks, you seem to have forgotten the leisurely enjoyment aspect.

 

 

 

Viewpoint? lol. You don't have one. The bedrock of your issue is you're unwilling to do the work, so you want it nerfed or you can't promise that you're going to ocd through any more alts. As if that was even a minor footnote on the long list of issues on the devs plate. If the life span of your alt is dependent on how easily you can become everybodies best friend, then by all means, put it out of its misery and retire it. It could certainly do better.

 

I have to thank you tho. You thinking such a lazy pref- *cough* viewpoint would garner my respect & sympathies gave me a nice hearty chuckle. What an appalling notion.

 

And you have nothing but insults.

 

Give it a few months and when the golden glow fades you'll see how bad it us. Asduming, of course, you even have more than one character above 50 that isn't store bought.

[Reno_Tarshil]

It's a game.

 

Indeed. GFE.

 

Yes. Exactly. Some of us work for a living, or to take of our families (or even friends), or for other things in real life that matter. The last thing we want from a game is for it to feel like another job.

 

It doesn't matter if it's a game. You are still putting in some effort of work into playing it and progressing thru it and achieve higher and further portions of the game from when you first started.

[Jumajin]

It doesn't matter if it's a game. You are still putting in some effort of work into playing it and progressing thru it and achieve higher and further portions of the game from when you first started.

 

What work? I'm pointing a mouse and pressing some number keys on my keyboard. There is absolutely no effort of work, and I've yet to feel that "sense of achievement" people have talked about for years, and I've been playing MMOs a long time.

 

Wait. But I got that super-cool digital shiny? Well whoop-dee-do has always been my reaction. And when I close the game down for the evening that digital shiny means even less than squat in the overall scheme of my life.

 

Then why do I play? Just to have some fun in the Star Wars universe (or the one for WoW, or Nexus in Wildstar, or what have you), unwind from my day, and maybe chat it up with some people on the internet.

 

Point mouse, press a few keys, character dies or maybe not, eventually progresses to next level or whatever. So, I ask again, what work? All it takes is a little spare time. Nothing more.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Jumajin

[Dreamquencher]

Indeed. GFE.

 

Thank you, good sir, for inducing me to google "GFE". That made my day. You younguns and yer newfangled acronyms, dagnabbit. This one is a winner, however...especially since I am now watching the movie online. And, yes, the main character is one exception I would make to my usual female ethnicity preferences...in a heartbeat. Might be my last at my age, but it would definitely be worth it.

[Jumajin]

Thank you, good sir, for inducing me to google "GFE". That made my day. You younguns and yer newfangled acronyms, dagnabbit. This one is a winner, however...especially since I am now watching the movie online. And, yes, the main character is one exception I would make to my usual female ethnicity preferences...in a heartbeat. Might be my last at my age, but it would definitely be worth it.

 

My Google-Fu failed. What the heck does GFE mean?

[Reno_Tarshil]

What work? I'm pointing a mouse and pressing some number keys on my keyboard. There is absolutely no effort of work, and I've yet to feel that "sense of achievement" people have talked about for years, and I've been playing MMOs a long time.

 

Wait. But I got that super-cool digital shiny? Well whoop-dee-do has always been my reaction. And when I close the game down for the evening that digital shiny means even less than squat in the overall scheme of my life.

 

Then why do I play? Just to have some fun in the Star Wars universe (or the one for WoW, or Nexus in Wildstar, or what have you), unwind from my day, and maybe chat it up with some people on the internet.

 

Point mouse, press a few keys, character dies or maybe not, eventually progresses to next level or whatever. So, I ask again, what work? All it takes is a little spare time. Nothing more.

 

You're missing the point. Just because you're playing for fun doesn't mean you arn't putting some effort into what you're doing. Effort comes in all sizes, even the little one. So even though you don't think you're putting much effort into playing for fun, you are in fact putting some effort into playing for fun.

 

People who have fun at what they do, still put some effort into what they do.

[Max_Killjoy]

It was a typo for QFE - "quoted for effect".

 

I have no idea what "GFE" would stand for, and I hesitate to find out.

[Dreamquencher]

My Google-Fu failed. What the heck does GFE mean?

 

I hesitate to post a direct link in a forum open to all ages. Let's just say it's not "Good Faith Estimate". Best...typo...ever.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Dreamquencher

[Kiesu]

I'm not gonna watch the story on 30+ characters either. Already did it on 4.

 

I'm fine with not completing it on most characters however, as long as not doing the chapters doesn't lock us out from future ops or something. If that ends up being the case I will come back and rage on forums and demand skip-chapter button, coz jesus those are long solo runs with no MMO elements attached.

 

Love the story, but I dont want to ruin it for myself by having to re-watch it a million times.

[Aeristash]

You're missing the point. Just because you're playing for fun doesn't mean you arn't putting some effort into what you're doing. Effort comes in all sizes, even the little one. So even though you don't think you're putting much effort into playing for fun, you are in fact putting some effort into playing for fun.

 

People who have fun at what they do, still put some effort into what they do.

 

^This. I honestly don't see how one can remain so blind in the face of such a comprehensive truth.

[Reno_Tarshil]

^This. I honestly don't see how one can remain so blind in the face of such a comprehensive truth.

 

Also to those who say games arn't work and effort are only played for fun need only to look at people who play a game of football or basketball. That's a game and that takes effort so the same applies to video games.

 

All games take effort to play. Whether it's small or large amounts of effort, it's still effort.

[dscount]

Well I have to agree.

 

For anyone at BIOWARE reading this thread.. here is what I'm doing.

 

Only doing 1-2 characters with storyline play thru Chapter 9.

All my other characters I'm either running 2 SM operations to CAP 65 or two chapters to CAP 65 and stop.

 

I have NO interest to walkthrough the Nine Chapters with pretty much the SAME dialogue. Hated it in SoR and even more now that we have a ton more ALTS. In fact I'd like a "SKIP to end of Chapter 9" option on my ALTS.

 

• 250k Influence was just a plain STUPID idea. (Please slap the person who thought that was a good idea)
  
• No means to SORT our gazillion Companions is a pain (QOL needed big time now)
  
• Why is Influence so broken on our current companions? (See my other Ashara broken thread)
  

[Dreamquencher]

Also to those who say games arn't work and effort are only played for fun need only to look at people who play a game of football or basketball. That's a game and that takes effort so the same applies to video games.

 

Your analogy is broken.

1) If football and/or basketball were as boring to play as grinding Alliance rep in KotFE for meaningless shinies, no one would choose to play them IRL, when there are the more entertaining games "watching grass grow" and "watching paint dry" available.

2) If you are talking the level of work required to play those games professionally, SHOW ME THE MONEY, and I will dedicate my life to KotFE Chapter IX. Until then, I have better things to do, both online and offline.

3) There are people who work hard to perfect their skills in video games (Starcraft and Starcraft II experts in Korea, for example). Almost all of those people are paid for their hard work in the gaming circuit, whether through sponsorships or otherwise. When Google sponsors me to play KotFE, I'll gladly comply with the boring grind. Until then..

 

There is no doubt it does take work to reach the acme of skill in any pursuit. That is absolutely not the point. The point is that I want my online video game experience to be fun, and not work. Running 8 alts in addition to my free level 60 (now 65) through the same monotonous grind is not fun to me. If it is fun to you, that's fine. But, judging from this thread, I am not alone.

 

No insults, please. Party on, and be excellent to each other.

[Reno_Tarshil]

Your analogy is broken.

1) If football and/or basketball were as boring to play as grinding Alliance rep in KotFE for meaningless shinies, no one would choose to play them IRL, when there are the more entertaining games "watching grass grow" and "watching paint dry" available.

2) If you are talking the level of work required to play those games professionally, SHOW ME THE MONEY, and I will dedicate my life to KotFE Chapter IX. Until then, I have better things to do, both online and offline.

3) There are people who work hard to perfect their skills in video games (Starcraft and Starcraft II experts in Korea, for example). Almost all of those people are paid for their hard work in the gaming circuit, whether through sponsorships or otherwise. When Google sponsors me to play KotFE, I'll gladly comply with the boring grind. Until then..

 

There is no doubt it does take work to reach the acme of skill in any pursuit. That is absolutely not the point. The point is that I want my online video game experience to be fun, and not work. Running 8 alts in addition to my free level 60 (now 65) through the same monotonous grind is not fun to me. If it is fun to you, that's fine. But, judging from this thread, I am not alone.

 

No insults, please. Party on, and be excellent to each other.

 

Analogy isn't broken.

 

1.) Fun and Boring are different for everyone. You call KOTFE Rep Grinding Boring, I find it fun. I think Football and Basketball are boring when someone else will find it fun.

 

2.) You completely missed the point I made so I will restate it for you. It doesn't matter the level and amount of effort you put into something. What does matter is that you are putting effort into anything you do. Again: Small, Medium or Large Efforts do not matter since you're still doing effort of some kind.

 

3.) Irrelevant since getting paid real money to play a game has nothing to do with this discussion.

 

4.) Your last point goes back to the first point. Fun and Boring is up to every player. Whether you're having fun or feeling bored, you are definitely putting some effort into w/e task you're doing in game.

[Jumajin]

Analogy isn't broken.

 

Your analogy is absolutely broken and shows a possible disconnect with reality. You equate the effort of playing a physical sport with that of a video game. The two are not even comparable. One is a physical sport, even on the amateur/street level, that requires at least some physical conditioning, coordination, and agility.

 

The other is point a computer mouse, hit a couple of keys, and repeat until current content is cleared. All the while sitting on one's *** in a chair.

 

Comparing playing a video game to even a street level version of a sport is the most ludicrous thing I've heard this year. And considering I've watched both the Democrat and Republican Presidential debates, that's saying something. Only a friggin gamer would try to equate the two. Good effing god!

 

But that's okay, man. You and the female avatar poster keep telling yourselves whatever you need to so you feel like a video game is some sort of achievement. You know, like playing a physical sport.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Jumajin

[Reno_Tarshil]

Your analogy is absolutely broken and shows a possible disconnect with reality. You equate the effort of playing a physical sport with that of a video game. The two are not even comparable. One is a physical sport, even on the amateur/street level, that requires at least some physical conditioning, coordination, and agility.

 

The other is point a computer mouse, hit a couple of keys, and repeat until current content is cleared. All the while sitting on one's *** in a chair.

 

Comparing playing a video game to even a street level version of a sport is the most ludicrous thing I've heard this year. And considering I've watched both the Democrat and Republican Presidential debates, that's saying something. Only a friggin gamer would try to equate the two. Good effing god!

 

But that's okay, man. You and the female avatar poster keep telling yourselves whatever you need to so you feel like a video game is some sort of achievement. You know, like playing a physical sport.

 

Again you miss the entire point. It doesn't matter how much effort you exert when doing something whether in real life or in a video game, you are still exerting effort.

 

Failure to realize this shows your disconnect with reality, fortunately for you, you have me to bring you back to reality for you.

[Max_Killjoy]

^This. I honestly don't see how one can remain so blind in the face of such a comprehensive truth.

 

An argument based on sweeping declarations about the "blindness" of those who don't agree with it to "the truth" tends to indicate a strongly held belief, not a conclusion derived from empirical observation or rigorous logic.

 

Oh well.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Max_Killjoy

[Nefla]

4 speeders. And the 100cc for the first time you unlock all 4 at 20.

 

Otherwise I see no benefit to maxing it out at all. There may be something later, but I was really disappointed that I got to 20 with all 4, only to find there was nothing there.

 

I would assume that at some point a companion or 4 will be gated behind level 20 alliance. It may also help once we get to the end of the story as well (maybe a final fight how powerful your alliance is). In the here and now though, I'd say just take your time and enjoy the story...

Ok good, I wouldn't want any story stuff gated behind a weirdly massive grind. If people want some speeders and $1 worth of CC then more power to them lol

[DarthScruffy]

Maybe that's the whole idea?

 

The first toon will probably take until Dec. and the second until Jan. It's a pretty large content stretcher and I'm fine with it.

 

They added a lot of credit opportunities in that grind as well (and that's not counting soloing Star Fortress Heroic modes). There is a lot of functional advantage above influence level 20 so there's no immediate demand to get to 50. And 20 influence can probably get you through the episodes fine.

[DarthZaul]

I think that's kinda the point.

[Haruen]

No, it's not. That's why I'm only taking one character into KOTFE. This is very much a single character story. I do Alliance stuff with him, then play on my alts to work on other reps or work toward Legendary.

[WorldSmasher]

The amount of work you put forth into achieving certain objectives in a video game. Can range from nothing to little effort to medium amount of effort to a large amount of effort.

 

It's not hard to understand.

 

If you have to put forth a great deal of "effort", then you're probably not having fun. That sounds like work. I want to play. Playing should NOT FEEL like I'm working. Playing should feel like I'm having fun. If I need to put forth "effort", then it must not be fun for me. Thus, it is not a game. It is work. Or it is a very, very boring game. In which case, I don't want to play it anymore.