I have to admit...

[Glower]

The real people conmplaining about this are the hardcore elitists who want full gear to show off before everyone else

 

I just want to gear all my alts like before.

Is it a bad thing after 5 years of alt-promoting in used to be alt-friendly game? Well okay then...

Edited December 5, 2016 by Glower

[Lunafox]

Sorry OP, I can't agree. I find it mind numbingly sadistic to be honest. I would really appreciate it if we could earn our command xp through legacy so we can play whichever toon we feel like playing.

 

Glad someone is having fun.

 

*yawns and saunters back to writing about the game rather than playing it*

[Graystar]

I stopped focusing on my main. Its so cheap now that I can pick any character going forwards. Its actually more fun to play the alts a while Then pic one that you want to take forward. Id love my main to be done but the drop off in power and production is so much.

 

Now I find it more fun to play an alt because I can power them up to 220+ so fast now that its such an improvement. which has actually been more fun playing the alts then I have had in a long time.

 

So yes bioware you made me quit what I want to do because its more fun to play **** characters I never liked than to play my main that ive had since launch because the progress is so incredibly laughably horrible.

 

How could you possible think this was going to be fun. And as a solo player thanks for ruining heroics now.

[Rolodome]

The gear's not meaningless - I mean, right now it's an upgrade (save for the armor plates, if it's not set-bonus). De gustibus non disputandum, but if you're not getting a kick from collecting a crate on top of whatever else you were doing, I dunno what to say. What were you getting from 4.0? They changed the paradigm.

 

Part of the problem is that they haven't had anything new for large-group PvE play since SoR, and there wasn't a whole lot new for PVP in 4.0 (2 maps, one new play mode); I can't recall if you're an Ops player, a PVP player, or both. I really didn't expect Uprisings to satisfy much of anyone, since I figure the set of people who play FPs but not Ops is pretty small. OTOH, I also expected them to be as much an exercise in design before tackling large-group PvE (if we're not going to have more smoke blown in January). I haven't stepped foot in one, won't have an opinion on the execution until I do.

 

And I don't think it was a terribly good idea for PvP to stretch out the gear grind there. I would have left a bolster in and made gear more or less irrelevant for PvP. But, I don't work in Austin.

True, if we are arguing feelings, then that component is obviously subjective.

 

That said, when I say it's meaningless, what I mean is that it has lost any feeling of meaning due to how it's designed. It's more transparent than ever that it's a meaningless tweaking up of numbers and levels, and an RNG grind to get back to where we were before.

 

The system does not feel rewarding in any way. Obviously that's how I feel about it.

 

But yes, the lack of new content is exacerbating the situation.

 

If that was the case (emphasis mine, above), the game would already be dead, and we just wouldn't know it yet. A game that isn't bringing in regular fresh blood will die. I've seen it happen more times than I'd like to admit. It's the main reason for new editions of tabletop games, even though releasing a new edition will chop off the portion of their player base that already has it all and doesn't want to rebuy everything. Nobody subscribes forever, and BWA may not be able to predict how long any particular subscription will last, but they have a pretty good idea of the half-life of all subscriptions.

 

Everything BWA has done starting work on the 4.0 cycle has been targeted at new/casual players. I don't have any idea why that is, other than being capable of making educated guesses (see above). That it happens to align with how I play the game pleases me; but I'm under no illusions they're doing it to please me in particular. I figure I'm near the target of the kind of players they are interested in.

And yet... I've been here less than a year and this system doesn't appeal to me at all. I see where you're going with your reasoning, but I'm not sure I buy it. Obviously bringing in new blood is important, but if you can't retain those players, it's a losing battle.

[mastersdr]

GC is not a bad idea, Just the RNG side of it. GC is great for people who play casually. One way to fix the system is to have unassembled tokens drop every few ranks and make it legacy. That would solve most of the issues I think. They also need to increase CXP in some areas

[Sargrith]

Lol, this community. It's so toxic at times. I don't like the new system but there's no need to completely rip into someone that does find enjoyment in it, it's not classy nor mature. It's their opinion. Too each their own. I'm glad you're having fun OP! I can see the appeal in that little 'surprise' you get when you open up crates. The rush of having something drop that you needed is delightful. In reverse the disappointment is also a thing. Ah, the wonders of RNG.

 

You expect people to react to his obviously dishonest post or better as you look at his further posts troll post with some kind of respect for him? I think that isn't reasonable. I do think its better to ignore such trolling but most don't do that.

[IanArgent]

True, if we are arguing feelings, then that component is obviously subjective.

 

That said, when I say it's meaningless, what I mean is that it has lost any feeling of meaning due to how it's designed. It's more transparent than ever that it's a meaningless tweaking up of numbers and levels, and an RNG grind to get back to where we were before.

 

I guess that's an "advantage" of me not having really had "end-game" gear (I have a couple of sets of PvP 204/208, and several sets of the common crystal gear, but I've only ever gotten 2 Ops tokens). OTOH, I never bought into the "illusion" of progress; I've known from experience with tabletop RPG and a brief fling in the MMORPG industry around the turn of the century that absolute numbers are meaningless and it's all about the relative numbers.

 

The system does not feel rewarding in any way. Obviously that's how I feel about it.

 

But yes, the lack of new content is exacerbating the situation.

 

Not going to tell you that you feel wrong. I can even intellectually see why you (and others) might feel that way. For all I know, I may be the weirdo who thinks this is worthwhile.

 

 

And yet... I've been here less than a year and this system doesn't appeal to me at all. I see where you're going with your reasoning, but I'm not sure I buy it. Obviously bringing in new blood is important, but if you can't retain those players, it's a losing battle.

 

I would have thought longer - I've been here, playing fairly casually, since the winter before GSF; January 2013, I want to say, but I'd have to check the sub records to be sure. Never really cared to get into group content until 4.0, have been notably unable to get into Ops as a PuG.

 

As I said in my OP, BWA knows what the average sub length is. If they can structure their business model to work with a relatively short average sub length, then they can make it work. For all I know, they may be deliberately structuring their rewards system to appeal to long-term casual players at the expense of "faster" players. If I pay the same per month sub as you, but consume the content at 1/3 the rate, my sub length is going to be longer. (And if you're well into the 4.0 end-game PvE gearing over multiple characters, you're consuming content much faster than I, more than even 3 times as fast).