Harpyja
DUST University
Ivy League
473
   |
Posted - 2013.08.09 03:36:00 -
[1] - Quote
Alright. To be honest, I enjoy the fact that our cap has been doubled. Although our extra SP gained per battle is minimal, it's still there.
However, I generally find this event to be not so rewarding as it might initially seem. It encourages a longer grind and I actually have to work harder for the same rewards.
Longer Grind
The only thing that's doubled as we all know is the SP:WP reward. Passive SP rewards during a game are not doubled. As a result, we got a doubled cap but our SP gains are increased by 20-30%. This means that to "cap out" we have to play for a longer period of time than normally. For some people they like this prolonged time to cap out as they typically reach their cap within a few days and wait for the reset on Wednesday so they can do it again.
But for other people (like me), it takes more time to reach their cap. Some people don't even reach their cap. I used to be one of those people and I remember the first time I hit my cap. Now I do it every week but I have only 1-2 days after I capped out to play on my alt and gain some SP on that character as well. I fear that I won't be able to cap out and have time to play on my alt before the reset. Sure I will gain more SP than I normally would have, but I do not like the fact that this event encourages a longer grind.
Same Rewards, More Work
That's right. I get roughly the same SP rewards as I did before the event. And there is one simple answer as to why: AFK. I've noticed that the amount of AFKers has increased significantly. Before the event, I could easily get 1500+ WPs, while good games could net me over 2500 WPs, with my best hitting 3500 WPs.
Now, I rarely get above 2000 WPs and my average is between 1000 and 1500 WPs. The problem with this event is that it only doubles your SP reward based on your WPs. Now I get on average 2000-3000 SP from my WPs, but as you can see, that was roughly my SP reward average before the event as I averaged between 2000-3000 WPs.
The Problem
As I mentioned previously, AFK is the problem. AFKing has increased significantly, and this is only after the second day of playing through this event. I noticed a lot more people AFKing. Less people on the battlefield = less WPs = less SP. In a way, this "double" SP is only compensating us for the increased amount of AFKers.
There was even a game where half of the enemy team was AFKing, or at least finished with scores of 0/0. And I am fairly certain that they didn't just join in the last minute. I got about 1200 WP that mach. Now if the full team was active, then my WP total may have been doubled.
Again, less people on the battlefield means that there are less WPs to be earned by those not AFKing. Less WPs means less SPs to be rewarded. Less SP to be rewarded means that the grind is longer.
What Should've Been Done?
Rather than discouraging AFK farming, CCP has encouraged it, as it is evident that this is a longer grind than before and people don't want to grind more.
I personally thought about how it should have been done and many others share the same opinion. Passive SP per match should have been reduced to maybe 2SP/s, or maybe even 1SP/s, while the SP:WP reward should have been increased to at least 5SP/WP.
This discourages AFK farming and encourages active play. People will be fighting their best to achieve as many WPs as possibly to maximize their rewards. |