CRNWLLC
Screwy Rabbit ULC
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Posted - 2014.01.21 19:49:00 -
[1] - Quote
BPOs are no problem at all, for the market or gameplay.
They're all (almost, maybe with the exception of the Master Recruiter Assault C-II?) standard level at best, meaning that without skill points allocated sensibly, they offer no advantage to the player other than an itty bitty ISK savings and increasing the time between restocks.
Here's how I look at it: if a player is unskilled and dies all the time, no sweat off my back if he saves a little ISK constantly running BPO gear. My skills are better, my gear is better, I don't die as often because I'm not running around a like headless chicken, throwing my scout suit in front of heavies or attempting to snipe from the middle of a road. If a player is good and has a lot of skill points intelligently invested in his style(s) of play and rolls BPOs, he will tear up most noobs anyway, but will be at no advantage facing off against a similarly veteran player, and will actually be at a disadvantage if that player is rocking advanced+ gear. Thus, he would be more inclined to use advanced+ level gear and suits, too. For these reasons, I don't see how BPOs can be seriously labeled OP or unfair.
Instead of all the bellyaching about older players having them vs. newer players not, or players who bought packs/collections vs. those who strictly want to play-for-free, why not just offer a set of BPO choices (eg, a choice of suit, H/L weapon, side arm, and maybe some mods/equipment) to players when they get 50,000 WPs or their 1000th kill? This creates a small barrier to entry toward the end of rewarding loyalty, while at the same time ensuring such players (those at least somewhat dedicated to the game/community) have a similar background of BPO stuff to play around with. Then, all the pretty colored suits can be the purview of fanboys that spend a lot of money on collector's editions, etc. (myself included o_0). This also has the advantage of allowing newer players to get a feel for their preferred play style(s) before getting a bunch of BPOs that might not actually be of use to them.
BPOs are awesome, IMO, mostly because they save me the hassle of restocking cheap equipment (drop uplinks, etc.) or sidearms that I mostly equip "for looks" anyway. They don't mess up the economy because there is no economy--individual players use their ISK/AUR to buy in-game crap from the Dust marketplace, which is completely owned and operated by CCP. Until ISK/AUR flows between players, there's only a market, regulated arbitrarily by CCP.
The idea of reverse engineering BPOs to make BPCs is not workable since mercs don't have the means of harvesting resources, so where would they acquire the means to produce gear from BPCs? Sounds like a huge headache and a lot of design work. BPOs are only for standard level gear anyway. Of course, I like the idea of sniping a red that's busy hacking away at a tritanium deposit in the middle of battle... Seriously, though--Dust is not a sandbox game, it's an FPS, so poo-poo to manufacturing.
The idea of an endless blueprint makes perfect sense, in the same way that my always-extant Genolution 'Auroral' AU-79 implant makes perfect sense in EVE. My toons have mad clout with the corporations of New Eden (ie, I payed CCP RL money and this is my reward).
So, I say, "Long live BPOs in their current form (and maybe bring them back in a limited way to assuage noob's feelings)!"
Have you seen my baseball?
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