DUST Search - My take on 1.8 - This is serious business.

KingBabar wrote:

Diaclaimer: Having 41+ M SP and about 700 M isk this is indeed not for my own personal gain as I am mostly cleverly specced having almost all dropsuit upgrades, 3 proto suits, 4 almost maxed weapons and so on. I'll be fine not matter what.

Ultimate goals:

1. Increase the playerbase. Keep the vet players we got, keep the newer players that somewhat struggles due to having less SP/ISK, and not least get back some of the players thats left Dust due to boredom etc.

2. Making the gap between vets and intermediate players smaller in terms of potential battlefield effectiveness, how can we make the effect of the SP gap smaller than it obviously is in todays pubgames?

3. Increase the competitive nature of Dust, making the vets and the intermediate players fight each other on more equal terms. This is something we all will gain from in terms of gaming experience, its a win-win scenario.

What needs to be done?

1. A full infantry respec consisting of suit skills, dropsuit upgrades and weaponry.

2. A full inventory reset with isk returns like we got at launch, well not officer gear etc obviously.

1. With 30-40 M skillpoints this isn't such a big deal, you probably have all core skills maxed, one role maxed with suits tweaked to perfection and you're probably somewhat skilled into several other roles aswell, you'll be fine. For the dudes with 10-20 M SP this might just be the thing you need to bridge the gap up to the proto stomping tryhards that so many QQ about.

We, the beta vets, got 4 full respects so we knew the system in and out even before launch. This will give all the players joining the game since launch the ability to focus their skillpoints into a specific role, making the max potential for at least one role higher. I'm not saying that this is necissary for all of you, but I'm quite confident that the general newer part of this community is on average more spread out in terms of skillpoint allocations than the average vets are.

So twice the total SP + better allocation on average will stack in the vets favor making them even more efficient on average. And yes, having 10-15 M skillpoints doean't make you that much weaker at least in one specific role compared to a 40 M SP vet, but that only goes if you've correctly appled your SPs,

2. So lets assume the nr 1 part is done. So you as a 15 M SP player now knows a bit more of the inns and outs and you spec into your desired role and max your potential so what? You can't afford protosuits anyways so having the fancy toys without really being able to use them is more frustrating than fun. Yes a proper mix of proto/cheap suits and general good isk management will be enough.

On the other hand, giving the playerbase their isk back for all the inventory will give the average player what? About 200 M isk? For a player such as myself this is a "meh nice, but it don't really matter at all". I mean, I've probably donated twice of that to other players, my various corps etc. But for the newer dudes which are proud of having 30 M isk saved up getting slapped in the face with another 200 M this will seem like Xmas and a 45 minute orgasm....

This wil hopefully mean that we'll see a general increase of the level of gear used in games AKA making the battlefield more competitive. At last its insanely better to go up against proto players in a 700 HP enhanced fit rather than a 5 K isk starter fit. Again we're talking about a win-win situation for vets and "intermediate" players allike.

Arguments against a full respec:

1. This is an MMO after all and you're not supposed to make your wizard turn into a knight just like that. This I do agree with in general terms. But what if that fancy fireball spell the wizard had just got transferred to the black mage and all you are left with now are healing and other support spells? Its not like the fireball was OP or anything its merely been transferred to another class. If you can't relate this to the upcoming massve changes to Dust just stop reading and go to bed. Also, such a large part of this community have agreed upon a respec "when all racial variants of guns and suits are released", and thats whats happening now isn't it? I hope that even dudes like IWS will concede and see the need for it now.

2. Something to do with lore? I dunno, and don't really care. Gameplay over anything any day IMO.

Main issue with an inventory reset:

This will indeed balance out the field a little between todays playerbase but what about the new dudes joining the game next month and so on? Well I don't have an answer to that. I do believe that Dust has such a small playerbase, (mostly consisting of "bittervets" and "protoQQers") and that by extension keeping that playerbase active should be a huge priority

TDLR: Reset all infantry skills and trade all assets into isk, this is a win-win scenario for vets, newer players and Dust as a game in general.


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John Demonsbane Unorganized Ninja Infantry Tactics League of Infamy 1907	Posted - 2014.02.09 15:26:00 - [1] - Quote KingBabar wrote: Diaclaimer: Having 41+ M SP and about 700 M isk this is indeed not for my own personal gain as I am mostly cleverly specced having almost all dropsuit upgrades, 3 proto suits, 4 almost maxed weapons and so on. I'll be fine not matter what. Ultimate goals: 1. Increase the playerbase. Keep the vet players we got, keep the newer players that somewhat struggles due to having less SP/ISK, and not least get back some of the players thats left Dust due to boredom etc. 2. Making the gap between vets and intermediate players smaller in terms of potential battlefield effectiveness, how can we make the effect of the SP gap smaller than it obviously is in todays pubgames? 3. Increase the competitive nature of Dust, making the vets and the intermediate players fight each other on more equal terms. This is something we all will gain from in terms of gaming experience, its a win-win scenario. What needs to be done? 1. A full infantry respec consisting of suit skills, dropsuit upgrades and weaponry. 2. A full inventory reset with isk returns like we got at launch, well not officer gear etc obviously. 1. With 30-40 M skillpoints this isn't such a big deal, you probably have all core skills maxed, one role maxed with suits tweaked to perfection and you're probably somewhat skilled into several other roles aswell, you'll be fine. For the dudes with 10-20 M SP this might just be the thing you need to bridge the gap up to the proto stomping tryhards that so many QQ about. We, the beta vets, got 4 full respects so we knew the system in and out even before launch. This will give all the players joining the game since launch the ability to focus their skillpoints into a specific role, making the max potential for at least one role higher. I'm not saying that this is necissary for all of you, but I'm quite confident that the general newer part of this community is on average more spread out in terms of skillpoint allocations than the average vets are. So twice the total SP + better allocation on average will stack in the vets favor making them even more efficient on average. And yes, having 10-15 M skillpoints doean't make you that much weaker at least in one specific role compared to a 40 M SP vet, but that only goes if you've correctly appled your SPs, 2. So lets assume the nr 1 part is done. So you as a 15 M SP player now knows a bit more of the inns and outs and you spec into your desired role and max your potential so what? You can't afford protosuits anyways so having the fancy toys without really being able to use them is more frustrating than fun. Yes a proper mix of proto/cheap suits and general good isk management will be enough. On the other hand, giving the playerbase their isk back for all the inventory will give the average player what? About 200 M isk? For a player such as myself this is a "meh nice, but it don't really matter at all". I mean, I've probably donated twice of that to other players, my various corps etc. But for the newer dudes which are proud of having 30 M isk saved up getting slapped in the face with another 200 M this will seem like Xmas and a 45 minute orgasm.... This wil hopefully mean that we'll see a general increase of the level of gear used in games AKA making the battlefield more competitive. At last its insanely better to go up against proto players in a 700 HP enhanced fit rather than a 5 K isk starter fit. Again we're talking about a win-win situation for vets and "intermediate" players allike. Arguments against a full respec: 1. This is an MMO after all and you're not supposed to make your wizard turn into a knight just like that. This I do agree with in general terms. But what if that fancy fireball spell the wizard had just got transferred to the black mage and all you are left with now are healing and other support spells? Its not like the fireball was OP or anything its merely been transferred to another class. If you can't relate this to the upcoming massve changes to Dust just stop reading and go to bed. Also, such a large part of this community have agreed upon a respec "when all racial variants of guns and suits are released", and thats whats happening now isn't it? I hope that even dudes like IWS will concede and see the need for it now. 2. Something to do with lore? I dunno, and don't really care. Gameplay over anything any day IMO. Main issue with an inventory reset: This will indeed balance out the field a little between todays playerbase but what about the new dudes joining the game next month and so on? Well I don't have an answer to that. I do believe that Dust has such a small playerbase, (mostly consisting of "bittervets" and "protoQQers") and that by extension keeping that playerbase active should be a huge priority TDLR: Reset all infantry skills and trade all assets into isk, this is a win-win scenario for vets, newer players and Dust as a game in general. Why not just give everyone the option for a respec when they hit 5 million SP? Works better to help new players going forward than doing it once now. "The line between disorder and order lies in logistics" -Sun Tzu Forum Warrior lv.1 Amarr victor!
John Demonsbane Unorganized Ninja Infantry Tactics League of Infamy 1909	Posted - 2014.02.09 16:39:00 - [2] - Quote KingBabar wrote: @ JD (No need to quote my entire wall o text, we would figure you'd be replying to my OP...) We get a major change to virtually every suit in the game, haven't you noticed? This is as a good a time like any to do this... But yes I do agre with you. But I would put it at 10 M and make sure all the new guys actually know they'll get it, a carrot is a carrot... LOL, habit. Also good policy as insurance against major future edits... Anyway, I used to propose 10 mil for the "noob respec" too, but I'm not so sure that it might be a little high and leave players hamstrung too long by poor early decisions. Maybe offer it at 5 and you have until 10 to use it? "The line between disorder and order lies in logistics" -Sun Tzu Forum Warrior lv.1 Amarr victor!