DudeMcGuy 06
L.O.T.I.S.
RISE of LEGION
2
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Posted - 2013.05.09 02:48:00 -
[1] - Quote
OK, so with the all of these posts about "to respec or not respec", "SP sinks", "new players getting stomped", etc, dominating the forums right now I thought I would give out some possible solutions.
First of all, with this new skill tree costing tons more SP, it has become quite clear that new players are going to have a huge hill to climb when starting a new character with only 500K SP. In fact, it is so huge that many or most people starting the game at launch won't have the patience to stick with it. Think of the CoD audience CCP wants to convert to their style of FPS. These players are used to unlocking a new gun every 2-3 days, not weeks. Yes, they will be forced to "Adapt or Die", but only 500K to start is not enough when most 1x and 2x skills are now 3x and 5x. This is problem #1.
Problem #2 is that said new players will routinely get crushed by overpowered, super repping, Proto Assault-Logis (Especially of the Caldari variety).
Problem #3 is that many people did not know how bad the uprising Nerfs to their weapons of choice were before putting their skills into them again. (See HMG, Mass Driver). Furthermore, certain vehicle skills don't do what they describe. As a result, veteran players are feeling screwed out of their SP, as there WAS NO CLEAR WARNING that these weapons/skills would be nerfed to the extent that they currently are.
Solution #:1 As of 5/14 New characters need to start with more than 500K SP, or the average SP gain and Cap need to be increased, or some combination of the two.
The Solution to #2 and #3 is twofold, and both must be done to have any substantial effect.
First, launch on 5/14 with optional "Beginner Ambush/Skirmish" battles that can only be joined by players with less than 2 million total SP. (Much simpler than meta-level restrictions or any matchmaking options). If a squad has just one member with over 2 mil SP, then simply prevent the entire squad from entering the battle. Think of this as high-sec instant battles where new players can get their feet wet, but are not forced to play in if they think they have progressed. Have these High-sec battles reward less ISK and SP to encourage that eventual progression to FW and regular instant battles.
Secondly... (I'm going to get some heat for this one) do a MANDATORY Skill Point respec at HALF Value on 5/14. This is needed to close the enormous SP gap between the beta players and the launch players. And it will give the vets a chance to put points into the fixed tree while still giving them an advantage for being in the Beta. If this is done, then an increase to SP gain and cap is a MUST.
Also, cut back a few of the high/low slots on the proto logi's, fix the HMG (range only), fix all of the weapon ranges back to chromosome levels (with no sharpshooter), lower the tactical AR's fire rate slightly (to prevent turbo controller abuse), and make the tank PG skill do what it used to do (Plus 5% total PG).
All of this is meant as constructive criticism coming from someone who uses mostly AR's (the tactical right now because the others can't shoot for beans with this hard range cap). Any thoughts or Dev responses are greatly appreciated |