Oso Peresoso
Condotta Rouvenor
Gallente Federation
0
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Posted - 2013.06.09 07:11:00 -
[1] - Quote
The complaints about slow SP have been made about Eve for years and years, but the common consensus is that its a good system. There are factors inherent in the design of both games that balance the powerful effect of high SP. Diminishing returns for high SP, issues of specialization vs generalization. The benefits of lvl 5 skills are usually either a 2-5% bonus to something, or having access to proto gear, which is balanced by being very expensive. Like eve, some roles have higher barriers to entry than others. In both games, being in the right place at the right time, having the right weapon for the job, and playing intelligently and creatively will allow a lower SP player to beat a higher SP player.
As for FPS players having shorter attention spans compared to EVE players, I would argue DUST accounts for this in various ways. A new Dust player generally has more roles/options to be effective than a new eve player. In Dust, and unlike Eve, you get SP rewarded directly for playing. Dust players also have access to boosters and and aur gear. Oh yeah, and Dust players can get instant battles, unlike Eve players.
I think the real issue here is expectations management, not that the SP-system is broken. Firstly, for progression games, and certainly for FPS games with progression, players are just not used to the idea of making irreversible, meaningful choices in their character's development. I think most gamers (even those from other mmoRPGS) are used to being able to max out everything in a month and enjoy the metagame where everyone is at that plateau. But that's not Eve, or Dust. Its gonna take a long time to specialize in 6 different roles, and even then you still won't be able to everything "perfectly." I think the expectations are made a bit worse with the beta-vets who managed to get refunded huge amounts of SP and ISK and have a definite advantage over others. I've got a 60mil SP Eve pilot, but in Dust I'm running around with 1.5m SP and mostly basic gear. I don't considering myself a great FPS player, but my K/D is respectable, and when my team wins in skirmish, I usually have contributed quite a bit to that effort. I do not feel like I'm being dominated by other players with more SP. The militia shotgun seems to destroy people just fine from my perspective.
(I do think some more guidance/information on the skill system is due from CCP though, the skill tree fits like a glove for eve-vets, but I imagine it being a bit intimidating for anyone else to decide where to put hard-earned SP with so many choices and little information). |