User:Farthion/Respawn rates

THE OVERALL ISSUE

20:36, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

Three interrelated issues are destroying my enjoyment of the game. I'm curious if it's doing the same for other players. Those issues are armor damage repair costs, the imbalanced nerfing of armor/skills for higher level characters in lower level areas in such a way that it's much easier to kill an AT LEVEL monster than a lower level one, and the overall respawn rates being set regardless of the number of players in the local area.

I don't normally do groups and a persistent instance doesn't really encourage grouping up except when coincidentally engaging in common activities. But a persistent instance does require a monster respawn rate high enough so that each single player experiences about the same level of difficulty. I actually enjoy that part. But in many areas, it's impossible (literally impossible) for a single player to even get to a point of interest without dying numerous times (and having to repair the armor at a price often times higher than the armor cost!). That level of frustration comes from the three things mentioned above.

While these issues may seem separate, they all relate to the player experience in exploring and on a fundamental level, overall game play. They interrelate so much that any change in one will affect the overall player experience and have an impact on the other two. Fix the respawn rate, the nerfing becomes less of an issue and the repair costs drop. Fix the nerfing issue, and the respawn rate becomes less of an issue and repair costs also drop. Fix the armor repair cost issue and people become less aggravated about spending hard-to-come-by gold (at least for lower level explorers) when they get killed by a mob of lower level creatures they could have handled had they or the mobs been at the same level. Overall, the player experience is better if any one of these issues are "fixed".

PROBLEM 1: RESPAWN RATES

Assuming armor defense and skill damage aren't going to be tweaked to make it easier for a higher level character to kill lower level monsters, and because you CAN kill the monsters as a solo player with the skills as they are, the problem becomes what military people refer to as a "Target rich environment". It's one thing to take down a small mob by yourself. It's another to have to keep doing it over and over without being able to advance to the next mob or location, or moving forward and ending up getting mobbed from behind as well as from the front.

For large groups of players, this is not as much of an issue, of course, but we don't always have other players in the area and even if they are, they're usually on business of their own. If the monsters that agro have a much longer respawn time or that respawn time can be metered based on the number of players in the immediate area, making it longer for fewer players and shorter for more, then it makes the difficulty the same regardless of the number of people in the area.

Of course, it may just be me, though I've been playing these games for longer than most people go to school. Please feel free to comment below.

PROBLEM 2: ARMOR/SKILL NERFING

In the event the respawn rate isn't adjusted, then the armor/skill nerfing definitely has to be. I've found that, often times, it's MUCH HARDER for a higher-level character to kill a low-level monster than an AT LEVEL character can do. This was a phenomenon I noticed most recently in the eastern side of the Gandarran Fields north of the Almuten Mansion when level monsters two levels below me went down in about eight hits each then I passed into a higher zone (the area, not the instance), against at level monsters and they went down in HALF THE HITS.

It should be the same damage/defense for everyone, IMHO, if they're at or above the level of the monsters they're killing. All this seem to be a strong disincentive to explore, finish maps, aid lobie friends, etc. because highbies don't enjoy the full power of their skills and support of their armor unless they're tackling easier to kill monsters at level. So, assuming respawn rates aren't adjusted, then the armor/skills against monsters should apply equally across the board for anyone at or above the monster's level. It should NEVER be HARDER to kill a lower level monster than a monster at your level.

PROBLEM 3: ARMOR REPAIR COSTS

There are times I miss Death Penalty points because the items for removing that were far easier to get. Armor repairs in this game are ridiculous. Yes, I get that it monetizes the game (though truth be told, if the fashions weren't so awful, they could make a mint if they made them more visually appealing given the high level of graphics in the game), but having pieces damaged after every death results in repair costs that were higher than the piece of armor originally cost. I more often simply bought the same piece instead of investing in repairing it. This is a game economy issue, if repair canisters are intended to be a real money generator for the game. Armor being cheap, repairs being expensive (compared to the armor) and repair canisters that aren't drops or rewards costing real money all point to people buying armor instead of repairing it, assuming they want to get money.

At the lower levels, the costs of repairing armor aren't that bad. In the medium levels, the income from drops and sales still isn't that great, but armor costs still go up and it's actually harder to kill LOWER level monsters than at level ones (See the Armor/Skill Repair above). This means if you've got high level armor and get wiped by low level monsters, you have very high level repair costs. And you HAVE to go back to the lobie areas to finish the maps. When you're in the middle of the leveling tree, it's very expensive to repair armor compared to income. With the first two issues - repsawn rate and armor/skills nerfing - not only are players being sucked dry and unable to upgrade/repair armor, but they get frustrated with the pointlessness of leveling up when it only becomes harder to kill lower level monsters and end up having to spend great gobs of in-game money only to fail and have to repair again.

Several ways to address this issue could be to make repairs less expensive overall (perhaps as a third of the cost of the armor tied to current market rates), have a much higher repair canister drop rate or even make it take more than one death to damage armor - like on the third death within a certain time frame. Possibly even have the armor repair itself over time so that one can simply go elsewhere (crafting or something) and wait for the armor to get back up to speed.

COMMENT SECTION

Please post your comments here. Please reference your area (General problem, armor/skill nerfing, respawn rate, armor repair costs) when you post.