Regarding Illegally Modified Ofab

So the subway Ofab weapons were clearly meant to be utilized by low-level toons as solid leveling weapons. That's great; brilliant, even, that Michi's looking at the NPE as a whole and not just Arete.

That said, I think leaving the LE requirement on the Ofab weapons is a mistake. Yes, yes, I know, Ofab in general is an LE feature and we all had to pay for it in the past to get Ofab at every level, yadda yadda. But these things drop in a *froob* dungeon, are excellent leveling weapons for new players, and yet they can't be used by the very demographic they're aimed at. I had a froob tell me he sold two backpacks full of Ofab weapons because he couldn't use them. That's a shame, because it's these new froob players that may eventually become paid players and save Anarchy Online.

My 2c.

I understand your reasoning but look at it from FunComs perspective. A free player will look at the random RK weapon they have picked up and started using and compare it to this OFAB weapon locked behind the LE Tag and feel tempted to upgrade. It's a small carrot-on-a-stick, but a carrot nonetheless.

My thinking was that by being illegally modified, the LE tag has also been dropped. A small taste of the things that LE (and subscribing in general) offers. Ofab as a whole doesn't need to be froob gear, just these weapons. A big part of why I say this is that they're so much better than anything else you can get around that level that it's probably somewhat discouraging to a newbie froob to see that LE tag. Smackings of pay-to-win in their mind, maybe.

But again, just my 2c.

We need illegally modified illegally modified ofab weapons! :D

What if froobs were given access to them somewhat later? For example an item out of the temple, or maybe another similarly-leveled area. Perhaps even a quest. Paid players can just use them straight off, but froobs could access them a bit later when they aren't as powerful (though perhaps still worth using while leveling).

This would give a free player that "ooh I could subscribe and get that" feeling, without as much of the "ugh this game just locks a ton of powerful items behind a paywall doesn't it?" feeling.

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Originally Posted by Litestrider

We need illegally modified illegally modified ofab weapons! :D

What if froobs were given access to them somewhat later? For example an item out of the temple, or maybe another similarly-leveled area. Perhaps even a quest. Paid players can just use them straight off, but froobs could access them a bit later when they aren't as powerful (though perhaps still worth using while leveling).

This would give a free player that "ooh I could subscribe and get that" feeling, without as much of the "ugh this game just locks a ton of powerful items behind a paywall doesn't it?" feeling.

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That's not very good idea for two reasons:

1) Froobs can easily get and equiú weapons that are superior to these at level 25+ (mostly SoM and ToTW weapons) so there'd be no point in getting them.

2) Furthering the gap between paid and free to play players at the lowest levels is generally not very good idea, even the worst P2W MMOs get that.

I would really love to know what proportion of froobs that encountered the illegal ofab weapons actually took that as the inspiration to shell out for the full game. I'm highly skeptical :p I also wonder how many froobs looked at it and went 'meh, screw this'.

Here's a little cool story bro: when Rift released it's Nightmare Tide expansion last october, the reward for the very first quest in the new expansion area was a piece of gear locked behind a paywall. You had to shell out for the Planewalker: Water Attunement from the cash shop to put on this piece of green quest gear that was far superior to whatever you'd have been wearing from the previous expansion (because the new expansion was designed for much larger stat numbers so there was only so far your old stuff would get you, unless you were raid geared). The intention behind this move was was stated above - to entice people to shell out in the cash shop. What it actually did was piss people off and garnered angry forum flames.

EDIT: Since their introduction, I always thought an appropriate move would be something like applying a hacker tool to the Illegal ofab weapons to remove expac lock but make it NODROP. Mind you the weapons drop like candy and are mostly worthless in the GMI apart from the Peregrines anyway.

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Originally Posted by Conspark

. Smackings of pay-to-win in their mind, maybe.

But again, just my 2c.

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Subscriptions are not pay-to-win, even in a game that adopted a F2P model.

Being able to buy endgame characters and the best gear in game is (and with no skill, still isnt).

People that come to games wanting the best and paying for nothing shouldnt set the policy for paid veterans that have not only worked hard, but provided feedback, bug reports, discussions, ideas, and community help. In my experience, the fr00b that whines the most often quits after they get what they demand.

Back on topic now, I would like to play a lowbie just to experience these weapons in "old" areas I remember. Gimmie that carrot!

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Originally Posted by Scottik

2) Furthering the gap between paid and free to play players at the lowest levels is generally not very good idea, even the worst P2W MMOs get that.

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Wait, how does my suggestion to give froobs access to something they currently have no access to "further the gap" between them and paid players?

As for the power of them, a (very) slight boost when updgraded would take care of this. It could also send them right to the sweet spot where it's good for froobs but on the bad side for paid players. ToTW/SoM are missing a LOT of weapon types, and while I hate to see homogenization of weapon choices, if these were presented in a manner other than "look these are better than everything else!" they could be very nice for all. I know I appreciate the illegal weapons already not because they're the best, but because they're very easy and consistent to get for new characters. The ToTW/SoM range could use something along those lines too, something you discard quickly, but is handy if you dont' feel like rolling/farming/buying that uber weapon because you're focused on actually playing.

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Originally Posted by Blutfrau

Subscriptions are not pay-to-win, even in a game that adopted a F2P model.

Being able to buy endgame characters and the best gear in game is (and with no skill, still isnt).

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"P2W" isn't a black-or-white situation. rubbing items in someone's face saying "loook what you could have if you just paid us money, too bad you're stuck with this crap weapon from 12 years ago!" is going to make a lot of people feel like a game is probably P2W. Teasing is good, mocking (or the perception thereof) is not. A lot of AO walks a very fine line already when it comes to this, I'm still not sure how good I feel about how the illegal ofab weapons were implemented.

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Originally Posted by Litestrider

Wait, how does my suggestion to give froobs access to something they currently have no access to "further the gap" between them and paid players?

As for the power of them, a (very) slight boost when updgraded would take care of this. It could also send them right to the sweet spot where it's good for froobs but on the bad side for paid players. ToTW/SoM are missing a LOT of weapon types, and while I hate to see homogenization of weapon choices, if these were presented in a manner other than "look these are better than everything else!" they could be very nice for all. I know I appreciate the illegal weapons already not because they're the best, but because they're very easy and consistent to get for new characters. The ToTW/SoM range could use something along those lines too, something you discard quickly, but is handy if you dont' feel like rolling/farming/buying that uber weapon because you're focused on actually playing.

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Well, it wouldn't but lets say it wouldn't help it either as well as it would be pointless with current stats of these weaps. As for giving them a boost, it would have to be fairly significant, just have a look at dmg template of neleb rod. Don't get me wrong, it would surely be nice to have more options but then it wouldn't make more sense to limit these option to paid players only at lvl 1-25 but opening upgraded version of the weaps to all at lvl 25+, would it? If anything it should be the other way around. At least that's what common sense tells me.