Quote:
Originally posted by Don Fiendelioni
First I guess a little about myself and my character. I play a lvl80 Martial Artist, Omni sided on Rubi-Ka 1. I'm a somewhat casual player, probably about 5 hrs /week on average.
Now, the message I'm receiving from this proposed change is: if you want to use the rules as we set them up, and do your best to be your best, we wish to not allow this. Please read the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. In a society (as AO is), people with greater ability and time investment will always acheive higher/do more than those that are either just plain bad at the game, or don't spend hours upon hours playing. I would classify myself into the later category. I don't spend hours and hours playing. And you know what? When I see people in awesome gear at any level, I applaud them! Kudos to them! Does that affect my lvl80 MA's ability to do my missions and hunt my areas and have fun in the game? No sir, it certainly does not. For me, however, the search for better and "cooler" gear is the #1 reason I play AO. All the rest of the activities in the game, for me, is just leading to finding that next piece of gear, that next MA attack, or getting that next token board. Am I to be punished becuase I bothered to sit at the mission terminal until I got a concrete pillow so I can equip higher level omni pol armor? This is just silly. The best thing about AO is the ability to "over equip." Incidentally, I find this to be a misnomer. Using the rules of the game to obtain the best gear possible is just called playing your best. To me, over equipping would be exploiting a bug, or a clearly broken aspect of the game (such as the infinite treatment bug) to get into equipment.
If this patch goes through, there is nothing left for me in AO and I will be forced to speak in the only way that companies listen: with my pocketbook. I will cancel my account and use my time for something else, where I won't be punished for trying my best.
Pardon the melodrama here, but truly the game for me is all about the fun of trying to get into the best possible gear. Example: at my current level I have 255 "natural" agility. In trying to figure out the best primus decus armor coat (my favorite back slot armor item) I have to think hard about what all i can do to get into the best one possible. On the decus coats, agility is the higher of the two requirements, the other requirement, strength, is easy for me since I pump str each level also. With my 255, I can get a boost, +12, I can get feline grace from an agent for another +25, and then implant myself with say, lvl70 implants, for about another +50 or so agility. My total is about 342 or so, give or take based on implants. Now, since I can't really spare the implant space for agility at all times, my "normal" everyday agility is just the 274 from the boost. Agents aren't always on hand for feline grace, and stats in implants is usually not the most effective cluster to have in. Suppose i find a decus coat that has my exact max of 342 requirement (don't know this for sure, but whatever), will put me just at being "overquipped". Since when is one buff and some implants overquipping? That's just silly. It's very easy for a lvl80 to find an agent to cast feline grace (very easy to cast), and very easy to find the money for three simple implants. Why is this considered overquipping? ANY lvl80 character could do the same. The people who whine about my coat must not know how to play the game! Another slightly longer example, so I'll shorten it a bit, is with armor. In my case I have chosen to stay with omni pol, str/sta based, as I spend IP on these each level, and there are good buffs in this line to help me equip them. I can get +12 from a boost, +20 from a doc casting Iron Circle, +17 more from an enforcer casting essence of cyclops, +16 more from concrete pillows, and again about +50 from lvl70 implants. One buff myself, two that are *easy* to get, just drop by BB in ent anytime and tip someone for them (again, things accessible to any player willing to bother), and a relatively common item (can't afford to buy it? Spend the time at the mission term and get one yourself, or spend that time getting money, and buy one). This lets me get into gear *way* over the 20% line........how are a couple buffs and some easy implants overequipping? Any player could accomplish this, it doesn't take "guild mates and 'friends for hire'" as mentioned Gaute Godager's message. It requires time and effort, as all thing in AO do. Time and effort is what should be rewarded, not whining by newbies and just plain stupid people unable to play the game. If you can't figure out how to get two nanos cast on you and how to get one item (x2), then you're beyond the help of some silly over-equipping patch. These people will always just plain be worse at AO. So will the people who haven't figured out that certain weapons at any QL are just plain worse than others. There's a reason you see so many enforcers using dual riders or a beam. Should funcom nerf beams becasue some newb is pissed he doesn't have one? No! They shoudl tell the newb to learn from his mistakes, and start thinking about how he can buff his 2hb. The list goes on and on.
In summation: players who either have greater skill, or spend more time playing, will always be better than those who have not, or do not. To attempt to "level the playing field" to make up for the shortcomings of others is a slipperly slope at best, and a tragic end to a great game at worst. Please read harrison bergeron, please understand that going down to the lowest common denominator is a recipie for disaster and plase don't end up putting this patch into the game. I've really enjoyed the last 8 days and 10 hours of /played. I hope that you receive enough feedback (this included) to cause you to rethink your error.
P.S. If I was a trader, I'd have a 10x as long explination of why this new rule would completely devalue my class. Under the current system traders can make a ton of money doing +132 wrangles. Under the proposed system, wrangles become useless. It is totally rediculous to think that people are actually going to try and maintain a wrangle on at all times, just plain silly.
Thanks for the last couple of months, it was fun while it lasted.
Well said, I keep a backpack with different implants in so I can self-buff myself into my equipment, yet this means me wearing one set of implants that may leave me at as much of a disadvantage because my skill in something else is dropped