Exploiters, overequipping and the rest.

[Red Falcon]

The rules of conduct updates look good, though for some reason the mention of NoDrop items in the last paragraph caught my eye and reminded me of something... is there any reason vehicles are still NoDrop? I never understood this really, other than making vehicle finding/purchasing some sort of rite of passage.

Overequipping - I fall into the latter camp, where I feel that overequipping should be dealt with in a rather hard fashion. 200 levels, 200 ql of equipment, I am not seeing a huge problem. It is fairly clear to me that mob behavior and statistics have been as they are to make them compete with vastly overequipped PCs. This makes my characters (who mildly overequip at times with self-buffs) very, very hard to play.

Outdoor aggro range - Won't see many arguments with this.

Concealment - As a fixer who has wasted a lot on this skill, I would really like to see it improved (yes, I would prefer to put points back into it after the possible IP reset if it were a viable skill.)

Reduced monster HP/stats - for a long time I've complained that mobs appear to have 2-4x the HP of a same-level PC, and appear to have max possible skill in everything.. this would be a very welcome change. If the changes with overequipping are instituted this will be a necessary change to make people who were able to solo before (IE those insanely overequipped) still able to do so.

Shop availability of gear - I like the idea of certain types of armor being available in shops, and certain types being found-only. Like for example Omni desert/forest available in omni shops, with Omni-Pol, organic/graft, etc only coming from appropriate type missions (just as an example.)

Higher quality equipment dropping from mobs/chests - The way that equal quality items come from mission chests as the reward is quite sufficient for this, though I would find no objection to mobs dropping appropriate-level gear.

IP reset - regarding this, first, a quote:

> If you have made a lot of mistakes with the allocation of IP points, reroll.

I have a distinct problem with this mindset. While some of us may be gifted with seemingly unlimited time and drive to level many characters to 100+, I think that could be considered a slim minority. Many of us have fallen victim to the rebalancing changes caused by overequipping/buffing in the first place, and as such our skills were made into mistakes, we should not have to reroll for doing what was right at the time. I may have to start including version numbers in my characters' names if I'm to start rerolling every time a major skill is nullified.

So, the IP reset will give a lot of people back a lot of characters who are no longer suited for play due to changes in weapon skills, or concealment, or even the institution of working defense skills in which people had under-invested all this time.

As far as the specifics regarding the overequipping rule changes, it needs to be made very clear to people (such as several posters in this thread) that their gear is not going to pop off, that the hammer they self-buffed to equip will work just fine as long as they self-buff when in combat, that this is not a big nerf. I would most certainly take appopriate-level equipment, or at least equipment functioning at an appropriate level, if the mobs are toned down to suit the changes. If mobs suddenly have appropriate defensive skills, armor classes, attack values, and hit points, maybe my reduced damage (would it even be reduced? I wonder that my buffed/maxxed weapon skill would compare unfavorably with a mob's capped defensive) would be more than adequate to deal with the situation.

If a pet begins to no longer respond due to debuffs, it should at least finish its last command, IE if it was fighting an NPC trader and then the owner got debuffed, it could continue its last command (fighting the trader.) My biggest concerns about the pet changes are: Pet responding to /pet terminate, and .. well, trader-heavy missions.

As mentioned earlier, any solution dealing with overequipping forces the issue of mob balance onto the table, and directly down the design team's throats.

P.S. Further posts indicate opinions that only certain skills should be reset. My question is, who are you to determine what skills have been bad for what players? Personally I've been affected by some skill changes not on their little lists or just plain bad judgement calls on what I thought a skill did as opposed to what it actually did. People seem to be posting about which classes/skills should get reset based solely on their experience. When you make an adjustment like this it must be made available to everyone, or no one. If not it becomes 'well -I- want an IP reset for -my- nerf.'

Or there's also a laughable post about people 'getting characters to 50 quick!' via using skills they wouldn't normally raise.. I doubt anyone in their right mind cares about someone getting to 50 in 3% less time than it would normally take them, due to an alternative skill route. If someone is of the mind to do that sort of thing before the (possible) IP wipe, then I say more power to them.

P.S.S. I'm becoming more disappointed with the community's lack of ability to digest things, with the increasing number of 'omg it's hard enough to solo mobs as it is!' posts re: the overequipping changes. The mob rebalancing SHOULD address this.

Much more disappointing to me, right now, is the lack of reason to level after a certain point because with overequipping as it stands, you probably already have ql200 gear on. Yes, it is a drastic change, but yes, it is very necessary for the lifespan of this game.

And to all those people out there saying 'overequipping is part of the game, you're just lazy' ... where are the 120 point SMG buffs? Where's Suppressor's Bliss? I am of the mind that buffs help you hit better, do more crits, etc, not become an entire basis for your character. Some of us probably could overequip more, but don't.
And as far as the 'I spent 5 hours getting the wrangles and buffs and implant swapping to get this gun on at level 53' well, you must ask yourself about how buffs work, in game terms... driving a car->suddenly forget how to drive->you should be able to continue with no problems? I think not.

Debuffs.. nobody seems to have anything positive to say here either. Most seem to think your gun is going to suddenly stop working completely, which it won't. It'll work at reduced effectiveness, isn't that what debuffs do? And why not raise your nanoresist after the (possible) IP reset? I know the resist/defense skills didn't work before, but they appear to now. Make debuffs easier to resist if it's that much of a problem for people..

In summary, the changes here to both PCs and mobs will defeat extreme overequipping to a level that they can confidently lower mob abilities without making the game too easy. This means that my not-uber-overequipped characters should be able to do missions again, which is right at the top of my list (along with making fixer useful for something.) Sure, there will be changes to PVP, and everything else for that matter. PVP is so easily avoided I have a hard time not laughing when people cite that as a complaint. My primary concern is deliverance on that 'solo to 200' promise we were given.

[______________KontoL]

Good job. As a game director, you did think of ways to make this game more enjoyable. I like the idea of lowering the prices of the items in stores. Even as newbies, it takes several kills to be able to buy a picklock. Picklock should be priced really low so newbies are encouraged to do missions. I level pretty quickly and easily just by doing missions. It's safer and has more chance to get good equipments.

The one thing that the programmers need to change are the nanos. Right now, all these professions have very similar nanos. Not one of them has really really special abilities. i.e. Traders and Nano Technician always complain that they are really weak. And we don't see many beaureucrat running around. People tend to be an Enforcer, a Doctor, or an Engineer. When I'm talking about the nano, I mean adjusting the length of the nanos and also the effectiveness. For example the root nano(s), are somewhat useless. Even the high level root nanos do the same as they do in lower root nanos.

So instead of just fixing the bugs and creating more monsters an dungeons, programmers at FunCom should adjust the game to make it more playable. You guys also need to put more documentations and more maps in the retail box or wherever. This AO game is so hard and complicated for newbies. And not many people are willing or available to help.

[Teknolord]

I would HATE to re-allocate my ip, just to see that FC implements some stuff which make me wanna tear my hair out, because i was setting up my character to make it usable NOW.
Example: Fixers get a new type of weapon, while *all* of us wear mausser....
example 2: We get a new type of nano, while most of us have headed for HoT, and the new type of nano (evading, dodge, etc, making us "impossible" to hit), makes this totally useless.
Example 3: A new skill or type of nano is introduced, letting us hack running nanos, hack robots, etc, and most of us havent spent TOO many IP on B&E, or spent WAY to much compared to what the nano itself can do..

Now, Funcom, PLEASE hear the fixers.. We are HANDICAPPED compared to other professions, we really SUX, and u have said u are gonna give us something which makes us FIXER.. PLEASE PLEASE give us that first, BEFORE IP-reset is introduced.. Otherwise will i bet 1credit you get a pissed off bunch of fixer on your neck....

Second problem, which WILL affect most profession, is the fact that if you at a later point decide to make a major change, which makes e.g a skill useless or an item illegal, and people spent lotsa IP on that, it will for sure be waist...
My suggestion is that if u do this, then let people have the option to get some of the IP back, maybe just a % or just one skill reset...

[_________Firewater58]

IP wipe = Exploit!

I think some of you are blind to what an IP wipe really means for AO right now. I know im going to get into trouble for posting this, but FUNCOM and all the supporters dont seem to realize the danger of what a FULL IP release/wipe will do to AO.

Yes this post will be removed shortly & and Im kind of sorry to post this, but oh well.

READ:

Knowing that a character doesnt have to worry what they spend IP on, I can "now" power level well past lvl 50 spending ip freely on anything my character wants - ie my soldier can spend massive ip on treatment, complit, first aid (all dark skills) and have A VERY EASY time getting to a higher level.

You think im joking? Go to the newbie grounds and listen to the channel - its started allready - people are laughing at you Funcom - youll hear people talking about powerleveling a character above 50 just in case the ip wipe takes effect. Imagine getting massive cash, weapons, armor, and a couple of lvl 50 characters in just a weekend of play!

Then if the ip wipe goes through - your ip spent on dark skills that helped you lvl so quick will be returned to your pool and you can continue that character the way they were ment to be played. (ie a solder wasnt meant to have much nano or healing - and an NT shouldnt have on tank armor! etc etc)

Yes this is an exploit imo - but only beasue Funcom was so foolish to post this on their MAIN PAGE & FORUMS! What were you thinking Funcom? This little mistake has already made AO the laughing stock of the MMRPG forums around the web! (more so then they already were)

If you were going to release ip - WHY for god sakes did you make it so public? Just "do it" for those people who were hit with nerfs and had trouble with early charactes. That way it would "help" people - not create the potential for thousands of high level characters who spent little time and effort - belittling the work others have put into their characters.

IF you do an IP wipe - it MUST apply ONLY to the characters created BEFORE you mentioned this on your main page! Any exceptions to that NOBODY will bother playing AO - serriously guys, this has the potential to be the biggest exploint in mmrpg history.

Think this through Funcom!

[Kinkstaah]

Maybe increase the free period to 25%
In terms of Overequipping that is..

As for IP wipe..

NO

ONLY allow this for skills or items where skills have been changed.
You HAVE found a way so lock skills OUT of IP wipe (Map Nav)

Extend that so ONLY the following skills CAN be wiped.

MULTI RANGE (Pistol)
MULTI MELEE (Pillow)
RANGED ENERGY (FA)

Do not allow changes for everything else.
EVERYONE WILL BE THE SAME.

The thing is, it doesnt *Matter* if you fix all the other weapons. People WILL use what works NOW when they can change their IP. From an enforcer perspective. EVERYONE will use 2hb, or beams etc. Now it doesnt matter if 2 days later people realize that they fixed AC and adamage caps etc... Because everyone will now have their IP in 2hb.

This will happen to all classes.. everyone will be cookie cutter.. 'tis bad!

Blarg.

[Thyrra]

this seems like a fine way to go about things.

please, before you implemet the ip wipe, balance out equipment. if you don't balance out the equipment available to people, we will end up with almost everyone using the same equipment and ip setup for their characters. what little diversity within professions exists now is likely to all but vanish.

[_________BladeStrike]

THIS IS A SOLID EXPRESSION OF SUPPORT FOR WHAT YOU HAVE OUTLINED. I especially am in favor of the over-equipping & IP "gist" you have outlined. The sooner these fixes can be implemented the more enjoyable the game will become for a wider audience.

----------------------

The only questions I would have are:

1. Why lower the aggro of mobs in the open? Personally I like cowering in fear (heh) and think it adds ****e to the game. If there is some game balance reason that suggests this would be a good idea, I am unaware of it.

2. Why make it easier to get goodies, either from drops or stores? I think the economy is reasonable now. Again if there is a game balance issue that suggests this change, I am unaware of it. If you make the item drops better and the store availability better, I would be concerned that it would make exploring less interesting. The good thing about *wanting* items that you can only get by exploring/missions is that you have to run around Rubi-Ka (doing your best to avoid some of the more easily aggroed mobs).

If you want to improve playability, make the mission format easier/faster to scan through, so that players don't spend hours sifting *slowly* through missions. I still think players should have to sift missions, but at least make that task a little less tedious.

3. Maybe I missed something, but it wasn't clear to me that all items (other than the exception of implants) are affected by the OE "fix". I think some people have read your message to mean weapons only. I would hope everything is affected (with the possible exception of implants, although it wouldn't bother me if implants were affected). Could you please make a more definitive statement of what is affected byt the OE "fix"?

----------------------------

The only suggestion I would have would be to make the OE "fix" trigger levels more dramatic. At 10% OE, lose 25%, at 20%OE lose 50%, at 30% OE lose 75%, at 40% OE lose all utility. I think it is fair to expose us gunners to the ravages of de-buffs. However I acknowledge that FC folks probably have a better view of game balance of casters vs gunners. It's just that I have an unqualified feeling that the OE roll-off may be too gentle.

[-Zagadka-]

I have only one thing to say.

Nano progs can't be OEd, because there is a constant check on skill levels to be sure you meet it. This bones people who rely on nanos, who basically can't OE as well (eg, no guns that do +1.8k damage). A necessary part of any OE work would be to make guns and nanos be checked and affected the SAME WAY - either they work or they don't, or they suffer a penalty.

[Odeen]

This sounds like a verry good fix for all the over equipping in this game. Now, when you reach lvl 150 you can equipp ql200 items, no more reson to lvl. Agents at lvl 70 using ql180 rifles, heh, that aint right, same with traders. This game just isnt much of a challange. Try adding some REALLY rare items into the game, like a rifles for agents that do some more dmg... right now theres like 1-2 wpns usable for each profession. You have everyone walking around with senpai coats. I want more rare items=)

As far as for the IP reset, I'm ok with this. Alot of people have been touched by sudden nerfs, and i dont think saying "thats how life is" helps. In the RL world guns dont suddenly stop working or they cause less dmg. We put many hundred hours into making our chars, and a sudden nerf may cause alot of dmg and make ppl abandon their char cause of it.

*But i also aggree with what Firewater58 says* this may screw things up. Im sure you can make IP reset for any chars made before "date". If you can, maybe just for all chars made before last nerf or something.

So all in all, it looks great and i hope you get it tested 100% first.

Yeah, one more thing...
Putting in some varitions of diffrent wpns for each class would make ppl more uniqe, just do this right before IP reset or something.

PS/ MAs still have issues, or maybe they are supposed to be like they are now(only profession not able to overequipp anything except maybe abit AC, not much if u used agi/sense though)

[_______________Lozer]

i am 100% in favior of the ideas.... i have red VERRY few complaint aobut the ip wipe.... and i thouhg of a solution...... only extend the wipe to classes that where actually effected by itom/skill changes... IE Casters/ adventures.

GO WITH THE IP WIPE FIRST! then maby i can start playing my adventure and NT again.

[FunnyFace]

To me it sounds as if they're on the right track. Implants and buffs will still work as intended. I agree with previous posters though, that the rebalancing needed will be tremendous. Especially when it comes to effects and durations of the traders nanos. But I'm sure all that can be worked out to everyone's satisfaction.

As a crat I dread traders in missions today. If my pet shuts down because of deprives it'll of course be worse but I'm ok with that, as long as the /pet terminate still works so I can activate a lesser droid.

The way nanos work now, by having you to switch to a lesser one is perfect. There is no need to equal the game mechanics between weapons and nanos in some misplaced attempt at 'fairness'.

As for the IP reset its not a big deal to me, although I think it should be handled this way instead:

Recalc the IPs based on current level and compare it with IPs needed for all the current skill levels. Apply the difference to the 'IP available'. This way adventurers get back their stolen IPs and exploiters and ring users lose their extra IP (and some would have a debt they'd pay off when levelling). I used a couple of rings while these 'abominations' were around and would still be happy with this solution.

When it comes to removing items like FAs and pillows and thus making IPs 'wasted' I think it should be handled by adjusting or introducing other items, not by IP resets.

But if Funcom feels they want to make amends to the players by giving them IP reallocation once, sure, why not?

And to all the powergamers: These new rules does not mean that you have to play less 'smart'. On the contrary you will have more things to factor in to do well, than just 'getting it on'.

[_____________Marthos]

Just a reminder about the IP reset...

The formula for how much IP we get should be found by figuring out how much total IP our level should have.

It should not be done by doing "reverse" IP allocation (like when you hit the left arrow). The reason for this is that Adventurers lost IPs when a blue skill turned into a green one - with no modification of the ability score to reflect IPs devoted to it. If say, someone put 100 points into the blue skill before it turned green, and then got a refund of 100 green points, he will have lost IPs.

Give IP back based on level!

[___________KillBilly]

the idea of a wipe sings to me, but i think it should sing to everyone, hell think about it if you want your character the wa it is just reallocate the same way, and dont whine, because if tha ac and hitpoints of MOB's is reasonable you wont need all the overequiping, unless you dont really want to play the game such as it is and just want a PvP title, wich is rediculous because you really havent acomplished anything but wasting hours upon hours of leveling and twinking all fore the sole purpose of saying "i killed you".

dont get me wrong PvP is a nesecary aspect of the game, especially for giulds, BUT it isnt the point of the game the point is to have fun, PERIOD. because its a game and thats what its meant for FUN. and i dont think listening to jack asses gloat because they killed you is FUN, i dont play my character to dominate everyone. i run missions i talk to my guild members i hunt with them i run missions with them, because its fun and for no other reason. NOT because im trying to make up for my insecurities in my real life.

If you play your character like that you ruin the game for everyone else, because they have to compete with you twinking and it wouldnt even be nessacary to do it if it wasnt so out of hand, hell unless you do it you wont ever have a chance in PvP, so you are forced, but if you play like you are supposed to you are nothing more than a targot, and there is nothing FUN about being a targot....it sucks

[__________Splatmaker]

how many people are going to want you in their group when your only dealing 100 dmg at lvl 70?

Agree.

The comment "Oh, btw. I am so sorry that you über twinked, rich, spoiled brats that overequip beyond the believable are getting nerfed. Of course you should be able to kick everyone's ass.<sniff>" really proves that the person DO NOT belong in the game. I'm not overequipped, but if ppl want to 'over equip' or whatever, LET THEM as long as they're not exploiting!

People whining about over-equipping remind me of small children being jealous of the other childrens toys..

I've said it before, and i'll say it again: AO is a community. In every community, both RL and virtual, there will allways be loosers and winners. If you end up at the bottom and everything you own is crap, what do you do? You ASK FOR HELP, rethink your strategies and try again or you just give in and KILL YOURSELF.

I'm fed up with incompetent people having an effect on MY life, virtual or real.

[________________Sent]

Originally posted by MSag
Nah this change will be a disaster if it goes in and it will be another exodus of players. Funny how all the NTs post here and like it.

I'll cancel my account the day the patch goes in if it stays the way that was formulated in the article.

I'm so tired of you "I'm going to quit and everyone else will quit" people. Come up with a new line.

You remind me of that snotty little kid, balling his eyes out and threatening to jump up and down, because it's time to put his toy away.

I'll be amazed if anyone from Funcom gives any credence to posts with little threats from some people that can't express their opinion without resorting to such garbage. I definately would not.

... ok, I feel better Thank you for reading my rant.

[_________KrazyKanuck]

From what i see there are reason for the IP wipe and reasons against the IP wipe.

For the IP wipe we have the fact that some skills were nerfed/changed in the middle of the game. For example the adventurers who had one of their skills changed from dark blue to green. Some lost a chunk of IP there and it should be refunded.

As for against well i think it is quite obvious. Basically you'll get back IP you wasted because of your own stupidity. I feel that you placed the IPs your stuck with em there, don't like it start over.

Also against we have the fact that IPs you may have needed to originally equip a item you no longer need because your base stats raise it higher enough. For example if you got a Yalm early you would have had to allocate IP into Air nav to be able to use the Yalm. But now your a lot higher lvl your base abilities are higher meaning that the Air Nav has a natural higher lvl and if you use the right implants you probably wouldn't have to spend any IP in it to use your Yalm. Basically all the low lvl players now and new players coming would be "nerfed" compared with all the high lvl players from now.

Overall i would have to say that i am against a IP wipe. While i agree that changes in colour of abilities should have resulted in the return of the IP its too late to correct that fact now and hopefully if they make any more changes in the future they will ensure that they return extra IPs spent. Unfortunately i don't think that Funcoms plunder should result in a total IP wipe.

[_________Firewater58]

KrazyKanuck: (good & bad for ip wipe)

>As for against well i think it is quite obvious. Basically you'll get back IP you wasted because of your own stupidity. I feel that you placed the IPs your stuck with em there, don't like it start over.

Bad and hese is why:

A newbie loads up AO and creates a character and puts ip into many of his light colored skills thinking that hes "developing his proff the way it was intended."

A few months later and countless hours of gameplay this player is told by others that they are already gimped and will struggle at higher levels.

Funcom forgets to tell newbies: "Oh by the way every Ip you spent on swimming, grenades, heavyweapons (most guns that require this skill are equal to a flashpoint which doesnt), tutoring, multiple ranged, pistols etc etc etc etc was a total waste!"

Shouldnt this newbie get an Ip wipe also? Its not his/her fault that Funcom added so many useless stats and or isnt able to add content to make those stats viable.
----------------------
>Also against we have the fact that IPs you may have needed to originally equip a item you no longer need because your base stats raise it higher enough. For example if you got a Yalm early you would have had to allocate IP into Air nav to be able to use the Yalm. But now your a lot higher lvl your base abilities are higher meaning that the Air Nav has a natural higher lvl and if you use the right implants you probably wouldn't have to spend any IP in it to use your Yalm. Basically all the low lvl players now and new players coming would be "nerfed" compared with all the high lvl players from now.

Excellent! This I forgot about and your totally correct! Good thinking!

Are some of you starting to realize that an ip wipe isnt so simple now? It will have to be broken down to "certain skills," done to "certain prof (is that fair?)," created before a "certain time" and done only during a "certain time."

The planning that will have to go into an Ip wipe is tremendous! Not to mention Funcom will STILL have not removed skills (or added content to make those skills viable) that are useless and are often a source of ip for newbies.

Ip wipe is dangerous but potentially helpfull - be carefull Funcom.

[___________KillBilly]

Originally posted by darquan


Agree.

The comment "Oh, btw. I am so sorry that you über twinked, rich, spoiled brats that overequip beyond the believable are getting nerfed. Of course you should be able to kick everyone's ass.<sniff>" really proves that the person DO NOT belong in the game. I'm not overequipped, but if ppl want to 'over equip' or whatever, LET THEM as long as they're not exploiting!

People whining about over-equipping remind me of small children being jealous of the other childrens toys..

I've said it before, and i'll say it again: AO is a community. In every community, both RL and virtual, there will allways be loosers and winners. If you end up at the bottom and everything you own is crap, what do you do? You ASK FOR HELP, rethink your strategies and try again or you just give in and KILL YOURSELF.

I'm fed up with incompetent people having an effect on MY life, virtual or real.

a little over equiping is fine and the game is designed to work that way but carrying a l180 sniper rifle at level 80 is rediculous, i PvP an agent who killed me before i could even get a shot off. thats obscene

[Etrigan]

First off I like the idea of a voluntary one time IP reset. I think this would be great for those of us that were playing from the begining and experimented with what skills to use where.

The problem I see with using the reduced effectiveness is as follows:
You would have to take into account what each character could possible maximum buff would be and then compare that to each weapon. (ex. character A uses is lv50, can at his level use lv50 implants these if maxed buff X amount. add to that the maximum buff from ALL nanos he could possibly recieve. This would provide you with what the character should be able to equip. This is also alot of work and way too cumbersome to be useful.)
The problem you run into if you do not do this, is that there would be no reason to bother with soft buffs unless their duration was multiple hours, like 1 per ql, otherwise why waste the time and energy and possibly cr to use them to equip when the weapon will be what you already have in a matter of 1/2hr to 1hr, or shorter if you happen to die.
Only hard buffs such as implants would be worth using.
Also debuffs would be come not slightly more powerful, but devestatingly so, unless their duration and effect was drastically reduced.
The biggest problem with characters needing to overequip is that when a character faces an npc character of same level, they are not of same difficulty, the npc is far superior as far as health, healling and the fact that npcs do a particular dmg that has no variable in combat except when the score crits. I have yet to fight a lv80 soldier npc who's gun hits me for 140 then 15 then 30. The damage is a static number unless the npc crits.
So now when you give the character a weapon and armor to face these npcs and said character goes into pvp, sadly the balance that would appear to be there on the surface is lacking.
The current attempts to balance pvp are at best quick fixes.

I believe the most of the equipment in the game, specifically weapons, need to be re-organized and rebalanced.

Now as far as a possible solutions:
for implants- on a character by character basis, go through each and look at the maximum possible treatment that character could have recieved, from treatment machine, maximum doc nano, and his current skill and equipment. IF it could not be done, then force the implant to unequip or turn off. this should not happen when you treatment is debuffed in game, this should be a one time thing. this way no character will have any implants that were put in via a bug.
for other equip- the best solution is to put a hard cap on what ql can be used. ie, a 40th character can only use ql40 equip. though I am not infavor of this due to the fact that if it is done, then the entire game needs to be rebalanced to take in account for this.
Reguardless of what was inteded, over equiping is built into the game, though I agree that some middle ground needs to be reached. It is one of the biggest parts of the social and economical enviroment within the game. Getting buffs from other characters stimulates much of the games player interaction. remove this and you may as well be playing a single player version.
I would focus more on how to remove those that have over equiped to the extreme through the use of bugs and exploits then I would be concerned with overequiping period. It isnt the lv60 enforcer with the ql80 sword that is the problem, its the lv20agent with the lv200 rifle that throws things out of balance.



Morhawke

[Bothead]

Funcom, you have to be EXTREMELY cautious about this, as the conseqences for professions that rely heavily on overequipping to survive will suffer badly. NTs are already superior in terms of pure damage output over time, and since nanoformulas cannot really be overequipped permanently and won't be affected by these changes, ranged/melee weapon weilders will all be gimped in comparison.

Do you really want to start re-balancing the game all over again? I suppose you know the programming time and costs needed for that alot better than I do. And all because a bunch of players are too lazy to 'overquip' or simply jealous of people who are better than them in PvP due to weeks spent in planning/building a character meticulously.