Exploiters, overequipping and the rest.

[_____________Myyrlyn]

True, Reseting the IP would "fix" the mistakes you made while leveling.I don't have a problem with it either way. Not exactly sure what an IP reset has to do with fixing overequiping anyway.
I still think that if you make weapons and such less effective if your skill or attribute drops below the minimum, that all nanos should be the same way, just like any other equipment. Not fair to the heavily biased nano classes. Otherwise I still say that if you don't meet the requirements for the item, you can't use it. Would stop pretty much all overequipping, making it a royal pain to deal with. With that should also be the reduction of power in creatures. This would allow you to only put in implants that you could normally use.With that you would have to chose them carefully, because you will only be able to slightly overequip in one area. Like a nano tech in matter creation. The way the game should have originally been in my opinion. But to each his own, that's just my point of view.

May you rest well in the coils of the Great Dragon.

[_________JiggaMonkey]

I agree with almost everything in this article but the over
equipping stuff. Let me start by telling what i like.

-IP reset: Great idea considering all the changes that this game has gone through. This would give players an opportunity to make up past mistakes especially the ones that have been around for a while (can someone say Freedom Arms?)

-Upgrading Loot: Another great idea. I'm TIRED as i'm sure the rest of you are of the empty chests and the grenade ammo and stuff. Great move making monster parts worth something that adds more lewt to hunting.

-Easier Monsters: This is a must. The missions are ridiculously difficult to solo and often I need to start a fight, draw them into the first room in the mission, leave, heal, go back in, fight, leave heal...

Ok thats all great and happy now here's what I have problems with... This whole over equipping thing is ridiculous. Why punish players for taking the initiative to run around for DAYS looking for the right implants or sitting for hours on end in the shopping channel looking to find a soldier to give you Riot Control then a trader to give you a Wrangle.

This is what I love about the game! I love going out to hunt with my new gun which took me days of effort to equip and armor that looks so cool and gives me awesome AC's. Shopping and buffing into equipment adds a much needed depth to the game other then hunt, missions rinse repeat. Even if you make the MOBs easier its still so much fun to be better then this guy and to compete with friends to try and get better equipment. Have you looked in the shopping channel recently? It consists of 'BUFFING ESSENCE OF TITAN +20 str/sta!' or 'Casting 92 wrangle buffs all attack skill 92!!!' or 'Casting pistol, rifle and assault rifle mastery for tips at the BB in Omni entertainment!' This has added another level to our shabby economy. This allows players with experience to make money in ways other then just running endless missions.

Some may complain 'This only affects traders' But thats not true. Soldiers have weapon masteries needed by everyone, Docs have IC an +80 treatment, Agents have Snipers bliss and Felines Grace, MP's have nano mastery's, NT's have implant combining, Enforcers have +2h blunt and +str/sta. There are many more I don't feel like listing but you get my point.

In conclusion there are many great ideas here but you need to understand that not all people that over equip are exploiters they are just people that take the initiative and time to equip better equipment to survive better in the harsh world that is
Rubi-Ka.

[Sludgeee]

The ip reset is a great idea.













-sludgeee, 118 enforcer

[______________Xombie]

Once again, they don't consider overequipping to be exploiting. They consider it to be imbalancing. And it is, because:
-not all combat professions can overequip.
-it gives all PvP advantage to twinkers.

[_____________Debitte]

OK, my response to this issue will be very balanced, I really do have two views on this:

View One :
Trienne L50 Enforcer (retired)
Girltrooper L41 Soldier (retired)

These were both "natural" characters. They had reasonable equipment. Some of it above their level and some below. I retired both at their levels because they became unplayable. I couldn't generate enough cash in groups to keep my characters equipped. Because I didn't overequip - I couldnt complete 50% missions to raise cash. Result - dead characters.

View Two :
Debitte L15 Trader (Freshman)

Debitte has /terminated herself enough times to be level 50. It has taken a massive investment in time and understanding to even get her to the level that one would consider decently dangerous. She has 140 tokens and working on 400 before she levels to L50, and she will stay there for another 400 tokens before moving on to L100. Debitte is not complete yet, but she has L20/30 implants in every slot, wields a L44 and L16 SA Home Defender, and has an AC of 595.

I think I used one buff for an implant, and a guildie gave me a 41 pt wrangle which stacked with my deprives to equip the QL44. I plan on equipping a QL53 soon.

The difference between Trienne/Girltrooper and Debitte, is that Debitte works! She is an expression of what YOU taught me about the game! When Girltrooper was killed by a super-overequipped Enforcer 5 levels below her; it was clear how the game was DESIGNED. I learnt my lessons from my mistakes and built a character accordingly.

The solution to your problem is VERY easy:

"nanowands"
Caster classes are disadvantaged because weapon classes can overequip. Easy! Create "nanowands" that have stat requirements that 'fire' the caster's own nanoprogram. Easily coded. Problem fixed - casters can now overequip!

"balance to equal-equipped"
Secondly, reduce mob power to make them soloable by players equipped for their own levels. Uber players (highly overequipped) should blitz 50% missions-that is the reward of their significant investment in their characters.

Even with a weapon three times overequipped I couldn't possibly kill a L26 mob on a 100% mission. I think these two changes would restore game balance while still rewarding the effort of character investment.

Regards,

Debitte L15 Trader
Omni-Core
RK2

[_________Firewater58]

Ip rest is fine for old players, but will do nothing for newbies who join up and are still making mistakes by using all of Funcoms useless skills.

FUNCOM remove tutoring, heavyweapons, grenades, pistols (make these usefull), swimming etc etc.

You have filled AO will useless stats that bewilder newbies. If you grant an ip resent - you cant just give it as a "one time" event without adding content to AO.

Make those skills usefull ! Fix trade skills while your at it. Make AO fun by adding content! Worry about overequiping later.

[_____________Barakon]

"nanowands"
Caster classes are disadvantaged because weapon classes can overequip. Easy! Create "nanowands" that have stat requirements that 'fire' the caster's own nanoprogram. Easily coded. Problem fixed - casters can now overequip!
~ Debitte

The fact that NT can't over-equip is a big gripe with them and seems to be part of the reason for these suggested changes, i'd just like to add I think 'nanowands' is a potentially good idea for allowing NT to over-equip, however their benefit would be to enhance the power of an NT DD:

eg* QL 20 Nanomanipulation device might give a +10% damage increase to all DD nanos run by the operator.

QL 50 Nanomanipulation device might give a +20% damage increase to all DD nanos run by the operator.

etc...

Once again, the suggested changes are FLAWED!, a few of the professions would still be able to seriously over-equip while the rest are penalized.

<quick edit for Odeen(and other MAs)>

taken Patch 12.8 notes

Some special Martial Artist-only melee weapons have been added. These "stack" their damage-effects with the normal Martial artist Attack. Remember, you need to have a high Martial-Arts skill before this "dual-wield" power comes into effect! Some of these weapons have a damage type different than Melee.

In theory you can over-equip special MA weapons, if they don't work get on Funcom's case to make them work..

http://www.anarchy-online.com/conten...old/index.html

[Odeen]

Girltrooper: I see you think overequipping only effects casters. What about MAs using fists? At lvl 100 we cant equipp fists that do as much dmg as lvl 200 fists, wrangling MA skill for 3 min doesnt help us to much. I think the dmg we do is good enough but the dmg some of the over equippers do is to much. It really isnt much work in overequipping like things are now. Once a solder has gotten that ql200 nova on, they can use the cluster space they needed to equipp that nova with something else, same when they got that ql200 armour. MAs need those MA clusters in their implants to be able to survive.

[_________Firewater58]

Odeen - your right about MAs not being able to overequip fists, but your WAY WRONG about that being a problem for your class.

You forget that MAs are excellent healers and have excellent evades - 2 things no soldier, enforcer, or agent have. So even if your damage output isnt up to snuff with enforcers - ITS FOR A REASON!

Any MA that posts "we should overequip - and if we cant then nerf those who can" is TOTALLY barking up the wrong tree and is making a fool out of themselves. NOTHING will destroy what little game balance AO has more then a MA that can #1 overequip, #2 wear "ok" armor, #3 heal effectivly, #4. have excellent evades -

GIVE ME A BREAK! My lvl 62 MA is so damn uber right now (along with my MP) without overequiping! Its sad - I dont even bother playing that class anymore since I feel that I "already" have too much of an advantage over agents and soldiers.

No class can have EVERYTHING! MA's are doing just fine with healing and evades and a high level of "min damage" that can help cut through high lvl ac (remeber funcoms post on their main page a few weeks back?) The first player to reach lvl 200 was an MA if im not mistaken and he never had much trouble in missions or hunting.

ADD CONTENT TO AO - FIX LAG - HELP LESSER CLASSES (THI S CAN HELP RESTORE BALANCE _ FIXER ANYONE?) - DONT NERF!

[TemplarRed]

All well & good, except for the equipping bit.

I sure hope this isn't implemented anytime soon. This game is fun the way it is, & I'd like to enjoy it a good bit longer before I quit.

[Oriqx]

If this is a double post i am very sorry

First of all. I appologize for the length of this post but I have many points to get across. I have a Trader lvl 56 and a Agt lvl 41 amoung other chars but these are my mains.

My Agt is yes twinked. But I greatly enjoy this aspect of the game. I spend lots of time trying to get the very best stuff for my agt and to have him as very over-equiped as possible. This comes as a huge time taker. Many ppl who don't spend the time would have likely been at least 2 times my lvl. I think because of this I should be rewarded with much more damge output. I spent the time. They did not. Why should I be penalized for spending more time on my char. This is something i find fun to do. It gives me pride knowing that I am much stronger then most ppl my lvl.

Now for my Trader. The main money maker for traders is Wranglers. This is also one of there main nano's. Traders have very few nano's other then Skill increase and decreasing ones. If they made Over equiping the way they talk about then Wranglers would be utterly useless. You can't count on having a Trader in your group to constantly cast Wranglers on you so your gun has decent damage. Thus making it a useless skill. No one would over equip. Not to mention a trader couldn't cast wranglers on team mates because then they would not be able to cast any other nano's that would help out the team. IE damage nano's or healing nano's. Also Traders skills would now be to low for the requirements on their gun. Making there gun completely useless. Now that their skils are lower not only would there gun do less damage, which Vektors of ql's equal to our lvl do very little damage unless they crit. Do to the fact that our skills are now lower we would VERY rarely ever crit.

Now for PvP. IE Agt lvl 40ish. Equiping ql.40ish Gripo(very high crits). Max damage with crits w/o 1/2 damage patch would be about 350-400. Not postitve but close to that maybe less. Normal damge of about 50 average. Now we have a doc lvl 40ish. Healing for max of about 275( not sure but close to that). Now I am mentioning these to professions as an example because Agt's have no healing nano's and Doc's are the best healers. Now lets say they get rid of 1/2 damage in PvP. The doc can still heal for almost the Agt's max damage with a crit. Normal damage it would take about 5 shots to counter effect a docs heal. There is no possible way that the agt could ever kill the doc. Because while the agt is doing damage the doc is also doing damage(however less damge because of the IP cost to equip weapons). Then when the doc gets to much damge they can cast a heal which agt cannot cast any heal they have to count on first aid kits alone. Heres a little story about my twinked agt at lvl 25. I was very twinked and could crit for 600 prior to the 1/2 damge patch. I ran into a lvl 30 Doc(which yes was 5 lvl's higher, I understand that). I assumed oh it's a doc, no prob right? Well much to my surprise this doc killed me and still had almost ful life. I quickly ran outta nano to root the doc all while he was healing himself even with the massive damage I was doing. He then ran up on me because he was a melee doc. He never had to use dim. He continued to beat the crap outta me and heal. I could do nothing about the damage he was inflicting on me because I had to wait till I could use first aid kit since I had recarged my nano with one. I was soon dead. He was not twinked much at all. I was. Now imagine if I would have been untiwnked what he woulda done to me.

Now a Trader in PvP. They will basically be the only ones winning any PvP battles. My lvl 56 Trader untwinked can cast deprive/ransack stacked for -160ish to another persons skills. Which inturn increases mine by 80ish. I currently have a self equipped ql.77 Vektor but could self equip better. With my deprive/ransack casted I crit for over 1000. I might mention that I don't do PvP with this char unless I get bored. With a very small IP loss I can heal for 170ish but with a little more IP spent I could heal for about 250. I can also cast roots. To start out -160 to ppls attack skills would make them not meet requirements for their weapons. Which not only makes them crit less now but with this change would make there gun do far less damage. All the while my over equipped gun which I meet the requirements for is doing extreme damage now. Crits that would almost kill someone in 1 shot w/o 1/2 damage patch. Plus I can heal myself to compensate for their now very little damage with far less chance of a crittical hit. So a 250pt heal would be great for healing any damage they might be able to do. Any melee class I could roor before thhey got close to me if I wanted to. Which would not be needed since they are doing less damage anyways and i might not want to use the extra nano it would take. I could pretty much destroy any proffesion other then other traders. Here's a little story about this. Just recently I battled a guild mate lvl 78 NT. As mentioned I am lvl 56. Due to the fact I lowered his nano skills by 160ish his DD's did far less damage since he was using very old ones. Then I crit a couple of times on him for about 450 because of the 1/2 damage. Before long he was dead and I had 1/4 life left. Which I coulda had more if I would have chosen to do another heal on myself. He was over 20 lvl's higher then me and i killed him. I also faught a Fixer 5 lvl's higher then me whom I didn't know. He appeared to be not twink much at all. I was able to kill him with very little trouble at all. And I still had ful life when done due to casting heals on my self. I didn't even crit much on him and it was still that easy with 1/2 damage. Now imagine what I would have done to him and anyone else with the new changes added. His gun woulda have been doing far less damage.

So, finally to conclude this post. If your still awake
I think this is a very bad idea for both PvP and PvM. Also I am very tired of all the HUGE changes that have been made to the game. It is like playing a game with a friend when your younger and he constantly keeps changing the rules on you. I have been playing for about 4 1/2- 5 months now. I have been very understanding up to this point. Over-equiping is one of my favorite aspects of the game. If this is done I will deffinately leave AO for good. As I am sure there will be many others who will do the same. I can't take anymore drastict changes like this.

Good day to you all and I will hate to have to go. I really enjoy the ppl and the aspect of the game.

[______________Saruzi]

Okay, I can agree that if you put sevre time into over equiping it can be okay, as long as you don't gloat about it. I support a small form of overequiping. My Enf had a problem. At lvl 45 I had a ql 31 E-Blade. I hit for 30-60 each hit. Pitifuly low. So I looked for a new E-Blade. I could ony find 1 that required 218 Energy Melee. My title prohibited me from going past 212. 6 Points?!? What am I supposed to do, continue to lvl with an already outdated weapon? Solution: Over-equiping. I bought myself a +20 E-Melee nano and am very pleased that not only do I have a better weapon, but I do more damage w/ the buff. Is this situation really that bad? This is a great example of good overequiping. I haven't enough experience to really judge the higher lvl stuff, but hey, my reasons were just.

[celestiness]

i say let peeps over equip. to me its one of the funnest aspects of the game im an MA and can obviously not over equip like some of the other proffs like traders or soldiers or agents but can and do overequip armor...using plants to get armor on..taking plants off etc, same with buffs.

however..doing this will only gimp lower lvl players and here is why: at almost lvl 150...i can near put on ql 200 armor w/out all of that. not yet but near..like by 160-170 ill be able to. well..lower lvl peeps wont have that advantage of being able to put on/take off the highest lvl stuff they can wear with buffs and plants. just my opinion but to me..it has always been part of the game

honestly...out of any player i have ever grouped with or in any of the guilds i have been in..i can think of only 1 who doest overequip armor (dont know much about guns as im MA) and the only reason why he doest is because he likes to roleplay in social cloths...well so do i..but to pvp or even pvm u really need that extra AC or that extra punch from a weapon...is it fair to NTs who have to have masteries to cast higher NFs or to MAs who cant over equip fists? not really..but thats part of the game we work around. total balance....well...would just make each toon the same..equally as strong...no advantages/disadvantages so what would be the point of playing one proff to the next..not much really.

as far as armor/social cloths see my excelent idea on the "in progress" forum.

[____________Krigaren]

Im positive to these suggestions. IP reset will be welcomed by my Soldier..

Decresing skills when skills not met are good...but what about armor? Once you have gotten our armor on its not like its gonna fall off right! So why not decrease inits and/or evades when skills not met...if its to heavy and bulky your not gonna move like you should.

L43 Soldier
L16 MA

[_______________Valek]

this is a big-big topic now!

[______________Hannan]

I agree with what Funcom is doing....very classy to ask the opinions of your players. As for IP roll back...I am all for it, now I know all of the others say that it makes all the enforcers the same, or all the soliders the same...I don't think so. For one, who says that you have to be a certain breed to be a certain profession? I am an Atrox agent and love him to death... What other agent can tank and be the puller in a group? So the argument that all professions will be the same holds little water. As for the over equiping argument....hello?.....implants?.....did they not say that implants were meant to be over equiped? I am a level 63 agent with a ql111 Stigma Rifle...that is 48 levels higher than what my current level is? Why is a fix for over equiping even an issue? It's something that needs to be done. Do you need to be the most powerful character in the game? Or has power-leveling become secondary to roleplaying? Is this a RP game or a race to the top...1st character to level 200 wins? I personally am over equiped, but legitamatly. I can buff myself into all my armor and my weapons. All my armor is 30 levels higher than my character, and my implants can be re-equiped if I CHOOSE to do an IP rollback...key word CHOOSE. Well, my opinion probably means nothing to those who cheat their way to the top, but I really don't care. I wish Funcom the best for their game and hope that all the changes will be great for the coming years of the war. Take care all and remember this is just a game

[________senatorjesse]

An idea I came up with today, perhaps someone will like it:

Fixers need help, People want some solution to over-equipping. Why not kill both birds with one stone?

I envision Fixers as hackers. And as hackers do, they pirate software. The first thing I propose is a way to let fixers (at some cost of course) "hack" nano crystals. Not hack them like hacker devices. But pirate them like software. Making illegal copies to distribute. This could include the need to purchase an expensive and single use-only device that would allow them to dupilicate the program in a nano crystal. They could then charge for this copy, giving them a great way to make money.

Second. A solution to their nano problems and the plight of casters against over-equippers:

Fixers should have a line of nanos that allows them to create an item for the NCU belt. This Item will "hack" the NCU so that you can cast programs that have already been uploaded without having the requirements. This would help fixers with thier dark blue skills without needing to change the color of those skills. It will be easiest for them to equip because of their strong ties to CompLit. But also, they can give this created item to casters, like a buff but an item that will require skills. That will allow NT's and other spellcasters to "over-equip" their spells by sidestepping the nano skill requirements. The stipulation that would keep this from being insanely powerful? Well, this item that's created could have a requirement that MUST be met. Like Reet form, when you zoned or lost the requirements, the Item would disappear (since it is a creation item).

I can't think of all the balance issues or things that need to be considered, and I haven't yet thought of a way that this nano "line" would be increased in power over time. The great thing about this idea is that it would make Fixers into Hackers, which is glorious for them. It would also give them an answer to their nano skill problem, and finally, would make them wanted. most dearly wanted, like the Traders of the casting classes. Their "wrangling devices" would be in high demand, allowing them to make money as well as be effective themselves.

[_________Firewater58]

senatorjesse - good post - im not sure if im big on your idea (i need to think about it more) but at least someone here understand that ADDING CONTENT is a FAR better way to help balance out overequiping.

Besides, if you just nerf the overequipers you STILL havent add a single "fun" element to the game. (and if you think being equal to everyone makes the game more "fun" for you - wake up! - this is a roleplaying game, and we are to play the role of a citizen of Rubika - and just like real life, some people work harder to get nice stuff - deal with it.)

Whats really funny is how Funcom is doging the whole need for extra content in AO by even mentioning that they might "balance" the game by reducing the efectivness of overequiping. Its much much easier to put these restrictions on players then to actually come up with creative CONTENT for AO. Funcom is taking the easy way out and making us look like fools.

Some day AO will shine - but things need to be added - not nerfed.

[______________Tridis]

If every body can do it, were is the problem. If a person is smart enough to over eq then so be it, Im an engineer, I cant even do a mission with every thing on the green and the main slidder in the middle. I'm not that over equiped, with out my pet then im dead, even by mob's with green bars. So were is the over equip problem, If every body does it then that should just be part of the game. Its already balanced out, even in PvP there should be no problems, It will help the lower level people from getting smacked around by higher level when there doing a mission. It will make people stop and think.

[______________Tedric]

I BIG thumbs up for the ideas proposed by Gaute (sp?). Some small details mey need tweaking, but overall I think that what he's proposing is one of the best game balancing ideas I've heard so far. Sure, it's a compromise between the uber-twinkers and the nerf-everything crowd, but most real solutions are. At least I would be extremely happy if all the proposed changes were implemented.

Oh, and thank you for this discussion in advance, this is exactly the kind of feedback a lot of players have been asking for.