Alternative to 'boss loot only' items

[Jaesic]

I'd like to make a suggestion to solve this 'boss loot only' set up for new items used to enhance professions or solve previous balance problems. While many people do play team missions, the boss rooms are often significantly more difficult than the resultant items are worth. This is especially true when you consider that a team has to spend an hour or more (especially at high levels when some team missions have well over 100 mobs) just to get to the boss room. Few people have the time to run more than two team missions on a given day (and even that might not be the casual gamer). Given the odds of something specific for the given character to drop from the boss in one of two missions a day, there is almost a guarantee that you have to rely on someone else to get you the item you need. And usually, they are going to make you pay an outrageous sum for it.

Solution Number 1
Add a button on the mission request panel for the ability to 'challenge' a mission.

The benefits:
The mission reward is selected from a table based completely
on items beneficial to your specific class. Usually, this item
is a commonly found item (and for lower levels could be an
item that can be purchased in shops). But also there is a
chance here for the more uncommon and rare profession
based items.
Less need for third party software like clicksavers.
More RP sense (if you want to hire an NT, do you offer them
an assault rifle as payment?)
Could also consider breed as a factor in this as well (so a
nanomage NT might see cyber armor as rewards as well
as nanoformulas and pistols).

The penalties (to balance the benefit):
Increased difficulty of the mission. Normally mission difficulty
is based on the QL of the reward. Increase this difficulty
by 10-25%. It is more difficult to get the item, but worth it
because you know the items you are rolling for reward are
things you personally can use.


Solution number 2
Add a button to the mission request panel to allow the player to 'solo' a mission.

Benefits:
Same as above.

Penalties:
The mission key is made unduplicatable and NODROP. Only
the person who has taken the mission can do this
mission.
Perhaps the mission involves a special entry point that
requires the character to be completely free of buffs
prior to entering the mission proper.


Solution number 3
Include both options, challenge and solo. Make the rewards for these missions the more uncommon and rare items of the class. If the character is able to excel to the levels necessary to achieve this, then they have earned those uncommon items.


Possible flaw: nothing prevents a level 150 from running a solo + challenge mission for a level 100 item. They will probably complete the mission without terrible difficulty.

But then, I suppose there are plenty of 150 NTs slaughtering massive numbers of level 85-95 mobs in the hopes that one of them will drop a nullity instruction disk... not much challenge there either... just a lot of time consuming effort.


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Jaesic
137 NT (RK2)

[Katara]

I'm new to the game and I've found out that most the players are fairly high level. I've found it's hard to find other low-level players to group with. There's numerous adventurer-only weapons and nanos that are only found on mission bosses or in trader-only shops. This is a real disadvantage for new players who don't know anyone, aren't in a guild, and have a hard time finding people to group with.

I've also found that with so many high-level players, the player economy is totally out of whack. People don't often auction low-level items, but when they do, they want obscenly high prices for them that only a rich twink could afford.

Put low-level adventurer-only items in shops or as normal mission rewards so that it's not impossible for a new player to obtain them.

[XtroXtreme]

Boss loot only is increadible stupid.

As for the idea of challanging mission, that would demand that Funcom actualy fixes the mission differculty since it don´t work right now (you might end up with either only greens or only orange in 50% mission, and if you add 15% differculty to orange you will end up with a very red mission).

[Jaesic]

I don't know that my ideas would benefit the low level character much Katara. Many players spend the first 20-30 levels just getting used to the game and trying to figure out their character's strengths and weaknesses. There aren't many teams done, except out in the wilds hunting, and they rarely know enough players to regularly seek out the same people to team with.

Also, most of the things that are boss only loot... or rare drop items like nullity sphere and grid armor... are at least above level 50. By this time, people have started to group regularly to level and have begun to realize that the shops are not the only supply for things.

I do agree with Funcom that certain items should not be as easily available and that not every player should have easy access to them, through shops or standard mission rewards. If everything is, then everyone will have the same characters with minor variations in the trade skills they've added onto the base template for the profession.

I just believe that rarity should be accomplished by challenge, rather than by time or repetition. It should take a good PLAYER to find rare things... not just a player with more time than everyone else.

Jaesic
137 NT (RK2)

[Jaesic]

The idea stands on its own, I think, without the need to correct anything in the existing mission generation system. I see little wrong with mob level varying within a percentage range around the base difficulty of a mission. Putting a full mission of mobs all one level would be unrealistic.

And, if raising the mob difficulty for a challenged mission makes it all red, so be it. The idea is to make it hard but to make the reward worth it being harder. A challenged mission would still allow you to gather a group together and hit it. Now, the challenge + solo missions might be pretty difficult... so what happens? maybe we actually can roll for the really rare items then... instead of spending weeks camping a location that is nothing but boring repetition.

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Jaesic
137 NT (rk2)

[_____________Hithorn]

Jaesic do you die a lot in Broken Shores? Seems like everytime I die I find you standing next to reclaim there.

[Jaesic]

I'm an NT... I die alot everywhere.

[xyberviri]

These are all great ideas the only problem is that AO would have to be put out of buissness first, sells there server/Client source code to another company then reopen on a new host, with new staff, and new owners that dont have there heads shoved up there own arses.

so chances of us getting anything that benifits the players is slim to none.

[___________Stercoral]

I'm for the second option.

And I agree too less objects that are usefull for you are given in mission rewards. Or you have to rise diff at 75%, what is really too hard for me.