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Complaint Department / Game Balance
« on: November 13, 2007, 08:03:24 am »
PlaneShift has had balancing problems for as long as I have known it. I have noticed the developers are trying to solve these but each time they try to do so, things don't seem improved.
Let me write down some observations I have had. I have noticed that when you start with a fresh character things don't seem that bad. You can easily gain Tria at least enough for your progression upkeep. But when you have progressed to around level 10-20 in a certain skill, there is a turning point. The upkeep of your progression will then rapidly become higher then the amount of Tria you can make. The impact of this is that progressing becomes harder and harder. If I player sticks with it though there is a second turning point at the higher levels where a player can make more Tria again then is required for his/her progression upkeep. Lately though this has become worse and I am worried PlaneShift will start to loose players at the intermediate levels. Simply because it takes to long to progress. Now I know I haven't mentioned the role-playing element of the game even though this is an essential part, but I simply don't have complains about that.
I think that the core of the problem can be found in the fact that the different walks of live within PlaneShift aren't self-sustaining. That is, if you choose to become a mage. You can't sustain your progression upkeep by just applying magic. Off course you can kill NPC's for loot but compared to the combat skills. Magic is by far not as affective as a plain sword. If you choose to become a crafter especially at the lower levels there is no real way of making either Tria or XP which means that when you are ready to train for the next level. You have to get the XP and Tria with an alternative skill. I would therefore wish to ask the settings team to concentrate on making the different walks of live within PlaneShift self-sustaining. As this would go a long way in making the game balanced. If asked I have ideas about how to accomplish this but these would not fit in a complain thread.
Let me write down some observations I have had. I have noticed that when you start with a fresh character things don't seem that bad. You can easily gain Tria at least enough for your progression upkeep. But when you have progressed to around level 10-20 in a certain skill, there is a turning point. The upkeep of your progression will then rapidly become higher then the amount of Tria you can make. The impact of this is that progressing becomes harder and harder. If I player sticks with it though there is a second turning point at the higher levels where a player can make more Tria again then is required for his/her progression upkeep. Lately though this has become worse and I am worried PlaneShift will start to loose players at the intermediate levels. Simply because it takes to long to progress. Now I know I haven't mentioned the role-playing element of the game even though this is an essential part, but I simply don't have complains about that.
I think that the core of the problem can be found in the fact that the different walks of live within PlaneShift aren't self-sustaining. That is, if you choose to become a mage. You can't sustain your progression upkeep by just applying magic. Off course you can kill NPC's for loot but compared to the combat skills. Magic is by far not as affective as a plain sword. If you choose to become a crafter especially at the lower levels there is no real way of making either Tria or XP which means that when you are ready to train for the next level. You have to get the XP and Tria with an alternative skill. I would therefore wish to ask the settings team to concentrate on making the different walks of live within PlaneShift self-sustaining. As this would go a long way in making the game balanced. If asked I have ideas about how to accomplish this but these would not fit in a complain thread.