Game Balance

[Jotese Erotere]

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.

[Zan]

I agree wholeheartedly ... but, yes there is a but .. planeshift is constantly being developed and added onto. If we want the devs to balance out everything again after each new addition we'll unnecessarily slow down the development of the game. So I take comfort in knowing that some day things will be balanced out nicely and until then we see some occasional attempts at it.

[Jeraphon]

I would therefore wish to ask the settings team to concentrate on making the different walks of live within PlaneShift self-sustaining.

You're looking for the rules department.

[Waoknie]

I don't want to get into explaining by giving examples of how harmful this 'lack of balance' has been for some intermediate player's IG experience..
Enough, I think, is to say I am tempted to leave PS for good. But who cares?...
 And I say 'who cares?' because I once tried bringing the topic to the IRC channel and guess what?...

Yes, I got kicked out.

I think that if ... IF the goal is the enrichment the RP experience, well... I can say in my case, ABSOLUTELY NOT! just take a peek at the delicious conversations that take place near the digging spots.. how nice is to see 8-15 characters in such a bad mood spending all the time in such task.. It is pretty rare to see any cool RPing near the mines..   Needless to say that I currently have an 'unexpendable' amount of progress points.

Now if ... IF that's not the goal, well I can only say that no one has come with a good explaination of why the tightening of the economics. And if they did, I was not there and I'm sorry.. I may have been digging at that moment.

Some of my best IG friends have left (being this recent economics twist to blame or not) and most of them were what we use to call 'maxed' characters. Well, it's been six months since this 'group' left.. I don't spend too many hours per day playing but I am a fan of this game and IT IS THE ONLY ONLINE GAME I PLAY. So you might call me an 'average' player.. Now, this 'average' player has not been able to level with his old friends.

Yes, I am a leveler.. but don't go there that fast.. do not patronize me.. I am also a RPer.. perhaps not the best, but I try as hard as I can.. I love to have a trained character.. a respectful and respected one.. 9respect that I've gained through RPing, mostly) now, if the developers (or whomever is in charge of the IG economics/twists/tightening) have something against that, well.. let me know and I'll just leave the game.

And for those that may get angry (for whatever reason) after reading this post and are considering to write a rolledeyed/redcolored/etc.. reply, please, channel that energy into something else.. Please let me know (If someone has a clue) if this is going to be revised/changed.. this may help me into making a good decision.

>>There is no spoon..<<

[Erisnas]

I wonder what it would be like if the main efforts went into developing all the skills with only a few geographical changes?  Right now we are not too crowded but we need another set of skills that earns money.  Probably the best ones to come out are ones that are similar in relationship as mining, blacksmithing, and crafting are.  It does seem that people RP there skills far more than other locations.  Probably it will take a while to be fixed since it is so hard.  Now, I am not saying they are lazy but I doubt they will sit down with the limited time they have and spend it all on trying to fix the economy.  Truth is, if you really want something in game you need to: propose a system of the idea in the wish list, get the fan art section to draw it, and the dev, deliberation to model and code it.  If everyone one on the forums agreed to work towards one feature and contributed then we might get that feature in faster.

[Zan]

Some of my best IG friends have left (being this recent economics twist to blame or not) and most of them were what we use to call 'maxed' characters.

Maybe that was the reason they left? I can understand that people who like to level get bored after they've maxed out.

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

If it has slipped by people in the past I am 100% in favor of those who both rp and level. No one on the dev team sees those who engage our features as the enemy of the game.

Some things were out of control, including inflation, it takes time to heal these wounds.

We move in accordance with a plan, slow as it may be for the average player, we are constantly working.

All I can say is we are doing all we can every day.

If people are impatient we can only ask that they learn patience.