Gear Crunch

"Ravens1113;c-2286297" wrote:

"Kyno;c-2286265" wrote:

"Ravens1113;c-2286122" wrote:

"Kyno;c-2286096" wrote:

"Ravens1113;c-2286083" wrote:
The funny thing is that there are simple things they can do to make the gear crunch better (much to Kyno’s disagreement). Honestly after almost a year there’s no way they can truthfully say that they’ve looked at the gear economy and can say that they’re still unsure. That’s a lie. I mean cmon, I was hyped for LV and even wanted to buy a couple vaults to get him but the amount of gear needed for his reqs so far is astronomical! I’ll just hoard for a month and go executor it’s second pass. I’m so demoralized by their lack of care with the gear economy that i just feel cheated if I spend money on the game and have my investment devalued so much.

They never said they were unsure....in fact Crumb said he wishes he could show us what they are planning.

No it's not simple, and the only lie I keep seeing is your portrayal of the statements made in the pod cast. He even says he wishes he could show us more of what they are working on. The only thing remotely close to what you are saying is that he says it something they are always chipping away at and he can't give a direct answer. There is no magic fix that does what they want and works, it's an ongoing thing, but at no point does he say they dont know, or unsure, unless you mean when he says hes unsure how to answer and then goes into the best answer we are going to get about such a complicated system.

If they don’t have a fix in place for the gear economy, they don’t know how to fix it. They don’t need to directly say it. If they knew how, they would do it instead of “chipping away at it”. If they do know, but aren’t implementing the change because they want the “chipping away” aspect for profits, then that disingenuous.

Kyno I’ve been advocating for gear economy changes for a LONG time. Ive played plenty of other games that have had similar resource acquisition issues and power creep and those that did what CG has done earlier lost mine and many others interest to uninstalling and quitting.

For everything that MSF has done wrong lately, the one thing they do is know how to progress the gear system in a fair and sustainable manner so that when you reach the later stages of the game and the new tip of the spear is G16, getting to G12 is far easier than just last year but still requires proper resource management and doesn’t allow you to just upgrade everyone to g12 by the end of the week. Months later and I’m still building my overall roster towards that goal while also trying to max out my meta teams. That’s resource management and a good proper balance.

CG has proven incapable or unwilling to do so. There’s no way that since well over a year ago, Cyanide said they wanted to ease the gear crunch, but have still yet to do anything meaningful if at all to make the gear grind better. In all that time all they’ve done is add more and more layers of progression and resource/gear drain far outpacing any “natural solution” to the gear economy. Now they’re going to go further with R9 and have moved the goal posts yet again not just with that, but making all the shiny new toys need several R5 toons (at minimum). All while simultaneously nerfing non GL counters to GL’s into oblivion. Sorry but they’re not doing right by their player base lately.

That's great if you think that, but that is not and does not mean that what they said. You keep saying they said that, which is not true.

It's great to advocate for things but then you also have to acknowledge the changes they have made. Because despite what anyone thinks, we do have more income of gear.

There are also many points that the player base doesnt address in this conversation, yes there are more options on what to spend gear on, and yes those are options not demands as they are more commonly stated to be. There are also points they have stated they are trying to preserve and no matter what me and you agree on, we do not have the exact details of what they are looking for. One other point is that no matter what we think we see, we do not have all the data and definitely do not have all the extremes to gauge the situation properly.

I agree it's not a balance that I feel is right, but I also can play this balance and make it work. So while it could be better which would have a better feel, it also works, as many of us are doing it.

No they are just being cautious and moving it bit by bit, because yes this is a grinding game where there is a way to pay for things to go faster. No they are not unwilling, at least no less willing than you will be to acknowledge that you dont need every GL, you just want them. Again, they is not more demand, there are more options.

I agree the alignment of all the things that have happened, is not great, and many of us have expressed this to them, but that doesnt change the fact that this is not a simple fix and it will take time and steps to get there.

So let’s recap the last 18 months or so and if I missed something let me know because I do not have the time for now to go back and get everything in exact chronological order, but I’ll try my best.

-The devs added kyrotech to the game under the guise it would ease the gear crunch of current high bottleneck gear (mk5 guns, mk3 cuffs, mk3 carbs etc etc etc).

-The kyros don’t in fact ease anything but make the crunch far worse. In response the devs add kyros to TB, TW, daily objectives dedicated GET2 spots and AB’s. This is enough to get the kyros more manageable to mk3 carbantis which have daily challenges spots, and multiple store farm locations as well as rewards from TW.

-There is still no visible relief to mk5 guns, mk3 cuffs, mk8 biotech etc choke point gear.

-Devs introduce G13 and relics up to R7 which require more kyros and bottleneck gear and also require relic materials to grind for using old stockpiled gear (which is finite) through the Scavenger.

-Still no relief from day one gear crunch

-CG cyanides in a Q&A say they’re actively trying to relieve the gear crunch and think they have and ask what the players mean. The community pours in ideas and what they think is meaningful relief. No response from the devs.

-Devs roll out GC’s and Conquest which have prize boxes but have higher probabilities of rewarding gear that is not in high demand or even gear that is in an over abundance like Mk4 carbs and Mk4 stun guns. In fact GC’s are more for the mod slicing 2.0 materials which is the epitome of resource management as the event takes places often enough that with proper management, patience and prioritized slicing, you won’t be in short supply of materials. Ahem…..

-Devs roll out R8. There is still no relief for day one gear crunch items.

-Devs introduce an amazingly F2P and beginner player friendly change to the character shard farming and say they are researching ways to apply a similar change to gear economy but need more data.

-Devs roll out R9 a few months later. There is no relief from the gear crunch and it is announced that after 10+ months from the announced character shard changes and gear economy research, there are no changes planned aside from “natural relief”

Did I miss something? You keep saying “options”. No kyno, their recent nerfs to non GL counters and explicit statement that they don’t want non GL counters bearing GL’s makes it a demand. A demand that if we are to stay competitive in arena, GAC, TW and possibly even conquest, we need as many GL’s as we can get. Those GL’s are requiring steeper and more expensive investments and requirements while our income remains stagnant. Just look at LV. Nothing below R5.

So please, tell me again how the community is missing something. You even agree that their balance is off. Nobody is here saying they demand LV day one. But you know what? If I did nothing but focus on LV from now on, it shouldn’t be ridiculous to unlock him in 2 months once all reqs are announced. It shouldn’t be out of the question to be able to farm 2 GL’s at once and get them unlocked in 6 months together. Given this is from the perspective of a 7M GP, day one player, scaled respectively for others. If they can’t find a balance after almost a year then there’s something very very wrong.

Yes, being competitive is a desire, or something you want. They have provided options for you to do so, you can choose to chase the ones you want, but no you are not required. Unless I missed something.

Even the recent proposed changes dont make any of those options required.

If you want to be the best, that is a great goal, and just like any other place where being the best is an option, it will take time for someone to get there, or other avenues that allow you to make progress.

I love arbitrary timelines as much as anyone here, only second to analogies. Personally 2 months sounds short, but that's just me. But if you wanted that, you could make it happen, through $$ or a better long term plan, it's not impossible.

Yes as I said, I feel, much like you do and things could be adjusted to not have the same pinch points, but I also know that changing the pinch points wouldnt change the timeline as much, because they do want to keep a certain pace to things. So in the end it will most likely be 6 of one or a half dozen of the other.

Yes you did miss a few things, shard increase giving players more time/energy to farm gear, and both GCs, and Conquest added to our income.