Yeah, I actually agree with most of what Comet had to say, and I do agree that this game is very unfair to those who are new without any connections. I've played a character up to level 150 before letting anyone know that it was me, and I didn't help the character with gear or $$ at all, and even with the knowledge I have from playing SS for quite some time, found things very very difficult, unlike the noob I powerleveld with ruin gear and an fwing, etc.

Level means nothing in this game beyond the pvp system, and with lower and lower players getting gear that most of us had to work very hard, and especially gear that is extremely powerful, things start to really become broken in the PvP realm of this game. As it is, I can probably be bested by a level 300 while I'm level 900 mainly because he has all the gear I have, and probably a better combo of augments to go with that gear.

Also, having extremely low levels in tech 20 ships is really bad for lowbie base builders, not Alts, but new paying players that just got up bases and are starting to enjoy this game. If you get a malicious player with a low level in a pax, you will see lots of base greifing and the excuse 'its a pvp game' quite a bit. I think the pvp system really needs to be redone, and that gear should start having level requirements for usage. This might solve some of these problems.

As for the augment situation, I have a locution with 3 of the Iq'augs on them, that I had to work extremely hard to get. My locution is now basically crap stealth wise. If you make a change that drastic, (which it was), you should give players the option to unequip all of the augments that have been changed. I think thats only fair. The Iq'Augs IMO weren't too good anyway, considering the power of the 3 Main god augs.

This game, as it has since the skills system was introduced, has some balancing issues that I think should be looked at, and hopefully are. I really hope the admins fix some of them before we start to lose more players who notice how bad things can be.

Calypso

Well, for the augs thing, it's more a matter of we can't unequip them all than we don't want to. Well, that's a big part at least.

So there is no way to do some sql update command? Is this based on a SQL db even? Inquiring developers want to know?

Popping back to the forum for one last comment:


Being successful in MMORPG's is all about edge.



I solo'd to 250, but I did recieve some help - some very generous (for instance, 330mil for a basil when they cost 300 from the Caps, not that I knew that at the time) and some less so (for instance 750 mil + me supplying commods for a porp+ from Tobal, again, not that I knew that at the time). Phoenix was two members, and we rarely did anything together ingame, just chatted lots on the team channel - and I made sure that I paid full whack for anything I purchased off Enemy (apart from that yallow, but he found four in three days, so I didn't feel too guilty). I hit level 600 at the end of last uni, so it took me one uni to go from struggling in an anarch at level 20 to flying a fully god auged porp+.


I'm fairly atypical of a MMORPG player, in terms of experience & drive. SS has one of the strongest "edges" around in terms of gear - the ruin gear makes it a two tier system (I've pointed this out before) and this is fair enough in moderation. This edge is part of the reason the 'MICE' balance is more than a little off btw - hard edge causes a lot of drop outs as people find it increasingly difficult to compete. I could clearly see that, & I've gone the edge route 100% throughout playing - and you can see how successful it is. However, the problem arises when the "edge" becomes the litmus paper for new content, and game mechanics. At the moment new players can just about compete. Just. If they know their stuff, and are lucky (I've had some lucky finds in my time and caught some generous players needing comods) they can still ride the "edge" and compete. Yes, they'll get ripped off, and yes, I don't seriously think that any base focused player could solo (this game is very much focused on the lone wolf type anyhow, Atlum knows this with his contant prodding for people to party up). However, most new players aren't clued up about "edge", or can't afford the time etc. Hard edge doesn't entice causual play at all.


Problem is, they're basically stuffed atm. I've said it, I'll say it again: when AI station gear is useless at level 30, you know somethings askquwe. And this is without having to compete with low levels in paxes / equans. I can remember vividly being outclassed gear wise by Rainer (then 300 levels higher than me) in a BSS. New basil with crap radar vrs BSS = Rainer wins, but at least not without a struggle. If I was in a wingIV, or tortoise (which by all rights, I should have been), I'd have been toasted - and vrs a tec 20 god auged ship, there would have been no chance at all.



Trick is to keep the edge cutting enough to make it worth that extra effort & "swankfactor", but close enough so people can see that its possible, and so want it. My teammate's (sweeshot) comment about hopelessness is spot on in this regard. This uni two things went off on that - porp+ got too easy to make (automating CM production in XYZ was a bad move), so the tec 17 tier got cheapened - but Rumble 3 got a lot harder (rightly so, I think). Which means even a small fledgling team like ours has given a massive advantage to its players by taking them to pilot 17. I doubt you'll see very many shrimps any more, ever, and if you do you can garentee 100% that they're the poorer, less connected player. Worse, pilot / tec 20 ships got cheaper too, for the people killing the uber AI each time they spawned. No joke - the average life span of the uber AI at the end of last uni & this uni once people had bases built properly is about 20mins. I worked my arse off to keep up & get a pilot 20 ship (paying for comods & BP, chancing on a very, very generous person to install it, manually mining prom and so on) - but when its being given out like candy it shows just how far the edge is getting away.


Also, look at the skill / comod monopoly at the high level skills. Tobal is a smart player, and worked his arse off to get them (yes, Tobal, I recognise the effort & skill you put into that side of things) - but was able to control 5 essential high level skills. Why? Apart from the fact he got there first, and worked hard for them, the other high level teams were content making killer colonies that made billions. So, they can afford 4 bil for SM 16 --> 20 or even 4 bil for warp 4. At the end of last uni, only Bio was controlled like this, and hotly contested - this uni the monopoly has heightened - due to execessive wealth all around the top end. But, you can quite clearly see by the Praetorian war chest of 70 billion, wealth is being concentrated solely upwards. Even if Tobal would still sell me commods, I'd be able to perhaps pay for myself & one other team mate to get SM 20. The less new people who are able to get the high skills / uni, the further that edge slips away, as established teams are able (in SM, pilot, ships etc) to furnish each and every member with it. And, of course, all those new skills just make the edge that huge bit further away. I've a few of them - but not nearly enough. And I spent a lot of time getting to them.


There's that edge slipping away again - its fine to design strategic points of supply / demand to generate contestation & high end revenue, but you'll surely see something off when its not contested, and the top end are still able to make bars all around and not care about the odd 10 bil or so. And Phoenix, again, isn't stumbling around like a poor relative as Voom so patronisingly suggested when I first raised this - Enemy left a wedge of cash, and our team has found 11 ares this uni - all of which has gone on the team members (3 MisD's come to mind) giving all of us edge ~ but I'm well aware that as a team, there's a huge gap between the top four, the next five... and then a vacuum. I look below and see nothing but burning wreckage and hardly any life remaining. And the top teams are still sucking up talent from the middle teams.





Anyhow, long rant, too much coffee. That's the first game imbalance I can see highlighted - getting hold of the edge, and keeping it sharp but under your control. At the moment, its running away, faaaar into the distance with Tobal gleefully sticking his tongue out from his surfboard. Edge and mudflation are different things ~ but keeping them separate is very, very hard as you'll no doubt be aware. And, like it or not, the future isn't in the old skool players, its in the new arrivals - and you need at least 600- 1000 of them to support each Tobal in terms of game balance. Look at the figures on 'Jedi Knights / level 100+ players / level 60 players' (pick your mainstream MMORPG)


Isn't happening atm.




(p.s. sorry Tobal, I'm using you as a generic power gamer elite in this piece ~ as they say, you're good, but you're not that good )

whawhawha was barely funded by me.

Most of the cash i have / have spent, bout 40% of it was earned by whawhawha on his own w/o The help of Tobal.

I think both colin and Comet raised good points and I'll mention this thread to atlum but on the other hand there has to be advantages to be richest and baddest player in the universe ie : You can kite out your alts like gods because you have heaps of money.

Now, I'll agree that having heaps of money is not exactly a good balance thing ( mudflation ) and we've created many money sinks that give a not so big advantage but are still neat to have. They're working to a decent extant ( we can see teams funds ) but there's still work to be done and not neccessarily in the form of money sinks I agree.

The main 2 things my team control atm are Bio and emp bio, I decided to build in bio cos half my team needed sm 20, wasnt to monopolise ~ to my knowledge we haven sold any sm commods yet as 1 or 2 people still need it in team.

Now emphatic bio on the other hand, i originaly worked my ass off in there to put a base up without an engine equiped on me as whawhawha needed warp 4 (i did it as whawhawha) The base bugged happened just after the second w4 commod popped so i rebuilt and decided to get the rest of my team it ~ theres still one or 2 lower level people in team that dont have it but i have started to sell it ~ in either cases both bases werent setup originaly for monopolising they just seem to be turning that way.

P.S its not 70bil its 90



The fact is, most of your money sink ideas like the PWI / IID /Platinum bars / skill resets ~ I have used them all and my money is still going up.(i know why but i think there should be more semi-useful things to plunge some cash into)

As i have stated above i dont kit out my alts "like gods" i only have 3 active chars, one (Tobal) i worked solo from scratch, two (whawhawha) had a tiny bit of help on lower levels from Tobal but nothing special (although Tobal does supply his augs), Three Vigilante I have to say i got bored hell of a fast leveling him, hes like level 8 with an escape pod and 33 mil

The way i see it, if i worked hard to build in places like emp bio then i have earned the creds i make from it, But yeh id like to see more things that cost alot of creds. ~ Need some new things added that cost alot of cash maybe? i mean cmon Last night i got so bored i switched to slave mastery and built a Warden slave costing me a few bil that can beat everyone who has fought it (including level 1000+ in pax's), switched my skills like 4 times today aswell and still end up in + for the days taking's

Anywho i think i gone a liiiiittle off topic so i think il stop typing now.

yea u didnt give whawhawha money ujust gave him the lvl 20 ships and awesome station gear so he was funded by tobal

ok, this is the #1 reason why you should receive bonuses for lvling (me and first mateys idea) so a 900 would have like a +10-15% to all stats, while the 300 would only have like 4%, giving the higher lvl an advantage

also i think sniper is way way way too strong, or the ai need to be weakened,

i'm a merchant, but i have a yallow/LC, which i use on slumbers and don't have any trouble killing them, but if u see a sniper with my same gear, they barely have to shoot at the slumber and its already dead, same with MF slumbers, if i were a zerker/sniper i'd be lvl 400-500 np, but it takes so long to take down an MF slumbers shield, not to mention the 4 others that join it, so do what calypso says, and make the ai equal to a person with no secondary skills, plz, for our sakes(merchants)

Actually no i didnt, i gave him equipment at level 5ish to get him started, he built i believe it was alma matar with a base kit someone on my team gave to him, he upgraded it to anda Z / Achiiles on his own.

Now mostly its whawhawha funding me

The main reason alot of people dont like to spend cash on certain "money sinks" or whatever is because after they do it mostly the next patch or whatever what they just spent a fortune on gets made cheaper for everyone else.

Well right now at this moment, I got everything i want from the uni and new high end cash sinks you have added. I see nothing left that i still need thats even remotely worth the effort.