Spiral Knights - All this QQ over Energy

All this QQ over Energy

27 replies [Last post]

Sat, 04/16/2011 - 19:22

Zerrif

Legacy Username

Kinda irks me. In all honesty, that's the system the game is founded on, so saying to remove it is stupid. I have been lurking around the suggestion forum and I've seen a few things that I'll note are good ideas, but perhaps too extreme in that yes, they would kill the market, and potentially kill the game in the long run.

However, many players who cry about Energy raise a good point-- if Energy continues to go up, it'll be hard for someone just getting their feet wet to get anywhere. You can't even craft anything better than 3* Gear without buying CE either from the market or from your pocket-- and for many players the latter just isn't a valid choice.

First and foremost, the game NEEDS to be better at figuring out what floor you're on. You can join someone at terminal floors, or at the "party creation floors" like 0, 8, and 18-- and still pay 10 energy! I understand the payment for a terminal floor-- you pay energy for a chance to buy recipes, but why is this existent in the party creation floors? That needs to go. You pay fees already just to go down to the next floor, and you get NOTHING out of going to the party lobby (the vendors you find there are already in town, and the "items" you can buy for your hotbar disappear if you're not in a dungeon).

That's just screaming for someone to afk in, and abuse people trying to join up with randoms, losing energy and not being able to go anywhere. And when you're a lowbie, losing 10 energy is like losing a vital organ-- you can't exactly just be ready to give that up. The game has a huge "casual" feel to it, but doesn't cater to the casuals as much as you think it would.

So I suggest a scaling option. Instead of making everything flat, why not make things slightly cheaper for those who aren't able to access the end of the game? What do I mean by this? I'll throw out an idea that's been brooding in my head since release.

-----------------------------------

For people who don't have subsequent tier access, lower their elevator costs. What does this do? This means they can delve more times into the clockworks, or potentially do a run, come out, and have energy left to craft something. Let's suppose that in 10 floors of t1, you earn MAYBE 5-6k crowns, and the chance at some of the slightly sellable materials like Swordstones, or Bushy Tails.

This means that you barely get enough with current market prices to buy your next 100 energy, leaving you with little money to craft in hopes of ever reaching tier 2. Lower elevator costs means more bang for the newbie buck, letting them progress smoother, and without less damage to their initial status.

I know it's not exactly HARD to get to tier 2 as is, but just imagine when energy prices escalate. What happens when 100 energy in tier 1 dungeons no longer provides crowns to be able to buy energy? Does that mean the game FORCES people to sell materials in order to get money to buy energy? Not everyone has the time / patience to do that, and if the game were MEANT to do that it wouldn't be advertised the way it would be.

Also, because you wouldn't have access to the deeper floors, you couldn't exactly "make a newbie, keep costs low, and make 5* gear". I only said lower elevator costs, not crafting costs. This means you can dungeon more often and enjoy the game more, but gear progression would just be smoother (albeit just as costly).

So for example, let's say if you didn't have Tier 2 Clearance, your floors would cost you 6 energy. This would ONLY apply to floors that are Tier 1-- since you can invite and "sneak" people into tiers they don't have clearance for, it wouldn't be fair for them to progress through harder floors, making more money/materials for less cost. This means that you could do TWO full tier 1 runs, provided you don't die and don't pay for energy doors (You do floors 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7. 6 floors * 6 energy = 36 energy a run, 2 runs = 72 energy. This leaves some energy for reviving self, or paying for some doors.) If this player enters tier 2, they pay elevator costs as if they were tier 2, and tier 3 as if they were tier 3.

The minute you unlock Tier 2 Clearance, Tier 1 AND Tier 2 floors now cost 7 per elevator. Running tier 1 (which some T2's have to do, because their gear is fresh) will now cost 48 energy a run. You can still squeeze in two runs of tier 1 if you like (provided you don't die-- which is immeasurably easier in 2* gear), or a full t1+t2 run (t1 = 6 floors, t2 = floors 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 = 8 floors, 6 + 8 = 14 floors total = 98 energy). Now fresh players won't make it all the way down t2, meaning they save some energy, and better geared players can do a full run if they like, provided they don't die.

A singular t2 run, starting at floor 8 would cost you 56 energy-- leaving you energy for the first few revives, doors, or what have you. You would be unable to do two full runs, but because there are more floors to get money and materials in, this compensates for the lack of run.

The minute you unlock Tier 3 Clearance, the game scales up again, to where it is now. You pay 10 energy per elevator, no matter what tier you're doing. You have the chance to easily make enough money for energy (It's not a surprise that people make 5-6 in the first 5 floors of tier 3), and you net chances at better mats in order to supplement income.

Let's say we have Timmy, Kimmi, and Bob.

Timmy is new to the game, and only has t1 clearance.
Kimmi is slightly better geared, has her t2 clearance.
Bob is a pro, and hes got t3 clearance.

They decide to run t1 for Timmy. Timmy pays his 6 energy, Kimmi pays 7, and Bob pays 10.
They finish that rather easily (with Bob's help, duh), and enter Tier 2. Now they "sneak" Timmy in by inviting him in.
Timmi and Kimmi now pay 7 energy per elevator, Bob's still at 10.
Let's say they do all that handy dandy, and Bob wants to show them Tier 3. So he invites them all in.
Now, Timmi, Kimmi, and Bob all pay 10 energy per elevator.

-----------------------------------

What will this achieve? For the casual lowbie, this makes advancement feel like it's actually happening. Let's face it-- while it isn't HARD to get to tier 2, to do so from a very fresh character usually involves help, previous knowledge of how to do so, and definitely involves a lot of luck with drops, or sellers. At least this way, they get a little more playtime, a slightly bigger wallet in order to supplement gametime, and the Hail Mary of getting Tier 2 suddenly becomes a much more realizable goal.

For the hardcore prostar leet gamer, his costs are unchanged.

For the middle man, there's a slightly easier transition. It's a jump they'd have to get used to, from going from 7 to 10 energy, but at least they're eased into the full costs of the game.

What will it do to the market?

Well obviously, since cash will be slightly more on hand (while you WILL be able to run t1 and t2 more while at those levels, you don't exactly make hundreds of thousands of crowns at that level), this means more people will be able to buy energy. This SHOULD make prices stabilize at a point that's accessible to the casual because he can make more income, but still worth the money you put in at the high end level.

Now I understand that the CE market relies on people who buy energy with real life money. If people didn't buy energy, no one could sell it, and we'd be stuck with our 100 mist energy. But there are other threads out there to deal with that, and this thread feels long enough.

Anyway, that was a long enough break from the game. Back to more Jelly King spammage!

Sat, 04/16/2011 - 20:01

cheeserito

Legacy Username

This is quite possibly the

This is quite possibly the most brilliant suggestion I've read today (and most days, for that matter). It definitely sounds like you took the time to carefully consider most aspects of what each thing would entail and whatnot, and what you have to say sounds pretty fair.

One thing though- would it be unnecessary to have more "Power Surge Weekends" then? Or other little events that would either lower energy costs for a few hours/a couple days or lower the prices on energy (such as, say, a "Christmas sale")?

An additional suggestion: I think it would be a good idea to split the cost between parties to enter gates (at least for Tier1/Tier2...conversely it could be a Tier3 thing only). Everything else in the game is split more or less equally, so why not? It would really only be hurting the die hard soloists, but it would also be promoting social interactions (which I think is a huge part of this game). Especially because the cost of crafting would still remain (so devs wouldn't be losing out too much); or it could even increase marginally to somewhat balance it out, but not balance it to the point where we're essentially back at square one (if that makes sense, lol).

And really, in Tier3 you're going to need to either start purchasing energy with real money, or start sinking a lot of crowns into it, based on the costs of crafting alone. So it shouldn't really affect the money the devs are going to make that much; in fact, it should (theoretically) speed up the process.

Sat, 04/16/2011 - 20:11

Zerrif

Legacy Username

Power Surge Weekends only

Power Surge Weekends only benefit everyone. Lowbies get cheap elevator costs in order to progress faster, and tier 3 runners get breaks from their high energy costs. The way I see it, you shouldn't incur any cost to enter a gate, as long as you end up at the party lobby. There's nothing to gain from being at the party lobby, so why pay for it?

Sat, 04/16/2011 - 20:38

thoth

Legacy Username

I get around the cost of

I get around the cost of energy by only doing a few missions a day. You can do 9.6 dungeons per day on mist energy alone.

I figure if you want to be super-casual, you will only need to buy energy to craft the high-end items (that require more than 100 mist energy to fabricate).

Sat, 04/16/2011 - 21:00

Sunburnt

Legacy Username

"An additional suggestion: I

"An additional suggestion: I think it would be a good idea to split the cost between parties to enter gates (at least for Tier1/Tier2...conversely it could be a Tier3 thing only). Everything else in the game is split more or less equally, so why not? It would really only be hurting the die hard soloists, but it would also be promoting social interactions (which I think is a huge part of this game). Especially because the cost of crafting would still remain (so devs wouldn't be losing out too much); or it could even increase marginally to somewhat balance it out, but not balance it to the point where we're essentially back at square one (if that makes sense, lol)."

No way. If this happened, then I'd be able to take my newly-joined T1 buddy and split costs with him. He would be making BANK in T1 runs with me, and paying almost no energy. With 3 new buddies, We could pay almost nothing in energy and still make tons of money. This would absolutely break the market.

Sat, 04/16/2011 - 21:54

cheeserito

Legacy Username

@ Sunburnt

Except "making BANK" in Tier1 means making...2k at best. At current rates, that's not nearly enough to be self-sustaining. And when I said "it could even increase marginally to somewhat balance it out" I meant the cost of stuff in general. If say, they increased the gate cost to 12 or even up to 16 (which might be a little more on the extreme side, for soloists' sake) for Tier1 (and scaled it up for Tier2&3, like what the original suggestion was), each person in a 4 member party would be paying 3-4 energy, while if you had only 2 members it would still be 6-8 energy (which is, again, the original suggestion).

And in Tier2 it could be something like 16-18, and Tier3 could be 20-22. But that would probably break the hearts of soloists. And they could always make crafting WAY more expensive, if that was the case (imagine 300 energy/3000 crowns for a 3star item) . It could also scale to be whoever is the highest Tier in the party. So if you're Tier3 thinking you and your "newly-joined T1 buddy" can split costs and do it dirt cheap, you'd be sadly mistaken. Because you would end up driving the cost straight up to 10 or 11 energy for the each of you, and it would be counter-productive at that point.

There are a number of checks and balances that I didn't actually include, because my idea was still in the "development" phase. And what's more is that it's a mere suggestion, and you're not a dev. Also, maybe you should consider thinking about ways to improve the idea instead of immediately disregarding it as rubbish. =/

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 00:08

Sunburnt

Legacy Username

Except "making BANK" in Tier

Except "making BANK" in Tier 1 means 4k+drops for a run of 1-8, easy.

And the reason ramping up the energy cost for my poor little friend is a bad idea is that it discourages me inviting my friends to join the game after I've already been playing for 3 days and am in 2* gear. It makes me unable to play with them without making their playing cost more. That's not a good thing.

Instead, continue with individually priced elevators, so that when I want to play with my T1 buddy as a T3, he has to pay his 6 energy and I have to pay my 10, letting the pricing scheme be fair to both of us (or 10 each, if you prefer to stay with the current elevator pricing scheme and not adopt what the OP was offering).

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 06:02

Rentago

Legacy Username

Tiers are for...

Alright well I like your idea.

Why not just scale it instead with, tier 1 is 5 energy, tier 2 is 10, and tier 3 is 10.

The idea being that tier one can be used to gain money/materials in which you can use to provide energy to go down 2 and 3.

tier two stops being baby mode, you can run into bosses, i don't think you should get a discount for that.

and tier 3 should not get more expensive, you'll likely be spending energy to revive yourself.

The other way being that tier 1 is 6 energy, tier 2 is 8 and tier 3 being 10

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 08:38

Zerrif

Legacy Username

The reason why I made tier 2

The reason why I made tier 2 cheaper is because even though tier 2 offers more floors and better materials, the majority of tier 2'ers are still fresh in 2* gear. They're excited they finally got there but aren't really prepared to suddenly throw everything on the line. It costs more in order for the math to work out such that you can do one full t1-t2 run or a tier 2 run, with energy to spare for 6 floors of t2 yet again. This means you can't get to the boss again if you do a full run, and isn't really baby mode because in tier 1, you could do two full runs, whereas this time you're blocked from doing so.

I agree with tier 3 not needing to be more expensive. 10 Energy right now as is is plenty.

Tier 2 being 8 energy would mean you could NOT do a full tier 1 to tier 2 run without CE. That's why I said 7. Maybe you're running through early levels for tokens/help a friend/shards, and still want to be able to kill the jelly king.

Tier 1 should NOT be 5 energy each, because that allows a player to do 3 full runs (5 energy per floor * 6 floors to pay = 30 floors), which suddenly turns from helping to curve the game's smoothness into making the game too easymode. At 6 energy a floor, the player still gets multiruns (2 full runs, and a partial third without revive or door costs), but factoring in potential deaths or doors means that they won't be to fully capitalize solo. Sure you can save revive costs in a group, and you can alternate door fees in a group-- but then you're in a group, and not solo, and not reaping all the materials for yourself.

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 09:29

cheeserito

Legacy Username

@ Sunburnt

I have NEVER gotten 4k in Tier1. EVER. I have literally done Tier1 runs and come out of it with LESS than 1k. And very few drops. And AGAIN, if you're seriously lucky enough to somehow make 4k in Tier1, they can up the costs of crafting (even if it's just the crowns part, or materials) and it would balance things out.

And it would still be cheaper than it is now if you only had 2star stuff. =/ Because if the gate is 16 energy, split between the two of you it's only 8 energy. Even at 18, it would be 9 energy for the two of you (both are LOWER than the current prices). So your argument there is completely invalid. Even with Tier3 hypothetical prices, it would be 10 for the two of you, which God forbid they have to pay starting out (like everyone else did).

And I fully support the OP suggestion, and think it's probably better than mine. I was simply approaching a similar topic from a different angle. And I'm sure the devs are far more intelligent when it comes to deciding these things that you or I are, as they've had experience in other games, and it's their job to ensure the game stays balanced.

Also, you are clearly not actually thinking things through at all before posting. Perhaps you should actually consider things in the whole before spewing nonsense.

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 09:46

#10

Metaknight

@cheeserito

just because you arent doesnt mean others can't. i just made 6K yesterday on a tier 1 run + mats. granted the norm is more in the 3k range, but it really depends on what levels you get, how far you go through in the arenas, and possibly tackling a danger room or two.

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 10:21

#11

cheeserito

Legacy Username

D: Then I must be really

D: Then I must be really unlucky or something. I always plow through the entire arena, and even when I was taking on danger zones, I still didn't make more than 2-2.5k. I think the highest I've ever gotten out of an entire Tier1 run was maybe 3.2k. But it's usually only around 1k for me. Whereas Tier2 makes me, on average, 5-6k. And on good runs (Treasure Vaults, etc) I can make up to 8k. I'm just starting Tier3, though, so I can't really gauge that. But I've heard it gives less heat/crowns that Tier2?

My boyfriend too, though. We both sat down and solo'd side by side, and we both came out of it with under 2k. ):

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 11:00

#12

Metaknight

see i dont find treature

see i dont find treature vaults to be part of a good run for me. theyre good for a few tokens (usually primal, maybe grim or forge) usually, but at least in tier 1 I don't find them to be super profitable. little heat/mats, some crowns and maybe something else if i'm lucky... whereas clearing a graveyard (minus energy doors, not sure what they would add to the total but i doubt its worth the CE expense) is usually much more profitable.

i'm sure certain regular missions are more profitable than others, not sure which off the top of my head though. oh, the jelly farms levels. god i love the jelly farm levels. so much heat and crowns, especially the one that has the energy door for the alternate path.

i usually start a tier 1 run and 2-4 floors in I'm thinking 'I'm not going to make a lot', but it tends to pile up towards the end.

however i may have been having good luck yesterday. its definitely not always 6K, but just want you to know it can happen!

PS - you must have better gear than me too! i am not tier 3 yet

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 11:53

#13

cheeserito

Legacy Username

In Tier2 I find the treasure

In Tier2 I find the treasure vaults to be somewhat profitable, as I've managed to get 2 Grim Sparks, 1 Forge Spark, and 1 Primal in one level. And there have been instances where I've made almost 1k on a treasure vault alone. O: Graveyards tend to be more profitable, but sometimes they can be really difficult. So it really depends, imo, on graveyards (Extreme Examples: Profitable- We made it to the end, while defeating everything, and not dying once, probably made about 1k on the level; Terrible- We kept going in circles, because we were following the timed explosive boxes/three-hit-to-break boxes, and because of these ridiculous obstacles coupled with the phantoms we continually found ourselves all dead with no one to revive us "for free", so it got to the point where the cost to revive ourselves was pushing 100 energy, and we had to give up on trying to get a lot of the loots).

And yeh, the Jelly levels are usually when I make around 8k in a run. I wonder if it has something to do with the gear, then? Like, scaling it so people are less likely to just spam Tier1 runs (since it is the cheapest to do, in terms of energy) when they're Tier3. Though I haven't seen much of a decrease in Tier2 with my Tier3 stuff (which I'm trying to level, so I'm actually prepared for a Tier3 run), at least in terms of crowns/drops. The heat seems a lot less, though. > o >

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 11:56

#14

TheAurablaze

Legacy Username

This is something good.

I've read this entire page, and I have to say there are alot of great ideas being thrown about here. As a fairly new player(joined yesterday), I have to point out that I don't have enough energy without skipping a day or calling it a day. I find that restrictions on how like this are very unkind to new players. If there are energy events like a Christmas or Halloween event that lower the cost of (using) energy or getting energy from doing tasks might get new players more into the game and have more fun. They might want to tell there friends and get them into the game. Even something like a "Birthday" event might be nice. I can't get everyone to agree on one thing, but we might come to some sort of middle ground on this issue.

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 14:00

#15

cheeserito

Legacy Username

When you say "Birthday"

When you say "Birthday" event, do you mean like, the game's birthday? Or each individual person's birthday? As the latter may be a bit more difficult to program in. >.>

At the same time though, I'm sure the devs have considered/planned making holiday events, we just have to give them time to implement them (you know, wait until it's Christmas-time, lol). Maybe some sort of summer event, too? I know a lot of MMOs do that, but I don't know if they'd consider doing anything this summer, as the game just recently launched.

But I definitely like that Zerrif has thoroughly considered everything in their suggestion, to the point where they can even argue why the numbers they chose are the "golden numbers," so to speak. And I agree with their suggestion entirely. It's a good idea, and I sincerely hope that the devs consider it. :D

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 16:12

#16

TheAurablaze

Legacy Username

RE:cheeserito

Yeah, the individual person birthday thing would be hard to program since everyday is someones birthday. However, it would be cool to have if they do it. Also, as a "gift", how about a...what is it called? Steam capsule? I'm not entirely sure if it's called that, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 17:16

#17

modyobwoc

Legacy Username

A Mist Tank (free 100 mist

A Mist Tank (free 100 mist energy) would be a cool birthday gift if that's what you're shooting at. Did we put our birthday in when we registered I can't remember?

I'm yet to reach T2 so don't know much about how the tiers and latter levels work (you can take a lift to Moorcroft Manor for 200 crowns instead of energy to start T2 with max energy?) but perhaps a discount on lift costs based on the number of people in the party could work and encourage party play at the same time.

I've not done a lot of the maths on this so my numbers could need tweaking but;

Say you run solo and pay the regular 10 energy cost for lifts. This gets someone fairly competent from Haven to the Moorcroft Manor terminal and then from Haven to the first terminal (or from Haven to the first terminal 3 times, I dunno how often you wanna visit Basel) at a cost of 90 energy. This leaves some for doors/danger zones (good idea solo?) maybe a res or 2, or one more trip to the first level.

In a party of 2, they could give you a group reduction giving you more distance for your energy. I've only ever done solo runs or grouped with my gf so don't have much experience with how long things take but I'm sure it's generally faster with the two of us. If two player groups got a lift cost of 8 energy they could in theory go from Haven to Moorcroft Manor twice over (or visit Basel four times). With less energy left for doors/danger zones/ressing but more levels to go through. extending playtime and probably granting more loot anyway.

With regard to T2, can you solo from Haven to the first terminal after Moorcroft Manor (Basel is there too?) on 100 mist energy at 10 energy per lift? 3 levels + 3 levels + 4 levels. No doors/danger zones/ressing. Or going from MM to Emberlight (if there really is a free lift from Haven to MM) would be 80 energy leaving you 20 for doors etc. or a couple of solo levels (no vendors).

Duo you'd get 12 levels at these costs but maybe it could be adjusted to make T2 levels cheaper when in 2* gear as the OP suggested. Six T1 levels at 8 energy per lift and eight T2 levels at 6 energy per lift could get you from Haven to Emberlight. Or two trips from Moorcroft to Emberlight (dunno how fair this is if there are bosses as someone else pointed out [as I said, I'm yet to enter T2]).

I don't want this to turn into the essay of a post I made in the auction house thread so I'll try and wrap this up but, what about changing the energy cost of a lift depending on what gear you wear when getting on? Again I dunno how hard the lower levels are but if you got T2 clearance and then went into a level with 0-1* gear on (if that is/was made possible), could you clear it once you know any tactics from running it "normally"? Maybe not solo but as a group, and as such gain a lift discount for being in lower gear. Or perhaps some kind of reward for clearing the level whilst at a gear disadvantage but this thread is about energy... maybe a small energy reward?

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 18:15

#18

TheAurablaze

Legacy Username

I like it.

Taking on a high tier area with low * gear definitely needs rewards aside from personal achievement. A small energy reward(say 5 energy for 3*?) would make me want to do it(if I had the sanity). Also, you pointed out using crowns to operate the lifts instead of energy. That might create some mixed feelings, but is worthy of some tossing around. We're the kind of people that these games need:thinkers.

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 18:54

#19

cheeserito

Legacy Username

According to my boyfriend

According to my boyfriend (who actually has a pretty good working knowledge of Java, compared to me who only knows a bit of JavaScript, lol), implementing something that would be able to tell if it's your birthday and then giving you a mist tank accordingly wouldn't be that difficult (provided they have a means for you inputting your birthday). Which I think would be a pretty good idea. xD You log in on your birthday, a message pops up "Happy Birthday from Three Rings! Here's your birthday mist tank!", and the mist tank has a party hat on it or something. 8DD Also, I'm fairly certain that we did not put our birthdays in when we registered.

This has a much more eloquently worded (and thought out) version of the idea I presented in my first post in this thread. And I really enjoy that pretty much everyone in that thread thought it was a brilliant idea, and they were all on board with it. :P
(For those in this thread who may not have seen that thread)

Also, completely making the gates cost crowns would change the whole dynamic of the game, I think. Not necessarily a terrible idea, but in order to balance it out they would have to make the alchemy costs higher. Otherwise it wouldn't be a very profitable game for the devs.

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 19:35

#20

Negimasonic

I am not a stranger, I am a watcher ~.~

I'm interested in seeing how this comes along. I'm not in support or against because I have different (and vague) reasons for each.

Now about the birthday, that does sound interesting but they're going to have to add a field for that, as well as make sure we cannot change it, cuz you will get someone who's going to change their birthday every day if they can lol.

To pass by and answer something though
@modyobwoc, a lift to tier 2 doesn't cost any energy (ONLY if you choose start a party) but it does cost crowns. However, even that can be skipped if you walk down from Tier 1 for the week the gate is active.

I also like your suggestion about the doing something in lower gear because one of my concerns with the original thing was that this could be gamed a bit by simply never obtaining Tier 2/3 access by leaving one item off. For example, you could have all 5 star gear except for a shield (which you left at three stars so you never gained "official" tier 3 access) under the original post. That would place you in a position to run Tier 1 for a decent energy cost. Tier 2 for the standard energy cost. And Tier 3 for what is today's normal values.

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 20:51

#21

Metaknight

birthday gives would really

birthday gives would really be a pretty trivial enhancement, codewise (regardless of the language). add a new field(s) in the player account DB for DOB, run a nightly job on the server that checks if the current month/day match the DOB month/day fields for any players, and then fire off a response action (birthday in-game mail message) for each of those players. the process itself would take seconds, and I can't imagine implementing it would take very long. more time to test than to code i'd bet.

player anniversaries would be even easier because the join date is probably already in the DB.

its more a matter of is "this something the player is going to exploit", and whether or not they want to give out mist tanks for another reason. maybe some crowns or a trinket (a new one each year youve been playing) would be nice too! :)

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 21:24

#22

cheeserito

Legacy Username

Even so, I'm TERRIBLE with

Even so, I'm TERRIBLE with coding, regardless of language. :P But yeh, my boyfran knows Java, C++, JavaScript, ActionScript, and probably most any language you put in front of him, and therefore waaaay more knowledgable than I am when it comes to what would be difficult and what wouldn't.

They would have to make it so you could only enter your birthday once, or they would have people exploiting it like crazy. So you better not mess up on it, lol. But I think the player anniversary would be a LOT easier. Considering it would be the exact same implementation, except they'd already have it on file, and it's not something that could be easily exploited (as you wouldn't be able to change the date you joined).

Crowns I can agree with, but I don't think giving out one mist tank a year (per person) is going to kill the devs either. And the only problem with a trinket is that you have to pay for that space, and you have to renew that spot every what? 30 days? (something like that, I think). x:

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 22:16

#23

slaxer

Legacy Username

hmm

This game is some sort of limited free to play If you think about it

Sun, 04/17/2011 - 22:55

#24

Metaknight

actually by trinket i should

actually by trinket i should have said "artifact" -- in game item that has no real functionality, but is more of a player symbol/badge/achievement. the only one we know of so far is for those who participated in the beta/preview event. or some other novelty item ie. birthday cake helm (which increases your vulnerability to fire status lol)

Mon, 04/18/2011 - 06:56

#25

TheAurablaze

Legacy Username

This is massive!

I'm just amazed at you guys. We're coming up with ideas left and right here! Also, I like how the "Birthday event" idea change into something that the developers could do and it wouldn't be broken. I do recall putting in my date of birth(year,month, and day) when I was registering, and that's something I can't change without trying to hack.

Mon, 04/18/2011 - 08:53

#26

Zerrif

Legacy Username

@NegimaSonic

That issue about the doing higher tiers in lower gear was one of my biggest concerns actually, because of the fact that you can just invite people into tiers that they don't have access for. So I tried to figure out a way that could accomodate for that-- even if you don't have official access you could still technically have the gear, so you shouldn't be allowed to get away with doing what you're geared for cheaper.

Mon, 04/18/2011 - 10:56

#27

Negimasonic

I'm not just watching anymore am I? Darn it...

Yeah but I'm saying and this is an extreme case, but if you never officially gear yourself for Tier 3, you can reap the rewards of all tiers at the best rates. "Officially" as per current game standards would be having ALL 4 star or higher equipment. So the simplest way to beat this is to equip yourself in whatever armor you want MINUS a shield (make it the best three star you can). Then you can run around in Tier 1 for 6. Tier 2 for 7. And Tier 3 for 10(with the help of a friend of course).
Note: The only reason why I consider having Tier 2 access officially better than having Tier 1 is that the energy cost under this system doesn't differ as much between Tier 1 and 2 and the ability to use a 3 star shield would be more beneficial than using a 1 star shield.

Having the game change to something that doesn't adhere to those standards would be unfair. If I owned a 4 star weapon right now, I shouldn't automatically pay the Tier 3 price since the rest of my armor would be 3 or lower. Here's two players that have NEVER obtained Tier 3 access officially

Player A
Gran Faust 5*
Vog Cub Cap 5*
Vog Cub Coat 5*
Horned Owlite Shield 3*

Player B
Ascended Calibur 4*
Fused Demo Helm 3*
Fused Demo Suit 3*
Horned Owlite Shield 3*

How's the game supposed to tell the difference between the two? Player B obviously doesn't belong in Tier 3 yet, s/he's working their way up to 4 star equipment. But Player A has friends in high places, and has been running around with 5 star equipment, but despite all of their good stuff, they don't own a 4 star shield either, so they don't "belong" in Tier 3.

Now this is an extreme example since you probably won't find that much crossover, but it could happen by anyone actually thinking about their energy.

That's why the thing mody said kind of would work better since it would change with whatever armor you have, and you HAVE to be in that armor range in all slots to reap the benefits of that tier. It can't be exploited (skill notwithstanding, you're only so powerful with a 1 star weapon).

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All this QQ over Energy