I think where the biggest complaint comes in (or biggest valid complaint imo) is once you start getting into 4/5* equip you begin to have to (as a free player) plan and strategize what you are gonna upgrade, make for yourself, what's gonna be your next big sell equip, etc.

Of course it's not set in stone, but it's a general framework. So someone like for example, new 1 of my keys to progression was making and selling silent nightblades. Thus when the opportunity arose, i bought 5 ghost bells at a decent price. Not a great price, definitely not a bad price. But an investment with an eye to the future. Similarly i have a stock of owlite feathers greater than 1 person would perhaps normally acquire. Then the patch hits, and suddenly these items i sacrificed time, effort, and opportunity cost of pursuing gear just for me become instantly a bad investment--when originally they were a good investment within the framework the game had built for me.

Another example is being a bomber, i bought all vaporizer/atomizer recipes i came across. (i.e. 1 of each for myself and learned them). As well as graviton. As well as master blaster. Now many/most of these i've purchased and learned, but not used. Thus when the patch hits and recipe costs drop and CE crafting goes, i lost on both the purchase price and now the crafting cost. It's the handful of different small (and sometimes large) losses that added up to alienate people.

On i final note, i had been diligently collecting CE and eyeballing my crafting route to the gear i needed and had the CE i needed and then woke up the following day and suddenly i no longer have the CE for 6 items i want, but now only have CE enough for 2 items i need. Little things like being given a heads up on a CE crafting cost increase and i could have upgraded weapons that were ready to upgrade. I had a Nightblade that i hadn't upgraded because i like the delayed gratification of doing my upgrades when i log in for the day, rather then when i log out for the night.

Another example is i have graviton recipe, wanted a graviton bomb just for fun. Again, would prefer to craft at the beginning of day, and suddenly it went up by 200 CE and thus went from affordable to unaffordable overnight.

Long story short, you reach a level where you actually have to plan. And you carefully plan within the constructs of the games built in expectations, and you wake up and see so many of your plans dashed. In the end, i will/would have/still will spend all my crowns and CE on crafting. The difference is, now i will craft a limited amount of gear, and miss out on the joy of experiencing more weapons/play-styles the game has to offer. So for me it was a general nerf of FUN potential. I still love the game and will play it a ton, but some of the doors to fun experience were closed on me. Also part of the fun for me was planning and strategizing when to get what, and that was also taken away.

Biggest point being, had they simply said, "Hey guys approximately something similar to this is gonna happen on this date, so be prepared", all my complaints would be alleviated. I would thing, gah CE crafting costs are rough, but that's not a complaint just on observation based on my experience. I woulda crafted up everything i could before things doubled and almost tripled in cost.

Hope that sheds a little light on the alienation some people are experiencing. I.e. people who are reasonably disappointed, and not irrationally enraged. I'll still play and enjoy it. I just would have liked a chance to adjust my plans ahead of time.

I also agree with you Swed. But really, really, (really), no need to insult those who don't agree with the new patch; that's also totally understable.

Come on, they did great with implementing what all you guys wanted. The binding Vendor just came in earlier than the unbinding Vendor anyways

Hey guys,

i know there are alot of complaints and everyone had there likes and dislikes about the game. Everyone has their opinions of course.
I personally like the AH and the ATH. like some of you said the ATH is good for beginers, and the AH has its benefits.

But heres some insight i guess and everyones entitled to recieve it or not. This game is still in its beginnings. It ISNT AND WILL NOT be the end of unpdates and mods and what ever else they plan on implementing for the game. Pleae have some patience and just be as cool as possible. For those players who are deciding what to do; whether to take a break or leave for good. do what you gotta do. We gotta remember though, that its still just "The Beginning" and im sure the developers are gonna bring in some nice content. So thats just some advice you guys. Dont mean to insullt or offend anyone. Just give these guys some time. If you can wait, how ever method you use, you'll see that things will get better. Stay cool Guys.

@Kaybol, you said

nothing changed, unless you were taking "shortcuts" in order to acquire wealth.

Well, something changed for my friends and I—we can no longer craft for each other. That's a pretty big change, and no, it wasn't a shortcut to acquire wealth. My friends and I aren't unique—this hit a lot of people in similar situations hard. I hope they implement some kind of way out of this for people who have been friends or part of a guild for an extended period of time (like months). I figure this might happen, but as the game hasn't been out for months, we'll have to wait and see.

And crafting higher star equipment became much more expensive. That's a fairly large change.

Other than that, not much of a change happened. But it's an exaggeration to say that nothing changed for the non-merchant folk.