Optimistic fish noises
Okay, so for those who might not remember what In-Combat/Out-of-Combat is, here is a link to a public testing session thread from last October which lays out the general premises behind it. Certain details have been changed (as previously mentioned in this thread, the community’s response to the changes were mixed, so DECA has done some revisions), but the overall idea is the same.
While DECA did not lay out solutions to every problem the game has, they did address a good number, and I am very happy to see the IC/OoC changes being pushed. Maybe soon we will get a healthy balance of players living, dying and remaxing again, so we don’t just have people farming the same dungeon over and over again for all eternity and can instead return to an overall improved game flow (improved, of course, in my own opinion).
I am also interested in the changed fame bonus system, so that I don’t have to spend my entire playtime trying not to mess up bonuses which reward you for not playing certain parts of the game. I also see this as an awesome way to give bonuses to people for doing things beyond just running in circles or farming the exact same dungeon over and over again.
The item forge idea certainly sounds interesting, and while I do tend to be a purist when it comes to UTs (I prefer to get them directly from their drop sources), this idea at least shouldn’t pose as much harm to the economy and game play as UT trading coupled with dupers, so I am overall in favor of it.
And while others have expressed dismay at certain aspects of the Exaltation system, I do like the idea of being able to level up certain classes by doing specific things. It gives veteran players something more to shoot for, and isn’t something that will be too quick for a player to achieve, all the while without completely leaving the less experienced players in the dust.
The vault option looks awesome, and as a f2p player, I look forward to being able to save many of the items currently on mules, on my main account without having to manage alternative accounts. Space will likely be reduced, but I’m fine with that.
Overall, while this letter may lack in a couple of regards, I found that it was generally very informative and had a number of well thought-out ideas. I think that it’s important that people remember that many of these ideas are still very much in process, and can change; DECA has generally been responsive to community feedback in the past.
As a result I am confident that they will not make potentially game-breaking changes without testing them with the players, and the future should be bright.