Paynus Maiassus
Capital Munitions
5
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Posted - 2014.04.16 16:33:00 -
[1] - Quote
I have read this thread up to page 27 and I have to say I know what God was thinking with that flood idea. The amount of informed constructive criticism here is completely minuscule. Therefore I thought I would offer some.
First, the good stuff. This is going to be an amazing and wonderful expansion. Thank you CCP. We are seeing a tremendous amount of out of the box thinking. While this is still a revamp expansion like the last few, the changes are so extensive that it truly feels like we are getting something so new as wormholes or capital ships. Of course with so much innovation the chance for creating imbalance is quite high, in contrast with the previous expansions where actual innovation has been minimal, and the revamping accomplished has been definitely successful and positive. Also, because this dev blog is an installment, it's difficult to comment on much of it, particularly when it comes to the effects of the numbers (namely the cost scaling) because these numbers have not been announced. Even when things go live on Sisi, we won't really be able to predict the effects of things on the real market on tranquility because we'll need the real market player base to know how things will turn out. Matthew McConaughey in Wolf of Wall Street: "nobody really knows if the stock is going to go up or down. All this we do is basically ***********."
Yes, old vets will quit because of this, new Indy guys will be attracted. Professions will be destroyed (standings corps) but new ones will be created. People talk about the harm to invention, but for one, invention will be changing in a later expansion, and frankly, when looking to buy T2 BPCs in game I have had trouble finding professional inventors because inventors are really alts and builders do their own invention. Frankly, it sounds like the guy who doesn't want to relocate will buy copies and components from people who can make them cheaper than they can make them themselves, creating more professions and markets as well as decentralizing the market and creating more trade hubs. Overall, the general trend of how things will be will be different, and from my initial ponderings, will likely be better in most ways. And with promises of revamping the Rorqual and invention in future expansions, we know that Indy will continue to get love after the summer. Overall a great situation.
Now for my advice. It's always better to make a smaller tweak that you can tweak again in the future than to make a larger change that you have to undo. Yes, this thinking has resulted in some underwhelming expansions in the last couple of years, and an audacious one like this is a breath of fresh air. However, it might be important to look at things to change small ways, particularly since so much of this expansion can't really be tested until it is actually live on Tranquility. Now all of the things in this category are in the realm of numbers and scaling costs, which are yet to be tackled, so hopefully this advice will be timely. I would suggest that the most significant changes to cost via the scaling costs be limited primarily to manufacturing. Please keep the scaling costs of material and time research as well as copying be very small if not even non-existent. Since the changes to blueprint location will drive builders to use copies, it will be very hard to predict how many copies will be made. It's likely to be astronomical. If making copies are heavily affected by scaling costs, production costs will become harder to predict and a new bottleneck of a different type will be created. I suggest that making copies, in addition to making them faster, not be affected by scaling costs. Also, since extra materials are being moved to normal materials but not being removed, material research will become more important, and I also hope that the cost of material research be minimal. Yes, the idea seems to offer the builder who is concerned about profit to diversify location, but having so many variables affected considerably by scaling costs will force builders to copy in one place, build in another, research in another, etc. this will mean more alts and multiboxing and 1-man corps that perpetuates a building style not available to players who can't afford all the accounts or who aren't already mega rich enough to PLEX all the alts. Adding scaling costs to manufacturing will have the intended effect of creating hubs and fostering diverse location without the extra annoyance. So hopefully scaling costs associated with research and copying will be minimal or non existent.
The UI looks beautiful. I can't wait to learn about it in detail.
Kudos on the removal of standings requirements for hisec POSes. Comments lamenting this are the most ridiculous thus far. However, the need for a mechanic to be rid of the inert POSes is about the most valid point anyone has made here. My suggestion is that they be CONCORDed after 60 days of inactivity. It's the most colorful solution I could think of. And please have an impending CONCORDing of a POS be announced in local with a bookmark so anyone in system can come watch and cheer.
That's about all the constructive criticism I have at this time. I'll say I am most looking forward to the teams blog, as I have a feeling this one is really going to be the true game changer. I have three accounts and have trained all three toons on each account to be functional. However, I only have one true Indy pilot, one combat toon, and one mostly combat multifunctional toon. The rest are just manufacturing and lab slot sources and sell order sources. I have a friend who just can't afford to active multiple training queues or run multiple accounts. He's a one account one toon guy. If he could really build an Indy empire like I have, the game will be much better off.
This expansion took some serious balls. Thanks CCP. |