Redundancy
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Posted - 2003.11.16 18:47:00 -
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Edited by: Redundancy on 16/11/2003 19:05:14
I've been thinking about this issue, and had the following thoughts on it...
Ask yourself what you will not get after having your positive sec / faction rating halved that you get currently on tranquility?
I think it's very difficult to come up with a list of things that having a higher faction (>2 as mentioned in the first post) will help with at the moment - the most concrete example that I've been able to think of is your chances of successfully meeting a level 1 agent when you dock at their station (which, since after the changes I believe you'll actually have access to all the level 1 agents, doesn't really count as a negative to the changes). The only other thing is a bigger buffer against negative deeds - given how much more difficult it is to raise your faction ratings now, it's unlikely that you're doing anything that would reduce them like that anyway.
On the other hand, after the changes, having a high (~10) faction rating would probably immediately give you access to high level agents (when they're available).
On balance, it would seem that keeping standings the same would not really save you from negative effects from having them reduced, but would on the other hand grant you high level agents that you wouldn't have got under the current system without having laboured through the agent missions (which is inlikely if you've got a high faction rating of +8 left over from the period where advancement was easier, due to the faction rating cap bug that existed around the same time and after).
I can certainly understand frustration with losing something that you percieve to have already earnt, but I do feel that given the extra ease that people had in gaining faction and security ratings in the earlier stages of the game gave them a large advantage that does not now exist in a system where it currently has very little to no real meaning.
These views are however, purely my own. Forgive me for playing devil's advocate.
PS. the definition of "exploit" in the Oxford English Dictionary makes no requirement on the use being intentional.
As a verb, the two definitions are:
1) Make use of (a resource etc.)
2) utilize or take advantage of for one's own ends.
The problem is that the context of the use of the word 'exploit' in an online game is different from the other possible meanings of it, and a very derogatory term... With this in mind, I'd ask everyone to be very careful with the use of the word in this forum if they mean anything other than the knowing use of a game system that unintentionally provides an unfair advantage. In fact, I'd rather not see it applied to people in here at all, just like I'd rather not see anyone tossing around the labels 'carebear' or 'griefer' at anyone either.
Redundancy |