no flames.. I'm not the burning type.. good discussion is a totally different matter. So loose thy flame-retardant garments. :-P
anywho..
Quote:
There have been quests that I could not complete when I wanted to, does that mean the entire quest system should be reworked to make it easier to complete quests whenever I want?
There have been many a quest that could not have been completed upon getting them.. but tradeskilling and questing are totally different beast despite both having XP meters..
case in point: Fallen Gate access quest with my predator (assassin now). After having no luck finding a group for fallen gate I decided to just not worry about it and try to solo it at 19th level... tried.. didn't work, so I thought about the fight.. it was darn close, with that in mind I had four options:
find a group..
different tactics and hope it payed off..
purchase items like potions to heal wounds..
wait til 20th level at which time it would be a cake walk..
since I had more than enough things to do aside from FG, I figured I'd wait and finish my advancement to 20th level.. which I did.. and after dinging 20th I walked in and wiped the place clean of everything, however I had the choice.. find a group (interdependent system) or wait and do it alone (new system).
the difference between this and the tradeskill interdependecies is that you couldn't just wait and do it alone later. With the old system there were no choices.. it was simply this: pay up.. or don't make that item... try to find someone else at which time the options were persented again without alteration. Technically it's a choice but in reality only one option is useful to you.
choices are good: wait for someone to make items for you which, if they give you a good price, will work out slightly better than the new system.. However, the new system allows you to craft all the sub-combines but if you have to dump the item to an NPC they're only going to pay you the cost of the final product.. so:
work together to make items and likely save money (now)...
solo it.. burn a bit of cash, but not feel impeaded by others..
add to that the new system makes the old one work better since people are less likely to rip you apart on the price of subcombines knowing full well that if they try you'll just do it yourself.. it's in their best interest to charge a fair price now and not "price hike" so to speak... The new system will keep the overcharging for parts to a minimum since overchargers will see zero sales...
of course that said, the market for sub's is going to dry up.. odds are you'll have to place an order for something since I doubt people will make them like crazy anymore.
there are advantages to this as well, firstly you don't have to wonder "am I going to find the buckles I need today?" because you've placed an order.. it's your right to expect the item in a somewhat timely manner (barring real life issues of course). The chances of you having what you need / want when you want it are better knowing someone has been commissioned to make it if you don't want to do so yourself.
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as for the selling model.. changing that would have very likely made the interdependency issue a lot easier to deal with.. however the two together were horrible.. Had the system existed to creat offline sales it would have created a place where people were in competition with everyone.. not just the people who happend to be online, in room, selling at that moment in time..
no doubt this competition would have forced prices to level out and a concensus would have appeard about how much to charge for what item.
personally I have no issue with the "no offline" part of the selling model.. it's the "must be in room" part that truly drags it down and honestly at least that part should be changed if not a total overhaul of the system.
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regardless as it stands now I'll be quite content to level my craft and not hunt people down and take orders for those who don't feel like making sub-combines. (I allready have friends saying LEVEL JEWELER... NOW! they're scary)...
the one thing I do agree on however is the sense of community.. I'm the type to simply go and do. I don't like waiting for other people.. however I'm willing to wait and do it myself later if the only other option is dealing with people who can't get it together.... BUT forced grouping does create a sense of community because you *do* meet people.. often the same circle of people.. and over time you get to know them, because without them you're stuck.
I can accept being stuck due to game mechanics, those are simple enough to figure out a tactic for and work with but somethings are designed to not be beatable right now, that's fine by me.. Being stuck solely due to people however.. well that's a lot more difficult for me to work with.
Edited, Tue Mar 1 09:00:44 2005 by Iaini