Slowing progression, intentionally. Really?

Fleshreaper · February 2015

I keep hearing all this fuss about making things fair. That new players should have to put in the same time to get the same rewards. But from what I have seen, it's the exact opposite. New players, have to work twice as hard/twice as long to get to the same point. Examples: Crafting motifs, got nerfed making it hard to get them, Exp grinding got nerfed making it harder to get to max level. Now VR 14 players get champion points at a 200,000 exp to 1 CP rate for the first 70 points. New players will have to spend twice as long to get the first 70 CPs. Where is fairness in this? If it's going to take a new player twice as long to get to the same point, why would they start or continue playing this game? For the betterment of the game shouldn't we want more players at max level? Shouldn't we want the game to be about skill and not about time played? If new players are getting crashed in PvP and excluded from PvE because they don't have maxed CP, why would they stay? For new players thinking about trying this game, they are going to see this and move on.

UrQuan · February 2015

You might want to do a quick search to research the history of veteran ranks. Let's just say it's now a lot faster and easier to progress than it once was.

Actually, to a lesser extent, the same is true of the main questline, the 2 guild questlines, and the level 1-50 content. All of them are easier to progress through now than they were at launch. Maybe not faster, but definitely easier.

AshySamurai · February 2015

Yeah. True. They will need work twice harder. But you can't leave current players without any reward for all effort and time spent in game.

Fellwitch · February 2015

You gotta keep in mind though, new players have content that they can work through though. So it should be okay for them as long as they are doing that. I do, however, fail to see how the xbox generation can invest the amount of time I have put into my characters so far. I guess we will see.

Froggmann5 · February 2015

> New players will have to spend twice as long to get the first 70 CPs. Where is fairness in this?

Ahahahaha. You can't be serious. I seriously doubt new players are going to spend 18 months getting 70 CP. This is completely fair, and it isn't slowing progression, it's compensating the already-faithful players for their time.

dharbert · February 2015

Let me guess, you are one of those people who expect to start off at a new company at the same pay grade and perks and benefits package as people who have been there 20 years. Sorry, but it doesn't work that way. You have to earn those things over time.

Veteran ranks have a maximum level. Champion Points have a maximum amount. New players will be able to catch up to veteran players in both rank and points over time.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is part of the cancerous "gimme everything now for no effort" generation.

Shadesofkin · February 2015

I started a 1-50 character on the PTS, made it to 20 before the changeover to EU last time around, I hardly consider the progression slower. If you're doing the Starter Zone, you're almost guranteed to be the correct level to begin crafting writs when you make it back to the first major zone of your faction.

Champion Points aren't supposed to be handed out like candy, those of us who are playing high level veteran characters have earned those 70 points (really we've earned more but that's a dead horse) and that is why we're getting them. With how fast Enlightment will advance you, with +10% exp for subscribers, and Skoom- I mean, experience potions it's hardly like it will take forever.

Fleshreaper · February 2015

This is not a job, it's a video game. So, your example there doesn't really work. Reading comprehension is a plus. I was not suggesting giving anything away for free. Stop nerfing the grinds. You paid your sub for entertainment and you got that and a new tiger that no one else will get. I will get my 70 CPs, my tiger, and my pet from bata and that's fine. But as new players looking to start this game, this is what they are seeing. So, you want to watch this game die, just so you can own a few noobs in PvP and stroke you epen because you have played sense bata?

dietlime · February 2015

Can we set aside fairness and jealousy for a minute?

I know that's hard to do, for humans. Apparently harder for gamers as a demographic, who are widely entitled and even moreso in the MMO genre.

Just think about what's good for the game. What will attract players, and retain players?

I don't think making the game more of a lone-wolf PvE grind will help. List the most exciting things to do in ESO:

1.) You grind so you can PvP, which isn't really fun until you have at least ~VR5 worth of tools to do so.

2.) 4-man coop dungeons. This game's coop dungeons are awesome.

3.) End-game trials.

Very few grind just for grinding's sake, and even fewer honestly sit down with the ultimate goal of completing fetch quests because that's what they enjoy. The PvE hub mechanic of this game is it's most antiquated feature, and the less time a new player has to spend doing this, the more likely they are to hang around.

The problem isn't that the PvE isn't fun, either. I really enjoy it! The problem is that there is so much of it; and specifically that doing almost all of it is practically mandatory to participate in PvP or co-op challenges.

Plain and simple, I stopped playing ESO. I have my eye on it, but I'm not interested in losing by default in PvP because I'm not willing to grind another ~100 hours of PvE, alone bored and in silence skipping all the dialogue just to get through it because I want to be where the people doing the real challenges are.

The bottom line is that by the end of the VR12 zone, I doubt anyone is reading every quest dialogue, and that's a sign of bad design.