ShardWarrior

Complete speculation on my part here, but getting rid of the various non IO enhancements (TO/DO/SO) would have been an eventual outcome.

Not here to stir anything, just participating in the discussion and providing my own personal point of view. If that clashes with your opinion, there is nothing I can do about that. I've no idea what NC will or will not do. I'll leave it in the capable hands of the HC team who are in the thick of it to work out the details.

Unlimited user licensing is not at all uncommon in the software world. Not sure where this notion of it being the norm is coming from.

Well, yes - it is the same. You're using software that someone else has licensed from Microsoft as part of said licensing agreement. This is what SSAS is all about.

Not completely sold this is a given - NC would still have to maintain it and that is an expense for them. Who knows? They may see it as not worth the effort.

Microtransactions or lootboxes? My experience is most nowadays are ok with microtransactions for cosmetics and such. It's those dastardly loot boxes they all despise.

There are also Enterprise level licenses that allow for unlimited users. Also, you are using SQL every time you login and play. You are sending data back and forth to the database all the time.

I certainly don't feel this discussion is a waste of anyone's time, nor did I say the TO system was broken. The game has evolved and exploring possibilities to improve older content is worth merit IMO. Revisiting older content and systems is nothing new or foreign to MMOs.

Not really interested in derailing the thread on this, but I would be happy to take this to PMs to educate you on how this is not true in all cases.

I was speaking in general terms, not about NCSoft specifically.

So... corporate interests can't be derived from good intentions?

Are legal negotiations generally available for all the world to see? Personally, I don't think the general populace needs to know the specifics here - I can only imagine the myriad of posts from armchair lawyers and Google law experts would make. No thank you.

That's sort of the point - the early game really isn't a slog and TOs were a help back before all the stuff you mentioned. That is not the game anymore and TOs don't really serve much of a purpose.

You're already more than halfway there and in the examples given, you're not just getting 1 drop to sell, so its not just a 1 to 1 thing. DFB rewards around 5 or 6 per run, not to mention any salvage you can sell. As for the dangers of having SOs become commonplace at lower levels, I would say they already are commonplace via DFB/DiB/Summer BB etc. and it hasn't destroyed the whole IO balance. I never said or suggested anything of the sort with regard to the amount of work involved. I'm quite sure it isn't a simple thing to do. All I've said is that I would support the idea of removing an antiquated piece of the game that has no value anymore and replacing it with something better. I believe that is worth discussion.

Ok for me to say I was completely blown away at how epic and beautiful your castle is, it would be a gross understatement. I am in awe! For those of you who have not visited it yet, please do. This is an exceptional piece of work. Beautifully done @KingofMonkeys

A level 1 can run a couple of DFBs and either slot or sell the SOs drops they get. Expense is not really a problem anymore.

Yes, I know lol. I was referring to an earlier comments in the thread suggesting the OPs idea was along the lines of "a lot of work to fix a non-issue".

Actually, I know quite a few people who play the game in the "normal way" by playing all the early content, but will hit up a DFB/DiB every so often for the SO and salvage drops to sell. TOs were something of some use back in the day - the game is a lot different now. I would agree removing them just for the sake of removing them is a lot of work for no real return. However, I think the idea of replacing TOs with something better/more unique is worth discussion.

Not sure not being able to afford SOs at early levels is an issue per se - DFB, DiB etc. drop several SOs with every run which can either be slotted or sold, not to mention salvage.

Personally, I think any effort going into something that will replace/make better an aspect of the game that is (which you even admit TOs are) irrelevant better is worth "limited Dev time".

I totally understand where you are coming from, however I would argue that Incarnates and IOs have already caused certain ATs/combos to become redundant or even unnecessary. Just speaking from my own experience here - I've been on TF runs where fully pimped out blasters are able to blow through everything and solo EBs solo without dropping any significant HP or END, it makes the need for CC/Debuff/Heals "nice to have". Also, this is only true if you are only looking at it from one side of the coin - it makes the assumption that everyone will select the "most powerful" combo there is and never try to play anything else. This is not the goal of every player out there.

Can't say I disagree, although I do find the early game fun in some aspects. Personally, I don't believe I have ever slotted a TO enhancement ever and they don't sell for anything so eliminating them is not such a far off idea. Especially since we can run DFB or DiB or Summer BB now and collect random SOs to use or sell. Kind of makes DOs/TOs irrelevant.

Can the enterbasefrompasscode slash command get added to the list of slash commands? example: /enterbasefrompasscode <passcode>

This has probably been asked many times, so forgive me if it has - Will we eventually be able to donate outside of the usual donation window? I would love to contribute, however I keep missing the usual window.

For clarity, I totally agree it was the Dev intent for Rage to have the -DEF crash. What I object to is "what the Devs intended" being incorrectly passed off as the set-in-stone unchangeable rule. We will never know whether the original Dev intent would have changed or not if the game were still running "live". For all any of us know, the Devs would have found that the change was fine and left it at is. They also could have found it didn't work the way they wanted and tried something completely different. Nobody knows what they would have done. It should not be used as an excuse to dismiss and not explore potential ideas here and now.