5 Things to Encourage Conventional Leveling

[Kraqule]

1. Increase Task Force and trials XP by 1.5 Times. 
2. Increase Salvage and Recipes drop rates by double. For every plus to level it increases the chances at a rare recipe and salvage drop.
3. Increase Merits by double.
4. Make all sub 40 recipes require uncommon or lower salvage and have 2 level ranges 10-25 and 25 plus for stats. (Lower level recipes are far too rare and cost far too much to build)
5. All post 50 TF's should drop rare recipes at double to triple the rate of any other. Less people would "farm" AE's and would participate in TF's more.

 

Most people farm AE's as it is the most effective way to obtain rare recipes and salvage while power leveling. 

Better drops rates in TF's would do 2 things. More people would participate in Task Forces and the speed runs at -1 utilizing stealth and speed to avoid clearing the villains would stop as all players would be more invested in obtaining the rewards.

My 2 cents for keeping the game vibrant.

Edited June 29, 2020 by Kraqule

[ImpousVileTerror]

I'd recommend increasing Merit Rewards when your character is the appropriate level to the Task Force / Trial.

If I'm level 15 to 20, automatically get 2x the Merits from Beast in the Mountain.   If I'm Level 21 to 30, 1.25x Merits.  Anything after that, regular Merits.

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by ImpousVileTerror
Typo correction.

[Apparition]

17 minutes ago, ImpousVileTerror said:

I'd recommend increasing Merit Rewards when your character is the appropriate level to the Task Force / Trial.

If I'm level 15 to 20, automatically get 2x the Merits from Beast in the Mountain.   If I'm Level 21 to 30, 1.25x Merits.  Anything after that, regular Merits.

 

That would not help I don’t think, because quite a few TFs and SFs have signature AVs or heroes that pretty much require the team leader to be at the highest level for the content or malefactored down.  That is why I always wait until I am at least the highest level possible, if not higher, before forming a particular TF or SF.

[MTeague]

17 minutes ago, ImpousVileTerror said:

I'd recommend increasing Merit Rewards when your character is the appropriate level to the Task Force / Trial.

If I'm level 15 to 20, automatically get 2x the Merits from Beast in the Mountain.   If I'm Level 21 to 30, 1.25x Merits.  Anything after that, regular Merits.

 

If any boost to drops / merits are given, I definitely think it should be only while you're "At level range" for that content.

 

I'm not sure that I think any boost should be given however, as I can EASILY see farmers setting their characters to "No XP" at a certain level range and then milking, say, the Katie Hannon TF just like got done in the Days of Yore, since it's a very quick TF.   So if a boost is to be given at all, maybe "only if you're at appropriate level range at the START of the TF", AND, "only if you have Earn XP on for the entire duration of the TF".

 

But honestly, I'm not really in favor of any boosted rewards at all.

I have had absolutely zero problems kitting out all my characters with attuned IO's as they level without ever farming even once.

[ImpousVileTerror]

The issue, as I understand it, is to -incentivize- playing content at the lower levels.  Rather than just jumping in to Death From Below, Drowning in Blood, or Architect Entertainment.

Though, if repeating low level content is really a threat of farming, then mayhaps putting the 18 hour timer on the multiplier would help.

So, 26 Merits for doing Beast in the Mountain at the appropriate level, then 7 for the next run if performed within the window.

[MTeague]

I guess I'm feeling very cynical today, but I'm thinking either you'd have to seriously pump up the rewards for doing X content to absurd levels, or people are still going to do whatever method they are already doing because of the interia of "it's faster levelling" and "it's what they know".

 

And I don't like the idea of pumping up the rewards to bribe people to prefer certain content over other content.

It's the same reason why I oppose all "not enough people play redside, let's buff rewards for redside players" ideas.  (even though I AM a redside player...)

same animal, just a slightly different venue here.

Edited June 29, 2020 by MTeague

[ShardWarrior]

People will still farm regardless of any of these changes in my opinion.

[Yomo Kimyata]

What exactly is the problem we are trying to solve here?  As long as it’s not “they’re not playing the right way” I’d love to hear it.

 

my opinion on rewards, there are already too many.  So I sadly need to give you my feedback of “no, too generous” on 1-4.  I have no problem with increasing the rate of rare recipes.  Unless you meant very rare recipes, which would earn the coveted “Hell no” response.

[Kraqule]

1 hour ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

What exactly is the problem we are trying to solve here?  As long as it’s not “they’re not playing the right way” I’d love to hear it.

 

my opinion on rewards, there are already too many.  So I sadly need to give you my feedback of “no, too generous” on 1-4.  I have no problem with increasing the rate of rare recipes.  Unless you meant very rare recipes, which would earn the coveted “Hell no” response.

None of what I mentioned nerfs farmers. It allows them to continue as it is. What it does do is it rewards players playing the content story lines. 

And yes Very rare should drop more often in the content. So what if it cuts the farmers cash flow? Don't like it play the content. Players playing the story lines should benefit more as it promotes socialization which creates a healthier MMO.

As for "Not playing the right way" there is nothing here that changes how you choose to play short of farmers not being the only source for very rare recipes and salvage.

[Yomo Kimyata]

57 minutes ago, Kraqule said:

None of what I mentioned nerfs farmers. It allows them to continue as it is. What it does do is it rewards players playing the content story lines. 

And yes Very rare should drop more often in the content. So what if it cuts the farmers cash flow? Don't like it play the content. Players playing the story lines should benefit more as it promotes socialization which creates a healthier MMO.

As for "Not playing the right way" there is nothing here that changes how you choose to play short of farmers not being the only source for very rare recipes and salvage.

I’m not a farmer nor do I play one on tv.  I ask again, what is the problem you are trying to solve?

[ShardWarrior]

1 hour ago, Kraqule said:

What it does do is it rewards players playing the content story lines. 

Players are already rewarded for playing story arcs and those that prefer to level this way can do it all they like. 

[Greycat]

1 hour ago, Kraqule said:

And yes Very rare should drop more often in the content. So what if it cuts the farmers cash flow? Don't like it play the content. Players playing the story lines should benefit more as it promotes socialization which creates a healthier MMO.
 

One big assumption being made here - Playing the story lines does not necessarily "promote socialization." I can solo them from 1-50 and never team. Given the build, that may include strike/task forces.  And if I can do the story arcs faster solo, and then get even *bigger* rewards... why would I team instead of farming those story arcs?

[Replacement]

I will always be against the opinions that come out in threads like this that boil down to "AE farms are fine being 50x as efficient as story arcs, but don't you dare try to close the gap by increasing rewards of said arcs."  Usually paired with an insinuation of moral high ground because you failed to recognize "the story is its own reward." 

 

But we're not about to make progress in these lanes so I'm going to suggest something a little more community-positive.

 

The biggest buffs you could make to the game's story arcs:

• Increase ability to join in on your teammates' arcs (a way to gain their contact, and ideally even join mid-arc for lessened rewards).
• Increase level band of contact availability.  Ideally, the minimum levels should be lowered by 1 and maximums increased by 5. 
  • That would significantly help when trying to run story arcs with friends when one of you is 27 and the other is 24 and the amount of time it takes to get you both inside the level band is also the amount of time you both have until it's time to put the kids to bed.

[Troo]

4 hours ago, Kraqule said:

My 2 cents for keeping the game vibrant.

I appreciate any ideas to encourage game play.

 

A couple things to keep in mind:

• This incarnation of the game already runs at an increased xp reward rate
• Very Rare IO Sets (aka "purple" sets, after their rarity color) are IO sets that only drop as level 50 recipes.
• Rare recipes are currently cheap to buy, not so cheap to craft.

I like what Kraqule is trying to accomplish but maybe there are more effective methods.

 

I think I would be in favor of:

• Increasing rare salvage drops for lower levels. This seems to be something that could help a number of ways.
• Some encouragement for completing appropriate level to the Task Force / Trial.
• Maybe something for completing arcs (what is the current reward?)

[Replacement]

6 minutes ago, Troo said:

Maybe something for completing arcs (what is the current reward?)

Merits and an additional chunk of XP.

[Troo]

I guess I knew that.. 

 

NERF Farms.. wait, that is Tuesday's, today is Monday. Never mind.

[0th Power]

Allow for a chance for a pvp recipe for the completion of a story arc completed (non ouro to avoid short arc farming).

[MTeague]

1 hour ago, Troo said:

I guess I knew that.. 

 

NERF Farms.. wait, that is Tuesday's, today is Monday. Never mind.

But you know Troo waits.  Eagerly watching for the stroke of midnight, ready to pounce once it becomes Tuesday.  🙂

[Yomo Kimyata]

Personally, I’d rather see nerfs than boosts.

[gameboy1234]

2 hours ago, Troo said:

I think I would be in favor of:

• Increasing rare salvage drops for lower levels. This seems to be something that could help a number of ways.
• Some encouragement for completing appropriate level to the Task Force / Trial.
• Maybe something for completing arcs (what is the current reward?)

Just kind of thinking out loud, the devs already have changes on test for improving the Enhancement drops, such that TOs and DOs are completely superseded.  Add a drop to the completion of every mission in an arc of a new Enh of the appropriate type.  That would help and save some money too.  I know one reason I like DFB is it drops low level SOs, which helps new builds immensely.

 

 

[gameboy1234]

2 hours ago, Troo said:

I guess I knew that.. 

 

NERF Farms.. wait, that is Tuesday's, today is Monday. Never mind.

Nerf Regen.

[Doc_Scorpion]

6 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

What exactly is the problem we are trying to solve here?  As long as it’s not “they’re not playing the right way” I’d love to hear it.

That was my question too.  It's very odd that the OP quoted you, didn't answer the question, and instead went off on a tangent about farming.  (I don't think they realize how farming interacts with their proposals. )

That being said, I lean towards the "no way" camp...  It gets people to play lower level content, but doesn't really encourage conventional leveling...  (The two are not the same thing.)  It does encourage farming because those low level TF's/Trials can be started by characters of any level.

The permanent double XP weekend and the easy availability of DFB stand squarely in the way of normalizing low level play.  (And the current meta stands guard at that wall armed with a thermonuclear shotgun.)  That's means there's few teams, and that makes things very difficult for any but the experienced player.

[Yomo Kimyata]

13 minutes ago, gameboy1234 said:

Nerf Regen.

Yeah, I can get down with that.

[Greycat]

Here's the thing, too. A lot of people here, *regardless* of the rewards, are long time vets of the game. They've seen and done the low level content to death. Regardless of the rewards... they've *done* it, and many of them just want to get to the "fun" levels or top level to get a fully powered up character. Put in new low level content, they'll run it a time or two and head back up.

 

Hell, my first 50 back in i3 took nearly 400 hours. Granted, this was a blaster, with a late-30s content gap and a lot more debt.

Now, even though I tend to play through content and join groups, I tend to end up well shy of 100 hours. Again, that's *with playing the content.* I think I have one non-50 that's going to be over that, and she's an RP main with a group that's just done social stuff on several SG nights (versus going out and getting XP.)

 

Plus, lookign at the selections...

7 hours ago, Kraqule said:

• Increase Task Force and trials XP by 1.5 Times. 
• Increase Salvage and Recipes drop rates by double. For every plus to level it increases the chances at a rare recipe and salvage drop.
• Increase Merits by double.
• Make all sub 40 recipes require uncommon or lower salvage and have 2 level ranges 10-25 and 25 plus for stats. (Lower level recipes are far too rare and cost far too much to build)
• All post 50 TF's should drop rare recipes at double to triple the rate of any other. Less people would "farm" AE's and would participate in TF's more.

1 - we already have people running 2XP. This seems to run counter to "get more people to play the content" since they'd just be speeding through it *even faster.*

2 - Ehh... I don't think they need to, honestly. Not double, at least.

3 - We have the WST for this, which seems to do just what you want to do - encourage people to play other content.

4 - I just have to disagree with this flat out. Many of the sub-40 recipes have an outsize impact. LOTG is sub 40. Performance shifter +end, KB protection, Panacea, etc - huge boosts. Having at least some of these rare is a small price to pay for this.

5 - is an assumption. Besides, "rare" doesn' tnecessarily mean "good," or even "will sell on the market for a lot."

[Replacement]

18 minutes ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

(I don't think they realize how farming interacts with their proposals. )

You could start by explaining it.

 

19 minutes ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

It gets people to play lower level content, but doesn't really encourage conventional leveling...  (The two are not the same thing.)

I feel like your definition of "conventional leveling" is leveling at a very specific pace and it's our fault for enjoying any of the QoL additions developers may have added since i0.  If the developers doubled the merit rewards of story arcs and more people played them, would that "not count" as conventional leveling?