Gear Store
I believe gear, and its acquisition, needs to be addressed. There are certain pieces of gear that are needed by nearly every character and a lot is needed (Mk 3 Czerka Stun Cuffs, Mk 5 A/KT Stun Gun Prototype, Mk 3 Sienar Holo Projector in particular come to mind). Not to mention the gear in tier 11. I understand it is not supposed to be easy to get every character all the way up, otherwise there wouldn't be good competition and people could “beat” the game. However, it seems like there would be a way of easing the strain.
I propose a Gear Store with a new Gear Credit currency. Every piece of gear in the game could be found in this store. No refresh times, no caps on purchases.
Pricing for gear: As developers, you know how many pieces of each gear type is needed to have every character maxed out. You also know the availability of every pieces of gear through battles and special events. Some algorithm based on need and availability can be determined to set the cost for each piece.
Acquiring Gear Credits: One can earn Gear Credits by competing in guild raids, Territory Battles, and Territory Wars, thus removing gear as rewards (the lottery for gear in raids and TB is extremely aggravating, TW at least consistently gives needed gear). There could also be occasional Gear Credit Heists (could be different team than scoundrels). And most importantly, using the same algorithm determined for pricing, there could be a trade in store, somewhat like the Shard Shop, except a player could trade in any piece of gear at any time for 1/2 of the the purchase price for that piece. Additionally, so that EA/CG can make money, Gear Credits could also be purchased in Shipments for credits (but this price should be kept higher to avoid people “buying” gear 12 characters).
Initially, there would be a great influx of people trading in useless gear and many people would increase gear levels on prime characters. But in the long run, that curve would flatten as excess reserves are depleted.
I remember back when the game started, I could trade in gear for regular credits — I am not advocating for that. I see a system that keeps gear resources confined to only gear as important (aside from buying gear credits with crystals). I don't think that this will devalue gear, it just adds an acquisition method based off of gear a player has already earned.
I propose a Gear Store with a new Gear Credit currency. Every piece of gear in the game could be found in this store. No refresh times, no caps on purchases.
Pricing for gear: As developers, you know how many pieces of each gear type is needed to have every character maxed out. You also know the availability of every pieces of gear through battles and special events. Some algorithm based on need and availability can be determined to set the cost for each piece.
Acquiring Gear Credits: One can earn Gear Credits by competing in guild raids, Territory Battles, and Territory Wars, thus removing gear as rewards (the lottery for gear in raids and TB is extremely aggravating, TW at least consistently gives needed gear). There could also be occasional Gear Credit Heists (could be different team than scoundrels). And most importantly, using the same algorithm determined for pricing, there could be a trade in store, somewhat like the Shard Shop, except a player could trade in any piece of gear at any time for 1/2 of the the purchase price for that piece. Additionally, so that EA/CG can make money, Gear Credits could also be purchased in Shipments for credits (but this price should be kept higher to avoid people “buying” gear 12 characters).
Initially, there would be a great influx of people trading in useless gear and many people would increase gear levels on prime characters. But in the long run, that curve would flatten as excess reserves are depleted.
I remember back when the game started, I could trade in gear for regular credits — I am not advocating for that. I see a system that keeps gear resources confined to only gear as important (aside from buying gear credits with crystals). I don't think that this will devalue gear, it just adds an acquisition method based off of gear a player has already earned.
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Replies
Another thing that might be useful is to update the daily challenges. Some of the gear we get form those is almost obsolete and is only required for some of the new characters. MK 4 Stun Gun salvage is a perfect example.
I currently have 3500 of them and would use maybe 2% of them if I were to gear all of my characters that currently need them. Meanwhile I have 35 characters that need at least 50 MK 5 Stun Gun salvage each (which has a terrible drop rate for farming in my experience)
As a level 85 player with over 95% of the current roster unlocked and getting close to having almost all of my toons that need cetain gear, geared above any gear level needing the MK 4 Stun Gun salvage or some of the other gear, I would love to see gear I currently need drop in daily challenges. Even if the drop rate was half of what we currently get for challenge gear, I would be able to gear more toons a lot faster. If the rumored level cap increase is coming, it would be a perfect opportunity to add in a change to the daily challenge gear drops. Make the dropped gear change with character and/or player level increases.
Having somewhere such as a gear trading post, would be even better as I would be able to unload the many thousands of gear that are essentially useless to me. Being able to trade 100 MK 4 Stung Gun salvage for 1 MK 5 Stun Gun slavagewould be more advantageous to me and all other non-whale players than simply collecting thousands more useless pieces of gear that I might use
Please give these ideas some serious consideration.