The protection jump from G8 to G9, protection as a stat, and looking to the future.
June 6, 2016 8:26PM
edited June 2016
Ok. So this is my overall thoughts over the past few months, regarding precrafting problems, raid gear, and protection. This is, despite the inclusion of it, not a rant against precrafting, it is a rant against the implementation at the same time as raid gear (unobtainables).
Protection, as a stat, is fine. It doesn't do nearly as much as I think it was meant to, but it is not the train wreck I think many thought it would be. Protection, in case anyone has forgotten, is a stat that provides a second level of health for a character, and unlocks at gear level 7. The benefits of protection are fairly linear, with each gear level giving roughly the same increase in protection. This is especially troubling when one realizes that protection was balanced entirely around gear levels 10 (and in some rare cases, 11). What this means is that at gear 8, a character has roughly one third of the protection compared to max level. This isn't counting the health, speed, armor, resistance, and various other stats that the character can gain between those gear levels. It is the fact that protection unlocks a single level before the (average) gear gate for most players that this stat is one of the most glaring problems of this system.
Unobtainable gear exists for Droid Callers (level 74), Furnaces (level 73), Scanners (level 77), and Disks (Level 79). Two of these items (Droid Callers and Furnaces) act as the raid gear "gates" between Gear Levels 8 and 9 for most characters. It is these two pieces that are the most problematic (In my opinion). These two pieces prevent a character from be remotely competitive, as compared to the scanners or disks which prevent a character from being on the same level as other characters. These two pieces also highlight the inconsistencies in this game, such as why Mk5 Stun Guns (a piece used by many 'tank' characters to reach gear 9) is not gated behind raid rewards.
I believe that the gear "gating" due to raid requirements should have existed between gear levels 9 and 10, not gear levels 8 and 9. In order to have worked around precrafting, it would therefore have been prudent to merely nest the Scanner, Disk, and Mk5 Thermal Detonators (and potentially even Mk 4 Athakam Medpacks) to include the previous item *AND* raid salvage. Raid requirements around Droid Callers and Furnaces create a brutal environment for characters stuck at G8.
However, I am certain that this ship has sailed and nothing can (or will) be done for the future. Too many players have spent crystals and guild coins on furnaces (and droid callers for the coins) to ever change this. I do think that this gains both us, the community, and the developers some food for thought to avoid these problems in the future.
I do wish to point out that in the future, the differences in protection for future gear gating will be far smaller (relatively speaking) than they are now.
What we, as a community should take away from this is that there will, most likely, never be a gearing problem as detrimental to the game as this gear gap, unless CG introduces a new stat with the next gear levels.
What I urge the developers to do is two things. The first is to stop underestimating your playerbase. The precrafting business, on top of datamining means that you need to start working under the (reasonable in today's day and age) assumption that your player base is extremely informed. The second step is to, please, do not introduce new stats prior to any gear gates, as this can cause massive imbalances in character power and effectiveness.
TLDR; Protection is a fine stat. Gear gating between G8 and G9 is extremely harsh on protection.
Gear gates in the future should be better.
Developers need to stop underestimating the player base and introducing new stats right before gates.
Protection, as a stat, is fine. It doesn't do nearly as much as I think it was meant to, but it is not the train wreck I think many thought it would be. Protection, in case anyone has forgotten, is a stat that provides a second level of health for a character, and unlocks at gear level 7. The benefits of protection are fairly linear, with each gear level giving roughly the same increase in protection. This is especially troubling when one realizes that protection was balanced entirely around gear levels 10 (and in some rare cases, 11). What this means is that at gear 8, a character has roughly one third of the protection compared to max level. This isn't counting the health, speed, armor, resistance, and various other stats that the character can gain between those gear levels. It is the fact that protection unlocks a single level before the (average) gear gate for most players that this stat is one of the most glaring problems of this system.
Unobtainable gear exists for Droid Callers (level 74), Furnaces (level 73), Scanners (level 77), and Disks (Level 79). Two of these items (Droid Callers and Furnaces) act as the raid gear "gates" between Gear Levels 8 and 9 for most characters. It is these two pieces that are the most problematic (In my opinion). These two pieces prevent a character from be remotely competitive, as compared to the scanners or disks which prevent a character from being on the same level as other characters. These two pieces also highlight the inconsistencies in this game, such as why Mk5 Stun Guns (a piece used by many 'tank' characters to reach gear 9) is not gated behind raid rewards.
I believe that the gear "gating" due to raid requirements should have existed between gear levels 9 and 10, not gear levels 8 and 9. In order to have worked around precrafting, it would therefore have been prudent to merely nest the Scanner, Disk, and Mk5 Thermal Detonators (and potentially even Mk 4 Athakam Medpacks) to include the previous item *AND* raid salvage. Raid requirements around Droid Callers and Furnaces create a brutal environment for characters stuck at G8.
However, I am certain that this ship has sailed and nothing can (or will) be done for the future. Too many players have spent crystals and guild coins on furnaces (and droid callers for the coins) to ever change this. I do think that this gains both us, the community, and the developers some food for thought to avoid these problems in the future.
I do wish to point out that in the future, the differences in protection for future gear gating will be far smaller (relatively speaking) than they are now.
What we, as a community should take away from this is that there will, most likely, never be a gearing problem as detrimental to the game as this gear gap, unless CG introduces a new stat with the next gear levels.
What I urge the developers to do is two things. The first is to stop underestimating your playerbase. The precrafting business, on top of datamining means that you need to start working under the (reasonable in today's day and age) assumption that your player base is extremely informed. The second step is to, please, do not introduce new stats prior to any gear gates, as this can cause massive imbalances in character power and effectiveness.
TLDR; Protection is a fine stat. Gear gating between G8 and G9 is extremely harsh on protection.
Gear gates in the future should be better.
Developers need to stop underestimating the player base and introducing new stats right before gates.
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