ctusk wrote:Oh I totally agree. I didn't call the game hard - that was Cal, I don't think it is.
What it is in its current state is as you said , totally un-fun.
It is harder to level than before patch one when gameplay was fun and relaxing. The biggest problem is, there is no reason to keep leveling through the now un-fun parts of the game because there is neither a goal nor a reward for doing so. Nothing to gain but levels, not even working towards seeing new, unexplored parts of the game - plain nothing. Not worth it.
Well this pretty much sums up my feelings at this moment. Here, as well as on the German board, i read a lot of discussions about the possibilities of leveling after Patch One.
For my personal feelings about this game this beside the point. I do not dispute that you can level in a good team as fast as before "the Patch", but it is simply somehow no fun anymore, at least not for me. It is not easy to analyze why exactly this isn't the case anymore, but i will try anyway:
1. First the super fast, arcade like, style of combat. Ctusk wrote it was
fun and relaxing before and is not anymore. I very much agree on this. Before Patch you tackled a mob and had a chance to rethink strategies during combat (note that i never liked to play with blind, and am not referring to whacking away at helpless mobs for 3K). I mean rethinking like the way of deciding which melee actions you could use, while fighting a mob, change spells, a mage could switch from healing to offense mode if neccessary, or the other way round etc. And mostly important you could enjoy yourself with your fellow players because it wasn't always this way that you had to concentrate 100% at hitting the right button on the very second or risk a team wipe. Now you can't do anything of it. As a melee you have to be constantly on edge to get quickly to the mob and engage your Increase Damage. An instant later your are dead, then rezzed by the healer, to hit the mob again, then the mob is down. When you play a healer it is even worse. You are a second late at selecting the right target to be healed? Well chances are the mob will chew up the entire team in this moment of blunder. Not extactly fun and relaxing to me, especially not, if you are going to do this for hours.
Also on exploring, i don't have the feeling of suspense i had before, but a certain nervoussnes, that i can be dead the very next second, by a mob that suddenly rushes on me from nowhere. It wasn't easy to explore before, and i died many times during my trips around the beautiful lands of Atys, but now it is completly discouraging to go hiking an explore the land.
2. The "mob risk curve" was smoother before P1. Now you know that you will get a certain mob for sure if you do not blunder, or you know that you don't stand a chance against this type of mob, reagradless of any tactics you might employ. The consequences are so simple as boring: the same type of mob is slaughtered again and again.
This leads me to another very important point. I don't know how it looks on your server, but on the german server expedition action (i.e. forming treks to overcome highly dangerous areas, like travelling to another countries) came to an absolute standstill, after P1. Before P1 you could find treks that would go from Tryker to Matis or Zorai on a regular basis, mostly on weekends when players had much time on their hands, but very regularly. Concerning the lack of content in this game, this was a huge motivation source. The new players were keen on getting to another country and for the experienced ones it was great fun, leading the newbies on this dangerous expedition.
No one does this now. Why? Very simply, because they know they wouldn't stand a chance. Only the very higl-level players could even count on getting a chance on treks like Tryker-Matis or Tryker-Zorai.
So you are confined to level against the same type of mob over and over, without even the highlight of particpating on a expedition now and then.
Well of course you can exchange mob-grind for harvest- or crafting-grind, but how ever you put it, you always do grind.
On a sidenote: The mood in the german community is very much similiar to what i find here. Wether you like the changes brought by P1 or not, the devs are guilty for one thing for sure: dividing the SoR Community apart for a mostly unneccassary change, instead on focusing on something what everyone, "whiner" or "fanboi", is seeking desperatly: content.
Ranna
Tryker - Server Leanon