Curse

generik · Oct 21, 2005, 05:13 AM // 05:13

Alright.

As we all know, selfishness is an issue that is plaguing the world today, and Tyria is no exception. We probably have seem many cases when that Mo or that W acts as though they are the greatest contributor/biggest shot in the whole team.. easily exemplified by those instances when these same losers in real life (probably) declares "OMGWTF you guys are such noobs!" and promptly leaves the party.

They are selfish to the extent that they are not even going to waste one more second of their "oh so precious" time helping out.. and likewise not going to let that "not very vital" mesmer or ranger have a fair share of "their" drops.. the drops that they and they alone *so wholely* deserve!

Increasingly we are finding more and more groups that not only impose their perception of game play onto others, but outright reject players who are of other character classes.. namely the rangers and the mesmers.

Hey, don't get me wrong. My favourite character is a monk.. followed by an ele.. followed by a mesmer, but I'm really starting to get quite buggered by the state at which the game is taking.

Why even have a class that nobody will want? Sure, it is probably out of ignorance, since mesmers do SEEM like they are doing nothing, from the lack of visual onscreen effects, and likewise for a ranger, for be it an oath shot, or a dual shot, or a quick shot, or a distracting shot.. it all looks like an arrow being shot if you aren't paying attention.

My recommended solution to this: reward players who play uncommon classes by INCREASING the drop rates for them.

On sign on, a character will increment a tally on the server for his/her corresponding primary/secondary classes, and drop rates will be derived as an inverse of that figure to the total server population.

That's right, you heard me correctly. What I am suggesting is that drop rates be increased to the point when that mesmer will get like 10 ectos in one trip to the UW, and all those oh so cliche W/Mo, Mo/W, El/Me, an what have you... will get nothing.

When I voiced out my disgust to a few guildies earlier over this same issue, I was actually quite surprised to hear that they had the same exact idea at some point in the past before.

I won't be surprised if more here mirror my thoughts on this. Of course my example above was a bit drastic, but something along these lines just have to be done to promote more diverse game play.

*You might think it plain doesn't make sense, but why not? If a class is uncommon, they may well be "celebrities" and correspondingly get "blessed by the Gods" or whatever.. pretty much the same as to how the nation that wins HoH gets to have the "favor of the Gods".

It doesn't have to be drastic, but even the smallest cuing of drop rates towards other unused classes will INSTANTLY dispel the slightest notion of discrimination against them.

lyra_song · Oct 21, 2005, 05:18 AM // 05:18

i think a modification of your idea would be better:

how about.... class diversity in a party increases good drops overall.

Say you have a pretty generic team vs a very varied team. The varied team would have a higher chance of better drops.

generik · Oct 21, 2005, 05:25 AM // 05:25

Yeap.. that is a good idea too.

I'd say it'd be a good idea to have the server keep track of playing times of various characters tied to an account, and reduce drops as that one character get more and more play time (relative to other characters as well).

All these will serve as good "anti farming" measures as well as not screw legitimate players over. Players who are looking to have fun. Not players who are really impatient, can't wait 5 minutes in town, always insisting on "GOGOGO"", and saying things like "no rangers, 5 man party will do".

I'm so sick of those.

The biggest irony? I recently recommended a friend to GW, and in one short month, he turned the 50k or so I lent him into millions through nothing but trade... solely because (in his own words).. "since rangers don't get invites at all, I sat in town most of the time and hence I decided to make the most of my time trading!".

octaviancmb · Oct 21, 2005, 05:44 AM // 05:44

While I'd enjoy this change greatly, I don't think modifying drop rates for selected, underused and underappreciated professions is fair. The professions, after all, *are* balanced and every profession is useful and powerful in every zone and map and mission. Rewarding ignorance with increased drops for the intelligent and clued-in isn't the best solution.

I keep hoping that slowly...ever so slowly...the general population will begin to appreciate the value of each profession. Maybe it will happen one day.

However, since changes apparently sink into people's heads at a glacial pace, I'm not expecting it any time soon. People still think "echo nukers" are the greatest thing ever, in spite of the recent buff to Glyph of Renewal (which means *any* Elementalist can pump out 4 Meteor Showers in 60 seconds -- twice as many as someone with an Archane/Echo).

Several issues needed to be addressed during the graphical design phase and apparently weren't. The lack of Mesmer character animation, for instance -- in spite of the power of any given spell, the most you'll see out of a Mesmer is the occasional twirl. Hardly inspires visions of heroism and glory...

But anyway, the "problem" with professions is one of *perception* rather than *balance* and any change that unbalances the game is not one anyone should support. For now, if Mesmers, Rangers, and Necromancers really want to be appreciated, all they need do is wander into the PvP areas. Perhaps one day the PvE players will recognize their value. Until then, I guess we'll simply have to stand around the ToA !chatting "Mesmer LFG..."

cmb

lyra_song · Oct 21, 2005, 06:04 AM // 06:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by generik

Yeap.. that is a good idea too.

I'd say it'd be a good idea to have the server keep track of playing times of various characters tied to an account, and reduce drops as that one character get more and more play time (relative to other characters as well).

All these will serve as good "anti farming" measures as well as not screw legitimate players over. Players who are looking to have fun. Not players who are really impatient, can't wait 5 minutes in town, always insisting on "GOGOGO"", and saying things like "no rangers, 5 man party will do".

I'm so sick of those.

The biggest irony? I recently recommended a friend to GW, and in one short month, he turned the 50k or so I lent him into millions through nothing but trade... solely because (in his own words).. "since rangers don't get invites at all, I sat in town most of the time and hence I decided to make the most of my time trading!".

I always, always try to have an interupt or poison ranger, depending on where im questing. Ranger skills are invaluable and that fact that people are so caught up in the W/E/Mo trilogy is annoying.

Your friend's story is quite funny. ^^

Medion · Oct 21, 2005, 07:49 AM // 07:49

I think its a good idea to make bigger loot for the whole party, so not for the mesmer/ranger alone.

But as many have said, its a way of looking at things.

A friend of my thought that rangers were useless and did no damage at all. Then he just started one for fun. And he likes it now.
But he probably hasnt seen the difficulties of getting into a group I guess.

Adding some visual effect would certainly help (as I have said many times before). I don`t know about mesmers, but I as a ranger know that any shot just looks the same. just a little flast at the beginning, and there the arrow goes.

Jczech · Oct 21, 2005, 09:35 AM // 09:35

I don't think bribing people to play other professions would be very good. Personally, I'd love to see drops rates change for more diverse parties. Maybe something like 50% of the usual rate for 1 profession teams (ie soloists, though it would have a negative impact on ranger teams), 75% for 2 different professions, 100% (normal) for 3 different professions, 125% for 4, 150% for 5, and 200% if you include every (primary) profession. Perhaps just have bonuses for 5 or 6 profession teams, but I'd rather see negatives to help encourage team play. Solo players would still have the best item drop rate (per person), but a party of 8 (with all 6 professions) would have half of what the soloist has but 8 times easier and faster.