Important quotes explaining the new patch

xpiher

I posted this on the DFUW internal forums, cross posting it here so people can get an idea of what AV wanted to accomplish with the patch.

 

Please use this thread not to discuss, but to post any important quotes you have from the devs about the patch. Since there isn't a dev tracker and lots of stuff can get burried in the massive threads already up in the forums people may not see important tid bits of information. FFS I'm a forum whore and almost missed the below statements
 

 

 

 Originally Posted by rikilii 

Couldn't you accomplish the same goal by adjusting how much of each resource you get from each activity, rather than adding a new intermediate resource and an additional step that involves no active gameplay and no actual risk?

 

 

 Originally Posted by Wild Sage 

Not really, adjusting the rarity of materials would inevitably only make one or the other more rare. Rarity is not a very good measure of value as players will always find the most efficient way of doing something and then simply not do the other. With the intermediate step essences are still useful but they are not as effective as the super node materials. I realize it may be an awkward implementation but is should be more effective.

As for the new resource, it is not directly tied with the extra step. We could have the extra step without this new resource. Its purpose however is to provide an economy step stone for new players. It is true that the safe zone skews the system but our intention is to move away from safe zones eventually so for now we decided it was best to go ahead with the system than delay it.

Hopefully this answers some of your questions, I realize it's a complex topic with many aspects.

 

 

 Originally Posted by rikilii 

I think you're kind of missing my point.

If I understand it correctly, the purpose of this patch is to reward active, risky activities more than passive, safe activities.

One thing you could do toward this goal, for instance, is completely remove the conversions. 

You could have accomplished this goal by just setting the harvesting/loot rates in accordance with the level of activity/risk. 

For example, mining in the safe zone could yeild 100 ore and no rares per hour, whereas mining a supernode in the level 5 zone with a theyril pick could yield 1000 ore and 100 rares per hour, and all gradations in between.

You end up with the same result -- i.e. you reward active risky gameplay, without adding more passive gameplay.

There's not need to provide new players with another passive "economy step stone." What you need to do is give them a way to learn the active gameplay and reward them for it.

 

 

 Originally Posted by Wild Sage 

I understand your point but there are specific issues that we would like to address. Your proposed changes here give us way fewer materials to localize and distribute when in reality we need more. Also, without new steps/materials, the current economic situation remains unaltered. Additionally, you are removing all new player contribution to the market which is the opposite of our intention. So I would argue that the result is not the same at all, at least for what we are trying to achieve.

 

 

 Originally Posted by rikilii 

There are a lot of ways you could localize and distribute resources that you seem not to have done, without adding more of them to existing processes.

[LIST][*]You could do the no-brainer of adding significant same-name essence drops to the golem/orb spawns, so that people who need specific essences know exactly where to find them, (and people who want to kill people who are farming those essences also know exactly where to find them)

As for new player contribution, I can't believe that you would want to encourage them to contribute through passive activities. One of the biggest current turnoffs for new players is when they find out how much time they apparently need to spend in passive activities (mining, trawling, potato macroing *wink*) in order to get the fastest and most efficient gains.

The focus for new players should be on active gameplay and leveling so that they are not new players for so long. If you want to promote this, you should make active pursuits more beneficial for leveling up AND for economic reasons (e.g. more prowess and better drops off low- and mid- level mobs, for instance), and nerf the prowess gains for harvesting and conversion recipes.

By the way, I thank you for engaging me in this discussion....

 

 

 Originally Posted by Wild Sage 

I will just say that you are right about the most efficient gains and this is indeed our intention with the next installment of the economy re-balance. I mentioned it in another thread that the goal is to rank productivity like so: Normal nodes (Depending on danger zone), Clan holding nodes, Super nodes, Monsters.

All the other steps you mention are part of the plan. I will disagree on the conversions as having multiple ways to get from one point to another is in my eyes desirable as it creates real differentiation in value as opposed to just applying rarity to materials. So, yes, new crafting materials that drop from monsters for example are definitely happening but having a way to getsome of them through conversions and crafting as well also serves a purpose. I will agree that because the whole system is not implemented some things feel awkward. All I can say is that there is an ultimate goal to be achieved and we prefer to do things in steps and react based on your feedback than delay for unspecified periods of time in order to implement a system in its entirety especially when it is such a complex one and the results can be very unpredictable.

By the way, Golem loot is now as you describe.