Quote (bodierox @ May 8 2015 05:36pm)
Glad we agree to the first :P
As to the second, Of course you do not notice it on a game like say WoW where the player base is HUGE. Millions upon millions.
But in a game of tens, you notice it much more, and it effects the user base much more drastically.
I read a really good article on this in a game informer magazine recently.
I will see if I can find the article :)
Perhaps. Though much of that, in ladderslasher, can be directly attributed to changes in game mechanics, partially due to drops, partially due to the need for catacombs, and partially due to the extremely low amount of time items stay listed.
Point 1: Whether solo or group, it's difficult to simply log in and play if you have no items. Solo is an unrewarding grind, and many groups won't take you (rightfully so) because you'll make the game take longer, and might snatch all their needed skillables as "upgrades". If the drops were at a point where especially with the 30+ (and XIII + XIV to an extreme) items, they were dropping more than just a few a climb, and reached at least a medium stat level, a lot of this would be null and void. It would be more reasonable to founder along at your own pace, gathering up what is needed to fit in with the "established" groups, constantly improving due to hard work and effort. Yet without those drops, charity and stubbornness are what a new player has to rely upon, or opening up their wallet and/or fg bank for a game they aren't even certain they'll like. Now, why pay for something that you can't play reasonably well for free? Isn't paying for something in a game supposed to be the difference between a "glass ceiling" of being "good", vs being "godly"? And honestly, who wants to play a game where a year later, only their ability to beg gets them anywhere?
Point 2: Catacombs are unfriendly. 3 mobs, 3 eps, multiple abilities up to and including invulnerability to your attacks and preventing your attacks... And you have to drive. Or you have to whistle. And regen. Constantly. Your runs, as a new player who hasn't "bought in" to the game are measured typically in weeks or months. For solo. Yet you can group, right! Until the group leader examines your gear, sees you have nothiing, and would rather their climb take an hour to an hour and a half, rather than 2 to 3 hours due to the caster heal-locked on the newbie, costing the best damage, effectively limiting the group to only 3 dedicated hitters. Doesn't seem right, does it? Then the skillers moan and whine, why? Well, it took them ages to get to where they could mute/glyph level 40 items, not many drop, yet this new player is grabbing at (and getting!) all of them. Dammit. And they can't even drive at a respectable pace. Bah @ them. That's not a negative attitude, it's simply attempting to play in an efficient manner conducive to the entire team. When a 4 man team can get to MQ in 90 minutes, the skillers get their needs, and it's a great time, but the 5 man group takes 120 minutes, the skillers are robbed of their needs, and it's an exercise in frustration, how is it negative to refuse the fifth man?
Part 3: There ARE newcomers who have plenty of FG and are willing to buy in to the game. However, with the market limited to 5 day listings... What is really posted that'll get them ready/able/worthy for the daily [fast] groups that go up? Back in seasons... 1-...9? 12? When you listed an item, it stayed listed until reset. You could list 10 items on EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER. Think that through. 8 (then later, 16) characters, each with 10 items listed. 80-160 items listed, potentially for many months. Things sold. A new player, deciding they like the game, could gear up. Hell, sellers even competed with each other, lowering prices on gear to beat the competitor's similar item. Now? 5 days, with a pre-sales fee? No thanks.
Market+drops would at least bring back a solo crowd, if not boost the group crowd as well. Charity and "kindness" merely slows down groups, causing current players to lose interest, and eventually causing the new player to quit in disgust, due to not being able to get ahead without living off the dedication of another, giving up any self-sufficiency whatsoever.
In the end, community assistance, the greatest kindnesses in the world... They won't bring in more players. If I give away my full setup to a new player, all that will do is remove me from the player pool in exchange for somebody else, leaving the actual number of players in the game unchanged.
