Ontem, 09:25 AM
Hey everyone,
I've been playing MegaMU for around half a year now, and there is one issue I keep seeing, especially with newer players:
The gear gap between players on restricted servers is simply too large.
A player with 200 RR and Ancient Bloodangel gear is in a completely different league from a player with 200 RR and a full Blue eye or Silver Heart socket set.
I understand the idea behind having servers with maximum RR restrictions. It gives players a place where progression and competition should be more balanced.
However, RR alone does not determine a character's actual power anymore.
Gear progression has become such a major factor that the current RR restrictions often fail to create a balanced environment.
I'm personally starting to feel this frustration as well. I have been farming regularly for around six months and have also invested around $300 into my character.
I currently have DA gear, Soul socket boots with 5x Level 6 Seeds, T3 Wings, Black Fenrir and 2 Blessed AA Short Swords.
And even with that investment and progression, I still struggle to compete in around 90% of events because I regularly encounter players using BE or SH socket sets.
This also affects non-PvP events.
Players can still kill you, receive a relatively small PK penalty for doing so, and continue participating in the event. That makes it extremely difficult for newer or less-geared players to actually farm the rewards they need to progress.
The main problem
Take a 150 RR restricted server as an example.
What does a 150 RR restriction really mean if one player has:
Technically, both players are within the same RR restriction.
In reality, they are nowhere near the same power level.
This creates a progression problem for newer players.
They enter a restricted server because they expect a more balanced environment, but then discover that they cannot realistically farm events because the players they encounter are already equipped with gear that may take many months of farming, or a significant amount of spending, to obtain.
Eventually, a lot of those players simply leave the server.
My Proposal: Gear Score Restrictions
Instead of restricting servers based only on RR, I would like to suggest introducing a Gear Score system .
The idea would be simple:
RR would still matter, but a character's overall equipment and progression would also contribute to a Gear Score.
Restricted servers could then have both or just one off them:
Maximum RR + Maximum Gear Score
This would make the restrictions much more meaningful and could create a much smoother progression path for new players.
Possible Gear Score system
The exact numbers would obviously be something for the development team to balance, but the system could work approximately like this:
Normal Equipment
New Players Need a Chance to Catch Up
I don't think the goal should be to prevent veteran players from being strong.
Players who have invested months into their characters should absolutely be stronger than brand-new players.
The problem is when the difference becomes so large that new players cannot even farm the content required to catch up.
I've been playing MegaMU for around half a year now, and there is one issue I keep seeing, especially with newer players:
The gear gap between players on restricted servers is simply too large.
A player with 200 RR and Ancient Bloodangel gear is in a completely different league from a player with 200 RR and a full Blue eye or Silver Heart socket set.
I understand the idea behind having servers with maximum RR restrictions. It gives players a place where progression and competition should be more balanced.
However, RR alone does not determine a character's actual power anymore.
Gear progression has become such a major factor that the current RR restrictions often fail to create a balanced environment.
I'm personally starting to feel this frustration as well. I have been farming regularly for around six months and have also invested around $300 into my character.
I currently have DA gear, Soul socket boots with 5x Level 6 Seeds, T3 Wings, Black Fenrir and 2 Blessed AA Short Swords.
And even with that investment and progression, I still struggle to compete in around 90% of events because I regularly encounter players using BE or SH socket sets.
This also affects non-PvP events.
Players can still kill you, receive a relatively small PK penalty for doing so, and continue participating in the event. That makes it extremely difficult for newer or less-geared players to actually farm the rewards they need to progress.
The main problem
Take a 150 RR restricted server as an example.
What does a 150 RR restriction really mean if one player has:
- 149 RR
- Full Soul Set
- 5x Level 6+ Seeds
- Strong accessories
Technically, both players are within the same RR restriction.
In reality, they are nowhere near the same power level.
This creates a progression problem for newer players.
They enter a restricted server because they expect a more balanced environment, but then discover that they cannot realistically farm events because the players they encounter are already equipped with gear that may take many months of farming, or a significant amount of spending, to obtain.
Eventually, a lot of those players simply leave the server.
My Proposal: Gear Score Restrictions
Instead of restricting servers based only on RR, I would like to suggest introducing a Gear Score system .
The idea would be simple:
RR would still matter, but a character's overall equipment and progression would also contribute to a Gear Score.
Restricted servers could then have both or just one off them:
Maximum RR + Maximum Gear Score
This would make the restrictions much more meaningful and could create a much smoother progression path for new players.
Possible Gear Score system
The exact numbers would obviously be something for the development team to balance, but the system could work approximately like this:
Normal Equipment
- Any normal set should have a very low Gear Score.
- The difference between something like Bone and Great Dragon would remain relatively small.
- Excellent gear could also have a low Gear Score.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- Ancient gear should have different scores depending on the set.
- Bloodangel and Silver Heart should obviously not have the same Gear Score because their power and bonuses are significantly different.
- Gear Score should increase based on the number of sockets.
- Seed level should also matter.
- For example, 5x Level 6 Seeds should score considerably higher than empty sockets or low-level Seeds.
- Gear Score could depend on the level required to equip it.
- The number of Errtels could contribute to the score.
- Errtel rank could also increase the score.
- A relatively simple fixed Gear Score could work.
- Excellent and non-Excellent versions could have different values.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- Fixed Gear Score depending on the type, for example Rage vs Ancient.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- Red Fenrir should have a lower score.
- Black and Blue Fenrir could have higher fixed score
- Gear Score could scale with its level.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- T1-T3 could each have a fixed Gear Score.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- Additional options could potentially add a small amount.
- T4 Wings could scale depending on the number and strength of their options.
- Hunt Level should absolutely contribute to Gear Score.
- There is a huge difference between Hunt Level 50 and Hunt Level 150, and it currently isn't reflected by an RR restriction.
New Players Need a Chance to Catch Up
I don't think the goal should be to prevent veteran players from being strong.
Players who have invested months into their characters should absolutely be stronger than brand-new players.
The problem is when the difference becomes so large that new players cannot even farm the content required to catch up.
