by Talizorah » Tue May 28, 2013 7:07 pm
After playing quite a number of raids in 1.6.1, and trying my hand at mercing, there is still a lot left to do in terms of balancing this game.
1. Mercs are a liability, not an asset. While this is not always true, only allowing a maximum of 10 mercs in any given raid is not quite right. It is even quoted on page 18, that merc caps were to be half the number of expected raiders, but this is not the case.
2. Mercing is dying. Raids either fill up too fast or guilds lock mercs out from joining. There needs to be more room and more bonuses for mercing. The reward for not having mercs, and the lesser rewards for having mercs is causing the competitive guilds where mercs thrived in 1.5 to close their boarders to keep their spots on the leaderboards. The penalty for having mercs needs to be removed an only keep the bonus for not having any mercs. This reward system was good in theory, but it is killing mercing.
3. Raid times for gold are still unreasonable for casual guilds, and in some cases, for guilds completing high level raids. For the middle tier guilds, where most are, our members may be near max, but participation in raids is generally saved for the few (about 20) members who make up the core of the guild. The rest join in when it is convenient, but are more interested in completing the storyline than doing raids. The times for gold in 1.5 were timed to be a bit of a challenge, but not unreasonable for the middle tier guilds. Now, the waves have been adjusted to accommodate more members, and the times have overly been adjusted. Keep the new wave numbers but restore the gold times from 1.5. Aonther possible solution would be to increase the raid rewards, expecting that causal guilds will generally be finishing bronze, without some heroics.
4. Ninja buffs to enemies. It seems every game I play, stunlock and stagger are GMs favorite tools to use against players. All the timer knockbacks that suddenly appeared in 1.6 & 1.6.1 were unexpected. It seems that no matter where a player goes, they are faced with multiple enemies that affect a players timer. I believe it has been added to too many enemies.
5. Portals. We all hate them, we all need them. I do question why the first energy a player spends getting into a portal is met with Level 3 or 4 portal mobs? I would think it maybe by chance they appear, but it has consistently been found across multiple toons, that the first mob we face is supposed to show up in a higher level. Also it seems that the player is "surprised" a lot more in general. Being surprised + all the timer knockback = being dealt over 4,000 damage before the player even has a chance to select their first move. This needs to be scaled back a bit, or the cooldown timers on health potions needs to be halved.
This is an incredibly fun game, but it is losing a bit of its fun aspect and is becoming quite a grind. Not only does it seem raids are considerably longer, with less time to complete for gold, but the enemies are appearing stronger, and the player seeming weaker. I know 1.6.1 was the beginning of preparing the game for PvP, but I believe more consideration needs to be taken to maximize the "fun" aspect for causal players that may never get to 10,000 might, or who only participate in their guilds "big raid" of the night. It is a fair trade off to allow those players who put 10+ hours into raiding every day an easier time at the game, by tailoring it to the casual player. The more fun it is for them, the longer they will play.