Planet Arkadia Update 2015.5.1 Patch Notes

3. stage is a hunting mission - big mobs, dont know the details, but right now the TT of the outfit does not match with the 1K ped value you will pay for it. Some suggest that those peds are actually investment into smuggler armor (will have the TT value for all materials invested) that will be part of the reward later in chain mission...but nobody can tell for sure....we will see :X

 

Complaining about the clothes being untradeable is missing the point spectacularly. That is not the major problem here. The problem is that buying items directly from the game/MA in this way is hugely damaging to the economy because every single time it happens it's one less trade that would have otherwise been between two players. The result is that the market weakens and markup drops. If it continues then everything will end up as TT food and the economy dies. If the economy dies, the game dies.

Some of us spoke up about this when Viceroy - the first example of this tactic - first appeared. Our arguments were dismissed and we were told that if the armour didn't prove popular, they wouldn't continue to do things that way. This, again, spectacularly misses the point. Something being popular does not necessarily mean that it's good for the game. Something having high take-up does not necessarily mean that it's popular.

Example - strongboxes. I hate the idea of strongboxes with a passion, for the reasons I've outlined above. But I bought a bunch of them myself. Why? Because I had to. If I hadn't bought enough to get myself at least a couple of (L) rings, I would have gone from being one of the highest dpp players in the game to one of the lowest, almost overnight. My years of effort in skilling, learning the game, and improving my equipment would have been wiped out. I know a lot of people in exactly the same position. They all hate strongboxes, but they all bought them, because they felt they had to in order to remain competitive.

If that's not enough of an example, imagine what would happen if mod faps were suddenly made available from the TT. Would that be popular? Among people unable to see the bigger picture, I'm sure it would be. Would there be a high take-up? Of course. No-one in their right mind would continue playing without buying a mod fap. But it would also destroy the game completely, and if you can't see why, you're blind.

OK, so mod faps in the TT is not - or I seriously hope it's not - realistically going to happen, but that's not important, so don't give me any crap about how I'm taking things to the extreme and being ridiculous. It's an illustration of the principle that high take-up does not equal popularity and is not necessarily good for the game, so don't ever try to tell me that it is.

We can not continue to take EU in this direction, or it will die.

 

@Oleg: I do wholeheartedly agree about the economy, however I don't think we missed any points about bound items. Even if it may not seem important to you, it may be important for others.
Also, in all you post... nothing about the Explosive BPs?? .. just teasing you.

 

I'm not keen on bound items, and I agree that we shouldn't be going in that direction either (though I think there are some exceptions, such as new player quest rewards, that should be bound to avoid multi-avatar farming), but I don't believe it's anywhere near as damaging as the shift in buying behaviour.

 

Just for peoples' info, the next stage after the clothes is to go and complete 4 specific stage 6 missions in Underground. Reward detail is not very specific. So go and kill a lot of mobs which already give mission rewards and then come and talk to the smuggler who will give you access to... something

 

Thanks for the info KJ. So that means for someone who's not close to completing those missions already, there's not really any point (other than getting the clothes) in rushing into that stage of the mission right now, am I right? Though they might want to start focussing more heavily on those AU missions now with a view to progressing the smuggler chain in the future.

If that's the case then I can at least be assured that I'm not missing out, mission-wise, by not getting the clothes before I've found out more about the chain.

 

I get the worry about user bound items, especially ones like the clothing that have very little TT value to them. However, I think the argument that the viceroy/smuggler mission amounts to buying items directly from the PP is a bit off base and may actually be more related to different issue with the items.

Let's take armor for instance. Let's say you want to get a helmet form Kikki or whoever you prefer to deal with. They'd gather up the items from various people, then go to a terminal and go through enough attempts until the succeed. Now let's say you want to get the smuggler armor (if that's what the end goal of this quest is). You go and gather the arkoins from other players, and take them to the quest smuggler. Does this cut out a crafter? Sure, but is it straight up buying? No, since you still have to gather up the arkoins either yourself or buy them from other people who hunted for them. This takes out the direct buying relationship that people seem to be wary of.

Now in this instance (or with viceroy if you want to think of firm example) you are right that a crafter does get cut out of this process. However, do you use just one type of armor? I may not be much of a hunter, but my understanding is people generally keep a few types of armor/plates in order to optimize their protection. So sure, the smuggler mission/viceroy mission cuts down on the armor trade a bit, but it does not kill it. If they continue to do this, then sure, its something to worry about. But considering the pace at which MA/PPs update the game with new items....that is likely to take years.

I think the bigger worry shouldn't be the soul bound nature of these items, especially since the viceroy you can return for TT value anyways, but the fact that these items tend to be uL in nature. That's what really causes crafters/looters to be taken out of the loot loop permanently. I mean, would people be worried as much if the end reward of this chain was a set of smuggler armor (L)? I'd be curious.

Just my two cents

Ninja Edit: The above wouldn't apply to strongboxes, as I'd have to agree with you there Oleg. That is just straight-up buying from MA and is kind of in poor taste.

 

Yeah Oleg, if you are in a wait and see frame of mind then holding off and instead grinding the UG mobs is a good strategy and won't disadvantage you at all.

I guess my main take away from the mission details and costs as I understand them is to contrast it with the IFN mission chain. I find the IFN chain a bit annoying. Many many days of tiny mobs. And I personally can't set aside the time to do it each day. But anyone can do it regardless of level. The Smuggler chain is clearly for higher level players with that 1k ped effective buy in plus kill point requirements on non puny mobs. So it's not for everyone. But it's going to suit my game play style. So I am pretty happy with what I can see so far and what I guess is coming.

I can appreciate peoples concerns about soul bound items but my view is that sometimes its appropriate. I'm not going to try to convince people of that. Your views are valid positions and my only real dispute is in the perception of how prevalent soul bound items are and whether they will be in sufficient numbers to have significant impact on the rce. And really who knows what the future holds?

 

What I am curious to is.... well putting the whole RCE aside,,, the economy and whatnot dont many also see a big reason why theese are soul bound? Well when wearing them at least other players will know you are infact a smuggler... I am sure the devs dont want any joe schmo player to aquire theese any other way. by7 buying off another etc Its kindof like a status symbol that you have chosen the dark side..... Now Do most like soul bound items... No of course not and like I said besides everyone objections cause of economic issues this also has to be a point to be brought up as well...

 

Would you still be happy if, hypothetically, you found out that your reward for completing the AU grind missions was to be given the opportunity to buy your way into the next stage by handing over, say another 2k PED of Arkoins?

The thing is that the way things have been going recently, I suspect that's what it will turn out to be.

 

Personally I would be reasonably happy to see arkoins acquire some MU since I have around 15kTT in storage for one reason or another.

When I find out the actual details I will evaluate the value proposition and act on that basis. Right now I am being asked to do missions that I would have done anyway but I now I have incentive to prioritise them. Addtionally, I expect a positive impact on my AUD returns.

Really there are two levels to this situation. Everyone can decide if the missions and potential rewards are good for them personally and then make a decision to participate or not. No one should be stressed by that. Evaluate, make a choice, act. The murky part is the big picture in terms of the RCE nature of this game. I would agree that too much soul bound items, too much paying MA or PP directly is a bad thing. But how much is too much? And will it reach that point?

 

It's already enough to have damaged or destroyed the market value of a number of items, and I would argue that that makes it already too much.

 

It is not taken away, it was made the only way for this particular item. And if I remember correctly, it was not so from the beginning, but added after much complaining that you could give it back at all. So the current way is a patch which checks out for both sides in the end to the extent that we can live with it. You are free to take Gremlin instead if you don't like it. Nobody is forced or deprived of choice.

Heck, every time I read such a thing... One odd item permitted to exist does not mean everything should turn that way. Where is the bus with the demonstrators, from where do you get that "so many" people would want that?

Then go play EVE or whatever.

I have. I regret the $10 spent on strongboxes just one time, now sitting on things I can't trade even back to TT. I don't buy starter packs, but many do each for their own reasons, usually just one or few items not available elsewhere. What MA doesn't want is the contents of these packs flooding the market for less than the original creating a disincentive to buy directly. How smart this was in the first place is discussed to death on PCF. Do you have any bad examples which belong under this topic here?

I need to deposit more caffeine into my rl avi.

 

So without buying these clothes I can't progress in the Smugglers' chain? Because I have no use for them and wouldn't buy even for 5 ped. They look cool, but it's mass production, as long as there are 2 similar sets of clothes in the world, the value of both is zero

 

People should not be upset about arkoins being used to buy items. That is their entire purpose. Instead of getting a bunch of useless junk and low end items in aakas, you get arkoins. Arkoins are easier to split up when teaming and then later used to buy things. This was their exact stated purpose when aakas was launched.


Being upset about the TT difference is a good point but its mostly moot since you cant TT them anyways and putting in a npc to buy back every ark bound item is madness. Start hitting on MA to end this bound but not ttable item shit.

 

Yes, you can lying on the couch and enjoy your virtual clothes :biggrin2:

 

If it leads to some good armor or weapon etc mby its worth it but for now will have to wait and see , i like how they look still 1k is a bit much to pay

 

I think I'm going to wait as well as more details are being brought to light; I'm obviously not a risk taker so kudos to anyone that is willing to be the "pioneer" in this! It may very well turn out to be worth going over to Dark Side, but truth to be told we don't even know what's the end game for the IFN side either.

Also, I just wanted to clarify something: NOBODY is saying that it's the end of EU as we know it because one set of clothes and one set of armor are Bound Items. In some instances, I think it's a good idea (i.e. farming); however, if it becomes a standard... that's when we might start seeing some issues.

 

Read: NOD vs GDI
NOD are Smugglers, GDI - IFN :biggrin2:

 

This is what it going to make me spend too much time in eu again arghhh.... but i want that set o.o