Complaints about STS and my solutions.

[noobmigo]

Recently, there has been a decline of customer happiness. At least on the forums.
While we forumers are just a small part of the community, most of us have spent the most platinum.
I feel our complaints are [usually] perfectly justifiable, and nails the coffin shut for STS...kinda.

Anyway....
Listed in order of priority (for me at least )
COMPLAINT #1: STS lack of creativity following Balefort Sewers.
Explanation (With a creativity review of all campaigns):
STS is now basically repainting backgrounds and mobs, with a few tweaks. Here's a creativity review.

Forest Haven/DF/Fathom/Balefort - All the same, because STS was just a budding company.
Lost Expedition - I think this was beginning of the top of the mountain for STS. Great campaign, TOTALLY different mobs, (Yetis), but the whiteness did hurt my eyes. But hey, this was a snowy campaign.
Ancient Swamps - This was the best campaign STS has churned out besides AO3, before Swamps got nerfed. Same thing as before: totally different mobs (Crocs) and an environment that enhanced teamplay.
AO1 - A so-so campaign, but it did offer newer mobs and campaigns.
AO2 - Great for the development and population of PL, bad for the more hardcore players enjoyment. (Mynas)
AO3 - I'm sure you've heard about it. The best campaign STS has ever released, and at this creativity rate, the best campaigns STS WILL ever release. It had challenging mobs, that dropped plenty of liquidate-able trash greens that built up after a while. Best of all, it capped off with plenty of challenging bosses that required STRATEGY, FINALLY, instead of just hack n' slash away.
Balefort Sewers - A campaign that was a little bit above-average. Inclusion of fire grates and those challenging spiking birds made it a campaign that worked your timing. I liked how the oranges/greens were almost equivalent to the pinks.
Nuri's Hallows - This was the start of the foreseeable (creativity-wise) end. The mobs were repainted. The gameplay wasn't so bad, imo though. The mobs were just challenging enough that we didn't have to be lazy.
Mount Fang - The current campaign. From what I've heard, it's basically a hard repaint of Balefort Castle, with better mobs and different bosses.

The STS side argument - So far, all I've heard from the people who support STS through thick n' thin is that the main spine is free, and at least the campaigns were released relatively fast...

My solution - Honestly, I can't think of anything to "solve" anybody's lack of creativity, I don't think you CAN solve a lack of creativity. Only thing I can think of is something that's been suggested before -- to have the forumers suggest ideas for the next campaign, and work with the players. That'd be something to do rather than wait around at elite cap, so it would satisfy players of the lack of new material. It'd also increase population of forums community.

Complaint #2: STS is now all about platinum
Explanation

• The new platinum vendors. "Harvey the Hat Maker" "Vincent the Vendor" "Tori the Teller" They're advertisements.
• The Elite Caps combined with the elixirs. From what I hear, an average player uses about 300 - 500 Platinum getting to the elite cap. That's a bit too much.
• Reduced Recipe drop rate combined with buyable recipes. I've seen posts asking whether recipes drop or not. Apparently in MF, the drop rate is so low. Buying recipes with platinum is a viable option once again...

Pro - STS argument - All I ever hear, ever is that STS is a business. They have to make profit, to feed themselves. Also, "Platinum is optional." True. But...

My argument towards this is that yeah, of course, STS is a business. But let's be brutally honest: it doesn't have the best graphics. I mean, if we were basing on graphics, I would DEFINITELY go buy O&C. It doesn't have the greatest gameplay experience. If we're basing on gameplay, I'd go buy O&C as well. But no, I play PL because it was a game that WAS cheap to play. I play PL because the devs USED to interact with EVERYONE. I played PL because the devs USED to come up with wonderful campaigns for a relatively cheap price. Most of all, I play PL because friends play PL. If my buds quit, I'd definitely walk out, too. This is my challenge to STS: Can you make this a game that doesn't hinge on the fact that my friends play PL?

Also, platinum isn't...really optional.
If you want to do winter festival runs, it's 2 plat per run. Sure, yeah, WF is optional too.
If you want to get to 66 without your eyes falling out, you gotta buy at least 100 plat.

My Solution - I would definitely tweak the UI a little bit, perhaps MOVE THE GOLD ELIXIRS TO THE TOP. It's been a long time at the bottom for the gold elixirs and the horrid flick to move scroll seems like it's purposely there to make it inconvenient for you to reach the gold elixirs at the bottom. I would also perhaps increase the recipe drop rates, and release a 3X elixir...FOR GOLD. OK, I can hear the gasps. But, PL also needs a better gold sink, and perhaps 50 - 200K 3x/4x Elixir would do the trick. It wouldn't take away too much from the profits of STS, and perhaps a gold elixir is just what STS needs. It'd definitely, imo, take away the argument that STS is MAKING us buy platinum from elixirs. Plus, we get gold elixirs that you don't have to grind forever to get elite cap.

Ya so that's all the complaints that I relate with too. Heh. Not as many as expected.