I understand balancing issues, I've played a lot of games in their early stages, but this one is way off the mark, this is probably the worst update I've ever experienced in any MMO game. They literally destroyed their own game in a single update and the game hasn't even been launched in iOS. Prior to this update, the people who played limited release were giving their feedback asking for higher gold drop rate or cheaper pots to make the game more enjoyable (I THOUGHT that group of people in limted release were supposed to give STS the feedback????)...and STS implemented the exact opposite, what's up with that? To top it off, they nerfed armor ratings. I agree, the armor rating is not so bad if you have pots...because if you don't have pots then you'll have to run back like a scared chicken so many times just to regain hp/mp which is very frustrating not only to you but to your teammates as well.
In fact, prior to this update, their whole mechanic in combat can be a source of griefing already because anyone can simply AFK their toon and let someone do all the work, so many trolls out there, they will certainly enjoy this mechanic. Also, after this update, the blaming game is more prevalent. Now that pots are more expensive and everyone's a lot softer, there's higher frustration on people not participating properly, so expect phrases like "You suck, because of you, I burned xxx amount of pots"... people will be less forgiving of other people's mistakes...you think PL/SL/DL had a rude community? You ain't seen nothing yet, wait for AL, the gameplay mechanic will bring the worst out of people.
Another problem, now that everyone's a lot softer, we'll have less room for error...right? That's cool, it's a challenge...but what if you're in a middle of a mob then suddenly someone joins you and instantly increase the mobs' difficulty and those same mobs either instakills you because you're soft as a pillow, or you're forced to use pots (that you spent 70% of your gold in)...so now, you're pissed at this guy who just joined you who has no idea that you were in a middle of a mob (but you're still pissed at him regardless)...is that what the game wants? People don't want people to join their game? I personally don't want people joining my game now especially if I'm in a middle of a mob, I'm crossing my fingers nobody joins my game. If this will not be fixed, it'll be a matter of time before people start calling this Griefing Legends. This looks to me as another way to promote platinum elixirs, the solution to everything.
PS: If PL had "Rambo" mage, AL have "Angsty" warrior. Warriors (or anyone for that matter) are hesitant to engage mobs to avoid aggro because their confidence level went down by over 9000 points because of the nerf in armor plus they have to burn pots (or die) which will require their entire wealth...so...yeah...good luck to AL...I really want to like AL, before this update I was still unsure if I like AL and I was in the process of digesting what the game has to offer...but such an anti climatic update...if STS will not drastically change this or better yet just recall the update...then I'll pass up on AL and just wait for another STS game (Hopefully something like League of Legends).
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