Developer and elite skilled player feedback needed!

[Reggin]

I'm a huge fan of STS and support them with hundreds of dollars (soon to be thousands),but there is one thing I would love to see in the future.

STS has touched on making truly difficult bosses that require team coordination and multiple phases,but at the end of the day there has never been a fight that is actually difficult.

I'm not sure if it is the relatively simplistic nature of the games,but I would love to see a real challenge with an appropriate reward.

Granted,there isn't a way for real time communication,but there really should be a way for you guys to make a real challenge.

As it stands, with all new content people are farming the final boss with ease the day it comes out. In hardcore mmos,it can take weeks for top guilds to down the newest raid bosses. Unskilled players sometimes can't ever down them.

The issue is that in the long run,people are going to get bored with the same repetitive grinding endless times for rare chances at the best loot.

It would be great to see a campaign with really elite bosses that provide an automatic drop of some sort of token. The token should be allowed to be turned in for truly powerful gear that cannot be traded or sold.

Make the bosses very difficult and disallow the use of enhancers for the campaign. Since most recent PL zones have been free,make this a premium zone that costs plat,as hardcore players would gladly spend it on a challenging and fun campaign that rewards skill instead of endless grind time.

Maybe the first boss gets killed in a day or two,but I think the ultimate boss should not be downed for at least a week,and even then only by top players. He should last a month before most people figure out how to kill him.

Thoughts?

[Ellyidol]

You don't need to be an elite player or a dev to really have a say in this, it'll affect everyone :p

I completely agree with you, but throughout my PL life of a year and so, I have grown to accept that STS really aims for their games to cater to a niche gaming segment, mainly the casual players. There is definitely a hardcore aspect to PL though, but in order to fully cater to the casual/pick-up play market, they can only stretch the hardcore play enough that the casual players can still attain it overtime.

Personally, as a gamer, I would prefer too much to achieve, that way, I'll always have something to do. That's just me though, and I understand if other players are turned off by "too hardcore/elite".

Fingers crossed that DL becomes a true hardcore game for STS.

[MoarPewPew]

Pocket Legends was designed to be a casual MMO. I would want hardcore raids that took a long time to complete but I do not see this happening for a while.

[Roc]

Perhaps once the computer gaming market opens up, then there will be a new strategy in place that could lead to some of these changes. However, as the saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," so as long as revenue is being made, the incentive to appeal to hardcore farmers over the many casual players becomes minimal. Which is not to say STS doesn't care about loyal, long-time players! I just think that for now and in the foreseeable future (darn I wish I could see into the future haha) gameplay will likely remain similar to the past.

[wvhills]

I'm a huge fan of STS and support them with hundreds of dollars (soon to be thousands),but there is one thing I would love to see in the future.

STS has touched on making truly difficult bosses that require team coordination and multiple phases,but at the end of the day there has never been a fight that is actually difficult.

I'm not sure if it is the relatively simplistic nature of the games,but I would love to see a real challenge with an appropriate reward.

Granted,there isn't a way for real time communication,but there really should be a way for you guys to make a real challenge.

As it stands, with all new content people are farming the final boss with ease the day it comes out. In hardcore mmos,it can take weeks for top guilds to down the newest raid bosses. Unskilled players sometimes can't ever down them.

The issue is that in the long run,people are going to get bored with the same repetitive grinding endless times for rare chances at the best loot.

It would be great to see a campaign with really elite bosses that provide an automatic drop of some sort of token. The token should be allowed to be turned in for truly powerful gear that cannot be traded or sold.

Make the bosses very difficult and disallow the use of enhancers for the campaign. Since most recent PL zones have been free,make this a premium zone that costs plat,as hardcore players would gladly spend it on a challenging and fun campaign that rewards skill instead of endless grind time.

Maybe the first boss gets killed in a day or two,but I think the ultimate boss should not be downed for at least a week,and even then only by top players. He should last a month before most people figure out how to kill him.

Thoughts?

Try doing Nuri and mt fang bosses with a non elixired group. I think you'll find they're pretty tough. Also, the AO3 bosses are tough and require team coordination if your group is 45-50 (the intended level range for the campaign) and non-elixired.

[Reggin]

Nuri and Mount Fang aren't really hard... No need for elixirs, that's for sure. My gripe is that everything is a very simple tank and spank fight.

For charmer, you have the "oh so difficult" task of hiding behind a pillar at the right time.

To be honest, STS has made some major strides with this in SL, like how newest boss has adds that need to be killed and director bot had emote platforms.

However, they are still extremely basic and ultimately very easy. I mean, if it takes three months to make content, why should all of that content be mastered within a day?

I'm not saying to just keep increasing damage and health, but to require actual team mechanics that require skill.

For example, a twin style boss that requires both twins to die within 10 seconds of each other, or a boss that can only be damaged by mega combos, etc.

The mechanics of SL are more appropriate for this sort of thing with the crowd control abilities, but you get my point... It can still be achieved by casuals (i work 50 hour weeks, have a 4 month old, and am 30), but it should require skill and strategy instead of mindless grinding.

All MMOs have mindless grinding, but it's usually just to level and gear up for real challenges that reward you for learning advanced tactics and skills.

I'm not saying to ignore the casuals, as I'm one of them. However, appealing to skilled players to retain them (since people like me who repeatedly spend hundreds while not constantly hogging server bandwith) who have the means and willingness to continue to support STS financially is a good idea.

Hate to say it, but if another company were to put out a quality product with this type of challenging end game content, I would probably have to switch where my entertainment funds are spent... And I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way (in fact, I bet most adult gamers do).

[Ellyidol]

I agree, Fang doesn't seem to be that challenging. Nuri maps had more threats in them. On a side note, do these concepts happen to be from WoW? :) I've experienced a few, such as killing them consecutively, and numerous other mechanics.

Either way, I think I do get what you mean though. It doesn't have to be an increase in difficulty, but added sophistication and mechanics to the boss fights. I think it's a good idea. Personally, a more engaging boss encounter adds more enjoyment for me - even if we wipe.

I think that twin-headed thing is actually really good, and could be a first step towards more complicated boss mechanics here. Doesn't seem that hard to grasp that you need to kill both heads within a certain time-frame, but it would require quite a bit of teamwork to do so.

[Reggin]

Elly,

Exactly! It's been done in most mmos, but was mainly just an example. I really just want some content that requires thought and teamwork skills to master, as opposed to just content that requires grinding.

I'm a casual player from a standpoint of only playing for small amounts of time, but I want the opportunity to compete with kids who have endless time to devote to farming.

Content that requires skill and strategy with guaranteed top loot would allow skilled casual players to compete with those who simply have no real life responsibilities and can spend hours and hours a day playing.

I refuse to rip people off or manipulate the markets, so the current format makes it impossible for me to obtain gear in most cases.

Maybe I'm off base, but I think most people (hardcore or casual) would agree with the idea that skill should be valued more than luck. Vanities are great for a pure luck item, but end game gear should be more focused on a persons ability than willingness to spend crazy amounts of time with repetitive easy tasks...

[Samhayne]

Please keep the discussion to one thread and do not make multiple threads on the same topic.

Discussion here: http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?42590-Would-love-developer-and-elite-player-thoughts...

Thread closed.