Well, where to start. Happy Birthday PL! Great to see the decorations and all the party hats. I'm sure many new players will be happy about the free dungeons and I'm glad for them; it was very generous to make them free and I'm certain people will appreciate it. Haven't had a chance to perform the new combos but I think they're an awesome idea as well.
That being said, there are two things in this update that I am not so thrilled about.
The first is the level requirement to enter dungeons. One my favorite things to do in PL ever since my main character reached the cap back in the days, is to take a low level character into a more difficult dungeon and see how well I can survive. In fact it's one of the few things left to do for fun at the endgame. I think many of the dungeons are much too easy every since the rebalance, but I won't complain about it because I understand that the game has to appeal to general audiences and new players. But for those of us who are hardcore or who have characters at the cap and are bored, it was fun to do things like try tanking AO2 on a level 25 bear (and yes it's quite doable), or get together a group of friends and farm swamps with a group of level 15s.
Now players who find the game too easy, or who want to try a high level dungeon for challenge, or are leveling their second alts, will be stuck with a single dungeon choice whether they like that dungeon or not. I don't think taking away this much freedom and forcing people on a fixed path adds to the game.
Also this system will break up new friendships as some players inevitably play more and will level faster than others. I remember when I was leveling my first character, I wasn't that hardcore about the game and the few friends I made were the main thing that kept me playing. I joined them in AO2 as soon as I unlocked it even though I was lower level than them. I wasn't trying to take the easy route and in fact I would also join friends in lower level dungeons and wouldn't even care if I wasn't getting XP - I just wanted to be with people I liked. It's already hard enough to form friendships in a casual game like this where typing can be difficult. This is going to make it even harder, separating fragile new friendships because players are a few levels apart and can't play together.
I know a lot of you forum people are happy that this will take power leveling away. But have you actually looked around at what people are playing since quests were introduced? There's A LOT less grinding and power leveling. Most people seem to play all campaigns because they want to finish their quests. But for those who wanted to take a different path there was always another option there.
Not everybody playing in a dungeon above their level is power leveling either. I've seen teams of level 30ish people do fine in AO2. Why not leave them that option if, much like me, they happen to like AO2 better than AO1 or swamps.
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Second thing I'm unhappy about: you guessed it, plat-only elixirs. First let me say I understand that developers have to make money and I fully support it. I just wish they would choose another way of doing it.
Elixirs were the only thing left in the game into which to sink game money, other than potions, and the only "luxury" on which players could spend their hard-earned money to have some fun, or speed up a grind they particularly disliked. Now there's truly nothing to do with in game money, and nothing to suck money out of the economy. I predict inflation, much like we had massive inflation in AO2 when most farming didn't require pots, and there was no massive leveling grind to buy xp pots for, or 6k elixirs to waste money on.
People don't just use elixirs to "cheat" or take shortcuts. It's a strategic choice that the game used to give you - choosing to pot to do a certain kind of farming run (and judging whether it's worth it based on the price of the item), or selecting one party member to pot a certain pot for a specific reason.
Also, it's just fun to use elixirs sometimes - to have a full party pot double damage and blast through things, or to pot speed and feel like you're skating through a dungeon. In my groups it's become a tradition for some of us to pot trash for our last run. It just feels like a little party, spending all that in-game gold (drawing remarks like "wow, rich haha!!!") and then blasting through the dungeon and the boss, doing celebrate emotes all the way. Now I can't imagine it ever happening, and if it does it will just draw an awkward silence (what are we going to say, "wow you're clearly rich in real life"??). It used to be a mark of achievement and effort to have enough gold to be able to pot. Now being successful in the game suddenly means less, and we are reminded that what really matters is how much money one has in real life. Bad news for those who used the game as an escape for reality, and a place where they could be rich and successful and forget about their real life status and finances.
I'm sorry post such negative thoughts on the PL anniversary, but I've always been honest with my feedback. I hope I managed to convey my reasons well instead of just ranting. I apologize for the very long post it took to do so.
Originally Posted by noobmigo
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