A year in the game..

[Fightbeast]

Its been a year and a few of months since i joined this game. Back then looking at others play and learning new stuffs was actually quite fun, plus the maps were fun to do and i was enthusiastic about going into the game. Made a lot of friends and actually liked the interactions happening in the AL community.
But over time I noticed a lot of good stuffs happening in the game along with loads and loads of bad updates too. Let me just highlight a few of them which personally caught my attention :

1. First major awesome update I saw was the introduction of para gems into the game. I was quite new when the Halloween event started but still managed to get one gem. They were game changing gems and everyone worked towards getting one or a few of them. For those who didnt get them, they hoped next year they ll get another chance to earn one. But we saw how well that went. A gem that sought to bring balance into the game brought a major imbalance to the game. Ironic if you ask me.

2. Next came the planar tombs and arena. Personally it was a major fun farming place for me. Though hard it was one of the main maps that allowed me to become a better class. Making gold became easier with the introduction of the tombs. But here again came the presence of an item called the planar pendant recipe, farmable at the planar arena which was elusive to most of the AL community who actually spent hours farming that recipe with no result. What was funny here was that most of the time the actual hard-core farmers didnt get one recipe, while people running the arena for the first time received a recipe on their first run. We were notified on the "LUCK" part of the the drops. But i feel a person should get lucky at least 1 time out of a 1000 runs no matter how bad their luck is. Today we reach a "balanced" era where recipes drop ever so frequently.

3. Next came the winter event along with the eyes. Though the community were apprehensive about the gem, sts made sure it was worth it and made it a very good and efficient gem which came as a major help in pvp arena. People again hoped it would come back but one starts to get the feeling after a few disappointments that relying on STS to bring back balance to the game is "Hoping" for a bit too much.

4. Back then events came with a special vanity as prize which fetched good price and made it worth it for lb runners to run the event. But now one still remains unsure whether or not to run it. The elon event of 2014 also helped bring one of the most OP pets of the game SNS into the arena. Pets have a limited life span after which they can be replaced by a new better pet. A year and a half has gone by and SNS is still one the most OP PvE pets. One starts to get doubts about the "Balance" part of the game.

5. Lets move on to 2015. We started off with gauntlet, which initially had its charm but lost its value when it was run more then frequently in a single year without much rewards. Also a bug allows people not running the event to get the banner for free. STS is very generous. Same goes for a few titles. Some people spemd loads of gold to earn a title, others can just rely on a bug to give them one.

6. Valentines event and Egg events were one of the best of the year. Everyone worked towards their goals and also got the chance to make gold. Looked like STS was heading back to its old days of fun and communications.

7. A lot of hype and mentions of the expansion came up. Everyone got excited about what it was and what new changes the expansion was going to bring. Fingers crossed. Before the expansion came, the goblin event and the elon event came up. Quite exciting with the new portals granting special entry to bonus boss. Though people were disappointed over SNS not returning. We were instead rewarded with COC vanities. So much better. YAY!!

8. Expansion has arrived by now. But wait, there are only 3 maps?! after all that hype we get three maps? okay cool. maybe more will be added later. Lets check the new gears. But wait we arent notified about a few important parts of the gears like the requirement of the legendary gear to be completed before getting to the myth quest. Plus the elusive inisgnias. But no worries maybe the myth set is worth it. *in comes the myth set*. WOW! i mean its great but i think i ll stick to my old arcane ring and old planar pendant though i still have to work for the parts of the set i dont need. Adding to it the again another elusive ingredient the orc fangs. It will take a few months at least to complete it.

9. Gems were removed and it was actually hoped that the jewels would be good. Was impressed by the looks during the expansion teasers. But man, was i expecting too much? The jewel drop rates were like so good i wouldnt have to spend years to get jewels for my whole set. Well at least that ensures i will be playing the game for a while. Plus the jewels still dont compare to the gems. Especially the para and eye gems. Great!

10. Entry of Halloween event and birthday event. Wait why are the events still a vanity event? cant we get anything else other then a vanity? maybe the para gem which everyone was waiting for?

11. SNS too returns to the games. Maybe one of the best balance updates of the year. Also giving the plat buyers an incentive to open locks. After the expansion most plat buyers lost the will to use plat because over time it was not worth it. So they try opening a few massives hoping for SNS. But disappointment follows. Ok no worries better luck next time

12. Did i mention about class balance in the game? I mean if it is balance one is looking for then all classes should be equal in some way in competitive strength. Hmm....but it looks like STS plays favoritism. Rouges become the best class and warriors are neglected while mages are treated as a joke. Balance sure feels nice doesnt it?! All updates made to make other classes better are just minor and doesnt make a difference over the omnipotent rouges. I originally started out as a warrior, and the lower maps were quite good with them. Maybe it was after kraken expansion that sts decided warriors dont need any more update and ignored them from there on.

13. We come over to the Winter event, which SURPRISE!! is another vanity event. And also having a title as a prize to "LUCKY" people. Now thats hilarious. Well we ll see how this event goes



People may feel I am ranting here and this post might even be deleted. Wont be surprised there. But the thing is i pointed everything out so that STS looks at what made them better and what made them lose trust of the community from what i have seen in a year of this game. I have always asked my friends to join this game. Now I am not sure i want to. STS has built a wonderful game with one of the best communities. Fixing a few problems can go a long way to making the game better. Thats what i think.
Otherwise a merry Christmas and Happy New Year in advance to STS and the community. Enjoy

[Zylx]

Nothing was better than Arcane Legends 2013. That, imo was the best time in the game.

[Dex Scene]

Very nicely said.
I love the way you have mentioned what we liked and hoped and what went wrong.
There will be people who won't like this thread but nvm them.
You hit the right point.

I love AL so much.
No other mmorpg can replace it.
The small size of the game, the simplicity, the social aspect, joining friends/ random people anywhere anytime everything is just so perfect. We love the game and that's why we care to voice oponion when we feel like some charm of the game is fading away.

Buff the warriors please. Not in pvp but in pve. Focus on them to make warriors wanted in pve parties.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

[Promagespvp]

Idk..
+6272627267227?
Xd.

[mesalin]

Haha nice! I created my first character in 26 December 2014xD
6th Jan 2015 i started playing active ^_^

[Darkrai]

agree 100%, 2013 was a great time screaming PORTAL FOUND all over the guild chat brought the guild close together in my opnion running for portals everyday with no enegry cause you could buy like special tokens (for plat) to enter a special portal in the town itself but that wasnt not so fun as making a party and looking for portals together with friends and guildies now you have to wait atleast 8 hours for 1 free enegryor you farm enegry but that isnt the point. i just miss the good old days ( here some photos for the people who dont know how the old winter event was )


after defeating a boss there was a chance for a portal to spawn with 3 little yeti's and was free to enter


this was the town back then in 2013 where you could buy other things then vanitys like special winter weapons etc ( way in the back you can see the speical portal that was used for plat spenders or one free entry each day )


the first boss of the event totaly rekt me cause i am nab haha ( this was in the payed portal you can see that cause the sky is diffrent you will see the diffrence on the next photo )


second boss the wolf still killed me a few times but glad some good people wanted to help a nab like me we were completing aps for me like elite forest etc ( notice how the sky here is diffrent cause this was a free portal that spawn all over arlor in elite you had a greater chance to get a portal)

the memories missing that time everyday

hope this helped giving you guys a idea how the event was back then

[Otahaanak]

Nicely said OP.

My thought for a while now, is they are dealing with an original code base that somehow doesn't scale as the community grew. One example: during the Tindrin release (the deepening of the Warrior divide) all mob clusters were leashed, killing large pulls, because too much lag resulted from how things had been.

My hope is that this entire expansion has been designed to bring and, more importantly RETAIN a ton of new players to the game. Based on what I see at end game in km3, it seems to have worked. The events are not much different

Those new players would quit if arcane prices return to the day I paid 27 million for Samael. So, everything, (economy, gear, pets, events) changed from the obvious pay to win scheme, to something a bit more realistic for someone willing to spend a bit of plat.

The obvious pain point, as you point out, is the long tem player base. Most, I suspect, who played Tarlok 2013 and 2014, were very disappointed with this version in its original form (at least energy crafting wss addressed after release, but not much else that I'm aware of).

Let's hope that with the 51 cap, that STS will continue to learn, listen to the community, and a better balance between new and old can be found.


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[wowdah]

Nothing was better than Arcane Legends 2013. That, imo was the best time in the game.

I would say November 2012 was the best time by far. 2013 was good but definitely no where near as good as late 2012 (no locks = AWESOME). However, definitely 2013 was way better than now. Probably because it was a novel game for me, so everything seemed really awesome. Effect wears down after a while.

[Kershy]

+100k lol agreed on everything

[Fightbeast]

Nothing was better than Arcane Legends 2013. That, imo was the best time in the game.

I even hear of the great Tarlok Event of 2013. An event that increases friendship and co-operation among players is just what we need. Not events where we are forced to take different classes in pt. It should be voluntary. Would be great if STS just helps pull back the game to as it was in the past.
Farming was the best way to get gold and fun earlier. And number of players kept on increasing. Today what has increased is just forum threads.

[Hoardseeker]

Nothing was better than Arcane Legends 2013. That, imo was the best time in the game.

Lol yeah! I still got Rage gem recipe in my inventory, Useless now . The energy System Killed 90% Enjoyment of the event .

[konafez]

GG fight bro

[barristen]

I even hear of the great Tarlok Event of 2013. An event that increases friendship and co-operation among players is just what we need. Not events where we are forced to take different classes in pt. It should be voluntary. Would be great if STS just helps pull back the game to as it was in the past.
Farming was the best way to get gold and fun earlier. And number of players kept on increasing. Today what has increased is just forum threads.

kalizaa tour of Arlor contest gave us an excellent template for another such event

[Fightbeast]

Personal opinion, Kalizaa's event was the best event I actually played. Maybe I got to know most of my guildies and friends through that event itself. Even sts showed their support for the event.