Quote Originally Posted by Abuze View Post
Back to topic.
It is indeed unfortunate that people could just buy XP to reach level 76 by only having to reach for their wallets.
Before plat users would gain the upper hand by buying XP elixers, this stayed in balance because those who didn't spend plat could buy these XP elixers through trade or auction as well, or even grind these theirselves, example elite runner chest.

The last couple expans closed the gap between P2W and F2W a little due to events and the grinding of maps like Mausoleum, ESG, Deep Marsh, etc.

It might be too early to say this but, at the very start of this expansion this gap has already been spread out even more than before, even worse than the old days when arc ring was over 99m and mind you this was when it took several days to acquire even a little over 1m.

Other than that, most people prefer farming experience outside of the new content maps due to other maps being more rewarding in terms of XP and others well they just do daily XP and done

In short the new content maps don't seem too rewarding. STS has to keep one thing in mind, if they keep dropping arcanes randomly in locks this will demotivate players from grinding for gear that drops within the new maps, especially with the release of gold loot, most players rather have a stable source of income than grind 10x the time to loot something that will be easily replaced by an item from within a locked chest.

Most expansions have had their flaws but not only their flaws!
Mausoleum for example brought some interesting mob mechanics to the board. Most of the content brought farmable items but what is the worth of these farmable items if they are easily replaced by an item released 2/3 months later in a locked chest?
Let players grind for these items but let them bear the fruits of their hardwork for a longer time. Give us stuff like rentail arcane ring back, planar pendant, imbued gear and make us pay for these in sweat.

This won't make it so there won't be any income for STS again, but it's the way that you guys release things. Instead of letting the rich spam click that 5k XP with plat, give them the option to buy an even more expensive elixer similar to the 7 day that stacks with the others, or even include a permanent XP bonus to plat purchases similar to the one we already have, just increase the cost.
You guys could've dropped a locked chest containing a pet with XP related buffs in it, for example in their AA.

Nobody is asking to completely get rid of the pay to win aspect, it is more than understandable that the company needs to strive as well.
But the feedback from customer seems to be shut down immediately. Especially if players don't like the content, criticism is part of the job, nothing is going to be all rainbows and sunshine.
The community can be really helpful when thinking of new game mechanics, we can give you ideas and then it's your job to put these in motion.

Another suggestion I'd like to bring back is dev streams, these should be necessity for new content. Not only does this help the community with their questions but it also helps you guys notice and hopefully solve bugs that might've been overseen during testing. Because lets be honest, a lot of the past bugs would've been fairly obvious if devs just played the game with the community.
And this is what I mean, all the time posts like these pop up on forum, telling the truth and making excellent suggestions good both for sts and the players. I dont know if devs are just not reading the forums or are too naif to think about implementing them. So far Im more than disappointed from this expansion, hundreds and I mean hundreds of good suggestions have been made months, months before this expansion dropped.
I hope STS reads Abuzes post and thinks about it. I mean no offense to the StS team, but every other gaming company I know whose game is alive since 7 years, does it way better.

This is a wonderful post Abuze, nothing to add here anymore tbh.