Why is base building so discouraging?
By
AimlessWanderer,
Posted on: 2005-11-23 23:30 in Base Construction
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and now we have 998 rent due on our entrance portal. Anyone know how to erase your base?
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You dont have to pay the rent, if you dont pay, only items that do something stop working, like the teleporters, defenses, etc... You can still enter the base, build it, etc...
You could have the biggest base ever, massive secure plot at 140M filled up the wazoo with stuff and still dont pay the rent. your base would simply be totaly functionless.
"Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself." ~Midnight Flux's former boss.
There are usually two sides to every argument but no end.
Everything placed above this line is always IMHO, YMMV and quite certainly not to be taken too seriously....
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My friends and I were very discouraged when we saw how much we had vs. how much we needed to build even the smallest base, and now we have 998 rent due on our entrance portal. Anyone know how to erase your base?
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Just ignore the rent. It doesn't pile up, you can only be one month in arrears, and the only effect of being in arrears is that your functional items are disabled. Since you have no functional items, it doesn't matter.
Personally, I'd do away with rent, and instead have a "maintenance fee" on your functional items.
Actually, given the onerous costs...I'd do away with rent completely. It's just rubbing salt in the wounds.
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
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Which would be great except that for those of us in smaller SGs (you know, the kind formed by groups of RL friends that play together) that year will get us half a bell and no whistles. 
-RC
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Come on, my SG consists of about 5 people, we've already got a few bells, a couple whistles and are working on getting a marching band. Of course we aren't much for pvp, but I'm rather sure it's intended to be something where all 75 members are different people, which would allow for both ungodly prestige gain and base defense.
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Which would be great except that for those of us in smaller SGs (you know, the kind formed by groups of RL friends that play together) that year will get us half a bell and no whistles.
-RC
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Come on, my SG consists of about 5 people, we've already got a few bells, a couple whistles and are working on getting a marching band. Of course we aren't much for pvp, but I'm rather sure it's intended to be something where all 75 members are different people, which would allow for both ungodly prestige gain and base defense.
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We have 75 members and not many alts and I can assure you there is no ungodly amount of prestige. Seems like a long freaking grind to get enough to build most things.
CC
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We have 75 members and not many alts and I can assure you there is no ungodly amount of prestige. Seems like a long freaking grind to get enough to build most things.
CC
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In the same boat, we have like 60 members and can't even build up to the next level of sandbox so that some rooms we would like would fit. Also, does anyone know for certain, I had heard that there was supposed to be a workbench or something that allowed you to use salvage to manufacture enhancements, is this in fact true or something that was just spoken of in passing?
Yah I happen to agree that the whole base raid aspect was poorly executed by the developers. They claim that this mmorpg is for the casual gamers, but the current state of base building is far from casual. They should of simplified the process so that we could all be having fun base raiding with our crummy little bases by now =p, and be recieving good prestige from wins to build on to our base. Then once bases reached a certain level, you could be eligible for prizes that could include items and other such bonuses on top of prestige in other words some sort of tier system where we work the way up from teh trenches to the big time stuff challenging bases within our tier level. Of course those ppl who cant seem to win any matches cause they stink, can gain prestige the old fashioned way through lvling 
I'm also in favor of drastically reduced costs. So what if a SG of 5 people around level 35 have a 1% boost to xp or 1% reduction in debt?
The point is to fight over them, and it's hard to fight over what you can't get. Give some concession to high member or high level SG so they can get bigger and cooler stuff then the smaller or lower levelled groups do; but throw some kind of bone to the smaller guys too please.
There is a workbench/forge. You need a workroom to have it, which is, of course, pricy. You can only process certain kinds of salvage on the tech table and other kinds on the forge, and some thing you need higher levels of table/forge to make. I've found that so far the best thing is to have everyone process salvage on the tech table, sell the table, get the forge, and process everything else. Switching back and forth is a pain, but it works.
Not that we've managed to make anything we can actually USE yet. Please note, all salvage and building does is unlock the POTENTIAL for a particular item (in most cases, there are some exceptions for temporary powers). You still have to pay to place the item.
I suspect whomever came up with this idea used to work creating insurance policies.
Here's my whine. I've already got my cheese and crackers, thank you.
I've also found the base building options... how shall I say this... significantly less than could be desired. Originally I wasn't going to buy CoV -- I can't get behind the ideas on which the game is based -- but the base building options alone were tempting enough that I blew my money. After a couple of weeks steady play and a lot of "oo cool costume, why can't my hero have that?" , I came back to my original thought that I didn't wanna be a bad guy and PvP was SO MUCH not for me, and all I wanted was the bases.
Which should teach me to believe hype.
My SG is small but we work hard and have thrown a lot of time into building prestige because many of the base options appealed to us. We have no interest in raids. We wanted to enhance our gaming experience and help lower level members work with higher levels.
Of course, there's the immense expense for having a base. We are 4 weeks in and we've got the basics of what will one day (potentially) be a useful base, but I'm not holding out hope. Everything is geared toward Raiding and PVP, and even that looks horribly expensive. Salvage and building turned out to be just a kick in the teeth -- they are basically just unlocks for POTENTIAL to have particular items, which must still be purchased, and then must have add-ons opened and purchased (teleporters, I'm looking at you).
What did we want? Our own med center and teleporter so we could go to zones without having to cross other zones, or having to run forever to get back into a mission. We wanted some nifty items we could "use" (aka have animations to incorporate) and some space for those goofy moments when we wanted to (power gamers, don't read this) roleplay, since most of our characters are conceptual and comic-booky to an extreme. A place to hang trophies would be fun. A spot to dump influence/inspirations/enhancements for group use would be nice, too.
Somehow, while I realize this might be a lot in code and other mysterious stuff my little gamer brain can't comprehend, it doesn't SEEM like that much. Large portions of the base amenities are not only much too pricy, but they are a bait and switch -- you buy the ingredients and bake the cake, and then you STILL have to pay for the priveledge of having it.
The whole salvage issue was completely disheartening. There's no economy in CoH/CoV, no market for the exchange or sale of salvage, and no way to store or delete what you can't trade or use. Salvage doesn't really have much use, either. Considering the destructability of most things in a base (especially the penalized component made items), raiding is simply out of the question. Could the rewards really be that great?
Then there's the lack of any planning mechanism and the rules of room layout (if this is how missions are laid out, I now understand why most office building maps are constructed like rabbit warrens). The "fun" of unlocking new potential items is well and good, but having to deconstruct and reconstruct a base to utilize new things is incredibly tedious -- even with extensive pencil and grid paper planning.
I'm waiting to see what happens with the bases. I hold out hope that this was just a case of "dead line looming, must slap something together", and not the original intent of the developers (yeah, I still believe in Santa Clause, but only a little). We keep playing and experimenting and trying things out, but our return for effort has been pretty small. Ok, it's been nonexistant. I understand the idea of long haul, but in a game where players can go from 0 to 50 in 3 months of heavy playing, "long haul" is a relative term. With an SG of 12 players and alts, most of whom spend all their time in SG mode, I would really expect a somewhat faster return for effort ratio. instead, we have several small rooms empty of everything but the one piece of equipment allowed, none of which does anything to enhance gameplay.
It looks like it will take another 4-6 months for my SG to get something with a minimum of usefulness. We've thought about just decorating up some space, but to what end? Anything we could do in a base we could do standing on top of a tram station, and we wouldn't be sacrificing influence to do it. Perhaps I should have curbed my enthusiasm for CoV and held off for the 6-8 months it seems likely to take for changes and updates to be installed, but, then again, why have new stuff in the game that can't be played with?
My frustration with this aspect of the game seems only to increase as I learn more about it, so much that it's coloring everything else that, for the last year and a half, I've loved. I really feel like I was duped and I keep hoping that future developments will prove me wrong so I can find again what I so much enjoyed about CoH.
Well said. I agree 100%.
"...freedom isn't a commodity to compromise." -- Captain America, New Avengers #21
Guide to Base Teleporters
I think the price for defence rooms is rediculous. Its WAY too much. I mean. 1,500,000 for a single tiled choke point? Good Lord. I can imagine the actual weaponry and defence items being expensive but 1,500,000 for a choke point? @.o
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My friends and I were very discouraged when we saw how much we had vs. how much we needed to build even the smallest base, and now we have 998 rent due on our entrance portal. Anyone know how to erase your base?
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OMG!!! I AM GETTING SO FRUSTRATED with this base-junk. It's not fun anymore. I owe 1500 for my three-room base that holds my lamp. It's just JUNK and I said I would give it my 'free' month before I got overly irritated, but I'm ready to shoot off a complaint email to NCsoft/Cryptic. I suggest that all of you do the same. After that, I'll give it another month and if things haven't improved, I'll just stop paying for my account until this get's resolved.
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Charging 600,000 - 7 million to place items we have EARNED the schematics for and EARNED the salvage for and EARNED The room it goes and EARNED the plot upgrade is just not right. A device costs more than the freaking plot!
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They are still trying to mask they don't have content. If you want better, try WOW. Of course you can't fly there 
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LOL, sadly it's starting to sound convincing... 
Agreed with wholeheartedly.
On another thread, I put forth similar arguments and was repeatedly shot down *shrug* but hey, that's the intarwebs.
My point:Bases are inherently geared towards larger SG's, putting the smaller SG's out in the cold.
The prices are too high for me and two of my SG's. Hero or villain (I bought both), the prices are exorbitant, and totally shock you out of any semblance of immersion. A 2x2 room, on average, costs something like 150k. The first (and currently, most basic) generator costs 225k. My main villain toon has played in SG mode since lvl 1 (got invited to SG as soon as I zoned into breakout) and hasn't gotten out yet. He's also played quite a few days in malefactor (exemplar, for you non-CoV'ers) and I played him preeeety heavily. End result? Closing in on 30 with almost 200k prestige. For argument's sake, let's say that at 30 I'll have 225k. Thanks to my contribution, by 30 (and well over a month's worth of playing), I will have garnered the 'prestige' to get either a room for my SG's base, or a generator, but not both. I find it rather rude of the developers (and of video game logic in general) that my villain could not have somehow personally designed a power source (he's tech origin), stolen one (I *am* a villain, doing *quite* a bit of thievery anyway), or just shunted power off a main grid (more skullduggery and evilness) to our base. Instead, I'm basically told "It doesn't matter how much you play or how much time you invest, due to the prices you *must* invite as many people as you can to your SG, or at least pad your SG with alts to get the 300k bonus. Which isn't much anyway.
Take yourself out of the equation and look at it from a purely objective (and in this case, theoretical) standpoint. After buying the game and making your first character, you are given the choice of 3 options: Join a small 7-member supergroup, Join a large 74-member supergroup, or start your own supergroup. The 7-member SG has 2 rooms in it's base, and is sparsely decorated (saving up for power/Control). The 74 member SG has all of the amenities (teleport, hospital, workshops, power+control for all, etc), and of course, the last option is starting your own with no beginning benefits.
If you subtract any personal goals (make a prosperous SG/base of your own) or social goals (play with a close-knit group of buddies), you start to see where the benefit lies... with the larger SG. And since the pricing is geared in favor of the larger SG, smaller SG's are actually penalized. And with no mitigating factors to balance out the larger SG's (increasing prices depending on members, or even charging some sort of member-fee along with rent), it makes little sense to join/start anything but a larger SG.
And I feel that's wrong.
I say that there should be 'beginner' items that cost half of the amounts that the current 'basic' items cost, but have half the output. I feel that it would certainly help balance things out between smaller and larger groups.
If not, prices could be scaled down by a large margin, and increase at certain membership levels. (Don't care much for this idea)
In any event, smaller SG's are at a distinct disadvantage for this 'new content', and I don't feel it needs to be this way, and I don't think SG's should be pressured to merge/combine/disband to form larger SG's just to have access to things that they could feasibly get within the game with just a few lines of text within some of these TF's/Story-arcs. (F'r instance... finish Positron's TF in SG mode, and you earn a special generator for your SG. Finish citadel's TF, and earn a special control item for your SG, finish the dr. vahzilok story arc, and earn a special rez/hospital item for your SG)
I understand that they want bases to be a 'long term' goal, but their idea of 'long term' seems to be based off of the idea of a large SG, which doesn't seem to be the 'norm' from my limited questioning and searching. And until they go a bit more indepth with the 'player apartments' information, I'd like to leave that out of the equation.
Small SG's are getting the short end of the stick, and I don't feel it should be that way.
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I'm of the belief that the current restrictions and penalties would make more people choose to be on the side lines
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That's me.
In addition to the costs, rent, esoteric badge requirements and general p.i.t.a. nature of bases, the ham handed attempt to reduce the amount of influence/infamy in the game by forcing players to choose one or the other has pretty made me walk away from bases in entirety.
My alts, until they are level 25, will contribute their fair share to the prestige pool but I'm letting someone else in my SG (also a small one) deal with it.
It's strange - I've been kicking around a theory of tedium-conservation lately. It seems like every time the Devs remove some pointless bit of tedium in the game they have to go and add something else in to take it's place.
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In any event, smaller SG's are at a distinct disadvantage for this 'new content', and I don't feel it needs to be this way, and I don't think SG's should be pressured to merge/combine/disband to form larger SG's just to have access to things that they could feasibly get within the game .
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It doesnt matter if you merge/combine etc... even with a large number of folks, unless you have people who play several hours a day it still doesnt matter.
It really isnt large VG vs. small VG... its "casual" players vs. people who play more than 3 hours a day.
Unless you have people playing constanly its still slow going.
I dont think many large VGs will ever expand past the 12 x 12 or 12 x 16 plot.
I personally don't see how we could ever do it. my group is at about 65 members or so, and it's been about 2 weeks at least since I asked everyone to pitch in towards buying us the bigger plot from the beginner plot and we are at about 850k, needing like 1.6 Mil to get to the second size. I have no idea how anyone could ever get enough prestige to get a secure base at this rate. Also on a purely villain mindset and as was mentioned before, I'm evil! Why don't I just steal a generator, kill the tax man anytime he cometh and reroute computers to my complex? Furthermore, why can you only make some things on the benches? I think any item you should be able to purchase, you should also be able to create using your work benches, and as I've stated before there should be no placement cost, you already had to go through the gathering of materials, once you have an item you should be able to place it. Rather than having a cost for the rooms, if they want to slow you down on making them they should require real time for "construction" perhaps, and that would elimiate any costs associated with them, you should be able to pay prestige towards the build perhaps to have the room completed sooner.
I think it'd be enough to separate bases into unraidable hideouts and raidable bases. Hideouts should have much cheaper equipment, but absolutely everything would be ornamental (except teleporters and medical devices, which will also be full price). Raidable bases can have functional control/energy/defense (but still less expensive, please, cause it will get destroyed).
So people who just want a base to hang out in can have it, and people who want the IOPs and to raid can have that also, and small SGs won't have to pay over 1million for a new room to put in their TV and vending machine.
Base raids sound really fun, but I'm not going to sacrifice the fun of playing to grind for prestige so I might in a year or so be able to raid a base or defend mine. Even with the free prestige in Beta, it still ran out really fast. I'm not sure my friends and I will ever be able to afford a medical teleporter, with the energy and control required to make it functional. Why does a stack of papers cost 100 prestige, anyway?
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I think it'd be enough to separate bases into unraidable hideouts and raidable bases. Hideouts should have much cheaper equipment, but absolutely everything would be ornamental (except teleporters and medical devices, which will also be full price). Raidable bases can have functional control/energy/defense (but still less expensive, please, cause it will get destroyed).
So people who just want a base to hang out in can have it, and people who want the IOPs and to raid can have that also, and small SGs won't have to pay over 1million for a new room to put in their TV and vending machine.
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This is really the best solution in my opinion. Reducing costs just makes small, RP-minded SGs equal targets for some juggernaut PvP-minded SG. I'm sure that's why the costs are so high, to prevent huge groups from sending in 40+ level-capped into the base of 6 people. So let's not wish too hard for lower costs, which benefit larger SGs even more than smalls.
But dividing base plots into raidable and non-raidable, now that's a good idea. Some additional PvE type functions would be much appreciated too (teleport to any zone, omni-inspiration vendors, a mission computer that doesn't require a raid teleporter for half the contacts, etc). The bases need to reflect that some of play PvE and some PvP, and have a clear division in the editor just like there are clear divisions between PvE and PvP zones.
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I think it'd be enough to separate bases into unraidable hideouts and raidable bases. Hideouts should have much cheaper equipment, but absolutely everything would be ornamental (except teleporters and medical devices, which will also be full price). Raidable bases can have functional control/energy/defense (but still less expensive, please, cause it will get destroyed).
So people who just want a base to hang out in can have it, and people who want the IOPs and to raid can have that also, and small SGs won't have to pay over 1million for a new room to put in their TV and vending machine.
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This is really the best solution in my opinion. Reducing costs just makes small, RP-minded SGs equal targets for some juggernaut PvP-minded SG. I'm sure that's why the costs are so high, to prevent huge groups from sending in 40+ level-capped into the base of 6 people. So let's not wish too hard for lower costs, which benefit larger SGs even more than smalls.
But dividing base plots into raidable and non-raidable, now that's a good idea. Some additional PvE type functions would be much appreciated too (teleport to any zone, omni-inspiration vendors, a mission computer that doesn't require a raid teleporter for half the contacts, etc). The bases need to reflect that some of play PvE and some PvP, and have a clear division in the editor just like there are clear divisions between PvE and PvP zones.
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If you dont buy the mission computer and the raid transportor and schedule raids or accept a challange, you cant be raided.
If you just want a PVE base you can do that on the 8x8 plot with minimum costs.. even a "small" sg could do that in a month.
If all you want is a med bay and telepads there is no reason to grow the base any further aside from vanity
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I disagree. While the prices are very high and I wouldn't mind seeing them come down some, I don't think it's unreasonable to have to invest some time towards making a base. Also, I don't think that everyone is working towards the same goals. You want a PvP raid base. Others may want a PvE facilitation base, others just a fancy place to gather.
Overall, the current system works pretty well for giving the casual and RP community their gathering hall for a relatively small investment, a PvE for a proportionately larger cost, and the PvP as an evolving entity as you can always upgrade further, add more defenses, up your control and power to add still more defenses, etc - which in my opinion is a good system for the serious PvP community.
As for the PvPers who want to be 'leet' right now and lose patience quickly, well, honestly I think raids and the entire PvP system are better off without them. As for the IoPs giving small benefits, I suggest you check out the posts concerning the 'unique' super-IoPs, which do far more.
Obtaining and defending one such Item is likely to be quite a committment - honestly, I'd think it would be better to get a solid group of players together first before even going after one, and those who possess the patience to wait for a good base are going to be those kind of dedicated players. If you lose a few kiddieleet punks along the way, I'd say you're probably better for it.
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Maybe you havent really dwelved into base building that far. Say you want a defensive control center... Well thats like 1.5 million to be able to add 1 defensive item to the room. an item that will probably cost you another million to place. Its a slow, slow process if you want a "modest" defensive type base.
Another issue I havent seen really raised is that the bases really dont lend themselves to upgrading. Once you have rooms placed, if they connect to other rooms you cant really change them because it will break the contunity. So it will be a lot of selling back and deleteing several rooms just to add a larger or more defensive one. For instance you cant just upgrade a workshop to the one that accepts 3 tables. You either have to build 2 or go thru the complete rebuild process. Many of the rooms that allow you to place defensive items are larger, much larger in some cases. This in turn requires a larger plot. which requires more waiting and more complete rebuilding of the base
Then there are the defensive rooms. You cant simply just add a choke point or defensive hallway. You either have to go through the tedious process of selling everything back and deleteing rooms and then rebuilding everything or wait and wait and wait and build it right from the get go.
I spent a few hours on test coming up with a configuration taht would lend itself to future upgrades by being able to add doorways so continuity doesnt get broken and replace several long control rooms with defensive corridors. I dont think the majority of people are planning in that manner. I anticpate a lot of issues with upgrades in the coming months.
From what I see, its a much better option to just wait 4-6 months and save, save, save than it is to start and build in baby steps.
Then there are issues with salvage. Aside from slavage gain leveling off like prestige gain will, people in my VG are already running out of space to hold things because of the 20 item limit. In another couple of weeks we are going to just start having to build items we cant afford to place and actually have no place to put them since we dont have any defensive rooms.. and wont for a few months. And if you can place it requires much more power and much more control which puts you back to needing millions of prestige.
Thats what is discouraging... getting schematics and building an item you cant do anything with for 5 months.
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Um... did you happen to read my entire post? The whole point was that PvP ('defensive', to use your word) is the real expense and that PvE actually can be obtained fairly easily, with an RP haven (decorative only) being even easier.
I happen to have extensive experience with the base editor, thank you. I just don't happen to focused on raids, so I don't have as much frustration as a PvP-focused SG/VG would trying to get their defenses up, which are expensive. Now, I agree that the prices are too high across the board, but I do think the defensive rooms and items should continue to be proportionally more costly than the PvE. I've already outlined my reasons for thinking this in my original post.
Honestly, you can get a functioning base for PvE inside a month - I know because my VG has done it. Power, Control, Workshop, Medical and Teleporters for all targetable zones (for CoV that's three pads and six beacons). As for the frustration with the base editor, I suppose it could be more user-friendly, but with a little planning I've never had a problem with it.
Then there's your point about Crafting. There's a rather simple solution to that too - eventually your SG will reach a plateau at which there is nothing else they wish to craft aside from defensive items. For PvP raid groups, this point might come right after the mission computer, for more balanced groups it might be much later. Regardless, eventuallly you're pouring all of your Salvage into defenses, with the occasional break as you need to upgrade your control or power (likely control) to support the newest round of firepower.
So,simply leave your basic table out. Once you pick up your Supercomputer, you'd likely have enough control to keep all three up with the medical and teleporters. If you're a PvP only group without teleporters you might not even need the supercomputer to have all three tables, though you'd need a couple of databases hooked up. Anyway, once you've got the tables set up then all the members can craft defenses to reduce their own Salvage without needing to unload onto the character with edit powers. No one places the defensive items until you have the crafted power and control to run them, but you build your arsenal as you go.
It's not instant gratification and it does need work, but I don't see the need to cry doom and walk away as some have.
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I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
I dont see why people gripe so much about the prices. Each point of prestige is a point permanently earned by your SG. We have only 3 real active people in ours and here we already have a workshop up and ar emoving to whatever snext.
Yeahyou have a small sink in rent, but otherwise every point spent is still a point saved...
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Hello all,
It just seems to me that if base building is one of the big goals to help entice you into actually spending time into PvP it is being discouraged in every possible way. I mean you get a hole in the wall, where you can just basically build a functional base. Yes you could build a base that would be raidable, but it would be pretty pathetic, you would never be able to deploy all the defenses that I am sure every person here would put into a base if money was no object. I read in the base faq (that was very well written) that supposedly the defenders of a base if their power is taken out can no longer spawn in their base after defeat but instead at the nearest hospital, whereas the attackers even when defeasted immediately respawn in your base. I would expect that they would make it so items at a certain point might be a major premium but what I consider the basics should be affordable enough for a decently large sized group to get up and running fairly quickly. My group has about 60 members and we only have a functional base, still at the begining base size, I think it should have been fairly easy to get at least the first version of a secret base, also by allowing people to build, you would actually allow them to create and customize a base to their own building style, when the PvP part takes off, how long will it be before there are 3 standard base types that everyone is using because they are the most effective for the prestige value. With the danger of losing base items as well, I just don't see where the risk versus reward is coming in at all. maybe it's just me. Thoughts?
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Well we are approaching the end of month one, and our base has come along nicely with 5 rooms. Fully furnished with about 1 Mil saved up. I would say by month 2 we will be ready for base raids. But IF this game is based on the casual player then it will be very difficult to achieve a great base. If you have an inactive SG forget about it.
****The Honarable Sneed****
Slum Lord of the...
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On CoX and StormRage
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@Sneed
This was very well put. I'll add my $.02 to the mix.
First of all, let me thank the developers and associates on their release, and for implementing superbases in the first place.
I don't believe any developer on this project had any intention to implement something that the players would not like, or that would be poor or valueless. That doesn't make sense for the game, and it doesn't make business sense either.
I think that the debate on how much prestige to charge went something like this:
- Each SG can have up to 75 members, if each member gains 1K prestige per day of playing, then that works out to be 75K per day. This means that things should be high so that people can build a base over several weeks instead of overnight.
Whether or not these figures are true, the point is that developers had to have SOME criteria to come to the prices and rate of prestige collection that they have. My assertion is going to be that, developers, this original thinking is what needs to be revisited, and likely more market research needs to be conducted on what customers (read: players) are actually doing.
I've not been in the COH environment long, but it seems to be the case that SG members are not around every day, and certainly not long enough to collect the X prestige/day it would take to make these prices reasonable.
I think the prices currently charged for items would be reasonable if things worked right out of the box, but the fact is, they don't. I need a special room to hold the generator, I need a control apparatus to make use of my power effectively, I need more than one telepad to use the beacons, so on and so forth. This is where I believe the system breaks down, and does so in a major way.
I think if the goal of bases was to encourage pvp and SG development, the prestige system really works against at least the PVP element. Why do I, as a player, want to engage in PVP to simply have to recollect prestige to rebuild things that are destroyed in the raid?
Two things I think the players should realize is that:
a) The game is City of Villains, not City of Bases. The major thrust here was the villains component, and I think that moving forward, there will be significant development of the prestige/building system once data is collected.
b) Reliable data cannot be collected overnight. The game has been out roughly a month, and that's just about the time that I think it's fair to begin looking at the data, and developing action plans. It will likely be several weeks before we see changes developed and patched into the game. I would encourage patience.
Here are my suggestions:
- Allow the sale of salvage in return for Prestige
- Reevaluate the process of Prestige collection and conversion. This needs to be done extensively from the bottom up.
- Look for other ways to add value to the bases and thereby the players by developing more items (useful and useless) for the bases.
- Consider disjoining as many things as you feel possible. I feel that the dependency of every item on several other items (or rooms, or whatever) frustrates people.
- Consider adopting a gradient system for equipment. Maybe I can purchase a cheaper generator, but maybe it will not function all the time, or maybe it will need repairs that cost me Prestige (or influence).
- Consider adopting a more integrated system for influence and prestige. Does everything in the base need to be done with Prestige? Does it need to be either/or?
- Realize that people have a greater desire for bases other than PVP. I would even say that MOST players are not looking at bases for the PVP aspect.
I am just dissapointed because my SG of 5 RL friends and a couple of additions wants a base...not a raidable base just a base.
but to get the function we want we'd need a power room, control room, work room, teleport room, infirmary, and a hall. At 150k a room that's 900k just for rooms. All that prestige just for the ability to rez at your base and teleport to hazard zones.
I like the idea of having general rooms (power, control, infirmary) be cheaper and having raid specifc items and rooms cost more.
That way casual gamers/SGs could get a functioning base reasonably quickly. While big active groups who would want to (and would be able to) do trials and raids would have a higher goal to work at.
My friends and I were very discouraged when we saw how much we had vs. how much we needed to build even the smallest base, and now we have 998 rent due on our entrance portal. Anyone know how to erase your base?