Since the advent of IOs and the subsequent change in player behavior to maximize the rewards they receive, there have been at least two changes in the game that generated considerable discussion:
<ul type="square"> [*]Family Villain Group XP nerf [*]Merit Reward Adjustment for running arcs [/list]If I gave more thought to this I am sure I could come up with other examples but these two are enough for the sake of this discussion.
One theme we heard from the good people at NCSoft was that those adjustments were necessary for game balance. In short, the adjustments were made based on Risk vs. Reward and/or Time Invested/Reward.
My Search-Fu is a bit weak at this hour so I am unable to find specific posts about the XP nerf on the "Family Farm" but I think it is safe to stipulate that the reason given for this nerf was Risk vs. Reward.
Thankfully, my Search-Fu isn't completely decimated when it comes to the Merit Reward adjustment. Here is a link from a post by Synapse explaining the reasons behind Merit Reward adjustments after the patch on 2/10/09:
In Synapse's post he provides a guideline for Merits/Hour based on completion time:
[ QUOTE ]
What this boils down to is roughly:
Trials: 24 merits per hour of average completion time.
Taskforces: 20 merits per hour of average completion time.
Story Arcs: 8 merits per hour of average completion time.
[/ QUOTE ]
In explaining why some arc Merit Rewards were significantly reduced Synapse explained:
[ QUOTE ]
Q: Why did story arc X have its merit times reduced?
A: Well, again this isn't a simple answer. The short answer is that more people run them and find faster ways of completing these tasks. This in turn changes the average completion time substantially. However, there were a number of tasks--specifically the Kheldian story arcs--that we didn't have much data on. These tasks were literally run only a handful of times, so data was scarce. People started running these arcs to test the number of merits awarded and people realized that these tasks were giving out way more merits than they should. This caused them to be run A LOT! We then realized that these tasks could be completed much faster than our old data suggested. So, these arcs had their rewards adjusted accordingly.
[/ QUOTE ]
Lastly, in explaining why Merit Rewards had to change at all, Synapse offered the following:
[ QUOTE ]
Q: Why change merits at all?
A: We want our players to be getting appropriate rewards for the tasks they're doing.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have it on reasonably good authority that certain AE missions exist that yield the same reward (enough for one AE Ticket Gold Roll and then some) in 17 minutes that the Kheld arc yielded (29 Merit Rewards) in roughly the same amount of time for an optimized team.
Given the ability to customize a villain group in AE, it is hypothetically possible for a team of characters to play a mission in which the villains pose absolutely no threat because, hypothetically speaking, the customized villains would have no means to attack the characters. Yet the AE tickets would flow just as freely in those hypothetical missions, to say nothing of the essentially free XP.
I agree with the Devs regarding the basic tenant of appropriate reward for risk taken and while I might have disagreements on the particulars, I understand the motive behind various nerfs.
This why I am so confused with the glaring contradiction that AE has become.
Posted
unfixed AE is not balanced, just like unfixed merit rewards were unbalanced
OK I am a little confused.
Since the advent of IOs and the subsequent change in player behavior to maximize the rewards they receive, there have been at least two changes in the game that generated considerable discussion:
<ul type="square"> [*]Family Villain Group XP nerf [*]Merit Reward Adjustment for running arcs [/list]If I gave more thought to this I am sure I could come up with other examples but these two are enough for the sake of this discussion.
One theme we heard from the good people at NCSoft was that those adjustments were necessary for game balance. In short, the adjustments were made based on Risk vs. Reward and/or Time Invested/Reward.
My Search-Fu is a bit weak at this hour so I am unable to find specific posts about the XP nerf on the "Family Farm" but I think it is safe to stipulate that the reason given for this nerf was Risk vs. Reward.
Thankfully, my Search-Fu isn't completely decimated when it comes to the Merit Reward adjustment. Here is a link from a post by Synapse explaining the reasons behind Merit Reward adjustments after the patch on 2/10/09:
Merit Reward Adjustment as explained by Synapse
In Synapse's post he provides a guideline for Merits/Hour based on completion time:
[ QUOTE ]
What this boils down to is roughly:
Trials: 24 merits per hour of average completion time.
Taskforces: 20 merits per hour of average completion time.
Story Arcs: 8 merits per hour of average completion time.
[/ QUOTE ]
In explaining why some arc Merit Rewards were significantly reduced Synapse explained:
[ QUOTE ]
Q: Why did story arc X have its merit times reduced?
A: Well, again this isn't a simple answer. The short answer is that more people run them and find faster ways of completing these tasks. This in turn changes the average completion time substantially. However, there were a number of tasks--specifically the Kheldian story arcs--that we didn't have much data on. These tasks were literally run only a handful of times, so data was scarce. People started running these arcs to test the number of merits awarded and people realized that these tasks were giving out way more merits than they should. This caused them to be run A LOT! We then realized that these tasks could be completed much faster than our old data suggested. So, these arcs had their rewards adjusted accordingly.
[/ QUOTE ]
Lastly, in explaining why Merit Rewards had to change at all, Synapse offered the following:
[ QUOTE ]
Q: Why change merits at all?
A: We want our players to be getting appropriate rewards for the tasks they're doing.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have it on reasonably good authority that certain AE missions exist that yield the same reward (enough for one AE Ticket Gold Roll and then some) in 17 minutes that the Kheld arc yielded (29 Merit Rewards) in roughly the same amount of time for an optimized team.
Given the ability to customize a villain group in AE, it is hypothetically possible for a team of characters to play a mission in which the villains pose absolutely no threat because, hypothetically speaking, the customized villains would have no means to attack the characters. Yet the AE tickets would flow just as freely in those hypothetical missions, to say nothing of the essentially free XP.
I agree with the Devs regarding the basic tenant of appropriate reward for risk taken and while I might have disagreements on the particulars, I understand the motive behind various nerfs.
This why I am so confused with the glaring contradiction that AE has become.