Guardian Server's 10 BILLION Event!

Ouch. Doesn't sound like a fun SG to be in.

I agree completely with you -- it is much more fun to generate Prestige by having fun while playing the game!

While I would love to imagine Jack and his original design crew had the level of wisdom and insight, not to mention Economic chops, to foresee how the game's economy would shift and ebb over the course of years, especially following the introduction of things like Mission Architect, I really don't believe they did.

The fact that prices are set by players means nothing. Perpetually, prices follow "market price" -- i.e., "what the market will bear". The presence of massive inflation in the game dictates that each unit of INF is continually worth less each day. A crafted Armageddon selling for 50-70 Million a few years ago now sells for 10x that. Influence has dropped 90% in value just on that index alone.

If the players controlled the economy, this would never have happened. Who would want a 10x increase in costs?

I understand your position, Seebs. I really do. I just ask that you also try and understand mine. I'll try and explain it a bit more clearly.

While I am not a roleplayer, if we were to consider them being at one end of the spectrum and then, at the other end, players to whom everything is simply points on a chart, I would fall somewhere on the former side.

You see, I see the work in building the SG over the last few years as a labor of love. I see the friends that I have in it, and the things we have done, as being of value. And I have come to see our Rank on the Top-100 List as being representative of our communal success -- and from the years of conversations I have had with other SG folks in the Top-10 SGs, I do not think I am alone in this way of looking at things.

So when I say that I find (in my opinion) someone forcibly bulling their way into the upper ranks of the Top-100 through a system of buying Prestige as opposed to going the normal route "disheartening" or "improper", I'm just being honest.

It's just how I (me, my opinion only) feel about it. It's not just numbers on a chart to me.

I agree completely -- I think Prestige should never be purchased with Influence.

In my opinion, Prestige should come on its own, as a natural by-product of the things you do as a SuperGroup. Only this way is a SG's Prestige representative of what they have accomplished in the world.

The exchange rate, in my opinion, should have been changed during Issue 13's Base Repricing, to keep pace with the current "value" of each INF point.

It's an interesting theory but if that was their intent, it failed. The exchange rate was far too steep. Similarly, when the Base Repricing in Issue 13 went into effect, by not changing the Exchange Rate, they made it suddenly extremely affordable to purchase almost anything Base-related using Influence.

A single toon is not a SuperGroup -- even two Toons are only a Duo. It makes sense to me that a single toon would not be able to afford the largest kind of base. If they were to try, they would pour all their money into it when that money (in my opinion) would be better spent getting them well-Setted.

Given that it wasn't working as an INF sink when it was implemented (due to the disparity of value), and given that they never changed it, it may never have been regarded as a primary INF sink by the Developers. This is all just speculation, of course, but given that they've changed prices dramatically before (during Issue 13 and also the market merger), they could have, and would have, changed the Exchange rate at any time, if they wanted to.

Well, Base Raids and the Top-100 List definitely encouraged competition. But during the first 13 issues of this game I would never have considered using Influence to jump up in the ranks. It just wasn't feasible. Only lately, with such huge sums coming ever-more-readily to hand, is such a thing possible.

I agree that had this been in place from the beginning, and the mindset been to not only get Prestige from your daily fun but also to sell back Influence gains and get extra Prestige, I myself would have probably had no objection to it.

Nor I, but I doubt we will ever get such a thing since most of the original design Team has moved on to other projects and companies.

Oh -- believe me -- I know. We had a fully Raid-Ready base, heavily equipped and fortified, and I was paying that rent on it each month. Larger plot sizes had rent up to 600,000 Prestige per billing cycle! A major SG with a lot of active members can maintain that, but no one else could. Now, almost anyone can have the "largest plot size". It's become a joke.

Well, the Rent prices were HIGH, and with the conversion rate also being so inequitable, if you couldn't handle the Prestige upkeep, you likely weren't going to be able to pay for it with Influence. I remember many a base that wound up closed down, power off, nothing working on our early Coalition lists, as their SG members slowly bailed to other, working SGs...

Thank you, Seebs. I'm always polite, it's the only way to be! *hug*

-- Vivian

I did not mean to imply this was an exploit, or any violation of the rules.

I meant it was something irregular -- i.e., outside of the way it's normally done.

I myself don't like it for the reasons stated earlier, but that's just my opinion.

I rarely try to put my own opinions on others, I only try to explain my point of view.

-- Vivian

I was not a part of the original conversation thread, I only read it in passing. Perhaps I saw all of the lulz and mistakenly took that for the primary thrust of the effort. I'll happily grant that. But -- while perhaps this is not a place for it, if this has all arisen out of the desire to destroy INF, (a) why not do it via the toon-deletion method rather than the Prestige? (b) What makes the Prestige conversion better than the toon deletion one? And (c) will the SG's that are created and built up with the Prestige conversion of hundreds of billions of Influence be "burned" in turn and deleted once they have hit the Top-100 on their respective servers?

While the motivations you ascribe to the leaders of this effort may be pure (and I am willing to grant that they may be), those who take advantage of them to hop on the Crazy 88 wagon and get boosted for a ride to the top of the Top-100 may not be in the same league -- if for no other reason than the different reasons you mention above.

If the goal was to in turn "burn" (delete) all of the "Crazy 88" SGs once they had had their run and hit the top of the Top-100 list, I would wholeheartedly applaud and support the effort. If, however, they are going to linger there and be a reminder of the event every time I look at the Top-100, I'll naturally be less enthusiastic -- just because of what it means to me.

Yet I will never say this is not within your rights to do -- only that I personally don't like it, for all the reasons I've stated before.

-- Vivian

You sound poor.

Heroes, Villains ♦ Reviews ♦ Retrospect

And here I thought I was sounding more like Gollum... "My Precioussss..."

-- Vivian

The Solo and SG Team PvP Events will begin right after the Costume Contest.

So there is no fixed time for the PvP Events to begin, BUT, on the basis of the previous events we have held, it is likely to begin around 3 PM Pacific.

Even if you can't make it to Atlas for the Costume Contest, be sure to drop by to watch the tail end of it, and to get in on the great PvP action!

-- Vivian

It'll be great to see you there! Be sure to get there a little early!

Atlas is going to be PACKED, by getting in early you won't be locked out.

-- Vivian

Hi Lohenien --

Oh, I didn't think you would -- it was more of a rhetorical question, actually.

I.e., the main thrust by Seebs was that this was solely being done to destroy INF.

My question was Socratic, to compare the concept vs the actuality.

See you on Guardian!

-- Vivian

Would Atlas Park spawn another instance of itself, like Eden or the Rikti War Zone? If so, would EE send representatives into those other instances?

I realize that that would be a logistics nightware to coordinate events across instances.

-ponders evilly- We should do try do launch a massive-multiple-instance-Rikti-Raid one of these days with members of each others' supergroups. I'd be up for that! hehe.

All Zones have an occupancy limit. As that limit is neared, an additional "instance" of that Zone is automatically spawned by the Server. Atlas Park is no different in this respect.

I have requested that the occupancy limit of Atlas Park on Guardian be increased for the day of the event, but I have not yet received a reply.

Regrettably, we can only hold the event in Atlas Park 1, which is why we encourage people to get there a little early.

If you cannot get in to Atlas Park 1, just keep trying. Slots invariably open up -- you'll eventually get in.

Even if you show up late and miss the CC, there will be Trivia, Races and PvP Events following the main CC, so there's plenty of fun still to be had!

Well, most of our Rikti Mothership Raids on Saturday have spawned multiple instances of the RWZ. We normally only run in the main one, and let the others form teams and make their own attempts (some quite successful). By all means, others are more than welcome to help coordinate the efforts in RWZ 2, 3, etc... the more, the merrier, I say!

-- Vivian

"A true hero has the strength to stand against evil
without wavering where all others despair,
even if it means standing alone." - Kragothe Valour

In the past, we have held events in other Zones. Our 3.5 Billion Event in October of 2009, that we held for reaching the Top-10, was held in Kings Row. However, this year we felt that Atlas Park was the most ideal zone, since this is the place where it all began -- it is only proper that we come full circle.

The Events are being held in succession, not simultaneously. I.e., we are not running the PvP Events and Costume Contest at the same time. So we can't split the events across multiple zones.

I have requested via e-mail to the devs that the zone occupancy limit for Atlas on Guardian be raised for this day, but I have not yet received a reply. Ideally they will raise it to a high enough number to enable everyone to get in.

-- Vivian