Are bases obsolete?

Personally - and this is just my opinion as a SG leader - I encourage my group the base as much as possible. We are a roleplauing group who favour using the base as the main hub for the RPing so basically we use the base as a fictional base for the theme of our group. So I guess in that respect it may actually depend on the individual player and their playing style to determine whether or not the base is obsolete, I know for my group at least it isn't.
That's just my opinion anyway.

Can't beat the convenience for crafting. Some of the other stuff, maybe not so much, but I still really like them. I also like them from a theme standpoint, and frankly, this game is more about theme than about efficiency.

Casting my vote now, and let this be known: I have dumped so much time and labor into creating a massive labyrinth, those that have seen my base know that this speaks volumes and I hope that everyone would follow my example when I say

Let's start over from scratch and make it everything it should be.

I am willing to part with all of my work -if I have to- because of how much I want new base editing tools and base related features.

yup lets just light a match..burn it down and start over. Im game

I'm a huge fan of your work, Sarcasm has never translated well, without the /sarcasm before and after the txt So, just to be clear, I'm hoping you were not being sarcastic.

Bases are one of the many golden gems that so many of us enjoyed and looked forward to being developed only to be left in the dust because that's just that way it is. I gave up. Just give up and check back in a few months. (That hasn't worked out for me either).

Obsolete? No Necessary? Well technically they never really were but frankly they seem even less so now. And I say this as a fellow Base Archetect who enjoys tinkering and making the place look nice. That said let's examine what a base offers..

One of the biggest things most SGs will broadcast when recruiting. "We have teleport to all zones!" Well between the Ouro Portal, and now the combined Yellow and Green Lines.. Or combined Ferry system for the red Side .. It has gotten to the point where I barely use the teleporters in my base any more.

"We have a fully operational medbay!" Yeah but even with Robo Surgery attached to the Regenerator if you chose to go to base instead of hospital you end up taking a knee to rest before heading back. Add to that the fact that half the time when you head back you don't wind up at the door of the mission you left.. You end up at the Base TP site which may be even further away than the Hospital. "We even have an Auto Doc so you can buy Inspiration during a TF" Since 1-19 the Auto Doc now sits in almost every zone and is called The COmbat Nurse. I can't tell you how many times that improvement has helped during the Hami raid mission of the LGFT or on the Tin mage/Apex TFs

"We have storage for salvage".. Yeah you do but then so does the Vault and I don't need to worry about someone else using the salvage I put in te rack so i could use it later. Plus they limited the size so badly 999 down to 30 it's useless even trying to store a lot there.

invention Crafting tables? Hit any university or the RWZ.

Now what do bases offer that is unique and still viable.. okay first off all that stuff in one place. I can set up a personal vault right next to an IO Crafting Table and in the same workshop throw down enhancement bins to store anything you make and don't need right now. Now most of the city zones that have a university also have a vault but in seperate building in sperate locations in the zone.. so you save time crafting in base!

Depending on the base of course.. Sure there are combat nurses that will sell you inspirations in zone but all of my bases have inspiration collectors filled with 100 of each type of Inspirations (and all teir 3s).. Try getting that sort of bonus from a Combat Nurse!

Okay so I don't have a comeback for teleport.. LOL Like I said i built the base and installed all those telepads and even I rarely ever use them these days. One thing that has changed though is the reinstatement of the Cathedral of Pain.. You can't get there using an ouro portal or a train.. you need an SG with a Mission computer and a raid teleporter.

The biggest thing a good Sg can provide is team mates either from your own group or from any groups you have forged coalitions with over the years. Good friends and good team mates that play together and enjoy one another's company. the base is just a place we can call home.

ALL THAT SAID.. I STILL WANT SOME IMPROVEMENTS hehe where the Heck is my hottub option?

My main uses for the base are now primarily for getting to hami raids (i can go directly to Eden from atlas park or the like) and for crafting. Since i'll often spend an hour in atlas tracking back and fourth from WW and a crafting table, crafting tables in the base does improve convenience. Also, being the chief designer, it's my big sandbox.

The problem with bases nowadays is that there are now just as easy (or even easier) alternatives to all base services that exist outside the base. The only service that is unique to the base are the empowerment stations. Back before i10 or whenever the base salvage was phased out i used those empowerment stations like there was no tomorrow, purely because we had a single storage rack dedicated to components, which we would craft after doing a few "SG Farms" gathering prestige and salvage. The components made crafting dead easy because we didn't need to hit the market to buy a specific salvage item. hence, before a mission, on my i would stop into the base, go to my salvage rack stocked up to 999 components, grab a handfull and buff up before taking a teleporter. Now if i want a specific buff, i need to sift through stacks upon stacks of salvage, find the one i need before i can craft it.

I believe things like making the medical reclaimers more feisable along with the empowerment stations and teleporters could be sorted out. That would make a notable impact on how bases are viewed in terms of their usefulness. Being able to run base raids would be even better but i'm sure we're all aware that the devs have enough on their plate at the moment.

I counted.

Salvage racks used to hold 2500 items, showed as 999.

Back when WW first hit I remember seeing alot of the base salvage on the market, salvage racks still held 2500. I did see price flipping going on, but at the same time, I didn't depend on the market for base salvage. I had plenty of active sg members dumping off junk that rapidly filled those racks. crafting, storing salvage for the empowerment buffs worked quite well.

Hording wasn't a problem, or, at least... salvage dropped so often it didn't seem like one.

It would be nice to go to that number again, or just a number that is NOT 30.

It would also be nice to tie all storage into all crafting tables and empowerment buff stations or be able to chose which ones to assign for sheer convenience.

In response to the idea of everyone starting from scratch? I'm all for it! I think it would be good for the devs to allow those who have old-school bases keep them, just close them off to new builders. Basing bases off of the AE mechanism would be awesome. I can just envision my main room leading off one way to my tech area, while in the other direction is the tunnel leading to the huge cave-ish thing. They could make the base item unlockable stuff like the AE/merit/vanguard system, with Prestige unlocking various items such as teleporters, a vanguard/RWZ porter, recipe tables, etc.

IMO, the base should be able to do just about everything that can be done outside of the base, from having a tailor shop to a WW link. For a price. The only things that shouldn't be allowed are contacts that you don't have a phone for yet, trainers, and a small number of other things that wouldn't quite make sense. This would encourage team/community play, which is what the game was built for, and would make the base system, well, AWESOME!

And for the person who mentioned making the bases related to a specific in-game door, that wouldn't be a bad idea, so long as they kept the base tpers. I would love to be at Atlas, and run to the same door every time in order to get into my base. They could just throw in a backstory/description that behind that door is a hallway that leads to a few different bases, so that they don't have to worry about people complaining that a different SG uses the same door.

I love the Base Building Community!!!!!

Starting over from scratch would be no issue from me. I'd freely give up all the work I've done in order to get a better system. Then again, I have a fairly high turnover rate on my base rooms as it is. I'm constantly tearing down and rebuilding either because I have a better idea or want a change (it's become an ongoing joke in the SG, even)

Really, a new (and improved) system that allows for more powerful construction and customization can only be a good thing in the long run.

If they were to do another Prestige Grant in the future, I wish that it were just a lump sum, like 5mil.

That would give plenty of us smaller 'modest means' base builders funds to play with our bases, while the larger SG's wouldn't notice because they are active enough and SG Gargoyles farming for members prior to these grants would not be so prevelant.