Before I begin with my suggestions, I want to say I believe i20 as a whole was a good release, not with out issues, but as a whole a very good release.
There are a few things, I believe the devs did really right. Considering that I have very bad luck for drops, I was very concerned on my thread drop rate. The application the devs made, was an elegant one, by accomplishing discrete milestones within the trial you earn Astral Merits, which you could later breakdown for 4 threads. If you have a good team and complete the trial successfully, you are guaranteed to walk out with 4 Astral merits each time for an equivalent of 16 threads, and when combined with an avrage of 4 threads for killing content you wind up with 20 threads that is just about the right rate of thread drops to slot up your incarnate slots. You also get a random class of component, which is frosting, but the good thing is that you get to choose the component within the class of componets, that is really nice. Thus my real concern about luck being too over-bearing with regards to personal incarnate development has been put to bed.
This said, I do have a few suggestions for later releases, i21 etc.
1. Conversion from Threads to Notices of the well would be nice.
2. Conversion from a rarer component to a less rare component.
3. Conversion from Merits to Shards and Threads.
4. Conversion from Alignment Merits to Shards and Threads.
5. Conversion from Notices to Threads.
6. Unlock Mission Threads for Judgment, Lore, Interface and Destiny (like Alphas).
7. New TFs/SFs or retooled to earn threads and upper class components.
8. Make BAF and Lamda scalable.
Now let me explain the why of the suggestions...
Suggestion 1:
There is no direct way to go from threads to Notices of the Well, going from Thread to Shard and then to Notice is a very un-efficient way to go about it.
Suggestion 2:
If I need a rare component, but have a very rare component, I could breakdown the very rare component and get threads from it. Sadly you do not get enough threads to assemble the component immediately below it in complexity, this strikes me as not too nice. We should be able to break a very rare component into a rare component and have a few threads to go with it, for instance.
Suggestion 3:
With the advent of Incarnate system, level 50+ players are naturally reluctant to do any lower than 50 content. If merits could be converted to useful incarnate currency, it may relieve some of this reluctancy.
Suggestion 4:
The Alignment system, now has reduced relevance, for it offers no incarnate currency. Would be interesting if you could acquire threads and components through the alignment merit system.
Suggestion 5:
The TF/SF of the week main driver for 50th level alts is not so much the double merits, its the receiving of the notice of the well. Yet for the new incarnate slots, the notice of the well has no intrinsic value. If one could break down a notice of the well for a reasonable number of threads, perhaps 20, doing the weekly targeted activities would regain its demand.
Suggestion 6:
The concept of trials, imo, hurt the casual players quite hard. To me an 8 player PUG is about as complex one can get within a casual environment. Also having to do the same Trial over and over and over and over to unlock the two incarnate slots associated with it, is just aweful. Then do the very same trials over and over, and over to get the threads to make the components to make the enhancements can get a bit old after a few days. It would be nice, if a new set of trial missions, as it was done for the Alpha's, could be done for each of the new incarnate slots. This suggestion is an alternative not a replacement to the current method. This way a casual player, could (if desired) to solo the mission thread and unlock the incarnate slot.
Suggestion 7:
This goes back to the casual environment, and teams of 8 players. Lets have new TFs that can be accomplished by a group of 4 to 8 players and during the execution of the TF you get shards, and at the end (if slots unlocked) you get 20 Threads, and a random component as it is done with the present trials. I am envisioning a 4 long missioned TFs, where you essentially earn 5 threads each, but do not get the tally until the TF is completed. Also this TFs are set to level 54 mobs as a standard, such as they are done at the trials.
Re-tooled present level 50 TFs/SFs, would essentialy consist of present level 50 TFs/SFs where if the player sets the difficulty of the TF to +4, thus mobs are level 54. The TF/SF is flagged to yield shards along the way, but at the end of the TF it gives you a choice to receive 20 threads, among the other choices such as merits, shard based components, etc.
Suggestion 8:
If we want to regain a sense of casualness, the trials could be made to be scalable to an 8 player team, and not require the 16 or 24 players they do now. Thus while retaining the level 54 mobs in it, the number of mobs would be greatly decreased, and the AVs toned down some to accomodate a group of 8 players level of challenge.
Other suggestion:
I feel Lamda is too hectic for only 2 teams, would be nice if it could be gated to allow 3 teams as it is done with BAF. Perhaps this would reduce the failure rate experienced in Lamda some. While a very disciplined team can do Lamda reliably, a PUG one will be hard pressed to succeed, thus my suggestion for relief in order to support or enhance the casual feel.
Another request, do something about the inherent lag on the trials if possible. These places are not as loaded as Rikti Mothership raids or Hami's. Maybe there are just too many mobs loading the place down, or something. Only a request not a biggie.
Mmm...
Before I begin with my suggestions, I want to say I believe i20 as a whole was a good release, not with out issues, but as a whole a very good release.
There are a few things, I believe the devs did really right. Considering that I have very bad luck for drops, I was very concerned on my thread drop rate. The application the devs made, was an elegant one, by accomplishing discrete milestones within the trial you earn Astral Merits, which you could later breakdown for 4 threads. If you have a good team and complete the trial successfully, you are guaranteed to walk out with 4 Astral merits each time for an equivalent of 16 threads, and when combined with an avrage of 4 threads for killing content you wind up with 20 threads that is just about the right rate of thread drops to slot up your incarnate slots. You also get a random class of component, which is frosting, but the good thing is that you get to choose the component within the class of componets, that is really nice. Thus my real concern about luck being too over-bearing with regards to personal incarnate development has been put to bed.
This said, I do have a few suggestions for later releases, i21 etc.
1. Conversion from Threads to Notices of the well would be nice.
2. Conversion from a rarer component to a less rare component.
3. Conversion from Merits to Shards and Threads.
4. Conversion from Alignment Merits to Shards and Threads.
5. Conversion from Notices to Threads.
6. Unlock Mission Threads for Judgment, Lore, Interface and Destiny (like Alphas).
7. New TFs/SFs or retooled to earn threads and upper class components.
8. Make BAF and Lamda scalable.
Now let me explain the why of the suggestions...
Suggestion 1:
There is no direct way to go from threads to Notices of the Well, going from Thread to Shard and then to Notice is a very un-efficient way to go about it.
Suggestion 2:
If I need a rare component, but have a very rare component, I could breakdown the very rare component and get threads from it. Sadly you do not get enough threads to assemble the component immediately below it in complexity, this strikes me as not too nice. We should be able to break a very rare component into a rare component and have a few threads to go with it, for instance.
Suggestion 3:
With the advent of Incarnate system, level 50+ players are naturally reluctant to do any lower than 50 content. If merits could be converted to useful incarnate currency, it may relieve some of this reluctancy.
Suggestion 4:
The Alignment system, now has reduced relevance, for it offers no incarnate currency. Would be interesting if you could acquire threads and components through the alignment merit system.
Suggestion 5:
The TF/SF of the week main driver for 50th level alts is not so much the double merits, its the receiving of the notice of the well. Yet for the new incarnate slots, the notice of the well has no intrinsic value. If one could break down a notice of the well for a reasonable number of threads, perhaps 20, doing the weekly targeted activities would regain its demand.
Suggestion 6:
The concept of trials, imo, hurt the casual players quite hard. To me an 8 player PUG is about as complex one can get within a casual environment. Also having to do the same Trial over and over and over and over to unlock the two incarnate slots associated with it, is just aweful. Then do the very same trials over and over, and over to get the threads to make the components to make the enhancements can get a bit old after a few days. It would be nice, if a new set of trial missions, as it was done for the Alpha's, could be done for each of the new incarnate slots. This suggestion is an alternative not a replacement to the current method. This way a casual player, could (if desired) to solo the mission thread and unlock the incarnate slot.
Suggestion 7:
This goes back to the casual environment, and teams of 8 players. Lets have new TFs that can be accomplished by a group of 4 to 8 players and during the execution of the TF you get shards, and at the end (if slots unlocked) you get 20 Threads, and a random component as it is done with the present trials. I am envisioning a 4 long missioned TFs, where you essentially earn 5 threads each, but do not get the tally until the TF is completed. Also this TFs are set to level 54 mobs as a standard, such as they are done at the trials.
Re-tooled present level 50 TFs/SFs, would essentialy consist of present level 50 TFs/SFs where if the player sets the difficulty of the TF to +4, thus mobs are level 54. The TF/SF is flagged to yield shards along the way, but at the end of the TF it gives you a choice to receive 20 threads, among the other choices such as merits, shard based components, etc.
Suggestion 8:
If we want to regain a sense of casualness, the trials could be made to be scalable to an 8 player team, and not require the 16 or 24 players they do now. Thus while retaining the level 54 mobs in it, the number of mobs would be greatly decreased, and the AVs toned down some to accomodate a group of 8 players level of challenge.
Other suggestion:
I feel Lamda is too hectic for only 2 teams, would be nice if it could be gated to allow 3 teams as it is done with BAF. Perhaps this would reduce the failure rate experienced in Lamda some. While a very disciplined team can do Lamda reliably, a PUG one will be hard pressed to succeed, thus my suggestion for relief in order to support or enhance the casual feel.
Another request, do something about the inherent lag on the trials if possible. These places are not as loaded as Rikti Mothership raids or Hami's. Maybe there are just too many mobs loading the place down, or something. Only a request not a biggie.
Hugs
Sue