Is The Game Getting Easier?

I've been gone for a bit (since around I17) and I just got back into the game at full steam. In just the last few issues I've noticed a few strange things that I wanted to share. not really venting, just pointing it out that I think we're being too nice.

V/EATs
Back when I earned mine you had to reach Level 50, now it's just Level 20. I get that freebies won't get these at all without buying them, but why the level change? Capes and Auras didn't move, so why give us the V/EATs at such a low range?

The AE System
Yup, farmers... those are new. That's not the point I wanted to make though. My biggest issue with it is that when most of these people hit 50 they realize they don't like the toon anymore and just roll another one. Most of these people have never even been out of Atlas Park and they decide that their level 50 toons are no good anymore. Kinda' sad in a way.

With Issue-21 We Don't Need Rogues Anymore
This one kind of bothered me a bit more than the others. I was reading that with Issue-21 we won't be needing the Going Rogues expansion anymore, because they are going to just let heroes roll as Brutes. Or more that when the hodge-podge of players roll out, they are going to be all sent to one zone where they get their morality mission at Level 1 instead of Level 20. Make the players earn their Hero Brutes, it's just crazy that this is the way it happens now.

Endgame Content is Growing, but PvP Stays Ignored
Now I understand that PvPers aren't a large portion of our population (I think I read it was around 5% or so right now), but with so many issues cropping up on the forums, why don't they just hire two or three guys at PS and just have them work on the PvP Aspects. Perhaps we don't have that big of a population because there just isn't any real reason to get into it. Who knows.

The Ease of IO Sets
I remember when the PvP IO Sets came out, the devs said they were going to be special rewards for pulling off some fairly good PvP Runs (I don't remember them exactly, but that was the gist) So much in fact, that you wouldn't have to leave the PvP Zones to get one each day, which was pretty sweet since the launch only had about 10 sets... we have 10 sets still btw. Now I guess you can get them through the AE System if you really want them, just seems kinda' lame that people whine about wanting those and they get them, but the PvPers whine about wanting to be able to pull their own system off and get ignored (shrugs).

Okay what's up with the forums deleting my spacing between topics? Stupid thing won't even let me add them in using edit. NVM just deleting the response altogether since it looks like an ugly wall of text.

NO, if your paying attention you'd notice they've upped the price and requirements for almost all incarnate slotting.

1) Because the devs said it was a mistake to make them unlockable at lvl 50. Really, they're awesome, but not to the point of OMG!

They're EPIC only due to the storyline.

2) If they stay in AP, then no worries right? Eh. If it wasn't AE it would be some other farm.

3) Brutes arent all that. And wouldn't it have been that way anyways? People who like redside will still go to redside and be either a villain or rogue.

4) Can't say much on that one.

5) People STILL say getting PvP IOs are hard. They're time consuming and/or cost a lot of influence to obtain.

30 days through Alignment Merits, a little fast 15-20 days if you buy a Hero Merit a day. 20 Days if you buy them through Emp Merits.

So that's 2 PvP IOs every two days. Yeah. Still not easy to obtain, but easier than before yes.

As someone who PvPed all the time at one point and never got one, I have to say I don't mind this one.

I focus on the the shards not the threads. The threads are easier. But in my world, the cost to craft alphas has gone up. I have to have more to craft high level alpha slots now. I'll post pics shortly. I'm going into the game now.

really, this game has always been easy...the devs erred on the wrong side of the mark and made the game really, really easy to begin with which is one of the reasons so many nerfs happened in the early days

I mean, at level 22, a troller with all SOs can solo more than effectively if they play smart...and I mean to the point of taking on open-world spans in IP and Terra Volta

1. Epic ATs are epic because of the story, not because they're uber-leet classes only meant for awesome players, etc. Also, with the Astral/Empyrean Vendors in Issue 20.5 your Incarnates can give early cape and aura unlocks to your lowbies.

2. AE was a fiasco, but definitely not a deliberate attempt on the part of the devs to make the game easier (if anything, they've showed the opposite intent by cracking down on exploits). And seriously, farmers are new??? (Can't tell if you were being sarcastic there, disregard this if so.)

3. If the only reason you bought Going Rogue was to be able to play a Brute on heroside, then yes, this would seem to be true. (Not sure how this makes the entire game easier as a result though...) Thankfully, GR was chock full of other features, so I don't really understand your complaint here.

4 & 5. PvP is dead. Deal with it.

Easy != QoL changes that make the game less of a boring slog to 50. Running across the whole of creation until you finally got a travel power at level 14 was not fun. Having to work out which tram to take in order to reach which zone was not fun. Traveling from one zone to the next is not "playing the game", so making that easier is not "making the game easy".

On the other hand, go try the new Keyes Trial, then come back and let us know what you found so easy about it.

Just going to add that everyone getting access to Going Rogue was not a surprise to anyone. We all knew it was going to happen and when the whiners complained last August about GR costing so much we told them they could save their money and wait for it to be given to us for free a year later just like everyone was given CoV for free a year after it was launched. Lo and behold everyone with an active account gets it for free a year after it launched.