The Alignment Imbalance

Isn't the Alignment Merits argument a little bit obsolete now?
It is far more efficient to make your pruchases with Astral/Emp merits now than Alignment.
There really isn't any reason to be a hero/villain over vig/rogue now...

Even before the incarnate merits, the decision to be a pure alignment was rather dubious. Being able to get eight Hamis in four days is more profitable than being able to get four Hamis and one lotg.

The 'Run any content they like' argument always makes me laugh.

When Fear Trigger is in the Rogue Isles, she can do the following:

Newspaper Missions
Mayhem Missions
Start Task Forces (if they have a team with the correct amount of players to start)
Do the Signature Story Arc
Do Vigilante > Villain Tip Missions.
Team with others doing Story Arcs.

She cannot:

Start Contact Missions/Arcs
Start the Patron Arc
Join the Redside Death From Below Trial
Access Redside Ouroboros to do old arcs/missions.

Considering Contact Missions/Arcs are a large part of the game and reward Badges and Reward Merits they might be something I'd want to do to get badge titles and so on. But I can't. So I cannot 'run any content I like.'

If she had level 20+ Vigilante arcs and missions to do in the Isles and Paragon City, and maybe some kind of special contacts to get temp powers from, then them not having access to H/V Merits would be understandable.

I have a few characters who are Vigilantes/Rogues for "in character" reasons, but that's pretty much it.

The fact that Vigilantes and Rogues can't access any of the other side's content outside of generic scanner/paper missions without a team of tagalongs is majorly disappointing. The fact that, even with a team, they are a limited as to what content they can do is disappointing. The fact that Vigilantes and Rogues can't do tourist tip missions without changing their alignment is disappointing. Everything about them feels, all in all, half-*****. The alignments exist only as a stepping stone between the real ones.

If all the content were indeed opened up to "tourist" alignments, that would be one thing, but as it is, it's not just that there's an advantage to remaining a Hero/Villain, but the fact that that Vigilantes and Rogues don't have any advantages. I don't keep my characters pure for the Merits, I keep them pure because they're not worth wasting the effort to change.

There are players that like being able to play on both sides, and there are players that prefer to stick to one or the other, and both see benefits to doing what they like.

Neither one is right, and neither one is wrong.

Arcanaville, will you marry me?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville I do.

Honeymoon time! It'll be all spreadsheets and simulations!

--NT

Now that you can start any AT on any side, the novelty of being, say an Ill/Rad controller in the Isles or /nin stalker in Paragon City is pretty thin. I think to make them more attractive, they should create mission content that is exclusive to those alignments and maybe beef up the powers they get as well (although the vigilante power is pretty good).

Hey guys they are so well balanced I have a proposal!

We need to add a new AT. It will have the weakest powers in the game, and only be able to use trial zones.

However, it can get 10x inf and recipes every time it kills a mob, and buy HOs with inf.

EXCELLENT BALANCE

Switching to an alt is a potential response to ANY balance criticism.

Switching faction is not an appropriate response because it takes 2 days minimum and costs a ton of merits anyway, compared to affirming faction twice. It also does not address the biggest reason to be native - merit conversion - because you have to stay native to do so at any large amount. In fact if you switch a lot it costs even more rewards.

The point is that if I want to run a TF for entertainment as a tourist, I'm getting half as many reward merits as a native, for the same task, even if that is a TF I can do natively. If I actually use the ability to enter another zone, another consideration is that it can be much harder to traverse zones and either the team is slower or they go ahead.

The point I made is not that we need a rewards AT but that rewards vs. access is apples and oranges. They don't balance just as combat effectiveness does not balance either.

It might be more accurate to say that you get half as much benefit from those merits, rather than half as many merits, but the basic idea is there: you get less reward for the same task.