Well, some players paid a lot to refine their pre-AoV gear, but it became useless later. Some farmed countless of hours to get their cards that became obsolete later. And some wasted countless of spinels, grahams, VIPs, etc. to defeat Ratmaster or Maya. So sure, some paid for their seeds, but they had their fun and it's time to let go.
So this sort of statement about who had paid what is a rather weak one in my opinion.
Devaluation is king!
Eventually, all things have to become useless. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any progress.
But unlike Solemia suggested, I wouldn't want higher seedrunes, I would cut them all down to 5% or even better: Invent a new mechanic for the new gear! So my idea would be:
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Gear with charges (enhancements with expiry date):
This idea combines refinement/honing/seeds with the concept of durability. Similar to refinement levels (hones, etc.), these charges (or stacks) improve certain gear stats. But the important part: These charges run off step by step after some time!
So players would have to recharge their gear or enhancements regularly, just as they would have to repair their gear now. No epic fails needed (like dropping down to +0 charges or broken gear), just increase the recharge cost, the higher the benefits get.
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The advantage is that the power-level of players isn't set in stone anymore, just because of a 'bit of luck' on opening seed-boxes early.
Similar to temporary costumes, where you have to extend the duration, or like VIPs, costume-pots, etc. that eventually run off, you have to spend some time/money/effort in it every now and then.
Btw: This isn't a 'new' issue. A Priest who was lucky to find all blue gear tokens on the first PvE Arena run wouldn't have to do it again.
So such a system would also guarantee that any associated content is visited regularly.
- Just imagine that green seeds would lose 1% of their percentage every now and then. You would then have to rerun Chaos regularly to replace the 'worn out' ones. And due to the fact that higher pecentages are scarce, the regular effort you spent defines your power level, not just a single lucky box.
- Just imagine, your refinement level would drop after some time. You would have to refine it regularly, not just once per new content / gear level. So there won't be any "I stick to Himmelmez" issues anymore. And the higher you want your refinement level to stay, the more you have to invest in it. You want all your gear parts to stay +20, well do something for it!
- Just imagine, you would have to spend blood points regularly for PvP-centric benefits. F.e. Colo gear and CLS runes would have an expiration date... and need to be recharged/replaced. Well, it will assure that Jehoon is visited... or Colo... or WoE.
- Just imagine that your pet level would drop by 1% on a regular basis, You would then have to 'recharge' it and would have farm those monsters again. The more pets you want and the higher the level of your pet, the more DNAs it would take to keep them all up.
- Just imagine the card refinement would drop the same way. No need to ban them! Time would solve this issue automatically. Simple as that.
And because this will always be a temporary bonus, new players would be able to catch up (something you can't really do now, due to unavailable seed percentages). And an additional benefit: Even it the seeds, hones, refinements, cards were hacked, you can simply fix the hack and the regular power decrease will fix things sooner or later again.
And no more "someone paid a lot for it" discussions... with such a system it would be clear that every bonus will end... and the duration is set and well known.
Edited by Greven79, 28 January 2015 - 06:28 AM.
