Posted 10 December 2010 - 01:30 PM
Taking a long long break (left during the good old days of '06) it was nice to come back to what promised to be a refreshing restart to an old game. It was pretty cool taking my 2nd class chars to 99 then trans and eventually 3rd classing them. I got to explore maps I really hadn't been on before, and kill monsters I really never killed before. I have to say I've hit a point in leveling where it's the same. Different classes, same leveling method; wing, wing, f1 (mob skill) click left mouse, f2 (pots) f2, wing, and occasionally an extra mouse click for positioning. I actually interacted with people on the map solely to let them know I wasn't a bot, god knows I felt like one repeating the same key strokes.
From my perspective I want to level up to make my characters better (excited to use some skills) but that totally ruins the experience of the game. I feel like with this new exp system, I'm forced into the same maps if I Want to level up moderately fast, or stuck trying to figure out which maps I can level at efficiently. It's not that I'm an experience freak, but in reality I can't really do some maps well, with or without a party, and some maps are just horribly put together. I've stayed in Magma 2 from 99-116 simply because every other place is not worth what that place is even when I'm about to break the over 10 limit I'm sure it'll still be better than some other maps.
Going from one AoE skill to having to use 3 or 4 to kill a monster will never be efficient regardless of what the exp you gain is, not only does it feel 10 times longer it costs 3 to 4 times more to do it. I feel like the gap between one map to another is too large and on top of that I'm forced to leave a map after a certain level.
But to finally get to my real point, partying. I would like to (even though I'm not one) speak out for all the arch bishops out there. I feel like renewal has completely screwed the AB class wholeheartedly. Most classes now don't need an AB to level with them, and most probably party with them out of pity, laziness, long friendships,it's your girlfriend or boyfriend or being a little broke and can't chug the white pots. How could the crux of any party be so easily skipped over? Between leveling efficiently by myself with no problems for 100% exp and adding what amounts to a leech for 50% exp and double my time to get a level, I think the choice is clear. Sure they're great for MvPing, endless tower, WoE, but on the average day they have little worth? Why would a group of solo map destroying classes get together when there is no benefit to it? It's not about being selfish, and it's not about being exp greedy it's about being reasonable. When the EXP gap jumps so high, and you have no efficient maps for really anyone to level on why would I double my (billions upon billions) exp requirement when I don't have to?
I don't really care about the exp boost for a party, I'd rather see maps where a group setting is fun and efficient, and the leveling is nice. I don't mean a party sits, pullers pull from a mile away to a spot kinda thing, I mean maps of moving around and having fun. The endless tower is probably the greatest thing I've seen come from Gravity (izzy dungeon is a close second) since I started playing, because it takes classes working as a team to progress. It's not just a map where AoE spamming by one person is a must, it takes the group to win and a bit of "skill."