NiteHawk wrote:Because being able to change races would dynamically make everyone cooker cutters and set everyone to a set few races. I don't think it would be fun or good at all if everyone was the same. Everyone would abuse it, specially vets, to change their characters into more useful ones.
I disagree that racial respec = everyone would have cookie cutters, as long as you have races with viable trade offs. Eg not everyone is a Horc slayer because there is a viable tradeoff in Saurians (some ppl rather big backstabs, others want to land more often). Its about presenting ppl with good choices, not punishing them for bad former ones.
NiteHawk wrote:Some people will find that X or Y might be better in X or Y situations, then they should level said char too. Giving a racial respec to everyone pretty much will probably shutdown any sort of leveling that still remains, too, etc.
Again, i think i ideologically disagree with you here and comments like these make me question how disconnected you might be from the ordinary experience of a common player playing your game. I believe that ppl wont be motivated to level if they think that the character they envision having at the end of a month of grinding is not going to be what they want. I've certainly lost interest in finishing several characters cos i now know that they are crap builds anyway so why bother making them 25ers. I cant be bothered starting new ones either because by the time i approach 25 there may be changes that make them useless too. Yes there are a small % of the community that can churn out 25er after 25er and can afford to level their 2nd or 3rd char of the same class, but the majority of players probably only have 2-7 25ers worth of leveling in them and then they want to get on with enjoying the end-game.... most ppl dislike leveling but will put up with it if they perceive there is a desired reward at the end (ie obtaining the character they envision having).... not presenting ppl with any other choice than to re-level new chars after any re-balancing is likely to destabilise faith in accomplishing that reward and be more de-motivational to leveling IMHO. I'm not saying racial respecs should be a free or easy thing (except as compensation for rebalancing)... merely a possible thing... i dont care if you make the item that does it a rare purple/orange one... it at least provides some end-game thing to strive for. Forcing ppl back into mid/early-game grind just to mask the fact that EO's end-game is lacking is not the right solution (and yes there are ways to make end game more interesting even with limited resources EO already has, but thats a different topic)
NiteHawk wrote:No, they aren't, so get them to post! I was simply making a point that a lot of discord members disagreed. I did not say that they represent everyone, only that there was a discussion about it. I however, wanted people to POST here so we can discuss it. Otherwise it's obviously hard to make opinions without people giving them. If you have friends who agree with you in game, then POST it. I've linked this in a bcast before too in game. We can't formulate stuff if people don't contribute, and no matter one each person who replies here is just that, one person in a bigger pool.
Getting the community to contribute to discussion is the domain of the game developer, not me as player (i'm already trying to help you by posting, for what its bloody worth). I think you need to ask yourself why people arent posting. Again, i could be wrong and only representing my own view but let me give you some possible suggestions in my opinion. In order to write posts, collect statistical proof, collect logs, chat on discord etc (i.e. all the stuff you want from players to help you make decisions), a player actually has to have a certain amount of care factor. They have to feel invested in the game. They need to feel that previous posts actually were listened to or appreciated or mattered etc. They wont post if they have already lost faith/care in the game and largely quit/gone inactive (i've tried to voice some of their reasons why they've quit, but i cant get these ppl to come back and post - sorry). They wont post anymore if they feel like previous posts have been ignored (by you not responding, or by not garnering enough interest from the skewed sub-community of regular posters to warrant your attention as an actual issue). They wont post anymore if they feel immediately shut-down by you after expressing their feelings about something (e.g. when you immediately throw game formulas at people to say they are wrong rather than saying "thankyou for posting your feelings" and validating their value as participants in discussion).
NiteHawk wrote:If you were referring to a group of players being IG or on a 3rd party chat client, I don't relate to them at all or know who really is in any of the guilds/groups. I'm not really close to anyone and I keep it that way to prevent drama, and to attempt to be fair on others. Kind of like the warden job, but on an admin level.
This confirms my suspicions that you dont actually play your own game, which would explain why some of your opinions about things seem so disconnected to me (or sound like opinions that have been fed to you by certain vocal ppl). While i really admire your desire to do this to remain neutral, i do actually think you actually need to find a way to play your own game abit (incognito and without actually tipping game balance) so you can get some first-hand understanding of issues (and not lightly make statements like "they should just level said character too")... Otherwise, you seem to express some very strong opinions about what "feels right/wrong" and what "will/wont happen" (eg racial respecs would destroy leveling) without any first-hand experience of your own in leveling your own 25er, interacting with ppl who do and get bored/frustrated in the end-game and quit etc (yes, i know you would have done this in Rok, but as you know well EO is a different game). If you only learn from those who stick around and are willing to post (ie your regular customers) you most likely wont grow this game long term even with advertising... you need to learn from those who have left or are starting to lose interest and leave (which can only come about if you get down and dirty interacting with ppl like that TV show "undercover boss" rather than expecting these people to care enough to post on forums etc - cos let me tell you i post on forums and for the life of me most days i wonder why i still bother). I know you are usually too busy developing the game to invest time playing/play-testing it (and the whole community is very grateful for that), but i wonder if your investment in playing a little would result in a small sacrifice in the quantity/speed of development for a much better quality of developments when they do come.
I am not your friend, so i can give you this honest feedback without fear of offending you. I dont know why i care enough to still post, and im pretty close to not caring anymore, but i do genuinely wish you and EO success that far surpasses Rok. I have given you what i can, and its up to you how you care to use it. I genuinely mean it when i say "peace and good luck".