Morara

Does anyone else find it ironic that, as your virtual character gains experience, wealth and social stature, your reality character is losing the exact same things at the same rate?

Panthera

Pros get paid to play their game. Do you? Didn't think so scooter. The only people insulted are those that have somehow skipped their meds and have blurred the line between fantasy and reality.

I'm on this site, at the moment, to make fun of those that think this "game" is anything more than a hobby.

And no, skippy, I don't need market economics explained to me. Thanks for the offer. You may want to take your own worthless advice, however, as this holy cruisade you've embarked upon to rid us all of the evils of plat buying is brought upon by douche bags, such as yourself, that overprice crap. You want a solution to the "problem?" Stop giving people a need to buy plat.

Wait. You BOUGHT a Robe of the Invoker? You didn't camp the rock until it spawned? You mean you took the easy route..the short cut and bought it and we are supposed to now jump upon your band wagon? You didn't put in the time and invest the energy to legitimately earn your robe and now, somehow, we are supposed to believe in your cause? What makes you any better than the "casual" that does the same thing?

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Windraa

Are you just arguing for the sake of arguing?
Isnt what you said in that very quote the exact points beeing made by Illu and Talonis in allmost every one of their posts in this whole monstrosity of a thread?
..or did I miss something.

Making masters no-trade >>> eliminates 1 reason to buy plat.
Making shineys no-trade >>> eliminate another reason to buy plat
Etc.ect.ect....

Panthera

This thread is nothing more than another rant by one segment of the game vs another. A tired "hard-core" vs. "casual" cliche disguised as being anything about RMT.

Beyond that, I find it hysterical that those, Illuminator in particular, jumping up and down frothing at the mouth over people buying plat are the very ones listing items at ridiculous prices. I also find the hypocricy of buying an item he wasn't willing to put in the time to get "legitimately" rather delicious.

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Alania

You really have no clue. Illu said he put in an entire weekend farming cash to buy it. I bet it was somewhere in the vicinity of 20-30 hours of playtime. If someone wants to put that kind of time into farming cash or the master they want, that's fine. Its the people that DON'T want to do this, that would rather pay 5 bucks for 20 plat to buy that master that we have an issue with. They don't want to put the work in, they just want the master.

Windraa

It's just like in any sport isnt it?
There's allways someone who just want to win....least effort and by any means necessary.
RMT is the mmo's version of steroids....

Talonis

Killed an Avatar last night. I don't care what anyone says, those are some fun fights. Everyone runs up to the metal chest like a throng of toddlers that just woke up on Xmas day. Is it gonna be the Robe? One of the Chime items? The Necklace of Pain?

The tension can be felt, even on voice comms.

Pop the chest and everyone checks out the loot. A few ooohs and aaaahhhs later, the stuff is bid on and distributed. Jokes are flying around, the electricity of the fight is still coursing through the veins.

Besides the 2 items, there are 2 master spells that go barely noticed. One is the lvl 70 Mystic group ward, I think. For an instant, I am reminded of this thread. I know that spell will be on the broker by night's end, a hefty price tag attached. Yay for my monthly split. It is how things are, no matter how wrong I think it is.

About 30 min later, I am in PoA, doing some tanking for some guildies grinding out the last few adventure levels on the 'alt of the month'. We are going back and forth on the upper floors, killing the usual 'named' suspects, all in the name of easy masters to break the monotony of grinding. We got 3 or 4.

Hang on a sec, gotta /report this plat tell...

Ok, back to the story. One was from random trash below green dragon. Yep, lvl 70 master spell. There was no excitement. No whoa factor. I knew exactly what was in the chest, it was just a matter of popping it to see which one. I knew they would drop. I expected them to drop.

Go ahead and question my motives for starting this thread. Cook up conspiracy theories and label me elitist. Tell me I'm a whiner and a crybaby because someone else can get the same stuff I can with a [very small] fraction of the effort.......or no effort at all, if the price is right.

It is fucked up progression. The Entitlement Complex is embedded and [from the replies here from folks that either see nothing wrong or see it working correctly] it will remain as is. Since all I am doing here is 'wagging the dog', according to some of you, I have a question.

Even though you are against the idea of the OP, lets pretend you are an SOE employee. Your boss says you are in charge of fixing spell progression. How would you accomplish this?

As he walks away, he turns back to you and asks for some ideas on how to reduce RMT also.

Anyone want to take a stab? I am apparently taking the wrong approach. But I'm open to alternatives and different ideas.

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~.......This site is now FFA against SOE.......Since The Good Way is no longer an option, we now shift our format to The Bad Way.......

........let them know the meaning of dissatisfied customers.........~

-LFG

Panthera

I've read through this entire thread and others just like it that decry how "casuals" should never be allowed to have master spells because they don't need it nor deserve it. Honestly I could give a flying fuck what he or anyone else does in game because I'm happy with the game. I'm not bitching, pissing and moaning that player X has better gear than me and making judgment calls as to who deserves what.

Seriously, look back through and read the parts where all fabled should be no-trade, including master spells because people who don't raid don't deserve them because they weren't willing to put in the time to earn them. They aren't talking about earing the money to buy the spells legitimately...they are preaching they never should be for sale to begin with! Now do you see the irony in one of the loudest soap-boxers who by-passed the content by purchasing what he wanted rather than spending the time and energy to earn it?

If they had a shred of integrity, they would transmute their masters they have up for sale or destroy them.

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Panthera

Thanks for this.

This game will have to remain exciting enough to the bread-and-butter vast unwashed middle in order to remain in business. The reason there is a smattering of tradeable fabled gear is to give non-raiders a bone. Nothing more. No casual gamer will ever be able to deck themselves out in game trivializing gear from the broker.

As far as spell progression, I'm not convinced there is such an over-reaching problem that requires any fix beyond the level increase. Only time is going to tell what mobs are like and how the next 10 levels of spells scale. Doing anything beyond that runs the risk of breaking more things than fixing. Do we really want more changes in the way we play?

Finally, SOE just finished "sting" operations and suspended accounts. That is the best way to fight RMT.

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Alania

You are part of the entitlement problem. People think that because they pay the same 15 bucks a month that we do that they deserve the same thing, even with less time invested. The simple fact of the matter is, you DO NOT NEED masters and fabled gear to run the group instances currently in the game. YOU DO NOT NEED THEM! Adept 3's and legendary are more than good enough for it. Getting a master to drop very rarely off a group named is fun, exciting, it adds to your character, it should be something UNEXPECTED.

Look, no one is forcing anyone else to put in time they don't want to. If someone wants to be casual, be casual and admit that you dont' have the time or inclination to get full master. There is nothing wrong with that. Maybe with enough time you will be able to get a good assortment of masters, but please tell me why you think someone who plays an hour a day deserves to have equal gear to someone who plays 6 hours a day? What logic stands, then, to play more than an hour a day if that is all it takes to aquire the best available?

We aren't asking to shit on the casuals. Truth is, if masters were no-trade, it would simply mean that they have to spend more time camping master-dropping nameds in groups, even if its in 1 hour chunks. People who play more will get more, depending on what they are doing, but it in NO way deters casuals from attaining masters. But they WILL have to put time in, maybe several play sessions in a row camping the same named.

I wish the casuals would realize that the people who raid do not want to "shit on them" (this is the general consensus that I get) but rather we'd like to have something to show for the time we do put into the game. You may not want to invest time into the game, and just want to see it as a game, then see it as a game and quit concerning yourself with what other people are doing. We enjoy it, its a hobby that we invest alot of damn time into, and we would like to see something to show for that. Every time a change goes in that rewards casuals with the same thing we have for half the effort, its a stab in our back. Casuals have tons to do with their time, quests, instances, solo, crafting, what have you. But they want to have the best of the best of the best for almost no effort. And that leaves nothing for us to strive for.