Bigjunk wrote on Dec 20
th, 2012 at 1:00pm:
It's also 2 million XP in the level range where XP grows on trees. Between Necro 2, VON, Desert, GH walkups, etc . . . it's really only letting you skip some of the easiest level to level through. You skip maybe 3 days of levelling.
The grind starts at 17.
This is true. I would rather have a stone that takes you from 18 to 20 (about 1.1 million XP) than one that takes you from 8 to 16. One that takes you from 16 to 20 would be really sweet.
On another topic: I see your point Jeff. I have been around long enough to remember the days before mana pots and the only bonus XP you got was from voice of the master and the occasional +X% weekend.
But the game was smaller then. I came in just when the cap went to 16. There were fewer quests. There was no TR'ing. Before Shroud, there wasn't even much of a grind for gear. Unless you had craptastic luck on 20th lists on VoN, DQ, Reavers, and Titan. Once you capped a toon, it was run a few raids every three days, maybe do some bloodstone farming and such. Otherwise you started up a new alt.
Now you have 13 raids instead of 5. You have a good 10-15 multi quest chains that yield unique end reward lists at high levels. You have Shroud Crafting, DT Crafting, Epic Crafting, Cannith Crafting, Challenge Crafting, several options for suppressed, dampened, unraveling, unstable, unfinished, etc upgrades and sets, you have 11 more levels, 11 ED's, 4.9 Million XP to cap a 1st life toon (vs. 1.360 back then) (Vs. 7.374 million on 2xTR). Probably 200 more quests than we had back then. 10-15 more adventure areas.
The game is much larger and there is much more to do than in the "good old days". You have many more options for a character than in the "good old days". I'm not saying all the changes are good.
Things I wish were not there: Tomes of Fate. Stat Tomes. Shroud Ingredients (even smalls). Rez Cakes. Bells of Opening. Mana Pots (only because of how unbalancing they are to game play.)
Things I am definitely OK with:
Basic consumables like health potions, thieves tools, spell components, and the like. ( I call them a stupid tax). Cosmetics - armor, hair, companions, guild ship stuff and the like. Account Options - quests/packs, guest passes, character slots, bank slots, races, classes, Hearts of Wood and such. Convenience items - Ship Portal beacons, rods of teleport, bracelet of friends, ingredients bags, cookie jars, collectables bags, etc.
None of this section affects game play in the slightest. One might argue on the Hearts of Wood, but I justify it by saying that Turbine reserves the right to alter the rules at their whim. We should have the ability to change our builds to accomodate.
The things I am kinda OK with: Things that make the game a bit smaller: XP Tomes, XP Pots, Slayer Pots, Guild Renown Pots, Vet Status, Vet Status II, and now XP Stones. None of these help you actually complete a quest that you could not otherwise complete. None of these give you gear you didn't earn in quest. Sure they speed along TR's, allowing you to skip quests, but they don't actually help you complete a quest. You still have to do that yourself.
I find it funny that some of the people that complain heavily against P2W and label it cheating are also more than happy to exploit at every turn. Turbine makes the game. They set the rules. Using the store is part of the rules. Therefore, by definitioni, it's not cheating. Exploiting is closer to cheating than store use. That's purposefully breaking the rule set. But everyone justifies it by saying that Turbine deserves it for all the shit they pull. Makes me wonder if some people think the game is not actually PvP or PvE, but really PvT. Either way, I don't care if people exploit or not. But it is hypocritical to argue that P2W is cheating if you do.
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