More like a hiatus post.
Gameās gotten significantly good the past few weeks - thatās coming from me who used to passively doompost about it. The rise in average players http://i.imgur.com/mR4zpcs.png is one indication of that (another is the number of listings in the market I guess and the population in ch1 of the 3 major cities and popular grind/farm spots).
The reset event has been super fun. I hope they hold more of these each time a new rank is added or thereās another significant rework to game mechanics, and hopefully still unlimited for a time duration unlike what happened in November (or October, I forgot) where it was only one-time.
Iāve exhausted all possible builds I wanted to try. After sticking to the builds Iāve found comfortable and fun, thereās this old familiar feeling thatās surfaced again. The game has gotten subjectively boring again.
###PVE
Maybe itās because I donāt do ET anymore nor was ever interested in Solmiki due to time constraints and being a mostly solo player, Iāve returned to the same ālogin to do dailies, farm 315 mats (to sell or use), magnum opus this and thatā to progress. We at least have HGs now but somehow the experience having spent a good amount of time there didnāt feel ānewā.
The DPK system, at least the kind Iām aware of, has been both a boon and a bane for high-DPK material hunters like myself. Itās nice that you can predict when the next drop is nearing. Itās NOT nice when there is at least one other person farming the same mob as you in yĢ¶oĢ¶uĢ¶rĢ¶ the same channel but you have no right nor good reason to tell him to change to another channel, especially when those are already occupied as well.
Then thereās this talk (not sure if already implemented or not) of a shared DPK for all channels in a map - whatās worse than not getting a drop after hours of farming due to RNG is not getting a drop after hours of farming because other players from other channels are getting āyourā drops due to cross-channel DPK. It gets worst when they kill significantly faster than you.
This other ādiminishing DPKā kind of thing seems nice on paper but some people has been saying this isnāt the case, at least yet here on iTOS.
Iād rather farm hundreds of something with moderate DPK or drop rate than 20 of something with insane DPK (and worst when cross-channel). I hope IMC looks well into this drop issue and come up with a solution ASAP as more and more players are becoming aware of or experiencing this.
###PVP
TBL and GvG is still decided by the team with the luckiest or best (or sometimes OP) composition. The randomness of TBL matchmaking is still kinda problematic for me, and offered solutions are not without unlikable effects. Gear difference, I think, has been whatās causing new players to shy away from joining. At least thatās what I would think if I was a new player getting OHKOāed on my first TBL match.
Not due to nostalgia or anything, but I found the good olā standardized-gear TBL last year more fun. I hope IMC considers the suggestions made by the community regarding PVP balance and making it more feasible to everyone while keeping gear progression worth doing.
###Until thenā¦
Iām sure a lot of you feels different and are still having tons of fun playing the game, especially those whoāve established social connections with other players or just like RP-ing.
I donāt have anything to say to old/veteran players as most have probably found at least a thing or two that made them want to login regularly. Maybe there are a few like me too - just waiting for the next big thing from this game.
The only advice I can offer is for newer players: donāt rush, enjoy the journey, and make lots of friends in-game. This is an MMORPG after all, or at least what itās trying to be. Despite its flaws, the game is fun as long as you treat it like a game, not a job.
ps I will still keep track of the news section and will probably check the forums from time to time. No, I donāt have any other games to play. TOS is hardly replaceable with anything else at the moment. This is a game of its own, like how RO was back in the old days.
Pausing playing to āgrindā irl then come back later at rank 9 is a good idea because the game is pretty boring now.
Also, I can get more silver value of out farming 315 mats than running Saalus for the same amount of time especially now that shards have become significantly cheaper (hitting 120k last I looked).
