User:Faer/RandomThoughts

Consumables (and PvE skills)

I'll be frank, I don't like the fact that we have these things. Do I use them? Sure, when I have them, or when somebody in the party pops one during a mission. Hell, they save me lots of time, so I'm not going to complain too much in that respect. But they make the game easier, considerably so even, in exchange for a handful of materials and a pitiful amount of gold. Sorry, what? I can spend less than a quarter of the time and effort completing something with them than I would without them? That just seems, to me, to be amazingly stupid. Making the higher-end areas of the game accessible to newer or less skilled players is all well and good, because nobody really cares about PvE in the end, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. There's got to be a better way to achieve that end than to dumb down the entire game and undermine the original vision (being, of course, "Skill > Time").

Don't get me wrong, I really like the fact that I, as somebody who has completed all of the "hardest" challenges this game has to offer in PvE before the addition of consumables and PvE skills (aside from EotN dungeons, but I have done all of these without them, so whatever), can now complete the same content with considerably less effort and in considerably less time. I do still enjoy completing DoA in HM with "vanilla" builds and teams, because it's somewhat challenging, and that makes it fun. But sometimes, I just want to log in, trash some shit up, grab my loot, and log out. Consumables help with this quite a bit, so I like them. What I really dislike about them, I think, is that they are available to everyone right from the start, whether or not they have already cleared the high-end content that they were so clearly made for. It's basically like telling a kid that if he can't complete his high school math tests on his own, he can do it open-book and with a scientific calculator. You don't learn anything like that, and you certainly don't get any better at the subject.

So, yeah. I like consumables. I do, really. But I hate that we have them, and especially that everyone can use them, regardless of skill level or previous accomplishments. I honestly feel that they are destroying the game, because they make everything incredibly easy (really, if you fail anything with a set of cons up, you are terrible and should play something else). Games should be fun, yes, and one could argue that if I don't like something I don't have to use it. But the problem is that line of thought only really applies in single player games. Because, see, even if I don't use consumables (or PvE skills), the fact that they exist still effects me, because other players will be using them and thus obtaining rewards that they are otherwise not skilled enough to get, and those rewards will inevitably end up on the market. This is an online game, not a single player one, so the actions of one player can easily and often do change the game experience for all the other players. Do you really need to ruin the economy I am a part of to have fun in this game? Really? I don't think you do, Joe. I don't think you do.

As much as I'd groan about spending more effort and time on what I consider trivial tasks, I'd really like to see consumables removed from the game. A game doesn't have to be incredibly easy to be fun, and anyone who thinks it does should go play the easiest game ever. -Faer 23:56, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

8 Skills

Why do people so easily forget (or never understand to begin with) that you have 64 skills at your disposal at any given time? -Faer 15:49, 24 November 2008 (UTC)