Qwerty wrote:As bullshit as some of the AC stuff is, PSO2 isn't at all P2W, not even close.
"Not entirely", maybe. "Not at all" is untenable.
Let's go down the list of what AC gets you:
1. Extra mags (+resets).
2. Extra skill trees (+resets).
3. +5% synthesis boosts.
4. +30% grind boosts and grind protectors (+1)
5. +20% affix boosts (30% is available from the excube shop, in exchange for 10 levels--see exp booster below)
6. Experience +150% tickets.
7. Rare drop +150% tickets (200% from scratch), plus a rare drop boost premium drink.
8. Stat boost affix items.
9. Reliable access to a shop license (or more chances at the unreliable one by doubling your FUN payout).
10. Doubled FUN/login stamp payout (extra chances to RNG out a shop license, 25 day cycles for +2 grind protectors/triboosts/excubes instead of 50).
10.
The ability to purchase 10* items.
1 means you can't really effectively change class (your HU mag will be 100% worthless on a RA).
2 ... fortunately, the skill trees are complete garbage anyway (your HU tree will never not be fury because 225% damage is
that good, regardless if you intend to go HU/FI, FI/HU, or RA/HU)
3+10 means that you can not only get the best weapons in the game (the Flamme ones), but also get them to 50% by either just buying a second copy of them or using exchange weapons and +5% boosters, reducing it to at most 7 exchange weapons (160 Iritista or 720 AQ stones) rather than
40 of them (800 Iritista or 3600(!) AQ stones).
4+5 are pretty much mandatory, unfortunately. The attack gap between +0 and no affixes and +10 and even just peasant affixes (soul + stat III + booster) is 800, even just with exchange weapons (Rosso Ringer goes from 517 to 982 for a 465 bonus, plus 85 * 4 = 805 total). If you have a bad mag (you didn't change class, did you?) it goes up to almost 1000.
Fortunately, if you're in a party, it doesn't matter that much (the only actual penalties are for soloing--FORTUNATELY YOU CAN SPEND REAL MONEY TO FIX THEM).
Maronji wrote:Basically, because he's lazy and wants to make a bad game worse so he can get bored of it after a couple days (or because he has highly unrealistic expectations of such a project, like trying to change everything that Sega got wrong (I'd hate to be the guy that has to beta/balance test all that)).
5 minutes of testing would be 299 seconds more than Sega did.
Realistically, to be "good", I'd like to see pretty much everything ripped out and replaced--items, affixes, grinding, quests, skill trees (holy shit these are the worst skill trees I've ever seen), enemy AI, a few other things. On the other hand, to be "better than the released version", all you'd really have to do is multiply droprates by 3 and exp rates by 2 (THIS IS WHAT AC GETS YOU), make AC stuff free (except costumes because they need money somehow), remove the item requirements for AQs and XQs, and make EQs always available.
Of course, considering I've done effectively dozens of hours of free work for this game (and that's not including the countless hours I spent "playing" despite getting having long since lost any sense of "enjoyment" from the game), I'm not really qualified to say what would be a good use of someone's time.
(Before anyone gets the wrong idea, no, I'm not cancelling the patch or anything.)
EDIT: Right, should probably mention: There are parts of the game that are done well. Combat's fairly interesting, aesthetic's cool, SH Vardha is a delightful kick in the face (the kind of thing that'll horribly murder you if you're not ready, but doesn't punish any class significantly worse than the others), it's just... the MMO components surrounding it are
that bad.