A bell curve for progression sounds pretty ideal if it's weighted slightly more towards the 10*-12* side. Honestly it's fine if C and early B stuff is passed by pretty quickly; one wouldn't really expect to spend too much time with weapons that are genuinely "noob-tier". The key is just making sure that the tiers which do have an extensive selection actually have the potential for getting the treasure-hunting attention that they deserve during the phase at which the player is most likely to find them desirable.
(Speaking for myself alone, I'd like to feel the need to start hunting for specific weapons as early as 6* or 7*, but whether or not that will be feasible remains to be seen.)
As for rank grinders, I'd say that their use and ease-of-acquisition should be fine-tuned for scenarios where a specific weapon is seen as strategically or aesthetically desirable for use at higher levels. Making them a legitimately viable option for "general upgrades" would obviously be counter-productive to the thrill of loot hunting... But as long as each weapon still retains its unique qualities and stats after being ranked up, I think that alone will guarantee that rank grinders will always be considered a highly valuable and integral mechanic regardless of how rare they are. (i.e. I'd be much more worried about making them the obvious solution for everything than I would be worried about making them too much of a gimmick).
Hats off to EspioKaos as well then, wherever he may be.Agrajag wrote:Thanks! Do note, though, EspioKaos does a lot of the heavy lifting on the main patch right now. It wouldn't be anywhere near what it is without him, even if we are losing a bit of ground at the moment.