Current issues in soulworker - and possible solutions (except from the lack of content and incompetent support team)

    Hello,


    Down below, I have listed what I believe to be some of the problems the game currently has together with proposals to how you can solve them.


    Issue: We have no consistent way of telling how much we contribute/how well we perform in raids.


    Explanation: The currently implemented post-raid ranking system has little to no meaning due to the fact that it is based on a lot of useless factors that don't help determining who is contributing the most or how well each of us perform. This includes Combo, Number of Hits, Damage Taken, Number of Hits Taken, Number of Buffs Applied, and possibly a couple more. In AoV, SCP (and Primal), which is pretty much all we farm in teams these days, whoever contributes the most really just comes down to whoever deals the most damage. But we have no way of knowing this.


    Proposal: Add a Damage Counting System, either in terms of a post-raid (sub)ranking or a real-time counter inside raids (consider adding a separate one for AoV in the actual boss room).




    Issue: Imbalance in DZ capital.


    Explanation: Long-term players own too much DZ due to money-buyers in the past, and there's no way new/broke/f2p players stand a chance with the current DZ drop rates. The only way to make money is by grinding and selling Energy Converters all day, every day (which means you won't make much progress on your own gear). Other than that, you could throw a lot of cash at the game.


    Proposal: Increase the raw amount of DZ you gain from grinding (don't overkill it though as it would be unfair to people that already put a lot of time into grinding/saving up DZ). You could increase the amount slowly over the cause of multiple updates.




    Issue: We can't tell how fashion items look before buying them.


    Explanation: Having to buy something you can't tell how looks can only be bad for business. Having to search for it on other server or among other players who already bought it is too much of a pain. It's also unfair to expect us to buy something without showing us how it looks first. And don't get my started on the rng boxes/SC wheel.


    Proposal: Add previews to the premium shop; if that's too much effort, add pictures in the game, on the forum or on social medias.




    Issue: SIN Brooches have been unavailable for too long.


    Explanation: In the current stage of the game, SIN brooches are beyond broken (mainly due to their set effects). With better gear in the future and the brooch rework, it will balance the brooches (unless you don't rework SIN, but that's an other discussion for an other day). The fact that the brooches are so good isn't really the problem. It's the fact that they aren't available and hasnt been since the end of last year. People that joined the game after the last SIN sale don't stand a chance. I suspect this is because we weren't supposed to get the brooches in the first place (seeing that only BSW has them).


    Proposal: Add another SIN Brooch Sale/event/whatever. Simple, right?




    Issue: There's no way for f2p players to obtain the new akashas.


    Explanation: As soon as Gameforge adds the rest of the new akashas to the game, the gap between those who own them and those who don't will be huge (and I mean HUGE) - and once we get the ranking list in the future, the top ranking players will be determined solely by who owns them. Because of this, there should be a way for everyone to get their hands on them. After opening ~200 Akasha Transmitters, ~700 Grutin Akasha Transmitters, and merging it with all the ones I had previously stored in my bank, I can say with almost certainty that there's no way for f2p players to currently get their hands on the new akashas (except from the on-going event which disappears in a week).


    Proposal: Add the new akasha transmitters to progression rewards (or make them farmable through other means).

    Quote from Asura

    Proposal: Increase the raw amount of DZ you gain from grinding (don't overkill it though as it would be unfair to people that already put a lot of time into grinding/saving up DZ). You could increase the amount slowly over the cause of multiple updates.

    No. This is an extremely bad idea since when Innocent Daydream was first introduced in the KR server(the main source of DZ on KR), it nearly caused BSK Tera Smelters to be priced out of the marketplace and the Korean server is still suffering from inflation aftereffects of it.


    The prominent issue here is the standard availability of things is much lower here since the entire server is fully incentivized to grind for ECs leading to lower supply in things such as Soulstones, Souldrives along with some event differences that causes brooches to be scarce here. Increasing drop rates or having better events would be the better solution here.

    Quote from Asura

    Issue: SIN Brooches have been unavailable for too long.


    Explanation: In the current stage of the game, SIN brooches are beyond broken (mainly due to their set effects). With better gear in the future and the brooch rework, it will balance the brooches (unless you don't rework SIN, but that's an other discussion for an other day). The fact that the brooches are so good isn't really the problem. It's the fact that they aren't available and hasnt been since the end of last year. People that joined the game after the last SIN sale don't stand a chance. I suspect this is because we weren't supposed to get the brooches in the first place (seeing that only the illegeal server has them).


    Proposal: Add another SIN Brooch Sale/event/whatever. Simple, right?

    The pirated server is not supported by Liongames which is why it is illegal in the first place. Don't use that place as a reference since none of the other official versions have SIN brooches. It's not going to be introduced into the Korean server at anytime since the Korean playerbase is getting tired of RNG-based updates and Liongames attempted to nerf Crit Chance with the initial Primacy stats which is the main thing that SIN provides. I think the main reason why it's not seeing a second release is that Liongames is blocking their sale now that loyalty exists.


    Quote from Asura

    Issue: There's no way for f2p players to obtain the new akashas.


    Explanation: As soon as Gameforge adds the rest of the new akashas to the game, the gap between those who own them and those who don't will be huge (and I mean HUGE) - and once we get the ranking list in the future, the top ranking players will be determined solely by who owns them. Because of this, there should be a way for everyone to get their hands on them. After opening ~200 Akasha Transmitters, ~700 Grutin Akasha Transmitters, and merging it with all the ones I had previously stored in my bank, I can say with almost certainty that there's no way for f2p players to currently get their hands on the new akashas (except from the on-going event which disappears in a week).


    Proposal: Add the new akasha transmitters to progression rewards (or make them farmable through other means).

    This was already addressed by threaa in the other thread that the new cards will eventually make their way to the old transmitters. I'm annoyed by time delay but I sort of feel this is a "balance" for Gameforge since the Korean server/Smilegate did screw over their f2p players with this for about five months.



    My main issues with the game right now are the:


    1. Number, availability and diversity of parties posted on search since everyone spends most of their day solely on AoV hard.

    2. Overall new player experience

    3. Time delay for new Akasha

    4. Lack of proper gold sinks

    5. Lack of clear and bidirectional Communication with future content

    Quote from afkWanderer

    The prominent issue here is the standard availability of things is much lower here since the entire server is fully incentivized to grind for ECs leading to lower supply in things such as Soulstones, Souldrives along with some event differences that causes brooches to be scarce here. Increasing drop rates or having better events would be the better solution here.

    Soulstones, Souldrives etc. isn't really the issue here. No one in their right mind would spend their dz if these things were overpriced since they are pretty easy to farm. Slumbering Soulstones is the exception, but you can get these through events or buy them for an EC per stone or so. The real problem is that whales sit upon billions and billions and billions of DZ while new players have no means to obtain anything near that amount. How are you supposed to buy top tier brooches for a few billions when you can barely farm 10m a day? You sell EC's. Why? Because that's something even the long-term rich players will always need, and it's the only way to raise money unless you sell SC.


    I agree that they could make things more available (EC's included), but fact is that if you want to fix the imbalance in DZ, it'll end up hurting someone no matter what you do. An easy, equally fair solution does not exist.


    Quote from afkWanderer

    The pirated server is not supported by Liongames which is why it is illegal in the first place. Don't use that place as a reference since none of the other official versions have SIN brooches. It's not going to be introduced into the Korean server at anytime since the Korean playerbase is getting tired of RNG-based updates and Liongames attempted to nerf Crit Chance with the initial Primacy stats which is the main thing that SIN provides. I think the main reason why it's not seeing a second release is that Liongames is blocking their sale now that loyalty exists.

    First of all, "The Pirated Server" is the only place that has SIN brooches except from our version, and it's the only reason we have them in the first place. If I don't use this place as a reference, where or what should I?

    Fact is that they released the SIN brooches. Was it illegal? Maybe. Who cares. All that matters to us is that some players have the broochers and some players don't. This makes it impossible to compete fairly with one another once we get the ranking list. Either they make them available to everyone or they remove them from the game. It's really that simple.


    Quote from afkWanderer

    This was already addressed by threaa in the other thread that the new cards will eventually make their way to the old transmitters. I'm annoyed by time delay but I sort of feel this is a "balance" for Gameforge since the Korean server/Smilegate did screw over their f2p players with this for about five months.

    Assuming Gameforge releases 3 new akashas every month and there's a one month delay before they are added to the normal akasha transmitters, it wouldn't be unlikely that we would have to wait for twice that time before we get them all.


    Quote from afkWanderer

    1. Number, availability and diversity of parties posted on search since everyone spends most of their day solely on AoV hard.

    2. Overall new player experience

    3. Time delay for new Akasha

    4. Lack of proper gold sinks

    5. Lack of clear and bidirectional Communication with future content

    Detailed patch notes would work wonders.

    I lowered my expectations and at this point mostly want things to not be bugged.


    Active Akashas are still glitched, they often appear behind the character or don't work at all but still consume timer.


    My guess is they still appear somewhere below the stage but are too far to work properly.



    Good topic though, I admire all who still have some hope for positive changes :whistling::thumbup::thumbup:

    :/

    Quote from Asura

    The real problem is that whales sit upon billions and billions and billions of DZ while new players have no means to obtain anything near that amount. How are you supposed to buy top tier brooches for a few billions when you can barely farm 10m a day? You sell EC's. Why? Because that's something even the long-term rich players will always need, and it's the only way to raise money unless you sell SC.


    I agree that they could make things more available (EC's included), but fact is that if you want to fix the imbalance in DZ, it'll end up hurting someone no matter what you do. An easy, equally fair solution does not exist.

    I don't disagree with that issue but if you just increase the raw dz circulation that money will just eventually make its way back to those whales and giving them more money to hoard isn't going to improve the situation in the long run. The point you made there is actually more on the general accessibility of end-high things such as brooches so why not just go with the direct path of increasing availability of brooches via events instead of hoping for some whale to eventually let go of Tera BSK brooches which are highly likely to be sold for RMT instead over dz. The Korean server does give out random Tera brooch transmitters pretty often so I think that's the better solution with the best accessibility for everyone. If you really want the money to be depleted then the game is going to need some extremely punishing endgame gold sink.


    Quote from Asura

    First of all, "The Pirated Server" is the only place that has SIN brooches except from our version, and it's the only reason we have them in the first place. If I don't use this place as a reference, where or what should I?

    Fact is that they released the SIN brooches. Was it illegal? Maybe. Who cares. All that matters to us is that some players have the broochers and some players don't. This makes it impossible to compete fairly with one another once we get the ranking list. Either they make them available to everyone or they remove them from the game. It's really that simple.

    Liongames initially planned for the SIN brooches to be on the Korean server but someone datamined the brooch info early on and then they were axed due to community complaints. I'm personally on the side that SIN brooches should just removed from the game as they're going to get in the way of Liongames' overall balance of the game but I think what is going to happen is that the other brooches will get buffed and then SIN gets silently ignored or nerfed. I could be wrong here since this is unprecedented territory among the other versions and I'm just pointing out that this is rather similar to how the Korean server handled the Catherine problem. I don't expect anything towards making things fairly "competitive" since from my experience, the Korean server did have a lot of similar complaints about "competing fairly".


    Quote from Asura

    Assuming Gameforge releases 3 new akashas every month and there's a one month delay before they are added to the normal akasha transmitters, it wouldn't be unlikely that we would have to wait for twice that time before we get them all.

    Just continue bashing them for it since they are doing it extremely different here compared to KR. One aspect of feedback is how much of a flavor of month things are and if we assume Gameforge is a toxic recipient then there just needs to a lot of people that pounds on them for a extended period of time. Don't expect much otherwise you'll just get burnout.

    Quote from Asura

    Detailed patch notes would work wonders.

    That was just short-list I came up at the time but detailed patch notes would help alot since cross-referencing a year's worth of patch notes from the KR/JP every update is extremely annoying.

    Quote from Sannidor

    Good topic though, I admire all who still have some hope for positive changes :whistling::thumbup::thumbup:

    If there's one thing that's significantly changed this year compared to last year, it's that Liongames was able to hire a lot more developers and that they're no longer on the verge of bankruptcy.