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Let me just say that I have great admiration and appreciation for what the Devs and Staff do for the BGTSCC Server. That means you, Ged, Valefort, Chad, Ariella, LazyTrain and the many others that I can't think of off the top of my head. Maybe it doesn't need saying, but without Staff interventions on a consistent and regular basis, this BGTSCC would never had had such a long and illustrious life. So, cheers.
Does that, however, mean that all Staff changes should be accepted without question by the playerbase? No. Does that mean that all Staff ideas, and Playerbase ideas, are appropriate to implement? Well, no, unless both parties are actually enjoying the result. Does it matter what Steve thinks about anything Server related? No, not really. Does it matter that the community of the BGTSCC Server has a place to speak out and give their feedback? Absolutely.
So please, do not take mine or others critique as criticism at all personally. I'm up on 10+ years of playing on BGTSCC. I've seen and experience A LOT of changes. I've seen many come and go. And I've seen many, many good things come, and unfortunately, a few change-up stinkers come as well (and unfortunately, stay). Obviously, we all deal with it, and we adjust. But what you need to understand is that many will NOT deal and adjust. Truthfully, changes make players quit. And you cannot argue that population issues are ALWAYS the looming issue for viability for changes. This is why having communication and a safe-place to communicate without fear of thread locks and reprisals is of utmost importance. That, my friends, is community.
Back to topic: I am having trouble understanding the logic on some of these changes, and that is why I'm speaking up in this thread.
Making Group-required loot gain improvement more rewarding in terms of loot gain is admirable, but it isn't going to make Role-play better or more existent (quality or quantity). And, I didn't realize or hear anything that there was some issue on the Server with soloing vs group adventuring. So if there was an issue, and there was a concern among Staff, that wasn't made public for the playerbase to digest.
What had become a public concern was the recent situation of high level PCs running low level Areas in order to loot grind, and being a disturbance to RP of more CR appropriate PCs and PC Parties. So, the "Loot Rebalance" on the issue of making it more lucrative for high level PCs to stay in appropriate CR areas, and reduce the "disturbance" in inappropriate Areas, makes total sense. I'm 110% behind this change! And I applaud you all for taking the time and effort to work it out.
But, I'm still trying to digest if and how what seems to be changes to make solo adventuring less lucrative overall. Is this the actual case? The mandate? Please clear this up.
As an example, I, for one, sometimes just like to take up a toon and go soloing around for some XP and maybe a lucky find from the RIG, because I've had a long RL day and I want to just zone out and I've already binge watched all the latest TV shows. Yes, I'm using the BGTSCC Server as a form of single player CPRG. I am, let it be known, not the only Player that does this! Maybe that isn't the "mission" of BGTSCC, to support single player, but what IS the mission is to support "all types of game play." I don't think that paradigm has shifted, has it? I also am pretty confident I put in PLENTY of time being a "hard core" "elitist" RP'er. So I, like many others, balance it out.
I also wonder if there is a fault in the logic here about Players vs PCs, and loot. I do not believe reducing players ability to solo and loot is correct: adjustments should be done around the idea of individual PCs, and what these PCs can gain, from adventuring (as in, not what Players gain). What this means is that muling, playing one grind build PC in order to provide resources to an "RP Build" Character, is a norm on BGTSCC, and skews the actual existence and value of a single, invested, PC experience. I'm not arguing that Players should only have 1 PC, but I am pointing out that Players game the system to funnel grind rewards, where I think instead the system should be rewarding for any type of PC / Build, and THAT should be the mandate, to find ways that single PCs gain loot rewards in THEIR adventuring, NOT that Players grind for multiple PCs and thus, imho, make RP less prevalent (players devoting RL time to loot grinding does not equal role-play imo, but we can agree to disagree here, of course).
See, what Valefort asks "If you always get great loot what's the point ?", the point is that BGTSCC is a Game, not a Life. Any player should be able to have a casual game experience on BGTSCC, and have a 51% chance or greater to experience "great loot," "great XP," great campaigns and events. It is NOT ideal to have to make some exceptional RL commitment to the Server, day in and day out, grinding and looting and wasting many hours of RL just to receive "great loot."
Honestly, it should just be easier, for the mechanics to be experienced, and the greater challenge is had through the Role-play effort. When mechanics changes make RL investment harder and more consuming, that isn't actually beneficial. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but after 10+ years on BGTSCC, if I now would need to spend more time to find others in order to enjoy a piece of RL relaxation I find with the game, just like many others, I will consider finding another game.
The way I see it is you have two arguments to choose from:
The first is the age-old one often touted by Valefort—of whom I often agree with and with this argument as well—where you make the challenges easier, thus devaluing powerbuilding, and you make the rewards (loot, XP, etc.) easier to acquire, thus devaluing those as well, and Players are left with simple character investment, the role-play of said characters, and world building through non-mechanical gain campaigns and investment. This option has a ton of merits, but it is the least "game-like," in that the Player is not...clicking. They are writing, communicating, interacting...and that could just as easily happen in chat text.
The second option is making everything ore challenging. Leveling, character progression, acquiring Stuff, mechanical combat, adventuring, all of it. Like Hardcore setting plus plus. Realistically, making it a sliding scale with CR 1-10 pretty easy, CR 11-20 medium-to-hard, CR 21-20 of hard to hard-as-hell to like-frickin'-impossible. Make the climb worth it. Make reaching Level 30 and actual achievement, requiring multiple hoops, and then, once reaching the penultimate progression and experience of the Game, retire that PC to NPC status (or something...), and the Player starts over. Totally destroy the current paradigm in which just grinding for 30 days gets you a penultimate mechanical PC and then quit. Make the PROCESS, the PROGRESS, the ROAD, the REWARD. And, make it possible that a single Player, one who either chooses it or is just of that RL character themselves, can do it solo, because they cannot or simply DO NOT, want to be required to the the great BGTSCC experience in the
required company of others.
I'll tell you why this is importance; I have first hand experience. There are groups on this Server, cliques, that actively are against certain Players achieving anything, and make a conscious effort to keep them outside of RP progress and experience. Thus, the solo, single-player-esque experience of all that BGTSCC has to offer, is incredibly rewarding to those "ostracized" players.
So I'm asking, directly, that Staff make a commitment to not change the mechanics of the Server such that soloists, or involved players that ALSO enjoy the escapism of soloing, are now going to have less of a full experience of the Server (and especially in mechanical terms, such as were Loot falls...because this is D&D after all, where treasure is like the 1st or 2nd main goal of the adventure in the bleeping first place!!!!).
But hey, maybe I'm jumping the gun here, and after my 15th solo grind run of Graypeaks, I'll get something actually valuable to the actual toon that found it. That would be awesome...except the part where I've spent 45 minutes x 15 of Real Life to acquire it. Like I said, this is a game that should have significant rewards to the casual player, and not have it be a requirement to burn far too many hours of RL just to get something unique for your Character. If this isn't on the mind of Staff, you should take a second consideration, please, because we want to entice new players to join with simple and engaging experiences, not far-too-great challenges that even at the most difficult,
seem unrewarding.
FWIW.
Thank you.
