I read the whole argument, and I don’t see how VT2 isn’t sustainable compared to VT1.
In VT2 you have a lvl ceiling announced : hero lvl 30 (=> 300 power) and equipment (300 power max for oranges and red items), maxing at 600 total power. That is equivalent to full red gear in VT1 (or rather best trait / best roll oranges). You can’t get past this level of power. I don’t see the monty haul game here. Or if it is, then VT1 was one too. You make predictions that the devs will cede to whiners pressure, you “foresee” and “see the handwriting on the wall”, but from where these prophetic powers of yours come, I don’t reckon.
Regarding starting players and high-end players discrepancy, I don’t see the difference between VT1 and VT2 either. In VT1 when you want to do a full cataclysm run with full tome / grim on a difficult map, you don’t want unexperienced players joining your game and adding to the difficulty of the run by not pulling their weight, due to a lack of gear and/or skill. Same in VT2. The two player bases don’t play on the same level. Casuals might go high-end if they get hooked enough, but i don’t see why it’s different in VT1 and VT2. I don’t see how newbs and high-end are playing more together in VT1 than they will in VT2.
The only differences regarding gear are :
- in VT1 you had clear gear tiers (white / green / blue / orange - and a few reds) that separated players who had played much from the beginners.
- in VT2 now the tiers are more gradual, being the hero power total (hero lvl + gear lvl, gear color being irrelevant in VT2 except for legend where optimisation counts - you can do champion with green items).
This difference between the two systems is of small nature, and I would add furthermore that the gradual system VT2 provides offers newbies more flexibility to obtain gear, since every succesful run they do enhances by a little their hero power (through exp and slightly better gear), opposed to VT1 where there were hardcaps, since to obtain better gear you had to go one difficulty above your current, but with the gear from your current difficulty (the result being you undergeared for that new difficulty, making it even harder to do a successful run). Things in VT2 go smoother regarding loot progression, and it’s helping newcommers (vets don’t care they will rush max lvl either way).
Then the differences regarding lvl are :
- in VT1, lvl represents the time you played the game, and there is no cap. Very skilled players with less hours in the game might have the same lvl than less skilled players with more hours in the game, but essentially it was a reflect of your experience in the game, and people judged by that in order to guess if you would be a deadlift or not for a hard run (I don’t say that is the good way to think. I say that’s how the majority of players thought, and it manifested in low levels being kicked out of runs for example).
- in VT2, lvl directly affects your in-game power, but is capped at 30. Game difficulties being hidden behind total power caps (vet120, champ 220 something like that), it ensures there is a progression for the player, and that he must play a certain time in each difficulty in order to access the next, gaining hero experience (and more importantly valuable player experience) in the process. And that way, absolute newcommers won’t try the higher difficulty right away, ruining vets runs or being kicked. And then, when the max lvl (30) is reached (wich is REALLY fast, we are talking a few days, maybe a week for the average player), no judging on the lvl for being accepted in runs. Only skill will matter, and that is seen only in-game.
Given that, I find the VT2 approach to be greatly superior, since often VT1 lvl didn’t picture good enough the real skill lvl of the player.
Then, the question of abilities. I don’t see them as Thor’s hammer as you say, but as a new tool in our arsenal. Why would they be overpowered ? Some might have been during the beta, but they are being balanced away, the nerf bat striking hard some of them (hunter one-shotting bosses, kerillian regen, etc…), showing Fatshark doesn’t fear the pressure of wich you speak, and, if they listen to the feedback we give them, they have no less their own idea of how their game should be and don’t compromise if they think the way it’s going displeases them. VT2 proposes new challenges and new threats, and adds some depth to the gameplay by adding these active abilities. There are 15 different (although you can argue some are really close to another), and you can only bring 4. As a group, this is already a strategic decision. In a random game with random people, it would be wise to go for the most versatile since you don’t know what other players will have taken. But active abilities are there to reward you if you use them at the right time, and being able to turn tides, where in VT2, contrary to VT1, stormvermin can kung-fu 3 combo chase you, not even talking of other horrors that run after your hide.
So my question is : why would VT1 be played long after VT2 is ? I would understand if you said that you prefer VT1, and are comfortable with playing the game you know, rather than being used to the new VT2 and getting new habits for a game that, if similar, feels different in many ways (combat similar but not really the same, needs an adaptation from VT1 vet habits), and I would be fine with it. No offense intended, but it feels like you are the embodiment of the fear of losing what you know, and some of us (including me) embody the hope of it becoming more than it already is.
I really loved VT1, and would love to play it again, but I think VT2 is meant to be an improvement to the franchise, adding depth and complexity to the solid base of VT1. I’d rather the devs invest time and going their all on VT2, than continuing producing DLCs for VT1 (but well, both at the same time would be even better :D).
laughed way too hard at this!