I want to break down my perspective on what is starting to become my biggest gripe with this game.
And look, before anyone starts talking about this being toxic or elitist, let me affirm some facts. The following is true, regardless of how you feel about the contents or the tone:
- The Auric Damnation missions, let alone Auric Maelstrom missions, are as difficult as the game gets. They demand you have a firm, all-round grasp on the game for you to perform to a decent standard (not being a liability and cumbersome weight to your team). If you are not able to do that, you are objectively out of your depth and unable to carry your own weight, inevitably leading to someone else having to carry it for you.
- Everyone playing the game is another person living in the third dimension. Our time here is finite. Thatās a fact. Wasting the time that can never be returned of other people by means of poor self assessment and lack of consideration is ruder than any words can be. That last part is my opinion and one that Iām sure others share to varying extents.
- A person with 1000+ hours and a person with a few dozen hour played can both be level 30, but the gap in skill level is immense but neglected in the games structure currently.
- As a game developer, you can not rely solely on masses of people to even halfway consistently exercise enough self awareness to know where to place themselves.
Those things being said, my suggestion as I stated in a previous, broader, thread I made, is to raise the level required to access the Auric page. Call it prestige ranks or whatever you want, but they need to be in there to clearly visualize to people at a glance the difference between players actual skill level and by extension, how compatible your playing will be with theirs. Itās the only way to be fair to both parties. If youāre a seasoned player that doesnāt struggle through anything but the craziest maelstrom missions, it is not fair to repeatedly be paired with people who can not reliably play through an auric mission without dying repeatedly. If youāre a newer or less experienced player, you will either be made redundant by better players and have little to do, or you will spend most of your time dead or dying, either option being less than ideal.
And Iām sure it will be mentioned by people so Iāll mention it myself; people play for different reasons. I donāt play any mission with any intention or expectation of losing or even dying on account of myself. To repeatedly be paired with people of vastly different mindsets (but still on the hardest missions) is not an enjoyable experience and I know for a fact Iām not the only one who feels this way as itās something I hear all the time from players of similar mind. In general, this crowd gets their satisfaction by feeling like they and their teams is performing well and doing things that are difficult, successfully. It canāt be done with people who are after something else.
Others play in a much more casual manner. Seems to me theyāre less concerned with the result and more of the experience along the way, whatever it may be. Thatās my best guess but I donāt claim to understand this perspective as itās not one I share, but I can respect it. Iām sure those who feel this way and read this will find my point of view unpalatable. Which is fine, but also the reason I think there needs to be greater distinction in the game itself.
So hereās my actual concrete suggestion for addressing this problem:
- Add prestige ranks. Structure it however, but make it visual and easily identifiable on your characters card.
- Double the amount of mission options on the regular page and lock the Auric missions to something akin to level 50 right now (at least, maybe more).
- Remove Maelstrom missions from the basic mission board and make all Auric missions Maelstrom missions. Add more, milder varieties (2x parameters) if necessary to widen the spectrum of options so itās not all madness.
- Maybe even add some in-lore disclaimer to the Auric page so people who donāt realize what those missions require can get at least a theoretical sense of it before theyāre in there falling apart.ĀØ
- Up the rewards for normal damnation missions so we donāt funnel people into the hardest missions on account of resource deprivation everywhere else.
Now obviously this wonāt fix the problem completely, but Iāll go some way in addressing it.
I know weāre all playing the game to have fun. The problem right now is that thereās essentially two major groups that have different perspectives on what that means and the game fails to clearly address that. For example, why is there the possibility of having the same exact mission with the same exact parameters show up on both boards? Whatās the point of it then? The difference needs to be more distinct and less blurry. I want the game to make it clear whoās in there to be performing on the highest level so people who donāt want that can reasonably go āugh, not for meā and play with someone else. I genuinely donāt find this toxic, itās just promoting healthier boundaries between people who would experience noteworthy friction of forced to play together. Itās nothing but a win-win in my eyes.
So, with all that said, thatās a wrap. Iām sleepy as hell as Iām writing this, so apologies if it is incoherent somewhere. In any case, do you think the sentiment behind this thread is fair? Am I making sense or am I an elitist prick? Cast your votes below, Varlets.
- I agree with this sentiment
- I do not agree with this sentiment
- I sort of agree with this sentiment
- Other (Reply)
Till the next rant 
