NPC Balance

[badkarmasix]

I'm split on the "NPCs are overpowdered(err...overpowered...sorry, slip from my MUD days)" issue. I can't say I have had a great deal of combat experience with 4.84 and what little I have had has been freighter vs fighter fights. I'm able to hold my own against low and lower-middle level NPCs in my Kushan freighter and I didn't do too bad in my Taiidan freighter either. I did try to tangle with some BHG Guard Hammerheads a couple of times, but the odds were never in my favour. I could wax one, possibly two out of a flight of four, but by then I was out of bots/bats and had to rabbit. My frieighter just didn't have the staying power for a stand-up fight.

But that is precisely the point, isn't it.

You're in a freighter. Dogfighting isn't in the repetoire. Han Solo blasting his way out of the Death Star in the Millenium Falcon and 86ing pursuing TIE fighters just doesn't, and probably isn't supposed to happen in Discovery. Weapons on a frieighter are for defense, not offense.

Now, I agree that perhaps NPCs, in some respects, are a bit overpowered. Combat maybe be an overly long process for some. I don't see either of these as being good or bad. Points have been made repsective to both that I won't reiterate. It's all just the natural evolution of the gameplay. Players want this or that implemented, and so it becomes. But it ain't easy balancing gameplay with players' wants. And no matter the beta-testing you do, you'll never know exactly how a given tweak will impact the entire system. The only way to find out is to implement it and observe. I've been around online games long enough to know that all long-standing online games seem to have their cycles. Certain aspects get ramped up at some point, only to be downgraped(err...downgraded...sorry, slip again) later for the sake of balance. Always, always, always happens when the majority of the playerbase gets to the pinnacle. Done to alleviate stagnation. It's either that or a player wipe. Personally, I prefer the downgrades to the wipes.

Anyway, my two credits on the subject. Juan, sorry to hear things aren't going so well. I'd stick around though, were I you. Like I said, things will turn around sooner or later.

Cheers,
Idaho

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"There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."
- Han Solo

Character Bio here