Trading routes balance

[Angelfire]

Hiya Loogas... I shared some thoughts below but carried away a bit. If it comes across as a hijack, I'll start a new thread, just shout if it's hijackish.

Righto.. I luurv Trading. Previously it was all I basicly did.

I wish I could have given more input when Xoria and his team were working on the commodities but frankly, I didnt know enough to add much value.

Herewith my thoughts:

IMO the effort vs reward ratio is somewhat unbalanced in this new system of trade.

U understand that the routes were designed for game balance and RP ehancement but I feel it has had the opposite effect to the one intended.

Please note that I have never spent more than 200 mil for a ship so I don't have Battleship motives for my Trading.

When first I saw the new commodities and routes, I got excited and tried as many of them as I legally could (was trading on Disco USA for a while).



Heck.. i don't know if someone will read this lot but here goes:

1) It feels like a grind now.
Trading in smaller transports etc. is just not an option if your objective is the creation of wealth. More than ever, you now specifically trade to 'level up' to a bigger ship so that those long distances can be run less for higher returns. This is normal in any trading game except for the fact that the increase in profit is so marginal that the trade runs become demoralizing and you tend to log off the game sooner and do something else as opposed to actually hanging around to play.
Stopping to RP as a Trader has become a luxury.
The 30 minute one-way run that you hope to squeeze into your 1 hour game time subconciously nags at you like a real life deadline.
Then the pirates us RP friendly types would usually effortlessly entertain become something so unpalatable that it is easier just to dock and play another character until the system is clear... 2 Mil is a lot more than it used to be.. it's like the economic recession in real life now! hahaha.


Although there are routes that are more profitable than others (all distance related), you can still achieve similar profitable results by ping-ponging between two or three friendly systems. The money you save from dodging pirates and hiring Bounty Hunters makes the shorter runs at lower profit MORE profitable in the distance/time ratio.


Righto.. I won't even go futher with those thoughts because they have already proven my point.

My point:

I love RP and I did not mention it once as I brought up the points above.

Why?

The new system makes me clutch my wallet and forget about my game motive (RP). I now focus on profit becuase suddenly money is a problem. My focus is so drawn to not wasting trade time that I actually find myself AVOIDING RP to be profitable so that I can.. er.. RP?

If the goal was to discourage locaps and powertradzors, I humbly suggest that this was the incorrect strategy. They've got the time to power trade, they'll trade for days to get their capships if they want them!
As a matter of fact, The big, expensive toys have become like WoW instance items - Exclusively available to people with TIME, and almost impossible to attain for people who love Role Play.

My suggestion:

1) Forget the distance thing, demand is demand regardless of distance.
I would love to see more trains bouncing between shorter distances.. it would be pirate heavan, thus lawful heavan, thus RP heavan...
Keep the focus on RP and gameplay value. In this case, player control and Rp are mutually exclusive. You will damage one by focusing in the other.

2) Rethink and re-discuss Cap Ship control if this bothers you. People are going to moan about anything we do, we'll never please them all. We have to decide what our objectives for our server gameplay are and stick to what we want, not create an entire system around what we don't want.
(Personally, I feel that Caps are all special RP items anyway! They are currently available to everyone so why not set up a system where you have to earn the damn thing with $$ AND RP? Anyhoo... this aint for this discussion.)

3) Bring back 'Hero' routes. Diamond/Niobium runs were a big No/No, but at least you ran into other dodgy traders and could Trade in Convoys with people from different houses etc. sharing protection and such. The current diversity and balance makes it very lonely for a Trader. It's all so balanced now that the only time I see different traders is on the chat screen.
Don't get me wrong, the Diversity is great, but we need both! Why is there such an issue with 10 traders favoring one route? if it's dangerous, it should be worth HUGE rewards!

Righto.

I'm tired of typing now.

Keen to hear everyone's thoughts.

---

The Chronicles of Angelfire