Varyag's testimony on the current state of cRPG

[MrShovelFace]

old player here too starting just after vince did the big no no

I definitely agree that this mod is a shadow of it's former self


I once spent a whole summer grinding up gold to get my fat man place. A whole summer!!

and this wasnt because i was lazy, it was because the NA at that time only had about 20 players at any given time and the max gold i could earn (assuming i stayed with the crowd of.. 5 players) was only 40 a round!!

But after those 7 or so weeks of getting gold i had enough and i could finally wear my plate armor as a way of saying -

hey, i have a lot of spare time

but then the player base grew and chadz made it somewhat easier to get gold (being 130 per round!) and before i knew it i was surrounded by players wearing full plate with cookie swords and sporting sniper xbows on their backs.

and now days we earn about 500 average a game and this is justified as 'balance for upkeep'.

What the hell was wrong with the first system, why did it have to change so radically!??!

[Kelugarn]

Now, I haven't read all of this thread, sorry to those posters who I had to skim over in the sake of time, but as a player who wandered into cRPG in the first week of public beta I too feel that much of the magic has been lost; that magic once upon a time made spending several hours a day on the (then only) EU server with my 280 latency getting horribly slaughtered every round, worth every minute of rage. Like some of the posters before me I remember when I finally bought my full plate set, and that feeling can only be described here as pure childish glee, when I equipped my plate I couldn't wait to run across the server and listen to the blows glance off of me, mowing my merry way through peasants with my glaive. Even during the middle of the beta stages, some 6 months ago (before I took my long needed break) the best sensation was hacking down peasants and fighting Destin or Ash one on one at the end of the round (usually losing cause I'm really terrible ).

But something's changed.
It's not that I don't enjoy cRPG still, I do, but no longer are there masses of peasants slowly grinding their way up until they can begin to fight back. As I type this in between rounds I see more knights in shining armor than I do farmers running and throwing rocks. Even when I have long satisfying duels in the middle of battle it's not the same, before even if I died in one exchange I still felt content, but now even if I hack down an entire team it just feels the same.

I don't know if I've changed in these 6 months, maybe I have. But what I do know is that I just don't feel the same way anymore. I'm sorry, it's not like cRPG has lost all of it's old self, most of it is still there (mainly the archer/horse archer/thrower/nerf <whatever I don't use> hate) but it's just not the same. I guess the spark is gone. But baby I hope we can still be friends, I'm sorry cRPG, it's really not you, it's me.

P.S. I hope most of the older player stay (including myself), I really do.
P.P.S. Varyag you are the sole reason I bought a pike as a peasant.

[Metz]

Why not make servers that are pre-patch. That way people can play the  new CRPG which is quick leveling and retiring, and then if they want to play the hardcore version that is more rewarding, they can play on the pre-patch servers. That way if people are tired of grinding they go to the post-patch servers and if people are tired of of the new patch they go to the old patch where they can make use of their skill and elite grinding.

[Kafein]

Why not make servers that are pre-patch. That way people can play the  new CRPG which is quick leveling and retiring, and then if they want to play the hardcore version that is more rewarding, they can play on the pre-patch servers. That way if people are tired of grinding they go to the post-patch servers and if people are tired of of the new patch they go to the old patch where they can make use of their skill and elite grinding.

Not really possible since money is so much easier to get in the new servers. It would defeat the purpose of a prepatch server.

[MouthnHoof]

What the hell was wrong with the first system, why did it have to change so radically!??!

Do you really need an explanation?
OK, you played till WASD keys fell off your keyboard and got your plate. It is just a matter of time till most players will be running around with plate and sniper xbow - the old system with no upkeep is an escalating situation. The current one is stable and much more welcoming to new players. Living without x3 heirloomed stuff is acceptable. Being a peasant for a long long period among a crowd of plated monsters is not.

[Gorath]

Living without x3 heirloomed stuff is acceptable.

Not when you've been playing far longer than the people that abused the broken retirement/wpf system who are gen 394509

[Christo]

Not when you've been playing far longer than the people that abused the broken retirement/wpf system who are gen 394509

Agreed.

[chadz]

for those who wished it: statistics about the player numbers. I'm sorry to burst your armageddon bubble:
http://c-rpg.net/statistics.html

[JOPOTINTTI]

09.01.2011 Peak day ! almost 4000 per day! c

[Tears of Destiny]

for those who wished it: statistics about the player numbers. I'm sorry to burst your armageddon bubble:
http://c-rpg.net/statistics.html

Now who saw that coming. 

I love it when people claim that the servers are less full, forgetting that we have a lot more servers thus spreading out the population which is larger.

[Ginosaji]

for those who wished it: statistics about the player numbers. I'm sorry to burst your armageddon bubble:
http://c-rpg.net/statistics.html

Nooooo, not my bubble

Pretty impressive statistics, gz

[Phazey]

Wow, i can't believe i actually read the whole thread. Every post.

I get the feeling many of the posters in this thread don't realize the old cRPG was quickly becoming a plate fest. Heck, i remember getting that Milanse Plate and later that Cataphract horse. It was fun, but very unbalanced. Retiring to boost WPF also quickly became a problem.
The current system is much more balanced and more challenging. Less grind, more focus on teamplay and winning.

Another feeling crept over me when reading all the posts in this thread. I guess i'm just gonna say it: many posters seem to just whine and sulk. I get a sense of bitter resentment.... an impressing of unfair and biased critisism without offering viable solutions or alternatives.

Some seem angry for losing some advantage they feel entitled to, because they grinded for that. And then proceed to critize aspects of cRPG that they feel caused them to lose their advantage.
Try looking beyond the scope of your character. And try not to sulk and whine. Get constructive instead of whiney. And look at the mod as a whole, not just your personal experiences.

I think cRPG has been getting better and better and i'm quite happy. Tactics galore nowadays. Really can't complain. Yes, people camp a lot. It's because they want to play smart. Camping can work, it can also fail. Stuff seems to balance out great.

I'm sorry to burst your armageddon bubble: http://c-rpg.net/statistics.html

Guess that kinda says it all. Healthy population growth with peaks during vacation time and the week after that. Looking good.

[Cris]

Wow, i can't believe i actually read the whole thread. Every post.

I get the feeling many of the posters in this thread don't realize the old cRPG was quickly becoming a plate fest. Heck, i remember getting that Milanse Plate and later that Cataphract horse. It was fun, but very unbalanced. Retiring to boost WPF also quickly became a problem.
The current system is much more balanced and more challenging. Less grind, more focus on teamplay and winning.

Another feeling crept over me when reading all the posts in this thread. I guess i'm just gonna say it: many posters seem to just whine and sulk. I get a sense of bitter resentment.... an impressing of unfair and biased critisism without offering viable solutions or alternatives.

Some seem angry for losing some advantage they feel entitled to, because they grinded for that. And then proceed to critize aspects of cRPG that they feel caused them to lose their advantage.
Try looking beyond the scope of your character. And try not to sulk and whine. Get constructive instead of whiney. And look at the mod as a whole, not just your personal experiences.

I think cRPG has been getting better and better and i'm quite happy. Tactics galore nowadays. Really can't complain. Yes, people camp a lot. It's because they want to play smart. Camping can work, it can also fail. Stuff seems to balance out great.

Guess that kinda says it all. Healthy population growth with peaks during vacation time and the week after that. Looking good.

On the constructive side...persoanlly I do not wish for the olden days system, I think that upkeep and higher WPP cost was a great introduction...it ended 2h spammers killing you faster than you could swing back even though they were wearng the heaviest of armorsm, it also ended acrossmap headshots due to pinpoint reticules (assuming the archer could aim).

 Personally I'd like to see higher levels as an option (not stupid 40s) instead of retiring...that way we can make better hybrid builds...Such as, the current scalating 1-30 lvl carried on to 35, and then shooting off into very hard to achieve levels...but it will probably never happen

[Corrado_Decimo]

Not when you've been playing far longer than the people that abused the broken retirement/wpf system who are gen 394509

that's false since is by far easier to retire now than before the patch. i spent 350k gold prepatch to retire to gen10 and the retirement was forced once a week. now people just retire every 2 days without spending money. now we have gen25+ people that was gen1 prepatch.

since the wpf stacking is canceled and who had 10 heirloom modifiers prepatch now have 1/3 of the total (i was gen10, 9 heirloom modified items and patch cut it to 3 heirloom mods) isn't fault of those "nerd abuz0rs of the broken retirement/wpf system who are gen 394509" as the highest was keshian with his gen15 archer.

time passes but nothing has changed... you keep spreading false informations like six months ago.

[Corrado_Decimo]

On the constructive side...persoanlly I do not wish for the olden days system, I think that upkeep and higher WPP cost was a great introduction...it ended 2h spammers killing you faster than you could swing back even though they were wearng the heaviest of armorsm, it also ended acrossmap headshots due to pinpoint reticules (assuming the archer could aim).

 Personally I'd like to see higher levels as an option (not stupid 40s) instead of retiring...that way we can make better hybrid builds...Such as, the current scalating 1-30 lvl carried on to 35, and then shooting off into very hard to achieve levels...but it will probably never happen

i would like a higher level cap and easier xp to see better care for hybrids and to allow more customization and to speed up fights / see higher damage a little.