Two answer the replies I was given to my statement that developing a character in cRPG is a gamble:
- Yes, I consider respecing a waste of time, as it doesn't add anything to the character, only reduces the XP. And some people, like me, don't only play for the playing themselves, they play to achieve a certain goal. Having to respec puts me several steps back, especially since I don't have much time to play. The game needs the aspect of grind and progress to be motivating. Else we could go completely without any character progression, looms and the like. If the game is only about playing it, every new character should start at level 31, gain no additional XP at all, be able to buy all items for free (all materwork, of course), and then only work towards keeping up your equipment. If this should not be the case, and you agree that there should be some progression, then you will agree that standing in front of the boss level and suddenly being ported back to close after the tutorial level is LOST TIME. End of the story.
- And yes, retiring is nice and all shit, but what happens if you have a loom which becomes suddenly worthless? For example the crossbow, what if you have been a 2hd or polearm hybrid with some crossbow WPF? Yes, you can play without the crossbow until you hit 31 and retire, ptting all WPF into your main weapon again or looking for another backup, e.g. throwing. Now let's ignore the fact that you are suddenly forced to play a "reduced" class for the rest of your generation, which is awful game design by itself, I think as soon as your character resets the problem with wrong skills is dealt with. But what about looms? What if you had a MW crossbow with MW bolts?
Don't you fucking dare to tell me "marketplace", because marketplace is only a small compensation for the loss, not a complete refund or fix! You will lose several hundred thousand gold by that change, as you won't be the only one suffering in that particular way from a patch, and prices on some items will sink and raise drastically. How about implementing the feature that whenever a patch is applied and you do NOT own one of the items affected by a nerf, there is a chance your money gets reduced by 150k? Just to keep things fair, so EVERYONE has a chance to lose a lot of money whenever a new patch is released.
cRPG is a game, and games only work when they are fun. The most important part of fun is motivation, and suddenly getting hit by a negative effect without own fault or good reason is the most demotivating thing I can imagine for a game. Letting people invest time into developing their character and then saying "Woops! I changed your character to the worse, bad luck, hahaha!" is nothing else than unfair, and nobody on the world can ever argue against that.
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