Can we get rid of the RNG for Memetic Specializations, please?

[jmotivator]

The current system for acquiring your 10 memetic specializations is not fun, nor interesting. What it is is a constant reminder that the system is a burden, and very much not fun.

If you are one of the people who made it through level 50 with none of the handful of actually useful specializations (raises hand) then you all have the same "fun" time-gated system where you get 1 re-roll after every new chapter. Meanwhile we all have materials piling up in our inventory that do us no good.

If I were to change the system, I would do it in one of two ways:

1) If you keep the time gated re-roll system in place, then add a lower-tier crafting memetic to the memetic tree that will let people smelt gold, silver, stardust ore, etc. at half the efficiency if they want.

2) Replace the RNG system with a cost gated skill tree system and make all of the skills that people actually want cost more points, and make the time-gated respec token a per-node item so you can actually think ahead about respeccing instead of crossing your fingers once every 7-9 days.

There is also the option of making all of the specialization skills actually fun and interesting instead of little more than placeholders until you get the handful of useful options...

[Shaabhekh]

I dunno, i think getting rid of the RNG factor removes a community element of the game; you want some Silver smelted to Ingots or XYZ turned into Acid/Stardust etc but cant do it yourself? You trade/barter with a player who can (or ask a clan member if youre in a clan)

Wouldnt really be an MMO if everyone could grind their way to self-reliancy imo, same with WoW and other MMO's, takes away from the game if everyone could just craft their own endgame items with their own farmed mats etc. (excluding craftsman Alts, since you would still have to level them separately)

Already the bit in game where you can learn a mematic, build/use the stuff then unlearn it and still be able to use the stuff you just unlearnt. Besides, if you take the RNG out, everyone has the same build/specs, then it gets stale because a new season starts or whatever and its rinse/repeat; and while it might still be like that now, the RNG for meme specs just adds a little oomph to allow for 'newness' imo.

Just my take anyway, i'd say i was 50% lucky with the specs that i got, and even re-rolling the bad ones, o still had bad ones, but ive made do; might be better or worse next season and having something thats 'crap' now might be of much better use next time /shrug

[Puskai]

Nah

[ghog69]

The real problem is the bad specializations.

If you keep the RNG, but offer each person a useful/practical end-game skill, you could keep the community co-dependency aspect without making half the player base feel like they have nothing to offer/can't compete.

The specializations were not well thought out. You can tell they were added on to create a player economy and to supplement the basic game play. I get why, but they need a complete rework.

[Mr_Pennywise]

NO

[jmotivator]

Originally posted by Shaabhekh:

I dunno, i think getting rid of the RNG factor removes a community element of the game; you want some Silver smelted to Ingots or XYZ turned into Acid/Stardust etc but cant do it yourself? You trade/barter with a player who can (or ask a clan member if youre in a clan)

Wouldnt really be an MMO if everyone could grind their way to self-reliancy imo, same with WoW and other MMO's, takes away from the game if everyone could just craft their own endgame items with their own farmed mats etc. (excluding craftsman Alts, since you would still have to level them separately)

Already the bit in game where you can learn a mematic, build/use the stuff then unlearn it and still be able to use the stuff you just unlearnt. Besides, if you take the RNG out, everyone has the same build/specs, then it gets stale because a new season starts or whatever and its rinse/repeat; and while it might still be like that now, the RNG for meme specs just adds a little oomph to allow for 'newness' imo.

Just my take anyway, i'd say i was 50% lucky with the specs that i got, and even re-rolling the bad ones, o still had bad ones, but ive made do; might be better or worse next season and having something thats 'crap' now might be of much better use next time /shrug

The problem with this argument is that you can get robust trade in the game by offering viable and voluntary crafting branches so some people might choose to craft X, others might choose to craft Y, and all crafted items have real word utility.

You already have an RNG sink in the Wish Machine, channel community trade through gear and items you unlock in the Wish Machine.

Back when I played WOW there was a thriving Auction House filled with items that people gathered or crafted because they chose to, not because they were lucky enough to get a rare roll skill.

Crafting in an MMO should be more about choices than chances.

[jmotivator]

I get the feeling that people saying "No" are the ones who got the specialization to drop.

[Mr_Pennywise]

Originally posted by jmotivator:

I get the feeling that people saying "No" are the ones who got the specialization to drop.

mine are rubbish i got a log on the go and portable rain catcher the only "good" i got id 2x to making ingots i would like better ones but making it so you can just pick it takes away from player trade so i say again NO!

[Stinger-9000]

i think its a good thing, it encourages trade between players

[Gyson]

Originally posted by Shaabhekh:

I dunno, i think getting rid of the RNG factor removes a community element of the game; you want some Silver smelted to Ingots or XYZ turned into Acid/Stardust etc but cant do it yourself? You trade/barter with a player who can (or ask a clan member if youre in a clan)

Wouldnt really be an MMO if everyone could grind their way to self-reliancy imo, same with WoW and other MMO's, takes away from the game if everyone could just craft their own endgame items with their own farmed mats etc. (excluding craftsman Alts, since you would still have to level them separately)

This concern would be a lot more meaningful if servers weren’t wiped frequently. Server communities really can’t prosper in that kind of environment.

[Fhoenix]

it would be fine if all specializations improved something you can already do in the game, but if you don't roll some of them it block actual activities. Like I have gold ore and I can't do anything with it without specialization.

The game does not provide any way to find a person to smelt my ore.
And my servers are dead anyway, I haven't seen a single wending machine through 60 hours of playing the game.

[El Pukaniero Bombardini]

Nah, it's actually refreshing to see a game where you can't do everything solo.
I would argue that boosting more specializations to be useful is a better way. Make not 10, but 30 of them "meta", "op", "mandatory". Make people work together.

Vending machine system could use some visibility improvements first, tho. For starters, allow advertizing everywhere or even allow viewing vending machine contents remotely.
P.S.; i got acid refining, but am missing gold smelting and stardust production.

[Shaabhekh]

Originally posted by Gyson:

Originally posted by Shaabhekh:

I dunno, i think getting rid of the RNG factor removes a community element of the game; you want some Silver smelted to Ingots or XYZ turned into Acid/Stardust etc but cant do it yourself? You trade/barter with a player who can (or ask a clan member if youre in a clan)

Wouldnt really be an MMO if everyone could grind their way to self-reliancy imo, same with WoW and other MMO's, takes away from the game if everyone could just craft their own endgame items with their own farmed mats etc. (excluding craftsman Alts, since you would still have to level them separately)

This concern would be a lot more meaningful if servers weren’t wiped frequently. Server communities really can’t prosper in that kind of environment.

I'd counter by saying that the wipes wont affect any community trade (outside of possible lack of players due to said frequent wipes) because you'll still have players with a variety of specs due to RNG; there will still be people who make gold/silver ingots and those who make acid etc all of whom can be traded with regardless of who gets lucky with their spec choices.

All seems kind of moot anyway since we can take 3(?) specific specs by getting ahold of the fragments, or whatever the components for the specs are. If youre still trying to fill all 13 spec points with 'best in slot', id say youre just being greedy, lol

[Jellydance]

They could double the types of memetic specs and also give people the freedom to pick by wasting 3 memetic fragments they farmed into any memetic they choose.
Doubling or even tripling the amount of skills you can pick will allow players to become amazing traders at set classes, such as cooking, artillery, prospecting, crafting, salvage and more. Yes solo players can have a mixed bag of skills but this will allow those that group or enjoy trading to really focus in on what matters to them. Most might pick the same cookie cutter skills but the skills that some others would find lame could make even more trades by having something rare.
Allowing players to farm fragments and letting them turn 3 unwanted into a desired thing atleast makes it more bearable to farm and not just another rng as its already rng if your getting a fragment.
Personally id love to see more niche traders, 'Go trade with xyz, they have full chef specs' Added bonus, whims, longer times till wasting, makes larger amounts, or longer times till the food wears off.
while still allowing those that want to play with whatever they are given or solo players a bigger bag of goodies to cherry pick from. Yes they can still cook food but it won't be as good as the pure chef.
Classes that people are less likely to go into will also have a positive from this as there will be less people picking those items so they demand a higher price.

[Kwiver]

I would love something in between the two extremes (and not just the tokens) - if after wipe they always offered you the specialisation which you previously chose as one of the options (with the balance being random), then one could "improve" your build with each server wipe/reroll to something which would possibly be nice midway - not taking away the randomness element completely, but allowing folks who play solo/on dead servers not to feel completely demotivated?

[deadlyuo]

Originally posted by jmotivator:

The current system for acquiring your 10 memetic specializations is not fun, nor interesting. What it is is a constant reminder that the system is a burden, and very much not fun.

If you are one of the people who made it through level 50 with none of the handful of actually useful specializations (raises hand) then you all have the same "fun" time-gated system where you get 1 re-roll after every new chapter. Meanwhile we all have materials piling up in our inventory that do us no good.

If I were to change the system, I would do it in one of two ways:

1) If you keep the time gated re-roll system in place, then add a lower-tier crafting memetic to the memetic tree that will let people smelt gold, silver, stardust ore, etc. at half the efficiency if they want.

2) Replace the RNG system with a cost gated skill tree system and make all of the skills that people actually want cost more points, and make the time-gated respec token a per-node item so you can actually think ahead about respeccing instead of crossing your fingers once every 7-9 days.

There is also the option of making all of the specialization skills actually fun and interesting instead of little more than placeholders until you get the handful of useful options...

No , the "rng" is for you to not have the perfect build and need to go to other players .... thats the literally point of the system .

"Crafting in an MMO should be more about choices than chances."

This is not WOW and i would say its not even an MMO ... no , the same "system" does not works .