We're seriously getting more AAs?

[cins]

More active perks that need slotting=good
More always on passive perks=bad

This is pretty simple. Further speculation is pointless now.

[Bibik]

I want more choices, not more power.

Yup, but fixing currents AA (some of them are trash since RotG release) is better than adding new one with a good chance 90% of them being terrible.

[Chillee]

yeah strange... nice for vets to get new stuff, bad for the "strength gap"

Some might be opposed to this, but I'm all for it. Anything to make the game more interesting, give veterans new goals.

FC should give players the option to be able to buy more points - within reason - in the store. That way, if they want to close the gap, the option is there. Would satisfy the QQ and make FC some $ in the process without breaking the game.

[Bignose]

You can only equip a few perks anyway.

Some of them, like in archtype, you hardly have any choise at all, almost all of them are useless.

Giving us more AAs is horizontal progression, not vertical. It won't widen the gap at all to give us more options to select from.

[Mantic0r3]

passivs would lets hope they dont do that

[Harmonium]

More AA, more gear, more stuff.

That will never stop i think, veteran will own new player forever and the stronger will be stronger.

[bruceleroy]

More AA, more gear, more stuff.

That will never stop i think, veteran will own new player forever and the stronger will be stronger.

isnt that the point of progression? What you suggest is no progression, everyone is the same. We will end up with everyone being a barb, with the same skills and the same gear. This sounds very boring to me in your current comment state. Please elaborate.

[Harmonium]

isnt that the point of progression? What you suggest is no progression, everyone is the same. We will end up with everyone being a barb, with the same skills and the same gear. This sounds very boring to me in your current comment state. Please elaborate.

Well progression become a problem in a pvp game.

They are already a big hole between a veteran and a new player, a hole who need to be reach by some year of playing, so people will not and leave the game already.

So i all know everyone like be more stronger, and more stronger, but then this is a big problem in pvp.

Oh and btw lot of game got no progression, look at gw 2, everyone got the same stuff, and everyone pvp good.

[Rathothis]

isnt that the point of progression? What you suggest is no progression, everyone is the same. We will end up with everyone being a barb, with the same skills and the same gear. This sounds very boring to me in your current comment state. Please elaborate.

Easy to elaborate.

Why does power progression motivate people to play? Because (i) it gives them something to show off, and (ii) it may allow them to do more difficult content, which they couldn't do previously (as they didn't have the gear, were too low level, etc).

Now,
(i) is something that can also be achieved by other means (vanity gear, achievement systems, titles, etc);
(ii) may be of relevance to a game like WoW, but isn't all that relevant to AoC due to the small team size and related slow development cycle.

Why does power progression make peope quit? Because (iii) it may give them the feeling that they cannot do sh*t, and that it would take them a lot of time and effort to finally be able to do said sh*t.

Now,
(iii) is very relevant to AoC on the PvP side of things, as most vets have a significant gear and AA advantage over new players.

Bear in mind that even WoW does a much better job at levelling the playing field. PvP is structured by arena seasons, which last for approx 6 months. Once a new arena season starts, the previous season's arena gear becomes available to casual players, which can buy that gear by grinding a rather limited number of battleground tokens. Also, even in PvE, gear advantages are reset by increases in the level cap.

So even if you support power progression in MMOs, AoC takes this to an extreme even compared to a grinder like WoW.

But back on topic. New AAs don't sound like a bad idea as long as they don't introduce any new bronze perks. Also, I'd hope for new silver / golden perks to be more situational than many of the must-have perks we have now. If they do it right, new AAs would not have a significant effect on balancing while allowing for some more flexibility than is currently the case.

[Harmonium]

Easy to elaborate.

Why does power progression motivate people to play? Because (i) it gives them something to show off, and (ii) it may allow them to do more difficult content, which they couldn't do previously (as they didn't have the gear, were too low level, etc).

Now,
(i) is something that can also be achieved by other means (vanity gear, achievement systems, titles, etc);
(ii) may be of relevance to a game like WoW, but isn't all that relevant to AoC due to the small team size and related slow development cycle.

Why does power progression make peope quit? Because (iii) it may give them the feeling that they cannot do sh*t, and that it would take them a lot of time and effort to finally be able to do said sh*t.

Now,
(iii) is very relevant to AoC on the PvP side of things, as most vets have a significant gear and AA advantage over new players.

Bear in mind that even WoW does a much better job at levelling the playing field. PvP is structured by arena seasons, which last for approx 6 months. Once a new arena season starts, the previous season's arena gear becomes available to casual players, which can buy that gear by grinding a rather limited number of battleground tokens. Also, even in PvE, gear advantages are reset by increases in the level cap.

So even if you support power progression in MMOs, AoC takes this to an extreme even compared to a grinder like WoW.

But back on topic. New AAs don't sound like a bad idea as long as they don't introduce any new bronze perks. Also, I'd hope for new silver / golden perks to be more situational than many of the must-have perks we have now. If they do it right, new AAs would not have a significant effect on balancing while allowing for some more flexibility than is currently the case.

I agree with you at 100%.