First of all I wanted to say that the game is great with lots of different activities and events to come.
The Founder release was pretty smooth even if some people could not start due to steam problems.
The official release could have been smoother while knowing how many people bought the founders packs.
I don´t know if EUW was the best solution but it worked for me who does not know anything about their system. (Did not like the option at first but I am alright with it now)
The game mechanics overall are great. There are only a few quality of life things that could be done but overall I would give the game 99/100. (-1 Point only for the quality of life things that are missing :D)
And now to the main part:
I get it that some gamer don´t like the honing process but it is part of the game and it is not the only game in existance with such a mechanic.
I think the mechanic is very well done. you have lots of options to get upgrade materials.
You have lots of chances to boost your ugrade chance. There is even a mechanic that if you fail, you will get the Artisan Bonus.
If you think those chances are hard, you should play Black Desert Online.
But there are some things that are bugging me with this community:
Why do you need to rush the content?
Why do you need 1450ilvl as fast as possible?
The content will still be available in a month and even in a year from now.
There is no price for being the first completing the content.
What will you do once you are 1450ilvl and completet the last Raid? Do you quit the Game?
Nobody is forcing anyone to play the newest content or to reach the top as fast as possible.
My Theory:
Streamer and Media gave you a wrong impression of the game, that you have to reach the top as soon as possible. (But what does the top mean to you?)
Or
You have a problem with people being further ahead of you.
But that should not be your problem because they will not ruin your gamin experience:
You ask why?
Well simply spoken because, should they have higher gear, it will benefit you in Dungeons and Raids and even Arena PVP sets everyone with the same Lv.
I have a character in T3 with wich I do my daily content.
I am doing some T2 content with this character beacuse my friends are still in T1 and T2 and i like to play and support with my friends.
Even in different Tiers, you can still play with your friends.
Just like I said, this is simply my humble opinion.
Please don´t kill me in the comments
Another post of this kind that completely misses the point.
Players want to access the content, they want to PLAY it.
Players want to see their characters increase in power because this is an RPG and character development is a crucial part of the experience.
Players that have put an insane and unhealthy amount of hours into the game don’t want to be locked out of content.
That’s it, stop with your “the content isn’t going anywhere” bs, it’s like I’m attending the world cup grand finals but my team mates (the whales) are playing while I’m forced to sit on the bench for no reason whatsoever
So your are the type that does not like it when people are futher ahead?
You do know that those people pay the game for f2p users.
Why would you care if people are “wasting” 10k$?
Let them be happy with it and pay the game for you.
It is simply progress with a progress mechanic.
This is not an RPG it is an MMORPG where it takes time to reach a specific level.
If you could finish this game in a month, what would keep you playing?
I don´t think you are still playing an RPG for 6 Monath after you cleared it in a week.
Am I wrong?
I literally dgaf if people spend thousands of dollars on the game, their money their business.
But if I’m locked out of content because AGS/Smilegate wants to cater to only that type of player be sure that I’m gonna be mad.
And it’s not just me as you can see
Let´s say you start a new character a month after release.
Would you be as mad as you are now?
Would you also be mad if some other players spend more gametime and reach further?
I had the discussion with my friends where we thought that T3 came to soon.
The same with the new raid.
But it is now here and i do not have any pressure to play it. And why should I?
The content is simply released too soon.
But once we reach the same patch as Korea, everybody will have enough time to reach the needed ilvl for upcoming patches.
You do know that more people would pay for the game if it actually had reasonable prices right? Riot has made BILLIONS off of skins, no advantage, no P2W or no Pay to progress, which I believe the kids are calling it these days.
No one really cares about someone spending $10k on a game, they care about mechanics that promote spending $10k on the game because otherwise you’re punished. They are literally making the game less fun on purpose so people spend more, it’s not good for the game. Predatory monetization should be shunned and banned in ANY game.
To use your own argument against you, why do you care if someone wants to play the game and do all the content in a month? Let them be happy with it. You’re so worried that they will quit if they hit 1450 that you don’t realize they will quit long before they hit 1370 because of how awful this mechanic is.
It isn’t a simple progress mechanic, it’s RNG progression. It’s not skill, it’s not effort, it’s spinning a wheel and maybe you get to upprade 1 piece of gear today. The only way to bypass it is $$$ or spending WAY more time than an average person has farming gold to by mats to spin the wheel again. It is not a healthy or fair progression mechanic.
As for your RPG argument, are you new to games? People are still playing Skyrim and that’s been out for like a decade. The big difference with MMORPG’s is they get new content and people come back to continue progressing their character. However when progressing their character becomes extremely gated, by say RNG, they straight up quit.
If you want the game to be healthy in the western market then Honing needs to change. Otherwise I give it a few months before it has less players than a decade old RPG. I’ve been playing MMORPGs since they were a thing. I played MU Online when that came out and that is FAR more grindy and punishing than this. Western gaming isn’t really receptive to these types of cash grab grinds. Back when there were no options sure they could get away with it, but now there are simply too many games/options that respect peoples time more. Well back to not playing lost ark because I already failed my 1 upgrade for the day and I’ve already done Chaos/guardian/boss/dailies. Yep, all those options to get upgrade materials amount up to 1 maybe 2 chances to upgrade a day. I’d love to play more, but passed an hour or two and it’s simply grinding to get things to sell for gold to get mats to try and make up for the terrible mechanic.
