Mhmm. @Thorbjorn42gbf was it really necessary to tag me twice? Never the less this got my curiousity slightly peaked. mainly because i disagree with almost everybody here.
So before i start my rant, my usual disclaimer, I am speaking from my personal view and from my own logic. I will try as much as possible to avoid stating anything as definitive proof but rather as “i think” or “i believe” (although i might slip up once in a while). secondly this is a rant, not nice and coherent thoughts. So i will more than likely offend a few people. Dont take it personal, not trying to hurt you. Im just indifferent to your feelings and find them a hindrance.
Mhmmkay? Enough warning. Lets get to the meet of the topic.
So i will try to control it. But for me this topic is as determined for me as @KuroKuma is about character progression. Very very ironed out opinion that will influence what i am about to say. I find the idea of beacons running out absolutely disgusting. Now i dont think there is inherently anything wrong with it, But i find it to be the bigger of two evils. Let me go through some of the “good points” that was mentioned which people mentioned
- “it stops ghost towns and unfinished builds” This argument is slightly… Annoying. to put it mildly. Because i completely understand it. But it still bothers me. It reminds me of the posts that has pretty much just been “i dont like the way this guy builds and therefore i can say it looks like ■■■■” Now im sure that the people using it has no evil intentions with it. However that is effectively what i believe it says on a grandscale. “We will find these cities and they will be ugly”. But what if they arent? wouldnt you then be HAPPY that beacons didnt run out?
(Splitting so its easier to read) This argument comes with the assumption. Extremely rooted in it. That any person who does no longer play have created something that is a nuisance to the community as a whole. AND THAT WILL BE THE CASE AT TIMES. But it isnt different from a guy who plays who make something ugly right? I suck at building, i will most likely live in a god damn assymetrical dirt hut. And i have EVERY SINGLE RIGHT to live in that damn dirthut. a guy can come up and be like “your house sucks, i dont like it. remove it” And i can tell him to ■■■■ off. that is the beauty of it. EVEN if i played every day i would still live in that ugly dirthut and people would STILL be annoyed by it. So what is the difference on that and a person who leaves? “It will have ugly unfinished pieces in it” I could make ugly unfinished houses and still pay for it if i had to wouldnt i? I think that of the people who quit it is very likely that many of them came in. made a half arsed building and then never touched the game again. But at the same time it also affects those who DID try to build their houses. So forcing a system of upkeep would NOT stop ugly builds, unfinished buildings or unfinished towns. Again i completely get the annoyance, i am a piano player who by most standards is fairly good. It physically pains me to hear people just mess around with a piano and just slam it or just completely ■■■■ it up. I can EASILY imagine it might feel the same way for people who build alot, But the system proposed DOESNT only delete those unfinished things, it would also make people lose fully fleshed out houses and builds.
All that above is only saying “it only has a minor positive impact” so let me explain what i think is the NEGATIVE impact of it alright? Again lets just try to free ourselves from the mindset that people who doesnt play anymore only ever build horrible things. Just try to enter that state of mind. Done? Good. We as the players affects the world, we as the players makes choices which changes the world that we will play with. Natural regeneration as a gameplay system works well, because it keeps a constant influx of materials getting into the game. BUT it also effectively erases the impact that players have on the worlds that they live in. Beacons are there to stop erasing that impact. Beacons will allow us to shape the world. Beacons should ENCOURAGE people to shape the world. I would love. absolutely love to walk around in boundless and see a bridge between two mountains. i would love to walk around and see someone having carved a nice tunnel through as a way to minimize the amount of time required to travel from places. I would love to walk around in a cave and find a small statue with the inscription “May luck be with you traveller”. All of those things are POSSIBLE by allowing people to change the worlds that we live in. People can decide to make a path which will help EVERYBODY. people can make a bridge that will help EVERYBODY. people could make hidden monuments that would be a “wow” moment for everybody. If it only cost a beacon. A one time investment. A constant reminder for what was done. A year after a person stopped playing a new player might stumble unto that bridge and thank the person creating it for saving him time and reducing his risk. If you have a forced constant upkeep then those things would eventually run out. Or the people who were always on the line saying “eh i can use a few beacons on it” might instead say “its not worth the upkeep”. A big discussion on the other topics was something like “What if it refreshes upon people travelling through it?” “What if people through them could donate fuel” And that might be an answer to the bigger roads. But what about the hidden ones? what about the easter eggs hidden by players, What about those things made with a purpose and a certain intention to be a truly unique find or to only be used in extreme cases but in those cases it makes the difference between life and death. those would still get destroyed. Those things wouldn’t survive. And I fear that set a constant upkeep or an increased price might just mean that everybody only uses beacons when they are truly necessary, like homes and stuff. and discourage using beacons and fun and interesting things that could help everybody.
-
“Then people could get the spots other claimed that they dont use anymore” This. Is peculiar to me and makes very little sense. Again im not a builder. But how uptight do you have to be to play in a universe with a many different worlds and ATLEAST a few billion square meters of land, and then just go “I have all of this to build on. but i want THAT particular 30x30x30 spot or my build wont be good”. There isn’t much to say about it because it makes no sense to me honestly.
-
This is my personal and biggest problem with the system. I have a feeling i will get alot of “but you arent a builder so why do you even care” and its true. i’m not a builder, which is why i don’t care if I were to lose my own cosmetic house. The real problem for me is this. “Beacons are effectively. Most of your progression.”
Almost every single argument i have seen so far from skimming through it was A) in favor, B) considered ONLY the building aspect. So as a shortcut into my mind. Imagine that nobody could build and that every beacon was just a grey square, Okay? For me building is purely a matter of functionality cause i cant build even to save my life. That doesnt mean i dont think its important how they look. that is what i said above is that i think there would be awesome monuments and stuff. But right now i am talking Personal housing which for me might as well be a grey block. Slightly went off-topic, bear with me. Okay so the whole “beacon is part of progression” is really the biggest problem i have with all of it. From what I SEE from the game is effectively that people start from nothing and then slowly build up houses, machines etc etc. Upon dying you would love stuff meaning that you would most likely have it stashed in your house. So in your house are all of your excess crafting materials, maybe you have extra gear, maybe you have machinery. the only thing that is NOT in your house is your skills, currently equipped gear and items and you gold/gems. This is where the biggest problem is for me. Losing your house is not just a matter of “oh i lost something that looked nice” but rather “I lost about 75% of my progression” which would be REALLY FREAKING DISCOURAGING to those who MIGHT want to get back into the game. Can you imagine it? Those who stopped playing and wants to play again. And they log in and they lost that much? Can you imagine in any MMORPG where they would get away with making it so when people came back after a few months it just said “Due to being gone for too long we have decided to wipe everything in your bank and everything in your backpack. Welcome Back!” The reason this is such a big problem for me personally is that i jump between alot of games, i might play something a lot for a few weeks and then come back again half a year later after having gone a round through various games. If i were to come back to the game with that sort of state i would just be like “you know what. ■■■■ it”. And this is not meant as a sort of “bow down cause i decide everything” argument. But simply a statement of how people like me would feel about it. And because while i am arrogant I will only argue from my own position. And THIS is even only a luxury matter, as @Thorbjorn42gbf mentioned several times. Real life DOES HAPPEN. And people are suggesting you to PUNISH people for having a life? You want to PUNISH people for coming back? Look deep into yourself. If you were to leave a place you loved and decide to come back. What would you prefer? A person standing in the door saying “welcome back. i missed you” or a person standing the door saying “I assumed you wouldnt get back so i threw out all of your stuff. Well whoops. not my problem”
Those are my thoughts on why i HATE the idea of a fuel system or any sort of upkeep system. This doesnt cover much of various other cases which is beacon specific. But to make an ending comment all i can say is that the ONLY time you should ever lose a beacon should be in extreme cases like someone building a 30 block tall majestic phallic symbol. But don’t punish the guy who just has a small house with his stuff there who has too much stuff going on to play.
-Zouls
