The problem is the people that abuse the plot system and build horizontally with 1 plot high beacons, go look at biitual and you can see what i mean…
I had to run for a couple of minutes to get out of a plot jivita owns on biitual with nothing built… and even then i couldnt build because it has plot reservations turned on…
thats what needs balance, the big plot players not the joe blow little guys that have way less with stuff actually built.
Edit: plots need a variable rate, like building vertically should be cheaper if you already own the plot below it, i would imagine a cylinder should be cheaper than a pizza box…
3 million xp thinking that not all players have the most prestigious blocks it’s going to be really hard to level up even for big builder, unless he has a big wallet to buy those blocks. Ok maybe this will force us to farm the resources , keep the economy going (hammers, teaching pies etc…) play the game as entended, but it’s a brutal change.
I’m not talking about plotting on planets. I am talking about the new system for getting levels. Outside of the current curve is the system making sense and works ok or are there flaws in it, etc. That is what is being focused on in this patch on due to the new skills required.
The system is the game mechanic. Right now it looks like a linear value of XP to reward or something like that. Does that make sense or how can the mechanic be changed. They can always balance that curve to be less but the inputs of that – XP for certain work, etc is what is important.
like should the system stop at level 190? Do people max their character? etc…
Putting aside the tweaking thing for the XP, I don’t really see the reason for the change. What was not working before with leveling? You could easily change the skill sheets to just be able to unlock everything on one page based on the time played. Every time you make a level you get skill points, apply rinse repeat. At some point (insert whatever level you want) you have unlocked everything with skill points. Done.
IMO the only other reason to continue making levels after that is for cubits - to buy plots or outfits/skins.
I could be a little slow here but what is the point of the change then if not to stop the cubits? Willing to hear a good reason (might not agree but will listen).
actually this does point out one thing, If you can fill out the entire character sheet at max level I honestly feel that it just further reinforces the fact that limiting what is craft able with a skill is pointless and a waste of points.
Today not being able to craft a pie doesnt stop me from making pies, being lazy does, if im cheap i can pick the same skills you pick the only thing limiting what people can build based on a skill does is make us annoyed we have to remember to be on our home plot, switch the current plot to the our home plot or wait 15 minutes…
I get 5 skill pages and even with the interlocks between crafting skills i could still make everything on 1 character.
throw out those crafting skills and suddenly there is more room on that page.
Yeah this is the point I am a bit confused with and didn’t really get into it this summer when it came up. It seems like it is still the same and just an extension of instead of 200k to a larger value. Maybe the underlying system is still the same and it really is just the “balance” that is off.
I’d doubt they want to stop cubits but they might be looking at slowing “planet” growth on public planets. But, that honestly seems stupid because James would know and see that Sovereign’s have spread us out a lot and with Local Universe coming it spreads it even more.
Obviously this is a result of Solo Mode, but I’m almost 100% certain it will hit MMO because of this and likely other content coming.
If you separate the game mechanic from the math and curves that come with it, you get “xp gives level. levels give skill points and cubits. cubits give plots”.
This has not changed with this update, so I don’t know what you’re getting at.
Using linear XP to level ratio and logistic XP to cubit/plot ratio like they are is fine and normal, but the formula they are (sort of) using is hostile.
Using logistic curve (they are only sort of using this, but it’s the closest model) for xp to cubit is… fine. It means that after a certain point, they would prefer that you get rid of old builds rather than just making more new ones. They should be very careful about both the velocity of the spike in the curve as well as the height of the high flat part(asymptote in case you still remember school), as those are going to be the things that cause players to bounce, and since this isn’t a high population F2P game, it’s going to be just bounce, not churn.
If they weren’t planning to force that “I guess I can’t build something new unless I pay up or reclaim”, then, imo, they absolutely must divorce plots/cubits from levels before they make this change. Having skill points 370-380 cost as much as points 0-100 is fine and, in my opinion, a very good thing in this case. As I’ve said before, applying this to cubits has a very different effect.
I would have preferred a system of skill levels obtained via use than points. Either way we will get more skills in the future and that means they will increase the skill point number. So that is why I am concerned with the system now because today it is 3 mil a level and in the future does that mean 10 mil and now I’m even getting plots once a year via levels.
That is why I’m trying to get people to focus on the system… because we WILL get new skills as content is released.
There are two things coupled with levels. Skill points and plots (in the form of cubits).
Does it make sense that levels take progressively longer to obtain? Maybe, maybe not. Personally I think it took to long back then to reach level 50. Back then I used an iron hammer, not a forged 3x3 tool.
The problem is that the new talent system still forces you to choose what you take next and will take forever to fill up. Delaying something like mass crafting is still not an option, which means new player will still need to probably create a crafting alt.
Other useful but non-essential talents will still be delayed. You just can’t pick light source before the damage epic or environment protection.
I think it would be better if the game would just unlock most talents at specific levels. Like mass crafting at level 10 and environment protection at 20 and so on. That way you could look forward to a level (yay, something new) instead of getting trapped with analyses paralyses after every level up.
The new talent system puts the focus, from a players point of view, on what you can’t have yet. If you would just unlock stuff while leveling up it would put the focus on what you get next level.
Does it make sense that cubits take longer and longer to obtain? Not at all, cubits is a resource needed to play the game. This should be flat from he beginning. There is no “character progression” or anything related to cubits.
I think this is a good idea. At level 50 you should have almost (if not all items open).
Agree with this also. The only other way I could see this working with the New and Improved system they are proposing is make plots have to be placed horizontally and no need vertically. You place a plot own from 0-255. Or some variation of that like maybe 5 up and down.
Edit: Yeah thinking about the 0-255 won’t work because it may make resources unobtainable. Maybe call it 1/4 of a plot up and down after the 1st one. That works with the just over 4x more they are proposing.
Well as I said the idea of making harder to level up as you go is good but not without something to balance it, just take a look at any other rpg as you go up you can’t keep going for the same quests or fighting the same mobs from the first area, you need quests and mobs that match your current level if they don’t intend to give us that then they should turn around
once players figure out how to mod more xp and resources then you can bet the live universe will lose that fun appeal.
This is why people play on rust or ark servers with 10x resources in 1 hit, 10x crafting speed, 10x taming, 10x etc
RIP resource farms lol i guess its time to quit if that actually happened lol
I understand the need for balance but grind is not fun.
Honestly I feel like boundless has a identity crisis at times, like it wants to be this simple block building game but it also wants all these these complex system that kinda sort make sense but not really.
I use alot of my plots to preserve nature around my build and I don’t build on them except maybe add light. I do this because I enjoy the nature look rather than random buildings. I’m sure others do this as well and this is what you are seeing.
Thank you. That is kind of the break down overall of your whole post that I wanted. I completely agree. Unfortunately because the Devs don’t have a policy of sharing their ideas before they start coding I think it will be hard to get them ever redesign the system. But, I think we can clearly bring to light the problems with the system and share the concerns like your post did. Maybe @James will see the big issue that these changes are bringing to light so they can decide how to handle it.
I do agree the cubit link is now showing it as a problem even with the increased reward.
They really should have just scrapped all this and rebuilt things from scratch with a better system that is scalable since this is showing it won’t be.