07-16-2003, 10:45 PM
Hi,
Though I do have to agree with you on Buzzard's ability to deliver on their promises (I'm still steamed about Guild Halls and, to a lesser extent, the Arena).
The important thing about a ladder season is that it needs to be short enough that neither the top levels nor the top gear become too common. I have no idea how long that is, and I suspect Buzzard doesn't either. But one real easy criterion is to simply restart the ladder when there's a dozen or so level 99s. Of course, with the XP penalties, that might take forever. So, maybe the amount of uber gear out there should be tracked too.
However, something I haven't seen discussed does bother me. How many people will be willing to start new characters each time the ladder is reset? Unlike SC/BW where there is no persistence other than the ladder ranking, in D2 a new ladder means all the goodies and the character and the hours to get all that all go down the toilet when a new season starts. If the ladder characters get thrown into the common pool when the season ends, and if the common pool does not have access to the 1.10 features, then those ex-ladder characters will become trash with no future. I'm wondering just how many of the players who live for gear and the uber characters that gear gives them will be willing to have it all pissed away every three months or so.
Looks to me they've made the game worse for those that don't give a crap about gear and they've screwed those that do by making it all go away (in effect) every three months or so. If I thought Buzzard had the cleverness to actually plan it out, I'd say they were releasing 1.10 to kill the game, much like they did with 1.08 in D1. But then I remember the maxim: "Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity."
--Pete
Though I do have to agree with you on Buzzard's ability to deliver on their promises (I'm still steamed about Guild Halls and, to a lesser extent, the Arena).
The important thing about a ladder season is that it needs to be short enough that neither the top levels nor the top gear become too common. I have no idea how long that is, and I suspect Buzzard doesn't either. But one real easy criterion is to simply restart the ladder when there's a dozen or so level 99s. Of course, with the XP penalties, that might take forever. So, maybe the amount of uber gear out there should be tracked too.
However, something I haven't seen discussed does bother me. How many people will be willing to start new characters each time the ladder is reset? Unlike SC/BW where there is no persistence other than the ladder ranking, in D2 a new ladder means all the goodies and the character and the hours to get all that all go down the toilet when a new season starts. If the ladder characters get thrown into the common pool when the season ends, and if the common pool does not have access to the 1.10 features, then those ex-ladder characters will become trash with no future. I'm wondering just how many of the players who live for gear and the uber characters that gear gives them will be willing to have it all pissed away every three months or so.
Looks to me they've made the game worse for those that don't give a crap about gear and they've screwed those that do by making it all go away (in effect) every three months or so. If I thought Buzzard had the cleverness to actually plan it out, I'd say they were releasing 1.10 to kill the game, much like they did with 1.08 in D1. But then I remember the maxim: "Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity."
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?