HOT TOPIC: PSO2 for New / Returning Players

[EXPFULL]

http://oi44.tinypic.com/e0s95c.jpg

Hey all,

This has worked really well the last few times we've done it, so we're back to gather your thoughts on the following for our next episode:

What's PSO2 like for new or returning players right now?

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

What do YOU think? We'll discuss this as part of our HOT TOPICS segment in the next show.

Thanks!

[Link1275]

"- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you feel you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?"

-Gameplay, yes. Otherwise, no.
-The inflation rates are through the roof.
-No.
-Groups are hard to find depending on your ship. Newbie questions usually get answered quickly on the forums/in-game, but I'm usually not the one asking them.

[Aquayoshi]

-I think the difficulty is fine for now, as long as we assume that, in the future, Sega will make higher difficulties a lot harder like they did with Ult in PSO. If we assume it will be more like the current progression, then no, that's too easy. Of course, it's perfectly fine for newbies.

-From what I've heard, a newbie can level up and unlock things pretty fast via Koffie's client orders; they've been made easier and give a ton of EXP.

-I've never paid a cent into this game, and I do alright. It is harder to make money if you don't have AC for a shop, though. Yes, a lot of people hate the monotony of running TACOs every day to make a decent amount of cash.

-There's nothing preventing newer players from having the same level of success as older ones, unlike some PvP-centric games. I think it's completely possible to catch up with the high-level crowd before the next few content updates hit and get devoured; summer is coming, which means plenty of time to kill on PSO2 if you're still in school/college. (Or you're a teacher. :-P) As far as outfits go, though, it may be harder to catch up on those. Some of them are waaay expensive.

-I've seen a lot of people go into Block 20 and ask for help because they're new to the game, and immediately somebody kindly offers to show them the ropes. (Unsure if the "ropes" in question are nooses, though.) Just kidding.

Edit: I propose we no longer call the infamous English block "ship 2, block 20". Just Block. Frickin. 20. THE Block 20. With a capital B. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.
On other ships, they say the block numbers just go from 19 to 21, like a 13th floor or 666th room sort of thing. We are that infamous. I'm lying, of course, but wouldn't it be awesome if true?

Overall, my opinion is that it's never been easier to get into the game, excepting the captcha during registration. The English patch is getting more and more complete, early-game content is easier than it was at launch, and, it follows an observation I've made of F2P MMOs: they all gradually become easier and more hospitable to newbies throughout their lifespans to attract new players.

[Syklo]

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?



Yes.
Yes. Us free players should be able to use the shop to SOME EXTENT! (I sort of like how it's done in Rage of Bahamut: You get a certain # of tickets per day, and you use them to make listings (or buy things), and the cost of tickets depends on the item)
Nope. Not nearly enough time to play this game
No, cuz I'm on ship 8 LOL DERP; Solo'd for 95% of my gametime anyway, no biggie.

[MetalDude]

-If by curve you mean a flatline. Game's piss easy and AQs offer maybe a few challenges with bosses but deaths generally get caused by being stunlocked constantly.
-You need the shop if you want to get some things done in a reasonable amount of time (3 ability affixing or pretty much any high demand accessory), but if you run just one class/subclass for your lifetime, it's pretty manageable.
-Gear sure. Pyroxene weapons have helped me catch up tremendously. Actually finding good 10* rares? Fuck no, haven't found a single damn one from numerous +25 risk AQ weeks.
-If you're in a team, but I guess that's a given. Outside of that, it used to take me a lot of searching and JP players vary from nice and usually passive to complete dicks.

[Punisher106]

1: Ehh... Being a lone wolf can kind of blur the line between easy and hard. Normal mobs are mostly no problem. It's the bosses that chew me up and spit me out.
2: Not really. Sega has it so that almost every method where you pay for something can be circumvented with Meseta or FUN.
3: With my luck, I don't know. Probably not. It's crazy hard to get anywhere when you have some horrid luck.
4: Again, a lone wolf. I'm too shy to join JP parties, because I don't want to be labeled as a "Block 20 Gaijin", when I'm doing my damnedest not to look like one, by staying quiet, and trying to help out when I can. And not speak english out loud.

[LordShade]

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

- yes, I think its working alright, although I do hope ultimate mode is like it says, Ultimate.
- Not really, knowing the ins and outs and how to abuse dudu and bring him to your advantage (along with a lil luck) can get you by the days
- RNG is RNG, you can catch up in a day, or take months.
- Yes, being part of a semi large team helps.

[Lostbob117]

-Looking pretty good so far, some stuff is challenging. Groups usually make the game easy mode though.
-Not pay-to-win, you can still get a shop pass from FUN scratch. However, there are a lot of cool features when you pay, but you don't need that to be do good damage.
-Yes, when you max out your lvls during each time content comes out you'll be able to hunt for the better gear and with some good gear, you can just buy that from player shops.
-Yes, if you're in a team you can. It seems more challenging not being in a team.

[Alisha]

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

a.i think its not pay to win enough. what i mean by this is that i think the advantages you get for paying are too weak. for example premium should get more extreme passes per day than free players.
b.yes
c.no i wish the game was more pick up and play instead of co centric.

[Calsetes]

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you feel you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?


My thoughts on these:

-The game's not that hard - about the hardest things are trying to beat some bosses solo when you're right at the recommended level for the mission (as that dragon in the Volcano exploration map gave me quite a fight, but one hit from some breath attack after working on him for a while immediately killed me - which means not only did I lose a lot of healing items in the fight, but I also failed the mission unless I buy a scape doll.) With a team of three other people there, it probably would have been easy.

-About the only intimidating stuff is the fact that anything beyond basic item drop fodder costs an arm and a leg to get, and the item shop put all its items in the scratch tickets, as opposed to a system I'm more familiar and comfortable with - the "pay for what you want, period" system. I'd blame that last bit on my experience with stuff like Champions Online pre-FTP conversion, where what you bought was what you got. Oh - and scape dolls being for sale in the shop. REALLY don't dig that one, especially given how hard it is for a non-Japanese player to even get money in the game.

-No, I don't really think I'll ever "catch up." People are apparently getting 10 tickets for some tower thing or something, and I can't get those, simply because I'm late to the party. I understand not getting, say, an extra ticket a day or something, but the initial "hey everyone, here's 10 tickets" thing? I'm hoping this is a level-gated thing and once I hit the right level, or otherwise hit the right condition, I'll get those 10 tickets on my guy.

-Asking questions here gets an answer fairly quick enough. In-game, though? Good luck getting into S2B20 to ask your question if you don't speak Japanese. Same thing with quests and whatnot - being a newer player, and thus low-level, you don't see many people running those earlier missions. This means you have to make contacts and find people who are willing to help you run some of these missions, or grind the **** out of easier missions in the hopes you'll get to be a high enough level to solo it within its requirements. Overall, this wouldn't be a bad thing, except if the community in this game is anything like other PS entries I've played, they're more interested in a virtual chat room and screwing around with symbol art than actually helping "us lowly peasants." Sorry for the bit of venom in there, but it's what I've seen in other online games, and it really grinds my gears. There's some helpful people, but usually the "you're beneath us" elitists tend to outnumber them.

My guy's level 17, which is good, but I have a feeling that unless I find some helpers, I'm going to have to play my other characters until they're about that level, also, and take them with me against that stupid flying dragon in the volcano.

[FrenzicWolf]

I'm currently a 34 hunter, 32 force, 18 fighter, and this is my opinion.


- Is the difficulty curve working about right? I never had a hard time getting into it, but you have the ability to unlock hard mode too early, and then you get a lot of client orders which are for places way higher level than you. My first time playing, I had no idea about this, and constantly died to everything, causing me to quit for a while. I feel this is the only problem.

- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?) Very easy to play free, but it can be very annoying. I've found so many items my friend wanted, but ended up selling them as you have no way to trade without paying, which is ridiculous. Also, you have to pay for scape dolls, which should just be semi rare drops.

- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares? Yes. It feels very easy to catch up to others in gear so far, unless we're talking 11 star gear, which is way to hard to get.

- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions? If you're in the right ship and block, you'll never have a trouble. There're many nice people always willing to help.

[strikerhunter]

My guy's level 17, which is good, but I have a feeling that unless I find some helpers, I'm going to have to play my other characters until they're about that level, also, and take them with me against that stupid flying dragon in the volcano.

Off topic: The dragon is called Vol Dragon. Although there aren't much players that helps newbies, just send me a tell or message and I'll help. Not cake walking you but help you.

Back to the Topic:

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

1. Working as intended for TAs and AQs. Regular quests needs to be upped a bit to in the style of TAs.
2. No, there is no pay-to-win in PSO2. All F2P games that I played that had that system makes everything in fight unfair especially in PvP which PSO2 currently doesn't have.
3. Depends on build otherwise yes but in time. But I would like to say no as it keeps you to wanting to continue to play rather be bummed out that you got all the great gears already and have nothing to do. It's like a factor that keeps player playing because it turns into a long-term goal.
4. Grouping, easy to find a TA, EQ, or AQ group within B20. Rarely you'll find some farming some bosses, and very rare to find a regular run for COs. Much easier with team or friends. During JP rush hours, you'll find almost any Free Explore MPA flooded with JP players spamming ECs. As for questions, go to B20 and problem solve unless it's a bad timing.

[DreXxiN]

You guys probably shouldn't have put notes of every single topic you wanted to discuss in your show in the post because that's not a teaser, and now that people are discussing it here they won't check out your show.

Just trying to throw out a helping hand from a fellow journalist.

[Zeota]

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?


I think it's ok for now but could use some tweaks here and there such as better AI patterns and MPA scaling. Being able to steamroll everything in an MPA is a bit "lulzy".



- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)


I think it can be at first, but most of that goes away just by learning the game, particularly the inner workings of the affix system. The game provides enough means for even freeloaders to make money if they're willing to work at it (dailies, TA, etc.).



- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?


The spellstone exchange provides something of a way around the game's "microscopic" drop rates. Some of those 10-star bases are a bit rough though.



- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions answered?


In the few times I visit B20, I often see someone forming a party for something and questions are often answered in a timely fashion either on here or in-game.

Also, I think their goal here is collecting the opinions of people on the chosen subjects and telling how they feel in lieu of just them digging through a bunch of threads then opining on said topics themselves.

[BIG OLAF]

Kind of weird how these guys were nowhere to be found for the longest time, until that other podcast pops up. A little competition must have kicked them into gear again.

[ReaperTheAbsol]

The topic that speaks most to me is the distance between myself and the 'average' curve as it comes to rares and equipment. Back in November/December I would have been considered on par with most players, but now I feel as if I've fallen far behind in such aspects. Going on an unexpected hiatus hindered my status, but it's motivation enough to get me to improve myself to where I need to be.

[Bellion]

One was expecting a baby and one was extremely busy with a full work schedule. Also, they were just waiting until there was something worth talking about(extreme quests). I talk to them whenever they get on. It really was just a coincidence. I've got nothing more to say.

[Agitated_AT]

the difficulty is terrible. the step between areas in better AI is nearly unnoticable. especially for the smaller enemies

in other words, you dont really feel like you are progressing. new aesthetics dont mean anything when theres no actual change in the way you gotta aproach the enemies

thats all the 2 cents i can give ya

[EXPFULL]

Wow, thanks all - great notes so far... we'll be sure to get to these on episode 13.


You guys probably shouldn't have put notes of every single topic you wanted to discuss in your show in the post because that's not a teaser, and now that people are discussing it here they won't check out your show...

Good thinkin' - But this is just one of the topics in our 'HOT TOPICS' segment.
In each show we go over our WIN / FAIL lists, reply to messages sent into our INBOX, give some stuff away in CODE COLLECT and then go over spoilers and such in TOWARDS THE FUTURE... so there's lots to tune-in for!



Kind of weird how these guys were nowhere to be found for the longest time, until that other podcast pops up. A little competition must have kicked them into gear again.

Hey Olaf - we've had a whole bunch of messages asking when we were going to return - my wife and I are gearing up to raise a little mag of our own soon, and I've had some fantastic opportunities to work on some great projects at work, but they require a lot more head-space than I'm used to... so rather than put out a sloppy / awkward show, we wanted to wait until we had something juicy to properly go over.

I'll be sure to look up the PSE Burstcast again. I do keep an eye on iTunes but didn't see it. The more the merrier I say, more for people to listen too and our foul-mouthed sense of humour is not for everyone!

[Haseokun]

Back to the Topic:

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

A1: The difficulty curve is just peachy and no different than I remember it being before I left back in January.
A2: Ugh...YES The Player Shop prices for most items are just terrible. It's retarded hard for a new player to raise a new MAG now because of the inflation of 4-6* Rares price wise. All 7-9* Rares have plummeted in price and are VERY widely available with or without good Souls/Abilities. 7-9* Armors on the other hand not so much. Good think Franka CO items can be bought from Player Shops for a cheap price though, makes EXPing at least once a week much easier.
A3: A long time from now I may catch up, but not anytime soon. I'm the kind of person who tries to keep his Subclass up to date. Example: My highest job is 46 Hunter and its subclass is 24 Fighter, so I'm taking time off from Hunter to level fighter, Ranger, and Force. My MAG indeed is NOT lv175. My armor/Units is NOT anything special. Catching up on Weapons seems like the one thing I should potentially be able to do.
A4: It is not easy to get a group together for anything other than TACOs.

[Eveningxtar]

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

Qns1- Well the difficulty curve is fine, nothing too daunting as long as you know what the boss patterns are.
Qns2- The economy is fine, doing daily VH taco will enable you to buy what you want from player shop(atleast decent gears)
Qns3- Take quite a bit of work to get the best gears but if you are fine with the average-decent gears, it will be hardly a problem
Qns4- Joining an english speaking team will solve most of the problem with grouping together and if you cant find a team, well, playing with random ain't so bad, there are generally many nice players around willing to help(as far as my experience goes)

[TaigaUC]

I know I'm not a returning player but I'll just say a few things.


- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
Too easy in groups, I think. Solo is too difficult because the action often gets messy, and later on enemies only need to land 1 or 2 hits to kill. Can get pretty annoying when the enemy you're attacking is supposed to be stunned or down but suddenly they're attacking you, and you're dead. It makes no sense that a solo death to boss is mission failure, when it's so easy to avoid that in groups. Running back should already be punishment enough.

I prefer difficulty that's more about learning to adapt to new and complex strategies, instead of "one mistake, you're dead" and reliance on progression gear/stats.


- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
The game is clearly pay-to-win in that money is required to do anything, and you can earn a lot very quickly if you're a paying player. I don't understand how anyone can dispute that. For example, if I rely on time attack client orders, I only earn a few hundred thousand a day. Everytime I use a shop ticket, I rake in 4-6+ million in 3 days. That's not including the other minor benefits that make things easier and allow more and faster opportunities for profit.

I think paying players are dissatisfied with premium service because the benefits are minor or too obscured. Premium players don't feel they are getting what they paid for, because the benefits aren't significantly obvious. In other words, they make a big difference in the long run, but they are not immediately noticeable. What they do notice is the systems that limit the player. Some premium players may not be aware of how difficult it is to earn (and keep) money when you're starting out. Premium is basically for people who prefer to spend real money instead of wasting lots of time.

Non-paying players can still get everything premium players have, if they spend a hell of a lot more time. It takes a long time to earn money if you aren't paying, and millions of hard-earned money constantly vanishes in a flash. It's not so bad if you're getting something back for it, but when the game sends you backwards via random number generation it's very stressful and makes you feel like you wasted all your time. That is not fun. It is punishment. It's equivalent to "gambling" or "getting scammed" in reality.

Back in the day, many MMO-type games severely punished players if they died (exp loss, dropping items on death), upgraded (item breaks) or even used their equipment (via durability loss). When I played World of Warcraft, I immediately noticed that their approach was simply, "players should either move forward or not at all, never backwards". Punishing players unreasonably discourages them from playing. It's that simple. Many game designers don't understand that, apparently.


- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
I thought my characters were all geared well, but I can't compare to the people with 3-5 powerful expensive affixes on every weapon and unit. It usually costs me 2 million just to get a simple soul+stat II or III affix on anything. That's 2 million for a 50-60 damage increase. Doesn't feel especially rewarding considering time spent.

It's also not really possible to farm for the decent rares. I've been trying all year and still haven't gotten simple rares that everybody else seems to have. It goes back to being a paying customer, which makes everything so much less stressful.


- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?
During emergency trials, blocks sometimes end up being either completely full or completely empty. I think that's a pretty ridiculous and significant problem. The few times I've tried to get into groups, I had insane trouble trying to find groups doing what I wanted. They should really revamp the entire group joining system. It's probably the worst one I've seen out of all of the games I've played.

When it comes to noobie questions, I think people usually help out those who ask. The problem I see is that noobies may not be asking about things they should. For example, how to deal with Falz. How often do you see people asking what the proper strategy for Falz is? I think they probably just assume that they can wing it like everything else and it'll be fine. Doesn't really work that way, and I expect there'll be more encounters in the future where noobies screwing up will reflect negatively on the entire multiparty.

What they could do to alleviate that is design some battles that slowly teach players strategies and consequences, so that they have some past experience and awareness of how to go about things.

[IchigoPSO2]

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?
- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)
- Do you feel you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?
- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

What do YOU think? We'll discuss this as part of our HOT TOPICS segment in the next show.

Thanks!

- The difficulty curve is about right at the moment at least and I'm already level 26. Not sure if it will get easier or harder as I go on.
- As a new player it kinda look intimidating seeing a lot of geared and maxed out characters running around. I can't tell yet if its pay to win at my current level since I'm not having difficulties despite not upgrading/grinding my gears to +9. Just trying half at +5
- If I find some friends to play with maybe but for now all I do is solo which is the total opposite of what I did back in the PSO dreamcast game where I always group with 3 other players.
- I'm finding it hard to find the right group (meaning english speakers), not that I don't want to group up with japanese but I'm scared they might report me and get me banned. I see a lot of english speaking group but I doubt they'll give their attention to me if I talk to them. I just google my newbie question and maybe use the forums if I'm desperate which hasn't happen yet.

If anyone here playes at ship 2 and around level 26 PM me and maybe we could do some runs together.

[EXPFULL]

Awesome - thanks again all.

Be sure to grab the episode when it's up on iTunes / Stitcher (where you can listen online for free) this week- you're not going to want to miss the EXTREME prize we have on offer in our CODE COLLECT segment.


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[Tetsaru]

Since I started playing several days ago, I'll post my thoughts.


- Is the difficulty curve working about right?

I'd say it's okay. Normal mobs are a bit on the easy side, but bosses usually provide a good challenge. As someone else mentioned, the only times I really have any issues is when my character gets stun-locked in a flinching or ragdoll animation and can't recover fast enough. Then again, I've only played Ranger up to around Lv25 and just recently unlocked sub-classes, so I assume it would be a lot different playing as a Hunter or Force. Other than that, I'd say the multi-party areas could use some better scaling in response to how many players and what level players are at in the area, as it can seem a bit zergy at times.


- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)

I haven't messed around with it too much, but I'd say it's pretty typical of most other games I've played. I don't really like the fact that non-premium players can't sell things in a shop (among other things) unless they get one of those temporary ticket things, but I'm glad I'm at least able to buy from other players.


- Do you feel you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?

Getting better gear is a process, and should remain so, in my opinion. I'm perfectly comfortable with grinding missions and/or saving up money to earn something, so long as there isn't any bullshit involved, such as horrible RNG rates, etc. PSU:AotI had the issue of everyone and their grandma having S rank gear readily available even at low levels, and I don't want to see that happen again because it defeats the point of doing certain content in the first place when everything is handed to you on a silver platter. People should have to put in some effort for their gear, and gradually make themselves better and better - it's fundamental RPG character growth. I would, however, like to see some more practical gear abilities instead of just stat-stacking and cosmetics - bring back some of the old-school PSO weapons and their special attacks, for example.


- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

I don't have any problems with getting groups because I always play with some of my good irl friends and other people I've met online from other games over Teamspeak. Also, I'm perfectly fine with soloing - sometimes I like having some "me time" to get things done.

In terms of "noob questions," barring the apparent language barriers, so far I've been able to do okay for the most part through the help of online sites and what has been translated in the English patch. I just wish Sega would hurry their asses up and make some official translations... it's been what, over a year now since the game was released??

[thematesV2]

I take breaks, played up to lvl 20 right after beta, then jumped back in mid-august of '12, then jumped back in again 2-3 weeks ago after 6 months away.

- Is the difficulty curve working about right?

I'd say yes. I don't play much more than 3-5 hours a week, and it's challenging enough, unless I end up in a multiparty (mostly full) and then it's just a massacre, but thats kind of the point.

- Is the economy too intimidating? (too close to pay-to-win?)

not really. The only intimidating thing is bearing the high level players talking about raking in maseta in the millions. I don't think I've ever had more than 200k in my storage, but I'm only level 39, and don't play for hours on end.

- Do you fell you'll ever 'catch up' when it comes to gear/rares?

yes. I see so much equip for cheap on player shops, and I usually don't spend much time looking for stuff, rather attempting to level up.

- Is it easy to get a group together or n00bie questions?

it's changed a bit each time. initially multi parties were hard to find due to the learning curve of the game(not being in english, trying to get used to the menus) logging back in around august, multi-parties were everywhere. now, i never find them.

[EXPFULL]

Thanks guys - Ep 13 is in the can - we called quite a few of you guys out and read some comments.

Cheers!