Now that I’ve spent a substantial amount of time with it, I’m starting to see how the systems interlock, and I have no idea how this will function in the endgame.
It’s clear that the vision for the endgame is PvP and territory control. But there doesn’t seem to be a strong incentive for owning territory, nor is there a strong disincentive for not owning territory. Sure, the owning company gets to enjoy (I assume) a steady income of gold from taxes. But that brings me to my next point…
What value does gold really have, in the long term? You’ve got many ways to earn it - mobs drop it and missions award it - but not much to spend it on. In a world where everyone has the best gear, what do you use gold for? Housing taxes? Consumables? You can buy materials, but that leads me to my next point…
There’s almost no opportunity cost to leveling every gathering profession at once. You get XP for harvesting anything, so you’re incentivized to gather everything in your path. Not everyone is interested in crafting, though, so the market is almost always going to be flooded with nearly every raw material. I guess this could eventually level out as supply and demand for each material reach equilibrium, but right now, it’s disappointing to get a rare crafting material and discover that it only goes for a few gold.
I think they were trying to make EVE Online-style systems without realizing why those systems work and why that game’s economy isn’t fucked despite going on for twenty years.
Here’s what I would do, if I were put in charge.
First, get rid of factions, or at the very least stop tying companies to them. Most servers have a problem with one faction completely steamrolling the entire server. This is because there is basically no opportunity cost to growing that large or even maintaining your territory. Any faction member can join any allied company’s war, so as the owning company, you basically just set your war time, throw a roster together, and as long as your side has the gear or level advantage, you’re solid.
As far as PvP goes, companies should be the unit of control, not factions. That way, if you want to control territory, you can only field those conflicts with your own resources and players, which means the bigger you get, the harder it is to keep control because you can’t effectively defend on every front. It would be fairly easy to hold one territory, it would take work to control a few, and taking control of the map would be a herculean effort.
Second, I would remove the ability to repair gear and tools, or I would make repair its own profession (more on professions in a minute). Controversial? Sure, but you need a way to take crafted stuff out of the economy because you need the consumers of that stuff to keep consuming it. Introduce insurance for your stuff if you want. But endgame crafters need a reason to keep gathering endgame resources and making endgame gear.
Third, I would enforce specialization in the gathering and crafting professions. Either make it so you can only learn a few, or make it so the levels start coming in so slowly that you’re incentivized to focus on a handful. Because most recipes require diverse materials, you would force players to rely on others for something, creating a strong foundation for your economy. This would also make pure gatherers a worthwhile career path.
I like the game because the combat is an intricate balance of attacking, blocking, dodging, and ability use, and the crafting/grinding is great for turning off your brain and listening to a podcast. Also, I think this game has great fishing that’s not too boring and simplistic while also not being overcomplicated and trying to be realistic. But unless I’m misunderstanding how the systems work together, I think the endgame on most servers is going to be pretty stagnant.