Leveling Up

[IcyFreak]

1. Have one day of the week be payday, I have a job, why not have it give me some money, not a lot, I have bills to pay, but l should have a little bit left over.

2. Lower training costs. Not drastically, but a little bit, like a couple hundred.

3. Increase chip drops or autosell values. A little bit more money in the pocket would help, and let people buy things other than levels.

Thank you for reading and I hope it's taken into consideration.

1. This would break the game in so many ways. Let's just assume your job exactly pays the bills and rent, with nothing left over, okay?

2. Already been done once in the past, but could be taken into consideration again. Anybody else feel this is a problem?

3. See 2), except it hasn't been done before, to the best of my knowledge.

[Cristiona]

Yeah, the narrative justification on paydays was that you pretty much made just enough to make ends meet with nothing left over. The Casino is indeed a good place for cash, especially when you consider the non-combat. The other option is to sell off the items you stumble upon. Some areas allow you to raise a hefty amount of loot that way. Also, don't forget about the auction house. A short auction and/or a buy-out price can get you some quick chips.

Still, while games are about resource management, part of the point of Beta is to work out the kinks. Once the lag issues are resolved (and probably once chat is upgraded), I'm sure this will be looked at. Not promising anything will change; just that it will certainly be considered.

As for point three: again, this is still Beta (first week of it, no less). Autosale and drop rates may be adjusted. In the short term, there are a few items you can find and purchase that increase chip and item drop rates.

[TheK3vin]

I'm actualy a level 6 trying to get to lvl 7 too, this level feels particularly expensive.

[IcyFreak]

It seems that many people have trouble with level 6?

[Strlikecrazy]

I agree on points 2 and 3.
Currently:
Exp gain > chip gain
If it was
Exp >= Chip
the current prices would be ok, but the exp outgains are too much to deal with.

[TheK3vin]

Though I agree with that philosophy in general j12601, it really seems like the cost to go to level 7 spikes up after 6. I don't know why, it just does. I was able to (almost) immediately level up every other time.

[Ryme]

What Cristiona says is almost exactly what I was going to say. I'm definitely listening to these things and do want to make sure that the balance is good. I want you to have to make choices about how to spend your budget, but I don't want you to be destitute, so I'm cautiously trying to land somewhere in between. I'll be keeping an eye on this stuff, for sure.

Also keep in mind the level 5 quest hasn't been put into the game yet, and when it is there will be some reward there. And the level 6 quest gives you a choices between a weapon and financial gain. For those folks who are saying level 7 is particularly tough: did you take the weapon or the money?

I'm also really curious to see how things go in the auction house. I would think that there ought to be items which new players can farm and sell at auction for some chips to more established players. It's going to take a few weeks for that to settle down, though.

[Ryme]

However, this still means I was using a large percentage of my available resources just to gain a level. I'd suggest trying to fix the chip requirement at a lower average percentage of a character's resources.

I hear ya. I really do. However, right now the average percentage of a character's resources is still an unknown number, so I can't really use that as a gauge of anything. Given a few weeks, it will probably become clearer, and I'll make some appropriate adjustments if that still seems necessary.

[Hawksmoor]

Early funding seems to be pretty tight to me. Two major things have cleared up the money situation for me. Level 4, where as a gadgeteer I learned a self-healing skill, and level 5, where I was able to handle the casino without it being a drain on my resources (PP, chips). First Aid, combined with the PP regeneration from the Superhero Cape, meant that I didn't have to spend money healing at the hospital or spend time resting at my hideout, at least not as much. I could be out patrolling and actually increasing my funds. With the casino, the income potential became that much greater, and my financial worries were no longer so pressing.

However, consider the new player that hasn't reached the casino yet, or doesn't have automatic PP regeneration, or has no healing that doesn't cost chips. Before I got those, I was worrying that I had hamstrung my development when I equipped myself early on, because I was consistently behind by about a level for my training. I was spending most of a level just farming money to pay for the training for that level. By the time I could afford to pay for training, I was almost qualified for the next level, which made me want to go right back to farming money and pinching pennies, rather than buying a welding torch to experiment with tinkering, or computer parts to see what I could put together. I wasn't feeling like much of a gadgeteer.

Glad to hear that Ryme is keeping an eye on this. I hope my input will be useful, and thanks for letting us into your sandbox!

[Rueby]

I've started 3 alts in this past week and I really like the fact that you need chips to level up. Like others have stated, it allows for more individual character development. If you want to spend all your chips on the coolest gear then you won't be able to race the people trying to level up the fastest and vice versa. The 2 alts I play the most have reached levels 7 and 8 without too much trouble, generally having the chips needed before or just after I've gained enough exp to level up while still having chips for caffeine and a few eq items. Also the items that increase chip/drop rates make a big difference, again allowing you to either equip items that will make you be a big bad killer or a farmer. I have yet to reach the exp needed and not been able to afford the chip cost leveling for more then a day.

[neocamp22]

Missingno: At higher levels you hit a point where exp becomes the part that takes longer than the chips.

[TheK3vin]

Maybe part of the problem has been the lag. I know this sounds odd, but looking back at how long it took me to get from 6 to 7, it probably wasn't more than 20-30 turns of farming. But when each turn takes like, a minute, the problem seems to become a lot worse.

And whats with the green neo?

[neocamp22]

Just playing around

[Cristiona]

Adventure elsewhere and sacrifice XP for chips? I believe you can make a reasonable income from the Tavern or in the Sewers. Also, those monsters will drop items that you can sell.

[Lxndr]

I'm not exactly playing the game optimally or anything, but at level 8 or 9 (I think, the game's down right now) I've always had the chips to pay for training before I leveled. Level 5/6 wasn't any more of a challenge than any other level.

So, there's another data point.

[neocamp22]

It would be nicer if items had an increased autosell value. Right now, autosell is like a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of things and the amount of chips you collect.

Also, though this is an (inevitable) comparison to KoL, the leveling system feels rather restrictive. Instead of being able to scrape by in a tough area while you level up, areas are pretty solidly "can-or-cannot survive in".

I too felt that, but I found as I progressed the game opened up more.