Where do these drop?

[Gridpain]

(and NO, for those of you already leaping for that post button, we're not selling BoCs, improved or otherwise - quit it :P).

Yet you intend to sell VP, hence OFAB... how is it different ?

[Casorinth]

Please post this quote if you don't mind, as I cannot find it for the life of me.

Either way, even if Means did make such a statement, I can assure you that the intent behind it was that the *power-enhancing* items in the new store would not be anything which was not normally found in the game, such as an "Improved Burden of Competence" or anything of the like (and NO, for those of you already leaping for that post button, we're not selling BoCs, improved or otherwise - quit it :P).

If I can find it I'll post it, may take a while as friday with means posts get all kinds of crazy.

For the last several years we've already offered social items through our Phasefront vendor in-game utilizing paid points; this store is no different. Will there be social items in this store that you cannot otherwise get in-game? Of course. Just like there have been social items in our other paid point vendors which you have not otherwise been able to get through gameplay - We've been selling social clothing, jetbikes, hoverboards, leet pets, luxury apartments, and other such stuff for quite some time now without it being available via loot drop in-game. In that sense there's nothing different now from what we've been doing the last several years; just a different interface and a different system behind it. =)

Theres a few differences, first of all a lot of the social stuff was pre-order specials that are purchasable thats fair enough I guess, the things like jet bikes and hoverboards were a bit more iffy but the points you get from subscriptions/special offers generally were enough to let you get one or two without spending anything.

Most of the OTHER social stuff was obtainable in game by other means, all the AI clothing could be made via quest, the leet pets all obtainable from the special holiday monsters, and they had the same requirements through out, no special versions of items that plenty of people would like to get but can only use if they buy them. Its only recently that you lot seem to have decided all the new clothing needs to be bought rather than obtained, but even that wasn't bad as they were cheap enough to be obtainable without extra cash over time.

On top of that it was clear the way these things would be, no statements saying that things would be purely a convenience over a redistribution of toolsets or equipment.

Even when talking about putting the holiday stuff in the store it was stated that it was so people could have access to old loot they may have missed out on via "replica" holiday items, which after seeing them drop from holiday mobs would be obtainable without paying as well.

And thats fine, their loot will say replica mine won't, but when they can get replica's of items that can't be gotten normally or wearable without paying it becomes more than just letting people pay to get stuff others got during the specific times.

Also selling ofab/credits I also think is a bit of a mistake.

Quick edit:

I know for certain means stated rare items wouldn't be for sale (http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...8&postcount=11), now sorry if Im wrong but I would have thought rare items would also include the rare looks of the armour, which is what many people go after the rare armour for, specially these days when armour wise you can just put on stuff that gives + to all skills, and whats rarer then some of the more elusive and hard to do quested armours and end game loot? Sure they don't have any stats but the looks themselves are rare and heck rare look hunting was one of the few things keeping me playing.

[Appren]

http://www.xyphos.com/ao/aodb.php?id=257958

Personal GMS, usable by right click, obtainable from the trader shop trader-only vendor.

Trader only to use.

Thanks

[polartiger]

Please post this quote if you don't mind, as I cannot find it for the life of me.

Either way, even if Means did make such a statement, I can assure you that the intent behind it was that the *power-enhancing* items in the new store would not be anything which was not normally found in the game, such as an "Improved Burden of Competence" or anything of the like (and NO, for those of you already leaping for that post button, we're not selling BoCs, improved or otherwise - quit it :P).

For the last several years we've already offered social items through our Phasefront vendor in-game utilizing paid points; this store is no different. Will there be social items in this store that you cannot otherwise get in-game? Of course. Just like there have been social items in our other paid point vendors which you have not otherwise been able to get through gameplay - We've been selling social clothing, jetbikes, hoverboards, leet pets, luxury apartments, and other such stuff for quite some time now without it being available via loot drop in-game. In that sense there's nothing different now from what we've been doing the last several years; just a different interface and a different system behind it. =)

A small quote, going way back to October 2007, Letter from the Game Director: 5 October 2007 to be precise, regarding the Paid Points.

I’ve read various threads back and forth on the forums asking why these vehicles aren’t stat increasing items or give actual game-play benefits. We have said from the outset with this particular project that we didn’t want to create a situation where gameplay was affected by the size of your bank balance, and that has been a vital part of the development. These are purely social items, designed to look cool and be a little fun addition. Sure, they won’t be to everyone’s tastes, and that’s fine, after all we wouldn’t ever know for sure if it’s something people appreciate unless we try it.

In my opinion this ingame shop is just an enhanced paid points vendor.
Reading this I feel boggled about the fact that portable GMS, portable bank, grid jump thingies, VP and tokens are made available for $$$ in the shop, without a profession lock even!

[fortorn]

Hes got you there kintaii

[Autohead]

You're also quoting the previous game director, not the current one. Pretty much makes that comment void, even though it basically still applies to the new item store...pretty much just "social items, designed to look cool and be a little fun addition"...the other stuff is only convenience items, or things to help speed up the grind, none of which create an imbalance of power in the game. Nobody has an advantage over anyone else in game from anything in the current item store.

[polartiger]

You're also quoting the previous game director, not the current one. Pretty much makes that comment void, even though it basically still applies to the new item store...pretty much just "social items, designed to look cool and be a little fun addition"...the other stuff is only convenience items, or things to help speed up the grind, none of which create an imbalance of power in the game. Nobody has an advantage over anyone else in game from anything in the current item store.

So basically you're saying that, with a new game director, it's OK for Funcom that they go another route and actually affect your gameplay with $$$, because that is what it's all about.
Or am I the only one that saw VP and Tokens in the ingame shop? (just an example?)
Or profession specific (read: profession specific) tools that are offered without any profession lock.
In my opinion they are now doing the exact opposite as they stated back then.

[Autohead]

They are not affecting my gameplay with $$$.

VP and Tokens are still able to be acquired in game from normal gameplay. Offering prof specific tools with no prof lock are only giving convenience, not power.

[Kintaii]

I have to thank Autohead for posting the majority of the points I would have made in reply; as noted, I was asking for the quote from Means, not Silirrion. And, as also noted, that same statement made in 2007 still holds true: Your gameplay experience (and forgive me - I'm using a lotta universal "you"s in this post) is not effected by the size of anyone else's bank balance. Nothing in the store gives anyone any form of tangible advantage over anyone who was playing prior to the launch of the 18.4 update - Convenience items such as the portable bank terminal only effect the individuals who have chosen to purchase them; you can still farm token guns, you can still join the Battlestations, you can still wander to your nearest neighborhood Global Market Search terminal. Nothing there has changed. =)

We've been very careful and vigilant in ensuring that what we're offering through the store doesn't pose any threat gameplay-wise to our players who choose *not* to utilize the convenience some of these items confer. Your gameplay and experiences, PvM, PvP and otherwise, remain exactly the same as they did prior to this update - No one who's chosen to utilize the store has any significant advantage compared to you and your hard work, which is exactly what we've been aiming for with this inclusion.

We don't want anyone to feel like they HAVE to use the shop. There's nothing there that makes you more uber than other people; nothing that gives you an advantage in the Battlestations, nothing that makes you a better tank, nothing that gives you more DPS - Including items like that would just make it an unfair situation for our subscriber base who may not have the spare funds. Why would we threaten our players like that? At the end of the day, we've merely given people the opportunity to pick up some extra things for their characters which, while convenient, do not make them any better than anyone else in the game. There's no loss of equality, no loss of power, not even a loss of achievement - Even from a purely social standpoint the real deal armour sets have advantages over the "replica" sets in the store (bragging rights definitely being one of them!).

At the end of the day, utilizing the item store is a personal choice, and nothing that anyone should feel pressured into doing to maintain a sense of competitiveness in the game. Of course we encourage you guys to check it out and pick up a few things if they tickle your fancy, but *have* to? Nah. That's just not our style. Never has been. =)

[fortorn]

I do see definite changes in direction with our current game director over previous ones.

Some things people are going to like, some people are going to hate and that goes with the territory i suppose. What artictiger I think is upset about is the dangerous precedent this sets. We have to rely on funcom to ensure balance is maintained in this item shop. It could spiral out of control if prices are dropped on things or unlocked/over powered items are added.

For some of us its a senseof pride that we attained certain things that were not attainable via any other means. The ACDC, BoC, Devalos protection Ring, IGoC, DChest were symbols like that once. They are still to some degree but their prestige has been lessened. The Ofab gear and 2500 board are also such items. The question that I think bothers him and to some extent me is - "What is next".

Will a player's gear and lvls reflect his or her true skill? Will it be worth it to grind for things for their intrinsic and prestige value anymore? Will a game have that tangible meaning to a person anymore. I mean lets not be coy, there is a certain psychology to MMO character progression that makes you want to do it again and again. Anarchy online has had that formula from the start. Tampering with it like this is dangerous and tricky and should not be done lightly.

[Wrangeline]

Your gameplay is not effected by..

I may have stopped playing but I read forums still to see how this store thing develops. I read this reply by Kintaii and I felt an urge to respond. Now, first of all I should point out that I do understand the context of Kintaii's reply and that my reply here wont really fit very well with what he said here. Because Kintaii is referring to "gameplay" specifically, while I am referring to "game experience" in my reply here. Still, I am using this opportunity to write a reply because I still haven't seen a single reply by FC that acknowledges how this affects gameplay EXPERIENCE. As in, how this changes the feel and general experience some of us have in the game (or MMO's in general).

I have seen this kind of reasoning by people both inside and outside FC lately and I personally think it's single minded reasoning. I'm sorry Kintaii, I like you and Means too but on this specific issue, you guys are focusing too much on the "gain of power" side of this issue. There are more to it than that.

What I mean is, you seem to be focusing on a somewhat narrow or simplistic part of this issue when justifying it publicly (I'm not saying that you don't see the whole picture, I don't know if you do. I'm just saying I haven't seen a reply by FC that discusses all angels of this issue yet). You basically say that items in the shop wont give any players something that non-shopping players can't get as well through normal means ingame. And so you conclude that no ones gameplay is affected by it. You conclude that if we don't like this shop for whatever reason, we can just decide not to use it and then everything will be exactly the same as it was before the shop was introduced. Purely in terms of gameplay, this is almost completely true, so that's ok. But try to think of it in terms of gameplay experience.

Imagine if you could buy credits from FC for RL money. Quick and easy and no threats of being banned. I personally would not want to play such a game because when I play a MMO, my gameplay EXPERIENCE relies heavily on everyone making characters in the game, leveling in the game, making ingame currency in the game and getting loot in the game. It HAS to be a self-contained world where everything is gained ingame through ingame actions. If this is not the case, my immersion and feel for the world and my characters place in it.. gets shattered and ruined and I no longer have fun with it. This is how I and quite a lot of other people (everyone I know in RL for example) feel about RPG's and MMO's. The integrity of our characters and other peoples characters is extremely important to us.

So being able to buy levels, gear, tokens, vp and such with RL money completely shatters the integrity of the game for us. It's no longer "Rubi Ka", a world where we made accounts and characters and "ingame lives" that in a way feels "real" to us because they were BASED entirely on the ingame laws of that world. The world of AO works a certain way, based on rules designed by FC a long time ago. We live in this world under those terms and we evolve over time as best we can within those rules.

This ingame shop does not really annoy people like us because of what some people with money to spare can do with it over those players that don't have money to spare. For us, this is not the actual issue.

For us, the issue is that this world has been invaded by an element that does not belong there. It's a bit as if someone opened huge windows into our real life universe and we could see "higher beings" looking in at us as if we were just a game, governed by rules that these higher beings can change at their whim and so everything we do in our real lives feels so empty and pointless. It doesn't feel real any more.

This is our problem with this shop. Now, as I have said to Means and others, I'm not angry that FC is making this move. I guess some people play games and experience them in different ways than I and people like me do and that's fine.

All I'm trying to explain is why we don't like this shop and it doesn't have anything to do with "balance" (although that could have been an issue if it was implemented in a way that affected balance).

We just lost the entire soul of AO's world in one fell swoop and that's why we left.

Again, no hard feelings. Just an explanation.

[Deskclerk]

............................. We just lost the entire soul of AO's world in one fell swoop and that's why we left.

Again, no hard feelings. Just an explanation.

Can I have your stuff? U can just mail it too me, dont even have to meet up.


People, give it a rest please.

News flash, Funcom wants to make money. They have people to pay and profits to make. You like your game being around do you not? Best way for that is to insure their survival through profit.

Now what i think means should say to clear things up would be a statement similar to this:

1) You will never have to purchase an item in our store to be viable in pvp, or pvm.
2) You will never be able to purchase an item in our store which will increase your stats over that of which anyone else has the possibility of gaining through means which do not require a purchase.

I for one hope they do well with the sales of these items, having played the game off and on over the years since launch I understand what it was like to go from a guy in college with 5 hours+ a day to play to one with less than 10-14 a week. This also means I have a job which would allow me to purchase items that would make my two hours a day play time more enjoyable and more productive. Hence make me subscribe longer.

if you are of the mind set that you should have to play the game as much as some do to be uber, then you are not relying on skill to play the game better than someone else, you are simply relying on poor game mechanics which only allow people who have large amounts of time to gather equipment the ability to excel. IF thats the business model you seek I can name countless games that followed that pattern and cease to exist.

Times have changed, the amount of mmo's out there have increase 10 fold + the competition for your dollars is strong. The end result of moves like this by funcom is not as short sighted as you may think. By allowing people the choice of purchasing certain things, you allow them too shorten their grind, which in turn frees them up for other actions, many of them resulting in increased social activity. Weather it would be teaming in inferno or going to beast raids or whatever. In the long run more people will play the game, funcom will make more money, and thusly be able to keep improving and rolling out new features, which btw most have been free for a few years. You did not have to buy the daily mission expansion pack, did you?

"Its not fair" "I had to work hard to get my stuff", Examine that statement. This is a game it is supposed to be fun, it is not supposed to be hard work. FC has taken steps to correct and even reverse some of what i call the penalization of players by earlier game directors. Grey mobs killing a 220 anything is pure stupidity in my book, by why does that possibilty even exist? Because someone in a meeting somewhere said " We do not want people leveling off of these mobs!" My question to that would have simply been why not? Well in the old days of MMO marketing it was the belief that if you let people get to the end too fast you lose subscription months, you need to make it last as long as possible. This does not hold true anymore. People quit way before the end game because it is so hard and complex.

Consider AO 220 levels over 2 "planets"
70 research levels = 7x's 220 levels
30 AI levels

The amount of time needed to achieve this alone is staggering to a new player, NOw add in:

300k VP for competitive armor because you dont have 60 days of 3 alien city raids a day to get a complete set of ai armor, or 3.5 billion at market prices. That is 300 winning rounds or so of BS at 220 level. That is 300 levels of getting spanked by every twink that has 500+ days /played with all of the top gear and weapons. If you were not a long term player, and were not twinked, how many rounds of bs would you enjoy?

Imagine, you spend 2 hours a day playing for 6 months, you get some tier armor, maybe a few pieces of ai armor, some cool no drop armor, a guy in your guild gives you some armor helps you farm a weapon etc. You level too 220 and mid something research and ai, you decide HECK yeah i wanna try some bs. Your heart pumps as you leave the decontamination room, it flutters when you see grace has ended, and u panic when u see your first enemy. Ok boom open with your best strike and BAM WTFPWNDEAD in less than 3 seconds.

Like it or not, this is how it is experienced by many a new player. If this player likes the game, he has to work to become viable still, he has to do those crappy ass sl quests, finish his research etc But now he can get some tokens and some armor for a few bucks, which would free his time up to go farm grey mobs for the extra gear he or she needs to not get wtfpwneddead. He might stick around. He might also last a little longer in pvp environment.

Funcom has been attempting to modify this for a little while now, this latest shop is just one step in a multi level process, they are attempting to solve the riddle of mmo's "How can i keep the hardcore player, and keep the casual player interested"

I think they are on the right track, convenience for the casual player and accessibility for the hard core player, while at the same time not stealing the advantage of the hardcore player's time investment for a few dollars.

[Gridpain]

No one who's chosen to utilize the store has any significant advantage compared to you and your hard work

I mostly agree with the rest of the post, but this is just plain wrong...

You are selling, indirectly, armors, weapons and even ingame creds in this shop.

This is not "convinient things" or "social / prestige" things.

[crude4gone]

Please. Why do people pretend something new is going on here with people buying tokens, or even credits.

Every day people are buying and selling tokengun bags.

Every day people are buying credits from those annoying spammers.

And I still can't see how this changes your gameplay. Does it really matter how your opponents acquired their gear? As long as it is the same gear as you have.

[Johnnykay]

Purely based on an elitist point of view, if someone fighting me in BS has his highest token board, his ofab, or any other gear SIMPLY BECAUSE he was able to use out-of-game $ either to directly buy the items or buy items which could be used as currency (Token Packs), then it is affecting my gameplay.

Sure, you're right that those items could have been acquired by that person without paying money. But let's face it, the difference between many Haves and Have nots is the willingness to actually put the time into acquiring things in the game. I have no problem if people buy lootrights to a BoC because they spent hours and hours farming token guns in game to pay for said BoC. I do have a problem with people borrowing Daddy's VISA and reaping the same rewards.

Personally, I do consider an "Advantage" being that a person with more money out of game can acquire in a split second those things which many, many of us have spent years to acquire by actually playing your broken ass game. Yet you sold those people out to make a buck, didn't ya?

Face it, you guys are largely puppets that have to cater to the cries. In all honesty, what is it that distinguishes Ofab from BoC's? Because tons of PVP haters gripe about not wanting to PVP to earn their gear, you provided a way to buy it with money instead. Let's all start a big gripe about how difficult it is and how long it takes to get a ACDC given the dying population and dependence on raidbots. Then for only 5000 FC Points we can have an ACDC, too!

Finally, I'm curious as to FC's stated reason of why exactly it's against the rules to buy credits from 3rd party sellers. I'd like to take that reasoning and see if it still holds true when it's so very very easy for someone to just buy a transferrable good with FC Points and sell them for creds. Or is it that painfully obvious that the reason is simply that if creds are going to be sold, you want to make the profit?

[Wrangeline]

Stuff.

If all of that was directed at me then you have misunderstood my post 100%. I specifically explained what it is about this shop that makes me want to not play AO.

It has nothing to do with "Its not fair" "I had to work hard to get my stuff"
It has nothing to do with me thinking the shop is a bad idea for AO in general. Because I never said that was the case.

I'm not saying that this makes the game too easy for me.

I have not said that I require everyone to spend as many hours in the game as I am in order to be competitive in PVP or PvM.

I haven't said any of these things. So if your post was a reply to me and you are now unsure about what my point actually was, then I suggest that you read my post again because it's very clear and easy to understand.

[Deskclerk]

For some of us its a senseof pride that we attained certain things that were not attainable via any other means. The ACDC, BoC, Devalos protection Ring, IGoC, DChest were symbols like that once. They are still to some degree but their prestige has been lessened. The Ofab gear and 2500 board are also such items. The question that I think bothers him and to some extent me is - "What is next".

Will a player's gear and lvls reflect his or her true skill? Will it be worth it to grind for things for their intrinsic and prestige value anymore? Will a game have that tangible meaning to a person anymore. I mean lets not be coy, there is a certain psychology to MMO character progression that makes you want to do it again and again. Anarchy online has had that formula from the start. Tampering with it like this is dangerous and tricky and should not be done lightly.

Skill?

I do not see the skill involved here, I see people who had time too log on and register and sign up for a raid bot. (those who gained their items through other means such as guild teams or teams with friends are excluded ofc)

This sense of pride you speak of, is it more of a sense of "I have something you do not", in other words a sense of joy because of someone else's "envy"? Where is the skill in collecting 300 raid points, and being the winning bidder on an item? I have more respect for the player that solos the inferno quest. That takes skill and playing your toolset perfectly.

I am not trying to take anything away from the raid bots, they serve an important purpose, do not get me wrong. I am simply trying to get you to understand the consequences to the rest of the game community when you have the complete dynamics of what occurs here in AO. Without trying to start a whole pvp rebalance thread, I would like you to consider the effects of allowing your so called pride equation of "I have this you do not"

As it is in AO now, you cap or you miss, PVP battles are boiled down to who has the most equipment. Let me explain:

220/70/30 with no ai armor, no beast items, no alien play field items and no xan equipment vs someone who has all of the above. Who wins? Does the first player even stand a chance? The amount of effort to achieve 220/70/30 is in essence worthless. That is a huge amount of time spent playing something and being worthless in pvp. I am asking you to be honest, Do you allow yourself to be inspected? If so, at all times by anyone? If not why? Is it to hide what equipment you do not have yet? Have you ever looked at someones equipment before you asked them too duel? Have you ever left equipment out allowing someone to inspect you too only put it back in right before the duel starts?

If you are honest with yourself, I think you understand my point as far as the gathering of equipment as it pertains to AO. Better equipment should allow for better chances. Failure to obtain equipment should have consequences. However the state of AO as it is now, equipment makes or breaks the game, plain and simple. If FC wants too allow people to purchase for a small fee some of these items, which aren't even the top gear in the game, it simply allows people more free time to do other things. It removes the grind and time. It does nothing for skill. It simply allows someone with out the time needed to achieve equipment a more convenient manner suitable for their allocation of time to play the game. You will still have better equipment, and you will still have an advantage, you however may not have the wtfpwnu advantage. If that is truly what you seek.... well let us not get into that conversation and assume that all of us want the same thing from our game. Enjoyment for all involved. This btw is just one part of the corrective procedure that imo FC is undertaking to remove the wtfpwnu you aspect of AO.

Again, I am not saying skill is not reflected either. Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying either that one should not be rewarded for more time spent playing. What I am saying is this:

1) The ability to be able to kill someone in pvp without fear or retaliation has to go away.
2) The sheer amount of farming necessary to not be worthless (not even saying good) is insurmountable to a player starting today that has mere hours a day to play.
3) In order for AO to last another 10 years, it must add more ways to earn income other than increased subscription fees and half fast booster packs.
4) Allowing people to purchase grind saving items satisfies the balance between hardcore players and casual players: as long as items purchased never have an increase in stats which can be achieved with out ever having purchased anything.

Have pride in the amount of people you kill, not RP's you get sitting in the box room.

[Transaction89]

I don't believe the gameplay experience has changed at all, Everyone can still grind their stuff if they choose to. Heh The Soul of AO is still there, I still saw some people selling +25% xp gifts 1year+ after the AO birthday and no one complained. I see people selling token bags and no one complained just now AO is doing that and people are complaining. SO silly for sure. You seen the Prices on the VP Points? hah thats crazy high but the casual people who work more than play can be happy . If you play more than you work well Grind Grind Grind

[Deskclerk]

If all of that was directed at me then you have misunderstood my post 100%. I specifically explained what it is about this shop that makes me want to not play AO.

It has nothing to do with "Its not fair" "I had to work hard to get my stuff"
It has nothing to do with me thinking the shop is a bad idea for AO in general. Because I never said that was the case.

I'm not saying that this makes the game too easy for me.

I have not said that I require everyone to spend as many hours in the game as I am in order to be competitive in PVP or PvM.

I haven't said any of these things. So if your post was a reply to me and you are now unsure about what my point actually was, then I suggest that you read my post again because it's very clear and easy to understand.

Well then..... ok, can i still have your stuff?

No really i do understand what you are saying, Infact I think i can sum it up better than you did:

1) Life in a biodome: except instead of every one living off the food you grow, a few of the people staying there are passed energy bars thru a window. They do not take your food, but lessen the idea of what a biodome was supposed to be.

now consider this analogy:

2) Planet earth: Truly Benevolent Aliens land, give us clean energy, and technology to cure disease. Thats the kind of interference i would want!

Earth really is a biodome when u think about it.

[Wrangeline]

Well then..... ok, can i still have your stuff?

No really i do understand what you are saying, Infact I think i can sum it up better than you did:

1) Life in a biodome: except instead of every one living off the food you grow, a few of the people staying there are passed energy bars thru a window. They do not take your food, but lessen the idea of what a biodome was supposed to be.

now consider this analogy:

2) Planet earth: Truly Benevolent Aliens land, give us clean energy, and technology to cure disease. Thats the kind of interference i would want!

Earth really is a biodome when u think about it.

First of all, what's the actual problem here? You have a problem with the fact that I need a game to feel a certain way in order for me to enjoy it? You have a problem with the fact that this shop changes the way the gaming experience feels to me personally?

Secondly, the analogies you are presenting are based on practical issues in real life while I am focusing on what something FEELS like. I am not saying that this shop is a bad thing or a good thing for the game in general. I'm just saying how it changes the way I feel about my gaming experience in AO. It's called mature feedback to FC and I have received PM's from FC already where they said thanks for that type of feedback. They may not agree with me on a personal level about how this shop affects their gaming experience but that was never the point. I didn't offer my feedback in order to say that they are wrong about something or to try and change their mind. I'm just explaining why people like me are quitting and that's all.

So your attitude towards my post, as if I was saying something "wrong" is.. strange to me. It makes no logical sense unless you are able to point out something I'm wrong about. Which should be impossible since everything I have said so far is about my subjective feelings about how these changes change the specific and subjective way I play the game. I can't be "wrong" about such subjective things. You can disagree about how it changes the game for you because you feel differently about it but arguing about how something feels is useless as feelings aren't rational calculations that can be right or wrong.

*shrug*

Anyway, FC read AND understood my feedback and that's all I care about now.