This will be my last post on this topic.
I’m going to be completely transparent on how I feel about this now, in accordance not only to the changes made but also to the way everyone has reacted thus far. I feel no reason to keep any of my thoughts a secret. I’d rather everyone be able to read the thoughts of a once dedicated player of Ephinea, logging in almost every day and grinding for what felt like non-stop these past 8 or so months.
It’s already been said and told how these changes will affect the balance of normal mode, how it’s not in line with Vanilla PSOBB, and so forth. I shouldn’t need to reiterate on any of these claims, as they are always set in truth and experience of players such as myself. Nobody is lying to you, hiding a secret exploit from you, none of us are doing such things. Who do you think are the first ones to report abusable aspects of the game? The passionate players are the ones who discover them after all, it only makes sense.
We have the insight to do such a thing, and the hands-on approach is certainly helping us in that case. I advise that staff put a little more trust in us given this much.
But that’s just my advice, and every one of us has our own to provide.
I simply don’t agree with the approach staff takes to not only the game, but the passionate players. You look upon us with such a reeking condescendance that it stands out in nearly every interaction I've had with you.
Look at it this way:
I’ve played for probably over 1600 hours, and a large percentage of that time played has been in public games. I’m also not one known to simply sit in lobby. Yet in all my time spent playing public games, I have yet to play one game with an admin. I have yet to even discuss the game in detail with an admin beyond small talk and jokes, and I love talking about PSO as anyone who knows me is aware of.
And yet it’s claimed that I’ve only complained. You say this with such confidence, yet I ask you, how much do you really know about me? What have I done for the community? What are my priorities? My intentions? How much of an impact does a player like me really have?
It’s simply impossible for you to know the answers to these questions, so stop acting as if you would. That goes not only for me, but for anyone else. It’s not worth your time to pretend you know our interactions well enough to make such judgements.
The only players who I could see complaining are those who are looking for a specific combination of special, type of weapon, and percents and want to farm those maps repeatedly for it. Or, maybe, players who want to find decent things to sell to other players to make a quick buck.
This much is assumed of players like me, but the truth of the matter is that we’re all playing for our own reasons. I am not known to incessantly box run, nor play solo, nor care about making a “quick buck.” My first priority in this game has always been to improve and play well, with my next priority being enabling others with their improvement. With this in mind, it should be obvious that I do not care what I’m hunting and instead care for the community and players that surround me.
So it must be unimaginable to you that I would be against this change, wouldn’t it?
But I can see how it’s affected the players around me, because I talked to them every day both in-game and on discord, these same players who have taught me everything I know. And as for anyone new coming into this game, I would want them to experience the same game I got to experience, with all the same advantages or disadvantages. I want them to know the fun of it all.
Some reference a silent majority of Ephinea in their arguments, and how this should somehow make the changes any more reasonable.
In fact, I'd argue the majority of players didn't even notice or feel the change.
A majority of players
don’t even know you’re changing the game at all. They don’t look at patch notes, they aren’t even aware of these mechanics or what they do. The only updates they might read are “Anniversary Event 2019 is now live!”
How can I say this with confidence?
Because I was one of this majority.
Some might have a misconception that I have played this game for a long time, but it’s simply not the case. Ephinea is the first server I’ve ever played PSO on, and although I’ve had this account since probably 2016, I only feel like I really started playing the game this past year or so.
To put it simply,
I seriously didn’t know shit about the game. I didn’t even know
how to tekk properly. I logged in, I played during events, then I logged off. I rarely participated in discussions, arguments, polls, or anything because I didn’t know what they were. So yes, your changes back then didn’t affect me! Yet it’s only because I was not aware of it. Please, as someone who used to be this player, do not use them as a driving defense for changing the game to your desires.
At this point, with a communicative platform taken away from me which happened to be my major connection with the playerbase, I see no point in arguing this further nor play on the server. None of this matters to me now as my priority from here on out is only to TA. Having donated my entire liquid wealth to
NDW’s upcoming TA Event, there’s not much else for me to do except cheer on all the players who will be participating. I believe this event will bring a lot of fun and inspiration to this silent majority, more so than any of the nonsense spoken in this thread.
I've been bugged by many to add a simple poll to this thread. Although I think it will make no difference to the outcome, I will do it for their sake.
