04-27-2024, 04:49 PM
I disagree with most of the sentiments here. You can in fact pursue other avenues besides fighting. Again, I made a character around that entire concept. Successfully, even. There are other options. The issue isn't that they don't exist, or that there's no way to incentivize them, the issue is that fighting is incentivized. Heavily, for many current characters, with how NCs work, Demons work, and Beasts work. And heavily for PCs because they have to fight those antags. The opportunity for people to actually do non-incentivized things like I am grows smaller the more rewarding combat is, and the majority of current antags are rewarded heavily for combat.
But if we're off track with that, then let's get on track.
Issue #1: Rebirths.
Removing rebirths doesn't do anything, because people going for meta already have the build in mind. It also doesn't do anything because the current meta has been around so long that people have had more than enough time to safely spawn into it, and it's still dominating. Rebirths don't fix what's happening right now.
Since I think it got missed in the clutter, I'll repeat it. The issue is that the meta isn't changing quickly enough to punish people who chase it. It's been the same trees (fire, ether, armed) for almost as long as I've been playing, which is three months. People aren't rebirthing into it at this point, they're literally spawning into it. Removing rebirths doesn't help. I don't personally consider the flood of FOTM builds healthy. I think the sentiment of getting bored seeing the same builds over and over is a decently common one, and I share it. It also punishes people playing off-meta IC builds, limiting who they can actually fight.
What would fix this is shifting the meta at least once a month. It punishes people meta-chasing with the threat that it won't be good for long, and that they will get overshadowed by something else in a short time. I know that's some hefty balance work, but it's also in interest of the game's health.
Issue #2: Incentives.
I'll be honest it doesn't do anything for me. I have no interest in this incentive without more elaboration. Right now it just sounds like something I'd ignore completely.
But if we're off track with that, then let's get on track.
Issue #1: Rebirths.
Removing rebirths doesn't do anything, because people going for meta already have the build in mind. It also doesn't do anything because the current meta has been around so long that people have had more than enough time to safely spawn into it, and it's still dominating. Rebirths don't fix what's happening right now.
Since I think it got missed in the clutter, I'll repeat it. The issue is that the meta isn't changing quickly enough to punish people who chase it. It's been the same trees (fire, ether, armed) for almost as long as I've been playing, which is three months. People aren't rebirthing into it at this point, they're literally spawning into it. Removing rebirths doesn't help. I don't personally consider the flood of FOTM builds healthy. I think the sentiment of getting bored seeing the same builds over and over is a decently common one, and I share it. It also punishes people playing off-meta IC builds, limiting who they can actually fight.
What would fix this is shifting the meta at least once a month. It punishes people meta-chasing with the threat that it won't be good for long, and that they will get overshadowed by something else in a short time. I know that's some hefty balance work, but it's also in interest of the game's health.
Issue #2: Incentives.
I'll be honest it doesn't do anything for me. I have no interest in this incentive without more elaboration. Right now it just sounds like something I'd ignore completely.