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View Full Version : Cash and Camping are now KING.



richard118
03-16-2012, 07:46 AM
What is a low to mid level player like me (level 102) to do now? With all the decent free weapons nerfed, it seems like the new STRATEGY for non-gold players is maintain decent cash flow and camp forever. That's what I plan on doing. With the cash, buy the weapons you like. Cause if I try to level up or farm respect coins, I will eventually hit those HLs with 400 M4s and hundreds of DDs or urban vests. What's the use? I will never match them unless I spend lots and lots of RM.

Better to stay at my level and focus on economy and rule at the low level.

Steve0
03-16-2012, 07:50 AM
+1 thinking the same thing

Whoopdido1980
03-16-2012, 08:00 AM
Yeah but how much money would it take to even come close to matching the weapons that have now been nerfed? In many cases, it's impossible. I haven't even unlocked it yet, but there's a gun that opens up at level 135 that's 19 attack and 11 defense. That's still worse than the M4, but at $7 million, it would cost $2.8 billion to buy 400 of those. I currently make $1.5 million per day and it would take me over 5 years to earn that much money. Of course that number will go down as my economy gets better, but even at $500K/hr, which is pretty damn good, it'll still take 233 days to get that much and that's with 100% perfect collection every single day, which is pretty much impossible.

The vehicle that's most similar to the Double Decker is something else I haven't unlocked yet at level 127 with 19 attack and 13 defense, which is essentially the same as the Double Decker, but it costs $23 million, so just multiply my above numbers by 4 in order to get 400 of those. Technically it's not impossible, but next to impossible due to time constraints.

Steve0
03-16-2012, 08:11 AM
I agree, intill they introduse something new a semi-camping is in order, or have a option for lube for 1mill.

Behzat
03-16-2012, 08:14 AM
Really i cant believe how Funzio did such a thing.M4A1s were overpowered?Lool to thAt.Everyone could farm it and it was reachable so it wasnt owerpowered.Also weapons which are bought with gold are much stronger so there was nothing wrong with the M4s!Nothing changed except the fun of the game!Money weapons were already more powerful than M4s so why did u nerf M4s??!! Many people are saying the same things but no answer from Funzio that shows how they care about their customers!i just laugh at the idea which see M4 s overpowered!loooool to that!Oh btw if an item is overpowered they should erase all the M4s in the server so they could be fair.But no they said players with 500 M4 s are king of the game and rest of u are loosers.Thank u Funzio clever strategy!

Burn
03-16-2012, 08:48 AM
Thug Life: http://www.funzio.com/forum/showthread.php?21969-And-now-for-the-good-news

richard118
03-16-2012, 08:48 AM
Whoopdido1980 I agree that in-game cash bought weapons cannot match the M4, DDs but we must now reset our thinking. Weapons with stats with 10 att/def will now be considered good. Personally I would focus on buying items costing less than 1 million. My economy is now at 121K/hr, but even at 500k/hr, it would take a complete income investment of 40 days to get 500 of 1 item costing 1 mill. However everyone at the low and mid levels are in the same boat.

Those who have little patience for camping are disadvantaged now, and their only oulet is spending RM to get strong. But this is precisely what Funzio banks on...t

There are a few items still farmable like the stone hammer and spike hammer, but wouldn't rely on those given Funzio reputation.

Whoopdido1980
03-16-2012, 09:43 AM
There are a few items still farmable like the stone hammer and spike hammer, but wouldn't rely on those given Funzio reputation.

Plus those are melee items, which are much less valuable than chain whips. The newest batch of Thug Life missions will get you another 100 plus chain whips if you so desire. I have over 200 of those, so just doing the new Thug Life missions will get me up to close to 350. I won't really need the stone and spike hammers.

Melee and armor really aren't an issue because if you invest enough time you'll be able to buy high end respect items. It's the guns and vehicles that put the low to mid tier players at a disadvantage. But I agree that we just have to move on and change our strategy. I'm just going to continue doing thug life and get as many chain whips as I can.

richard118
03-16-2012, 09:49 AM
Whoopdido, I would agree that rp are gonna get you the best items, but again, for me at level 102..if I keep farming rp I will level up. At some point, those "grandfathered-in" HLs with previously farmed 100s of M4s and DDs would kick my ass. If you are low level, then farming rp is reasonable.

Whoopdido1980
03-16-2012, 10:07 AM
Whoopdido, I would agree that rp are gonna get you the best items, but again, for me at level 102..if I keep farming rp I will level up. At some point, those "grandfathered-in" HLs with previously farmed 100s of M4s and DDs would kick my ass. If you are low level, then farming rp is reasonable.

No argument here. I think it's pretty well known that the mid tier players like you and me (I'm 112) are the ones hit the hardest by this. Then again, I knew about M4's a long time ago and chose not to farm them until just recently. Double Deckers were never really an option for me because by the time I found out about them, my economy was still too low and it wasn't worth it to me to save for close to 2 weeks to unlock Leila. I gues it's my own fault for not jumping on the M4 bus a long time ago, but like I've said before, I just assumed they were going to be there for the long haul. I guess I was mistaken.

Burn
03-16-2012, 11:23 AM
The good news is as fast as you are leveling, there are many more levelling faster, so the threshold of where you cross over into the shark infested waters is also moving upwards.

Not sure exactly where it is now, but without farming which has a bigger impact on increasing Exp, I'm thinking that at Level 106 I can still safely complete the new batch of Thug Lifes well before I hit the High Levels.

Anyone clarify where the current cross over point is?

whocareswhatmynameis
03-16-2012, 11:29 AM
was lvl 125 a few weeks ago. it may have moved in recent days. will tell you in a few days (currently lvl 124...i've been largely successful in beating past thresholds).

NotsoFunzio
03-16-2012, 11:31 AM
Im sitting pretty at level 124......................... :P

DenZ1
03-16-2012, 11:37 AM
The good news is as fast as you are leveling, there are many more levelling faster, so the threshold of where you cross over into the shark infested waters is also moving upwards.

Not sure exactly where it is now, but without farming which has a bigger impact on increasing Exp, I'm thinking that at Level 106 I can still safely complete the new batch of Thug Lifes well before I hit the High Levels.

Anyone clarify where the current cross over point is?

Level 130 would be your threshold.

Burn
03-16-2012, 11:39 AM
Cheers DenZ1

I'd still like to see the threshold to High Level stickied and updated as and when it moves.

Important information for us minnows, be nice to know exactly when we are about to get our ar$es handed to us on a plate.

dudeman
03-16-2012, 11:51 AM
Before I reached level 144 I could see as low as level 128. When I reached level 144, everything opened up all the way to the top, but now the lowest levels I see are in the mid 130s.

Hopefully that information is useful. Or maybe not. If it is, it will get nerfed.

duder
03-16-2012, 01:11 PM
the other impact of this change is that folks are going to need to pay closer attention to the balance between payouts (in terms of rp or $) and xp

sure you can always go full camp, but speaking from (a bit of) experience the real impact between camping and active play (assuming similar overall approach strategies) is to develop a wedge between yourself and players who are giving themselves the opportunity to farm rp and whatever top end equips can be looted from pvp & pve. players who don't take the time to think through their strategies (either because they don't want to or don't feel they need to) or who have flawed strategies that are good enough to level up steadily but not good enough to be truly top end ultimately fill that wedge that a camper will then pass through upon activation.

this leads to an environment where you are always very competitive in your immediate peer group while those at the top pull away. the object lesson would be to compare me and whocareswhatmynameis. we started at the same time, and based on activity here, I think we play roughly the same style and frequency. at this point the only way I can concieve that I will catch him up is once he's reached the level cap of 200. at that point he probably will have had several thousand if not tens of thousands of additional opportunites to rob and loot equips.

thinking long term about this game, if you are at all interested in trying to be competitive @ lvl 200, you should be attacking in your peer group as long as there is a decent percentage that you can win against. long term the limiting factor is likely going to be rp - as long as you have and can maintain an effective method for obtaining rp, your economy, defense stats, etc. don't really matter. this will especially be true unless gear that outstrips rp gear is introduced either into the cash economy or into high level missions. If said gear is eventually released, it is pretty much a guarantee that it will only be available to players at a certain level, so your best bet is to try to get to the top level where you can viably continue to play in an offensive way (defense pretty much wins nothing in this game). given what occurred with the mossberg, I think it's fairly obvious that any new slip ups in terms of releasing unbalanced equips will be met with fairly quick adjustments to the equips themselves (rather than to remove the equipment from being farmable)

of course, this leads to the question of why I am still at low low level (don't worry, my recent growth spurt will be short lived). suffice it to say that I think the way that I've chosen to play for the past six month is somewhat moronic, and I wouldn't recommend it.

Santa
03-16-2012, 01:30 PM
I'm thinking of camping.

Before my plan had been to focus on M4A1's farm around 350-400 then move on to DD's. I had also hoped to land enough RP to be able to buy CW's and NVB's. And of course, to focus on my economic growth.

But now, after this nerf/fix, my plan will have to change considerably. As of now, I'm farming rusty's. They're still the best farmable weapon at my level. But I'm also considering camping. I'm building my second Beach Nightclub, and upgrading an Ice Cream Shoppe to Level 9.

Maybe I should camp until i get:

1) Level 10 Ice Cream Shops.
2) Level 8/9 Italian Restaurants.
3) 50k/hr.

Or maybe i shouldn't camp. I AM SO CONFUSED. Goodbye for now guys. Soccer practice in 10 minutes. :DD

emcee
03-16-2012, 01:33 PM
of course, this leads to the question of why I am still at low low level (don't worry, my recent growth spurt will be short lived). suffice it to say that I think the way that I've chosen to play for the past six month is somewhat moronic, and I wouldn't recommend it.

I disagree that camping at low levels is moronic. Its actually the best long term strategy. Considering Funzio's recent moves to nerf strong items economy is now paramount. Respect items remain king but everyone has access to them at any level so that levels the playing field there. What now separates the shark from the flock is in game cash items.

Bear in mind better in game cash items will be introduced in the future. Better respect items as well but again it is available to all so is not a factor. Taking this in consideration economy will remain king.

Tramp Stamp
03-16-2012, 01:34 PM
Bear in mind better in game cash items will be introduced in the future. Better respect items as well but again it is available to all so is not a factor.

Pretty big leap of faith there.

emcee
03-16-2012, 01:39 PM
Pretty big leap of faith there.

Tramp it is a certainty imo. Maybe not now but a year from now for instance. Regardless of the timeline economy will remain key especially when you factor in the cost of consumable explosives.

NotsoFunzio
03-16-2012, 01:41 PM
Tramp it is a certainty imo. Maybe not now but a year from now for instance. Regardless of the timeline economy will remain key especially when you factor in the cost of consumable explosives.

A year from now...................... I see they have there hooks into you :p

Swifty
03-16-2012, 02:19 PM
Camping must be nerfed because it is unfair.

How do we know that it is unfair? Well, it is simple, really.

[Insert obscure explanation here.]

As you can clearly see from the above explanation, camping must be nerfed because it is unfair.

duder
03-16-2012, 02:41 PM
bah, it's the one thing that actually seems to be well balanced in the game...

Santa
03-16-2012, 02:42 PM
I say we nerf Funzio. We need to smuggle Swifty into Funzio HQ with a Rusty M4A1 so he can take down their money operation.

qwikster
03-16-2012, 03:17 PM
of course, this leads to the question of why I am still at low low level (don't worry, my recent growth spurt will be short lived). suffice it to say that I think the way that I've chosen to play for the past six month is somewhat moronic, and I wouldn't recommend it.

i wouldn't be too critical if i were you. you did what you thought was best. besides, you seem to enjoy extreme camping. and you are still amongst the best for your level. that's what counts in the end.

erik
03-16-2012, 04:24 PM
I've enjoyed watching Duder do his thing, and support anyone who enjoys playing as a camper to take this path, cause hey, if we arent having fun, whats the point?

I have always thought it a bad strategy to get ahead, and I think it was made so even more by things we could not have anticipated. (M4s & DD opportunity missed, low level event items)

It is even worse if those individuals planned on spending gold on $ buildings eventually, as there is an area up to 125 that allows for a slew of 5 minute buildings with amazing returns. Missing out on those for months for the sake of leveling low level buildings will not put you ahead in $/hr after x months. Just $ at a given level.

Further, in a Crime City without M4s, RP is king (behind gold!) and while you can max out rp/exp with LM looting etc.. you are still not getting the most RP per day and falling behind those that do.

Basically, if you camp to increase your power, you are just slowing yourself down in the long run. Unless you like it. Then you are racking up fun points, and whoa dude amazing posts on your wall :)

qwikster
03-16-2012, 04:35 PM
I have always thought it a bad strategy to get ahead, and I think it was made so even more by things we could not have anticipated. (M4s & DD opportunity missed, low level event items)


i agree. constant changing of ground rules (e.g. nerfing of powerful farmable weapons) puts players at low levels at a huge disadvantage. it is a pity that the game ended up harming players who had long term strategies.

Burn
03-16-2012, 04:44 PM
Plenty has happened to give people an idea that the 'future' was far from certain.

How long ago was the first Nerf? Or the first game changing move from Funzio?

Long term strategy? The only long term strategy I had was to get as much as I could as quickly as I could, all active gameplay, all PVP. Fight fight fight fight fight.

Economy can come later.

I started in November, came here, read this guide...

http://www.funzio.com/forum/showthread.php?11993-Getting-Started-Power-Level-Guide-(Gold-Free-Zero-Camping-100-Active-Play)

...and have enjoyed that method of play very much.

erik
03-16-2012, 05:02 PM
Im kind of mixed on this one. With the M4 itself, I would like to have seen the gun moved waaay back in accessibility or replaced rather than totally gone.

Should we feel bad for a camper, who in all likelihood participated in the forums to come up with this strategy, and are likely savy enough to have known about the items that are now gone. They took for granted they would still be there, and strengthed their relative level position so they could crush/outperform others. In that case, they took a risk, chose path B, and now have their current scenario.

For brand new folks... they dont know what they are missing, and I think will have some great new opportunities down the line that are different then ours. Heck, even new gold buyers blew old gold folks off the map with the crates.

I think I feel most for folks around 110-150 who were entering the phase where they needed these items/ were farming these items diligently and no longer can participate and have no short term option.

And GWiz. Gee Wiz!

Tramp Stamp
03-16-2012, 09:01 PM
How long ago was the first Nerf? Or the first game changing move from Funzio?

From what I understand it was building types and timers. In the game data there are defunct money buildings like Mini-Mart and Adult Book Store (or something like that) and all of the retired buildings have five minute timers for every upgrade. Someone mentioned that, at the very beginning, all upgrades were indeed five minutes.

Then defense buildings I guess. I'm pretty sure they meant to make 5 of each available rather than 50. That's how it is in Modern War.

Swifty
03-18-2012, 05:28 AM
In a previous post in this thread, I demonstrated conclusively why camping must be nerfed because it is unfair. Now, let us examine a possible solution to the problem.

[Insert simple but elegant solution here.]

As you can plainly see, the proposed solution is both elegant and simple.

Rest assured that Funzio is closely monitoring the amount of fairness in the game at any given time. Funzio measures the amount of fairness using very special units called Standard Track Fairness Units, or STFU.

The amount of fairness in the game (measured in STFU) is maximized when the game follows the Standard Track (AKA The Game As It Was Meant To Be Played). If the game departs from the Standard Track, even slightly, then Funzio will take immediate steps to correct it.

qwikster
03-18-2012, 05:55 AM
... Funzio measures the amount of fairness using very special units called Standard Track Fairness Units, or STFU ...

STFU? hilarious!!! :):):)




If the game departs from the Standard Track, even slightly, then Funzio will take immediate steps to correct it.

not quite. the existence of M4A1 and its locations has been public for 5 months. there have been hundreds of threads about M4A1 farming (without a doubt the most popular single issue in the forum). i, for instance, was posting my drop rate experience on a monthly basis. clearly, they knew what was going on. funny they decide to correct "the problem" now. that's hardly 'immediate'. a better qualifier is 'incompetent' or 'haphazard' or 'reckless'.

Santa
03-18-2012, 07:34 AM
OFF TOPIC: Why was Tramp Stamp banned?

white frog
03-18-2012, 08:34 AM
The thought process of Funzio in the last few days is quite simple. It's actually a very smart, and long-time practiced business plan, kind of like re-branding. The basic principals go something like this:
Problem..
1. Higher level players have spent 99% of the money they will ever spend on our product
2. Higher level players have become too powerful in their numbers
3. Higher level players will eventually slow down the progress of the next phase of our business cycle
Solution..
1. Strategic plan to phase out these higher level players by way of conflict
2. Allow for newer players to spend money without being influenced by players of the first cycle
Action plan..
1. Create a conflict sizable enough to allow for the phase out of higher level players
2. Once players are sufficiently phased out, bury any remnants of their existence
3. Begin "Cycle 2"

Cycle 2 will be the exact same as the first, simply because it's what built the company. I'm not worried about any of this... I've applied this same business strategy in many of my own businesses (I've done it ethically) and it is actually a well respected model. I think that Funzio may have gone a little bit overboard, but let's remember that we were beginning to impede on their earning potential. I've been expecting this for a while now, and was not at all surprised when it happened.

Options for us:
1. We can either submit to this strategy, and allow ourselves to be phased out
2. We can endure through this, and wait for the next cycle to begin

If #2 is the choice that we make, I think it's incredibly important to understand that by doing this, we are declaring that we are not fair-weather fans of this game (and Funzio), and that we submit to this business strategy, realizing that it's necessary for the game's survival!

Santa
03-18-2012, 08:38 AM
White frog for president! I completely agree, even though you and I are not that HL yet, we know what we plan to do in the future. We cannot conform to Funzio's ploys to get rid of us. United we stand, divided we fall.