A Theory: Why we, the players, are killing Kingdom Age... with our Minis.
PLEASE REMAIN CIVIL IN THIS THREAD!
So, before you go off on me, this is a purely hypothetical point I want to examine, and it's been on my mind after seeing a few things around the forum. Primarily, the following:
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- Why no raise in level cap
- Why the massive experience gain all around in events
- Why no new weapons
- the 'penalties' to llp in general
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The first thing that got my mind thinking about this was this thread right here. CJ replied rather promptly, and gave a reason as to why there were no level caps instituted yet in Kingdom Age.
"The reason we don't increase the level cap in KA but do in MW is because KA already has more of a cone-shaped level distribution, and raising the level cap would make that worse. If we make alterations to the rivals list algorithm that makes level less of an important factor (or add some of the requested changes to make leveling more positive) we'll revisit that."
CJ54
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Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the shape of a cone (although I'd hope everyone knows and understands what they are...) they are smallest at the top, and largest at the bottom. This cone concept is widely used in businesses, especially in regards to employees vs managers vs higher management. CJ was using it to refer to the level distribution within Kingdom Age. Basically, the number of 200s at the top is still a small percentage in relation to the userbase of the game. Typically, in a game looking at things with the cone system, you see more and more players reach max level, to a point where even with new users joining, you have a large bulge at the top of the cone from those at max level.
Minis have thrown that to the wind, however. In the last 2-4 months, people have created a whirlwind of fresh accounts to maximize their Attack/Defense per level, as well as to negate the penalties they associate with higher levels. Primarily, just one of them: CP in Wars. That's truly the only penalty that have driven people to creating minis to turn into main accounts, but the penalties are something entirely else. This large wave of new, low level accounts with no increase in the amount of capped players has completely destroyed the need GREE might have for increasing the level cap within Kingdom Age.
So, you have this large amount of fresh, new, and somewhat powerful low level accounts that have burgeoned the level 50-100 tier, while the accounts they had previously used are slowly being retired from the 100-200 level range. This is the start of all the problems, essentially stemming from how CP gained during war is calculated.
Now, to the next part. People have been complaining about a lack of new weapons, which would mean increased damage done to mods during LTQs, which would mean less EXP gain for more stats essentially. GREE can't very well tell people to stop making new accounts if they already have one, so how might they quietly combat this mini spree? Why, by cutting off one thing that makes finishing LTQs easier: weapons. Without high damage weapons, one has to rely on their Hero's Strength statistic to kill enemies on the maps. Since people are already ignoring all kills outside of LTQs, it's the only place they can try to regain this balance.
So, less damage means more experience. However, there was a bunch of complaining about how higher levels brought a higher energy cost with them, and it was 'impossible' to finish some without gemming for the low level players. Yes, those folks who legitimately joined the game are getting screwed, but the root of things here are the minis folks started. So, moving on along, GREE realized that perhaps a high energy cost per mob in each stage was the wrong way to go. Enter the Tidings of Solace LTQ. Almost no energy cost, although the retaliation is huge (possibly a bug, maybe not). The key thing to note is that this LTQ could be completed by nearly everyone, so long as they had patience and sufficient time around a power socket to keep their device charged. The EXP gain was high high high, which again is an attempt to level people to 'fix' the cone's level distribution. Other LTQs have also focused on higher EXP gain, such as the last Epic Boss event, and prior LTQs as well. So, higher EXP gain to force people into leveling.
Now, note this. If we weren't so paranoid about avoiding every potential EXP gain, and tried to master maps, attack other people and raid them on a regular basis, and actually play with all of the components of the game, this high EXP gain during LTQs would not be happening... (maybe). Because a lot of people are completely avoiding every source of EXP gain there is in the game, GREE is trying to make them level. Face it, minis are ignoring every extraneous source of experience gain there is, and there is no denying that fact.
So, there you have it. My theory as to why the low-level players have all of these penalties being focused at them. It's because of our own greed (hah, irony!) at wanting to capitalize our stats, to therefore capitalize our CP gain during war. Longtime players are getting discouraged and quitting, people are whining 24/7 on the forums and causing a general atmosphere of hatred and stupidity that drives others away from the game. We are self-destructing on our own.
GREE, I'd suggest new algorithms for CP gain in war-time. The current, level based system is potentially the root of all of your problems in Kingdom Age.
(NOTE!!! I understand that there are legitimate issues with GREE's actions, in the game, and other stuff that also cause some issues for the community and players. This is specifically looking at just this one facet.)
Again, please remain civil with each other.
Lys
