What do you think about the BA cap? (in General)

I understand the idea behind the BA, but I still find it annoying. Why is 160 BA the magic number? I can see not wanting players to be gone for days and come back to a huge supply of BA, but I think that the cap should be a bit higher. I currently get 8 ba per ten minutes, so it take about 3 hours and twenty minutes to refill. I try to come back every three hours or so to use my ba, but often a lot of my ba goes to waste. This is especially true while I sleep. If I sleep 8 hours and spend all my ba before I go to bed, I still lose at least 250 BA. Eventually, my ba regeneration will go down to 7 per ten minutes and that will help a little becuase it will then take close to four hours to reach the ba cap. Then while I am sleeping I will only lose about 200 ba.

Now as far as I can tell, lost BA is helpful to no one. I get less rewards, buy less and sell less. This is harmful to the economy. If I fight more I make more money, buy more items, sell more items, etc.

If the BA cap were moved to 250, then at 7 ba per ten minutes, ba would refill every 6 hours. This would lower lost BA while sleeping to under 100. To give a perfect 8 hour sleeping non loss of ba grace period, the ba cap would have to be raised to 336.... that is more than double the current rate and I think that it probably too drastic a change. Plus, some people sleep less than others. I think that 250 ba is a very good change. It allows for less loss during sleep and other activities as well. I often go out to dinner and see a movie or some other activity which takes longer than three hours and I lose ba. It is not uncommon to be afk for four or five hours at a time. Six hours away is much less common. So this increased ba cap would be good for many occasions.

Though Ba regeneration rates vary from 7 to 10, I think the ba cap should be reflective of the lowest rate due to NUB. At a cap of 250, newer players will lose slightly more BA than older players who have a regeneration rate of 7, but this will also help to balance out their NUB a little. For instance, after 8 hours of sleep, a new player with a 10 per 10 ba regeneration rate will lose 230 ba while a vet at 7 per 10 will only lose 86. Since newbies have a bonus they can afford to lose more BA.

So, what do you all think? Please avoid non constructive criticism. If you think it is an awful idea, that's fine, but include your explanation.

I think the ba cap is good the way it is

If you are truly dedicated to CB you will adjust your life, and sleeping patterns, around a three hour and twenty minute cycle.

"If you are truly dedicated to CB you will adjust your life, and sleeping patterns, around a three hour and twenty minute cycle. "

thats a little too extreme. . . theres nothing wrong with playing but 24/7?? I have a life. . .no to be offensive

Fat Tony, what are your reasons for supporting the current BA cap?

i would also like a higher ba cap

I do understand where star is coming from and i stand behind him all the way

=D

Stark,

There are several reasons for the BA cap. I think the reason that Stephen is pointing out is that the BA cap isn't a penalty for those who can't play 24/7; instead, it's a bonus for those who do play more often throughout the day.

It makes sense that someone like Sefton who apparently doesn't sleep, eat, or work, and spends his entire day/night no more than 15 feet away from a CB screen should be able to advance moreso than someone who logs in once per day.

But why? Should CB be a no-life-o-meter? Is that an awesome goal?

Perhaps an elevated BA cap might be a good Supporter benefit. It fits the test well as something that makes the game more convenient but would never be "mandatory" to succeed.

Also, remember that a higher BA cap does not increase the amount of ba given or ba regeneration rate. It just allows for a little extra storage time before it is lost. Couldn't we all use a little more time in this busy life? :)

i think the cap should move to 180 and it should refill at 30 ba per 10 minutes. But you would lose quite a bit of ba during the night.

I like it the way it is. No real reason why, I just like it ; )

Bahamut, that would allow for almost continuous fighting and is very extreme. Money would become greatly devalued and the economy may crash due to severe inflation... score and mpr would also sky rocket... overall I think that would be more harmful than good. I am simply suggesting a slightly higher BA limit to allow for more time afk with out penalty (such as for sleep, errands, and work you can't get out of). Over all amount of BA possible per day would not be affected.

Read this thread

You can probably find other threads about the BA rate as well on CB2 and CB1.

Personally, I think 160 is Jonathan's high score in bowling. Until he gets better, I think we're stuck with 160.

Holy cow, bahamut. That'd make this a sort of turn-based Real Time game! (if that makes any sense)

I agree with Stark. I'd like a higher BA cap. Not that I care how much I waste during my sleep. Honestly, sleep matters to me just *slightly* too much to give a flying flahooey about losing BA in nighttime hours - but I do go to college, some to go highschool, others probably AREN'T able to access CB every 3 hours from work...so should we be penalized for working towards a higher quality of living?

Gimme a higher BA cap! Now! I demand it!

/me throws a tantrum

"Until he gets better, I think we're stuck with 160."

laugh!

lol I thought that was funny too. You know Jon, I took a bowling class in college and it really helped raise my average. I even threw a 215 one day. If you let me know what area you live in I can suggest a good school :D .

Gaming in general is about sacraficing time for ability.

The more time you waste playing CB, the better you are at it. Or the stronger your character, same thing.

Name me a game where this isn't true.

If I could play Diablo all day every day, I'd be a lot better off than I am there too.

Does Diablo have a BA cap?

I do in fact play Cb as much as I can. If my BA cap were higher than I would play it even more. I've logged on every day since I joined cb. Some times I don't have a lot of free time and I'm only able to log on once or twice a day. A higher BA cap would allow people to be away from cb for slightly longer without being penalized. I may actually have the effect of causing people to stay logged in for longer periods of time. With more BA to burn at one time people will stay logged in longer and enhance the cb community by fighting, chatting, buying, selling etc.

Yeah, um, you do know that what your talking about happens anyways when your refresh rate goes down right?

Its real hard for me to support that idea when i only refresh 7 ba every ten minutes.

The system is fine, stop complaining and get your character up so your refresh rate goes down.

"Yeah, um, you do know that what your talking about happens anyways when your refresh rate goes down right"

Muppetsgotagun... I'm pretty sure that your BA cap does not go up when you ba refresh goes down... also, if you'll read through my origional post, my suggestion is most beneficial to those vets with ba refresh rates of 7 per 10.

Muppetsgotagun, I've also already touched on your point "Eventually, my ba regeneration will go down to 7 per ten minutes and that will help a little becuase it will then take close to four hours to reach the ba cap." Though at this point someone who sleeps 8 hours a night would still lose 200 BA. And at 7 ba per ten minutes, your BA refreshes in 4 hours, but as per my argument, many people work, have school, go out, or do other activities and are often away from the computer for five or six hours at a time. Those people do enjoy CB and try to play as much as they can, but are still penalized by the current BA cap.
In my opinion, adding 90 BA to the cap would be but a small change, but have large benefits. It would simply be an added two hour grace period before BA is lost. It would increase playing time and bolster the economy.

Wait!! Wait!! (Stark equips his Asbestos body armor)
Ok, continue the discussion :D

ba cap is good because people have to be on here more often to take advantage of it instead of having a higher cap where every player can use up every single ba and not have to miss any.

To use all BA you'd still have to log on at least four times a day. BA would refill about every 6 hours instead of every 4.

160 BA is about right. It's good that there will be wasted BAs when you go away too long. This is one of the many ways for other lower mpr players to catch up to your mpr if you slacked off. If no one loses any BA, and everyone spend the same amount of BA daily, then it will be hard to beat players with higher mpr.

Stark,
Everybody knows what you're trying to say. It's been argued on CB for quite a while. If you wait another 4-6 months, there will be another newbie who will come along and make the same argument.

I think you're missing the point. The BA cap is a bonus for those who log in more often. Increasing the cap would only penalize people like Sefton who put a lot more effort and to the game.

Jonathan didn't design this game around anyone's sleeping, school, or work schedule and is not likely to adjust the game accordingly in the future. If you haven't figured it out yet, Jonathan is a bit of a sadomasochist and likes torturing us just bit by making certain aspects of the game difficult, like the BA cap. There's no reason to make the game easier for people who won't/can't put more time into CB.

Stark, also consider that there are different aspects of this game other than fighting, like camping and forging. The cap would also affect those aspects too, making them easier.

Games that are too easy, start to suck really quick. Simple.

Again, BA would not be increased, so the game would not be getting easier per say. People would still be rewarded by logging on more frequently. You would still have to log in at least four times a day to use all your BA. Currently you must log about five times to use all your BA. You don't get extra BA, so I don't see how camping etc. would be made easier... plus, if campers sat and used all their BA at once, then they would be away longer while waiting for BA to refill and other non camper players might actually have a better chance of getting a rare item.

"I do in fact play Cb as much as I can. If my BA cap were higher than I would play it even more. I've logged on every day since I joined cb. Some times I don't have a lot of free time and I'm only able to log on once or twice a day. A higher BA cap would allow people to be away from cb for slightly longer without being penalized. I may actually have the effect of causing people to stay logged in for longer periods of time. With more BA to burn at one time people will stay logged in longer and enhance the cb community by fighting, chatting, buying, selling etc."

In other words:

"There are people that have more time to play than me. Change the game so that I can do as well as them.

NO!

You waste more of your time on this game, then you will do as well as those people that have no life on here.

In EVERY GAME EVER, the more time you waste on it, the better you do. You want to do better? Waste more time. Don't try and change the game to fit your busy life style.

Your lucky, it used to be unlimited BA. You could click as long as you could sit here. Want that back? You'd get pwned.

Ahhhhhh!! Asbestos body armor has no effect!! The pain!

lol ouch. I use almost all my ba every day. Look at my char and my clan points. For less than two months of playing I think my char is pretty strong and represents the time I've spent on CB. I'm not suggesting a drastic change. Just 90 extra points added to the BA cap. Many many people will still not use all their BA. People who play more will still level and power up faster. This change is also actually more helpful to long time cb players as their ba regeneration rate is lower. As for people that only log in once or twice a day, the small amount of extra ba they have accrued will not make much difference...

This BA cap=no Spid, Extreme Newbie, GoldenLight, Zubbus do I need to go on anymore?
To anyone who doesn't know those were 4 characters in CB1 that benefitted hugely from starting on an unlimited BA cap and then went through it being 300.
Jon put this BA cap to stop runaway leaders while also making sure people were still rewarded for their time and effort.

You don't remember when it WAS higher. That's WHY you don't think it will make that much of a difference.

But trust me, it will.

BA is a privilege, not a right.

i personally dont mind the BA cap... 160 takes about two hours to restore, so that gives me time to do other things... if it jumps up to 200, cool... if not, thats fine with me too

im not really fussed about the cap but sometimes u always want a little more heck even if its 180 im happy:)

cm'd jon to see ask if there's any chance of even a small change (perhaps as a supporter bonus or even supporter upgrade) and he never wrote back. So I'd say no chance.

Death to the cap :)

Stark, he won't respond to just about any message you send him. If he did then he would have pages upon pages of CMs to read every day. I'm sure he already does get a lot more then you and me from people who think they have something that can only be made in private and that can only be answered to by him.

Don't CM him please and just say what you have to say publicly in forums instead. It may not seem like it but he is reading most of the posts and replies, but he is. (The proof is in the changelog.) Plus the forums come with neat options like spell check and the chance to review what you going to say before you actually say it. These features will make you seem a whole lot smarter and may stop you from making a horrible blunder.

As for this whole BA cap post... what the heck did I start here??