Stagnation? (in General)

I feel that CB is going through a period of stagnation.

I may be the only one feeling this but I thought I would see if others agree or disagree.

Reasons:

1) The NCB is just too expensive to run a character near the top. Possible yes to get to 6 BA regeneration zone, but too expensive to really challenge for the top.

One has to spend 100M or more on BA and then hope to have enough left in items to compete. A very hard thing to do except perhaps maybe for all but the heaviest of USD spenders.

I personally did not start a NCB due to the prohibitive cost.

2) Boring changemonths. This was the first real changemonth with Jon and NS working it. And what have we gotten? Drops. Something I am not alone in believing will cause more long term problems in gameplay than actually help. Less overall money with the current fixed costs lead to less tanks. Less money to boost items and less money to even try a NCB. A vicious cycle.

Less money for those who do not get in all their native BA to buy BA, leading to more disparity between MPRs. Something the 20 min regeneration was supposed to alieviate.

So far this month, no new item, no new changes, no new spells/skills. Boring.

3) Persistently broken things. The tutorial is broken. You never get a 2nd chance to make a first impression. Other things in the game are known to be broken or just bad for even gameplay. My favorite is the exbow. The reasons are well known and of course debatable, but for over 2 years nothing has been done.

We as players have proposed a few things to help with this perceived stagnation.

Including the Rolling Bonus, helping to fix the tutorial, trying to get broken items fixed/balanced.

Am I alone in this perception?

I'm with you Ranger.

me too.. im quiting due to those 3

probably :) but i have this burning question... not that i disagree... where will all the money go? if not to NCBs and buying minions then its to ever increasing equipment... where will the cash sinks be? :)

"where will the cash sinks be?"

Drop the CB$ cost on NCB in half, you will have more than double the people running NCBs ; drop it to base level, and you'll have half of the CB population running NCBs - there's your huge cash sink.
:)

Half is not a bad idea...

It still costs, but not quite as astronomical...

I have not bought BA during my NCB and at $4,765 per I do not think I every will, considering I get around $500~$800 per fight...

If it were half of that, I would consider buying, at least during xp time...

Not at all. I agree with you completely good sir

I'm with you.
I often wonder why I still play CB, truth told.

The forums are a far shot from what they once were. I used to enjoy perusing the forums. I rarely posted, and still rarely do.
These days, I look at a thread and wonder what will frustrate me in it. And I almost always find something.

So.. I suggest "4) A broken down community."

5) not enough fresh blood

I agree with Ranger. I've not fought in ages. Why I wanted to fund a Tourny actually. I was just hording gear for no purpose, so I'm trying to give it all back.

As for the community, we've nothing left to disect in CB, other than ourselves...

The higher the MPR of the top character gets, the more expensive it will really become for a NCB to try a run to the top.

Every day the top MPR gains exp, the more exp the NCB has to gain, which might be at a rate 3 times as fast, but still. Every 3 or 4 days would add another 1 day to gain exp...

I would not say the community is broken down at all.

It is just bored with the same ole stuff. And a lot of broken, unbalanced things. One of the reason CB kept me enthralled for so many years was the changes. Some radical, some stupid, some incredibly good. But changes came at a nice pace.

Now, things are not really changing much. We still have broken items that everyone knows is broken, making playability limited. Choices limited.

Nothing new to really turn CB on its head. Like a new spell or game altering item. Just for this changemonth and for this 5 month period a drop system that does nothing to enhance the playability of the game. And in fact makes it harder to play certain character types.

There are plenty of people in the community I love to converse with, some even disagree with me in the forums. But I do value their opinion most of the time.

However, we do need new blood. I guess perhaps the drop system is designed to get and keep new players, however I do strongly feel the opposite will happen.

And with a broken tutorial, how easy is it for new players to even make it through it unscathed.

Want to make people love the game again, make it easier to run a NCB. Give them a chance to make it near the top even if they had a chance and blew it. More new blood is needed.

Fixing things are needed, and balancing things are needed.

I hate to see people leave due to boredom and stagnation.

Fixing IS needed, as is balancing.
But, however, in my humble opinion, this game is not "stagnating" in the since of not having anything new; this is probably the funnest time in my whole CB career, as I have multiple strategies I'd like to try out, and feel very invigorated _to_ try them.

In some ways I really do agree with you Ranger you have always made good points in most aspects. I have always felt though that your worst enemy is you. You just don't know when to stop, say what you have to, make your point then drop it. The masses will either agree and go with it or not but trying to browbeat people into submissive agreement with 5 Million Posts will get you put in the disrespected line.

Jon has a reason for NOT balancing some things in essence it is a quick fix for temporarily balancing other things by default. Yes I do feel that the ExBow is one of them to balance the Ranged Weapons out.

I admit NCBs without the aid of USD is a long shot to reach the Top Ranks as a true competitor. I have seen this and it is exactly why I dumped a ton of USD into my NCB. Use me as an example if you like.

This new Change though I think is a Great Idea, however, I do feel it should be balanced. As of right now this change is a bit on the extreme side with a 20% reduction in monetary rewards. There has been arguments, debates, a Ton of Threads and even a Poll. Honestly big guys how about listening and considering?

On the rest well NS has been very active in working on and fixing things. Remember NS is one person and Jon does have a family and they come first. Like you say "Get Over It."

Overall I feel maybe a bit more help on the coding side should be considered by the Top Dogs (Jon and NS).

Point Blank no matter how good your changes might be, if everything else is broken why should anyone New stay around? Furthermore why should the Vets stay? Remember more often than not it IS the Community that keeps the New Players sticking around. Granted addictive Gameplay is a huge bonus/perk but a Community Makes/Breaks a Game. What will happen if that community dwindles down to nothing?

i have often wondered how many people leave/fail to stick around specifically due to all the "this game is so broke" threads/posts?

It does seem like negativity regarding a problem is often worse than the problem itself.

Well dude,

We have people constantly making NUBs and coming in.

However, our numbers have been dropping.

Without an exit type of poll, it is impossible to tell how many leave due to exactly what.

But things like I posted do nothing to help retain people.

How is a tutorial that has been broken for years helping?

Or items that obviously are unbalanced and make certain type of character harder to play helping?

Or the thought of "well you had your chance and blew it" helping when your next option is to spend a hundred million CB to try to get to the top?

I really had hoped this changemonth would bring something new and fresh to CB. Something the community would rally around. Fixes of things broken, new additions.

But we have something that barely 1/2 of the community likes, and the other 1/2 hates. Not something to entice people when you get 1 drop every 3 weeks and it could be a lesser tattoo.

I guess if the masses like the game as it is and have no complaints, why do I beat my head against the walll.

I would happily go without gameplay changes for a couple of changemonths if the tutorial was re-done and other existing issues were sorted out.

ranger, we agree regarding many of the changes. i know that jon & ns have seen at least some of the multiple threads on the issues. what does the proverbial beating of the head accomplish?

it may be getting us nowhere which is no big deal. it may also turn off users, new or otherwise. we cannot make the devs change their game to suit us even when an overwhelming majority of players agree on something.

what we do have power over is the negative posts as they are created by us. that is the one area of the game we have ultimate control over.