The battle of High level Players versus the Devs

[Kalon]

The developers for this game continue to absolutely astound me with their rash, unfair, illogical decision making. Not only that, but their complete lack of writing things in clear-cut rules, and then making up rules on the spot.

As some of you may be aware, a while back, there was a pill-limit cap put in at 1300, so that once you hit 1300 stat points, you would no longer find pills in mboxes for that stat. This wouldn't be a problem in itself--other than it was implemented AFTER someone had hit 1300, and their stats were forcefully reset. Back when Virtual Members were introduced, one player astounded everyone by getting 650 very quickly. Many believed that it was never intended for that many to be allowed to be bought. Nevertheless, it was done, and a cap was implemented, for 650 VMs. His were not removed, or reset, to what they were "supposed" to be.

Now, this 1300 limit was always only for pills. Look at the old posts. "Mystery Box will no longer drop pills for a stat with 1300+ base value". Not one post forbids going over 1300 by, once reaching 1300, resetting stats (using gems) to a lower number such as 1200, working back up to 1300, and then resetting again and saving those LPs, and after many times of doing this, boosting stats to over 1300.

Similarly, on Kongregate, there are several players with stat well above 1300, and not all of it can be due to equipment.

At least 2 players that I know of had their stats suddenly removed this weekend. This ability has always been in the game. ALWAYS. Afterall, how else can con be raised? And, as can be seen, con can still go to 2000.

Why was this done? Why, suddenly, remove the ability to do this? Especially since other players have been doing it for a while...but then one very top player does it...and suddenly its removed.

Was Atlantis not, and I quote, advertised as: "Similar to Hell Gate but for high levels (level 88+)"

To most people, this would mean the expansion was for high level players. That they did this extra content exclusively for high level players (be it present or future).

And yet, completely contradictory to this seeming "caring" for high-level players....

For almost a year now, we've had that 1300 pill cap, with no changes. Now, they've also, SUDDENLY (and without the same limitations applying to Kongregate...), removed the ability to go beyond that.

They released an expansion solely for "high-level players", yet many are approaching this limit. Now, instead of the prospect of just having slower growth by resetting, increasing a bit, and repeating...they have no where at all to go. It is a metaphorical brick wall.

We have many players about to hit that limit. Instead of rewarding them for their amount of time playing the game..they are punished, without notice, again and again.

I must ask, what is the thought process behind this? You release "new content for high players" then a mere month later slap them down for being high level players? I am absolutely baffled. How can you do something exclusively for them...then knock them down?

And remember: Once before, Fallen was removed, without warning, from high level players. At that time, there wasn't an "alternative" Fallen for them to do. I'm not even going to get into the debate that Atlantis is just Fallen all over again, and that they could've just made 2 tiers of Fallen like they do for FW, whatever. But, no warning, only affecting a few players, all in a single guild: removed content, at that time.

This is highly, highly dangerous. There is a pattern here--the developers removing content from players on a whim without any notice, without them ever violating any "rules", and a general lack of caring about their player content.

There are quite a few approaching this "cap". Right now, these offenses only affect a very, very small handful. But, this number is only going to grow. When does it stop? When do players get notices, when are these "unspoken rules" spoken?

Or, should I ask instead, what level and stats do the developers just want us to stop playing at, because it's too hard on them? Funny, that we should have more concern for them, then they do us.

[Soress]

I don't agree with the stat cap at all. Even more so with letting Kongregate to get away with it, but restricting the Facebook users. Then again I also would think Kongregate should get VM as we have them, why not let things be equal to both sides no?

It does give that feeling of what do the top players have to look forward to or strive towards when they can't even get more power because there is a wall that will prevent them. Eventually they will get bored and stop playing and I wonder if that's what the devs hope for to kind of slow things down. Unfortunately for them, more and more people are getting up there and reaching that top level. By the new year we will probably see the top 100 be lvl 95+.

People have made great suggestions on forums to help give better incentive to play and spend gems, yet the go either unnoticed or not even acknowledged. I think the next couple of expansions will be critical for the game's top players.

[Fieryshoe]

I'll keep this relatively short, even for my long-winded standards.

By the end of the year, you will have a bunch of high level players capped on their two major offensive stats. There are already a few approaching this right now. Unless you are churning out updates every month, you will begin to have a important bunch of players not having anything to do and more importantly, anything to strive/shoot for. Let's keep it real here, no matter what guild you are in, the main goal in this game is to keep progressing. If the high-end players suddenly have the door slammed shut in their faces, what else are they going to do? Sure, you can keep playing for your friends and to help out your guild, but that will only get you so far before you become bored. In every game, you always need that one carrot dangled in front of your face to keep you going.

So, before I find myself drifting off into oblivion because I have reached the cap (I am one of those affected that Kalon was talking about), let me go on record and be the first to officially request for the caps to be increased on stats. I'll even go one better, REDUCE the cap on constitution to 1500 and throw us a bone and increase the other caps on str, int, dex, and qui to 1500 or 1600? Maybe toss in increases on stat caps every six months if you are worried about players becoming overpowered? When you don't have anything to shoot for in this game, you become disinterested and stop playing. If people are not playing, they are not spending any gems. And if no one is spending any gems, the devs are not making any money. Is this too much to ask for, especially when the players in Kong have gotten away without a true stat cap for months now?

I'm not standing on a soap box for just myself, but for all of the other high level players that will be approaching the caps by the end of the year. Guess what...most of these players I am thinking about are either the leaders of their respective guilds, part of the core, or an important part of their guilds. By the end of the year, these players will be wondering if they want to continue to play the game anymore, and if they do keep on playing, you can rest assured that they will cut down on their playtime. Why play alot if you can't improve your character anymore? If you wanna keep playing along with my doomsday scenario, what is gonna happen by next springtime or summer when even MORE players are capped? Congratulations, you are gonna have a whole bunch of players with 1300 in two stats and no motivation to keep on playing. That is not how you balance the game, that is how you KILL the game.

I have played this game for a long time and I have not regretted a single penny I have put into this game, as well as all the hours of lost sleep. The game is fun and I have managed to make a ton of good friends and meet some great people that I would have otherwise never have met because of this game. But this is the second time in a few months that I find myself shaking my head sadly and wondering about the future of this game. The other instance was when the 95+ level players were kicked out of The Fallen and told to go play in the "big boys playground", otherwise known as Atlantis. Problem is, Atlantis is capped at about 1B damage per player soooo...it is not really a big boys playground because we can't kill it on our own! Poseidon stays up for days at a time and there is almost no fun or thrill of doing it anymore. The Fallen was fun, that was a race, that was thrilling. Atlantis? Ugggh, no thanks.

I kindly ask that the devs look into these suggestions and feedback. I'm not trying to give you a headache or make your jobs more difficult. I am speaking as a player that loves this game, is sadly addicted to it with no plans of leaving anytime soon, and would genuinely like to prevent other good players from retiring and walking away from the game because they can't progress anymore. I can't be any more honest than that.

[WarBound]

I'm sorry but let me tell you what will happen.

1. The Devs answer is "Card Games" so you can expect that coming soon.
2. Status Quo.
3. The end.

[Solomon Grundy]

There is absolutely no gameplay plan for players once their stats hit 1300. Why is that? I am of the opinion, and I am sure I am not the only one, who feels that since the release of Time World, this game has taken a harsh back seat. What have we received in updates in the last 9 months or so? Atlantis, which simply isn't worth it to 95% or more of players. The utterly laughable and pathetic Monster Arena. I know children with Down's syndrome who could have topped that update. Faction Wars, the area that used Time World graphics because we were worth neither the time or energy required to draw new monsters. Let us not forget the Black Market either, which required the amazing ability to cut and paste some code. The last 9 months of so, from a developmental standpoint, have been utter and abject failures, and to pretend otherwise is a blatant lie.

I'm sure, once all the high ranking players abandon this game, that their concerns with the stat cap and other issues will be addressed. The devs don't notice what we say here, but the minute the dollars start running dry, they'll be looking for answers like a whore in church. Devs, keep your eyes on the number of inactive players, watch them continue to rise, and realize that, without drastic change, your game is destined to failure. Continue to give us shoddy update after shoddy update, let the issues pile up, and watch your game collapse like a shanty house in a hurricane.

[Arioch]

it is a damn shame that they are punishing a player for being successful
imagine the outrage if they had done that to kelvin, instead of making the cap at what he had in vm's

[Atamar]

How is it morally right to change the rules on players after they have invested time and spent money to support your game? I remember reading there was a stat cap and that you could not find pills to increase that stat after reaching it. I never once read you could not relocate stats to go pass this barrier. I also heard one of the players affected by this had emailed the developer more than once with no response. To me changing a rule on a player is no different ethically than a player who decides to find a way to cheat.This decision could send the wrong kind of message to the players of dream world. A player could interpret this as; if changing a rule on someone is ok, and the rules are not important to the devs as is, is it then morally ok for players to break rules and cheat.