Undoubtedly AP items are the crème de la crème of status in SMT.
Due to all the items' exclusiveness and such they are highly prized and traded for high sums of macca or other important items from those who are AP-less. But how far can such a trend go for these items that serve to keep our beloved Megaten servers working and give visual and in-game distinction of the AP elite from the masses? Read on...
I was reading a Japanese players' blog from a SMT:Imagine fansite and I was very surprised at how far-reaching the consequences (and potential disparity for our version) could cause. With the advent of PvP in the JP version, a lot of the monthly/special event AP items have been used not only for the look, but they also harbor the potential for severe imbalance in PvE and PvP.
Now imagine Synthed/Crafted/Taroted gear slotted with items that grant immunity to most or ALL bad status and/or the ability to critical hit players/monsters with 999 max damage and pretty much make a PvE dungeon run a cakewalk with such gear. Granted it'll take a lot of time, dedication and a dutifully paid off credit card to maintain it, but what the bloggers' complaint was wouldn't this be taking "tweaking" to a whole new level in Megaten?
As I pondered his/her point further and taking in what I could translate roughly I asked myself: How would this be any different from any MMO? I mean most MMO's like the ever omnipresent MMO colossus like WoW, where better gear with experience and competent play style equates to a more "fun" experience (if you're the Min/Max type of player) but then considering that this version of Megaten has already (and progressively) been evolving the current and potential meta for the PvE and PvP aspects of the JP version. Will this potential rift with AP item tweaking polarize the Have's and Have Not camps of players?
The F2P model that both Aeria and Cave uses to promote Megaten to garner player interest may potentially lead to that said polarization. Seeing as how I'm in a position to buy AP soon for myself (and some deserving clanmates) I can forsee this causing a bigger divide soon for other players who can't or not wish to spend their hard earned dough on virtual goods, to me it'll be another inevitable wave of head-butting pretty soon on the community forums once we do get more updates for the N. American version. But for now being the generous Samaritan I am, I'm always more than willing to spread the wealth around (looks at credit bill statement) *sigh*...
When that time does come eventually XD
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Just wait, soon I'll be like you.... once I get some dough back in my pocket
ReplyDeleteThat's what tax credit refunds are for :p
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that every week more and more powerful AP items are sold in fortune shops, making the older items you bought last week obsolete. Can't blame them since that's how they run their servers, but there has to be a limit, you know?
ReplyDeletePersonally I am reluctant when it comes to paying real-life cash. Not because I'm cheap, I jsut like to waste my money somewhere else than games (other than purchasing the cd, of course). Otherwise I would have bought WOW and enjoyed the full experience (including more than 1 character per account...)
*sneaks off for a peek on blog*
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly xeyatan, I just hope Aeria doesn't get to the point that they'll piss off players and get an unfortunate soul to burn their face off after getting into debt by buying into the AP lottery like that poor Japanese player last year (I think).