Architect Archive

Well boys, good luck to you all but this Arch is packing it up. I'm destroying my harves and office (small house) and switching to a simpler life. I love being an Arch but being casual and solo the profession is not for me. I can't maintain a modest operation on 10 hrs/week. TheStupidway in which SOE has implemented harvester costs is driving me out. I can't afford it.

"Stupid?" you ask? Yes! It's Stupid because it drives away casual soloists like me UNNECESSARILY. As I noted in an earlier diatribe on this topic the current system of constant cost over time for harvesters is idiotic. It is in effect a tax on Ownership, which UNFAIRLY penalizes people with Real Life responsibilities who can't blow 2 or 3 hourseach night here. Why should my in-game avatar suffer because of out-of-game circumstances? In effect, the way it works now, my casual avatar has a higher net cost of operation than a power grinder's avatar because my capital investment is forced to sit idle longer, and idle hasdraconian cost in this game.

A much moresensible system would be a tax on Usage instead. A cost per unit ore extracted. That way the heavy extractors pay proportionally more over time than we lightweights, as it should be because they make more in-game revenue. That way I could afford to have a fewharvesters sitting idle for a few days if I have to go out of town or work late hours for a few nights or something. They should decay over time, yes, and at a higher rate when they are operational. They should use power over time, yes,when operational. But they should not cost credits over time when they are not operational. It makes no sense. It's just a gratuitously dumb and unimaginitive way to subtract money for your avatar's bank account using lifestyle, or in this case playstyle, as an excuse. Like most real-life taxes!

Alas there is a much better system that is true to the spirit of free trade, individual liberty and core capitalist ideals. As I spelled out before, my proposal is simply to require miners to purchase Extraction Permits for a certain number of units of resource beforethey can pull it out of the ground.Inamounts, say,in 1000 unit blocks. The cost of the permitswould then bea replacement for the idiotic maintenance fee. For a power grinder who keeps a harvester running constantly it would in effect be a direct replacementfor the current constant maintenance fee becausehis operationwould require a constant supply of permits. Nothing lost in terms of game dynamics. On the other hand for a casual avatar it would be just an intermittent cost just as his harvesters would only run intermittently. If the casual avatar left a harvester running unattended it would either stop when it ran out of power, stop when it filled its permit quota or stop when it fell apart due to decay. If I want to run one unattended for a week then I have that option too, but I would have to buy many permits in advance and the cost would be front-loaded. Just as maintenance currently is. Again, no major changes in net game dynamics but a BETTER SYSTEM in the end for everyone.

Basically, the current harvester rules are quirky and unimaginative and a bit naive regarding the lifestyles of MMORPG players. There are many more casual players who can only put in 5-10 hrs per week than there are power grinders who spend that much time online in a single session. You know it, I know it and they know it, they just don't seem to have given it much consideration.

Anyway, that's my 2 quid on the situation. As for my avatar, he's decided it's way to early to settle down anyway and is just going to go exploring for awhile. Enjoy my meager market share.

Later...

Slamdango, ex-Arch

If you power game for the first 2 weeks you can go lax and still make big cash.

I don't agree with casual games not being able to be craftsmen. My best friend was without a computer during the release of Galaxies. I let him use a second computer I have but he's limited due to work + girlfriend to when he can play. He comes over sunday night, monday night and sometimes wednesday. On those days if he's not going to be here for a week he will run destroy missions to get enough cash to power his harvesters for a week. When he comes back in 4 or 5 days he has enough resources to keep him busy and left over resources are sold for a nice profit.

It's not hard to run destroy missions at all. Equip your best weapon to get higher payouts, pick two at the same distance and direction then rinse and repeat. Sure you may have to work harder than someone who plays everyday but it CAN be done.

your mising the mans arguement, and i agree with him on this one.

you shouldnt have to pay for maintnance when you don't use it, or at least not at the same rate.

when you use something, it decays, and you need to repair, yes. but, when you dont use it, does it decay that fast? i dont think so. so why do i need to pay maint when its not being used?

If they just made reclaiming a deed 1/3 the cost of daily maintenance instead of 2 days worth it wouldn't be a big deal to take them down if you go away.

The solution is so simple, its almost ridiculous.

Save your money before you start harvesting. That way, you have a nice nest egg with which to pay your harvesters *even when youre offline*. Start with a wind harvester or 2 and thats it, stay that way for a week while you run destroy missions, and at the end of that time you will have 1) a decent reserve of power, 2) a nice chunk of change to pour into your harvesters, and 3) some combat experience. Then you can go away for a few days, come back, and your harvesters will have a few thousand resources in them and still be operational.

Dont demand a change if youre not smart enough to take advantage of the system already in place.

Daedalus

This is a post on the architect board isn't it? Sorry guys, but if you have not played architect, you can not speak to the profession. There is no way a casual gamer will have anything but pain and heartache as an architect. If you have a factory, you need the same resource by your side to make your main components. Some components takeover 4400units of resources (dual, identical power cores)...no small investment. If the resources for that component go poof, then you are out of luck.

And no, saving up money and resources is not the option.If you are casual, you log on and see a snapshot of what resources are available. There's no guarantee and almost no way of finding out exactly how long a resource has been there, nor how much longer a resource will last. I just placed a few harvesters before this latest patch. I saw them become available today, so I can be pretty sure they will still be there when I log back on. If they aren't, and I've screwed up, I will still be on today to move them if necessary. A truely casual gamer, for which this game was supposedly designed, does not have that luxury.

Another solution is to pair up with someone who DOES play a lot. You can give them admin rights to your buildings, and they can set aside a good chunk of the materials they collect from your mines, while they pay the upkeep. You can even have a shared (private) workshop, along with a shared (public) store.

On the other hand, you can always find a PA(Player Association). You can probably get lost enough in them to where they won't notice your lack of play time.

I know... it's hard to make friends when you are constantly out there maintaining your harvesters... That's why I picked up a hobby... I play an instrument. Other entertainers are quite friendly, tho, most of them don't craft.

There is no way a casual gamer will have anything but pain and heartache as an architect.

I disagree.

However, I willl agree that a casual player will find nothing but pain and heartache as an architect if they expect to increase their skills at arate close to non-casual players. However, this is sort of the case with any profession/class, and casual players.

Personally, if I only played 10 hours a week, I wouldn't even bother with harvesters. A couple of level 8-9 missions, taking maybe 20 minutes, will net you 4500 to 5000 credits, which will generally buy you 1500 or so resources. About 5000 resources for an hour's 'work'.

Sure, that's small for architect needs, but if you do that six times a week, that's 30,000 resources, which is about a level 1 box of experience. A box a week doesn't seem terribly slow, considering you only play 10 hours a week, in my opinion.