This post covers some thoughts on the recent survey results. Click here if you are looking for the most recent changelog that covers some more details about the new changes.
Vocation Balance
Knights have been voted the weakest vocation in both PvE (53%) and PvP (65%) whereas Paladins have been voted the strongest PvE (57%) vocation.
We are introducing a few changes to both of these vocations effective immediately and will further monitor the state of vocation balance. More detail about that in the changes list.
Monsters & Inventory Revamp
Overall the overwhelming majority of survey participants agreed that the monsters and inventory balance is in a good place.
We are quite happy with the results because the monsters and inventory revamp was a huge and time consuming task.
A few people had complaints about the difficulty of bosses, excessive use of the paralyze machanism and equipment pieces being too hard to obtain for solo players so we will definitely discuss how to further improve this aspect of the game.
Enchanting
About 82% percent of people like the enchanting system but 74% think that it's pay-to-win.
We have already taken a first step at reducing the problem by making the Orb of Enchantment have a 100% chance to apply a slot to a piece of equipment in the last patch.
We will also further discuss ideas to make the system more accessible outside of the Cyntara store but we don't have any specifics yet.
There has also been a suggestion about deprecating the enchanting system in favor of imbuing however we still have to evaluate whether that could be both viable and feasible.
Dungeons
Almost everyone is familiar with the Dungeon system however a lot of people voiced their thoughts on the Dungeon system.
The following feedback and complaints have been addressed:
Artifacts
Just like with the dungeon system, almost everyone is familiar with the Artifact Weapon system however people have had a few complaints about it.
Currently we have addressed the three most common issues:
Rebirth
Only 16% of people think that the rebirth system is good, the rest have voted that they either don't know what the system is (33%), don't like the system (34%), or cannot form an opinion yet.
We have a few rough ideas about the direction and the future of the rebirth system and will experiment with them however it's still too soon to talk about the details.
Experience Gain
Most of people (65%) seem to be in favor of lowering the experience gain rate. While this isn't something that we're going to adjust just now, we will be looking into slowing down the pace of the game starting mid level in the future.
Custom Client
One of the biggest concerns when deciding to go with the custom client was player adoption.
Fortunately as per the survey almost all survey participants (save for 3 people) either like the client, like the client but would like to see more features, or like the client but would like to see some bugs/glitches fixed.
Likewise an overwhelming majority of participants answered that the custom client was not an entry barrier to play on Cyntara.
We are quite happy with these results because the custom client lifted a lot of restrictions we would previously have to deal with while not really getting in the way for players.
Unfortunately, though, exactly 50% of people answered that they think that the client suffers from performance issues. We are currently aware of three major issues that impact the performance of the client and will attempt to address them however it's not a trivial task as these issues are deeply rooted in the core functionality of the client.
Feature Requests
The most requested features were high and mid level quests and spawns, about equally followed by more spells, more ways to improve your characters, and more repeatable content features.
This will greatly help us decide what features to prioritize in the future.
Thanks to everyone that participated in the survey. It provided us with a lot of valuable feedback and insight into what the community expects from the server and should let us focus our efforts on addressing our current shortcomings.
Vocation Balance
Knights have been voted the weakest vocation in both PvE (53%) and PvP (65%) whereas Paladins have been voted the strongest PvE (57%) vocation.
We are introducing a few changes to both of these vocations effective immediately and will further monitor the state of vocation balance. More detail about that in the changes list.
Monsters & Inventory Revamp
Overall the overwhelming majority of survey participants agreed that the monsters and inventory balance is in a good place.
We are quite happy with the results because the monsters and inventory revamp was a huge and time consuming task.
A few people had complaints about the difficulty of bosses, excessive use of the paralyze machanism and equipment pieces being too hard to obtain for solo players so we will definitely discuss how to further improve this aspect of the game.
Enchanting
About 82% percent of people like the enchanting system but 74% think that it's pay-to-win.
We have already taken a first step at reducing the problem by making the Orb of Enchantment have a 100% chance to apply a slot to a piece of equipment in the last patch.
We will also further discuss ideas to make the system more accessible outside of the Cyntara store but we don't have any specifics yet.
There has also been a suggestion about deprecating the enchanting system in favor of imbuing however we still have to evaluate whether that could be both viable and feasible.
Dungeons
Almost everyone is familiar with the Dungeon system however a lot of people voiced their thoughts on the Dungeon system.
The following feedback and complaints have been addressed:
- Supply use and no loot during Talisman runs meant that Talisman runs were quite a monetary drain and supply usage would make it hard to make it to the end of some dungeons; from now on potions and runes will be infinite inside of Dungeon instances and the Talisman runs will now yield regular loot.
- Running back and forth between spawns to start a Talisman run is quite exhausting, repetitive and boring so we have added a shortcut system. Players that complete a Level 5 Talisman will unlock a shortcut for the respective dungeon, accessible through the Teleport Room near the Dungeon Master NPC.
- An option to duo dungeons - the Dungeon system now sports a flex mode where the Dungeons can be started in a party of either 2, 3 or 4 people.
- The next closest contendant was making the dungeons accessible for solo players. This is unfortunately not feasible as balancing each dungeon around each vocation would be nigh impossible. The long term goal though is to provide an alternative feature to dungeons that focuses around solo play.
Artifacts
Just like with the dungeon system, almost everyone is familiar with the Artifact Weapon system however people have had a few complaints about it.
Currently we have addressed the three most common issues:
- First of all, it's hard to catch up when you just received your Artifact Weapon so we are introducing a catch up mechanic to the Artifact Knowledge research.
- The damage boost is too impactful on the PvP aspect of the game and as a result the damage boost will now only apply to PvE damage - this provides people with a way to improve their character PvE wise without interfering with PvP.
- Last but not least people have complained that it's hard to grind Artifact Power for solo players as the primary source of Artifact Power tokens is through the Dungeon system. We have covered that bit in the Dungeons section.
Rebirth
Only 16% of people think that the rebirth system is good, the rest have voted that they either don't know what the system is (33%), don't like the system (34%), or cannot form an opinion yet.
We have a few rough ideas about the direction and the future of the rebirth system and will experiment with them however it's still too soon to talk about the details.
Experience Gain
Most of people (65%) seem to be in favor of lowering the experience gain rate. While this isn't something that we're going to adjust just now, we will be looking into slowing down the pace of the game starting mid level in the future.
Custom Client
One of the biggest concerns when deciding to go with the custom client was player adoption.
Fortunately as per the survey almost all survey participants (save for 3 people) either like the client, like the client but would like to see more features, or like the client but would like to see some bugs/glitches fixed.
Likewise an overwhelming majority of participants answered that the custom client was not an entry barrier to play on Cyntara.
We are quite happy with these results because the custom client lifted a lot of restrictions we would previously have to deal with while not really getting in the way for players.
Unfortunately, though, exactly 50% of people answered that they think that the client suffers from performance issues. We are currently aware of three major issues that impact the performance of the client and will attempt to address them however it's not a trivial task as these issues are deeply rooted in the core functionality of the client.
Feature Requests
The most requested features were high and mid level quests and spawns, about equally followed by more spells, more ways to improve your characters, and more repeatable content features.
This will greatly help us decide what features to prioritize in the future.
Thanks to everyone that participated in the survey. It provided us with a lot of valuable feedback and insight into what the community expects from the server and should let us focus our efforts on addressing our current shortcomings.