It’s About Time…
Posted by The Peanut Master on August 18, 2008
If you read my old blog, I wrote a two-post behind the scenes report of the Nova Gem to Star Captain Crisis, where I outlined the problem of every Star Captain item/mecha having a superior Nova Gem version, and not only gave evidence from nearly every area of the game to support that, but also give multiple reasons why this was against what AE promised Star Captains and what should be occurring. Well, Warlic finally took notice, slightly hidden in a packed Design Notes post:
“In addition to the awesome new weapons and designs, I want to express what truly makes me excited about these mecha models. When I designed the specials for these mecha models, I wanted to make them something very special for Star Captains. I realized that we have had so many nova gem mecha and items that are the most powerful items in the game and started to feel that we were gradually drifting our focus away from Star Captains in favor of Nova Gems. I want you all to know that this was never my intention. Any power disparity between Star Captains and pure Nova Gem players is simply a result of the incredibly rapid expansion that MechQuest has seen over the past several months. So now, with these new House Mecha I am very excited to announce Star Captain bonus abilities. Star Captains will receive powerful new abilities that only they will be able to use. Even with the Nova Gem versions of these mechs, you will get the best results if you are also a Star Captain. We will be adding many more weapons and items that have Star Captain powers in the years to come… Free players are not left in the dust however, because the new Advanced House Mecha have weapons and stats that do what would have previously been Star Captain levels. There are also alternate abilities that will activate if you are not a Star Captain. So I hope everyone enjoys these mecha!”
Better late than never, I’ll say. While I was able to catch onto this obvious issue earlier on, I’m very, very glad Warlic figured it out soon enough, and not late enough into MechQuest’s development for it to become a huge problem. I would have to say that Warlic’s reasoning for the Nova Gems > Star Captaincy is hardly believable, I’m glad he was able to catch on, and better yet, it’s even happier for him to adjust to it. Now future Star Captain equipment will have Star Captain bonuses that neither free players nor Nova Gem players can get, and this is the kind of Star Captaincy power that should have been introduced much earlier, but wasn’t. As it stood up until now, buying a $20 Nova Gem pack was a *much* better deal than buying a $20 Star Captaincy. And it wasn’t even close. Now, if Warlic stays true to his words and gives Star Captains a little (okay, more than a little) extra boom, Star Captains will become the creme of the crop, better than Nova Gems, the way it should be.
And I’ll repeat, better late than never.
Shindia said
Just a small correction, NG players DO get access to the SC only specials, but only if they are SC themselves.
Shindia said
Just to add, I have yet to come across a player who has bought NGs but is not SC so I’m not convinced that this even happens (if you can afford to buy NGs why would you not upgrade to SC?).
The Peanut Master said
@First comment: I know they do, and it’s definitely not at the point it should be, but it is a step forward towards giving Star Captains more power in the game.
@Second comment: Neither have I, but the point I was trying to make was that at the time it was a better deal to buy Nova Gems than Star Captaincy. In fact, what you just said (that you haven’t found anyone who has bought Nova Gems but not a Star Captain) proves my point: That Star Captains should get more, and be more powerful, than Nova Gems. And that’s not the case. My hope is that this is the first step towards reversing the current pattern.
Shindia said
I would still say it was arguable that buying a $20 NG pack was ever better than getting SC, SC gives you the ability to buy decent gear and mechs with plentiful credits indefinitely whereas those NGs will be used up fairly rapidly at the current pace the game is making mecha redundant (unless you only buy a house mecha and nothing else but where’s the fun in that?). The only point this might have been true was the long period where 20 was the level cap, during that period a single good mech could have lasted you months.
I can’t see them ever making NG weapons and mechs identical power to SC ones though, since there would then be little or no reason to ever buy NGs and that isn’t something AE wants.
The Peanut Master said
Theoretically you would have to buy more Nova Gems eventually since you would run out, but if you had enough money to buy the initial $20, you probably have enough to get more in the far away future ($20 of Nova Gems does last you a long time).
I can’t see Nova Gem equipment identical to Star Captain equipment either, but there are a few reasons why someone would choose Nova Gems over credits: They are just too lazy. And there are plenty of lazy players out there who don’t want to farm for credits who would be more than happy to spend Nova Gems on the same equipment, to get it immediately.
Shindia said
That might be more relevant is leveling didn’t already give massive amounts of credits, it’s only really below 20 that credits are ever an issue.
The Peanut Master said
Don’t underestimate the laziness of many players… *evil laugh*
ZamuelNow said
>>Just to add, I have yet to come across a player who has bought NGs but is not SC<<
I did it. Granted, I still planned to get (and soon obtained) Star Captaincy, but I really wanted QWN-1138 so I got NGs before SC. Also, this was before Tweak Week so mechs were still really expensive for lower level players. I saw how credits really weren’t building up so I was more than happy to buy an NG mech.
bladeofawe said
Peanut Master, I would like to say that There is a new 20,000 NG Pack avalibale.
Lemmy said
HAHAHAHAHAHAH! So that was me, last year! Ol’ Bladeofawe!
HAHAHAHAHAHHA!
Dori said
Well Zam, so did i. i don even remember why, but i did.