ZOMG STRENGTH THING HAXXXX (NOTE: SARCASM)
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by Teucer
Alright, so I've seen tons and tons of opposition to the new strength training options and I can understand concerns. I'd like to start by saying that it has only been an option for hours and nobody has a clue of how it operates (don't say you do because you don't, only the admins know). I'm going to address some of the concerns I've read and if you have another you would like my opinion on please post them in the comments. This is an opinion piece, so don't start trolling me out of ignorance, it only hurts your position.
Concern: This makes it too easy for people like Parter with a load of RL cash to own the game.
Response: While I agree that this will happen, I think that it will balance pretty evenly. The majority of people do not have a sufficient amount of money to spend on eRepublik to seriously affect the game in the strength category. Having experience with other games I can honestly say that for every guy who spends a zillion dollars to try to win he will be equally opposed by someone else doing the same thing.
Concern: The new plachta injections won't work, they can be bypassed and cheaters will still prosper.
Response: I also agreed with people on this point, but should we stop improving the game because people cheat? No we shouldn't. Cheaters will always find a way to prosper, if this is removed they will just find a new niche. We need to put some faith in the admins for a change (I know, it scares me too).
Concern: The admins just want to make more money, this will only hurt the game.
Response: If this were to hurt the game the admins would not implement it. Their goal is to make money in the long term, so if this killed the game that would not be accomplished. The admins did think this through, that's why it's in the game. Of course time will tell, but with only hours to go on it is impossible to make a definitive call.
Concern: What is with these seemingly random gold costs? Random isn't fair!
Response: I seriously doubt that the gold costs are random for several reasons. First, random gold costs are harder to program. Why would the admins make more work for themselves for no real reason? Second, I believe it is based towards a higher cost for newer players. This seems backwards at first because new players have less money, but it actually makes sense. I will provide an example for my reasoning.
Example:
Player A would gain 0.08 strength (0.04 normal gain times a 100% bonus) for 1 gold versus Player B who would gain 1 strength (0.5 normal gain times 100% bonus) for 1 gold. This doesn't make sense because the younger player gets far more strength gain for the same price, thus destroying any sense of fair skill building. By increasing the cost for the younger player it offsets the difference in strength gain, thus making the system more fair (notice I said "more fair", not fair).
Concern: There's no respect for older players who have put months and years into the game.
Response: This game is horribly unbalanced towards new players. There's nothing to keep new players interested in the beginning and older players are allowed to dominate the game just because they've been around for eternity. The biggest problem is that wealthy players who are young have nothing to use their money for, nothing to really shoot towards. Now those young players can invest in their future through strength building and subsequently help their nation. Instead of wasting money of often useless Battle Hero medals they can build themselves up and do more for their nation.
Jeremy R: Now I believe that the program works for noobs but it should be limited for higher strength players.
Response: Actually, it needs to be limited for lower strength players before higher strength players. Otherwise, young players with tons of gold will be able to grow to ridiculous strength levels in no time. The older players on the other hand still only grow at a snails pace, although a slightly accelerated one.
Again, if I missed any arguments please feel free to post your concerns in the comments. I do not disagree with people's opinions concerning this, I simply disagree with the logic behind the thought. I hope this was insightful and I'd like to see this in the Top 5 with all of the anti-strength articles.
Thanks for reading,
Teucer
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Comments
First denied?
Ok so here is my input on this. First the gold costs are random as they are still working on the program and should have it completely up within the next twelve days as they stated in there article. Some people have three trainers and some only have one and then the costs vary with different people. Now I beleive that the program works for noobs but it should be limited for higher strength players.
Jeremy, I've addressed your thought in the article. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.
V&S cuz I <3 Teucer
A high strength player with alot of gold can grow 4 times faster now then a noob with no gold. I believe this will offset the balance much more as the rich high strength players will never be caught. There should be limits on this program as it was designed to allow new players to become tanks in four months not to allow tanks to become gods in four months.
From my experience Jeremy young players are just as poor as older players.
I make 11 times what i made when I first started and with my math could purchase one strength every four days without taking a loss. Where as even if a noob didn't purchase food would only be able to buy the double strength once every forty days therefore i could strength up 10 times faster even though I only hold a q1 job.
Then, you'd be sacrificing food quality, weapon quality, and other such things. Therefore, you're strength increase would be offset by your wellness and weapons quality decrease.
If the government are funding tanks don't you believe that the governments will also fund to train the tanks faster? Either way tanks will grow more and more powerful while the noobs and even average players like myself will be left behind.
Actually many gov'ts are currently pushing to fund new players and grow the base of their army before spending money on tanks.
Cool sounds fun and creative but come war time the tanks will once again gain the funding especially in Phoenix countries. By the way your paper is getting a shout in my article as the new module is big news. Also thanks for a nice change as every other article in the media is a hate article on the changes.
Here is a link to my article
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/mighty-man-training-and-holiday-news-1083196/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/migh[..]/1/20
I was prepearing to write a similar article. I believe that if they keep it this way the game will be messed up in a couple of months. This extra training should be limited. There should be a cap of how many times it can be used in a period of time.
"From my experience Jeremy young players are just as poor as older players."
maybe some of the older two clickers who don't really know what they are doing and work some of the skill 6 jobs. Most older players can make gold pretty easy.
>Player A would gain 0.08 strength (0.04 normal gain times a 100% bonus) for 1 gold versus Player B who would gain 1 strength (0.5 normal gain times 100% bonus) for 1 gold. This doesn't make sense because the younger player gets far more strength gain for the same price, thus destroying any sense of fair skill building. By increasing the cost for the younger player it offsets the difference in strength gain, thus making the system more fair
It doubles the amount of strength they gain. The amount of strength a player gains is based off of how much their current strength is, and because of this younger players gain strength faster anyways.
Along with this, younger players probably wont even be able to pay that 1-2 gold that they need right now.
Although you address it, I believe you fundamentally miss most "older" players concerns. This new training mechanic fundamentally changes the nature of the game. People who have game money will undoubtedly be able to advance faster in the game. I wasted my time fighting in wars and training every day. With the new mechanics I could have leveled my strength to its current levels in a much shorter amount of time. This is undeniable.
Having said that, people who have a problem with that need to make a choice. Get on board (and stop complaining) or leave. I am choosing the later. I've spent enough time on this game. I'm heading elsewhere. The admins have a right to make a living and I wish them well. I'm just not looking to play a game where I must spend money (in game or cash) to keep my status. I would go play Duels if I wanted that.
You, Teucer, can make all the appeals to reason, rationality, and patience you like. The simply fact is, the game is different than it was a few days ago and many (most) of us don't like it.
at least your trying to look at it reasonably. i have to say i love seeing all the anger and condemnation tho, very rarely is there unity here.
New additions to games are almost always met with condemnation and anger. With the new scam surveys the admins introduced, making gold is now simple. Anyone with half a brain no matter the game age can get rich and have enough gold to train daily, so the argument that older players prosper more is a moot point.
I really appreciate this article. It's fine if people don't like a modification, but I feel like everyone's just lashing out in every direction based on the wild speculations of a vocal, obnoxious few. It's a very good idea to wait a little longer and see how this plays out.
Great article, it's rational and calm, unlike every single other article out there right now. Changed my mind, at least temporarily. Let's see how the training module works out, it's been less than a day since it was put in.
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