2 Weeks Into My Reboot, Contrasts And Comparisons

Day 4,279, 11:51 • Published in USA USA • by Hcmadman legione astra equitum

Date: 11:30 Day 4279
By: Hcmadman

After not actively playing since 2011 there are a multitude of changes evident in the game, the players, and the mood.

When I left the changes between v1, rising, and v2 were still not nailed down, the constant fluctuation being the major thing that drove me away.

Features I liked would be added and taken away in the course of 30 days, if not less. For instance somewhere in all of that mess I remember actually having a battle MAP that you deployed to, that IMO made the game so much more engaging.

But alas combat went back to 1 clicking (although it arguably has more clicks now, it's still pretty much the same).

The past 2 weeks has been essentially a crash course of relearning everything I forgot or was rusty on, and picking up a few new knowledge sets along the way. I won't pretend to be completely up to speed but I will say I am 70% there.


The Most Noticeable Differences


'Back In The Old Days'

The inflation..... my God the inflation, when I left the game $5 a day was a decent wage, $15 and you were hot shizzal. Now if you don't pull $1400+ a day you are not going to go very far. I am of two minds about this, I clearly liked the CC to carry more value, but the liquidity has undeniably had a beneficial effect on the economy. Without delving into the hamiltonian vs jeffersonian/jacksonian economic debate I can see room for improvement.


Stats Reformatting

I may just be delusional or something, but from what I can remember of the old days, the numbers were a lot smaller. Its like everything from XP to health has had a zero added on to the end of it. Though not necessarily a bad thing it was a bit of a shock.
Then I realized that everything was easier to move, health went up at lightning speed compared to the old days, XP gains were astronomical.

In 2 weeks I have leveled 3 times and am close to a 4th, though leveling speed is unique to everyone, in the old days I remember it taking weeks just to advance from level 21 to 22. This is a paradigm shift, and one that I am not certain new players can fully appreciate.

How Many Achievement Awards?

When I left the game, the hard worker achievement was 'new' and the rest of the potential trophy case took up one less line than it currently does.

Consequently the only trophies I had upon returning were 2 super soldier awards and 1 hard worker. The intervening fortnight has seen 2 more super soldier awards, 2 freedom fighter awards, 2 resistance hero awards, and 5 patriot awards.

The game obviously likes to give out participation trophies now XD.


War Aint What It Used To Be

Back in my day war was something like this:

Now I think it's more like this:


But some people think it's like this:


But it's actually like this:




The Verdict



I intend to stay around for the immediate future, though there are many broken, missing, or needed features in this game it is on the whole a better experience than the one I left 8 years ago. Some of this improvement is attributable to the devs, but much is also attributable to the players.

Though I respected many of them, the high level players of the day (which was anyone over level 40 back then) had a certain cliquish nature about them.
Though I am sure it still exists I have seen little evidence of it upon my return. The community, though much more steeped in cynicism these days, is a far more welcoming one.

After seeing the numbers I too echo the sense of foreboding declining player counts bring, guess we need to trick some university professors into making their classes join eRep and grading them on their progress XD



In closing, I hope this game endures another decade, though imperfect it offers something not often seen. Community, in every sense of the word.