04-04-2011, 03:05 PM
Plan of action:
Based on the feedback here (surprising to me in the number of people wanting no bonuses, but it makes sense to me since they break SVS game design, as do ranks) we'll try no bonuses for the next reset (starting this coming Wed).
The following reset I currently have these bonus changes, but welcome discussion and feedback (I'm sure there will be comments on both sides)
1) Bonuses always announced in pub chat (as a macro)
2) Bonuses available only in safe
3) New fullship bonus (as detailed above)
4) Reworked bonus pricing structure as follows (changes bolded):
AntiWarp - gives you antiwarp (1 Bonus)
Booster - 1 thor 1 burst (2 Bonuses)
Speed - 1 rocket 1 portal (2 Bonuses)
Defense - 1 brick 1 repel (10 Bonuses) // now also accepts british spelling: "defence"
Tuneup - +1 bomb lvl, +1 gun lvl (1 Bonus)
Xradar - 1 x-radar (1 Bonus)
Fullship - completely outfitted ship - full energy, all weapons, x, aw, etc. (3 Bonuses)
Rabbit - 1000 bty prize, arena announcement that you have the rabbit bonus (20 Bonuses)
Please keep in mind that we run these as an experiment to see how it actually affects play in the zone. SVS is NO bonuses or ranks. I think that if we keep bonuses for toys (as opposed to bonuses that get you ready to fight, such as fullship) they should be very hard to come by, and should not be decisive in obtaining any zone records, including Reset Winners, Streaks, etc.
Some comments on the changes above:
--Antiwarp -- no change
--Booster and Speed -- the fact that I could (with 80 bonuses) shoot off 120 bursts in a row without greening is game breaking imo. This at least cuts that back a bit, along with the safe-only restriction.
--Defense -- no change, but I think it completely breaks SVS game design that you can simply request the most powerful special in the game at any time. At least it would be obtainable in safe only now.
--Tuneup -- kind of useless since it was nerfed to not have nrg upgrades.
--xradar -- unchanged
--Fullship -- I think this is the best example of a good bonus that doesn't break the game design. Only useful when you unluckily spawn with a weak ship.
--Rabbit -- rabbit bty bonus has skewed the Ave numbers a lot. It used to mean a LOT to green to 1k bty (see SVS settings below). 2k was crazy high bty -- 8 hrs play to green it. It is kind of fun to see someone out there with that high bty, but rabbit has also been abused in terms of gifting etc. Raising the price (shouldn't be the same price as Defense anyway) will cut down on it's usage a bit and make it more 'special.'
I also plan on putting in Retail Release SVS settings for a day/weekend coming up soon (no ranks during that also). My aim is to do it this Saturday/Weekend.
--hallu
Based on the feedback here (surprising to me in the number of people wanting no bonuses, but it makes sense to me since they break SVS game design, as do ranks) we'll try no bonuses for the next reset (starting this coming Wed).
The following reset I currently have these bonus changes, but welcome discussion and feedback (I'm sure there will be comments on both sides)
1) Bonuses always announced in pub chat (as a macro)
2) Bonuses available only in safe
3) New fullship bonus (as detailed above)
4) Reworked bonus pricing structure as follows (changes bolded):
AntiWarp - gives you antiwarp (1 Bonus)
Booster - 1 thor 1 burst (2 Bonuses)
Speed - 1 rocket 1 portal (2 Bonuses)
Defense - 1 brick 1 repel (10 Bonuses) // now also accepts british spelling: "defence"
Tuneup - +1 bomb lvl, +1 gun lvl (1 Bonus)
Xradar - 1 x-radar (1 Bonus)
Fullship - completely outfitted ship - full energy, all weapons, x, aw, etc. (3 Bonuses)
Rabbit - 1000 bty prize, arena announcement that you have the rabbit bonus (20 Bonuses)
Please keep in mind that we run these as an experiment to see how it actually affects play in the zone. SVS is NO bonuses or ranks. I think that if we keep bonuses for toys (as opposed to bonuses that get you ready to fight, such as fullship) they should be very hard to come by, and should not be decisive in obtaining any zone records, including Reset Winners, Streaks, etc.
Some comments on the changes above:
--Antiwarp -- no change
--Booster and Speed -- the fact that I could (with 80 bonuses) shoot off 120 bursts in a row without greening is game breaking imo. This at least cuts that back a bit, along with the safe-only restriction.
--Defense -- no change, but I think it completely breaks SVS game design that you can simply request the most powerful special in the game at any time. At least it would be obtainable in safe only now.
--Tuneup -- kind of useless since it was nerfed to not have nrg upgrades.
--xradar -- unchanged
--Fullship -- I think this is the best example of a good bonus that doesn't break the game design. Only useful when you unluckily spawn with a weak ship.
--Rabbit -- rabbit bty bonus has skewed the Ave numbers a lot. It used to mean a LOT to green to 1k bty (see SVS settings below). 2k was crazy high bty -- 8 hrs play to green it. It is kind of fun to see someone out there with that high bty, but rabbit has also been abused in terms of gifting etc. Raising the price (shouldn't be the same price as Defense anyway) will cut down on it's usage a bit and make it more 'special.'
I also plan on putting in Retail Release SVS settings for a day/weekend coming up soon (no ranks during that also). My aim is to do it this Saturday/Weekend.
--hallu