About this week's patch, Portmanteaus, 80% XP Manuals and more! Options

[Neume]

There seems to be a buttload of confusion. I'll try to clear things up.

First off, the 80% XP Manuals in the Portmanteaus are bugged (if you didn't notice). It's OK you can keep it for now, don't worry we aren't going to ban your account for exploiting. This bug will be fixed in a future patch. When the fix goes live your 80% Manuals will move to the purchased inventory and require activation to take effect. So those of you that have them, enjoy your free 80% XP boost while it lasts .

On to costumes, as of 3.0 imcGAMES and HanbitSoft have changed the way new costumes work. This was part of the reason it took so long to get them for our version as, I'll be honest, we (GamersFirst and imc/HBS) had a heated disagreement about it. In the end we're a little strapped to the way things are for the time being. So from this point on new costumes will be featured for a limited time in these Portmanteau boxes. When a new box comes out the old box will leave. There are currently no plans to offer these permanent versions of the costumes by themselves.

Additionally, when we launch Echoes of an Empire - Volume 2 ALL CURRENT COSTUMES ON THE BAZAAR WILL BE REMOVED! This is a major change, we know. Timed costumes on the Feso Exchange will remain and we DO have plans to add new timed costumes there as well. Also being removed in EoaE-V2 are the Costume boxes (not Portmanteaus). We will be replacing these with new class specific costume boxes. These items will randomly reward costumes ONLY for that class. We will continue to "discuss" the positives and negatives of this new system with our partners HBS and imc with the hope for a change of sorts.

Finally in EoaE-V2 we will be removing 1 off items. These are times that are offered elsewhere in stacks (such as Upgrade Accelerators and potions. We will still be offering the packaged versions of these items. This change is mostly a house keeping issues as there are a LOT of items on the cash shop that we want to "clean up".

[Artise]

o.o....
edit (Aftershock):
No old costumes? What are those guys thinking?!
Don't they think this game should cater more to new players? Why should they miss out on a chance to get these items. I'm assuming the change is a method of making us pay more in the long run by switching to feso-based items.

Gotta admit I'm sad =/.


BTW, thanks for the exp bonuses. They're a great help.

This post has been edited by Artise: Jan 14 2010, 08:33 PM

[Tiamat]

So it's apparently IMC's fault that this game is shifting more to a game where you have to gamble with real life money for what you want instead of just buying it directly. Sigh. This is an interesting role reversal though. Usually it's the US company that greedily switches the game's cash shop to a more gamblicious one compared to the Korean version. Here, it seems to be the opposite (alas, IMC overrides in this case, unlike other MMO's where the US company overrides to give us all sorts of "Spend $400 bucks and you STILL might not get that costume you wanted!" crap. ...not that GE's cash shop is that expensive yet anyways, thank God. Some other MMOs are that expensive though!)

Well, to K2's credit, as annoying as I can be to them on these forums sometimes, that's one aspect of our version that I actually like and is also actually one of the reasons I'm still here. Even if IMC overrides it so we have to gamble for everything (Boo! Hiss! Boo!), at least I know the publishing company didn't have that vile mindframe.

Once I spent $400 on an MMO on random boxes hoping for the rare limited edition mount you could get from them (that you could get no where else). I never got that mount. I don't play that game anymore. I would hope this doesn't ever end up being the case in Sword of the New World. I'm sure, however, that IMC/HanbitSoft wouldn't mind if it were. After all, they'd be $400 richer (if this were kGE where the proceeds would go directly to them, of course). ...whatever.

Please never implement anything as imbalancing as Adelina's Booty Search!

This post has been edited by Tiamat: Jan 14 2010, 08:44 PM

[D2players]

seriously all is changing to fesos -.- at the moment for the wide ammount of stuff u need fesos for i really think price is a lil bit expensive
maybe if they were more affortable people would not have any trouble on buying timed costumes, rings , etc

[Tiamat]

seriously all is changing to fesos -.- at the moment for the wide ammount of stuff u need fesos for i really think price is a lil bit expensive
maybe if they were more affortable people would not have any trouble on buying timed costumes, rings , etc

Both the fesos statted costumes and the rings are actually very powerful in some cases (for the costumes, +10 defense can sometimes be the difference between receiving 20k damage and 2k damage from an attack at high end game equipment). Ludicrously so if expert stance rings ever get added to the feso shop.

The main problem IMHO is that COSTUMES are supposed to be COSTUMES. IE, for looks and aesthetic purposes. Relegating them to be only statted versions with no nonstatted perm versions means that people can't buy costumes for the looks, but instead must pay to have limited timed costumes with stats that will dissappear. Which is annoying if people wanted costumes just for the looks. Which is like, what costumes are supposed to be for, and all.

I'm preaching to the choir though, since K2/Gamers First already feels that way (far as I can interpret). It's IMC that's forcing this change, apparently, so people will have to take it up with them (and learn to speak Korean to do so!)

This post has been edited by Tiamat: Jan 14 2010, 08:56 PM

[Neume]

So it's apparently IMC's fault that this game is shifting more to a game where you have to gamble with real life money for what you want instead of just buying it directly. Sigh. This is an interesting role reversal though. Usually it's the US company that greedily switches the game's cash shop to a more gamblicious one compared to the Korean version. Here, it seems to be the opposite (alas, IMC overrides in this case, unlike other MMO's where the US company overrides to give us all sorts of "Spend $400 bucks and you STILL might not get that costume you wanted!" crap. ...not that GE's cash shop is that expensive yet anyways, thank God. Some other MMOs are that expensive though!)

Well, to K2's credit, as annoying as I can be to them on these forums sometimes, that's one aspect of our version that I actually like and is also actually one of the reasons I'm still here. Even if IMC overrides it so we have to gamble for everything (Boo! Hiss! Boo!), at least I know the publishing company didn't have that vile mindframe.

Once I spent $400 on an MMO on random boxes hoping for the rare limited edition mount you could get from them (that you could get no where else). I never got that mount. I don't play that game anymore. I would hope this doesn't ever end up being the case in Sword of the New World. I'm sure, however, that IMC/HanbitSoft wouldn't mind if it were. After all, they'd be $400 richer (if this were kGE where the proceeds would go directly to them, of course). ...whatever.

Please never implement anything as imbalancing as Adelina's Booty Search!

We do NOT want to implement something that will cost a player $400. That is very excessive. We are focusing more on the Feso shop since it appears we are getting less resistance from imc/HBS on it.

As for ABS we are planning something like that but we are not intending to make it so... OP. At the moment I think the top prize we are looking at will be 100% XP manuals for 1 day, HQ gems and possibly an unstated Trump weapon (.001% chance).

[MinistryOfSound]

uhm about costume and cleaning bazaar, i understand em . . . ppl dont buy costumes box that often as Upgrades or Enchant boosters . . . so yeah removed . . . what ill like to see is more back costume with nice stats like luci or devils wings . . .

[D2players]

Both the fesos statted costumes and the rings are actually very powerful in some cases (for the costumes, +10 defense can sometimes be the difference between receiving 20k damage and 2k damage from an attack at high end game equipment). Ludicrously so if expert stance rings ever get added to the feso shop.

The main problem IMHO is that COSTUMES are supposed to be COSTUMES. IE, for looks and aesthetic purposes. Relegating them to be only statted versions with no nonstatted perm versions means that people can't buy costumes for the looks, but instead must pay to have limited timed costumes with stats that will dissappear. Which is annoying if people wanted costumes just for the looks. Which is like, what costumes are supposed to be for, and all.

I'm preaching to the choir though, since K2/Gamers First already feels that way (far as I can interpret). It's IMC that's forcing this change, apparently, so people will have to take it up with them (and learn to speak Korean to do so!)

hmm not even dr can make that reduction of damage (not counting miss chance ) and yes they are really powerfull
but are they worth the gold?
seriously with the pets we seen a really lack of fesos atleast on my server (bristia) where greedy people been offering to crazy rates ( seen em on 1:1000) also if u compare the costumes with wings for example the diference on stats is amazing and the price is really close also with those rates of fesos it may be way more affortable just to buy the yellow ring for the stance needed so yeah i think fesos are a lil overpriced atm which is making the servers run out real fast of it which is a really important resourse (because of pet food and all stances needing em)

This post has been edited by D2players: Jan 14 2010, 09:03 PM

[Neume]

uhm about costume and cleaning bazaar, i understand em . . . ppl dont buy costumes box that often as Upgrades or Enchant boosters . . . so yeah removed . . . what ill like to see is more back costume with nice stats like luci or devils wings . . .

Echoes of an Empire - Volume 2 comes with the new Fairy Wings.

[Karmatan]

Well, I guess I have to direct my mental rage towards IMC for the costume changes (starts projecting mental daggers towards their general direction) Guess I'll try buying the costumes I want from other players or just go without them entirely (plenty of other Bazaar goodies I'll spend my money on still, just a shame my costume collecting is likely to stop completely with these changes).

Thanks for clearing up some of the latest patch info and for giving us a heads-up on some of the coming changes Neume. It's always nice to hear about them in advance rather than waiting for updates and then scratching our heads as to why things have disappeared from Bazaar

[Kalin]

... well that figures. I doubt anything I say will make a difference, so w/e. I'm just wondering how much more disappointment we'll see before 3.4 comes.

[Amy]

WHAT??!? No old costumes?!?!? But the whole reason I play this game is to train up a new character and buy him (or her) a costume now and then. Why would they want to take that away? And temp feso costumes/items are so depressing. I never buy them. Or even use the free wings I got from a promotion. Even though they're beautiful and I want a pair of them -- I know I'm not going to until a permanent stat-less version comes along.

So how much time do we have left? Are all of the School Uniform and UPC costumes out now going into the class specific costume boxes you mentioned?

Thanks so much for keeping us posted Neume! And please keep up the good fight; I really don't like the way this is going...

[Euxiom]

Wow........imc gets more speshul the more I hear about them

I must say, thank you, G1, for attempting to fight for something better.

I suppose I should look through the bazaar and grab any costumes I want. @_@
But yeah, that's really speshul, getting rid of COSTUMES?

[Caladbolg]

We do NOT want to implement something that will cost a player $400. That is very excessive. We are focusing more on the Feso shop since it appears we are getting less resistance from imc/HBS on it.

So why hasn't this happened on other versions? Maybe I'm crazy, but IMC has a tendency to give us gimped *** versions of the game? As far as I know, this Portmanteau gamble boxes aren't appearing instead of costumes on other versions, why must we play test rats? IMC has a server for that.

[Neume]

So why hasn't this happened on other versions? Maybe I'm crazy, but IMC has a tendency to give us gimped *** versions of the game? As far as I know, this Portmanteau gamble boxes aren't appearing instead of costumes on other versions, why must we play test rats? IMC has a server for that.

I know factually this is the way it works in Korea and am pretty sure sGE does the same. They all have different names for the item though. For instance in Japan and Korea it's called the Gatcha Box. Russian and China have them as well.

[Virtualwolf]

Finally in EoaE-V2 we will be removing 1 off items. These are times that are offered elsewhere in stacks (such as Upgrade Accelerators and potions. We will still be offering the packaged versions of these items. This change is mostly a house keeping issues as there are a LOT of items on the cash shop that we want to "clean up".

Neume, can you please clarify this a little bit? What do you mean by packaged versions? Does that mean in order to acquire Enchant Boosters and Upgrade Accelerators I will have to buy packages containing general lacquers and junk I have no desire for?

[Neume]

Neume, can you please clarify this a little bit? What do you mean by packaged versions? Does that mean in order to acquire Enchant Boosters and Upgrade Accelerators I will have to buy packages containing general lacquers and junk I have no desire for?

Both those items come in packs of 10 and 20. They also come in the Basic, Expert (and soon to be) Master Crafter packs. All of those items I just listed will remain. The individual items will not.

Additionally we are going to *try* something new with the Crafter Packs and make them a little more useful. The hope is that you can pick one of the packs and upgrade an item to +6. Basic will focus on items <100. Expert will focus on Veteran items and Master will focus on Expert items (I realized that is slightly confusing but expect a name change as well so it is clearer. i.e. Basic -> Basic, Expert changes to Veteran and Master will be Expert).

[PeimayUttuoso]

Additionally, when we launch Echoes of an Empire - Volume 2 ALL CURRENT COSTUMES ON THE BAZAAR WILL BE REMOVED! This is a major change, we know. Timed costumes on the Feso Exchange will remain and we DO have plans to add new timed costumes there as well. Also being removed in EoaE-V2 are the Costume boxes (not Portmanteaus). We will be replacing these with new class specific costume boxes. These items will randomly reward costumes ONLY for that class. We will continue to "discuss" the positives and negatives of this new system with our partners HBS and imc with the hope for a change of sorts.

I have a question. I own a Rebo soldier and like many of the people who own them or any of the specialty costume characters what will happen to them? I would hate it if someone could not get the same chance as me to +1 AGI or +1 STR because of this. I own one so it does not really effect me but I am speaking for newer players who might not have bought them already.

[Artise]

I have a question. I own a Rebo soldier and like many of the people who own them or any of the specialty costume characters what will happen to them? I would hate it if someone could not get the same chance as me to +1 AGI or +1 STR because of this. I own one so it does not really effect me but I am speaking for newer players who might not have bought them already.

Great question.

[Neume]

I have a question. I own a Rebo soldier and like many of the people who own them or any of the specialty costume characters what will happen to them? I would hate it if someone could not get the same chance as me to +1 AGI or +1 STR because of this. I own one so it does not really effect me but I am speaking for newer players who might not have bought them already.

The needed costumes will be in a box. They just won't be available individually.