Currently, there is a great divide among the community. On one half, there is the low EGO players. On the other, there are the high EGO players. The low EGO players say the game is too hard, while the others say the game is too easy. Trion says “we’ll fix it!” That about sums up the great argument that is currently raging through the forums. (Obviously it’s a lot more complicated than that, but this debate isn't why I am making this post.)
Although each side sees the difficulty change differently, there is one universally agreed upon change that nobody seems to like: Arkforge to upgrade weapons. A very brief history lesson if you will. Once you could find a low level orange weapon that you absolutely were in love with, and keep it forever and ever. With the latest change, that low level weapon is now useless, to put it nicely. If you were lucky enough to find an orange weapon sub 1000 EGO, imagine how much Arkforge it would take to get it to where it was at a rating of 5000 + EGO. Not only that, as a low level player, it is virtually impossible for the player to get Arkforge in the first place.
Then there are players who have kept countless amounts of weapons in their inventory because they like to try out different things. They paid for increase inventory space just for this purpose (sometimes a lot of inventory space). With the latest update, Trion made it so that all weapons in your inventory were at least 75% of your current EGO level. That's actually really not that helpful. Trion could have at least made it 100% of their current EGO level. Every player will likely have out leveled those weapons within a few weeks anyways and would still need Arkforge. In summary, there is no feasible way to upgrade all of those weapons in their inventory. It forces this type of player to choose a very small handful of weapons to play with.
Maybe the change was meant to make Defiance a more “traditional” MMO: where the objective is to get to max level and then go about the great chase to get weapons then. But let’s be honest, Defiance is simply not built for this kind of system. What made it special, in terms of weapons, was the ability to find a weapon early on, or later on, and use it for however long you deemed fit.
Which brings us to this. What exactly are the problems with the current Arkforge system? Well let’s list them. Note: List is subject to change as more things get added or removed.
- Low level players are unable to get very much if any Arkforge for a long duration of time. Thus, any weapons they collect until a much later EGO rating are rendered useless long term as it would take too much time and Arkforge to level them up to 3000, 4000, or 5000 EGO.
- It takes 50 Arkforge to level an orange weapon 100 EGO points. I haven’t looked at the other quality of weapons, but I assume it’s nothing pretty. Each Expert Co-op awards 10 Arkforge. Each Expert Co-op can take roughly an hour or more to complete. So in order to upgrade your orange weapon even once, you must exceed 5 hours or more of game time (assuming you have a quality group each attempt) in order to level your orange weapon a single time.
- Likely the real reason for the Arkforge addition is to increase their wallet size via Micro Transaction. Let’s be real here for a second, the purpose of Trion’s existence is 2 very basic principles: to make fun games, and make money. They cannot continue Defiance if they aren't making some sort of profit. I’m sorry, that’s the way the world works. But, as a fellow player, $40.00 for 1000 Arkforge? Come on Trion, that’s just not fair. For $40.00, I would expect my entire inventory to be raised to my max EGO level.
- There are too little ways to get Arkforge in game. Every once in a while you get rewards from a daily or weekly, maybe you get some in a Lockbox (very low percentage chance), and 10 from Expert Co-op’s.
- (Ties in with number 2) Arkforge in its current design is meant for the hardcore of hardcore’s, not the casual player base. Even a casual player can get enough key codes for a tier 4 lockbox after a few hours of play during the week. Arkforge? To level their weapon once could take multiple weeks, if not a month or more. The reality is that casual players only get a few hours a day, or a week to play. Being able to enjoy the weapons that you find is not possible as they will become absolute the moment your EGO rises.
- Remember the times you were excited to get that purple or orange weapon? Now that feeling of delight is quickly turned into dread, as you realize the amount of effort and time it will take to keep the weapon within your EGO level. That is not fun, that is a chore; a chore that can quickly get old.
Now how about we list things that could potentially make things better? Sure! Here are some ideas! Note: Each list item is just some ideas; they can be combined with each other, or not used at all as determined by the player base and Trion. List is subject to change as more things get added or removed.
- Add another (separate and in addition to the current maximum bar) experience bar to all weapons. This bar will reset after it fills up the to max every time. Each time you “level” this bar, the weapon goes up 50 EGO points (or insert another number here). The length of time it takes to level a weapon each time will be very similar to the length of time it takes to “master” the weapon as it currently stands. The experience bar will stall or pause if within a certain amount of EGO units of the player, thus keeping it from out leveling the player.
- Lower the amount of Arkforge required to upgrade your weapons, and/or increase the current rewards given out in the current system. Have Lockboxes Arkforge rewards be more consistent and in greater number depending on the tier of the Lockbox.
- Lower the price in the Bit Store for Arkforge drastically.
- Introduce a Bit Store purchase to level all weapons in your inventory to your current EGO level. Anybody who has purchased the DLC #5 prior or in the future gets one of these Bit Store inventory upgrader for free as they see fit.
- Introduce more ways to get Arkforge and/or make current reward systems more obtainable. Give Arkforge at Arkfalls, regardless of ranking (obviously the higher your score the more you get of course). The same goes for Arkbreaker battles, Incursions, etc. Add Arkforge rewards to all daily’s and weekly’s, giving the option to break down purple or higher tier into Arkforge, etc.
Here is a starting list of some ways to obtain Arkforge in it's current system, as reported by the communiy
- Tier 2 Lockboxes seem to be a good way to obtain Arkforge in large qualities. While there is a very low percentage chance to obtain Arkforge (as reported by Deunan, a roughly 6% chance PER Lockbox), you can obtain 20 or 50 Arkforge whenever you get a lucky roll per Lockbox. Though be forewarned, some players are much luckier then others when it comes to this system. Attempt this at your own discretion.
There are likely problems and complaints I am forgetting or not listing. In addition, there are probably lots of other great ideas I haven't list yet. Nor do I know or pretend to know everything there is in obtaining Arkforge. These are simply my observations after the DLC has been out for almost a week. So if you have any else that you would like to be added to the lists, I encourage you to list some suggestions yourselves and I will do my best to add them to the appropriate list.
Change Log 1:
- Made changes to #5 on the "wrong" list to reflect forum poster's feedback.
- Made changes to #1 on the "fix" list to reflect forum poster's feedback.
- Made changes to #2 on the "fix" list to reflect forum poster's feedback.
- Made changes to #5 on the "fix" list to reflect forum poster's feedback.
- Added a #6 to the "wrong" list.
- Added a beginning list on reported ways to get Arkforge.
