Hello Commander chagnampra!
Limiting Powerplay voucher capacity.
I think is a *great* idea. I'm going to look into the feasibility of doing it.
Obviously, there is a counter argument that it forces more "busy" work for Commander's undermining, but my personal take is that it could provide a *much* bigger benefit than cost.
Top banana, Commander!
Hello Mr. Sammarco,
While I naturally commend you for taking interest in trying to balance some of the features of PowerPlay, I cannot help but strongly disagree with your opinion on restricting an individual's capability to collect merits via Undermining as being a first priority. I believe it directly counters the previous balancing of increasing Undermining merits gained through Combat Zones and Interdictions so that players could more-easily Undermine other factions, and now you are seeking to limit a player's capacity to do so; you are absolutely correct that there would be a level of bureaucracy to telling you
'Stop collecting and go turn in if you want more,' but that's not where it stops.
I believe that it is wrong and a very Normative statement to come out and say that there are 'benefits' for limiting players' maximum merits without first stating what the positive and negative outcomes could be. One benefit to draw from this is that the Factions with the largest playerbases will be able to benefit more from the Mob Mentality, but a negative result would be that the smaller groups like Torval, Patreus, Sirius, or even Winters will be even more hard-pressed to respond to attacks without constantly having to fortify, while groups like Hudson and Lavigny-Duval will continue to reign with their massive numbers and severely-imbalanced pledge bonuses.
Understandably, you are a developer, and may not have as many of the experiences as regular players get, but have you ever flown around holding several thousand merits before in the game, or spoken to people who have done so? Knowing that, at any moment, if something were to go wrong, or you were to die in space, all those merits would vanish and no longer exist, that all of those hours could be destroyed in a single instance because you refused to turn them in. It is that kind of level of risk that drives players to even venture out into Open play, and no matter what mode you are in, this form of risk persists through all 3. Placing a cap on that will only help to sever another valve of excitement that gets players going in E
.
As quoted by one of the Winters's community members in light of this planned change,
This is absolutely shocking. I hate to say it guys, but if merit limits are implemented:
I'll fly with you all,
I'll hang out with you all, but
I will resign my commission with the Shadow President and head out for Sgr A*.
An absolute slap in the face and sign of total disconnection with the player base.
Last but not least, I think it is also bad policy to ignore current player bases that have been requesting Developer assistance in handling bugs and issues with key features of PowerPlay, in favor of restricting their capability to participate in PowerPlay. As a single example, let's take the fact that Hudson,
the President of the democratic world, considers Democratic minor factions about as useful in fortification as Anarchy governments; he benefits more from his territories being Empire-related governments than from Federation-related governments. How messed up is that?
While ultimately I cannot force you to stop what your current plans are to change PowerPlay for the better or worse, I can at least say that I think you are focussing on the wrong places to change. Still, I thank you for continuing to help develop the Elite
angerous experience.
Cheers!
-Leon Markus
