[Ranylyn]

You're definitely partially right, but it's a combination of factors.

While a big part of it is many players from other games come to SL2 and go "Wait, wait, this shit passes for roleplay? I'm out." (And honestly, sometimes I find myself agreeing with them, seeing some of the crap that goes down at the arena sometimes, even if sometimes they just want the power to Assassinate 3 emperors a day and no, these people are dumb and I disagree) I've definitely invited some people who were turned off on the game specifically by some of the more elitist community members and the meta. (See: http://www.neus-projects.net/viewtopic.p...amp;t=2647)

You may feel I'm getting off topic, but it's relevant. Remember that guy who wanted standard 50+ bosses to get 10,000 HP just because HE personally burned through them too fast despite the fact that many players around the 45+ mark are maybe only doing 50 damage unless they were already LE'd with already amazing gear (or going with a Pure Power and Charge Mind setup, really.) Yeah. This is a great example of "um, don't ruin things for everyone with your elitism." I mean, it'd basically take a team of 4 Evokers between 15-20 turns, most likely.


My point is this: I agree with wanting an interesting PVE meta. I do, I really do. I'd be all over that shit. But this shouldn't impact lower level play. SL2's biggest mechanical PVE issue is being so dependant on procedurally generated dungeons for content, and as such, earlygame and lategame get pretty much the same content, which is brutal when you consider how other games do it. Because you can't craft completely distinct early and endgames, what affects one generally affects the other unless it's specifically coded to only happen at specific level ranges. Other games thrive on keeping the early game accessible while making the endgame raids intense.

And that's how it should be.

SL2, however, manages to walk such a bizzare middle line, where even the Jammer Cave can actually easily kill newer players. Specifically the Omega Jammer if you're alone (Not every new player will realize they can hire mercs or leave the tutorial with only one piece of gear or know that Stabilizers are trash and to sell them to buy curry for a request) and exploring casually instead of grinding on earlier floors, but most encounters kind of count if you're not using a Breastplate. As well, the people who sink a lot of time into character building (LEs, etc, I don't mean that in a roleplay sense) and farming for rare drops don't have much to do besides PVE simply since PVE can't keep them invested when it's literally all the same. What SL2 needs is more endgame specific dungeons, not harder bosses across the board.