This post is pretty much a short story.

[CPG215]

Let me preface this by, first and foremost, writing was always my lowest grade in school, so dont judge my formatting and grammar pls lol(This post will most likely have run on on setences and formatting that is chaotic, at best). Second off, i would like to state that I am not complaining. I am not crying about the current state of affairs within the game. I have accepted it, years ago. This is the general discussion section, so I am simply writing about my thoughts on why this game is currently in the state of disarray it currently is and how it got there from where it used to be in hopes that others will read at least half of this post and join in the discussion and get some attention on it and valid points of improvements. I believe many of the things I list in here could be within PWI's grasp and not need much intervention from PW(Korea). I only write this because I m getting quite bored again and probably going to take another break for some time until some interesting patch comes along again. There will be no TL;DR, so don't look for one on my behalf. Although, if someone feels keen to write one, by all means do so.

This is meant towards players and GMs alike.

I write this in hopes that, if in chance a valid discussion/debate comes to fruition, a GM(looking at you Karazy, since you seem to be the "peoples champion of the forums", so to speak) would see it and perhaps bring it up within the company and help bring about some valid changes to bring this game back unto it's former glory(though we are a bit past that point, there is still some restoration available, all hope is not quite yet lost)

I started playing this game many years ago. About 8 years ago.
Started off your normal, casual mmorpg player. Got drawn into the allure the game had to offer. Back in 2008, was awesome. Upgs hadn't quite ruined the game completely by then... But then again, as a new player, I didn't notice it much if it had just yet. Forever/99Percent controlled bosses and TSB's.. but I didnt care as I was still fresh. None of that was within my grasp at the time.
Time went on. Became very fond of the game(still am to this day, for the most part). Everyone played the game and enjoyed the aspects of it. You could still be competitive without an upg. There were no OP rings. No OP eyes/ears sets. 70-80 to a single stat from eyes/ears combined? Year or so later, they made the temp verdicts sets. lol. Those were the good days. People hitting single negative melee and would be happy as can be and felt OP. Then the real greed started setting in. Abs set. Walters. Talis. Chimera eyes/ears. Single neg melee? Pfft. Scrub. Triple neg or you're a no one.
Past 3 years or so it's gone even beyond that. Now they had to even lift the cap on it so it shows a flat number instead of double/triple/quad, etc.. negative.
Lucid(The original lucid, not this wannabe scrub guild that is just clinging to the founders name/legacy, back when Rich[Aldara/CloudNine] was GM) proved that... but again, they also proved it just came down to who had the most people with the most money/desire to play.
That desire to play the game is what we're lacking the most.
Why does this community no longer have the desire to play?
The greed of the company publishing this game has gone well beyond the limits of any respectable company. The majority of the players in this game absolutely detests the company running things.
It went from a simple weapon being op, onto eyes/ears accs giving more stats than any single ring can give then on to costumes giving more than a ring onto whatever else they come up with.
All of these things exaggerated the thin grey line between f2p and p2w players and turned it into a huge bottomless pit of hopelessness that only the most determined f2p player will EVER cross(i've only known one in my 8 years of playing. A dekan named TimTamz, i believe it was, it took him about a full year to farm his 99k for a 4x zhen, iirc).
The main reason this game still has a sizable player base is because of the fact that so many "old school" players have already invested a small fortune in the game. We take breaks... but we always come back at some point in time. Every time we do, its like a mini reunion. We all know each other and are glad to see each other... but deep down we all still have that burning hate for what the company has done to something we all loved at one point.... then again comes the realization of how much the publisher keeps pushing its boundaries on how much money it can squeeze out of the players. If its not that, then it's just the boredom of not being much to do. The pvp anymore is honestly quite lame. The flood of upgs killed a lot of it. One char runs out, one shots 80% of everything, people venge the vit chars still left alive in pt and pvp continues. Wow. So fun -_-
And you guys talk about more upg sales lol. Upgs need to be reworked if there is a sale. Defensive upgs. Theres too much firepower. Need defense at this point. It will always come down to whoever gets first hit, wins. That's not pvp. Dont do upg weapons this time. Maybe upg armors instead? Something to the effect of 1 socket for craft stones, 3% reflect, 5k hp, 3% skill defense each piece? That would require testing and looking at in depth but it's just an idea off the top of my head. Something such as that would bring true balance. You guys keep adding massive firepower to the game under the guise of "balance". Be serious for once. More firepower is less balance. Make the armors Class specific, even. Cause hell, all that on a lock would be insane. That would break the game for sure. DE Armors could miss out on the reflect bit and give more on a diff stat instead. Just use your minds. Devs get paid for thinking these things up... Utilize the staff on hand or replace them if they're not up to par.
To me, it seems like the company itself is in a decline and it's just making a last ditch effort to sort of break even in the event of a sudden, earlier than expected, downfall.
They do things that keep players interested. Barely.
When i state my next statement, it's not out of greed or lack of appreciation, i appreciate the fact that there are daily events. Thats more than a lot of games do, i will say that much. For that, i do commend ynk(or pwi, same thing). Events went from something that benefits ALL players down to something mediocre that only benefits the new fledgling players. a 10% alm scroll. Wow. So good. Win event, get a 10 day monkey and a 7 day mount. Whoa. -_-
End game players have no need for these things. We appreciate them.. but have no real need. Fixes for this would include things like tiered events. Like Survival Arena. 30-50, 51-75, 76-95, 96+. I am not saying use that as your cookie cutter guideline, just example. Make them tiered off of upgs(96 max delevel for most upgs). Make them tiered off of equipment levels. Use your minds. Things like this would have a multi faceted function in not only bringing in a larger overall player turnout but would also give the lower leveled players even more of a desire to keep on their grind and reach the higher levels for the better rewards(which benefits both players and company, as players get higher levels, company makes more money on exp packs and the like, all for a good cause).
There are also certain events, such as summon event... Amazing idea... but again, comes down to who is in more control. Theres so much perma Ctrl key holding going on in those anyone above level 30 stands no chance. Use the world cup stadium and put patrols. Montt/Kainon/Arb patrols all over. That event is supposed to be for fairness, so everyone has a chance at boss drops, is it not? As it stands, it's all about what guild comes in and holds Ctrl the longest. I can bring my pred in and just aoe everything, it gives no chance to anyone. That old dungeon event, where you bring pt and 3 bosses of each type were summoned or so was an amazing idea. Bring that back.
Hell, bring back the old summoning events in Coli. Where gms would run around in hide dropping items like Holy Wines, Holy Waters, SES, Guild Stones, etc... So that if you're not strong enough to kill bosses, at least you can still participate and have fun.
All in all, everything in this game has went from something everyone could do down to something biased towards people who pay to win down to catering to only those who pay to win. Ynk needs to take a few steps back, imo. Everything I've included in this is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak. There's sooo much more I can write about. I'm just getting tired of typing at this point.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe not. That's why this post is here. For discussion.
Perhaps this post can garner some attention. Perhaps not. False hopes are better than no hopes, yeah?

[PenguinJoe]

summary for tl;dr above:

R.O.H.A.N.: Blood Feud is a pay to win game.

Has always been P2W. Will always be P2W.

[EaglePhoenix]

Epics didn't break the game.

Crafting did. It provided a ton of "all" stats or at least a serious boost of 2 secondary/tertiary stats, one should not have to begin with.

Stat diversity is non-existent. There is absolutely no reason not to go full out into a primary (offensive) stat as the provision of other stats (too) easily accomplished.
One can start a toon and have it equipped with at least 300 main and 300 secondary extra stat points. Add to that any other accessory that adds even more all stats - and you get what we have now. Not to mention the issue of the "pure" attack values as well.

What they did not account for is that one str point is not negated by one vit point for example. There's a lot more defense required to hold back the offensive stats. It's inversely proportional.

Similar to as they figured 25% PvP defense (heroic) would negate 25% actual damage from that same heroic.
The same as they did not think that having a melee based skill damage output is not the same as having a str-stat based damage output.

People did not quit because they released the epic weapons.

People quit because they did no longer release epic weapons thereafter. The epic sale was a timely (be it very short) and if I'm not mistaken also unannounced sale.
If you were not in time to spend the (albeit ridiculous) high amount of $'s that one time, you were just made obsolete in any future PvP.

Many people quit because they were not able to get one in time or because they could not muster the money for it. It took YNKi a long time to adjust that issue as they were reluctant of reverting the sale and servers.
Then they released upgrades - which basically pissed in the face of those who previously had bought an epic, and so the circle continued and with every new sale, the previous investors got a smack in their face.

Now we are at a time where releasing new upgrades can only mean even higher stats than the current or the exact same. Getting less sold to people is not going to happen, no matter if it is positive for the future or not - because that's not what people want.
People want to be the best, today. Not tomorrow, not yesterday but today. They don't give a rat's arse about what it will do to the game tomorrow - as long as they can say: I'm number 1. I have spent my whole future (=college money) just to be number 1 and call everyone else a scrub.

Take that away and you take away the little they have left.

This power creep along with the all stats, makes for a very stale and very quick PvP. It's either 1 hit, 2 hit or being hit. There's no in between. There's no tactics involved.
You either kill or get killed and you better decide fast because it's only one button away.

This game needs a major reduction in overall offense and/or a major boost in overall defense.
Problem is that you now have classes getting both with the very same stat. Whoever figured vit can be both offensive as defense.. well, good luck with that.

Epics/upgrades, call it as you want - but they are now a necessity for the survival of this game.
How one fills that in, however - remains quite the mystery.

As long as you have this many all stats / attack values and the chance to plus them into oblivion - this issue will persist. Good luck balancing around that.

Their fault was also to try and balance the classes on the current without keeping the future in mind. With each new patch, another class/skill gets unbalanced.

[PenguinJoe]

another tl;dr, but at least it IS readable

[RBNXD]

@OP
Me and couple of guys talked to Karazy about the options that could be taken in balancing the game and yes we told him boosting the defense of all upgrds would be the right thing to do. Sadly we are here still waiting(Not saying Karazy is at fault but things need to be looked at by other people higher than him) for said changes to happen or upcoming sales. The only thing we can do is wait and keep spamming that Support button up there. Don't think this haven't been discussed already it has been discussed thousands of times and that is counting the old forums. Permanent Epic sales for mid range lvls and 2-3 times a year upgrd sales is the preferred option.

[RedEmerald]

Let me preface this by, first and foremost, writing was always my lowest grade in school, so dont judge my formatting and grammar pls lol(This post will most likely have run on on setences and formatting that is chaotic, at best). Second off, i would like to state that I am not complaining. I am not crying about the current state of affairs within the game. I have accepted it, years ago. This is the general discussion section, so I am simply writing about my thoughts on why this game is currently in the state of disarray it currently is and how it got there from where it used to be in hopes that others will read at least half of this post and join in the discussion and get some attention on it and valid points of improvements. I believe many of the things I list in here could be within PWI's grasp and not need much intervention from PW(Korea). I only write this because I m getting quite bored again and probably going to take another break for some time until some interesting patch comes along again. There will be no TL;DR, so don't look for one on my behalf. Although, if someone feels keen to write one, by all means do so.

This is meant towards players and GMs alike.

I write this in hopes that, if in chance a valid discussion/debate comes to fruition, a GM(looking at you Karazy, since you seem to be the "peoples champion of the forums", so to speak) would see it and perhaps bring it up within the company and help bring about some valid changes to bring this game back unto it's former glory(though we are a bit past that point, there is still some restoration available, all hope is not quite yet lost)

I started playing this game many years ago. About 8 years ago.
Started off your normal, casual mmorpg player. Got drawn into the allure the game had to offer. Back in 2008, was awesome. Upgs hadn't quite ruined the game completely by then... But then again, as a new player, I didn't notice it much if it had just yet. Forever/99Percent controlled bosses and TSB's.. but I didnt care as I was still fresh. None of that was within my grasp at the time.
Time went on. Became very fond of the game(still am to this day, for the most part). Everyone played the game and enjoyed the aspects of it. You could still be competitive without an upg. There were no OP rings. No OP eyes/ears sets. 70-80 to a single stat from eyes/ears combined? Year or so later, they made the temp verdicts sets. lol. Those were the good days. People hitting single negative melee and would be happy as can be and felt OP. Then the real greed started setting in. Abs set. Walters. Talis. Chimera eyes/ears. Single neg melee? Pfft. Scrub. Triple neg or you're a no one.
Past 3 years or so it's gone even beyond that. Now they had to even lift the cap on it so it shows a flat number instead of double/triple/quad, etc.. negative.
Lucid(The original lucid, not this wannabe scrub guild that is just clinging to the founders name/legacy, back when Rich[Aldara/CloudNine] was GM) proved that... but again, they also proved it just came down to who had the most people with the most money/desire to play.
That desire to play the game is what we're lacking the most.
Why does this community no longer have the desire to play?
The greed of the company publishing this game has gone well beyond the limits of any respectable company. The majority of the players in this game absolutely detests the company running things.
It went from a simple weapon being op, onto eyes/ears accs giving more stats than any single ring can give then on to costumes giving more than a ring onto whatever else they come up with.
All of these things exaggerated the thin grey line between f2p and p2w players and turned it into a huge bottomless pit of hopelessness that only the most determined f2p player will EVER cross(i've only known one in my 8 years of playing. A dekan named TimTamz, i believe it was, it took him about a full year to farm his 99k for a 4x zhen, iirc).
The main reason this game still has a sizable player base is because of the fact that so many "old school" players have already invested a small fortune in the game. We take breaks... but we always come back at some point in time. Every time we do, its like a mini reunion. We all know each other and are glad to see each other... but deep down we all still have that burning hate for what the company has done to something we all loved at one point.... then again comes the realization of how much the publisher keeps pushing its boundaries on how much money it can squeeze out of the players. If its not that, then it's just the boredom of not being much to do. The pvp anymore is honestly quite lame. The flood of upgs killed a lot of it. One char runs out, one shots 80% of everything, people venge the vit chars still left alive in pt and pvp continues. Wow. So fun -_-
And you guys talk about more upg sales lol. Upgs need to be reworked if there is a sale. Defensive upgs. Theres too much firepower. Need defense at this point. It will always come down to whoever gets first hit, wins. That's not pvp. Dont do upg weapons this time. Maybe upg armors instead? Something to the effect of 1 socket for craft stones, 3% reflect, 5k hp, 3% skill defense each piece? That would require testing and looking at in depth but it's just an idea off the top of my head. Something such as that would bring true balance. You guys keep adding massive firepower to the game under the guise of "balance". Be serious for once. More firepower is less balance. Make the armors Class specific, even. Cause hell, all that on a lock would be insane. That would break the game for sure. DE Armors could miss out on the reflect bit and give more on a diff stat instead. Just use your minds. Devs get paid for thinking these things up... Utilize the staff on hand or replace them if they're not up to par.
To me, it seems like the company itself is in a decline and it's just making a last ditch effort to sort of break even in the event of a sudden, earlier than expected, downfall.
They do things that keep players interested. Barely.
When i state my next statement, it's not out of greed or lack of appreciation, i appreciate the fact that there are daily events. Thats more than a lot of games do, i will say that much. For that, i do commend ynk(or pwi, same thing). Events went from something that benefits ALL players down to something mediocre that only benefits the new fledgling players. a 10% alm scroll. Wow. So good. Win event, get a 10 day monkey and a 7 day mount. Whoa. -_-
End game players have no need for these things. We appreciate them.. but have no real need. Fixes for this would include things like tiered events. Like Survival Arena. 30-50, 51-75, 76-95, 96+. I am not saying use that as your cookie cutter guideline, just example. Make them tiered off of upgs(96 max delevel for most upgs). Make them tiered off of equipment levels. Use your minds. Things like this would have a multi faceted function in not only bringing in a larger overall player turnout but would also give the lower leveled players even more of a desire to keep on their grind and reach the higher levels for the better rewards(which benefits both players and company, as players get higher levels, company makes more money on exp packs and the like, all for a good cause).
There are also certain events, such as summon event... Amazing idea... but again, comes down to who is in more control. Theres so much perma Ctrl key holding going on in those anyone above level 30 stands no chance. Use the world cup stadium and put patrols. Montt/Kainon/Arb patrols all over. That event is supposed to be for fairness, so everyone has a chance at boss drops, is it not? As it stands, it's all about what guild comes in and holds Ctrl the longest. I can bring my pred in and just aoe everything, it gives no chance to anyone. That old dungeon event, where you bring pt and 3 bosses of each type were summoned or so was an amazing idea. Bring that back.
Hell, bring back the old summoning events in Coli. Where gms would run around in hide dropping items like Holy Wines, Holy Waters, SES, Guild Stones, etc... So that if you're not strong enough to kill bosses, at least you can still participate and have fun.
All in all, everything in this game has went from something everyone could do down to something biased towards people who pay to win down to catering to only those who pay to win. Ynk needs to take a few steps back, imo. Everything I've included in this is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak. There's sooo much more I can write about. I'm just getting tired of typing at this point.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe not. That's why this post is here. For discussion.
Perhaps this post can garner some attention. Perhaps not. False hopes are better than no hopes, yeah?

[shawnc1186ishere]

nerf dhans, give temps a little bit of a boost they got uber facked. boost scouts damage even more. and call it even but 50k+100k crits from dhans with no scrolls its ridiculous, even 20k+20k crits are ridiculous they need a massive nerf

[PenguinJoe]

Thanks for that wonderful summary, I'll definitely read this later. HAHAHAHA

If I can save even one soul the pain and agony of reading that, then my job is done.

[Emrus]

[xXxAurorAxXx]

Erm Op, you do know Rich is still the Gm of Lucid right? Lucid isn't some "scrub wanna be guild" Its still run by its original members