RVR currency & leveling feedback

[VindicoAtrum]

So I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I wanted to level a few more characters to really test it thoroughly. I've now done that, and the topic has come up again recently on the forum so it's probably time to raise properly.

First off, let's get this out of the way now:

The invader + royal shards was a huge step in the right direction in my opinion. You have my, and probably the other 800 people in the lakes, thanks for that addition.

Now, what I really want to focus on is the currency before those shards even enter your thoughts - vanq and below. Some others have mentioned this already in what was otherwise an awful thread: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=41393#p440310 & viewtopic.php?p=440312#p440312

1. Leveling through RVR

Every character that I have leveled through RVR has ended up earning medallions two levels below the medallions I need. It is endlessly frustrating to be earning soldiers and need conqs, then earning officers and need vanqs. Now, since I like spreadsheets too much I tracked this for several characters.

In general, by CR 25 I was between 9 and 12 RR levels higher, so RR 34 to 37. At these RR levels you want to be buying annihilator gear, but due to your CR you're earning soldiers, a level below. Fortunately, you can convert soldiers to officers at 5:1 ratio, and even with that punitive ratio you will still earn the full annihilator set before your CR catches up and you can wear it.

Again, in general by CR 35 (when you want to wear that annihilator set) my characters ranged from RR 47 to RR 50. To put this in perspective, they were earning officers in the lakes but already had full conqueror in the bank from downgrading the guaranteed vanqs in forts, and so are earning two levels below what they need. Each time a non-fort zone locks you get... 5 officers, yippee! Drowning in officer potions, I'll tell you that much.

It's reached a point where earning more officers is such a waste of time I now grind the last 5 levels on mobs which is far, far faster than RVR. Then you suddenly go from earning officers to vanqs in the space of a few hours. This has a secondary benefit. When you lose the good bolster at level 31 you drop in strength considerably. No-one wants to fork out hundreds of gold on talismans for annhilator gear and potions before 40, it's a huge waste. So you can go on being weaker in RVR with the lesser bolster, or just grind to 40 in pve, equip full conq, talisman it heavily since you'll be wearing it for a while, buy the 60% mount etc...

2. Anni/Conq costs.

Are absolutely fine. Really, they don't need to be cheaper at all, anyone leveling in the lakes will surpass the costs of these sets by the time they reach the CR to wear them. This has happened to me every single time. The CR gain from RVR is the real culprit, it's so low. I recently did a DoK through scenarios (till 35) then mob grinding (till 40) - CR 40 in 22 hours of playtime. WE doing RVR-only? Over 38 hours of playtime and not 40 yet, and relative to other chars this has been quite fast thanks to ganking. SW through RVR-only? 45 hours of playtime to reach 40 - mostly keep attacking/defending, which is full of 20rp ticks and the payoff at the end.

Here's some examples from yesterday, my 38 WE doing some solo/duo ganking with rested xp:

Killed a 71 WH (rr from armory), 24,000 xp, 2,200 renown, 1 vanq medal. Loved the RR + vanq drop, that's why we go ganking instead of following the zerg after all. But the xp? 24k? That's the same as just four mobs in a same-level pq which takes about 40s to kill. Now you might think "well killing the wh took less" and it surely did, but those opportunities happen every few mins at best, and often end up in death and long run back from the WC. The guy grinding mobs? He's 100k xp ahead for that.

Killed a 58 BW (again, rr from armory) 17000 xp, 1850 renown, 1 conq medal. RR great. The xp? I could have killed 3 mobs and gotten more, and I don't even need conqs now.

3. Your thoughts?

So, I can't be alone in leveling characters through rvr solely. That's why we play RoR right, the lakes/keeps/forts etc. What are your experiences with the rvr currency system? Am I completely wrong, and should just save up 400+ officers for potions till I hit 40? Is that what others are doing? Does it vary by class (I've done SW, WE, Sorc, DoK in scens)?

[lyncher12]

I don't mind leveling through scenarios and don't do open at all until 40. The only downside is the SC set isn't always useful.

As far as I am concerned conq and vanq should be tradeable. I didn't have vanq until rr68 and now I have vanquisher medallions out the ass and nothing to do with them. So I am doomed to repeat it over again rr68~ to get just vanq on something else?

[Akalukz]

Agree with most of what you said. Although I don't agree with the exp issue. There are definete issues with griding exp in PVE. no renown... so that is the trade-off imo. Gear, is pretty much as you say. The points at when you start earning the correct currency is out of whack. Maybe they should tie it to unlocks. Have full annihilator gear unlocked = start rolling conq etc. Vanquisher is still too expensive imo, or possibly allow upconvert of currency to vanquisher.

[anstalt]

I still think the easiest and best thing to do is get rid of all these gear currencies completely and let us buy the gear sets for gold, same as it was during LotD on live.

If you are a player who enjoys both RvR and scenarios, then participating in both kinda gimps you whilst leveling. We're putting in the time and effort to rank up, do we really need to grind out those currencies too? It's not like it serves any purpose other than to extend the gearing time. But, as this is a free server, there's no real benefit to extending the grind time.

Devs can still put rare weapons / jewellery into bags so that hitting BiS is still a grind, but for basic armour sets, especially below sov, just let us buy them. Save's dev time, saves a bit of server cpu time if it's not having to deal with drops/rolling. Players will feel more in control of gearing up and newbies will be able to catch up quicker too, making everyone feel better.

[RathBrand]

Agreed. I'm leveling up couple of new characters at the moment and the XP for CR is so painfully slow I've started dipping out of oRvR to kill mobs. I'm not that into scenarios so don't know if that would be better, but it's frustrating because I want to RvR.