Thoughts on Airship buff methods

[Garix]

Pause buff timers in public instances.

Really the only change that's needed, imho.

This

Coming from a permadeath guild, SNIP

Thread derail on....Should you even be using them in permadeath?!

[Gkar]

Pause buff timers in public instances.

Really the only change that's needed, imho.

This would be HUGE and would promote easier grouping

[RumbIe]

My favorite is how there are doors that need be opened when the ship is reset by everyone being off. I mean what play value is there in having a door and opening it on the ship? I recognize it only takes 3 seconds to open, but it's an annoyance factor that someone coded in thinking there was a value to their time in coding it. "Yay. They'll just love opening a door. Who doesn't love opening doors? Think of the smiles I've put on people's faces by putting a door there for them to open. "

Maybe for a level 80 ship a reward can be a door stopper.

[Enoach]

It seems like you have forgotten how long it took for the wizard/sorc/cleric/fs to give out buffs when you entered the quest and the drain it took on the blue bar.

Since I've actually taken the time to run without buffs even with them available I know exactly what the cost is. I also know exactly which buffs are actually needed in each quest. The cost is for a lack of a better work "exaggerated". And buffing on the run is how you do individual buffs.

- XP buff makes a noticable difference to me.

- Resist 30 shrines make a HUGE difference at low level. I'll grant by level 11 they are reduced to just an SP-saver, but not at low levels. Run Elite Taming the Flames, with and without 30 Fire Resist. Or Elite Proof in the Poision with and without 30 Acid resist. Etc..

If I'm in a hurry, I skip most of the buffs with little impact. But I always grab resists and XP buff.

The resists improve you at L1-5 in a noticeable way. And the 5% XP shrine just gives me a warm feeling inside.

Other than that, you are right, they are nice but not big deals. +1 to hit no longer matters. +1 to AC no longer matters. +1 to damage helps at very low levels, but after that, you aren't likely to notice it either way. etc...

The XP buff and resists do make a difference, I will give you both that. But are they required? Could you complete the quest without them? Can you level without them? If you can than they are optional and a convenience.

[Sqrlmonger]

The fact that it takes 2 minutes to buff is kind of being overlooked as no big deal, but I don't think people are realizing how significant that is. Add up the number of times you've buffed and I bet most of you have spent days if not more than a week of your life buffing.

If you've rebuffed more than 720 times you've probably spent a full day of your life rebuffing....and if you've rebuffed over 5000 times you've spent a week....

[madmaxhunter]

My favorite is how there are doors that need be opened when the ship is reset by everyone being off. I mean what play value is there in having a door and opening it on the ship? I recognize it only takes 3 seconds to open, but it's an annoyance factor that someone coded in thinking there was a value to their time in coding it. "Yay. They'll just love opening a door. Who doesn't love opening doors? Think of the smiles I've put on people's faces by putting a door there for them to open. "

Maybe for a level 80 ship a reward can be a door stopper.

I jammed masterwork daggers in my doors. Worked like a charm... until an idiot barbarian guildie invited a PuGger rogue onto the ship.

OP: Any of the options given would be an improvement.

[ahpook]

If they did any of the suggestions here it would be an improvement. The time sink that is present in ship buffs is irritating.

However, my peeve is the time in setting up the hook points. Just let us talk to the captain or first mate and get a price for adding 1 week to all the hook points. Don't make us run around to each hook point and buy the correct amenity and reapply it. (Especially when we have to run back to the first mate half way through because the hookpoints below decks didn't activate because that part of the ship hadn't been visited for 5 minutes....)

There are a lot of things they can do to improve the ship buff system and if removing the time sink aspect makes them too powerful or useful, there is a different problem that should be addressed.

/signed to pretty much anything.

[My2Cents]

Me, I almost never use ship buffs, way too much hassle and travel time to/from quests.

Now if my guild would only employ "guild buff masters" at the entrance to quests, (or accessible from quest/raid entry displays) who would bestow any or all guild buffs at one spot, -that- would be nice!

(Is it an Easy Button? You could say the same thing about the fact that we don't have to draw our swords before using, uncork (or uncap?) potions before drinking, sheath our swords again before using magical items, tieing our boot laces, you get the idea.)

[Jerevon]

The fact that it takes 2 minutes to buff is kind of being overlooked as no big deal, but I don't think people are realizing how significant that is. Add up the number of times you've buffed and I bet most of you have spent days if not more than a week of your life buffing.

If you've rebuffed more than 720 times you've probably spent a full day of your life rebuffing....and if you've rebuffed over 5000 times you've spent a week....

This. I agree. It's not like I have a spreadsheet going back to 2006 or whatever, but I think I'm past a 168 hours, maybe a bit less

The facts remain:

- We pug a lot.
- Pugs will always want to break to reset the airship buffs
- Airship buffs are an integrated part of our quest deployment setup as they have been around for so long now. (yeah, take 'em away for good Turbine, see how well that goes over).

Having them pause in a public zone is good, just having them last until death is better. A single node buff point would be good too - with this idea, you have some flexibility to rework the hook point system, but that is a lot of work I'm guessing...

For everyone who shows resistance to this idea, do you express the same feeling in party chat when everyone goes to reset buffs??

[FrancisP.Fancypants]

Why consolidate all the buffs into one clickable object when you could just have them all apply by clicking the ship portal?

Or just have them stick around through death? And just be permanently applied upon joining a guild?

And how come we can't just bypass the quest and get the loot, favor, and end reward when we accept it in the first place?

Why can't we just get a message saying "you win" and a screenshot of your geared-to-the-nines toon as soon as you log in?

This is a hamster wheel and we are the hamsters. It's a fun wheel, don't get me wrong, but that's what it is. Buffs pausing in public areas would be pretty nice, though.

[EdwinRophe]

Under Guilds, there should be the option to purchase long last buffs, maybe Double Triple and Quadruple Time. This would leave the game mechanic in place for F2P players, and allow ppl who P2P a chance to help out their guild and them selves.

[Dilbon]

Ship buffs are by far the worst feature implemented in this game. But since they are there, they should be made permanent but strongly nerfed. No 30 resists or whatnot, just some minor convenience stuff and small xp buff.

[droid327]

I agree, the 2 min buff-up time alone isnt bad, but then combine it with the time you have to spend selling off loot when your inv fills up...going to the AH to post items up...restocking your consumables at the vendor...crafting, if you're grinding crafting...thinning out your collectables if your bag fills up...and of course actually running around to all the quest entrances, its just another layer of downtime that really detracts from gameplay, discourages grouping, etc.

Those 2 mins are a long time if everyone else in the group is waiting on you. There's no fun to be had sitting around the quest entrance for 2 mins waiting for your last party member to jump through all the hoops to get his buffs up.

[kafrielveddicus]

Thread derail on....Should you even be using them in permadeath?!

Should you be using them in non-permadeath, should you be using weapons in your style of play, should you be using a keyboard or a mouse in your style of play???

Thank you for your absolutely pointless judgemental remark!

[donfilibuster]

With that said, I'd like to be able to apply all ship buffs in a single interaction. This is not unreasonable to ask for as running around the decks for multiple buffs is getting a bit monotonous.

True, there has been some suggestions regarding to this, with this one being quite reasonable.

As noted, the buff time itself is a couple minutes, but it adds to having to run back to ship from the quest.
For those with fast machines is no big deal, but still wait for the party, can't count on it on a PUG, let alone in raid.
Suggestions to just stop the timers before the quest come from this.

It's thus just one issue on a bunch, which includes things like the lack of airship towers.
Anything that cuts on the trip to the ship would help, like having a way to get beacons in-game.

[Sqrlmonger]

Why consolidate all the buffs into one clickable object when you could just have them all apply by clicking the ship portal?

Or just have them stick around through death? And just be permanently applied upon joining a guild?

And how come we can't just bypass the quest and get the loot, favor, and end reward when we accept it in the first place?

Why can't we just get a message saying "you win" and a screenshot of your geared-to-the-nines toon as soon as you log in?

This is a hamster wheel and we are the hamsters. It's a fun wheel, don't get me wrong, but that's what it is. Buffs pausing in public areas would be pretty nice, though.

I get what you're saying but its not a real argument.

You can say the same thing in reverse:

Why not have it take an hour to get buffs?

Why not have it cost astral shards to get on your ship?

Why not multiply all the mobs HP by 10,000 so it will feel like more of an accomplishment to kill them!?

Why not make all mobs do dmg equal to HP and never miss so only the hardest of the hardcore can finish Korthos?

Following an idea to its logical absurdity represents the absurdity of its logical absurdity, not the idea itself (unless you can demonstrate a real equivalence between the two things). In this case the idea is to reduce the time spent performing trivial tasks in favor of the fun stuff (presumably quests).

As for the "it is how it is" philosophy, I don't see the harm in players asking for changes. Particularly given how enormously unlikely they are to get them.

[Jay203]

more convenience?
sounds like a perfect time for astral shard to come in

an NPC that charges you shards to acquire all the buffs at once

money grab? probably, but then again, micro transactions prey on convenience

[FrancisP.Fancypants]

I get what you're saying but its not a real argument.

Following an idea to its logical absurdity represents the absurdity of its logical absurdity, not the idea itself (unless you can demonstrate a real equivalence between the two things). In this case the idea is to reduce the time spent performing trivial tasks in favor of the fun stuff (presumably quests).

As for the "it is how it is" philosophy, I don't see the harm in players asking for changes. Particularly given how enormously unlikely they are to get them.

You didn't, actually: it wasn't an argument, it was more a rhetorical poke.

My point was that the game itself is trivial. We're pushing buttons to stimulate pleasurable chemical activity in the brain; from that perspective, asking to condense 2-4 minutes of button pushing into half a second seems just as absurd.

Mechanics aside, the whole ship idea is part of flavor of the game. Just like having to climb around house J to pick up quests instead of, say, clicking on the quest in the journal to accept it. The experience is there for flavor, even if the charm is lost after a few times.

[Gara]

If there was an NPC that would bestow every buff with a single click I would use it but it seems a little too easy. Those buffs are a luxury, if you want em take the minute it takes to get em.

However it would be great if the buffs lasted through death and if the timer stopped in public areas. One or both of those would be a nice quality of life upgrade. Both of those upgrades would be great rewards for high level guild ships.

[chance2000]

Buffs
They are nice, they are not a must have.
I seldom buff most of mine.
Well I do use the xp shrine when I remember it.
If a guild buff is a make or break for a character I would reroll it.
Now I do keep all of the buffs stocked on our ship.
No bank, no bar.
I even pay for it all and do not expect any of my guild members to contribute to the costs.
Now my haggle bard stays buffed the haggle of 83 really pays off.