Can we get an explanation on what the hell got changed here, why cant I link but others link fine...

Check your astral sphere. I've heard some spheres have bugs.

Syrienne told me in game that it was changed to only allow one link over 30 seconds.

Just thought I'd spread the wealth.

I'd like to know what the intention behind this change is.
I tried looking at it from every possible angle but it doesn't make sense at all. Hunting on Astral just gets annoying, especially on spheres like Aries.
Considering that you can link only once at a time it also makes hunting even easier as you never have to face more than 1 creature at a time, escept of course for the time the 5 mobs return.
My guess is that you wanted to slow down the hunting speed a bit or something like that. Well, you surely succeeded, but I don't think that making it more annoying is the solution.

People were abusing the nodes to get in multiple links within a short time period. It was possible for some to link in 10 or so creatures in less than 30 seconds when there is supposed to be only one pulse every 10 seconds.

Well, then those loopholes should get fixed instead of punishing 98% of the other people who have no idea how those idiots did that.

Seriously. I just want to link twice, in the normal time span, unlink, and kill the critters.

This is another case of the few spoiling things for the many, and I'm afraid you're going to have to live with it. Power collection will not be affected as you only need to link once and you get continuous power from that. As for hunting, you link, unlink, kill the critters, if it's taken less than 30 seconds you wait a few seconds and do so again, I can't see how this slows you down that much.

See, the way they made it sound, it was link, and a pulse every 30 seconds. But, if it's like, the LINK NODE command only works every 30 seconds.. That's really silly, since whenever I've been bashing on Astral, we let it sit for 3-4 pulses ANYWAY (and that's with 3 people on the sphere) before bashing. Which itself takes 30 seconds. Yea, I don't see the problem.

And the fact that someone(s) were abusing it is really, really sad. Just another reminder of the 1,000 gold that used to be given in the newbie tour.

Yeah, all you level 90+ bastiches that do nothing but bash get the shaft. Fight the power.

EDIT-(This is my placeholder post for when I have no idea what I'm talking about.)

Ah, I didn't know this either. It's not so bad, then.

For those who rarely hunt on Astral this change made no difference but for those who hunt a lot there it is just a pain.
What I don't understand is...why didn't get the abuser shrubbed for a while and an announcement could have adviced the people not to do such crap. I am sorry but this odd change looks very rushed and not well considered. It is in my eyes the first real change that doesn't make sense at all.

And for all those who think that it makes no big difference, please believe me, it is a real pain on those spheres where the creatures don't come immediatedly to you.

Then again I hear that you're being unlinked after the first pulse, which is a real pain. So how is it after all?

Hunting is up to 50% slower on tracking nodes, and as Niara pointed out, considerably more so if you link and then sally forth to slay your spawn. Personally, I don't see why the linking bug wasn't just fixed instead of introducing a new mechanic. I can really only reason it out as a fix for hunting being too fast...not that I would name the 1,200 or so hours it takes to reach the end of that process fast to begin with. Actually, I'd rather vigorously argue that that itself is its own check against having too many titans or demis, which is really the only thing slowing down hunting would address. Some people have pointed out that slower hunting would equate to slower accrual of gold and an easing of the credit market, but if that's the concern I don't see why the problem wasn't directly addressed by adjusting gold drops. It's all rather opaque to me.

That said, though, I'm willing to have a go at things with the new mechanics. Very few people were able to maintain the 240 kill an hour rate nodes could produce for solo hunting...most of us averaged out to less than the 120 per hour that is now hardcoded in. It's inconvenient and annoying, but not crippling.

Yea I'm sort of confused on the thinking here myself.. it seems easier to have just fixed the bugs or adjust the gold whatever the aim here was.. that being said I like Lusternia to much to really go insane over a bashing change.. I think it just heralds the need for more bashing zones though, right now Astral is about all there is for 70+.

This change was uncalled for and needs to be corrected quickly. To go from bashing quickly to being knocked to a snail's pace is not only boring but makes those of us higher up in levels see less gains in the hours we spend up there. I honestly never heard of this loophole and if such was true the abuser should be punished, not all of us.

Being the type of guy who is always just thinking inside the box... I kind of thought this change was to add in an aspect to the nodes where they have real power. I.e. they can throw you around and reject you, which opens up possiblities for events and other crazy things.

Oh, also to encourage group bashing.

i think this is a stupid change as it already takes me ages to bash and this just makes it longer especially if you get to the point where 10 lobs give 1% then thats gonna take hours to lvl

Astral is not that bad now.. Besides, in the events your forced, for the most part, to fight in you conglut. Village influencing?

So any lack of exp gain is really compared to the lack of loss unless you participate in PK outside that, wherein it's your own fault and no one else should be making leaps and bounds to make it easier for you to replace what you haphazardly lose. Learn the hard way, hey?

Besides, I've gone from about 70 to upwards of 77, at 88% right now, dying many times, praying some and some not, in a week. It's good exp still.

Astral bashing is a tiny bit slower for me now, I'm not really that bothered. Especially when you consider how good a bashing area Astral is compared to places in other games.