It's not just wrong it's ruins roleplay... and other aspects of the game. I've had lots of games where I've tried cheat codes. I've found that once I use a cheat code for a game I'm to the end of what I want to do with it. People are way more likely to keep up with something they have invested some time with. If IRE allowed people to buy everything like that, then people would get bored sooner and quit playing. I'd say overall that would bring in less money.

What does level 100 add that 2,000 credits doesn't?

The only argument I can see is that "well, I'm used to people buying credits, so I have to live with it already, and buying levels is new and not something I'm used to."

That's because a hybrid MMO like Lusternia is more open-ended and interaction-based than your typical computer game.

There are probably a bunch of people for whom cheating in something like the Sims is where they -start- playing, not where they finish.

It's true of many people here with regards to combat too (by nature.) This wouldn't be any different if you could buy levels.

Because if everything becomes pay-to-play, what's the point? Levels and experience are some of the few things you can't improve by simply throwing money at it. You have to actually play the game. With the aetherspace XP issue, you can spend a few hundred RL dollars, buy an aethership and credits, set up a few triggers and within a week be lvl 100 and multitrans. Through in a few more hundred and the next day you are omnitrans. Yay!

Meanwhile, those of us that can't afford to throw money at IRE are now instead of a minor disadvantage are at a glaring one.

Come to Celest. We have fully artied ships for hunting use to the public.

I think you are being clouded by the topic at hand.

Things which can't be "bought" with RL cash.

IG politics.
Order RP
Designing weapons or clothing or jewlery etc.
Domoths
Exploration
Storyline
RP
RPed relationships


who plays IRE for the leveling system??
Plus don't forget about all those people who have time to play but not money, and the people who have money to play but not time.

I carry the same sentiment as Damadreas and will be cutting back on Lusternia partly because of the events of late. This is coming from somebody who participated in a significant amount of aetherhunting; not as much some mind you but I still gained 2.x circles from 75-78 in this windfall.

I don't agree that you can buy your way to the top. I purchased 400 credits (20 or 30% bonus) to trans 2.6ish skill groups necessary to make hunting 'easy', but still put in a lot of sweat, time, and coin to get where I am today. Now for trivial investment (a fresh player from the Portal of Fate) you can learn to fire a turret and enjoy an exp faucet for very little work. It really bothers me when legitimate players like Tynghall drop 50 ranks because of the obvious abuse/exploit of a bug/imbalance. This is not just true of midbies - I won't give any names but certain players have leapfrogged 10 ranks (and counting) in the top 25.

You might say 'Boohoo, life isn't fair, deal with it. If aetherhunting is as good as you say with it you have the opportunity to exploit it just like everyone else' This is true but there is a bigger underlying issue at large and this fiasco is not good for the game as a whole. The face of Lusternia has changed overnight; raids have become far less common, credit prices has inflated, everyone is out aetherhunting and in general the elite of the game (ones that have access to aetherships, top players in the organization) have become more powerful than ever. Even with if the experience is tweaked new players will find it difficult or impossible to ever catch up in the experience rankings.



I don't know, how about all the people who have been cramming in as much aetherhunting before it gets nerfed? It's mind numbingly repetitive enough that they write scripts to play for them so I don't think they're flying for fun.

I'm very upset that the admins seem to be out of touch with the game and refuse/or are unable to implement what might literally be a 2 minute fix. (exp gained *0.x) I'd argue for a rollback but the outcry and outrage makes this impossible; people have spent legitimate time putting up with the drudgery that is aetherhunting. I know a lot of you will disagree but that's my two cents.

Yeah. Can we please have incentive to do things other than aetherspace again? Maybe remove insanity from astral and Muud? They still wouldn't be as good. I assume since we now have something significantly better without those notable drawbacks, that having such drawbacks is unnecessary now.

We're working on some updates on aetherspace! Have patience!

On another note, are vortexes too easy to find and use? Should they be rare, in other words? Please objective opinions!

I've always seen Demigod/Ascendant as a roleplay device. Your character is now significantly above and beyond "common" mortals, as told by the line when you first reach lv100. Add on that roleplay devices such as the zap, shout, aura of immense power.... These are humongous tools that, if aetherspace continues the way it is, will no longer be the 'special' rare things they are. There used to be a time when there was one, maybe two demigods in the realms, if you were lucky. Now there are six or more on a fairly regular basis. This proliferation of top-level players somewhat cheapens the rank, I feel.

EDIT: To reply to Estarra: YES make vorticies harder to find -or- more difficult to siphon (up the karibidean spawn rate). I was out vortex-hopping for an hour last night and didn't see a single one.

Aetherships should run on gas and the gnomes should hold a monopoly on oil so that they can gouge the gasoline prices! The larger the ship the less miles per gallon it gets!

You know what the -problem- is. The problem is that demigods are OP! Nerf demi!

Ok, vortices should be harder to find, and karibideans a little bit tougher.

Actually, I may tweak all the aetherbeasts a little.

If you didn't reset the vortexes already out there, it's gonna be awhile before people have any difficulty finding them. There's got to be at least 20 near Etherwilde, and they've been there for days. It seems like nothing out in aetherspace resets, at least not for a long time.

I'm going to play the "make small edits to the original comment to show why the argument doesn't work" game.

I've always seen Trans-skills as a roleplay device. Your character is now significantly above and beyond "common" mortals, as told by the line when you first reach transcendant in your skills. Add on that roleplay devices such as the insta-kills, transcendant abilities, might levels in honours.... These are humongous tools that, if people can just buy credits for cash, will no longer be the 'special' rare things they are. There used to be a time when there was one, maybe two omni-trans people in the realms, if you were lucky. Now there are six or more on a fairly regular basis. This proliferation of top-level players somewhat cheapens the rank, I feel.

While this may be true, trans skills are nowhere near as obvious/transparent in their effects as demigod. demi/ascendant changes the fundamental of -what- your character is, whereas trans skills merely change what your character can do, so they're not exactly comparable in the manner that you suggest.

Is the Faethorn megaswarm still there?

You mean like paying 1,000 credits for a cameo which changes your race, or for the bubble/mirror which changes your sex which are mainly bought with cash?

Does anyone have a definitive answer on the function of shield orbs during aetherhunting?