Yeah, that was something that got irritating in EQ after they started adding different currencies/points that were only valid for that specific expansion. It’s just a really jarring way to expand the game and once the majority of people have moved on that content/points/currency is almost worthless because it’s difficult/impossible to earn on your own.
I absolutely hope Pantheon sticks to 1 form of currency (preferably coins) that can be earned/spent anywhere in the world and can easily be converted.
Yeah it's really obnoxious, and is especially bad in f2p games. There's money, then there's prestige, and charms, and souls, and essence, and... well you get the idea. Skyforge was terrible with this. Not only is it overwhelming, it just feels really tacked on and not interesting.
Aren't AA's essentially a form of non-coin currency though? It is the only way to buy AA skills. What about faction levels? What if you needed a certain faction in order to get something from a vendor? I've never played FFXIV or LotR so maybe I am not fully understanding the topic, but a good MMO will most definitely have some forms of non-coin currency.
Did the whole concept get developed to allow a single vendor to provide 'rewards' for multiple expansions/DLC?
You would get specific tokens drop for doing specific areas and then be able to trade those for a particular set of armor pieces, or whatever?
In a way, it's a good idea - an alternative to Dragon Kill Points and having to go through the pain hoping time-after-time to get loot drops you want and then getting beated to them by another raider?
You would get tokens every time you did the content and then trade them in for the gear you need.
The confusion and annoyance comes when there are too many different kinds, but if they are to replace the loot tables of each raid/area/encounter, then how else can you do it? You wouldn't want to be able to 'buy' a dragon breastplate by killing the lich king instead of the dragon, so you have to make it different tokens.
The other way is to have to have a vendor for each area and have to build faction with them (by doing their encounter) before you can buy their items, but have it based in normal coin (which you *could* earn anywhere, but *would* have earned in the correct area while achieving the faction with the vendor, so it works out fine).
*shrug*
Am I on the right track, or is this a different issue?
@disposalist
You pretty much stated what I was thinking as well. Different currencies are a way of validating that you put the effort into a specific content set to deserve the rewards from that content set. This is also to level the playing field each time a new set of content comes out such that those on top in the dragon content wont immediately start with a huge advantage in the lich content.
Earned tokens/currency is one way to content lock rewards.
Factions and flags are another way.
If tokens they need to be a UI item and not an inventory item, adding more bloat to SimCloset is not needed.
Personally I prefer a mix of faction/flags, common currency and local content currency that still has crafting value in other content such that it is never useless.
I do think it would be interesting though if levels 1-9 dropped and rewarded only copper. All services and training in that range would only use copper. And finally copper could not be exchanged for silver such that you no longer had a use for copper or would be rewarded with copper after level 10. Carry this through so that silver is 10-19, gold is 20-29, Plat is 30-39 and Roenicks are 40-50. You might be able to trade down with an NPC but never trade up. Players could trade on their own but never system assisted.
Not sure there is a lot to be gained other than forcing people into specific bands such that they farm all the currency they need in order to unlock everything in said level band.
disposalist said:In a way, it's a good idea - an alternative to Dragon Kill Points and having to go through the pain hoping time-after-time to get loot drops you want and then getting beated to them by another raider?
You would get tokens every time you did the content and then trade them in for the gear you need.
The confusion and annoyance comes when there are too many different kinds, but if they are to replace the loot tables of each raid/area/encounter, then how else can you do it? You wouldn't want to be able to 'buy' a dragon breastplate by killing the lich king instead of the dragon, so you have to make it different tokens.
Multiple reward systems / currencies are annoying at best and are a bad solution to the problem of making sure everyone starts at zero with new content. Forcing players into tracking DKP isn't any better.
I think the best way to handle it is to have fragments of loot drop that can be sold individually (so occasional raiders get something they can use) or crafted into the complete item. This prevents cashing in Lich points for Dragon loot. Some rich players will be able to buy the gear quickly, but it will be super expensive in the begining.