Soulshots in Aion

[Kaldur]

It would be good if you could only use one of those things like every Hour, you know, kind of like an item used only to get you out of a sticky situation.

[Celestin]

While all in all, I am against soul shots as a wasteful, unnecessary and moronic additional level of complexity, an extremely long cooldown timer would be an acceptable compromise.

Originally Posted by Endrance

No. He posted that because if you even made one, this was the only "valid" argument you've made.

This is more or less true. Soul shots do not add gameplay value. They are just something you feel compelled to do, because everybody else is doing it. They do not add strategy because people like me are going to run the math and figure out exactly how many you need for every situation. Using google does not require strategy. If you want more DPS, just increase effectiveness of weapons or skills or something. Unless what you want is only more DPS for yourself. In that case you're not asking for a way to increase DPS, you are asking for an elitist toy. Money sink, whatever, tons of ways to do this through ingame means without adding complexity.

[Frein]

Originally Posted by Celestin

They do not add strategy because people like me are going to run the math and figure out exactly how many you need for every situation. Using google does not require strategy.

I think you're giving them (SS) too much credit. There will be no math to figure out and no knowledge to share. People will have their SS on auto-cast or spam them manually and keep the effect on at all times during combat. You fill your inventory, fight and re-stock when you run dry. No added gameplay value, no added strategy.

Someone said they have a substantial cooldown in Aion and that's alright by me. A short-duration 10% damage boost every few minutes I find quite acceptable, though a consumable that only boosts your damage seems like a pretty poorly designed consumable because it will have to be used proactively rather than reactively, once again eliminating most if not all strategy from the concept.

[Ejz09]

i HATE the idea of soulshots... as people have said be4 it will just be something EVERY1 will have to buy in order to compete in pvp... that is just stupid...the outcome of a battle should not be determined by who can afford soulshots or not or who has more soulshots it should be who is the better player. makle the games money sink something that is like fun or something not a NECESSITY to compete in pvp...... there MUST be a better idea for a money sink besides soulshot... off the top my head...repairs? i rather have a fairly big repair bill than soulshot OR make a money sink in the castles or forts (watever u wanna call um). one more idea is buying different type of wings (how they look) this doesnt give anyone an advantage but i promise u if they look cool people will spend there money on it just for that reason. thats just a few ideas made up in less than 5 minutes. im sure a whole dev team can come up with a better money sink. especially one that is more creative and not already from another game (lineage 2). oh and be4 every says no there different...basically there the same thing.. its the same concept.... if they dont have a long cooldown then there the same thing

[ElDurango]

Soulshots and Spiritshots ROCK! They make the game look awsome every time you hit! I always found a way to have SS & SpS for 99.9% of my hits in 2 years of L2 gameplay. I hope they have them in Aion!

On the other hand I do agree with a bunch of people that they were a money sink. So as others have mentioned, as long as they're really cheap to make on your own or to buy, there's no problem. Looks like people just think they cost too much in L2. I had a crafter that specialized in all levels of soulshots so was no big deal to me.

[MS07b]

..Or maybe we can just have special combat effects by default rather than using these shots?

[kebrus]

Originally Posted by MS07b

..Or maybe we can just have special combat effects by default rather than using these shots?

true, using the fx as an excuse for SS doesn't sink in -_-

there are already a bunch of different ways for the money sink problem, even if they don't like them how about using the brains to think of a new better concept for money sinking other then SS, don't they learn from their mistakes? (aka Lineage 2)

i want to play Aion to have fun, not to be worried all the time...

[Heinel]

Originally Posted by MS07b

..Or maybe we can just have special combat effects by default rather than using these shots?

We already have those, just look at the videos. It's so flashy I wish i can turn them off, to be honest..

[kebrus]

just one more thing, why do people have a tendency of saying that the devs will "work on it" or whatever? it's NCSoft... they already ruined almost all of their games (if not all) in one way or another... what does make you think Aion will be any different? there will be a bunch problems like soulshots from Lineage in Aion too we just don't know them yet because it's still too soon and no one here played the final game...

[Fleiva]

Originally Posted by kebrus

just one more thing, why do people have a tendency of saying that the devs will "work on it" or whatever? it's NCSoft... they already ruined almost all of their games (if not all) in one way or another... what does make you think Aion will be any different? there will be a bunch problems like soulshots from Lineage in Aion too we just don't know them yet because it's still too soon and no one here played the final game...

Millions of people keep playing these "ruined" games.

[Pancak3s]

Originally Posted by Fleiva

Millions of people keep playing these "ruined" games.

90% of those millions of players are chinese farmers!!!



looooooooooooooooooool!!!! more soulshot plz!!! me buy rice!!!

[Lennalf]

Originally Posted by Fleiva

Interpretation and psychologic effects. The basis of soulshots are the increasement of dps.

Well, yeah, psychological effects. Why else are we playing these video games? Sure as hell not for exercise!

I really don't strongly disagree with you. I do think we misunderstand each other. I have a problem with the SS specifically as implemented in L2 because it was effectively mandatory and quite obnoxious (IMO). This isn't to say it is not possible to include consumable buffs.

I just prefer to see buffs that are balanced by cooldown timers or energy requirements, since those limitations provide an even playing field. I prefer combat to be decided on strategic decision making ("when should I use my Bubble? I only get one an hour") rather than based upon whether or not I feel like ****ing away a constant stream of cash. If I am spending a lot of cash to improve myself, I prefer to do it in the form of buying permanent items (armor etc), so I feel like I actually accomplished something. I don't want to rent my power, I want to own it.


There are plenty of alternative ways to remove money from the economy than SS, and a lot of them stay within the realm of the economy itself (or at least don't interfere directly with combat). Also, they are not compulsory to maintain a competitive edge in the end-game.

• The AH %-based tax is a great example, because as money decreases in value (due to the creation of wealth), a greater amount of net wealth is removed from the system. This helps keep a relatively stable equilibrium when balanced effectively, and can be throttled by GMs if needed.
• Another nice way is to provide XP-gaining incentives for gold. It is quite easy to do this by simply giving the player a 150% xp gain status effect, for example, which doesn't affect combat but does significantly benefit the player.
• Yet another way is to create items that are only sold by NPCs but have absolutely nothing to do with combat. The rich players will often blow cash on elite pets, for example, which is another nice way to sacrifice your wealth to the game for a positive reward.
• My personal favorite way is GAMBLING. That's an awesome way to get players to voluntarily destroy wealth. In Diablo II, I spent fortunes trying to gamble unique items! And yes, I did get some of the ones I wanted, so it felt worthwhile in the end.
• You can also have special event items that require giving $ to an NPC. Money is deleted, but combat is not perverted. So what if noobs can't wear santa hats?

The possibilities are limitless.

If Aion includes a 60-second cooldown "soulshot" that lets me perform an occasional spike or status effect, I'm all down for that . That's interesting, useful, but far from IMBA & can be neglected without much sacrifice. If it is so expensive or rare that only elite players can afford to use them in PvP, however, then .

A lot of players would probably just be happy to see soulshots removed from PvP, even if they remained in some form in PvE. Unfortunately, with PvPvE it gets a little messy

[m4Fade]

I just hope NCsoft doesn't use L2's SS system.. something different please. The cooldown idea sounds good.

[lerick]

Yep, the PvP aspect of using these? Terrible.

I voted "No", but I wouldn't mind them if the devs excused it's effects when fighting players.

[Dye]

i gaurentee the ss system wont be like l2s dont worry that game was about grind and you needed it to lvl up because all u did was grind and with ss u could lvl up 2x as fast and u wouldnt fall behind in lvls. Aion has quests and **** and u wont need to grind that much so ss wont really be that great untill lvl cap and then it will be fine i doubt it will be 2x dmg