ALS

ALS:
General Idea: adjust character strength to not overshadow lower level players you play with to have a more "equal" game experience, if desired ------- Good

Excecution: just horrible 
- the automated pages are simply inadequat (healing mastery on a Feca????)
- getting a decent equipment page together takes more time then passing through some of those level brackets (among other things, due to the latest crafting iteration)
- the lower UB might become "too" easy for high level players, but Steelbeak (not even mentioning moon here...) can still wipe out a full lvl 200 party if they are not careful, so why are you forcing us to get even weaker for him??

ALS could have been an awesome aspect of the game, if the stats and everything would have been somehow calculated/determind by the stats the character had at his current real level, but they HAD to use that page-system...

PS: I have not played in half a year now, but as far as i know, every one of these points still hits the mark.

UBs implement it to stop people facerolling them with overlevelled/overgeared characters. Actually having to contend with the mechanics is the entire point of UBs. No amount of kvetching will convince me that people 1-turning the lower level UBs is the way it should be. Auto-emblems could stand to be a bit better (as is they're really, really bad), for one it could present a choice of Ranged/Aoe/Melee/ST/Tank/Healer emblems and shore up the bonus stats a bit. They'd still put you behind any halfway decent set.

Overall though I think ALS has been one of the best additions to the game for ages, it has rewards which are relevant, provides additional reasons to visit lower level content, and provides an entirely different thing to focus on (making comparatively cheap and quick optimal lower level sets) instead of slogging away at endgame stuff. Miles better than another cookie-cutter endgame island or one and done content like the Huppermage Academy.

Personally I have no problem with UBs the way it is. Prior to forced ALS, people were just steamrolling it like there is no tomorrow that the challenges and mechanics incorporated into those bosses just became pointless. After ALS became mandatory, we were actually forming teams and gearing for those levels just so we could one up each other on the permanent leaderboards.

UBs are meant to be challenging, not to be a one-off thing that should be dismissed once you've moved past that level.

Though there are quite a number of things I think could be improved about this system:

Pros

• It gives late game players some incentives to play with lower and mid level players at the same power level.
• Not being able to carry / plow through these bosses give newer players an impression that 'getting stronger' is also a matter of mastery of their own class + PvE mechanics, not just a matter of leveling up and getting the best equipment, thus preparing them for more challenging dungeons/bosses late game.
• It's still doable at lower stasis with emblems if you're not a fan of gearing up.

• 6/5/4/3 man teams shouldn't be competing with 2*3 or 1*6 boxers on the leaderboards. The game should incentivize players who team up with other players to encourage player interaction.
• Gearing for every level bracket became more tedious and unfun after the new enchantment system was introduced. Prior to the enchantment system, I personally have spent most of my time grinding for these level brackets so people would invite me to ALS runs, now that this RNG element is introduced into the mix, a lot of my effort just goes to waste that I became less motivated to do it. Even the most dedicated players in our server (Phaeris) just chose to move on from the game because of it, which leads to the next point:
• It's hard to form a decent team to play on higher stasis. The team finder system in Wakfu is unusable / My server is just too dead for it.
• The auto emblem system is inadequate for some classes. Give players a variety of emblems to choose from like the poster above me have suggested, or mine some data on existing player builds + stat pages, generalize it into one build for each class in each level bracket, and apply some sort power cap so that it doesn't perform better than players who have actually bought pages and grinded for their own gears, although the latter might too much hassle for a small dev team.

I had to make an entire lv200 page to get through Mineral Tower, my level? 202! And guess what... none of my gear is above lv 200, so now only I lost overall 50% of my damage with ALS, I had to create a completely redundant build just to get my stats at a DECENT level for this dungeon. And good news and bad news, my Hupper just leveled up to 201 this latest Mineral run, so... I'll have to make her a page too xD

The stat of gears that ALS automatically give should at least able to do all dungeons in stasis 1 as they were claimed to be the average gear stat of that level, which don't seem to be possible.

I've talked to Siu, and it appears that he has no intention of removing the ALS lock on UBs. This is very unfortunate news because it means that UBs such as Shadowfang/Ogrest/Nogord will remain exclusive content for those dedicated players who farmed for 200 sets. Therefore, our only hope of tackling a UB (without spending insane kamas to play 200 content) will be to wait for the 215 UB if one appears. Yet, that UB will become locked behind ALS once they raise the level cap again - so keep that in mind. 

 

wakelio#8886|2021-09-24 23:29:41

        @BloodAspect#6628 If you can't consider others' points of view  then it makes it seems like you're just complaining and if so, what is the point of the post?
         Saying things such as "If you weren't merely level 200."  has little relevance since UB's come in to play at different levels as well. Also saying things such as "No one wants to farm another set" doesn't make any valid point. One could also say "No one wants to grind to lv.215" or "No one wants to improve their professions" "No one wants the Osa update coming soon." therefore over generalizing doesn't help your case.
          It seems to me that you want the nice rewards, but don't want to go through the process to get it .Therefore, it sucks since you can't 1-shot UB's like a baby tofu. 
         ALS forces people to play differently, gives lower levels an opportunity to NOT be carried, encourages players to run dungeons they haven't ran in awhile, boosts the Wakfu economy (selling of low level sets) and whether it's considered fun to you or not is your opinion. I personally believe improvements can be made like Tiefoone said to make it a better and more enjoyable. He also gave some great suggestions without seeming condescending.

best argument here is probably only from Atrutha#8414.  all the others are just people complaining about UBs being level locked [especially more so for 200s rather than overall] or how hard it is to gear with the new enchantment system, and how 215 is intertwined with 200 and not having 200 build is making your life so much harder, Which all of these can be a contributing factor why als is problematic, but not why it is the actual problem.

Level locked UBs
i agree, Ultimate bosses shouldn't have to be level locked. let als be there for competitive just as it is for normal dungeons, but intentionally locking them for als only is definitely the worst thing they could've done. Veteran player still come there every week even though the reward is trivial before, they can help out newbies along the way too. heck my "inactive" guild leader used to just come online to play with guild mates by carrying them on UBs. but now he can't do that. One shotting low level UBs as BloodAspect#6628 mentioned is fine because Players invested the time and energy to reach that level of strength. and Steelbeak being able to wipe out level 200 party is a non argument. UBs should be challenging, it should be strong. rather than level locking it, might as well let it scale with the team level like how tormentor dungeon works. or better yet remove the level lock. just by doing this it'd already fix your end game 200+ problems.

Gearing / enchantment
Is it the best system now, or is it better than the last system? debate able. is it actually a problem for ALS though? none of you provided a decent argument for this on lower level besides your troubles having to gear for 200 set. it is a contributing factor why some people shy away from als, but doesn't mean some other people aren't drawn to it. discounting every other opinion just because it doesn't align with your interest is not helping anyone. Every level bracket have to deal with this system. it's a universal problem everyone have to go through no matter the level bracket. now why is als problematic for this? because the gears you guys need are level locked with UBs. hence again why UBs are constantly brought up here [especially lvl 200] instead of the actual ALS system it self.

The ALS it self
The only problem directly correlated to ALS that people actually touched on here is the Auto emblems. it's certainly not perfect, but they work just enough so that you can clear the dungeons you are running. and they are just that, automatic emblems/ stats that given to player that wants to run lower level brackets without having to sacrifice their time and effort to compete in the leaderboards. It is working as intended. if you are arguing if it could be better? then of course, giving players the ability to distribute the points them self is one thing. it'll let people be more flexible and more well equipped than the random stats thats pre determined. but if your argument is to just let people steamroll with auto build, then that's nonsense.

Pros of ALS
"Pros

• It gives late game players some incentives to play with lower and mid level players at the same power level.
• Not being able to carry / plow through these bosses give newer players an impression that 'getting stronger' is also a matter of mastery of their own class + PvE mechanics, not just a matter of leveling up and getting the best equipment, thus preparing them for more challenging dungeons/bosses late game.
• It's still doable at lower stasis with emblems if you're not a fan of gearing up."

• It gives relevant rewards both for lower level/newer player, and for high end/veteran players
• the builds are comparitively cheap, quick, optimal than just having to do a constant power level and gear grindfest on the very last level bracket. which means its easier for newer player to also get into the game in a competitive fashion
• plethora different scenario, tactics, gameplay, and playstyle that people can engross themselves on and be able to do at high level competitive manner. thus getting to know overall how the game works in a deeper level
• Boosts the wakfu economy overall. do you realize how important this is? having and active and bustling economy is in my opinion one of the most important aspect a game/mmo needs to have. people that actually know what they are doing and done their research can make money off low lever gears and that lets them progress in the game on a healthy manner. [example moogr gears, shell epic from 50 mineral. some people even monopolize this if you check the market frequently] its way better than just a constant power leveling trips and not knowing how to play the game at level 200+. they are incentivised to know and learn the level brackets that they are going through rather than just blazing through getting power leveled and being a clueless level 200+ newbies.
• Lower level players, actually lower their level themselves to get an optimized gear and build on level bracket lower then theirs and compete in the leaderboards or battlefields. this adds an extra layer of gameplay for them instead of a non ending rush to max level. If you actually mingle and play together with your lower level friends/guildmates surely you know this is true.
• while this system is quite clearly and obviously not targetted for newer players, they are still able to join in and compete to experience the competitive nature of the game. and if lucky, gets a major boost to their arsenal or economy by getting rare runes.

• 6/5/4/3 man teams shouldn't be competing with 2*3 or 1*6 boxers on the leaderboards. The game should incentivize players who team up with other players to encourage player interaction.
• Gearing for every level bracket became more tedious and unfun after the new enchantment system was introduced. Prior to the enchantment system, I personally have spent most of my time grinding for these level brackets so people would invite me to ALS runs, now that this RNG element is introduced into the mix, a lot of my effort just goes to waste that I became less motivated to do it. Even the most dedicated players in our server (Phaeris) just chose to move on from the game because of it, which leads to the next point:
• It's hard to form a decent team to play on higher stasis. The team finder system in Wakfu is unusable / My server is just too dead for it.
• The auto emblem system is inadequate for some classes. Give players a variety of emblems to choose from like the poster above me have suggested, or mine some data on existing player builds + stat pages, generalize it into one build for each class in each level bracket, and apply some sort power cap so that it doesn't perform better than players who have actually bought pages and grinded for their own gears, although the latter might too much hassle for a small dev team.

• [*]competing in leader boards with 2*3 or 1*6 boxers on the leaderboards.  its how the game has been gradually converted by the devs to bandaid their problem with player population. it also helps hardcore grinder because lets be real, you wouldn't want to spend hours trying to grind something that your party might not have the slightest idea how the mechanics works.
  
  plus, ALS actually incentivise people to group up rather than not because its easier to prepare for 1-2 character rather than a full blown 6 man solo army. that doesn't and will not change the fact that hardcore grinder will make 6 or even more army and spam all kind of level ranges for the monthly rewards. this is a non argument for ALS it self.
• new enchantment is unfun and grindy. this again as i mentioned is a universal challenge every level bracket have to go through with increasing difficulty the higher your level are. so it actually helps people that are stuck on the constant end game grindfest. end game gears are multitudes harder in difficulty to obtain and way more expensive.  just a single optimised gear of level 200-215 can fund your entire low level 6 man army builds. plus the monthly runes reward are relevant for all level brackets.
• It's hard to form a decent team to play on higher stasis. this is not only the case for high stasis or end game. it is the same problem every other level bracket or even the entirety of wakfu faces. we don't have a functional team / party finder and that needs to be fixed, not just for end game, but for the entirety of wakfu. if you actually make the effort to find or build a decent team, then you will find your ways. global chat recruitment, guild members [teach and mentor the new ones even], public discord, etc.  don't tell me that this is such a struggle for you to find decent team if you haven't tried the things i mentioned because they work.
• The auto emblem system is inadequate for some classes. once again, this is the only real argument i've seen for the ALS system it self. and yes, it does need improvement, but just enough so people can maximize their playstyle given from the free tool they are provided [e.g auto emblem] it should not,  and it must not let player just steamroll any level bracket without any real effort put in.

for me the rng system of the chest make me to get out of the ranked,becuz u do a lot of ranks,gold,silver and bronze,and u win too little for the hard work u have,the runes is almost useless,or u dont win good prices sometimes u win nothing on chests,the prices deserves to be better and attractive to the people,i think als is the system for the mid and endgame players,becuz is the unique way to transform the game in a competitive and constante atractive,wakfu needs a revamp on als,explore to put more dificult on als dungeons to create a constant challenge to all players that want to do als , just put low items and do is too little for the some content can be explore,it's my point for it,als have too much rng for a hard work u have,this will need to be improve and the difficult too

In agreement with Echidna, I would like to provide an additional benefit to ALS:

It creates bottleneck levels where equipment gravitate around, giving a chance for new players who have never crafted to slowly work their way up the horrendous profession hamster wheel using materials they already possess. The sets or equipment are grinded in duplicates, allowing the crafting level to increase while letting players reroll their slots.

The effect of ALS on supporting the profession system cannot be underestimated (as does rare/mythical battlefield gear which let people gain profession levels for much less resource intensive and labour intensive crafting materials)

ALS competitive dungeoning, ALS battlefields and ALS modulox are great ways to bring new and veteran players into the same lower level dungeons together. 

What the problem really lies, is in how competitive dungeon ranking rewards solo players and multiboxers better as they don't have to coordinate strategies, fix each other's mistakes, incentivize players to work together or develop complementing builds among themselves.

Capping a player's max abilities so they have to strategies around the boss's mechanisms is definitely worthwhile because the challenge a tactical game provides is the entire point of the game, otherwise you're just clicking buttons and watching pretty colours pop up in a role playing game- rather, it is when the reverse, that a player absolutely has to reach their max potential to stand a chance against a boss, that elitism, wealth gap and transfer of knowledge between players is stifled- the veterans would rather play with someone who knows the mechanisms already, creating a dwindling pool of dungeoneers or face heavy waste of time investment failing a dungeon with someone new.

The players working their way up have no way to break into the circle because their equipment is not enough to win the fight, their wealth is not enough to let them afford the equipment, and you need the equipment to win the rewards that actually lets you win the fight in the first place.
 

Honestly I think the best solution for UB would be to just make them scale up to your level just like the rifts, instead fo forcing us to scale down.

cody5#2705|2021-11-08 21:48:30

Honestly I think the best solution for UB would be to just make them scale up to your level just like the rifts, instead fo forcing us to scale down.