Good morning everyone.
As the title suggests, currently on the cusp of obtaining lv150 Standing in my favorite region, I want to leave some feedback and suggestions on Territory Standing System.
I’ve spend hundreds of hours in my ‘home’ region of Cutlass Keys, continuously doing town board missions and defending the lands against relentless corruption breaches and gathering bots. Regardless of which faction governs the region. Looking back at this time spent, in pair with the most recent patch changes, I can’t say I am overly optimistic pursuing the 300 title. Though I am still committed to do so, at this time, I want to offer some ways that may help motivate not only myself but other players to enjoy pushing territory standing and feel sufficiently rewarded for the time spent.
Before the most recent major patch(Ver. 1.2), the main reason players would push Territory Standing (TS) is for the Gathering ‘Speed’ Card which incorrectly raised Gathering Yield. This extra yield allowed players, when sufficiently stacked with high level gathering tools, potions and other buffs, to obtain over 100% the base rate of yield. This includes obtaining two items that normally only receive one such as craft mods, and spices. This ‘over 100% gathering Yield bonus’ was incredibly strong and made gathering extremely profitable. So much so, it seems to have drawn enough attention to the Developers to finally address it. In Patch 1.2, the gathering speed TS card no longer granted Yield, but speed. This speed is additive to your level and tool bonuses resulting in a not-as-great bonus.
To a player who hasn’t pushed Gathering Speed for the sake of stacking yield, gathering speed gives a false sense of a boost in resource generation. For the hardcore gatherer, this is an incredibly noticeable drop. At least 25% less base resources and up to 50% less rarer resources, all for an increase of about 3-5% gathering speed. I hope more players understand why many hardcore gatherers are up in arms about the change at this point. Which leads me to my overall suggestions.
Right now, the only rewards for reaching specific levels of TS is two titles paired with achievements. One at level 150, the second at 300. Of course the growing buffs via TS cards isn’t bad, but they are lackluster considering the time and resources it takes to push TS so high. There simply isn’t enough content in a specific region to keep an player beyond level 10, maybe lv30 for those wanting to have the best housing. Having flat bonuses at increments of TS may help entice players to stay and grow in regions longer.
Suggestion 1 - Tiered Static TS Bonuses
At Lv25/125/225 Standing: Increase Corruption Breach reward by 3%/5%/7% (for a total of 15%)
-Increased rewards would apply a small buff to standing generation, and other rewards to promote doing more breaches.
At lv50/150/250 Standing: Increase Refining Yield by 2%/3%/5% (For a total of 10%)
-To promote refiners as they explore the land and gather resources
At lv100/200/300 Standing: Increase Gathering Yield by 5%/7.5%/12.5% (for a total of 25%
-Said gatherers become more familiar about the landscape increasing efficiency and finding extra resources.
At lv 75/175/275 Standing: Bonus Influence generation when doing PvP Missions.
-If a player reaches lv75+ TS, their contribution, activity and/or notoriety should affect well, influence!
Bonus* At lv300 Standing: +2 Minimum Crafting Mastery? [I know this is would be really strong, but 300 standing does take a hell of a long time]
Bonus* every lv100 Standing: TS Cards reset coupon [It’s highly requested by the community, so I put it in here]
All of these are welcome to change, but the overall idea is to provide concrete bonuses that give something worth pushing for a sense of valued reward.
Suggestion 2 - Modified TS Cards
To allow hardcore gatherers to regain the elite level of gathering, I suggest splitting the
Gathering Speed Card to increase both Speed and Yield. This would require gatherers to still invest in the gathering card, so they don’t feel like it is a ‘wasted card’ but require more of it to obtain enough Yield for ‘double procs’.
Have the Territory Standing Bonus Card also grant bonus to PvP Mission Influence Generation. Most players, especially PvP-Focused players, will always focus Territory Standing bonus in region outside their ‘home’. However, many players also feel that the Standing Bonus Card will eventually lose value once a TS level is ‘Maxxed’. Having another effect from this card would retain it’s value and may even entice players to actually push for this card, especially on smaller servers.
Other cards can have additional Effects, such as every 10% reducing crafting taxes also increase refining Yield by 1% (Same factor as gear, increasing chance for additional Tier 5 Epic materials). Every 25 item bonus in housing grants a base point bonus in housing score.
Bonus* Storage cards can also unlock the ability to store Azoth, one storage card = 25 Azoth [I’ve read people wanted to increase Azoth Capacity, I feel this is one way players can do that indirectly. The extreme increase in supply of Vials of Azoth from aptitude chests certainly helped calm those voices already.]
I hope these suggestions provide a great insight and the suggestions provided are considered.
I would like to thank you for taking the time reading. I welcome any feedback and counter suggestions to discuss about this current, often overshadowed, content.
As always, keep up the strong work, stay safe, and have fun!