Diplomacy is Worthless

[Drunkensot]

Ive done the quests in Tursh and 3R, and the ONLY thing of value I have received, other than a few coins (about equal to a few bugbear snouts) is a good set of saddlebags. The horse is worthless (maybe when I am at lvl 300 it will be upgraded to speed 45) and all the other loots is useful ONLY FOR DIPLOMACY.

Developers, why do you let crafters make the best adventuring gear in the game, while diplomacy gives you nothing?

Is these some high level when it becomes worthwhile? Have you even started working on it yet?

I just am thankful that I only wasted enough time to get to level 100.

By this time in crafting I could be making stuff that even if I couldn't sell it for much, at least it might have some use.

Diplomacy is like having a game within a game that has no relationship to the first game.

Someone please tell me I am wrong and explain all the useful stuff I will eventually get.

[sorkvir]

There's actually 3 reasons:

first, the sphere's are meant to intermingal (sp?). What you will see will be more adventuring area's that require a high lvl diplomat (Nesibue Necropolis and the levers is an example of one already in the game).

Masks. I believe that masks are around the corner (seriously). Pretty much these are customizable jewelry that you can wear and swap pieces out.

Prestige faction: This is like a bank account. The plan is to use your prestige faction to buy items. As for what, I'm not sure.

There's actually a few more but those are the 3 that stick out in my mind right now.

[Aen]

.....

[Naiya]

Originally Posted by Drunkensot

Ive done the quests in Tursh and 3R, and the ONLY thing of value I have received, other than a few coins (about equal to a few bugbear snouts) is a good set of saddlebags. The horse is worthless (maybe when I am at lvl 300 it will be upgraded to speed 45) and all the other loots is useful ONLY FOR DIPLOMACY.

I'm missing something here. Having played with my toons on both test and live and running around the different areas with nothing but diplomacy a few times, I think your definition of "worthless" and mine are two different things.

If I am focusing on diplomacy (civic and one on one) I'm rejoycing when I get diplo clothes. that is one piece I don't have to buy! If I'm focusing on diplo - I want benefits I can use. I don't want adventuring gear. If I want that I can seek out a crafter or loot drops*

However, if I want to make life easier for crafters - or adventurers - I use diplomacy. My very existence and doing quests makes their life easier. Through civic diplomacy and characters working together, crafters get bonuses and adventurer's get buffs

I happen to enjoy diplomacy the way it is. I get rewards that are useful to me. I affect the game and the rest of the players just by the use of my skills

Sometimes, I meet interesting people and kill them..... I like it!

*because I am anti-social , all my toons are currently equipped with nothing but rewards or loot drops. Once I get around to it, they will only be equipped with things I can make or barter for. There are plenty of people who can twink, I want to see what it is like for people who have to start out and do not have the connections I do. I want to see if it is possible to make it on your own for a bit. That is truly important for continuing player base growth.

[Drunkensot]

What with this needing a high level diplomat to get in certain areas? How will that work? Will you have to be a member of the party? I suppose that means you get something, but usually there are prereqs for good quests, so you'd have to leach off the group through every step, or else you go on some high level quest but you don't have it (Im assuming that you're not a high level adventurer as well as being a high level diplomat).
It would be nice to be able to get something worthwhile from one of these diplo quests. Like I said, I've done all of the Tursh and 3R quests and all I got was this teeshirt (saddlebags).
Meanwhile, all the good diplo stuff is being sold for high prices by tailors.
Great.
Crafters make best stuff for adventuring and diplo.
Adventurers get good stuff for crafting and adventuring.
Diplos get a lot of time spent playing the same stupid card sequence again and again.

btw, Ive yet to be in an adventuring group with a diplo buff. Please explain exactly what that is and how it compares to the many serious buffs you get from adventuring (eg, strength buffs) that are used in adventuring.

Vanguard, Diplo is seriously screwed up/unbalanced.

[Drunkensot]

Originally Posted by Aen

get up to 200 diplomancy then complain. Until then you have nothing to complain about

That's the point. What exactly will i get at level 200? I wasted a lot of time to get to 100, and don't plan on wasting more to get to 200 unless there's something worthwhile at the end. And don't tell me I get a horse at speed 45 plus diplo clothes that give diplo advantages.

Back up your yap with concrete examples of what exactly you got at lvl 200 that was worthwhile.

[Naiya]

Originally Posted by Drunkensot

btw, Ive yet to be in an adventuring group with a diplo buff. Please explain exactly what that is and how it compares to the many serious buffs you get from adventuring (eg, strength buffs) that are used in adventuring.

Vanguard, Diplo is seriously screwed up/unbalanced.

the "diplo buff" you seem to be looking for reminds me of a "buracrat buff" from AO. this is not one and the same. The diplo's will actually change the buffs in a region as in the whole area surrounding the city. Want a Buff to crafting? The diplos work through civic diplomacy to do that. These are long term buffs that work for hours while you are in the area that is affected by the buff. You do not need a specific class to be in your party to get the buff. You get it because the diplo's worked - through using their diplomacy skills to give that buff to everyone in the region.

It sounds like two things are going on here.

1.) <queue Austin Powers voice> Diplomacy is not your bag, babeee.</Austin Powers voice> And that is cool. I mean, Diplo is no for everyone. My BF *hates* it. He has no use for it. But he can adventure and craft until the cows come home. That's cool. It takes all kinds to make a world thrive. Even an MMO world

2.) You did not know a great deal about diplomacy when you first went into it and as a result, the reality is contrasting starkly with what you believed it would be. This is a bit harder to deal with as "reality checks" are not kind - at all. I'm sorry this is how you got your introduction to Diplo. I enjoy it and find the play and challenge great fun. To me, it's a bit like a game of MTGO... it's not the cards, it's knowing WHEN to play them and knowing when to bluff.

All in all I would reccommend giving diplo a break for the time being. Nothing any of us can tell you will make it more interesting for you if you are to frustrated to look at it objectively. I can say this because I *hated* crafting. Couldn't STAND it. Got so frustrated with it I swore I'd never make another one. This weekend, I realied I was misunderstanding something about the process and *bam* once I figured it out (and got to Khal - one of the *best* laid out crafing areas EVAR), I skyrocketed to level 9 in a single afternoon. Could have been higher if I didn't want to waste time adventuring and gathering... but I did....

That said, take a break for a while. See if things change. Ask questions before you dive into it again. Not all spheres will be for everyone. Right now, there are those who are quite pleased with Diplo. Maybe, after time, you will come back to see it a differant way and find it's not that bad too

Diplo is not "unbalanced" to my knowledge this is one of the only games that has ever had this type of interaction between the players and the persistant world - it is new and different and it is not something that everyone will enjoy

Originally Posted by Drunkensot

Back up your yap with concrete examples of what exactly you got at lvl 200 that was worthwhile.

being rude is no way to start, end, or partake in a discussion. While the origional response could have been more fleshed out. This reply was uncalled for. Please remember that if you are joking/being sarcastic, that tone does not come over the online media very well and you should take pains to make people understand that you are joking/being sarcastic. ... /just sayin'

[MagicNumbers]

Originally Posted by Drunkensot

That's the point. What exactly will i get at level 200? I wasted a lot of time to get to 100, and don't plan on wasting more to get to 200 unless there's something worthwhile at the end. And don't tell me I get a horse at speed 45 plus diplo clothes that give diplo advantages.

Back up your yap with concrete examples of what exactly you got at lvl 200 that was worthwhile.

Well no one can make you like diplomacy is that's what you're looking for. The plans for diplomacy are for high level diplomats to actually give out their own quests, diplomats will also be necessary for player cities, diplomats will also be needed to get quests for adventurers, and diplomats will be necessary to get high level crafting recipes for crafters.

That's jsut a few thigns but if you don't like the grind of raising your presence in each respective area (soldier, academic, clergy etc.) then nothing anyone can say will make things more enjoyable for you.

I'm a 118 skill diplomat at the moment and I enjoy it quite a lot especially when I don't have tons of time to play, I can log in and conduct parley's for an hour and turn in some information for rewards that will help me with other quests. There are other quest lines, you just ahve to travel to new areas and find them.

[Drunkensot]

Will diplomats be able to charge for giving access to these quests and recipes? That might make it worth it. Let's see how that develops.

The idea of grinding cards, not being able to adventure, only to be able to let other people get good stuff and do better quests, while the diplomat lives for the day he can win sandals of superdooperness, that give him plus 200 for academic parlays, which is almost as good as what a midlevel tailor is selling for 1 gold on the AH, doesn't sound very inviting. Maybe if I high level diplomat could get a palace or something like that at a high level it might make it worthwhile. Right now, at low to mid levels diplos get next to nothing. I can see the logic of having a sphere where there are no meaningful low level rewards, but it would need to be balanced by having very valuable and unique rewards at high levels.

Altruism in MMOs is for the birds.

[Siul]

Obviously diplomacy is not for and your opinion will not change for no matter what anyone will say.

As for the comments (rude, sarcasm, whatever ppl want to call it) are all uncalled for. In this forum ppl tend to be cordial to others even if they disagree. There have been other examples where users were banned for such actions/attitudes.
From reading this forum I get the general idea that no one likes here to ramp and rage and if that is what suits some users then they should look somewhere else to post their thoughts.

Please keep comments objective and not directed attacks.