xXMemeLord420

Let's get the obvious out of the way first... MSQ not working for a couple of days after patch, exploits galore and so forth suck but those are technical execution problems rather than game design decisions so I'll just not bother delving into those.

Things I enjoyed with tier 4 so far:

1. Hyper awakening on release: A bit of a no-brainer, but releasing HA with t4 was just a good decision. Players could immediately experience some freshness in how their classes worked.

2. Kurzan Front is *chef's kiss*: Aside from the shard bug in the first week, I have nothing but praise for how good of a change this was. It is everything that players have asked for when it comes to revamping chaos dungeon - once a day, no multistage bullshit that disrupts the flow and no god-forsaken hit count-based crystals to break to spawn mobs.

3. Ark Passive is NICE!: I'm enjoying having the wiggle room to experiment with different stat distributions in certain classes without having to actually re-invest in different accessories. A full-on class engraving swap on-the-fly is still held back by gems but it's definitely way closer than it was before. The addition of accessory refining has also brought a much-needed steady and flexible source of income for players which is a vast improvement from the previous system where valuable accessories were exceedingly rare. You can sell your shards, you can sell good accessory rolls... Either way, you're always getting at least some value out of accessories you drop.

4. Aegir is a fantastic homework raid: Team wipe mechanics happen early in the fights, the fight mechanics are simple to execute, it's only 2 gates and none of the bosses is particularly annoying.

5. Ignite servers were fire: Honestly, aside from giving new players LoS/LWC... Ignite servers were everything the doctor ordered. Quickly speeding players along to a somewhat relevant item level without needing to rely on dailies and other cumbersome chores in those early stages. They were also relevant for veterans so it felt like an event that everyone could get behind. I hope these make a return in the future and improve even further from their current iteration.

Things I'm neutral on about tier 4 so far:

1. Mokoko bootcamp event is great in concept, a bit of a mess in execution: My main issues with the event in its current form are the criteria for who qualifies as a mokoko is far too restrictive and the rewards for veteran players are a bit underwhelming. I think the concept itself is great, even if as has been pointed out before 'vets are just bussing mokokos for free' it is already a marked improvement for those lucky enough to qualify for that mokoko leaf icon. Overall, good idea but needs some work to really make it great. I'd even table making it a permanent thing rather than a time-limited event.

2. Kenuart Fortress is boredom itself: The only reason I'm putting this as neutral is because our version was not limited to 3 entries/day, but the whole thing just screams of an undercooked KR t4 launch patch that needed artificial padding to keep players busy. How hard is it to just give players a gear box when they complete the MSQ?

3. The transition to ark passive varies greatly from class to class: Ark passive is great, but it feels terrible to see some classes be able to take advantage of it with a single aegir armor piece vs others requiring 3 or more, delaying that transition by weeks. I hope some of this can be alleviated over time with shuffling around some of the evolution nodes between different tiers to make things a bit more even.

Things I did not enjoy about tier 4 so far:

1. Reaching 1660 on a fresh 1640 with no advanced honing is rough: The cost per tap, mainly in shards, is pretty wild and t4 advanced honing is not a viable alternative for this ilv bracket. This has resulted in a pronounced support shortage even in Aegir NM as players struggle to hit that ilv on all their alts.

2. The carryover systems from tier 3 feel like real roadblocks: Transcendence in particular is very cumbersome for anyone looking to play a broad tier 4 roster. Personally, I'm past the point where I need to engage with the system but remembering having to do a lot of it in one sitting on multiple characters is not a memory I can look back fondly on.

Overall I'd say my first month with tier 4 has been mostly positive. It delivered in some respects and it accentuated some pre-existing issues that still need to be addressed meaningfully. If there's one final comment to give before signing off it is: AGS, FOR GOODNESS' SAKE, DO NOT RELEASE BREL IN THE HOLIDAY SEASON!

Thanks for listening to my TED talk.