Hows the game now?

FunnyGuy112

Came back after a couple of years quit around 2 years after launch, is the game still gear dependent on the high level bosses or is the game more skill2win now?

Cashews

The game has always been skill2win. Only now is it gear dependent, and only for the one boss that recently released: Neamhain. This raid was intended to be exceedingly difficult for the best of the best, even in the Korean servers.

Basic gear (a +10 and some level-appropriate armor) is ridiculously easy to get now, and basic gear is all that was ever really needed to complete the raids. Going solo or aiming for top damage every raid is another story, but not like you need to do that to get some lucky drops or just enjoy the game.

FunnyGuy112

Yeah makes sense, I remember raidhunter running high enchanted full plate armor with sentinel enchants just so he can solo Glas on spear Lann because spears didn't have i-frames. And apparently to do the raid version of Elchulus you had to have high enchanted gear for a level 70. That's where the gear dependent thing came from.

Throwing back some classics:

Breadman

S3 (thus far) eased out on the gear requirements with the low attack cap. In addition, most of the characters have received buffs that all make them well rounded and self sufficient. You can solo S3 bosses if you know how to avoid damage, better gear will just give you faster clear times.

NotRain

the reason the lann needs high defense, good gear and lots of potions is because he does not dodge. there was no skill involved in that game play, he just spins for very little damage and eats potions on down time. Furthermore, spears and every char had i-frames and because he chooses not to use them does not mean that the only way to play lann was to facetank.

Cashews

5 quickslots and giant HP/SP bar. That's most certainly pre-ignition, where spear Lann had NO i-frames. To play spear Lann back then you actually did have to be either ridiculously skilled or facetank.

Question2

Its still gear dependant. Yes you get free level 80 gear now, but you will do no damage in s2 raids with that, let alone s3. Sure, empos are super cheap now, but not elixirs and you still need to use runes to +10 it, and given the price of runes, most players would rather save runes for level 90 OJ weapons. Even the +9 event gear is going to put you at 18-19k att at best, which is fine for s2 but not s3.

S3 bosses have inflated hp pools so they take a while to kill even if you are attack capped.

That said its much easier to make a level 90 OJ weapon now, but you still need to fam seals in s1/s2 to make it, then get some people to carry you through a raid for the recipe. Then you still need to +10 it...which requires substantial para stones, which mainly drops from muir, a daily battle. It cant take quite a while to +10 a weapon if you are unlucky and trying to minimize usage of runes.

Cessa

Getting +10 endgame weapon is easier than ever.

Getting +15 min/max endgame weapon is just as impossible as ever. If you quit because your weapon always broke and then you lose hundreds of hours of work when that weapon was destroyed, there's no point in coming back. Because that is still here.

http://forums.vindictus.nexon.net/discussion/2735/retaining-players