Backwards compability on weapons and armor

One of the biggest reasons hunting feels monotone, aside from the archaic combat, is because players buy gear not to hunt, but to hunt a specific monster.

As armor, weapons and attachments require quite a substantial investment this means that players taking a break from hunting their preferred mob will not just scale down a few steps. No, rather they will skip all investments and just shoot punies. Not because they can't afford buying some lower level armor and weapons; but rather because they do not feel that they will live through shooting several thousand of them.

Not only that but players, naturally, feel obliged to use their latest unlock. Even if they know full well that their PED card won't support it. But more often than just depositing more, which any company would love, these players will just take a rage fuelled vacation after emptying their card on 20 kills.

The suggestion:
Give armor and weapons a slider that lets a player slide down their efficiency. 30% efficiency means 30% of original damage and original decay and thus 30% of the original skillgain. This lets players hunt with their new shiny weapons, take on other enemies and bind up less PED in gear that only sees the sun once per year.

Scares:
Won't we see super amp setups then?
Amp efficiency is dropped with weapon efficiency. As such dmg/pec will be constant

Won't this crash the armor/weapon market?
Very unlikely. Most people who "go down" in hunting just rely on herbboxes and TT weapons. Or they just use their old gear.

Ha! So MA will lose money on people not overkilling & overprotecting!
Most people who want to try smaller mobs end up leaving instead because they're very unlikely to bind up even more PED.
Player retention is much more valuable than a few PED from overkills.

Won't everyone use supremacy and mod mercs?
Skill still dictates what weapon you can max, even at reduced efficicency. I am doubtful very many mod merc users bought the guns for extended hunting of Nusul.

How will this benefit MA?
Less money stuck in unused gear. Less people rage-quitting after feeling obliged to hunt outside their comfort zone. Less people giving up hunting due to monotone hunts. Possibly also more teaming.

No crafting sliders on my guns pls. Mkay?

No...

If people do not want/like to use lower weaposn - thats their problem.

Personally i am often adjusting weapons and choose many different weapons. Hunting mobs from punies, merps, argos to sumimas, troxes, aurlis, proterons.

If this will be impleneted then there will be one road in each weapon type categorey that everyone will HAVE TO follow without looking back and thats just stupid.

Falagor

I see the main Winners of your suggestion would be the the ones who have over-above eco gear (imk2 etc)

I have a hard time to see someone who have imk2 in storage and want to hunt smaller mobs doesn't also have some smaller weapon availible (eg the old opalo+a101 setup), or mann mph (instead of mod merc) for hunting punies.

One invention I just realized could be damage de-hancers: Instead of gaining 10% base damage for each enhancer, you get a 10% reduction (and same reduction in ammo consumption/decay), at the cost of enhancer decay.

I would want an opposite slider: Instead of your 0%-100% efficiency, I'd like a box where I could write in any number. Let's say I want to hunt spiders, then I could enter "400%" in the box on my archon sword and go slashing. Or I could get 26 attacks/minute on my plasma rifle instead of 13 attacks/minute.

To a degree you can adjust the protection of your UL armor sets, just repair it for example max 25%. Never done this myself and i dont know anyone doing this but its possible.

For weapons, we have lots of different weapons i dont see a need for a slider. I like the variety of hunting tools as it is and wouldnt like to sacrifice this diversity for a few more players. I dont even know if that would chase more players away from the game than keeping.

Definately NO

If this would be possible, the weak market for lower levels L weapons, would die completely.

Actually there is still chance for crafters, that some hunters (who own UBER uL Guns), buy a lower level L gun, to do one of the daily missions.

Same counts for armors (L) ones.

Why buy a small L armor to do a mission on smaller mobs, when its possible to just move a slider at uL Suprem Set to have same eco protection ?

Some here reallly hate every crafter, although crafting is already hardest proffession to survive.

Anyone who passed lvl 50 is probably already adicted to see green lines in chat.
Going back down mean you are prepared to die bored.
I like to hunt small mobs.
I tend to do it without armor and with low weapons like opalo, agressio or crusho and ocasionaly TT powerfist.
Its cool if you do team hunt like that but as solo hunter is boring.
No skill gains and nothing in loot that could surprise you.
Better to try another profession in wich you are enought low to enjoy progress or take a break.
Most of players play singleplayer game in EU and that is irron missions, crafting, mining.
Mean player is alone, soloing many hours a day , day after day, for years.
It have wery litle to do with so called mmorpgs.
Best would be ofc teaming with TT gear.
Caly had in past events like opalo hunt trox and biger mobs where fun was not in what you gain be it in skills or loot.
Usualy all team mates hunted without armor, a lot of run backs from revival but was fun.
It was like - we been there, we did it, is posssible to do it - just need enought team mates.

One armor slider wont give more fun, it only extend your possibility to be alone in your endles grinding.
But if MA would take care of medium players and veterans retention you would not have such problems.
We are used to hear for more than 5 years about how MA work on newcomers retention.
Well many of us come in EU when there was no oil rig, no mentors, no any info on web, no forums, no free starting gear, no sweating ect...
And we are still here.
I think that is time that MA stop thining just of newcomers, is not game where average player come and play for six month or maximum year and half lifespan as it happen for many other games.
Its wirtual world where player will live with his avatar for ten, twenty or more years.
So MA shud stop f...ing with new players retention as excuse to do wery litle for medium and up players retention.