Talk:Elite Mission

Does anyone else find this is a poor way of allowing access to this area? I mean it means that 99.9% of gamers cannot access this area. I for one love FoW and UW just because they are great areas for exploration and something to do when you finish the rest of the game. I was hoping they added a similar area for factions and it indeed seems they have. Farm for faction = access to the elite missions. I always thought the Dev's hated farming, isn't this just forcing it? --SK 01:54, 12 May 2006 (CDT)
 * Well since ppl aren't forced to play Elite Missions, just like players aren't forced to get Obsidian Armor, I don't see a valid argument of forcing ppl to farm. -PanSola 02:06, 12 May 2006 (CDT)
 * Your twisting my words. If you want access to this area you and your guild must come up with some hefty faction points.  The only way this is possible is to farm for it.  I'm not saying everyone is forced to farm but you are if you want access to the Elite Missions.  Is it really not clear what I am talking about since this is the "Talk" section of the Elite Missions? Sound's like you just wanting to be annoying to me --SK 04:33, 12 May 2006 (CDT)


 * After reading your response, I still don't think I twisted your words, though I may have misunderstood your scope of "forcing". Your last sentence in the original post indicated your expectation/assumption/understanding that the Dev's hated farming.  From the structure of the sentences I took it to me you believed the Devs hated any type of farming, as opposed to the Devs specifically hating farming to gain access to an optional area.  Thus when I responded, I drew an analogy with the acquisition of Obsidian Armor, something else that is also optional and hard to acquire.  Because I believed that your belief of Dev's hatred of farming is a general one, the analogy would hold despite the fact that Elite Missions is access to an area whereas Obsidian Armor is a in-game item to keep.  They are both optional and desired by many.
 * Now, the only way to acquire Obsidian Armor is to come up with some hefty amount of rare crafting materials and gold. The only way that is possible is to farm for it.  And because the way I interpreted the last sentence of your original paragraph, I made the unfortunate mistaken assumption that you did not consider acquisiton of Obsidian Armor to be forced farming.  Using that wrong assumption, I furture developed my argument that "if it is something optional to get, then even if the only way to obtain it is through farming, it is not considered forcing people to farm", which I mistakenly thought would be consistent with your definition of "forcing people to farm".  And thus, I used that argument which was based on wrong assumptions to argue that the Devs aren't forcing people to farm with respect to the Elite Missions.


 * After I have figured out where the misunderstanding came from, here's my revised response: "I believe the Devs do NOT hate farming, this opinion is supported by the need to farm in order to acquire Obsidian Armor. Thus I do not perceive an inconsistency in the Dev's stance/position on farming when the only way to gain access to Elite missions is through farming."


 * Apologies for my misunderstanding. -PanSola 05:25, 12 May 2006 (CDT)


 * I haven't played Factions a lot, but is this REALLY THE ONLY HIGH LEVEL CONTENT IN THE GAME? By high level content I mean: comparable to UW/FoW. If so, I am pissed off. I have nothing else to do when I have played through Factions but play on high level areas, so if there is no other high level area, I'll just quit playing and spend all my time in the wiki, waiting for the next expansion. There is no way I could ever get to those areas as I am not willing to change my guild and the alliances which control the Elite Missions are not taking new guilds, especially not ones who do not farm for faction. Please tell me there is something to do besides the elite missions? And I am NOT interested in repeating the same competitive missions again and again to no end to get a new highscore. --[[Image:Gem-icon-sm.png|User:Gem]] 05:41, 12 May 2006 (CDT)
 * I'm not sure if Challenge Missions are considered high level content. Heck, I'm not sure how to compare things.  For reference, is Sorrow's Furnace considered high level content, barely, or not even close?  If you mean having ot pay 1 plat to enter and get kicked out when your party or an NPC dies, FoW and UW are probably unique so far.  They are core areas too btw. -PanSola 06:04, 12 May 2006 (CDT)
 * Also, you can hope for generous guilds to hold control of the towns. I heard one of the guilds held HzH and was letting ppl into elite missions for at least a week. -PanSola 06:07, 12 May 2006 (CDT)


 * Your idea sounds like a small money making idea for alliances by charging say 2-3k to join thier alliance, thus making a profit & letting people get into elite missions --Jamie 06:12, 12 May 2006 (CDT)
 * You don't need to join the alliance to enter. You just need to be in the party of an alliance member. -PanSola 06:14, 12 May 2006 (CDT)


 * On another note, while the Taiwanese region have won a few HoH matches, they have not yet got 5 victories to gain the favor of gods or to gain access to FoW/UW. However some Taiwanese alliances have been able to gain access to the elite missions, so that's some kind of balance on the bigger picture. -PanSola 06:11, 12 May 2006 (CDT)


 * Favor:
 * A big problem with that concept is, that it is not really possible to scale it. With 3 regions, it was ok, but with 5 it is getting much harder. Would be better to have just one region asia instead of korea, japan and taiwan (3 hurra for european integration and a booh for asian nationalism hehe).
 * With regard to high level content (in PvE), if that depends on difficulty, there are a few things that can be thought of:
 * All explorable regions prior to the "entrance mission" (hatchery/grove) I'd put down as easy, the missions itself are fairly easy for old players as well. After the entrance misssion you get some regions that are a bit more difficult and with lots of elites in it (comparable to southern shiverpeaks). Then there is the unwaking waters explorable, which does return you to the outpost after dieing and features some heavier mobs. Like an all time FoW, just much smaller and always accessable. After that, only elite missions and challange missions. --Xeeron 06:23, 12 May 2006 (CDT)


 * They are elite missions because they have elite loot and therefore it is fair to assume they also have the hardest monsters. The system in place right now is a catastrophy and a sham and more importantly, a shame. We'll see how they address it. If they are satisfied with the current design, I'll quit the game. Not because I won't have anything to do in the game -I will- but to make a statement, that I will not support a structure that favors such blatant elitism. It confirms my perception that the Devs in Anet have no connection what so ever with the average players of the game and only consult those same elitists who benefit from "fame" and "ladders" and "elite missions." --Karlos 09:51, 12 May 2006 (CDT)


 * 1. Obsidian armour's a great analogy for the Urgoz and Kanaxai greens, all of which seem to be reskins of other, more affordable greens, but it's a horrible analogy for the missions themselves. The actual missions are analogous to the Fissure and Underworld.
 * 2. It looks like control of elite missions could be extremely vulnerable to faction farming bots. I've done some quick calculations and the numbers look pretty disturbing.
 * 3. Giving ANet the benefit of the doubt, Prophecies had no non-core, non-favour locked postgame areas until Sorrow's Furnace. As far as I'm concerned, they have until the end of summer to either open up elite missions for everyone on the right side or add a postgame area like a third divine realm, a Sorrow's Furnace type area or something similar before I get angry.
 * -- Gordon Ecker 00:45, 14 May 2006 (CDT)