13 Jun 2006 at 14:10 - 6
To the OP,
I am completely opposed to the existence of Faction as ANet has instituted it. The promise/indication that they were/are creating an alternative method of access to UW/FoW or controlled content areas of Cantha appears to be utterly false (maybe even a lie) as it has not happened already. I have no characters in any position to enter these so-called elite mission areas and no desire to even try get close to them because of the immoral way this has been done: To make the recreational lives of others subject to the will of a few. I have already seen a thread someplace describing bot farming of faction, and the bots doing better at healing than the NPC monks. Further, there is nothing to prevent an E-bay gold buyer from purchasing faction from mercenary players.
I hold the same disagreement with favor where again an extreme minority, who in this case could care less, are responsible for controlling access for their region - result in only holding it during peak hours, and those who play during off peak hours become less worthy of person-hood because their lives are on a different schedule. I am also opposed to favor because it has been used to say, ''If you don't like not having it go get it.'' That attitude, given the restricted number of persons who are able to even work for the personal practice at being able to do so (either because of limited slots or personal time) is demeaning to the customer base accross a large majority.
That many alliances take people for free as a form of charity destroys the very concept of playing a heroic character which would have access of their own accord. It is also demeaning to people that do not wish to play outside their private circle of friends. (Often because others are vulgar, disrespectful, beligerant, scammers, sexually harrasing, use one for getting what they want and then port out, etc., it is desirable never to PUG, join guilds, or alliances.)
In addition joining someone elses guild means destroying my own guild, which was not created to rule over others. It was created for self expression of an ideal for me. No place in the game description does it say, ''You must form or be a member of guilds in order to play, participate, be bogged down in Guild Politics, make controling decisions over other members, promote some and not others, etc. When I began discussing alliance possibilities it was so persons like me, creative individualists, could play with others whom they liked without having to give up personal integritty or creativity. Instead, we have alliance structures aimed at the exact opposite, that is to coerce players into giving up personal integritty and creativity to join Multi-corporation Faction Farming Zergs.
At one time I supported the 1k cost for getting into content areas. But since I paid for the game with real money, I no longer do.
The only acceptable reason to play for faction is not control of other players recreational time, light shows, or merchant discounts but because you choose to support and participate in that activity. Do the right thing for the right reasons. If the thing in and of itself is useless or provides no right reason to do it then it has no reason to be done.
My proposal is to have everyone have access period.
Fitz
The other benefit of access to elite missions is moot since so many people are ferrying. Obviously this system is flawed in some way.
