Exactly !!! Finaly somebody stated that damn obvious problem this game had from its start.
There is a mega ultra huge gap btw people who have time and decide to "grind" (or just dont have much time, but are not willing to pay either, like me) and those who payed and now are pwning those who didnt.

I wouldnt have problem with grinding my gear all the way to the top, but I want to have just the same chances to do so in games, as those who payed. As you mentioned some ELO, or proper matchmaking system which takes into concideration your gear and results should be (or MUST is a better word) introduced. Because now I am so demotivated to grind any puppies, just because in 95% of the games I get raped by some loosers, who are not skilled at all, but outgear me totally.

And excuses like "we need much larger player base, before we do something" are just crap talk, since with this system, you only get negative results on that. And as mentioned in max 1-2y time, you end up with closing all servers, because 1k players wont be paying you forever.

Honestly, I'd love to see no gear in the game at all, especially amulets. But (yes, again ) developers have already said that they don't see Panzar as cybersport game (yet, we watch tournaments ), so it'd be unfair to expect something like equality. But again, everyone may not pay, and suffer like me.
And about patch 31, there's no information yet, it was just a stream that revealed some upcoming features.
P.S. even the one with full equipment can be frozen, knocked down etc. and killed, so block (+eyes) is essential in any situation.

Well I'm more into Pink Unicorns and Flaming (RGB) Angel-Wings for my Paladin than Premium and Gear shopping...

No it's not unfair to ask something like that, and to be honest, one solution can be, that by the time you reach a certain bracket, those who bought their way to victory (atm) won't be 1-2 shooting F2P people trough block.
Rather by the time you reach the next bracket, you should already have the full gear of your current bracket, and part of the materials for the next bracket's gears. ( un-enhanced )

I know that you can slow down leveling past lvl4... but it's like saying :
"Fortunately, we have a solution for people who aren't able to get some form of gear trough our cash shop, it's called Xbox 360... I mean the grind & adjustable reward bar." //sarcasm

i'm still at a loss for what gear you can buy with only money that is better than what you can grind (excluding the insane upkeep of amulets)...

If you wanted to you could rush to L20 with the slider... Its not advised nor does it guarantee you'll be on the same level as other 20s whether they're pay or grind type players. One must be cautious of how they use this... From what I can tell its generally good to grind once you get to the top of a level bracket as apposed to just jumping into the next bracket.

It still sits like this. Whether you pay or grind the top level gear is the same either way (excluding the insane upkeep of amulets). All i'm seeing in this thread is "they have better gear than me" ... and besides a few instances with amulets (which i've already commented on) there is no way this can happen.

Medals = Amulets... ( my bad ) Plus craft can fail...

I do hope it's not forbidden here to say : there will be 100% craft chance thanx to next update (but it will take some time to create somethig instead).

Yes, they could introduce real brackets, where achieving the next bracket introduces new skills or ability points.
I've beaten level 10's+ with my level 4 characters, so gear is not the imbalance issue right now. However, amulets and BIG RUNES certainly are. Big runes and amulets are all you need to purchase to have an advantage over anyone.

I agree with the OP 100%. Take it all out, wipe, and refund crystals. This model may work in Russia (I see Prime World has the same sort of model - already getting complaints), however, in EU and NA it will NOT WORK AT ALL!

This game has amazing potential, and I love it. I always support it, and always try my best to explain against the P2W argument. However, the imbalance is ridiculous. I played with a player who came last place every match. He wasn't very good at the game at all, but he was a fun dude. He bought crystals for amulets and gear, and then all of a sudden he was getting first and 2nd every match. He still played horrendously, but because of his equipment alone, it made up for all his flaws (he was a berserker).

Even after seeing that, I still argued against the game being P2W. I mean, NEXT joined the server in one week. Leveled to level 10 then bought their way to level 20, and bought amulets and runes, and even with +2 gear, they won the whole tournament. Was that just all their years of experience and skill, or does this just prove that being a "premium player" gives you a huge advantage over everyone else?

Also, does this mean that to be a formidable foe in the competitive tournaments, your whole team need to have amulets and big runes?
There are not a lot of arguments against this either.

I really want to see this game get popular and big. But the cash shop model is horrible. The game is getting a very bad reputation. Check the review sites, every comment thread has players chanting "P2W! P2W!" You think the player base can ever grow?

The cash shop technically is more expensive per year than if the game was P2P.

Many believe Panzar is still in Beta though technically we are not. This can be used as an advantage to make a change right now. With a bad reputation like Panzar has right now, the game will never get more popular than it is at this moment.

I would LOVE to see advertisements every single time I start up my game, rather then being forced to buy amulets every time I wish to join a tournament. Even with max blacksmithing skill, I have 70% chance to successfully make an amulet. I once failed 5 times in a row, the prospect of grinding that many materials back again really crushed my spirit. Especially since my 7 day premium ran out that same day. F2P resource drops are a joke, you have no chance. Even potion drops are so low that as a F2Per you'll likely have to by crystals to get the 100 pots.
Turning healing into a skill would balance the game more.

This game could be an E-Sport if the Russian pay model is destroyed and reformed for the market you're going into. Balance and skill is all we want. Test the waters a little bit, and watch your profit margin grow. I doubt the game will be doing so well in a year, and I don't want to clock even more hundred hours into a dying game.

@synsane... hey buddy... long time no talk...

basically what you're saying is the amulets and runes... the really hard to upkeep items are the issue. Obviously not all gear is the issue. Paying for levels is not the issue...

The main issue is the amulets and runes which I have said on multiple occasions in this thread. Mainly because they require so much to craft but only last for 7 days.

Obviously we dont need to change the whole system because of people whining... just the part that is broken.

I've discussed this in many threads before and I haven't seen any new reasoning behind why buying levels or buying armor/weapons with money makes this game P2W... However I have stated on multiple occasions that the amulets and large runes need to be changed in some way shape or form.

Dont abolish the store... just fix the oh so few bad things about it.

.:EDIT:.
another possible fix for "eSport" would be limiting those amulets and runes during the tourney or a clan match

The issue with the leveling and gearing aspect of the current system is that it is not accepted in the western market.
( Maybe a system like "After reaching max level with a character, you can start at ABC lvl with another char for XXX Crystal." but I am not sure )

Leveling - It just simply breaks the brackets.
Regarding Gearing - I hope they make something with the gears, like turn them into Set Items and add the Amulet stats as Set Bonuses..
The enhancement system could be polished.. ( maybe adopt a korean craft sytem where items could break during upgrade after +x level )

Btw. what will be the use of the gold on higher levels, will enhance costs increase, craft recipes?

there have been multiple FPS games that have used that type of forumula... a lot even worse... and they are still going with quite a few players in all of them

just think about this...


SCENARIO 1 - Constantly used, successful, and considered completely acceptable in the FPS community.
you can buy a weapon or part for real money
OR
you can pay a buttload of earned credits to get it permanently that takes you a month or 2 to earn
repeat this for the 20 pieces of gear you need for 1 full loadout

to help get you there you can rent that weapon for various time frames but this only elongates your grind to get it permanently.

SCENARIO 2 - used in panzar and considered a travesty and should be done away with
you can buy a piece of armor or a weapons outright with real money
OR
you can grind for a few days to get one piece
do this for the 10 pieces of gear you need for your character a few times over the course of that character
to help get you there the developer has offered an xp or gold slider to keep you from leveling up into higher brackets without the gear that will help you.

see where i'm going with this?
migrate this to another genre and suddenly it looks amazing!

as for the levels... its simple time or money still... there is nothing wrong with granting levels for money. If you pay the buttload it costs to get all the way to 20 you then either have to pay even more for gear or grind with no armor to get your armor. After that you need to either spend more money to convert it to gold or grind out gold so that you can enchant your gear. This is all on top of the fact that you have no idea how to use your character.
Buying your way to L20 in and of itself is actually a dumb thing to do... especially for a newer player. For experienced players its a way to get past all the grind but still isn't advised...