Awful Pixel System

It's also a game that has many design issues, lazy cut-corners, was originally supposed to be an RPG/Adventure game with a story etc. as well. Frustration does not a good design make.

 

That may be the case now but I'd expect that to change for the late tier. They cut back costs early in the game but later on I expect that the pixel cost will be quite relevant in crafting. It just didn't make much sense early on because there aren't a lot of ways to earn pixels at that point in the game. Once you can explore planets easily you can amass hordes by finding dungeons.

Very true but the death penalty in the game isn't one of its problems.

 

I assume you are talking about Minecraft, a game which I have put many hours into and in which any loss of items on death can be mitigated with a bit of forethought - i.e. don't carry around stacks of valuable items, store backup armour sets at your spawn and remember where you died (+stay away from lava). The same remained true of Terraria.

 

Yep, and your items in Starbound are completely safe too. The only penalty is a measly sum of currency which is in no short supply. All in all the three games are pretty fair.

 

OK, lets say that pixels are so common in the final game that the *30%* death penalty is not an issue. Basically that means that pixels are completely worthless and there is no point at all in them being in the game in the first place. On the other hand, it is more likely that pixels will become more valuable, in which case it is worth getting in our two cents early about how we have no interest in being overly punished for our mistakes.

 

That doesn't follow logically. It is entirely possible for the 30% penalty to be fine and pixels to retain value.

 

Another quote from you above: "The only penalty is a measly sum of currency which is in no short supply". You state yourself that the currency is in no short supply, and while I am not a student of economics it does not take one to realize that the value of a currency goes down when more currency enters the system. If 30% of your entire bank account is a "measly sum of currency" then the currency has no value.

 

So. You want a game with no penalty? Why don't you use cheats then? Why waste time mining for ore, chopping down trees for fuel, or doing anything to get materials I mean it is all completely unnecessary.

 

It sure has value. It is in no short supply but you still have to go out and get it without dying! Maybe you missed that part

 

I don't see how these things are related. You still have to spend your time gathering the materials to advance, you just don't get punished when you make a mistake. For example, Terraria has a mode in which there is no death penalty, yet it still takes plenty of time and effort to work your way up through the tiers, fighting the bosses and finding/crafting the loot.

 

I'm glad Tiy is adding a pixel bank. No, I don't care that it eats 40% of my pixels. The fact of the matter is that you can earn 2k pixels in less than five minutes on a high-level planet, more than enough to craft or 3D print whatever piece you need. "Grinding" in this game is not hard, it's not even really a grind when monsters drop anything between 10 and 300 pixels upon death. If you don't like losing pixels, do your damn best not to die. Some games take all of your currency upon death, or stuff massive equip repair costs down your throat. Besides, we don't know how the new balance changes are going to affect the frequency of death.

 

No not really, if someone has so many pixels that they are basically hoarding it then this makes pixels basically entirely pointless, why have a currency that is so easy to obtain that you never have a problem with obtaining it? It mind as well never exist at that point since it's not even legit effecting you.

The only people being effected by pixels then, would be that of new characters who would constantly die to monsters because of bad equipment and then lose said pixels, making it extremely hard at the start and then just instantly peak? For only 800 pixels I got two guns and basically ran around destroying everything, pixels at that point basically became not a problem... It made pixels worthless within only a few hours of gameplay.

Because those materials are actually within need and not within hoarding-state? Pixels become pointless because they're easily hoarded just from getting decent weapons, those aren't.

 

Why would you bother if a 30% increase in your bank account balance is a 'measly amount'. Because you like big numbers? There has to be something worth buying with that money or it is just that. If there is something worth buying then all of a sudden that 'measly' amount becomes very precious and you will realize what I am saying.

 

Your problem is that pixels have no value so why do anything to penalize you. My point is why have any penalty at all in this case the time to do things. The point being is with both you are having to do something to gain them.

Edit;

And having some kind of penalty makes the actual getting of them have value.

 

Well no the problem isn't that pixels need no penalization because their lack of value their problem is they have no value. They need to be made actually worthwhile to the user and not simply something they'll know as a thing that they'll get an unneeded amount of later in-game...

 

By the first boss I had almost 2k of pixels, and in that time I wasn't traveling around the space, trying to gather some equips. So I started dying against the Penquin boss and wasn't giving a F*ck about it. I was able to regain almost all the losses in less than 10 minutes, jumping and slashing around.

 

Ok so you want them to be useful. We have the 3d printer and most items have no value and cannot be 3d printed and on top of this in my server console I get the message___ has no value a good guess of mine is that many, many items if not all will be able to be made with pixels using the 3d printer and that it is simply not implemented yet. So the only reason they have no value atm is because the lack of content gives them no use.

 

Then what is there to encourage you to play better at all?

I can easily turn this around. If it is so easy to acquire pixels and they have no value then what is the problem with the 30% penalty in the first place? This clearly isn't a desirable case either as it also negates the death penalty. The reality is that there is no tie between how valuable pixels are and the death penalty. The only measure of value in the pixels is the relative cost of items to the relative easy it is to acquire them. It is easy enough to account for the death penalty in the equation when setting item prices. What the % penalty does is keep the number from becoming unreasonably high so that it isn't necessary to grind large sums due to currency flooding.

If you are saving up for something big and the 30% penalty becomes large then you have two options:
1. Learn to play carefully so that you don't die (This should be how you play anyway! Dying is bad!)
2. Eat the deposit fee so that you can keep the money safe if you aren't willing to risk the loss on death.

Remember the penalty only matters if you actually die.

 

Let's simplify this discussion and assume that pixels are worth more when the game is released. This seems very likely to me, but I am happy to debate this further. OK, with that assumption, do you agree with a 30% death penalty and a 40% banking penalty?

 

Absolutely, I don't plan on dying