I often stay quiet, but this is really big for me. I and several of the friends I play with have used arc templates for years. Although what we really wanted were official build templates, deltaconnected offered a fantastic 3rd party tool that made the game feel so much richer because of how painless it was to change up the build of a class, and thus the entire feel of it. We were all incredibly excited when we heard the official ones were finally on their way into the game. This however has been a very big letdown for all of us. Not only do the official templates seem less versatile than arc templates, as they are only split into 2 groups (equipment/skills) rather (skills/traits/equipment/legendary-stats), they will also be locked behind a paywall. 2-6 templates may sound like a lot for players who don't engage with swapping around builds too much, but this will have a big impact on my enjoyment of the game. I have dedicated a lot of my time and resources to obtain legendary gear to be able to utillize templates better, so that I painlessly change between the many playstyles the game has to offer, to obtain ultimate freedom in terms of build versatillty. I have 8/9 legendary armor sets thus far. This however takes away that complete freedom I strived to achieve, and I am now asked pay to get some of it back. It may seem silly that someone who is ok with crafting 8 sets of legendary armor is not ok with paying for build templates, but that is where I am at. The many playstyles this game has to offer is what keeps the game fresh for me and many others. I do not think limiting the builds people can access easily is a healthy direction to take for the longevity of the game. People should never be discouraged from changing their playstyles. As others have mentioned a model where character bound templates are unlimited and free, but account bound ones are optional upgrades at a cost could be a better path to take for the overall health of the game. Whenever/ifever "fashion"-templates are added, that would be a more fitting place to monetize templates. Putting price tags build templates very much feels like lines are getting blurred. I have enjoyed the game a lot, and I don't mind spending resources on it, because inherently its a game I want to see succeed and grow. This however is crossing a line for me, I can not support this. For now I will wait and see how the changes play out, but knowing myself I fear the reduced freedom will make me feel too restriced and ultimately leave me dissatisfied.
I often stay quiet, but this is really big for me. I and several of the friends I play with have used arc templates for years. Although what we really wanted were official build templates, deltaconnected offered a fantastic 3rd party tool that made the game feel so much richer because of how painless it was to change up the build of a class, and thus the entire feel of it. We were all incredibly excited when we heard the official ones were finally on their way into the game. This however has been a very big letdown for all of us. Not only do the official templates seem less versatile than arc templates, as they are only split into 2 groups (equipment/skills) rather (skills/traits/equipment/legendary-stats), they will also be locked behind a paywall. 2-6 templates may sound like a lot for players who don't engage with swapping around builds too much, but this will have a big impact on my enjoyment of the game. I have dedicated a lot of my time and resources to obtain legendary gear to be able to utillize templates better, so that I painlessly change between the many playstyles the game has to offer, to obtain ultimate freedom in terms of build versatillty. I have 8/9 legendary armor sets thus far. This however takes away that complete freedom I strived to achieve, and I am now asked pay to get some of it back. It may seem silly that someone who is ok with crafting 8 sets of legendary armor is not ok with paying for build templates, but that is where I am at. The many playstyles this game has to offer is what keeps the game fresh for me and many others. I do not think limiting the builds people can access easily is a healthy direction to take for the longevity of the game. People should never be discouraged from changing their playstyles. As others have mentioned a model where character bound templates are unlimited and free, but account bound ones are optional upgrades at a cost could be a better path to take for the overall health of the game. Whenever/ifever "fashion"-templates are added, that would be a more fitting place to monetize templates. Putting price tags build templates very much feels like lines are getting blurred. I have enjoyed the game a lot, and I don't mind spending resources on it, because inherently its a game I want to see succeed and grow. This however is crossing a line for me, I can not support this. For now I will wait and see how the changes play out, but knowing myself I fear the reduced freedom will make me feel too restriced and ultimately leave me dissatisfied.