The things I dislike most in party and group events are people who constantly go through the downed-rally-downed-rally-dead cycle. Which is not that uncommon, especially in suboptimal PuGs, especially in places like mid-level fractals or Living Story group events.
Source? Zee meta of berserker’s builds which do not always work when party is not coordinated enough to provide enough DpS to finish the fight fast or enough support to carry glass canons, paired with lack of personal skill to survive with such a build.
Result? Lying dead half of the fight making your party finish for you, or wiping and retrying stacking X times, or spending X tries to finish the dredge fractal with some of your party members totally naked by that moment.
Current state? If you die, you know you will be punished; it may not be a lot, but 1) it is significant for new players, 2) it accumulates over time and 3) no matter how small it is, the psychology tells you “it costs”. You understand that staying alive is at least a bit more profitable than not.
After patch? #GOROLLAZERKLOLIDONTCAREIFIDIECAUSEITSFREEYOLO! Translation: there is almost next to no motivation to stay alive in the group fight because as long as you hit the target a couple of times, you get your credit, and your party/the zerg will take care of everything else. So, more people will be eager to risk – new players because it doesn’t cost them money anymore, old players following nerfs to damage. Thus, more glass canons will start playing, more dead body will start falling, more content will turn into discontent to players who’re tired of spending half of the fight reviving downed zerkers and wiping in process.
TL;DR: removal of repair costs is a step away from “facilitating friendly play” and “build diversity”.
EDIT: hypothetical figures to illustrate the consequences:
- If I run around doing 10 world boss events and pres per day and get 2s per each, then it accumulates into 6g per month.
- If they nerf it to 1.5s, I’ll get 4.5g.
- If someone dies 1 time per hour and spends 1 hour on these 10 events, he used to lose 0.45g from it; so after nerf, he’ll be effectively missing -1.05g.
- If someone dies 4 times per hour and spends 1 hour on these 10 events, he used to lose 1.80g from it; so after nerf, he’ll be effectively getting +0.30g.
(edited by Lishtenbird.2814)