Hello,
I'm a long-time player of EFT. I've been playing it since 0.7 and the game made really good progress since then. I remember the times with no Flea Market. There were even times with 3 LLs instead of current 4. The desync was terrible, the quests even worse (remember when you had to find a 6B43 Fort armor as the first quest?). All-in-all the game is so much more enjoyable now and I appreciate all the work BSG put in.
But there is one thing I don't understand:
After adding so many new items, armor vests, guns, ammo types… we still have only 4 Loyalty Levels. Unlocking next LL usually results in unlocking many items that are useless because there are much better variants available on the same level, at the same trader (Ragman, Peacekeeper, Prapor and Skier all suffer from this).
Quick example time, I'm omitting Flea Market on purpose here:
Check what you get on Ragman's LL3. Most of this stuff has no use for a player that is already level 30. On an off-day you MIGHT buy a Kirasa. But why would you if you can get a 6B13/6B13-2 which have a higher armor class than a Kirasa within a similar price range, or even get vests from LL2 (like "Uley" or 6B23). If you're doing quests for Ragman you can even get a GZHEL on the same Level 30. The only time I'm going to wear a Kirasa is when I loot it and want to do a quick SKS run with my under-geared friend (and even then I'll think it through twice). In the current state Kirasa is useless, even without Flea Market.
And I'm not talking about meta-choices here either. I'm talking generally about item distribution, where the player is overwhelmed by items that aren't needed anymore because the same trader has got something much better for the same amount of money.
What I suggest is either:
A) Add more Loyalty Levels for different levels to give players the possibility to get items (that are "useless" later-on) a little bit earlier. This doesn't mean people are going to get all items earlier. The list of items for level 30 can be the same as now, just give the items incrementally to players, so that each item has some use for some time.
B) Add more items as quest-unlocks without LL requirement. This solution removes the need to level up (while still levels players up) to get critical items.
This will make players have better feeling of improvement and a higher chance at surviving, while reducing the chasm between each Loyalty Level that players get. This also reduces how much low level players depend on buying items off Flea Market.
TL;DR – There are too many items, too few Loyalty Levels. That makes some items useless and not worth acquiring from Traders, because better items are available at the same level without a big difference in the price.
