t2+ is in deed a bit useless i guess. too rare and not dood enough for use if t4 is better. and way to rare for speed fits in pvp.

t4+ is way too rare. i havent got my hands on a full set for a pve mesmer. and that in ages...

and t3- is a bit too special as better speed fitting then t2... especially because you usually dont get the items droped that are needed. and items that are not needed are stockpiling while important items are too rare...

Loot will most likely be reworked when we replace the fixed spawns with roaming ones, but that still leaves the question of the token shop.

Certainly a marked improvement on the assignment system. Regarding the token shop; it's a shop, I want to know what I am spending my tokens on, so I would rather have a need to spend an obsurd amount of tokens to get what I want, rather than being a random thing.

Nothing wrong with that

This stuff needs to drop from the rats themselves though, not just from the shop

i just want to hint on the fact that you need NIC sinks, not token sinks.
When you limit the accessability of the higher grade syndicate shop items to minimum relation with certain faction - why do you need a second currency?

That's the best solution. Option for skipping the frustrating RNG by buying the item directly while also leaving the door open for more profit via selling the box loot on the market.

@Zoom: About relation penalties, will it be possible to earn high relations with all of the factions or just one/two?

To be honest, with the current state of the economy, everything that could have NIC cost should have NIC cost.

I'd remove all the superfluous tech levels that serve only as stepping stones. Could just be T1, T2, X, T3, Y with the appropriate prototypes techs. T1 for equipment with ABC minerals, T2 adds Epriton and T3 adds Colixum. The X and Y would be the token shop/rare drop equipment.

In fact, I would even make upgrading T2 and T3 easier by requiring only lower tech item and Epriton/Colixum without additional need of ABC minerals. That would likely benefit Alpha production since Beta/Gamma players could just import the lower tech gear instead of minerals. Nice dream.

This thread is full of partisan support and constructive criticism. Just wanna say these changes look more pleasing than they sounded before. Keep up the good work and just try to keep the monthly updates, blogs, and push the content. Let us test it on the test server even if you think its broken. Especially those npc battles. If you get NPC battles established I swear I'll buy three more accounts and boost them all. Im not a huge fan of pve but I loved incursions in eve and this seems similar but so much better. Why? Because its perpetuum and has mechs.

hmm I missed that

Jita and Celebro - the point is that the tokens are superfluous when you already have
1. currency
2. reputation

make the reputation dynamic instead static and you don't need an additional currency per faction or additional currency drops from npcs as Gwyndor suggests.

on the matter of mission goals - they should resolve around the 6(+1) factions ingame, and affect a background relation simulation (similar to the one in ED). In a less abstract form:

• Production Missions
  These missions should resolve around bulding items for the NPC market seeds, or building maintenance.
  Example:
  Asintec corp asks you to build 20 Prometheus robots using a CT they hand you out that only lasts for 20 cycles.
  At the end you will get a little less NIC then the NPC seed worth of the bots, but reputation gain ontop. Alternatively you can use your own CT and build the bots much cheaper if your extensions allow you and get extra credits (but you have to build them, not just use stocked or bought ones)

• Combat missions
  ask you to kill another factions NPC Roaming forces
  these will result in the other factions standing towards your contractor also fall and will generate countermissions

• ...

i just don't see any use for additional tokens aside from something similar to ED's bounty tokens that you get for killing wanted or in contributing in conflict zones. (also, replacing plasma as "loot" drop)

I really like the discussion with the token shop.  I like aids dropping from npc a and direct buy for large token amounts for t4+ and t2+.  I REALLY think it would stimulate tokens!

this would need the player2player trade window working on terrain too.

good point, maybe its also time to get rid of 200+ "Squads"

how do the rewards scale with more people in the squad (up to 10 that is)