If people enjoyed the game enough to buy more content that stance would be fine, but given that the game averages 30 to 40 players (on steam) during prime times, it seems to me that it isn't helping. You yourself, Quanrian, say its been brought up many many times and that it's constantly discussed. Doesn't this indicate that it's already become damaging?

While I disagree with your perspective, I respect that it may very well be viable; I just don't think it is right now. A multiplayer game with no players is doomed to fail. And to that point, free players add to the player count and when they get treated poorly by the game's economy they'll jump ship; further decreasing that total and preventing them from ever becoming paying players. I personally think people vastly underestimate the importance of free players, especially in small titles like this one.

I'd have to agree with Quanrian about the splitting rewards at the end of a match. The way we have to divvy up the prizes turns your allies into your worst enemies. At the end of any mission you may be left with frustration when everyone jumps in on your preferred loot, rather than rejoicing for another hard battle won.

By contrast, in Warframe (another third person action shooter involving large amounts of grinding), so long as everyone remembers to loot the goods on the battlefield, everyone gets the same yield from a mission. That keeps everything in the cooperative spirit and makes you feel like you're progressing ever closer to your goal.

It sucks to constantly leave this great game on a sour note when all you got for your time was a couple hundred currency.

Shiro, I would like to respectfully disagree with you. I'm not trying to start an argument, I'm just speaking from an opposing viewpoint.

You seem to suggest that solo players (players who queue alone) are less valued and/or are a minority in comparison to partied players. In my opinion this is an unhealthy way to view a game's player base. Solo players are equally important to any multiplayer title as they fill the gaps of partial groups and allow for more accurate skill level matchmaking between players (since there are more options).

You ask what would players using the invitation system do with excess gold if Mercury Steam increased mission reward gold. To this I'd say that's part of the initial problem. By tying bonus gold income to specifically the invitation system, one group of players benefits while others do not. If there were no gold bonus on invites and an increase in mission gold, all parties would benefit and be on equal ground.

As a side note here, I personally don't think it's selfish to want to be included in an improved economy when that economy is, by design, exclusive. Nor do I agree with claims that people shouldn't complain because it's been worse. If one person lost an arm but the guy next to him lost both, should he not cry out too? The point being that just because something has been worse in the past does not mean that it's current state is any less bad than it truly is.

I understand the frustrations of working hard for something that is later made easier to obtain, it sucks and is not fun at all, but the hardship of those before doesn't discredit the hardship of those currently grinding; nor does it imply that the latter disrespects the effort of the former.

Just my thoughts on those topics. If I've offended you, I sincerely apologize; that was not my intention.

Edit: Fixed some spelling issues.

Earlier today I queued for a match before I headed off to university. I'll admit right away I should have known better than to accept the match since it happened to be the boss of the Wardog's Fury campaign and that level can take a bit of time, so shame on me.

That said... on to the point of this post. I got grouped with three players that clearly had not played the level before; which, in my opinion, is usually fine on non-boss levels. However, due to the very limited communication capability I was unable to convey what they needed to shoot at during the fight. I tried to use the "help" communication to get them to see what I was shooting at but they never caught on. Because I was the only one doing damage the match was taking a very long time and I ultimately had to quit so I could catch the bus I needed. If there had been a way to place a marker exactly where I was aiming I may have been able to better direct my allies to the weak points of the boss.

For those that don't know, when the lyre sphere machine needs aleph you shoot the boss's right eye when it's open to stun him long enough to deposit the aleph without dying, then you shoot the big exposed part that shows up after you put in the aleph to do damage directly to the boss. Aside from that you also need to shoot the glowing orange bubble-like things on the tentacles that the game puts a red marker on or they will create damage zones over large portions of the small boss arena.

I've had a very similar experience myself. I did not crash so quickly but I have consistently crashed, near the end of that boss fight, twice in one play session.

I'm on PC (bought through steam), I was playing Mikah both times, there was an antagonist both times, and the only other consistent character was Alicia (I think there was one in the first match, definitely in the second). I don't recall doing anything specific before the crashes, just running and gunning; no switches or grapples.

Edit: Figured I'd give it another shot to see if it'd crash with other factors (it did, so that's crash #3) and I can rule out the raiders and antagonist; they have no effect on the crash as far as I can tell.

Hopefully this bug can be caught soon as I don't have those blueprints yet and I'm about to have the antagonist rank to make them.