@Milk Yes! I agree with you; In Vindictus I also miss the slow-motion capture when finishing a boss and the critical moments where the boss is reaching certain percentages of HP (and throwing spears xD). As for Monster Hunter World, it was great overall; I wouldn't mind if NGS was similar to Monster Hunter World; at least the RNG for mats (key or stone from UH boss) wasn't as bad as PSO2 lol.

@Redex Fair point; hope Sega releases closed beta for NGS for Global or NA soon so people can try it out.

Other non-mmo game series with good combat is Tales of and Ys; Not sure what other action combat games have a similar style.

First, combat design (Combat Designers) and combat gameplay (Gameplay Programmers/Systems) are different, but they do overlap and go hand-in-hand. I've been thinking and noticed that PSO2 combat is nice and ok but there isn't any meaningful satisfaction in beating any boss or any amount of enemies. Although NGS gameplay is a step up from PSO2, it also seems very plain (not sure how to word it). My solution is to propose another sub-system or feature on-top of the combat system that adds much better visuals and possible improved sounds (sound design is totally different but you'll understand)...

This combat design feature should also have its own sub-options menu so users can tweak and edit many parameters/features; like removing shake or making it less shake or removing flashing or hit color upon impact, added visual lines, stun outlines, smoke, dirt/part impact, rubble fx, etc.

Here is NGS gameplay and although it does look fluid, it doesn't look rewarding or fun; which is why many other games are popular because of chaining combos, elemental chaining, reactive enemies, and more animations and attack patterns in general. In addition, in PSO2, the moves/sound effects sound cheap and having too many high-frequency weapon sounds really hurts the ears when everyone starts spamming it online. I think it would be a nice idea to add at least 3-5 sound variations of the hit per animation that way it doesn't start clipping. But how? You can add a post-filter function that randomizes a mask/parameter to change the pitch and frequency of the sound within good range-parameters upon weapon/attack impact. This then brings us to impact. Yes, NGS didn't showcase any big moves, but it would be nice to see IMPACT or an indication of that; not like knockback or something, but a more meaningful animation; let's say if the player deals 1 MIL damage, then the boss has an impact animation; this also can be applied to regular mobs as well, and make the game more satisfying overall.

NGS gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-almqon6820

Disclaimer: I am not promoting any of these games. I can't seem to be able to post examples of what I'm talking about, but here are some games with amazing and satisfying combat design with gameplay:

Project BBQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuIDYE6hxzY

Punishing Grey Raven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZZuXiJRmJY

Blue Protocol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWIBqv5xUd4

Vindictus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYcli-Wn81c

Tower of Fantasy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfWXKPO9tGs

What are your opinions? I'm curious what other types of features/designs other games have that make combat rewarding in a game... Maybe like combo skills and if you get 10 hits in a row (without getting hit) you can do another cool move into another move at 15 hits? Idk...

@Salvatore Hey! Are you open to discussing merges on Discord or so; I would like to help your active members. Not sure if you will reply, but GL with life, it's hard times atm

Hey Sega! Here's a nice solution; maybe if you complete 4 weeklies for 1 entire month before the month of the SG scratch expiring (or when the scratch is released; until the end duration); you get 1 free choice ticket for that SG scratch collection. This will also give incentive for players to play and check-out the game in a while; it also could be an upselling or marketing like buying milk from the back of the store XD Idk up to you...

Play a different game; clearly, you're bored of pso2: the devs are busy working on NGS. Also, stop including a collective of people in your argument, that doesn't add factual evidence. Every game has a life-cycle; it's also similar to SDLC in dev followed by the inevitable business life cycle. I'm not defending players or Sega; this is a known thing to happen if you observe or read about it.

It probably got removed because of how racy it is OR they will add or create some new packs with those fashions and maybe come with psocomi badges or rogol badges (like the Tails, Helga, Nier, etc pack); honestly IDK.

Still, across all ships, there are still many bots selling dozens of AC items (even with player-trade disabled as we type): so this A/B testing (or whatever the devs are doing; which isn't working) of disabling the player-trade trade feature seems to be about something else and not about the prevention of what we may think it is. There hasn't been an official statement yet, so everything is just speculation. However, I do agree on some compensation, as it's literally 1/3 of the reasons why people buy premium.

Some solutions for bots:

Stopping a chat feature in-game isn't the problem; it's identifying and preventing bots from playing/joining the game. An example is some country (politics), where most MMOs there require you to use your SSN (or some form of real-life ID) and it's pretty strict there as well with identification when making an account on some games.

A few solutions for restricting chat on new players are either adding two-factor authentication; such as using a code from your email/phone when logging in to the game via PSO2's launcher in order to chat immediately OR wait 3 days (or 1 week) default to be able to use in-game chat (some account flag setting).

Another solution can be; when logging into the ship for the first time, you must complete a captcha to verify you're a human (obviously must be some good captcha).

Another solution can be, that maybe when you make your first character on a ship; you cannot skip a short randomized quest (that cannot be botted, scripted, or macroed) that introduces the PSO2 world to you (very basic, how to move, etc., IDK) and maybe takes like 5 minutes to do (and there will be clear instructions how to complete this randomized quest (like a simon says kind of thing)), where bots will most likely fail if a real human isn't playing the game), before the actual story prologue with Afin.

There could be other solutions as well... Like, maybe only restricting area or global chat to premium members in generic areas (like the Lobby/Gate Area), BUT places like the Alliance Quarters and Personal Quarters; everyone can use area/global chat.

If none are even tried, then the bot issue isn't really Sega's main focus; because it shouldn't be that hard to implement any of the above (this issue has been on-going for like what? 6 months now...); or they are very busy with NGS. Anyway, those are just my opinions.

It's fair, they probably use database and simple analytics processing to check out the most traded items between shop and player; it just happens the items you want aren't that popular enough amongst the general public. XD I have bought some items that were pricey; I mean Meseta in this game isn't a big deal anyway (once you're decently geared for end-game and whatnot). For the cast parts, probably as a balance; if I was a developer I wouldn't toss out a playable race; inclusion is necessary.

Probably Mid to late Spring of 2021; if delayed probably Summer 2021; not sure xD

Oh wow, thank you for the detailed responses @Rang-Dipkin and @Fiona-Respha . Wow so Glare is just a pain then :(, I'll try to make an EV affix then, ty! Not sure if I want to farm bewitched woods; I'll hope we get that extreme quest with crack and veteran's in post ep6 end game added.