TheElusiveFox

This is an incredibly flawed argument, those of us complaining about cash shops mostly don't care about the people spending money in them to get ahead and it does cost you something, it costs you a good game experience...

The people complaining about cash shops aren't complaining because they feel pressure to buy stuff, they are complaining because of how much worse those game design decisions make the games... Gatcha/Loot Box mechanics, Build Time/Research Time mechanics, random Item Upgrade Mechanics, experience bottlenecks are all examples of hostile game systems that only really exist to direct people to the game shop. The best that can be said about some of these systems is that in a vacuum without a game shop, a talented game designer could find a way to make them fun, but in general games that have these systems are worse than they otherwise would be - even if they sell better because gambling is addictive...

It doesn't end there though, even small things have a huge impact on how the game is played by the fans... When a sells gold directly to players through their sub (I.E. WoW Tokens or Runescape bonds), a large majority of the player base will start to see activities in terms of "gp/hour" efficiency, as they want to try to fund their account for free, and that kind of thinking invalidates a lot of activities that would otherwise be fun...

Lets take it a step further, sure cosmetics don't affect game play, but even having a shop that just sells cosmetics means indirectly that all the "best" cosmetics are going to cost extra money instead of being a reward for doing cool shit in the game... and its true... go play any game in the last 15 years... beat the hardest raid, do some crazy quest... get the same basic gear you got at level 10 but with a slightly different color... Go into the shop.,.. and you can walk around like a glowing avatar of one of the old gods... Or if your playing a Japanese game, a giant ass plushy for some reason...

My point is - I don't care about people that want to swipe, even if cash shops didn't exist people would pay on dark sites for gold or gear or whatever... but I do care about how the cash shops affect game design - when entire game systems only exist just to make me go to the cash shop, when its clear that of the 5 years developing the game three of them went into figuring out how to best direct me to the cash shop every 20 minutes... I am going to complain, it has nothing to do with "self control", I'm not going to enjoy a game that is designed to be a shit sandwhich for 95% of players...

So I can generally answer this in the same way you have generally complained about it...

General magic is an incredibly powerful tool, and if a character has access to "the power to vanquish and defeat the gods" its incredibly hard to convincingly write a story where your character struggles against some bandits or is just going to take being turned away at the nice end of town because they are a dirty peasant or whatever...

There is better... but there is also much much worse - especially at a dollar.

I'd say two things -

First because of hope, everyone hopes to one day be the rich person and they want to "get their fair share" when they get there too one day. It's not really much more complicated than that - but people are stupid and able to be convinced to do things that are not in their best interest because they think it will be in that 'good' position tomorrow, basically con artists are good at selling hope.

Second and I personally think this is the bigger one - taxes for the most part don't actually work that way... Sure sometimes there is a % increase or decrease in a tax bracket... but the real advantages happen in ways that are easy for a lot of people to get behind...

The government will add a bunch of taxes, fees or red tape that make doing business in a certain way unfeasable, usually for a good reason because they want to encourage a different kind of business or to make sure certain oversight happens... But inevitably a lobbyest group for one of the biggest employers in your state will say "Hey, these taxes mean we either need to do layoffs, or move our offices, help us out", and then the way the "new" taxes are written they don't just apply to that one company but anyone with a business - and rich people just happen to have lots of businesses so they qualify in lots of different ways for lots of different tax breaks...

I mean I picked the number 12 because meridians seem to usually have 9 or 12... but frankly for a lot of this kind of story telling if you are doing it more than twice and its more than a foot note, there needs to be a good reason for it...

I've always blamed it on the serial nature of these books... writers don't know where to go next or need another couple of days to polish up an actually interesting chapter... well copy and past a character sheet and put a +1 on everything... chapter done... write how your MC almost died to the stench of their meridian clensing... I wouldn't say its a free chapter, but its a lot less work than progressing a story

There are a couple that kind of explore it... though rarely that well... the first that comes to mind is Primal Hunter where gods and their religions/followers are active participants in the story quite a bit...

I think there are a couple of issues with the subject that keep it from being explored deeper... The first is that religion tends to be a pretty taboo subject, with how rampant cancel culture has become drawing close parallels or inspiration from real life religions is a very good way to trigger a good portion of the population, especially if you depict them in anything but the most positive light...

I think another issue is that a lot of these books are about individualism and personal power or at the very least personal growth, and religion at its core, regardless of the specific religion tends to be about community and shared values, which tends to be counter to a lot of the types of stories authors want to write. I think it can be done and done well, but its often glazed over, or not included for the same reason complex politics aren't really included - that just isn't the type of story the author wants to tell, and including it without care can muddy the waters...

Finally I think gods and religion has an effect of making a lot of the MC's choices feel unearned or less interesting... Are you special because you tried hard, or are you special because god decided you were his champion? Does the MC's choices actually matter or are they just sent out on fetch quests for "god"...

My general rule of thumb is to wish list things all year round and then buy stuff that is heavily discounted during the summer sale, its pretty easy to buy stuff because other people are playing it and unless you have way too much time on your hands there really is just way too many games to even attempt to buy them all even on a summer sale...

That being said here's some games I grabbed...

Batman Arkham Knight was 90% off... FrostPunk was 90% off Celeste was 90% off... I've already played it but I saw that the Mass effect series was 90% off, totally worth it if you like that type of game... I saw a whole bunch of jrpgs at 50-80% off if you like those types of games, now's the time to grab one... if you some how haven't played the elder scrolls games I saw they were on sale...

That's about it...

To me the best out there is Forge of destiny or Wandering inn... I have a hard time thinking of Wandering Inn as "Progression Fantasy", more Slice of Life in a LitRPG world... though so I would have to give it to Forge of Destiny...

Both stories are incredibly good have multiple incredibly well thought out female characters and are easily going to be in the top 5 or top 10 lists of any PF novel of all time let alone top lists for Female leads...

Honerable mention would probably go to Millenial Mage, Soul Relic, and Tower of Sommus... They are all fantastic stories in their own right all with female MCs... just not on the same level (IMO) as Forge of Destiny or Wandering Inn...

I've been reading a mortal's journey to Immortality off and on for the last couple of months and I really like the way the author does advancement there... Generally there are a few paragraphs to the effect of "Han Li spent 50 years in seclusion refining pills, training his various skills, and cultivating... he did [whatever cool special unique thing this time] to advance and came out a completely changed man...

IIRC bis for everything is to just wear rune words, there are a couple of rares/uniques that are technically better for a couple of classes but runewords are just too good.

I'd say a few things...

Dark and progression have nothing to do with eachother... you can have a world with happy go lucky characters advancing, and you can have a world with people who are barely human peices of garbage advancing...

Personally I think the issue with the question of "how dark can you go", is that you are going to cross a line for more and more parts of your audience... sure some people are into that kind of novel... but for the most part people are looking for escapism, they aren't looking to read about non stop vile shit, especially if its the MC doing it, because then you have an additional issue that fewer and fewer people can empathize with your characters making it hard to read...

That's not really anything to do with progression though... its just general writing advice and like i said there are people who do enjoy reading darker characters, that's one reason why grimdark is popular... but there is a line and that line moves for everyone...

I think power regression "CAN" be done well, it just generally isn't... a perfect example of this is a lot of time loop stories - the MC loses any power gained (with some exceptions) every loop... but that regression still feels good because of the way the story is written. The issue is a lot of authors do exactly what you are talking about instead and it feels like the whole dynamic of the story is changing unexpectedly as a reader...

For the latter... I think the big issue is it always feels like a bull shit excuse for the author to show off how the MC is actually super powerful... having a character suddenly decide to hide their cultivation then get insulted when they are treated as weak it feels like fake forced conflict, which it is...

I made a comment in another thread to this affect... I don't mind these kinds of details, I think its great that your book has them, but its one thing to hear about a character breaking down barriers in their meridians once... its totally something different when a book makes a point of having a special "Meridian opening chapter" 12 times, one for every meridian... Like I get it you got high on acid and it was such a good trip you shit yourself... clean it up and move on...

Sounds about right... 5 hours is about the mark when I consider a flight... Major Canadian air ports are incredibly understaffed, busy, and slow... even getting through domestic security can take over an hour... add an hour on the tarmac and an hour or more in the air, and another 30+ minutes on the other end, and flying can very quickly not be a worthwhile venture if you are flying commercial, and a short distance...

This changes a lot if you have access to private air, or can fast track your way through security but that is NOT most people...

Capital gains are only taxed when you sell - so its not really a factor unless he plans on being an active trader or only plans on holding stocks for months instead of years... source: most of my income is CG...

Do you have investment opportunities that are better than 6%... for reference S&P over the last 50 years is 11.5%, so unless you are having trouble paying your mortgage, the pure numbers move is an index fund, where even after fees and a shorter period of time you should expect at least 8% but if you NEED the money tomorrow could end up with some risk...

I personally hate the thought process behind speed paying a mortgage - for most people it is not a great investment, it just seems like one because your house appreciates in value over time, and paying down a loan means you can't make a stupid decision like taking the money out and buying a stupid vanity purchase... if you have the discipline not to do those things then other investments tend to be better roi than paying down low interest loans like a mortgage...

Tim horton's has been absolute dog shit since at least 5 years before they sold the franchise...

I like to not get eaten alive by black flies so I'd personally have to disagree... still miss my grand father's cottage though...