This is going to be a very controversial suggestion for some. I propose adding a vendor that would allow players to exchange one form of token or tokens for other ones. The rate of exchange should not be 1 to 1, regardless of direction, but based on a consensus of how much of doing X should equal doing y.
The reason for this proposal is based on some observations and facts.
First, there are types of tokens that are next to impossible to grind because few other players are ever willing to spend the amount of time it requires to earn certain tokens. Battlefields would be a prime example of an activity that wasn't even that easy to coordinate on Live. Even if one could get players to help grind those tokens, would that not defeat the intent of the activity? Battlefields were intended to be queued battles between random opponents who were more interested in winning the battle versus getting tokens. I would argue that there is no difference between 4 different players farming tokens together or 1 player using 4 characters to farm tokens.
Second, it is a fact that players like having access to rewards. They especially like it when an activity they enjoy gives tokens that let them choose their own rewards. However, the token vendors have limits on the number of items they sell for any particular token. Some servers have addressed this by adding additional rewards to the token vendors of the more popular activities that reward tokens. This takes time and effort to code new things into the game.
Instead of spending time creating new rewards, why not give players access to all of the rewards in the game already being offered from any vendor on a token economy? Allowing players to exchange one type of token for another essentially increases the variety of rewards for all activities. Having an exchange rate that is not 1 to 1 still preserves the efficiency of doing the original activity but doesn't lock anyone out from eventually accessing all of the cool things the game has to offer.
One caveat - I would recommend that Heroic Tokens only be something that could be exchanged for other tokens but no tokens could be exchanged for Heroic Tokens. It is easy enough to find groups to do the Heroics and there are even brave souls who can "solo" Heroics. The intent of this Token Exchange is to give players access to rewards that are just unobtainable due to a lack of enough player interest in doing the activities required to earn the tokens.
The reason for this proposal is based on some observations and facts.
First, there are types of tokens that are next to impossible to grind because few other players are ever willing to spend the amount of time it requires to earn certain tokens. Battlefields would be a prime example of an activity that wasn't even that easy to coordinate on Live. Even if one could get players to help grind those tokens, would that not defeat the intent of the activity? Battlefields were intended to be queued battles between random opponents who were more interested in winning the battle versus getting tokens. I would argue that there is no difference between 4 different players farming tokens together or 1 player using 4 characters to farm tokens.
Second, it is a fact that players like having access to rewards. They especially like it when an activity they enjoy gives tokens that let them choose their own rewards. However, the token vendors have limits on the number of items they sell for any particular token. Some servers have addressed this by adding additional rewards to the token vendors of the more popular activities that reward tokens. This takes time and effort to code new things into the game.
Instead of spending time creating new rewards, why not give players access to all of the rewards in the game already being offered from any vendor on a token economy? Allowing players to exchange one type of token for another essentially increases the variety of rewards for all activities. Having an exchange rate that is not 1 to 1 still preserves the efficiency of doing the original activity but doesn't lock anyone out from eventually accessing all of the cool things the game has to offer.
One caveat - I would recommend that Heroic Tokens only be something that could be exchanged for other tokens but no tokens could be exchanged for Heroic Tokens. It is easy enough to find groups to do the Heroics and there are even brave souls who can "solo" Heroics. The intent of this Token Exchange is to give players access to rewards that are just unobtainable due to a lack of enough player interest in doing the activities required to earn the tokens.
