High level gear is incredibly expensive and past a certain point becomes quite rare. Sindome is a VERY gear-dependent game, and it needs to be to drive its economy. Most activities require some kind of tool to perform at all, and at the upper end of gameplay, equipment can confer a massive advantage.
If Jenny kills Bob and takes his armor, weapon, and cyberware, Bob might lose 200-500k worth of equipment, and Jenny gains that much. Assuming Jenny and Bob are still rivals when Bob clones out (and high level conflicts do tend to be long-term), then Bob might now be a half million chyen behind Jenny. Presumably he isn't completely destitute, but in one fell swoop she's picked up a HUGE advantage over him that greatly increases the chances that the next time they meet, she'll roll him again. His backup gear is probably just not going to do the trick.
This can set up a pretty rigid power imbalance. Losing can be fun because it forces you to try something new, but your options are sometimes quite limited either by the role you're playing, the nature of the conflict, or the fact that there might only be five or six player characters in the game who can pose a meaningful threat to Jenny and they might not have any reason to help Bob, especially as high level characters are usually well-established in the world and have fairly fixed allegiances.
Staff can pop in and fix things, obviously, by creating plots that benefit Bob so he can come back and fight on, but that can feel inorganic and requires intervention by a busy team. It seems like there are game design considerations that could be made to give Bob an easier time with his comeback so that Jenny isn't all like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWPPj8VNb5M forever until she chooses to lose or gets squashed by an NPC.
=EQUIPMENT DURABILITY=
Johnny mentioned plans to roll out durability for armor, and that it's already a coded feature that reduces its efficacy and can eventually destroy it, something none of us in chat knew despite trading hundreds of bullets by now (and probably dying occasionally because of wearing fragged armor without having any way to know). I'm all for taxing the rich to keep the economy working and prevent hoarding, buuuuut I want to specifically point to high-end armor because it's notoriously difficult to get hold of even for someone like Jenny. Her recent win means she has an extra set and can swallow the cost if she breaks a helmet or something, but this nudges Bob into an even more precarious situation where what gear he IS able to hold on to is subject to a durability mechanic that can leave him at a definite disadvantage and cost him money he can't afford to lose.
Munitions is a criminally underutilized skill and I can see a ton of space for weapons techs in the Mix to patch up armor (possibly using expendable tools or materials), but what I hear when I hear about an expanded durability system being rolled out for armor is that it will become even more punishing for the high-level underdogs in the Mix and I'm not sure that's the best outcome.
Anyway those are my thoughts on it. There was a much larger discussion with a few other players in chat participating and I was asked to put up a thread so they could sound off with their thoughts.
