Not sure I think you are right on this gnats, which is close to a first.  I think Brad and GPG don't envision it this way.  Put simply, they are persistent items but should not be overpowering.  If these are too overpowering they quickly make the game unenjoyable for casual or new players.  They are simply there to add some additional strategy to the game and give you an item that can help you further refine your strategy without costing you money in match.  This is an important demographic stardock and gpg are courting.

Personally, I'm not so happy with the whole concept of favor items, but as long as they're cheap and provide just a slight benefit, as is the case now, they're OK.  Making them more powerful and expensive will make the game like World of Warcraft, where only the people who play the game 40 hours a week can stand up in player-versus-player mode -- not because they're that much better, but just because they have all the expensive items that let them kill lesser users on sight.  It's just no fun.

well i agree with you all on the fact that the game needs to be balanced... but i feel like the favor points are kind of a waste once you hit just over 1000 and can buy all the items... maybe allow people to unlock different skins for certain characters? that way the points do something but its only aesthetic..

If I read correctly normal skirmish (which should apparently be the main focus) will not have favour items. So this shouldnt be a big problem in the retail version. Also, Trigeminal, Gnats3 was right Frogboy said the current favour items we have are "level 1" ones, but in retail there will be higher "leveled" favour items. He said a 2v5 and 2v1 etc. would be possible with these new favour items. Again though, this wont be where the main comeptitive play is

It would also be cool if certain favor items gave certain aesthetic bonuses as well as statistical bonuses, so it's not just an alternate skin. I'd really love to see this implemented but I'm afraid it's probably too costly to the dev's at this point.

It seems like the higher level favor items would require the automatic match-making to keep them fair, unless they do something like cause a player to take up multiple player slots.

As for other ways to spend favor, won't the Pantheon eventually allow you to spend it on increasing your standing/decreasing someone else's?  That by itself will be a huge favor sink.

I think the auto-matchmaking would make it so people with x favor play against a team with at least one player with x favor. Players with y favor will be spread about the game so that the total favor for each time would be roughly even. I suppose win % would also be a factor.

got it, thats pretty helpful, thanks

I also dislike the current pricing of the favor items. I like the items themselves...however the current system means that pretty much after the first night of gaming you have them all. In Call of Duty 4 (which this system has been compared to) it would not make for a very fun achievment system if you had all of it unlocked on your first day...or even your first week. I think the number of items is appropriate and for the mostpart..the items seem pretty nifty and not highly overpowered. If not a change in prices than a significant change in the amount of favor given would do it....even if max was say 50pts a game, that's only six games to get 300 for a lower end item...20 games for 1000 to get a high end item. Sounds a little more viable than currently where we're seeing 150-200+ pts a game. Just a thought.

Well if that's the case, I'm not sure how anyone is expecting to really balance this bugger out before release. Seriously...it'd be tough enough to balance the skills, maps, and demigods already in the month or two left....throw in the items, which already are looking a bit lopsided...and then throw in some more items (later?). When would they get balanced or tested? ....if there's new content coming to the release package, I think the time would be like...erm, now, to get em in.