Changes with the February Update: Developer Updates

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Prathun, Feb 5, 2014.

  1. Canik Augur

    The problem is that a lot of people play MMOs to play with other people. My main is a 77 magician with 1200 AA. I can probably count the number of groups he has been in on my hands. He is in a very large guild (The Dark Reign on Bristlebane), and the guild runs multiple groups every night, but usually only in 90+ zones, thus making a very large barrier to entry when wanting group play.
  2. Harabakc Augur


    Just because they're new players doesn't mean they're stupid. People who do any amount of research or can read can find information readily available.
  3. Rorce Augur


    How much hate will Decapitation now generate?
  4. Oranges Augur

    10,000,5,0001,000
    3 weeks.1 week

    whatever the case

    my point is....you're asking from people, either newbees or "returnees"...to basically play a game of catch up, a game relatively low in population, with a huge level and AA spread

    or instead these people could start with a fresh MMO, not be years behind, be on a level playing field with others and have ample grouping opportunity

    from ppl I knew who came back, most don't tend to stay long, and the number one reason I always hear is that they don't feel they progress / can't find group / don't want to grind...etc

    it would be far better if those people could join the rest of the players in a streamlined way

    an MMO without a community is not an MMO, you'll have all your "achievements" but no one to share them with
    meyercale140 likes this.
  5. Canik Augur

    I don't understand why people would leave though. The AA grant is optional, and nerfs will always happen. What are people upset about?
  6. Piestro Augur

    Or playing with friends and family at the same location.
  7. Badname 2323 New Member

    Piestro,
    After you guys pulled the plug on EQMAC I returned to EQPC and spent the last few months grinding out AAs and now feel like I've wasted a lot of time. Are you giving any consideration to people in this situation? There must be some way to implement this that doesn't just screw us over
    Mozzarella likes this.
  8. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    Everyone gains from the changes to the Leader AA's going in to the UI, if you cannot accept others getting them for nothing think about what you are gaining by the change....you no longer have to be grouped to use them.
  9. usa63t New Member

    I have read every post in both topics and they have already said more then 1 zone is on the same server. So it is easily possiable right now with even current populations to have 50+ mobs being pulled at once on the same hardware hence causing the same problem.
  10. meyercale140 New Member

    I'm looking forward to the changes being made to the game. 4000 aa will help get players moving toward end game So there's more people to group with and raid.
    Rorce and Mintalie like this.
  11. Canik Augur

    Did you have fun while grinding your AA? If yes, then you were entertained. If no, then why do it?
  12. Rascal Half ELF New Member

    Dang 92 pages, I want a condensed version. seriouly could you edit the 1st post if anything has changed from it?
    Fenthen likes this.
  13. Reht The Dude abides...

    That's also relatively inaccurate when you look at the state of many of the class boards.
    Potawatomi likes this.
  14. Zakor Elder

    I think that the 4k aa grant is a bad idea. I furthermore feel that this is an effort to simply cause the majority of the players of EQ to be able to accomplish virtually everything in game. I feel that this will result in the majority of the hardcore players no longer feeling a challenge to this game. When and if that happens, the hard core and vocal players will, at some level, leave. The fewer hardcore players that there are, the less vocal the situation will be when those eq servers are finally shut down.

    I will say this, however. I feel that this 4k aa grant is an incredibly short sighted and bad decision. I feel that not only is it bad for EQ, but I was, for a while, on the fence about playing EQNext. Now that I see that this type of decision making process continues, I will not subject myself to such decision making processes in the next game in which I invest my time.
    Melanippe and dreadlord like this.
  15. dreadlord Augur

    People have been complaining that the group game is dead for about a decade. People in busy guilds complain about it. People in casual and no guild complain about it. It's therefore probably true.
    But as others have said this won't help - it will go the other way. There is no way a huge percentage of the playerbase will group with these 'fake' 4k AA-ers, any more than they would group with ebayers and folks who have been commercially PL-d. Word gets round not just on one server but between servers too.

    Can't find a group? Many/most of the high end guilds now accept social/casual players. (given that most of the mid-level raiding guilds which were traditionally the home of the relative newbie have gone) Join one. Prove yourself over a sustained period without expecting handouts. Then you make friends and get people to group with
    Voila!
    Melanippe likes this.
  16. Twochords Journeyman

    seems there are a few camps of people in here on each of the two topics, aa giveaway and swarm nerfs. Dealing with aa giveaway there are those that like it, I won't bother with them cause they are happy. Those that think they deserve something because they achieved their aa by killing ( and paying ) in eq for years (group A), and those that think FREE 4k+ aa is bad (group B). Group A are not going to be appeased. The devs may give out something but I bet it will be something cosmetic, new title, achievement, ball and chain familiar or something but no way are they going to give refunds or equivalent aa to those that earned aa already. So those folks are not going to be 100% happy no matter what. The last group could be easily appeaded though, and it may take a tad of the sting from group A in the process. Make these aa require some effort. Tie these aa to quests at least, or use hero's journey stuff or something. I know you said they are tied to lvl, but still levels need to be gained anyways so that doesn't count. Use existing quests or something. For example lvl 51 gets hit and popup window with quest comes up. Journey to X luclin zones and kill 5 mobs in each(whatever) Players do that and they get 51 aa. I don't think a small quest every 5 lvls between 50 and 85 is too much to ask for these aa. And it would be a way for them to see some of the great content from the past they wont be aaing in. Just seems like an easy way to make some of the players that play this game a little happier without making getting these hard, and without what I would assume is too much dev work.

    As far as swarm nerfs... It seems like its all gone no matter what the players give as feedback. A lot of players have put lots of time/money/effort into these classes that have been able to swarm for a LONG time, and now they can't. People that have been selling pl's with them well they made their pp be happy you had it while it lasted. A lot of people use them to PL their own toons and or guildies/friends. Why not give them some compensation to soften this blow? Maybe fix fellowship sharing to not suck? Or put it back the way it was originally since xp for no in game effort isn't a factor anymore ( see heroic characters and aa giveaway). Even with the amount toned down this could take sting out of no more swarming. I believe it was yinla earlier that mentioned this and also fixing mission xp the way it was in the beginning of HoT, OMM miissions too. These are things within your power devs. Swarming is a HUGE thing in eq that has been around a long time. Lets just try to not piss off everyone if we can help it. Sometimes small compromises in what you believe should happen are better than angering all these account holders.


    Sorry for this wall of text but I see and hear a lot of people angry about these changes and want to add my 2cp and try to make as many people as happy as possible. Without players this game goes byebye.
  17. Rorce Augur


    I wouldn't say easily. I'd say far from easily. I don't know for sure, but I would suspect that they don't pair high population zones with other high population zones on the same zone box. So you'll have several zones on a zone box that are a barren wasteland, and maybe a couple with groups in them. Now, what zones can you think of off the top of your head that have 25+ groups in them at any given time? Keep in mind it's the NPC pathing that is taxing the servers the hardest. Once the mobs are in camp, the performance hit is much less. So, to equal a Mage constantly kiting 50 mobs, you'd have to have those groups in the process of pulling 50 mobs at any given time. Let's say our groups are pulling an average of 2 mobs per pull, you'd need 25 groups of players mid pull to have the same impact as 1 mage beam kiting. So realistically, you'd need MANY more groups in a zone, as not every group will always be mid pull.

    I was really hoping I wouldn't have to break that down, but there it is.
    Fenthen likes this.
  18. Quilix Elder

    That at least is good to know cause if your servers like most run on UTC then the graphs were for peak playing hours (maybe they don't - just jumped out though):D
  19. revran1 Journeyman

    so exactly are the changes to head shot going to be and when will it go into place
  20. Badname 2323 New Member


    Yes, I had a blast doing the same four hotzone quests every day... I did it so I could make my toon not suck as I leveled further. Should have just leveled and waited :\