TBL : the most stupid and absurd extension

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Merlein, Dec 26, 2018.

  1. Whulfgar Augur

    You sound like some body's ex wife. I am not a board warrior.. But I do know one when I see one.
  2. Zhaunil_AB Augur

    Like so many others, i am here to get answers where i need them, give feedback to DBG when i care to (i.e. at least try to make my voice heard) and help others when i can. That's why imo being precise with what one posts is important.
    Misleading information helps noone, no matter if it was posted intentionally or out of lazyness.

    Ignoring certain members (a handful only was required) has helped me escape most of the trolling baits since.
    (though yes i had to learn it the hard way that not every poster is as old or sincere as myself).
    I do not want to do that with you, as at least sometimes there is a little useful info in some of your posts. But i might end up having to do so, which i'd regret.
    So why not keep your baits to yourself and stick to facts instead?

    (and for the record: look at my posting history and the looong absence from the boards before release of TBL before you use terms such as the above together with quoting me, implying you are referring to me with your words.)
  3. Whulfgar Augur

    That entire post was bait .. And you asking me to stop.. again I am not a board warrior .. but I know one when I see one.

    Happy hunting bud.
  4. Dawdle Augur

    To many threads all saying the same thing. You know I get being passionate about games and I understand how people can get really into EQ.

    As a return vet I think there's a few of us that came back. Maybe it's because of the TLP servers, or maybe it's the current gaming market and we're all waiting for something? I don't know. I have said this before and I will say it again. I have really enjoyed my time back in EQ, bringing my old toons back to life and chasing that end game again but this road block of a xpac isn't exactly the high hopes I had for a return to PoP. Will this keep my attention all next year? Will I even buy it?

    In a way the questions are unfair but then again not really. Games keep my attention when they are well developed. Like I stated before "How hard is it to make a game for all walks of life, for every level of gamer, that appeals to people across a wide range of abilities, play styles and free time? To make solo, group and raid content like SoE had. It needs to be both challenging and rewarding but not for just a certain level of player. RoS had this to some extent but I really feel like after reading these reviews and seeing whats been posted online that TBL is only good for one type of player."

    This xpac does not appeal to a larger audience. I don't understand why DB took this direction. Then again I don't understand why they didn't do anything about the bots, scripting and hacking on TLP servers. Are these just bad choices?

    2019-2020 Is going to see some major releases and I'll just enjoy my time and not worry about it. EQ can't always be my go to game.

    [IMG]

    http://www.mweb.co.za/games/view/ta...arding-multiplayer-and-microtransactions.aspx

    They say this is done, rumor has it they hired on a bunch of people to add a arena feature so that you can take your toons online and fight other people. CD Projekt Red has not ruled out that they could make this an MMO however it is first to be released as a single player RPG. I just want the immersion and if CD Projekt Red can do that as a FPSRPG fine but as a MMORPG/FPS wow. Either way when I hit the road block I'll just move on. <O
  5. segap Augur

    The problem is less with the perceived difficulty or class requirements of the progression missions. It's locking of most of the expansion behind them. The progression is probably tuned about right as optional content. Open up most of the zones and let people just wander about and find places they're comfortable and it would be fine. The other main issue is making mercs more viable.

    My critique on game design beyond that is the tiering of zones. I preferred it when zones got harder the deeper you went. And the rewards got better the deeper you went and fought harder battles. That allowed people to find the types of zones they enjoyed and to pick their difficulty level. People could even hang out on the fringes and then venture in as more people came and grouped up. Some people like outdoor zones, others dungeons, some like zones with undead, others with mobs that have different resists. When you only have 6 zones, you're not giving people much choice when you tier the various zones. It kills variety for players of different abilities/resources. Those on the fringe locked to a single zone will get bored and logout.
  6. Feznik Elder


    I can answer that for you. Easy and lazy development by turning up the knob on mob power by increasing both physical and spell damage, doesn't require much effort as a developer. Copy/paste of spell data increasing value by 5-10% for players , doesn't require much effort by the developer.

    It used to be they used to come up with new spells for non-level cap expansions or new AA's i.e. actually had some creativity (i.e. CotF, TBM). This time they just copied the data and bumped it by 5% increase.

    Lack of creativity because players will still keep buying expansions anyways.
  7. segap Augur


    We didn't get AA because the AA designer is transitioning to a coding career path. For him, that's a good move that gives him more options going forward. So instead of him focusing on the design work of AA, he spent his time coding the faction window (a questionable resource allocation from a player perspective). What we then wound up with was management making a bad call on priorities. I think they should have re-assigned AA work to whomever does collectables. Rather than spending time naming each collectable, assigning icons to them, creating the achievements and then deviantly placing them, they could have given us AA. I'm confident most players would have preferred AA over an easter egg hunt and the associated inventory management. Then again, they were able to list both AA (for the measly few we got) AND collections on the bullet point for the expansion sale page.
  8. Tucoh Augur

    Reassigning the itemization person to do AAs is like hammering in screws. DBG needs to buy a new screwdriver.
    Pirlo and Metanis like this.
  9. Metanis Bad Company

    Well, they just got $2M selling these damn lifetime subscriptions. They could buy one of those fancy Snap On tool chests for that kinda dough.
    Pirlo likes this.
  10. Feznik Elder


    Will be spent on other projects non-EQ1 related, if you haven't learned that by now I don't know what to tell ya!
    Pirlo likes this.
  11. Zhaunil_AB Augur

    After all the side-talk about how trials are overtuned or not and how they can be done and personal attacks and such:
    Back to one of the points the OP made, in perhaps a bit more detail:
    Esianti is listed, voth on Alla and EQResource, as a T1 zone, but it is locked behind progression.
    (i did not even try to enter before i was at the right step in the progressin so i cannot tell if that zone is really locked, but i assume the sites are correct on this)
    In order to get to that locked T! zone though, not only do you have to beat "any one trial of smoke" (some of which, as we have established above, are doable but each and everyone is disproportionally harder than anything else T1, even T2 in some - or most? - cases). but also do the partisan line in Empyr, a T2 zone!
    So... do T1=>do trial=>do some T2=>go back to complete T1...
    How does that, from a progression point of view, make sense at all? To me, it certainly doesn't.

    While there are some nice touches in the expansion that i have seen so far, IMO that awkwardness certainly qualifies for the "dumb as a doorknob"-Award...
    And as the OP pointed out, it certainly doesn't end there :/
    It's not ALL bad of course, but as i said above, the bad adds up and overshadows the few good pieces sadly.
    Vdidar likes this.
  12. segap Augur


    You're looking at it from the wrong perspective. The game isn't about zones or spending time in a zone. It's all about progression. Progression is a story and you're supposed to be paying attention to and enjoying the story line. The zones are just there to support that story line.

    "Tiers" really don't represent difficulty any more. They haven't for several expansions. It's just how the itemization guy decides where to put what. In the scheme of the story line and unlocking, he may have misplaced some things.
  13. Zhaunil_AB Augur

    Perhaps i am, perhaps not - i dunno really.
    I hear what you are saying, but in my mind it does not make much sense to equate "progression" with "storyline". Yes, perhaps that is where my issues come from.

    It is my expectation though that when i read "T1" and "T2" and so on that there is a steadily increase in difficulty (and rewards) as i advance in "tiers". After all, that is what "tiers" are all about, isn't it? A higer tier (or level/story on a house for example) building on another, lower one?
    The TBL progression feels like the "house of buraeucracy" from that Asterix comic where they have to go up a level to get an application for the office at ground level only to be sent back.. and so on and so on until the plebs became crazy and the staff was rid of them. Just like Asterix said "they're mental, those romans!" i hae to say "they're mental, those Devs!".

    Where have you got this from? is that your deduction of what we're seeing for years now? Or was there some official voice to that end somewhere that i have again missed?
    A huge part of my compaints comes from "managing expectations" after all, and if i am wrong with my expectations then well... it wouldn't make things better for me, but explain some i reckon.
  14. Flatchy Court Jester

    Fixed that for ya. Personally I could give two squirts about the story. Just give me my zones to go pillage. If its T1 so be it. Im pretty sure I would not have bothered buying 2 copies let alone 4 of this expansion if I knew what was being offered. (Yeah yeah, get in Beta and find out, pfffffft)
    Spellfire, Mintalie and Vdidar like this.
  15. Ecchicon Elder

    This isn’t something explicitly stated anywhere, but it’s certainly observable. It’s just often been he case that higher tier zones are no more difficult-if not outright easier-than low tiers. Some high tier zones might be more difficult occasionally; it’s somewhat subjective.

    Although I’m not sure this is a new phenomenon. EQ has a somewhat long history of locking relatively simple and loot-filled zones behind progression. Certainly Planes of Power stands out as one of the most memorable examples of this, but even Sleeper’s Tomb was a trivial loot grab to those who could get there.
    Pirlo likes this.
  16. Defjam Journeyman

    See:


    For note, I think I was around 15k AA's?
  17. Defjam Journeyman

    That's awesome, I didn't realize that had happened. Do we know who was making the transition? I tried a quick search, but "faction" is clearly not a good search term. :)

    Also interesting, check out what is out there from way back when: https://dgcissuetracker.com/browse/EQ-300
  18. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    Dzarn
    Defjam likes this.
  19. p2aa Augur

    Huh ? 20 guilds have completed all RoS raids.
    Yinla likes this.
  20. Bamboompow Augur

    So someone boxed it all. That's nice. That proves...what? That the content is easy or someone is a wizard when it comes to setting up box crews" Most of us would rather enjoy the content with real players but unfortunately progression pace is decided by whomever runs through it the fastest. Replay factor counts for a bunch too.

    I would not call it stupid or absurd in the same manner as the OP. Exclusive would be the better adjective here. There really isn't much content, so its dammed up behind progression...if that really matters. Mostly its going to keep the casuals out and allow the hardcore something to boast about for a while until the unwashed masses get a foothold.

    Finish EoK and RoS first and then TBL won't be so daunting. Once a casual is comfortable in TBL, the hardcore are just farming raids for alt gear and logging out so they won't be in the way.