Is it me, or does it take much longer to get everything done in TBL than it has in previous expansions? Generally around this time of year I am done with all progression and at least 90-100% of hunters and collections. This year I am no where near that. I do admit that my non raid playing time has decreased, which explains some of the situation. But I also feel that with TBL being non solo/due friendly on named and missions, chase item leveling, GMM, and slot 18/19 augments that even if I was playing as much, it would still be a ways to go to get everything done. Or is it just me? And if you agree it is a lot more time than previous expansions... is that good or bad?
Personally i think it’s a good thing to take longer to complete everything in the expansion and yes it is a lot more time than previous if your min/maxing. The expansions “should” last a full year to the average player imo. I’ve never liked that i was able to bang everything out but raid gear in a week prior to this year.
Maybe if there was a sympathetic slow belt for casters you could have solod all the way through and been done by now
TBL is way better than ROS was. Lots more content and easier to solo/molo. ROS can get deleted and I wouldn't mind as long as they took the tradeskill stuff that only drops there and placed it elsewhere.
It's entirely due to the rare's that were introduced .. along with the type 18 farm and type 19 farm's.. I for one LOVE that the expansion's taking this long to finish out even for me.
The only thing that takes longer is the leveling of the chase items. For Smoke... Burnslayer 1/4/19. Burning Lands Master Scavenger 2/18/19. Ring of Scale Slayer took longer last year 2/8/18. Ring of Scale Scavenger I totally slacked. 5/29/18 EoK Slayer 12/17/16. EoK Scavenger 1/17/17. /shrug.
TBL has had far more replayability than the two Kunark expansions.That said I have finished progression, hunter and collects in record time. Hunter was never something I bothered with previously as I didn't need stuff from the names other than augs, this time round they all need to die multiple times! I've lost count how many times I've run FF! TBL has been the best expansion we have had for a while, it is going to be tough to reach this level again come December, I have high hopes and hope the devs have something good planned.
I don't think it is just down to the rares. We also have decent rewards for doing other things. Illusion mask - great buff Mount - looks cool Conquests - aug upgrade Muhbis - Tradeskill augs/best group gear
Personally think that is a good thing....where is the fun and challenge in finishing an expansion faster then a hungry kid in a donut shop? as stated there is more content and the evolving items as well, and yes agreed best expansion there has been in a while. In answer to finishing anything, have all done here but some achievements.
I got through the first couple of zones with real players then fell off the bandwagon. My turnip truck ain't quite up to getting through smoke. That is a me problem, not anything specific to the expansion. I suck at boxing.
They could go back and tweak the boot timers on response to emote to help boxers who don't use IS-Box or some other "ok" modification.
Imo, they should change so when you completed 1 trial you would get acces to normal zone and able to pass through zone.
My least favorite expansion in a while. When will they learn to stop putting content blockers at the beginning of an expansion? Spiders in Lcenium, Skyfire mission, and now Smoke trials. While easy for most people who post here, these are very difficult hurdles to many players, me included.
Things for force you to adjust and re-strategize are the crux of Everquest, none of that content is unwinnable by group geared low aa characters. If no challenge and easy content is what your after then stay in older xpacs. There is a lot of content there I imagine you have not experienced, whats so important about new content if you haven't done the old? Of which sounds like a fair amount still may offer a challenge.
I run a three box of max or near max aa characters and have done most of the last 6 expansions on them. For the last month I have been finishing up the last little bits of ROS. No the new tasks aren't unwinnable by a perfect group of group geared players, but in my experience the player base doesn't really support content like that anymore.
Its difficult to find the setup needed but is the spirit of an MMO and changing it would be detrimental. If you are having issues with Trial of Three for example, and say, a high dps class would help, well send tells to some of those high dps classes, or take 2 moderate dps classes, group, network, make friends, the game isn't built around solo play and that's what makes it so great. Sometimes the difficulty is amplified by our inability or poor strategies, but, the new content(currently), is not unreasonable for RoS group geared to take on. I do agree that those players would need to be pretty well on their game for smoke trials, but strategy can prevail in most circumstances, as well, 1 or 2 skilled players can carry the entire trial through.
The last 3 expansions have been bad for the casual players, and I am honestly afraid how it will be when next expansions come out. It is good enough there are hard content in an expansion, but there really should not be blocking content in the progression as there has been with with these 3, that is mentioned by Drayman. In Eok the progression is blocked if cannot get the spiders, could easily have made a spot outside the caverns where you should do same stuff. RoS, no meteors and fewer sarnaks in the waves, would make the mission doable by the casuals. In TBL it is bad, because the casuals really only have 1 zone to do stuff in, change could be PoSmoke, only require 1 trial instead of 5 for normal zone/pass through.
The reality is that, like I said before, the player base doesn't support it. I really wish it was that easy to just send some tells and grab some players and put a group together to try this stuff but that's just not how it goes.
To say it is a bit directly, why should I waste my time on getting a person I have no knowledge about, through the trials and such? I will any time of the day help people in my guild, others, no.