Changes with the February Update: Alternate Ability Grants for Gold Members and Ability Changes

can we not auto grant tradeskill aa's cuz man those suck to have when u run a salvage pot and ur completing 500 tradeskill combines at 30 skill would mean alot to all us tradeskill junkies

Thank you for nerfing Swarming PLing to save the game.Nowtime,the first thing people log into game to do is Buying Swarming PLing,not looking for group,it make harder and harder to find a group in game.However,everquest is a group-core game,Swarming PLing makes everquest worse and worse.

Why can't they just get our chars to cast a hidden "Fading Memories" spell if agro pool is too big? It's a simple fix, and the limit can be adjusted per zone.

First off, I know quite a few people that would trade all of these posted changes for a stable, working chat server. Raid coordination has devolved into /auction and /shouts for "stable" communication.

I started playing EQ in '99. The game was hard. It was complicated. And, it was a deeper experience, at that time, than anything else had to offer. Getting to level 50 with 8 played days was considered a feat of epic accomplishment. As Kunark rolled out, and the raid events started to take a unique shape of their own, EQ was like nothing else.

Over the years, I've dabbled in EQ2, WoW, DAOC, and other MMORPGs. And, I've come back to EQ every time. I missed the depth and the intricate raiding system here. There's a very direct relationship toons in EQ have with the environment and mobs. It's difficult to put into words, but I know that you all understand what I'm talking about. And, I like that it takes a long, epic time to max a toon in EQ. My pally is maxed, my ranger is maxed, my rogue is maxed, my cleric is near maxed, and now I'm working on other toons. What would I do if it took 75% less work to evolve toons?

I'm here because it's more challenging than other games.

SOE must realize that EQ is quite unique, and has always been more challenging.

If you guys try to make EQ like other MMOPRGs, you'll lose the ones that are here because it IS different.

Please, never forget this.

As someone who has been a subscriber off and on since retail release...
Two things I want to bring up....

1. How did auto-granting AA/levels do for your population in EQ2? I recall mass exodus, even moreso than the ridiculous Age of Discovery Exp. The main thing is you're trivializing those who earned it the hard way, find a way to reward them the same (refunding all granted AAs) or...don't do this.

2. A nerf this big brings back memories of another nerf this size, done by SOE to an SOE game, SWG. Again, how did that turn out for you? It was a legendary nerf, that gamers still talk about to this day, so yeah, you're trying to top it? One more for the books? How did that end up for SWG?

My suggestion...
Learn from your past, don't repeat it. Go back to your diaries/logs and see what caused SOE to make changes I brought up, then set them next to the reasonings for these 2 changes you are thinking of doing...
Hopefully you find the similarities and understand why it would be a monumental bad move.
There have been many suggestions of other ways to fix the PL issue in this thread and many others.


I personally don't PL, but I see no reason to nerf entire classes of abilities they have worked so hard to attain, instead of actually going after the people causing the problems in the first place.
I have 3 accounts, 1 gold (yearly), 2 silver (who spend more than gold), but I'll be honest..I'll leave for another game if these changes go in effect. Just like I left EQ2, check my log ins, very easy to see I do speak with my wallet.

The change, as I read it, says that you can't lifetap off a riposte via Lich Sting/Mortal Coil. So this somehow drastically affects how we tank in a group or solo setting now against 1 or 2 mobs?

Another good point. Tradeskill mastery aa being auto granted will make it much more onerous to skill up for people (more successes means less to salvage means less attempts).

I would suggest:

Postpone this change to Marts, instead of hasten this through to Februar.

That way you can show that you willing to listen to people.

Afraid that even that you say you listen, then there not many days to Patch day, and there
not enough time to listen, and then select what is good or bad.

Let people discuss it first. And get the feedback from US.

No need to powerlevel anyone when u get half yer AA's for NOTHING....

Come on SOE, Please do not kill EverQuest. Have too many years invested and hope to have alot more. Giving the AA's is not a good move. Long term players will go elsewhere. Thank you for the opportunity to express our opinions on these matters!

Cool, I would like 2 months of my life back......

I am a casual gamer. I have raided in several SOE games, and ran a successful raid guild for several years. I like the thought that has gone into the proposed changes, however, I have spent the larger part of a year gaining aa on my character to make them viable in group/raid content, and have just now reached 4k aa...
I am not yet lvl 100 because I have sunk so much time into gaining aa, and feel as if I deserve the xp towards my level cap if the auto aa are granted. I spent so much time gaining the aa that seeing them given freely now makes me feel as if all that time was wasted... #whinetilligetwhatiwant

I like the changes. You have to realize that Sony is trying to make money and this is a good way to maybe get old players to come back or new ones to actually stay in the game. If you do the instant 85, you need AA's to even survive any content at those levels. If you don't give a newbie or old returning player any help in that area, they will eventually tire out of being a nuisance to the group, or grow bored trying to grind out 5k worth of aa's that could've been fixed on the developers end, instead of having so many aa's.

This is an excellent strategy to get new and old returning players to actually play in the game and maybe start grouping. If you have to nerf the headshot and beam kiting, then give the free aa's to compensate for the loss of potential powerleveling. You have to realize if you want to get more people playing, you're going to have to make it easier for new/returning players to gear up and level fast to have fun with their friends, or old guild mates, etc.

"One of the reasons we announced this several weeks before it would be made live was specifically to get your feedback in time to potentially act on it. We're actively reading and reporting on this topic"

As a long time player with a main who has approx 3K aa's (and wishes he had more) I am strongly against the free aa giveaway for gold players. Its work to get them, I never seem to have as much time as Id like towards getting aa's and I want a ton more than I have....with that being said, I dont want to see free aa's. There is a sense of achievement that comes from gaining these and I dont believe they should just be handed to people without having to do any type of hunting for them. Whats next? Items that take longer than a day to camp will be given out once a month through a /claim on your gold account? Some things in this game should still have to be worked towards.

I personally feel the impact would be more negative then beneficial and in the long run will reduce player retention instead of boosting it.

The pro free aa people may have been more vocal at poll time but I believe the majority of the player base wants this to remain unchanged. Count me in that group.

I understand you guys want to try and make people play together again, but understand the population isnt what it used to be and grouping is harder than it seems. I worked hard to get my characters where they are and I feel like this patch would take it all away from me, sure I admit I use things like Shining Rampart or HS to help my lowbies but I don't use it excessively and I don't use it to swarm whole zones. It's just a benefit that I worked hard to get and like to use. You put these things in the game to help the players and thats what we're doing with it. Sure, there are a few who exploit the use but the needs of the few dont outweigh the needs of the many. I'll be honest, I feel really cheated out of my work, if this is your way to get the populationback you need to rethink it, you're going to anger a lot of people and lose your players. Keep it the way it is, there isn't anything broken.

also can we put these discussions on the patcher so i can find it before its already in this stage i mean if we are considering changing something iwould like to know wut it is to give feedback i hate searching forums to find 1 specific post

What about adding more AAs while you are making it so much easier to get them? I have been maxed on AA since 1 week after CotF was released. I really have nothing to play for at the moment. I figured with the new update Hate Rising, more AA would be introduced, but they weren't. So now I have to wait even longer to do something constructive with my character. I know I am not the only one that has a character maxed on AA.

oh well time to roll a necro ... SOE hasnt borked them out of existance yet .... and time to shelve my SK/Cleric duo

I'm kinda used to it, people have been calling me Lila since 99. But it's disappointing from someone who should be used to the EQ font!

so to reduce server load you change this so the length of time beaming the entire zone at once takes?!!!!!!!! seriously need to employ a brain.

Real reason you're nerfing pling is because you want to maximize the sale of your 85's by twinking them with 4kaa as long as they go gold ?