Changes with the February Update: Developer Updates

To be fair, PUGs on Povar are pretty rare, along with the open raids. I am able to PUG regularly, but it takes a lot of work, and a lot of patience to finally get a group together. Typically will spend more time trying to put one together, taking anyone LFG, than the duration of the group itself.

Just because you do not personally fit into what he describes as "most", does not mean his point is automatically false. It is also my experience as well that people would rather group with friends + mercs rather than bring in PUGs.

I did it when i came back after a 4 year break n i also main swaped to boot n ill say it was not as hard as some are making it out to be, n i didnt get any power lvlin or anything like that....so i stand by my statrment sorry it my opinion upsets you

Your intentional spelling errors and typos (that I am now unable to discern if they are typos on purpose or accident) would hypothetically upset me so much more than your opinion. Fortunately, neither upset me.
Your opinion isn't groundbreaking. It isn't anything revolutionary. Its the same ol' " I walked up hill both ways, bare foot, through the snow, so should you " mentality.

When you reroll, you have game knowledge already. You know where to go and how to efficiently XP. You are more familiar with the aspect of putting a group together and where to direct that group. A brand new player will not typically be in the same boat. This is a huge difference you are ignoring.

On a tablet sorry, can be a little hard to type on this thing sometimes.

There's a learning curve anytime you do something you've never done before. That's just the way life works.

I don't think your opinion is groundbreaking either. It's the same old "award everyone who competes a trophy so no one's feeling's are hurt" attitude.

Also thought we was talking about "returning players" crying about how hard it is to catch back up that they need handouts on aa

Ask for help....not handouts!!!!!!

Yeah, returning is not nearly as hard as people are trying to make it out to be. I've done it many times and been way behind, most people have. I think very few people have played through the past 15 years without taking a break.

Look, The AA grant for me boils down to this, Will it INCREASE the population or DECREASE the population. If there's an increase then its a victory. Am I an oldschool gamer, you bet, Dec 1999. did I work hard for my toons and their lvls Absoult-positive-frickin-lootly. The biggest hurt however for this game, in fact all MMORPGS is the biggest hurt for realitity in general. People. When someone dies the world is a lesser place, when EQ loses people, it too is a lesser place.

Will some of those people be newbs to their classes, yup, they'll be stupid allright, but we all started out reasonably stupid, but that's ok too, big mistakes make for fun learning, and experices to remember. I remember when join fippy when it came out. I was like frick ya, it'll be just like the old days....but it wasn't. people didn't train, not many overagroed, and half the people still boxed anyway. It was kinda fun, the groups were nice, most of the people that had played had played before, and knew the basics, that's all one really needs. the rest IS learnable.

The point im trying to make is when is enough going to be enough, they are killing our game and our gameplay. Today its AA tomorrow they will auto grant raid gear, n soon there wont be anything at all to work for because the devs now give you everything for paying the monthly script.....Btw been playing since 2000 here.

That's the only reason I haven't screamed that I'm cancelling my accounts. I have to assume the dev's know more about the shape the servers are in than me. I have to assume this is the move they feel they need to make to keep the servers alive longer. I don't like it at all, but if it means I can log on and play my favorite game that much longer, I'm going to keep giving them my money and I'm going to keep logging on and playing for as long as I can. If they hadn't offered the opt out I would have been gone, because I just have no desire to play what I basically consider to be "ebayed" characters.

I think I started just before or right at the release of Kunark. This is definitely a huge change. I'm going to try to ride it out, but the game is just really not going to feel the same. They are catering more and more to a completely different crowd.

I agree on everything you said.

I am not on this has to be a "super hard way minority" that the other side of the debate seems to make us out to be. I think changes to make the levels, AAs, and gear easier and faster to get to possibly be good changes. I would just rather they be achieved through game play rather than granted. Matter of fact, I really wish they would change old content quest lines to match Rain of Fears experience gains adding in relevant gear rewards as we'll.

Ryneis

Felt the same way vice the continued support. I have already cancelled my accounts until I see the final changes go into game.

I am having withdrawal symptoms! It has been seven days since I logged in and counting...argh. I need my fix hehe!


Ryneis

One way:

http://almarsguides.com/eq/leveling/

There are a number of others.

Wow, Lets start with that.

This game is the Second longest running MmoRpg. It has lasted many changes and many "nerfs". The majority of the language used in Common Mmo's came from here. This game revolutionized the Gaming community, and has brought us many more titles and avenues to play.

That being said, This game for many of us have become part of our lives ( somewhat sad to say, at how much for most of us) BUT it is a part of our personal growth. But as we grow so must it.

The Nerf:

So you as Sk's, Mages, Zerkers, Rangers, and Rogues are facing a massive nerf? I bring you case and point of Bards, Druids, Necros, and Wizards. We where the rules of soloing, when ever we wanted near where ever we wanted. How many of these classes do you see solely soloing now? Hp has been made to high and Damage is not on par as it used to be. Truth be told.. these classes exploited previous expansions to make there gain. Very few cases where found for the majority of the Decap/swarm/assasinate/hs causes where in anythign over House of Thule.

I personally have seen first hand what happens to these players when forced out of their comfort zone of the grounds, Or a connected zone. They loose there solo ability and mass damage. So your proc rate lowers, and you get granted the ability to use these skills in current content, and you whine. Sorry that you are so upset that you are loosing this mass killing method, and will be forced to actually play your class.

The end result. Nerfs have happend before, they will happen again... sorry about your luck it was you this time. But really not sorry.

The AA auto grant:

I know many people are against this auto grant for that reason, I am torn on it to be honest. Will I use it on my druid? perhaps, Will I use it on my re-rolled box account? surely I will, the buy in for tanks is heavy. Then again the buy in always is.

There are two sides to this and they have been addressed by many, This is going to allow people who do not know a classes or the game to be on par near over night. So they will be newbs.. we all were newbs at one point. Perhaps its time for the community to return to what it was and support each other then seek self gain at every corner. The elders of each class should as the majority once did before, aid those seeking help. It is why the UCS has class specific channels. So we can answer questions and help those within the game.


People leaving because of all this:

Things didn't go your way? and you are leaving.. Perhaps wow is better suited for your tastes where everything is even keal.

Final Thoughts:

This game still holds its former glory, and difficulty, despite the "hand outs". This game is what we make of it, and truth be told its future is in our hands. Those who love this game will be here until the bitter end. Those who have been here for the length of time the true veterans have, know the nerfs and exploits have always come to an end.

Powerleveling and pre made characters have always been a issue with this game. Though perhaps with SoE making them, that black market will disappear. You can already buy plat in game, you can already buy pre fab gear, Now we may not have perma camped mobs or mass plat farmers when this is all rolled out.

Humble citizen of Norrath.

so when is the update so I will know when the servers will be down?

IMO, there should be no complaining about the people who are complaining about reducing the mountain, aka free AAs. IMO, we are on the same side. The same goal. Just that how to get to the goal is different.
In the analogy of going to school both ways up kill in bare feet in the cold...a bus is needed...not just show up one day a week (via even a limousine) then get credited for the whole week, and maybe the whole term.
imo, during the life of the expasions, gear improved, flags removed...understandable...the old gear is useless...one item today has more hp/mana than the total hp/mana of a toon three or 4 years ago.
maybe the equivalent is standing in pok, without leveling or looting, you toons equipment gradually , magically becomes todays standard.
if at one point, management says we will create a loyality vender that issues a piece of raid gear for every three month gold membership. I am sure the guild leaders would question that since, they put a big effort in structuring a guild and accomplishing a raid. even the riading force themselves, dedicating a good potion of their eq life for that event. IMO< I would think they would what to be compensated for that. For me, just the knowledge that I completed to that level is not good enough.

Deloehne, I do understand that you like to receive some benefit for he work you have put in. Heck, I would like that also. My suggestion was no more than suggestion, knowing it will not alter the planned game changes anymore. By what has been posted by officials you might get what you ask for (but maybe not what you want).

The problem is that they have put three very different skills (HS, decap, assassination) together and try to use a one-fits-all solution. You know that the skills have different costs (decap costs like 1/4 of the other two), are based on different attacks (ranged with bow, 2H melee, backstab (1HP) or ranged with dagger but only in back arc) and work on different types of mobs (humanoid vs. all).

Now despite all that the average trigger rate of 2 per minute will be tuned to the "basic raid-geared player". Reading through your achieved gear I would say you soon might be close to reach the average trigger rate.

The whole tuning of the trigger rate does seem weird if you look at the criteria:
- For rangers you would think it should include all the bow (over)haste as this is something you can earn in game.
- For berserkers this would be the melee (over)haste. But wait this is either just some buffs or some very standard gear haste. Does any of this really reflect the 'character building'?
- For rogues this is .. nothing? Backstab has a fixed delay. There is no permanent way to alter this. (There is one disc that will reduce it for 30 secs every half hour; that's like 5 additional backstabs every half hour).

I do like the developers work usually but I think this change will result in .. more future changes.

So does that mean, the auto granted AA will not count towards the 4000AA cap anymore ?
After all it should be quite easy to query the Total Spent variable for the cap calculation instead of the Assigned variable.