Adjust the RNG key piece drops on TLP's

My issue with FG is the fact I have spent multiple 8 to 12 hour camps there killing every shard dropper and not seeing a single shard while helping guildies. Its too rare and the spawns it can drop from are too few.

Even if you get the camp uncontested its just not a fun zone to be in.

I finished 2 entire keys in 2 days. I am the definition of a try hard, I have no issue with the rest of the key camps. My entire beef is with FG. If they put the shard as a low chance to drop on the other mobs it would be perfect.

Your first sentence is bonkers, and greatly reinforces the idea that I will likely never see the inside of VT.

The competitive nature of a TLP went away when Dark Paw decided to instance zones and raids. There is nothing competitive about bringing just enough people to figure out how to spawn instances or any other antics that secures so-called victory on these TLP servers.

Content locked behind picking up ground spawns or keys where NPCs have low drop rates is ridiculous when you have several thousand max level and max geared players beelining to the spawns to lock them down. That said, I'm pretty sure Aradune (aka Brad McQuaid) didn't design these early expansions with TLPs in mind. Thus, they really should be tuned for shorter unlocks.

I think a keying system that lets strong guilds walk all over weaker guilds and gloat about how camps don't exist while doing it is a garbage system for the modern TLP experience. I see no reason why more casual raiding guilds should have to just wait for the stronger guilds to exhaust their key needs, why should their timeline of getting into the content be based on that?

If you want to be incremental, at the very least they could let all shiknar in FG drop the shard (at a lower rate than the level 60s if you really want to be like that), ME key should drop from any mob in zone and leave the 100% from named if you want, and slightly lower priority from that I'd say DSP and SD could use a higher drop rate, and pick thresholds could be lowered.

Overall I don't hate the key outside of FG. It's kind of interesting to do once ever few years honestly. VP key seems much, MUCH worse but I don't engage with that content at all in era so don't care that much about it.

so no point in killing anything unless it drops phat lewtz? EQ always had the point that you gotta clean out the trash... because TRASH is dangerous... (for one reason or other) yes they don't drop the shards... but do you have anything else to do while waiting for the shard droppers? imagine going to GuK or Seb only killing PH's... but some of the very good drops doesn't even drop from namers in Seb... it's from random mobs (haste belt, ODS etc.) just try to enjoy the game instead... if you don't like playing the "rush endgame content" then DON'T DO IT! wait til the rush is over and you can shuffle in easy and pick one up on your own good time.

Pro tip - enjoy Luclin now while everyone else is clamoring over VT shards.

In a month, when camps are open, snag your shards. Then, when you join the VT raids, you'll be swimming in DKP because your hardcore guildmates who poopsocked the shards blew their collective DKP wads on the first 5 VT runs. You'll get all the same gear, but at a significant discount!

Except that you will have missed out on a month of VT raid DKP, and let's be honest, the rest of Luclin mostly is a bunch of single targets that can be cleared out in a night. At least in my guild VT is going to account for at least half the earned DKP. Not to mention what it would do to your 30 day raid attendance, in most guilds if that drops too low you can't even bid on loot. Finally, most folks that I have seen are bidding fairly conservatively, due to the fact that, other than a couple of items, all this stuff will get replaced with PoP gear. Considering that PoP is basically 6 months long and elemental gear will be rotting by the end no one has much motivation to spend.

Lastly, what about Luclin are you supposed to be off enjoying? Endlessly grinding AA's in GE? Funtimes there.

Well, it was supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek comment, but if we're being more serious, I would then suggest you reconsider your choice of guild. My guild, as an example, offers alternate raids during VT clear nights for un-keyed folks to still have fun, hit some lesser targets, and keep up their RA and DKP. I'm sure other guilds have similar policies.

As for enjoying Luclin, to each their own, but GE is the pits. Way more fun zones out there.

I apologize for not catching the sarcasm. There are far too many "hardcore" darlings out there that would easily type up something like that and mean every word. Our guild doesn't really have the manpower to run alternate raids, though I do think that if you are on and actively working on a key piece those first few raids you will get credit. You won't be gettin loot though, and oftentimes watching others enjoy themselves while you struggle leads to folks quitting. It is a difficult balance.

More likely they will quit. Who wants to sit around while their guild mates are having fun? The only winning move at that point is to not play.

How did their guild mates get their keys?

Won't they help their guilldies get their keys?

I do help guild mates get their keys. I can't do everything for them nor should I be expected to. I only have so much time in a day just like they do.

Do you hold your guildies hands 24/7? If not why aren't you?

Yes by all means please give end content low hit points and pushover mechanics.

No, I just live for spending 5 consecutive days of camping in ME for 5-10 hours a day chain pulling greens and greys in hopes that a rare might pop and drop a shard. That's a much more player friendly method.

why can old defunct HZ augs drop globally in zones, yet shards and keys can't me made to do so and stop all this nonsense?

Even make it a fun thing. A Greedy <mobname> copied a key! zone emote or something..

With PoP not that far off, I see no point of doing VT. I agree with TheTone on waiting and if you do a blind DKP bid system you could get gear for hardly nothing. Allowing you to bring a ton of DKP with you to PoP.

Keying is an extension of raiding.
You raid as a guild ... you should organize key'ing as a guild as well. Guilds that were in VT week 1 or 2 put their entire GUILD's focus on keying the members.
Expect people to go and get keys on their own time is not a recipe for success in this game

No I would not want it that easy yet I would rather see anything than it currently is which is a toxic KS crap fest.

It is not healthy for the game or the community which is relatively thriving outside of these heavily rng gated key quests.

There is no skill in completing these keys just time sinks and considering we have lots of raid content and AA's we do not need time sinks.

It is an ancient game design mechanic implemented to gate players and stretch the time to reach content out for an expansion that lasted 10 months. We have 3 on TLP's

There are many other improvements to efficiency so why not allow the playerbase a more reasonable time investment to get this stuff done.

I think these two statements could both be true without opposing each other:

"They could revise some of these keying mechanics to make them more reasonable."

and

"Your guild should work together to get the keys instead of expecting members to do them on their own."

And that neither would lead to:

"So you just want the mobs to fall over and give up their loot?"

Which was always a stupid statement considering that you still have to do the raid and deal with drop rates. This isn't zero sum, it could be badly implemented and still have better options available through teamwork.

No sh*t. Do I need to spell it out in crayon? I spend multiple days helping guildies get shards. I shouldn't have to spend 8+ hours in one camp to get 1 shard for 1 guild mate. Thats dumb. I am sick and tired of carrying people through this trivial crap.

Fact check: VP is not viable raid content, its a garbage zone with fun drops and a few items off PD that are OK. VT is a verified loot pinata that is necessary to prep your guild to breeze through the EP's without needing to farm EP armor. Most of your guild will be in 80% or more VT gear at your first Quarm kill. One clear of Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Time doesn't replace 70 peoples gear in its entirety. I'm not really sure how someone can say losing access to VP cuts out a large portion of viable content.

Despite Yerm's lack of understanding of what VP and VT are, respectively, the VT quest is super easy compared to VP. No changes are necessary. In fact, Aradune was so much easier than all past TLPs it seems as if drop rates were secretly increased already.