Considering what happened to the whole world in 2020, I would have to say that yes, CoV was merely a placeholder expansion. A cookie-cutter version of ToV with the difficulty turned up...just something to put out during the development cycle. Because CoV is boring as hell. Considering that a lot of the "solo" tasks will update for everyone in the group when one member completes that particular step, I agree. There's no point in having solo tasks. Just make everything for Partisan group tasks and be done with it.
Wrong. EVERYTHING favors the end game raiders. You can do whatever you want, change whatever you want, and the "elite" (lol at that word, but whatever) will ALWAYS be on top. Its because they are simply better, and have more time on their hands, both for research and game play. Is what it is.
This is not true. The elite characters in EQ are basically an entire expansion ahead of the casuals. The elite characters in BDO or Archeage are walking gods compared to the casuals. The elites characters in GW2 are effectively the same as casual characters, but with obnoxious visual effects. In terms of progression per hour of effort ( which is what quakedragon was referring to), horizontal progression favors casuals.
If there is a loot lockout the trash just doesn't spawn. If the trash has been killed at another time and will drop nothing there is no need for it to be up. This might also help the lag on raids. Or go back to having minis instead of clearing trash.
I'm just back after a @7-year hiatus, and a lot of this talk is about people like me playing catch-up. I started at 105, and overseer+soloed my way to 111. Overseer may be the easiest XP I've ever seen in the game. And although I've somewhat outgrown it now, Conflagrant Gear = newfangled Defiant for levels 106-110. (And the spell foci scale up to 115.) Earlier today, a couple of my guildies helped run me through some ToV tasks (I understand this is not an option for everyone). I estimate we spent 2 hours or so, and I got nearly 50% through 111. But even if they hadn't, Overseer and soloing are still meaningful XP every day. (Overseer twice a day, if you time your tasks right.) What I'm trying to say, and it's just IMO, is that things aren't terrible for returnees right now, and I've had much worse times falling behind during previous breaks. I'd rather see lots of cool stuff for when I hit top level and have decent group gear than more of a helping hand right now.
Maybe they should have a no progression server for those that dont like progression. Stops at classic.
Id like to see more raids next expansion that cant be beat by a pure DPS check burn. Force the mechanic and learn how to do it, people get to lazy with dps burn wins and dont get to experience the raid how it was designed to be done. Like if you try a full burn and dps drops to fast make the mob AE DT and insta reset raid, no recovery aloud.
What do you consider progression? Regrinding the same power increase loop to recover your relative power gains? It’s one thing to have interesting leveling progression and unlocking abilities and skills, but the devs don’t make an effort to provide interesting progression.
Nope. The difference in "skill" (whatever definition) is massive and no matter what you do, the best players end up at the top. That is a reality, and the only reason this TLP treadmill of new servers works, because there are like 5000 casual people that are just "sure" that *this time* they will not fall behind. Raiding on multiple servers in multiple guilds you can see the differences. No progression is not the same as horizontal progression.
I asked first. What do you consider fun if there is no progression? Is it the lore you get by reading the quest text? And the next week do it over and over again? Even with no loot? You can keep arguing that progression isnt fun, but if you cant even say what you think is the fun alternative then your position is weak. And if there isnt anything else fun in this game why are you here?
One twist: Once you scribe Groundhog, you log in as a groundhog every single time until you click it off.
Answering your question I find the game play enjoyable and social interactions meaningful. Gaining 5 more levels doesn’t matter if the development team doesn’t expend any effort into making those meaningful progression points. So, now answer my question. Do you need to see your numbers go up to enjoy a game?
I find different ways of playing my character every expansion, and even from beginning to end of the expansion depending on my and others power levels. Its not about my numbers so much as what I can do differently as I progress. When I get to the end of the expansion and cant find any more ways of changing to improve then its boring. Now my turn for a question: how does progression detract from your fun? I mean, if its all the same just +1 stats then shouldnt the fun you have with "gameplay and social interactions" be just the same? Just ignore the progression. You dont have to do it. Honestly if your goal is to change this game to a non-progression game you are tilting at windmills imo. Its just not going to happen.
Nah, I never made any comment regarding changing EQs style, I’m only pointing there’s no real progression.
Correct and does not dispute what quakedragon and I are saying. Horizontal progression favors low-playtime and unskilled players because it reduces the gap, not because it inverts or completely closes it.
In GW2 the driver is all achievements and cosmetics with some ability progression limited to a given area / game mode. The shiniest gear requires the most work. You can imagine the ToV earring not granting any better stats than what's readily available with modest labor, but alters your character's model so that everyone knows how much of a tryhard you are. This, in addition to a number by your visible nameplate that loosely represents your level of achievements in a game means that knowledgable players can tell at a glance how much you've developed your character and in some ways that's more motivating to people than stats in EQ. I know I enjoy the visuals of the legendary item I got this year in GW2 (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aurora) than I enjoy the modest stat increases from maxing the 4 evolving TBL items. I'll probably be ditching all those items in this expansion, but for as long as I play GW2 every time I pick a fight I roll 4 deep with these orbs. Again, EQ should not adopt this model and should instead stick to vertical progression. I'd just like to see it be something other than level increases every two years due to how much tedium it takes to deal with as a player (with way too many characters) and how much apparent designer cost it takes to copy-paste the same spells/armor everytime.
