Level 100 heroic characters

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Meth, Jan 20, 2022.

  1. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    Most of this can be learnt in a couple of hours and players shouldn't be playing high level chars in low level zones for no real reason.

    Those who have returned recently or started new I always suggest they create a new char and do the tutorial in Glooming Deep, which doesn't take long and it teaches you the basics.

    After that they do the tutorial quests in Plane of Knowledge which teach you about things which were added later, auras, guild halls, etc (nice aug from one of them)

    Once they have done that they have a pretty rounded knowledge of how EQ works, the only thing they don't know at that point and have to learn is what spells/AAs to use and that is down to finding someone who will teach you, finding a good write up and trial and error.

    The success of the next heroic chars will come down to what they are given at the start, not just basic gear but, AAs, clickies, etc along with what spells and discs they have set up for the UI to be auto loaded, which is also going to be how many hot bars they have set up.

    Level heroic chars landed in Freerott of Dreams with basic gear and a quest to do the merc quest as a start. From there it was a case of doing the other quests in the zone to do the quests to level up and get augs for the gear as this was the first zone in the expansion which gave us level 90.

    For level 100 Heroics it will be interesting to see where they start and what they give them. I am asuming they plan to start them in TBS or TBM where they can level up to level 105.

    Level 100 feels to low, but who knows what Daybreak are thinking, they may have others planed for a couple of years time.
  2. Burdi Augur

    I really think i would make more sense to have a a la carte menu of heroic characters from 50 to 100.
    I don’t think it would make it more difficult to implement.
    You could use it both on live and TLP to be where you want to.
    If you want to raid then you want to be max level quickly.
    If you are more interested in exploring a given expansions, you can do it.
    For example, i am not a great fan of the last five expansions recycling old kunark, velious, and Luclin zone with a scarce amount of progression and group content.
    I am much happier playing with expansions like SOF , or SOD.
  3. Niskin Clockwork Arguer


    100% guaranteed that was a powerlevel. There is no combination of things that can get a normal group from 85-95 in two hours. I've been powerleveled from 85-110ish, it's really fast in those first 10 levels and then slows down, but that was with 115's PL'ing, which was max at the time. It probably slows down around 110-115 now.

    I don't have an issue with the new heroic being 100, even if 105 feels better to me. 110 almost feels too high, but I wouldn't complain if that was it either. I've started saving my monthly DBC for the new heroic on two accounts, hopefully will get to have fun with them in the fall.
  4. Iven Antonius Bayle

    A time span in life. My wordbook just brought up lifetime for it.
  5. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer


    Obviously. My question is why bring it up here?
  6. Tegila Augur

    If you're returning from anything after OoW or so, the tutorial isn't gonna do jack. I can do every quest in order in the tutorial without even looking. That doesn't tell anyone anything about post-100 gameplay. Not remotely. Even remembering every single nuance up to 100 doesn't compare to everything 100-110( and I just saw last night they kept everyone at 105 for THREE years, wow, making 100-110 5 years.) What happens when you do that? An awful lot to make up the difference. In contrast, it took only 5 years to go from 80 to 100 and those 2 blocks of 5 years were back to back. Most returnees know the basic fame, and unless they were gone since pre-PoP, they likely know enough to get by at any level to 100. The real learning curve is 100-110. New and returning can play those levels to catch up, and ppl making alts can taskadds past it. Simply put: 100 is the ideal heroic level at this point in the game.
  7. Dragnath Elder

    I guess that settles it. I didn't realize level 100-110 was such a challenge...

    Must have forgotten since I leveled my crew from level 1 a little over a year ago after being away since HoT...

    At the end of the day the decision is made that level 100 is the new Heroic and it doesn't appear DP is in the business of listening to the players anyway, but calling level 100-110 the biggest learning curve in live EQ is a bizarre argument.
  8. Thraine Augur

    lets make this happen already! i think most can agree this is was the shining star of the whole 2022 roadmap.
  9. Warpeace Augur

    Looking at it they should probably make the new Heroics 105, price accordingly and call it a day until the level spread requires another update.
  10. Talif Augur

    The irony on this is EQ2 has had heroic characters dialed in to 5 levels under cap pretty much since the inception of the program
    Hobitses likes this.
  11. Benito EQ player since 2001.

    At the same time, some EQ2 players criticize the game as more Pay-to-Win heavy.

    Though, Darkpaw has done a better job of tempering the marketplace in the last year.
  12. Tegila Augur

    The differences that came into the game between RoF and ToV is the learning curve I'm referring to. Not just about playing, but optimizing for survivability and dps etc requires a lot more little things that didn't exist before CotF, options like pickzones and agents of change, and there really hasn't been anything gamechanging since TBL or before except overseer and that's not gameplay or anything else, just a little boost to collections, xp, tradeskill supplies, and junk off a merchant and it's totally optional.

    Slot5s aren't really optional of you wanna play in the modern world, the whole Faded system, the revamp of AAs that broke old hotkeys due to renumbering and changing knight mounts to items for example, that also then created or was because of autogrants(idk which came first there) which seems to be a leading cause of the exponential increase in AA costs(and xp from mobs). Slot3s matter, though they didn't. An entire economy based on Kronos largely due to the random rare raidgear drops. The need for mercenary gear and AAs. The existence of heroic missions etc. Anyone before RoF collections are new but that's not a thing to learn, just do. Evolving spells, alliances, synergy, and heroic aas requiring progression from how many years back? The new tradeskill caps that don't just cost oodles of AAs but also require hundreds to thousands of new recipes to skillup instead of the old way.

    This and more I'm forgetting off hand BECAUSE THERES SO MUCH, are things you need to know or mostly know/be familiar with and be at least progressing in(at least basic TBM slot5s, not ignoring progression before ToV+, etc) before can be "useful" in the modern game. And it's not just a list, there are details behind much of it. There's also for many the fellowship vitality which can help catch up if you know how it works, and I still see many that are unclear on that too. There's a lot, and if you miss an entire aspect not just a few details, it's gonna be a lot harder at 110+ than the time period these things all came into existence. That is why 100-110 is ideal for learning about it all, it was still coming into play then so the entire game wasn't balanced around it yet, and the current stuff and its players just take it all for granted because to them it's obvious common knowledge.

    The fact you levelled a crew from 1 means you had 110+ levels to slowly absorb it, it wasn't information overload.
  13. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    I disagree, after returning after that length of time you need to relearn the basics, many return and can't remember the simplest things. How to use augs, how mercs work, maps, etc. They don't need to do every quest just the first teaching quests.

    You don't need 10 levels to learn how to play the modern game. Most of the new stuff that has been added has quests in Plane of Knowledge to teach you. Which spells and discs you use will be learned fairly quickly, if that takes more than a couple of levels I'd be surprised.

    20 levels behind the rest of the player base is a lot, especially when you consider the next expansion will becoming out 3 months (ish) after the new heroics are released.

    But all this depends on how long Daybreak want it to take players to level up to current standards and what they include with heroics. If they come with Heroic AA upto level 100. AAs are autogranted upto RoS now, so I'm surprised that isn't where the new heroics start, but they don't include heroic AAs.

    I'm interested to hear what Daybreak are going to be including in the heroic along with the cost
    Belkar_OotS likes this.
  14. Belkar_OotS Augur

    Introducing level 100 heroics is nice and all, but level 100 is not high enough level to really entice me to start a new character or to use on a developed character. When I first saw the new heroic characters, I thought level 100 was sufficient, but upon ponding it further, I really feel 110 is more appropriate. I would rather the developers focus on other things overall, and level 100 will not age well in my opinion. Starting at 110 gets people in the action faster and will still seem worthwhile in a couple years when the level cap moves upward. Doing level 100 now, just seems like a set up for it to be underwhelming now and not all that helpful moving forward.

    For a new or returning player, being able to participate with the community immediately should help with retention in my opinion.

    I also agree with others that starting in TOV is a much better expansion than other recent expansions for returning players due to mob skills and abilities in the entry zones, general open space and intuitive progression. TBL had very limiting entry zones, and RoS had alot of special skills on mobs and bomb dropping drakes in Skyfire etc. It is more interesting mechanic wise, but again, if we expect for people to solo/molo things up in 2 years, that content will not be particularly favorable for new people in my opinion.
  15. baider Elder

    I quit playing during EoK right before RoS
    I have come back to the game about 4 times and each time found it nearly impossible to level because there were no groups for non max levels and my EoK raid gear on 2 toons with mercs couldnt kill diddly squat passed RoS tier 1 and the exp there at 110 is horrid. made it to 111 and decided that it was no fun returning to the game and having to grind grind grind grind alone with no communication with other humans for days and days just to get to an appropriate level to even get considered for a group.

    So 100-110 is no easy task for returning playing, and 110-120 definitely wont be.

    So yall are at the dilemma now of turn away returning players to keep whining level 120s happy for god knows what reason because more level 120s playing the game just means more raiders to select from.

    Honestly it makes no sense to me to gatekeep a dying game. even if level 120 players are playing poor that doesnt mean you have to accept them into your guild. But more max level players is only a good thing for everyone.
  16. yepmetoo Abazzagorath

    Let's be honest and stop with the lies and strawmen.

    People that can learn how to play in a couple hours aren't the ones that have a problem leveling in the first place.

    Heroics are for making money off people that think it will let them skip a lot of the game, and for people that want to skip it for their alts (and skilling up).
    Tegila and Velisaris_MS like this.
  17. Velisaris_MS Augur

    Let's be brutally honest...heroic characters are for people that already play the game and know how everything works, and just want to have another alt/box.

    HCs do nothing to help a completely new player or a player returning after several years. Which is why the game needs something that's actually geared towards new players...not pre-rolled NPCs a player can just take control of.
    Stymie, Tegila, Vumad and 1 other person like this.
  18. FranktheBank Augur

    We all agree that lvl 100s are still useless in the grand scheme of being a "useful" character. They are useful in that we dont have to worry about not being able to group with max levels for like 4 more years.

    Woo, band aids...
  19. Demandred Elder

    So why have levels at all? (AA or reg)
  20. Riou EQResource

    Character Progression (numbers going up) is a massive part of the RPG part
    Hobitses and Nennius like this.