Did kill exp really need to be nerfed so hard?

There are grinders who would go to the fort area in FM and pull and kill the same 20 sarnaks for ten levels and 10-15k AA.

So instead of killing those same 20 mobs in 372,905 pulls.... you want to only pull those 20 mobs 288,467 times.

That still sounds insanely boring.

So, the players decided they wouldn't attempt the new content until they felt they were adequately prepared? I don't understand the outrage behind your posts. From a game balance standpoint over-leveling the content acts as a difficulty slider. This widens the balancing window as the weaker players can overlevel and stronger players can be underleveled.

Expansions get split into two parts, one expansion is tuned for non-max level characters (ToV, ToL) which are very easy and max level characters (CoV) more difficult. The level increase expansions don't offer any max level group content as all the content is tuned for characters to achieve, while leveling.

TLDR: Player choice alleviates design balance.

Group based progression system without groups. Players don't make it through the leveling journey, and 110+ just means getting 2-3% from a Lesson burn and the rest from Overseer. It's not rewarding enough to maintain player engagement.

I'm pretty sure that if a dev sees these threads that they nod in satisfaction and say, "Yep, working as intended" (just like Krono)

I suspect you may be right

With lesson and XP pots you can can about 5-8% an hour at 119 with a good group, maybe even more.

Kill XP was never nerfed, you get more raw XP per mob killed in levels 110+ zones than you did previously. Total XP required to level was increased compared to previous expansions, and completing missions and mercenaries was given big bonus XP infusions. Killing mobs was never nerfed. Many people have hit 120 solely through grinding and they did it easily in the first month the expansion was out. The people advocating for some sort of change literally want to sit in a zone 15 levels old, killing light blues, and pulling one light blue maybe every 3 minutes, slowly killing it, then take maybe a 2 minute break, then pull another--and they want to get max level in 2 or 3 nights of casual play doing that.

If you do that, the game will be a joke to anyone who plays EQ at a higher level than that.

The fundamental issue is that the relative XP you get from killing mobs has stayed constant, while the XP needed for the last 10+ levels has grown by about 10-15% per level.

Its not to bad ... *IF* you are already max level/aa, and had 50x collects ready to go AND have a team ( real or bot ) to go hit the quests/missions.

Makes it he!! to catch up if you are an under geared returning player who just felt like returning to norrath to see if any old friends/guild mates are still around.

I think this is the point that a lot of people are missing, whether intentionally or not. The resistance to the the idea that this might be a problem seems to stem from general apathy, or inability/unwillingness to empathize with people that are in a different situation.

I don't think anyone would vote against you.

XP potions that cost cash should not be the answer. Skrab pretty spot on with their reply, "Group based progression system without groups." I am sure everyone tried to sucker a friend, co-worker, or family into EverCrack at some point. At this point if you are not on it is nearly impossible for them to catch up. Yes, they will progress but eventually they grow bored/frustrated attempting to catch up.

What happen to me at one point, I was asked to to move servers because of how green the grass was over there. I finally caught up to find my peeps moved to another game. I do not blame them one bit but with such a large margin and top heavy EQ is to expect new or returning player to catch up in year is unrealistic when no one else is leveling.

Multiboxing, RMT, Pots, etc. is not a reasonable solution. Their only course is to play on a TLP with a friend and progress together. That is the only option I see for EQ new/returning players unless they make levels obsolete.

I guess it depends on where you're at.

For me, Overseer has been a total win. I'm slow and don't play a lot, so I'm still working through old expacs. With the "old expac" XP nerf, I get hardly any XP. With Overseer, I get enough to level fairly quickly, and can still do the tasks I want. In the past, I'd always procrastinated working on tradeskills, old quests, etc, because I'd get no XP while doing that.

And it's a win for Daybreak, too. And all of you, since I'm spending more on EQ, so it benefits the game. The reason for that is, I haven't taken a break from EQ in 2 years now. Before Overseer, the longest I ever played without a break was just over a year. Even though I've played since summer of 2000, I've only subbed about half that time. But the ability to get decent XP while doing other things (which are more "fun" for me to be doing at the moment) and not have to worry about not getting any XP while doing them, has been great.

This is something which needs to be discussed.

How quick should anyone expect to be caught up?
How far behind are we talking?
How much playtime?
How far caught up should that be?
Are we talking max level?
Are we talking max AA?
Max gear?
Max auged?

What planet are you from? Most of the people that I play with, don't grind exp without doing something else at the same time. That is the beauty of it - chilling on discord while catching up with what is going on with your friends. It's an easy way to unwind after a long day at work and more fun than a failed mission run because some drunkard failed an emote.

There's a time for completing the missions/progression, and there is time for chilling with friends unwinding... But with the last few expansion, they decided to remove the unwinding part.

What you call boring, is relaxing for many.

Sometimes when I am grinding experience I like to listen to...



It makes me...laugh.

I think caught up means to a level where it is reasonably possible to get groups. 115 is reasonable, maybe 110. I know people will say you can group at any level, but tbh you arent going to get groups with any frequency below that level unless you have a static group and if youre new you wont.

"caught up" is going to mean different things to different folks.

For me it means the character is tough enough to contribute in a meaningful way with out getting one rounded during a raid.

Few years ago, when I was playing EQ2, which was a very 'alt friendly' or even 'alts required' game... I got good at leveling. Real good.

When some new 'sploit' or 'tactic' emerged I jumped on it. "Player made dungeons? How can I use this to level real fast?" For quite a while, that little blue dwarf would be the first toon on the server to the max new level... and I shared it. Got a nice little row of trophies in my personal guild hall for all the awards and love I got from the dungeons I made, to make leveling a breeze.

Then one day, a new xpac released, making the new level cap hit 100. Four hours into the new xpac, I had 4 of my toons at the new max level, before most people even had a chance to log on. I never stepped foot into the new xpac.

The devs noticed. Something that had been going on for years, and they finally noticed. So couple hours later they nuked Dungeon Maker xp. Then the next level increase xpac, required timeline quests to level. I blame myself. It's all my fault. Sorry guys.

Now in eq2, it wasnt a big deal. Just do the quests, get the levels. Sure maybe now it took five hours instead of one... but it was still pretty easy, if not annoying. But see, in that game... you can solo overland timeline quests. So whenever you felt the need, you could just go do it.

EQ is different. and when I learned they did the same here... I cried. You cannot just 'go do the quests' in this game. People who happened to be playing at xpac release, they probably had no issues getting those done... but now, here I am. Standing there staring at an empty 3 year old zone, wishing there was someone to hear my screams. See, once you do the quests the first time, you have little incentive to ever do them again. And that shows. Now you can find the occasional player, who is a kind person at heart, and they may be willing to bring their max level toon to solo the quest mobs while you stand there pretending to help. But you've got to wait for that kind player to not be busy... No longer are you in charge of your own destiny. Your entire existence, for the next 10 levels, revolves around being a begger and/or manipulator. Start plying those big fancily dressed 120s with compliments... force them to like you... because they are your only hope. Send them flowers in parcels... stalk them, harass them, make them know, that you, will never let them rest, until they do your bidding and level you to 120.

Because your only other option is 3 months standing in the guild lobby waiting on overseer timers.

God I hope whoever did this has been fired... rehired, promised the moon, then immediately fired again, just to dash any hopes and dreams they may have formed anew.

BUMP!

A touch indelicate, but fair.