Not sure how this is even possible. I'm sorry, if you're only level 92, and have yet to experience EQ at the end game, and also learn how things work, which is obvious from your post, I don't think you have the background to suggest sweeping changes to the game. From what you've posted, sounds like you're a tank, probably a paladin, maybe an SK, but I don't know for certain. I don't have any background playing either of those, but I do have a warrior, so my guess is they have somewhat similar tanking abilities/discs. You say you have 6 combat abilities that all do the same thing, this is probably what's going on: 1) Some are on the same timer, as they are just upgrades from the others. 2) Some are trash (every class has things they don't use), and were well meaning, but just don't work like envisioned. 3) Some have different reuse timers so you are meant to cycle through abilities to keep up some level of defensive augmentation going at all (or most) times. This is a must for tanks, especially if they're light on gear. As far as having AAs and spells giving you multiple versions of IVU, you are experiencing the game at a different pace, so you're probably not aware of the fact that as characters leveled up, they were given abilities that were functionally the same, but had added benefits. Maybe at level 80 you get an IVU that's a 2s cast time, and then at 100 you get an IVU that is instant. If you had leveled up at pace with how content was released, you probably would understand the reason things are redundant. The older abilities are meant to be retired as you gain more power and upgraded AA. No one says you need to have every AA on a hotbar. Some don't get used. Also on multiple occasions you mention having problems reading the print on the AA buttons? You can resize those, just fyi.
While this is true, its also true that if every competent player is just macroing 4-5+ abilities together, they might as well just be condensed down into one giant AA. Having to research and create those giant macros is a very time consuming process for a new/returning player, and is very easily a quit moment... especially if they don't understand the macros they are creating or when to use them effectively. Remember people want to play the game, write an effective script and design a UI. Honestly think a lot of people in the thread miss OP's point, not that a veteran player can't make due and figure out what needs to be on their bar and with a lot less than 100 abilities and socials... But for a new or returning player this is something that isn't immidiately obvious. If an AA is "never used", and has no business being on your hotbar, why is it in the game?, there are plenty of discs and spells that are just absolutely garbage, and even just memorizing the book is a waste of time in a lot of cases... but while I know that, some one who hasn't played in 20 years doesn't, and blindly following a guide might be a starting point for some classes, but its not like in depth, current, guides for every class and play style are super easy to find.
New players just aren't a thing, we should stop using that as a justification for anything. For some reason, some naively optimistic EQ players think if just the right things happen that new players would just flood the servers. The best hope is returning players. And yes, it can be daunting to them to figure out how to play again. But I'm sure we can agree that without support from guildmates, friends, and good samaritan players, they're not going to stick around anyway, and those people are the best resources for relearning the game. It doesn't happen super often, but sometimes I get a random tell asking me questions about how to do things in game, and I enjoy helping out. I'm pretty sure we would all be happy with just the straight removal of spells and AA that aren't used. I'm guessing they have the ability to see which various abilities/spells are utilized more than others, and should be able to determine which ones to cut. So I'm all for that, but so far the calls for freeing up developer time by trimming the fat have fallen on deaf ears.
I like the fact your characters development isn't spoon fed to you. Doing a little homework on characters is part of the fun of EQ. There are great guides for every class on EQ freelance. Group with guildies etc or talk to people in well known raid guilds on your server and ask for clarification. Most people like to talk about how they have their characters they have spent years working on are set up. I'm all for making monotonous elements of EQ better, like an auto forage button, and irritating things like the scarecrow laugh go away, but at some point there should be a reward for really studying what your character can do.
I'd like to see the majority of servers merged together. Population should probably be on 4-5 regular rules server, FV still off by itself, and Zek removed for being a waste of resources.
I think you have a valid point here. Complexity in class design is absolutely a good thing, and there should be a skill gap between exceptional players and mediocre players for all classes. An overwhelming number of available abilities, and some googling to find out which ones to multibind in which order is not complexity in class design. It takes any thought out of what you are doing or how you play your character. Spamming "x" is not compelling gameplay for people who actually care about mastering their class.
#1 & #2 are an easy self fix. Adjust your in-game volumes. #3 There are 11 Hot Bars with 10 pages each? #4 I fail to see the issue here. #5 I use Shrouds all the time. The Rogue Shroud is very handy.
A fine example of "Putting head in sand and going "lalalalala" You cannot "Adjust" the volumes of individual sounds. OP clearly states that CERTAIN sound files are WAY louder than others. (and he's absolutely correct, the thunder sound ESPECIALLY is obnoxious and irritating beyond belief.) You cannot "Adjust" these specific sounds *anywhere* in the options. Learn to read man.. jesus. #3 - It doesnt take a genius to figure out what the guy was trying to say... you're nitpicking because you have nothing to contribute but trolling like a jerk.. and I just dont have the time or enough crayons to explain the issue to you on a level you would comprehend. #4 - That makes you part of the problem #5 - get over it.. nobody cares.
I know of 8 players I have met in the past week who have returned to EQ after 10 or more year long afks. I know of 3 players in my current guild on Bristlebane who are mains under 40. that's more than none.
And who decides what AA should all be lumped together? Everyone has their own playstyle, if Devs started combining all AA of a *type* say DPS into one, first that would be really poor given timers, and situations. But also it would make it really boring. It's been pointed out in this thread, the AA exist for different situations, Tank AA to keep up mitigation for as long as possible. DPS AA some are higher DPS for shorter periods, some less for longer, some more situational. The lower/lesser/useless AA aren't useless, they are almost always stepping stones to more well used ones, or not useless someone just doesn't realize what/when to use them for.
I personally have 8 hotbars up. But only about 2 are used for AA, well combat AA. I use many for clickies, a couple social target buttons i can use in raids, a /hidecorpse all, a /corpsedrag, mount, sit, veteran AA, Lesson, hotbars are not only for combat abilities and Discs, but also for shortcuts and other things in game. Its up to the individual how many they have and how/what they use on them. For me 8 works with a few spares for quest clicks and such one may get in game. On my alt, however he gets by with 4... also, many AA, yes do the same thing, my discs for example all may raise my AC, reduce incoming damage, etc etc, but they all are on different timers and they are ranked best to last,, so I need them all on my hotbar, so I can choose which , and when to use them.
They would obviously have to adjust timers to compensate for removing the button bloat. Three abilities on 30 second to 1 minute cooldowns is better than 10 abilities on 10-20 minute cooldowns. It's easier to balance, it reduces cognitive load, it reduces bloat, and it makes playing the class more engaging. If mechanics were designed with this in mind it would make the game more engaging. Using the tank example, it would be a lot more engaging if you had to actively mitigate boss mechanics by burning a cooldown for a big melee round or something, than it is to pop a 3 minute ability that passively mitigates everything.
Great... following your logic.... why are there 3 different Paladin Mount AA's instead of 1 AA with 3 levels? Why are there 4 different "Lower Inc Damage Increase AC AAs" when you could simply have ONE, and adjust the duration/re-use timer? You're completely missing the OP's point, and it shows. He's right on most of the stuff he talks about. I was there during the last AA crunch down. The problem overall is DBG/SOE/Verant etc. They put out a new expansion, but in order to sell it they need "features". So they pad the list with AA's. I mean, I aint knockin it per say, do what you gotta do to make the bills. The problem with padding the list though, is you end up where we are now. 50 billion AA points on AA's nobody uses, wants, needs, or even cares about. I even agree with his point of a number crunch. That NEEDS to happen. The problem is the EQ community is like the Trucking industry. Packed to the gills with old people that refuse to acknowledge a new way is better than what they had, and equating more numbers = better gameplay and more buttons = better interactions. It's a problem that needs to be addressed and soon. He/she isnt the only one getting tired of it.
Strange, I had 11 hotbars of buttons plus the socials/ability UI piece on one page of more hotbuttons & I knew exactly what every single one did because I made all of them by hand I agree the button-bloat is way over the top and I hope the UI revamp also has some combat revamp mixed in to reduce that button hell. Ohhh noooo "Big Number" *run away scared & screaming* Sheesh this is such an old & frankly bats**t thing to get bent out of shape over. The numbers are relative, that's what happens in a vertical progression MMO, numbers get bigger every year. Shroud system would be okay to use as the basis for an instanced cross-server PvP matching sub-game. I say keep it & create an on-demand PvP match system, wouldn't need a shroud each 5 levels either, just have some level 50 shrouds with a fleshed-out PvP specific ability list.
3 Horses, probably because 1 is base looking, 1 is different look, same speed, 1 is Levi + new look mount 4 Different discs, well they all have different damage mitigation and timers, for SKs we have an extra one we can stack with the others, and one of ours is almost a DPS/Tank disc. I suppose you could add all 4/5 together, but 1 that would be really OP, and 2 Warriors would rightfully flip out. So no I didn't miss his point, he simply isn't exploring all the uses for the exisiting abilities. That's not my responsibility to do for him.
I am going to assume you aren't a tank. We (SKs) already have an ability to burn on single "big* melee rounds, its very common for people to spam it. Since you cannot tell what the next big round will be. It also stacks with all our other defensive discs. We really only have 4/5 defensive discs at a time, with long timers. That being said they don't usually last the entire duration, since its mitigate X amount of damage OR last X long. Given how hard mobs hit for raids guess which one goes first. Also none of ours l mitigate for 3 minutes, at most 2 min, if they last that long. Even more so, at least one of our discs, will stack with any of the others (probably why it hasn't been upgraded), making it more engaging to tank. 1 mob run standard disc, 3 mobs run Disc 1 + 2 and maybe even your epic. Again just because OP doesn't seem understand that multiple discs have different if not very similar uses, doesn't mean they aren't useful.
I have only raided with a warrior up to level 85ish so that experience informs my previous statements. While there may have been improvements made to tanking since then, for the vast majority of the game tanking is a passive experience. If people just spam the ability because there is not a way to use it effectively, I don't personally see that as good design. It would be more interesting if using it was an active decision in response to fight mechanics. I guess I just don't see how it's better to alternate discs like this. Why not just have 1 ability that you can always hit and is available more frequently? I appreciate that managing cooldowns increases the skill gap, but I don't think that the way that this is realized in EQ is particularly compelling. To me it would be more interesting if raid bosses had telegraphed kill shot mechanics that a tank needs to pay attention to and actively counter. If the cooldown(s) to counter it are mis-managed, tank goes splat. This is a departure from what I understand to be current design where raid bosses hit hard and ability use is designed to mitigate the damage over the course of the fight. I see active countering as requiring thought and strategy, where I see long term mitigation as playing whack a mole on however many buttons you have available.
