Since FTE has been put on test there has been no update at all. No follow up patch to fix issues, no comment from staff that they are aware of the issues with FTE but are confident they can get FTE fixed for Oakwynd launch. FTE has broken more than anyone thought possible, I still don't understand how it can have broken quest updates.
I think that tons of players are going to say screw this and quit after the first or second time that they are trained and FTE stops them from being able to fight back.
It was put on Test on Wednesday, you expected additional information within a couple days? And it is a weekend now and Mother's Day today.
I expected something, the amount of different ways it is broken. Even if it was just something along the lines of we will do our best to have it ready for Oakwynd launch. Instead we got a we are launching Oakwynd as announced, no comment at all on the state of FTE.
This announcement was the same day FTE went on Test. I also suspect it was set up to be posted long before FTE went on Test, too.
It was put on test on Tuesday and it would have been nice to get an update before the weekend when they have had a few days to get an idea of what is wrong and needing to be done to fix it.
I suspect a lot of folks were looking for them to at least address the situation with some sort of statement, if not an outright updated patch. And no, a random comment from a random dev on a third party social media site does not an official statement make. Lack of communication is the number one problem facing Daybreak right now.
So what I get from all this.....DPG thought what they had for FTE was working great and pushed it to test thinking they would quiet all the naysayers... Instead they basically proved that they have a really broken piece of code and it needs a bunch of work, and they are hiding their collective heads in the sand rather than addressing the customers they want to pay for their terrible product... I think anyone who bothers to play on this server is truly a diehard fan and my hat is off to them because as it stands this is looking like one of the worst TLP launches in the history of TLP. I for one was against FTE from the onset, I never liked it in WOW, never liked it in EQ2 and I seriously doubt I would like in EQ, but seeing as how it doesn't even work a little bit, I would at least expect something saying; "hey, thanks for showing us the many ways this thing isn't working, we're scrapping it and will work on it for a future release"..... So far I'm pretty impressed with the way DPG likes to leave money on the table.
I'll just be honest. I read 99% of these responses as simple resistance to change. Most of the "hardcore" people (the type who would play on test, who expect server firsts, and who reroll on every TLP with at least some interest in competing and/or profit) are dead set against encounter locking. The "horribly broken code" is of great use to them for purposes of justification, but they would still think encounter locking was a bad move even if it worked perfectly. I am not worried that this is broken, and I want them to keep it. I have no interest in power leveling. I don't worry that anybody is going to use the broken code for disruptive/toxic purposes (toxic behavior was lowest on the free trade TLP, but I've seen in on every TLP I've played). Those who are the loudest objectors are the same who turned NBG into an antiquated and backwards concept. You can't make a good idea bad by gaslighting its supports. You just make them less willing to defend common sense. One less obstacle on your path to first, best, fastest, and/or richest. Finally, yes, this is an over-generalization. However, you do have to fight fire with fire. There are many "hardcore" EQ players who maintain respect for the non-hardcore community and for the game itself. You are my heroes. There is no reason why competing with hardcore players must mean running over us who are out for fun. I would love to think DBG could bring the two factions (hardcore and causal) together with a ruleset. Unfortunately, I think that is up to us.
Have you been on the test server since this dropped? I'm not opposed to FTE, but it is broken, wholly. To steal a phrase from the kids these days, 100% unplayable. As I said in a comment in another post, it's a good idea on paper and deserves to be looked into. But it should be on the test server, or better yet, the beta server, for as long as it takes to either fix it completely, or determine that it's a failed concept and abandon the project. This isn't about hardcore v casual. It's solely about a new system that as presented simply cannot work. I'm hoping they can figure it out, not because it's a feature I really want, but more because it would shut up the people that are continually throwing shade at the devs, if only for a moment.
Yes, this is a casual vs. hardcore issue. "Stuffing" me won't change that. If I was wrong about this, this thread would have as many solutions as rants in it. This is all about trying to keep the current community power structure in place.
It's broken. It doesn't work. They need to remove this from the launch plan (that me, a casual saying that) unless they can make it work, as intended, without breaking the game, before next week.
Another problem is that those who are crowing the most about how it is broken (and yes, it is, as it is currently on Test) are in large part the same ones who don't want it at all (working or not) and that muddies the waters, so to speak. Since they have been loudest screaming for its removal before even seeing it implemented at all, one could question the veracity of their testing or even the reports of their testing. However, those who are more methodical and don't actively want to deride FTE have also reported significant issues and their reports should be heavily weighted as being more reliable.
Well according to Meeko on the Discord, they have made progress just over the weekend. They may pull off the Hail Mary, and have it fixed before the end of the week. I know that my experience coding is miniscule, since I only took a semester of C++ many years ago, but all it takes is one keystroke to doom it all, and that's not factoring in spaghetti code from 25 years ago. Before anyone asks, he did NOT go into details on what progress was made.
I'm a hardcore player. FTE would not stop me from progressing 10x faster than my casual friends. The reason is because of playtime and scarcity of resources. Many things in Classic to PoP are not instanced and rare due to drop rate, spawn rate, and/or spawn time. Folks with higher play time and that play efficiently (not smelling the roses) just have an advantage against the scarcity. FTE or DPS race will not change the crowd of folks huddling around lord berg's spawn point. I'll admit, the honest casual cleric would now have a chance to tag first with FTE. I cant speak to how well of a chance, but its true. The idea that this affects the scarcity of the resource and the super high demand of a fresh server launch/in-era important items is unchanged between the systems though. idk about power structure. To me I just want the berg crown for my cleric box and get out of the cesspool. lol the same as the other 30 that are there...even the ones farming it for money, but they will be back. Modifying supply of rare crap in the early era of this game is straight up the answer. It would need to be done where there is still a rewarding feeling though. There's never conflict until two people are after the same thing. 'cept general chat, but that's more for psychologists. They could totally drop the FTE thing and make a "dynamic rarity server" or something marketed around more casual and less toxic play and have a better result. drop rates/spawn rate reductions increased for expansions until they get a certain age vs. current era. tl;dr we're all fighting for a loaf of bread in classic-pop and some of us fight 12 hours a day and some fight 2 hours a day. There should probably be more bread, but it shouldn't rain from the sky.
I think I'm too easy on them. The thought of deploying something that is broken, with the intent to fix it, doesn't seem strange to me for this particular title. That said, I like the something to start with and I don't care if it slows my leveling down. If I didn't like the something, then I'm sure I'd be on your side of the fence.
That's where I differ. This is a TLP server where expansions drop every 2-3 months and gear is replaced every few weeks. I'm fine if it rains bread. That's why I think Mischief and Thornblade were such hits. Casual players can gear up easy. I wish the live game was more hardcore, but the tlp game should be fun and casual.
Oh, yeah! We're on the same page I loved my time on Mischief. That ruleset was a ton of fun. It fixed a lot of toxicity issues, made loot easy to distribute, wonderful economy that allowed new/returning players to catch up easy and all that. imo that's where things should be in terms of drops, especially to your point of accelerated timeline. I used a poor descriptor "rain from the sky." To clarify, mischief's rule set was awesome and made the game more fun and less grindy, while still needing to go out and kill, camp things, and work for what you want. Sure, I didn't have to camp a mob for 12 hours to get a drop, but thats not work or fun to me
