I agree with this-quite frankly, im surprised they haven't done this sooner-or for that matter, since all spells and ca's are buyable in pok now anyway, I think that they should be autoscribed like they are in eq2, at least up to what ever level it is that the spells can be upgradable to rk 2 or 3.
One thing I would like to suggest is combining things like Natural Durability Combat Stability and Agility into 1 set of AA's they can still have the 30 ranks of it but consolidate them into one and leave the costs the same (3/6/9/etc). Doing this to all the MUST have to effectively preform your roll AA's would help out a great deal and like I mentioned earlier base line one of the AA's like canni 5 for shamans. Right now the AA list is way to bloated and a bit confusing.
It would also be easier to help a long time MIAer out if they were closer to max level instead of them coming back to the game 40-50 levels under you. I think that people would be more inclined to help out a level 90 than a level 50 for example. So what if that person skipped out on 40 levels and didnt see 40 levels of their character. Its easier to teach someone to play this game that is at/near your level range than it is when they are three dozen or so levels below you.
Most people molo and when it comes to moloing there isn't enough of a difference to be relevant. Every class can molo just fine, some easier than others, but fine all the same. Soloing isn't your role though.
I'm not an advocate of handing out free exp just because some people feel they are entitled to them because of frustration or flaws in the game. I'm a firm believer in getting what you deserve. Yes I will acknowlege there are issues for returning/new players with gaining exp but hand outs are not the answer to the issue. If your local corner bumbs sign says "will work for food" then make him clear your gutters and toss him some money. Either create new level/zone appropriate tasks throughout the game (not just a few zones) that grant LARGE exp (picking either reg or aa as the reward) or change existing tasks that nobody every does anymore. Make restrictions at which level you can do them so people cant go back and do a level 20-25 task when they are 40 for the same amount of exp. People should do some work for exp. Take these tasks up to about lvl 70. Enough talk about handouts. Don't turn EQ into a wellfair state.
Failure to act on accessibility issues has most certainly resulted in us getting what we deserve. An ever-increasing role in every day EQ "life" for mercs. I'm not sure why the phrase 'handouts' or 'easy-mode' are even thrown around. What more can be given out than a free robot that is as powerful, or in many cases more powerful, than current players? I think it's jumped the shark as far as the 'giving out' thing, long ago. I'd love to see less mercs and more real people though, in spite of how determined we are to be king nothing.
But there is nobody to group with at the mid/low levels to do those "level/zone appropriate tasks" that you mentioned. Thats the problem. EQ isnt flourishing anymore like it once was. No longer do you have a healthy low level, mid level and max level game. Now days, its all max level while the mid and low level game is pretty much dead. Handouts and EZmode regarding EQ these days are old hat terms that harken back to the golden era when EQ was flourishing population wise. But now? Those terms are stupid and make no sense due to the fact that this game is having major major issues retaining those returning players that come back to check the game out due to the overall perception that the AA/XP mountain is insurmountable.
I returned to the game a few months ago at level 35. I am now level 91 with ~3400 AAs. Since about level 60 I have never had much, if any, trouble finding groups. The way things work now seems all right to me.
How about the new and returning players actually play the game and get AAs that way instead of getting it for just doing nothing? People are greatly over inflating the number of AAs that are needed for any class to be viable (including tanks, specifically warriors). If the person is making ill informed/advised AA choices that is on them, but it does not mean that it is in any way hard or difficult to get more than enough AAs to be viable as you are leveling up. I have been playing for over 10 years with no significant break, yet I have in the last year more than doubled the number of AAs I have (if I played as often as I used to it would probably be 3-5x that). If you put in 7+ hours a week actively playing a character you can easily get it to max level and have 2k+AAs within a few months (or less depending on having help). The reason the characters are not viable is the player not the number of AAs out there. Auto-grant all the AAs you will still have exactly the same (number of) people whining about not being able to do this or that. People are not going to quit EQ because of AAs not being autogranted. They are going to quit because they do not like the game; so if you add autogranting AAs those people will just quit because of how hard it is to get good gear, do quests, find a group, or whatever it might be that is taking them longer than instantly to complete.
Then you are an extreme exception and not the rule. For every returning member that sticks around, there are several more that just quit again. Its a fact.
But there's no one to group with at current level. That's why so many players are compelled to box. It's all people going to Feerott, having alts ride along on current group tasks/trading TA's, and buying Collectables these days so that their has fallen behind alt can contribute to their box team. Multiplayer and RvR are old hat terms these days with barely stir themselves from the Guild Lobby alts are being power leveled so yet more players don't rely on and don't provide group slots for others. The gear mountain is unsurmountable - wait there's Defiant and drops so much like candy gear from current content yardtrash mobs that you can't even sell a BP in the bazaar for 2Kpp. The normal experience mountain is ... Um wait - collectables, TA's, Mercs, being so OP because of inflated gear they solo content we used to have to group. The AA mountain... Um half of all AA's aren't critical, heck they are barely useful. There's AA acceleration. There's 10AA's practically for sneezing. There's so much AA I (who's very not aggressive about AAing quickly) maxed months and months ago and have been throwing away AA in clumps of 10 endlessly. Elidroth (Iirc) suggested he might give away some critical core AA's (on top of AA acceleration). He never suggested he's going to eliminate the difference in AA between those that actively play the game and those who chose for months and perhaps years not to suppport the game (nor anybody's all important boxed alts). Every person I've known that returned only to quit a month or two later did so because they didn't join a guild or create a social network, They were all burning through the catching up part like it wasn't even there.
Sorry, it is not a fact. I see the exact opposite of what you claim on Tunare all the time. There are far more people like Xikteny than there are who are end up quitting because of anything at all to do with AA, XP, and grouping issues combined. Actually he did suggest that exact thing. He pretty much stated that whatever was autogranted would not be refunded; which by default means that the difference in AAs between those would be dramatically reduced.
Sure there is. People just must not like you, and you annoy them, and they dont want you in their group, or being in their clique That boxed character and Merc arent annoying.
Then it depends on what server you are on then. So its a "Your mileage may vary" kind of thing. And also, sorry, but I dont believe your exaggeration. Ive personally seen far more quit due what I was saying than actually sticking around.
Must be people don't like PLing your alts then if they can't find groups at lower levels. They must resent people who don't play their best character and instead leech. Or maybe they just find mercs and their alts less annoying than your alt too. Every person I've known that returned only to quit a month or two later did so because they didn't join a guild or create a social network, They were all burning through the catching up part like it wasn't even there.
No exaggeration, I have personally seen more people stay and relatively few quit that have returned. Those that have quit it was for reasons unrelated to AAs, XP, or finding a group; the majority simply didn't want to pay to play or take the time to farm plat to buy Krono to go gold. I honestly cannot remember the last time I saw anyone (other than on these forums) say they were quitting because of it being too hard to AA/XP.
If anything I would say it is already 'extremely' easy to catch up to the point where there is a decent population of players to group with. I suppose the situation could indeed be significantly different from server to server; on Quellious there seems to me to be quite a number of returning players like myself. Although considering how short a time I've myself been back I cannot really speak to how long they tend to stick around.
