Career, Family, Everquest, Sleep, choose up to three.

They are not complaining, they joined the server because of Free trade loot rules and random loot. They are struggling to keep up even though there was 4/5 days of 50% extra XP in the 3 weeks(ish) the server has been up. All the casuals that have come back, won't complain, they will just leave if this keeps up I fear, that's the problem.....

The thing is, the casuals leaving isnt really a threat or a drop in the bucket to get things changed.

They like to think they are a majority of the playerbase, that everyone playing is similar to them and that the people who play daily are the minority, but that just isnt true. They are a minority, making up a rather small group of the overall playerbase.

If they all quit, today, the server would still be going strong, 85% of the playerbase wouldnt notice. There might just be a few less picks of unrest.

Sounds harsh, but its the truth.

Edit: They usually all quit anyway, when a month or so down they line they realize that they dont have anyone to group with. They are level 22 4 weeks into the server, and there is one other player in their 20's LFG.

Well, it wouldn't "harm" any of the every day players if we had XP rates that also work for people with family responsibilities as well, so why so negative to it?

Oof.

Good news, they are keeping up just fine, their measuring stick was just calibrated wrong. They were given 7 months to hit level 60 and get some AA's. We're less than 1 month into that 7. If they are even halfway to 50 at this point they are doing fine.

Free trade loot rules and random loot work at all levels, and prices are lower if you lag behind the cutting edge. 40ish would be a great place to go into Kunark, with CoM, Karnors, and then Sebilis. A little behind that curve? Velk's Lab will be fun when Velious lands. If even that fails, Luclin will show up and add plenty of zones to level in.

You can't give Casuals and Hardcores the same experience of the game, but you can cater to both of them. These servers have the right rulesets to facilitate that, and unlock speeds that are neither too fast or too slow.

They already have exp rates that are quite reasonable. All that would happen if you increase exp rates is the next time there is an exp weekend you will see these types of threads pop up again.

Why can't you give them the same experience? The XP rates are right for "you" to get to 50 already, but it is not ok that it gets adjusted so that others with an RL family's can do the same? Isn't it just very selfish and self centered of you to take this stance, is this really the type of person you want to be?

This has nothing to do with bonus XP weekends, making up arguments to make your own points is very counter productive to a valid concern that is being brought up.

Hi, you may not know me, but my mains are level 18 on Thornblade. My alts are level 11, I only play those with a friend who has limited playtime. I started on launch night, and played during the bonus exp weekend. I have a wife and kids, though only one is under 18. He has a job and no license or car yet, and picking him up from work is a big interruption when I play in the evenings.

The people who are 50 aren't 50 because of a huge amount of playtime, they are just using their time better. I've lost track of which thread I'm arguing in, but I laid all this out today. Get in a full group, fight reds, be 50 in no time. Don't want to do that? Accept the reality of leveling slower. I have, as you can see.

I am the people you are advocating for, you are just advocating for the impossible solution. Want to level fast, improve the quality of your playtime rather than the quantity? Skip multiple short sessions to assemble one long session if you can. Use that session to get a good group. If you can't, then nothing can be done about that. Improving solo exp, duo exp, the exp rate in general, all would make things too easy for those who do it the fast way. Slowing down full group exp to fix that would make a lot of people mad.

That's why I say you can't give them the same experience. Casuals can't always arrange long play sessions, and may not have a solid friend group to level with. So they won't have access to the fastest leveling in the game. They can still level, and enjoy it, but not if they look at those 50's with envy and let it get to them.

Considering this whining started right after the exp weekend, and what is being asked for is to bring exp rates in line with the last exp weekend, I would say that exp weekends are very relevant here

Aside from the classic rush, and to a lesser extent the kunark trek to 60, the time to level is pretty trivial. Going to 65 in pop takes a handful of hours. Likewise going to 70, or 75, or 80. And the AA requirements can be met almost just through the aa you earn on raids, if you raid regularly.

Interesting take. By this list I'm closer to a casual player than even an average player. I only really have three or four nights a week where I can play extensively, and three of those nights are our raid nights. Some of those nights I miss or am late due to work stuff creeping in. On my day off I might get a few extra hours in but I'm not usually spending all day playing.

And yet I've only ever played in "hardcore" guilds competing for server firsts.

I think most hardcore guilds would be hurting if they didn't have their "casual" players.

If you don't have room in your work/family/life balance for 2-5 hours of hobby time per week, that's a you problem.

The brain is very good at seeing connections were there are non, google conspiracy theories for more info ;-)

To state it up front I am lvl 50 already, I even have more then one lvl 50 at this point, the XP rate if it is slow or fast does not matter for players like me, but for casual players it does, XP rates need to be adjusted for the people that the XP rate matters for, not for the rushers like me who get lvl 50 very fast regardless of what the XP rate is.

So how did you get to 50 fast? Static group? PUGs? Or did you solo or duo? Probably not those last two, because I know how those go.

The way content is arranged in EQ, there are only so many spots you can solo and not get overrun unless you have the perfect pulling and solo class combined. Duo opens up more options, you can take two at once more often, but depending on classes, may be light on DPS or healing. I've found that with three, and the right classes, you can fight multiple yellows at once. Exp isn't bad like that, but not as good as a full group fighting reds.

Adjusting the base rate would have the people who hit 50 in 35-50 hours doing it much faster, while those solo or duo would barely see a difference. This is based on how the group exp math works, and the multiplication of incoming exp that happens. That is compounded by the capabilities a full group brings, regardless of the classes. Adjusting the solo rate would make grouping more pointless, beyond being able to tackle larger and tougher groups of mobs.

The problem isn't the exp rate directly, but the disparity between 1-2 and 5-6 players grouping. And that is needed to encourage grouping. In the end, anybody who finds leveling to be slow should seek larger groups, and harder content. I'm content duoing by myself, or playing two with a friend who is playing a third. If we were dying to be 50, we would look for more and go to harder camps. I don't think much can be changed without unbalancing what they want to encourage.

People aren't behind because the exp rate is bad, they are behind because they aren't using the optimum method to level. As one of these people, I can confirm this first hand. The only difference is that I'm fine with it being that way. I never expected to be 50 when Kunark launched, 25 was my best case guess, and I'll probably be a bit behind that since I wasn't expecting to be playing alts with a friend when I made that estimate.

The current experience rate is just right. It doesn't need to be changed. We don't need people blowing through mains and alts and getting bored and quitting. There needs to be some grind involved.

I got 50 so fast the same way everyone else did, I put in the hours, hours that casuals have less off. That's the only difference between the people who are lvl 50 and those who are not, the hours they put in at killing mobs, all the other factors are just fluff and have very little bearing on how fast you get to max lvl. (There are ofcourse extreme cases were people sit in Common Lands tunnel all day and never kill mobs that would have an effect, but we are talking general population/average players)

Exp rate feels fine to me. Its way faster than in the original release. I know I darn well wasn't soloing yellow cons as a paladin getting 3% in one kill back in 1999, but I am now.

4% exp in an HOUR was great exp back then. Even taking into account the exp penalty as a hybrid back then, its simply very easy to level. Just get somewhere and group for a couple hours at a time.

I am not saying remove the grind, I am just saying that it might need some adjusting