Changes with the February Update: Developer Updates

I think that "doing enough damage to get you summoned" is exactly the problem he's worried about.

Fortunately, arrows aren't our only pulling tool.

Yinla's concern is that they will proc a headshot on the first and only arrow he/she fires to pull with archery and send the mob into summon mode, which is a legitimate concern...but...Its already been stated here that there are more than half a dozen abilities for rangers to pull with. If you're insistent that you want to pull summoning mobs with archery, then don't buy the new ranks of the AA.

Piestro, I definitely agree that this is a good direction for the game. And a lot of people are going to get the reward of grouping with others. But please consider that grouping isn't everyone's play style. In my case I was levelling my now 88 SK from 1 and farming him augs all along the way. He has about 7 augs over 20 AC now and half of those showed up on the HA merchants. So that's one large timesink wasted. I didn't complain: Aug farming was a huge hurdle in this game.

Just last month, I farmed him out about 1,000 AAs. Since SK's are not really solo friendly until they fill out a good deal of tank AAs I never even got to use him. I just ran UF tasks over and over during what spare time I had (1-4 hours a day). That was a lot of time down the drain. Luckily I wasn't petty enough to create an SK just for swarming or else I'd really be in trouble here...

In any case, my point isn't simply for the sake of complaining. I just want to be clear that for some, there is no upside (I have somewhat of an upside, but my friend took a break from EQ after just finishing all the AAs up to UF...I have been trying to get him to come back for a long time and this has been a huge turn-off for him). So please keep discussing possible SMALL rewards for those of us who worked our tails off for the AA's. He is a pretty stubborn guy but if he knew his work earned him something then I know I could talk him into coming back.

And I do appreciate the time you took looking into my suggestions! Thank you!

They were already planned on anyways.

Oh dear here we go again - The in game poll was taken 2+ years ago - before FTP brought a lot of people into / back into game - and probably a lot of people have left since then - Please do not mention the poll ! - the figures being quoted do not represent the current population! A new poll has been asked for several times now to try and settle this issue without all the bickering and the I'm right & your wrong that is coming from BOTH sides of the argument, and has received no reply.

I will put it in everyday terms - this is like your government saying well you voted for us X years ago so why bother having an election we can just stay in power. Voters change their minds over time based on many different factors = A poll that old = irrelevant

Really? So all the changes that they have made so far to the original plans came from what feedback? If what was posted on the forums meant nothing at all, then why did they make some big changes to their original plan?

It's not in limbo, just not announced exactly when it will be released or how. We're pretty conservative on talking about things that aren't relatively ready for release yet.

To paraphrase Thomas Dolby, "You blinded him with logic".

Entropy isnt instant casting / cannot be used while moving, and is a fraction of the range.

I dont, and never say I ONLY use archery for pulling, but its a option for quick action, which all the other types of mob agro isnt.

What if the AA was made into an activatable buff? I don't know if that's possible, but it sure would solve the problem the Rangers are concerned about.

That feedback has been forwarded on.

My professional opinion is that I would adamantly oppose segregating the community out like that. This isn't an easy mode thing, it's a natural adjustment to 15 years of continuous development and the changing needs of the game. Those who take advantage of this offer aren't different than anyone else, they are choosing to opt in to a design decision of the game. Lots of variant servers are bad for communities because it creates artificial boundaries.

I have played EQ for over 13 years and have never posted on this forum. This proposed change to aa's has driven me to actually post. I do not agree with the giveaway. Part of the fun of eq (at least, it used to be, has kinda disappeared over the last few years) is the sense of accomplishment. Instead of giving aa's away, why not make certain mobs give extra or bonus aa, and rotate the bonus to different mobs with each update, that way you accomplish two things. 1. People are out in the zones doing things again, and 2. They earn the reward.Keep the regular xp the same on those mobs, and only have the bonus affect aa xp.

It is my belief that instead of unpopular things like this, why arent' the devs paying more attention to the huge class imbalance that has grown to large proportions in the last few years. It gets frustrating when you see one high dps class churn out task after task in minutes while it takes you 6 to 8 minutes to kill a single mob if your not a dps class. This is why some classes are so far behind on aa's. Fix this, that is the real problem.

Ssixa,

Yeah there are many ways to pull a mob, there are times that a bow shot is the best method given the situation since there is a time delay on the shot meaning you can bow shot a mob at max range, start running at full speed and have one heck of a head start and have more time to set up for such pull.

I'll buy the AA, but would prefer an alternative that didn't remove a pulling tool that has been available since day one.

Ruven

At least one.

They have made changes to the issues relating to individual classes. I'm one of the classes affected, but haven't engaged in that side of the debate at all because to me that's of miniscule importance compared to the over-arching issue of giving away about 4kAA.
The response to that has been that it will happen - not negotiation; no movement; no nothing.
Take my epic and destroy it - don't care that much. Take MC away, that's OK. I'm far more worried about lack of compromise on something I believe will lead to another mass exodus of veterans

Have you guys looked into increasing the group bonus or decreasing the merc penalty? The main reason why I made a headshot, decap, and or swarming character was so I can log on for an hour and actually see progress. When I would log on my shaman and kill 1 or 2 at a time for an hour my exp bar didn't seem to move.

I love the dailies to kill time but when you log on at peak times fighting for spawns it makes it difficult. Maybe add like 4 or 5 more quests to the rotation to split people up a little more?

I really am not bothered if the AA is refunded or not, I certainly will NOT be repurchasing headshot if this change (chance to proc on level 99 with a first shot).
The downside to losing the best range/fastest ability for picking up mobs, either in groups, or on raids to offbalance a random slight dps "nuke" which you have no control over just IS NOT worth it.

Really, why change this to something we dont need and already have plenty of.

We've talked about the curve in a couple of meetings and have chosen not to do so at the current time. Please keep giving feedback about reasons you want this.

I suggest you just leave them in place and do not refund. I think most people (especially those that are max or near max aa) will just have to put them back into the same slots.

I notice that you stated "Proc rates on these abilities have been reduced to around 2 per minute for an average geared player" does this mean that people with above average gear ie higher dex/bow haste will have the potential to slightly augment their proc rate still? If not I understand, but your wording implies that it will be this way.

By far, the easiest solution to this, if you really insist on changing it.

Make headshot into a personal aura, a on / off switch.

Rangers dont have any auras.

(or you can remove summon from all NPCs)