Changes with the February Update: Developer Updates

After looking at those exact numbers posted for amounts of aa left to attain after this goes through, I mean you don't think this is excessive one bit? Nobody will be able to resist and it really isn't that bad to get as now, you know I was correct when stating you can earn 60-140 aa in under an hour depending how many you have. I don't feel this leaves enough to do...even over 5k ATM with no more aa bonus, I get 16aa for the two lvl 90 dailies combined, and I do a little better than that doing my "lesson burn" so really I mean in a couple months I can max out my rogue and wiz who happen to have smaller aa pools than most classes. This is how I feel it doesn't leave enough to be done

They may not be casual, but to SOE they are paying customers just like you and I are.

Then make a server just for it, level 85 max aa's to start. I mean the level 51/50 server did so well.

Right, a person getting 15-20AAs a month certainly is just like someone who has been paying membership fees for a decade. Except that not at all. At best they are silver. Why would they go gold if they're only going to play the game 1 hour per month and take 5 years to reach the silver AA cap anyway?

Maybe, I mean making the game easier and easier has worked so good so far.
(yes I have gold accounts, I do pay)

The function you are talking about is test buff, that takes you to lvl 25 with gear that is so outdated the defiant from gloomingdeep is WAY better. It takes all of an hour or maybe 2 to get to 25? That may be a possibility but definitely don't want what they have on test that is a waste of time tbh. Something like it though yes that would be a possibility. Like the 51/50 server was.

Which is the point - autogranting AAs to 4 expansions back will get new/returning players to the point where they at least aren't a liability to a group if they don't AA anymore until they hit max level. Assuming that they play at all, though, they won't have any incentive to just sit around waiting for the next AA autogrant. They will be filling in the missing AAs to current levels over the course of the year.

"It's not hard to do" says the level 100 master artisan shaman. Did your mage only solo or group with others of like level? Not twinked in any way? Or . . . did he perhaps get some help along the way?

Look, I don't think anyone disagrees that someone with a decent level 100 toon can PL up another toon pretty fast. Issue is, how many new or returning players don't have that level of support - and decide 'eff it' when seeing that they never see anyone else exping in the same zones they are in?

There needs to be some way to make it more attractive for people to join/rejoin the ever-shrinking circle of EQ players.

Again no one seems to be able to answer this question. If your friends quit now when AA's are coming in faster then ever and at lower levels when content is forgiving. Why are they going to stay when AA grinding for the last 4-5K AA grinds to halt with no more aa xp bonus all on mobs that no longer forgive any misplaying and require you to use every class trick in the book to get by? Thats what current content is poor xp, much less forgiving and way more grinding then level 1 -85 and the first 5K below combined. People are fooling themselves about this fact if people don't like it when its easy they won't suddenly like it when its much much harder just because they are level 95 or 100. This game is not for everyone no matter how much you want it to be changing the core game to try and get these people only ruins it. The game isn't mindless grinding for minimal gains from level 1-90 and then suddenly turns into candyland the game at its very nature is always grinding away at small things for character progression in tiny pieces. Be it quest arcs for augs or flag. Be it rare farmed clickies. Be it raiding week after week for a drop or two. Be it grinding out 15 AA for .00001% increase to dodge an incoming attack. The game is grinding and always will be if people are unhappy about that at low levels they won't like it at level 100 when they also deal with poorly tuned content, with less options to utilize due to a shrinking amount of content, when they also deal with smaller to non existent power gains from AA and spells.

You should make the mountain smaller and faster to overcome for new players for sure but you don't remove it. Right now SOE is going to dupe all those people into buying a one month sub for all the glory they think they are getting to then realize they are right back where they were before only a few levels higher and lot more AA saved but they still have to go back to grinding out small benefits 100 times to see any real power gain, as thats what this game is and thats the issue people who don't play this game have. This game is still around because its actually time consuming work that can't be had in weeks like all the other games people keep flocking away from after short periods of time. Those people will then run back for easier higher content or just leave again. A quick buck will also be made of the bot armies that will be getting all the playtime now that they can be brought up to speed in a week or two. Long term you lose faithful members and gained a quick spike in money at the cost of long duration subs.

So EQ can remain different and special and go on for a few more years or longer. Or they can just change and be like every other cheapened by this now MMO and grab a few subs for a short time for them to then walk away from boredom. One model worked for 14 years the other provides a short burst of income for a tarnished name and unsatisfied feeling.

ppl always say they want harder games

SoE has Wizardy Online with heavy death penalty. Do ppl play it? Nope, they find excuses.

On Playstation everyone says how awesome Demon Soul is. Do ppl actually play it? Nope. The average player apparently quit playing that game after 30 minutes.

Vanguard, it had a hefty death penalty and you had to run lots of places. Ppl whined non-stop on the forums for those translocater things.


Same thing with the AA in EQ. Some SK (not all) are whining about the AA, that it's too easy to grant the AA. Really....you were easymode swarming half the zone instead of using a group.

I think a new server called the 85/4000 server is a fantastic idea !

Giveaway's could be confined to that server and we can all see what a great idea it is and how players flok to it in droves exceeding all our wildest expectations.

The biggest problem with the giveaway roll out's on all server's that it is not something you can take back.
Once done it is done forever and the game's integrity is forever forfeit. If and when the player base decides your decisions have rendered the game no longer viable you have no recourse.

You know, I think this change will really help warriors and clerics who haven't reached a high level yet. Warriors (and to a lesser degree, all tanks) in particular suffered an issue of needing AA to start tanking and usually needing to tank to start getting AA, unless part of a multibox or fixed group that accepts that they just won't be able to pull their weight for a while (particularly, ever since mage pets became viable tanks). (Added: It'll also make leveling clerics almost-automatically more useful than mercenary clerics, which is a huge problem-solver.)

Anyway, I played for 13 years before my recent absence, and the HUGE number of AA to get for some classes (particularly my favourites, the Hybrids) has been a consistent turn-off in recent years, especially as someone who loves to play alts. Even on my (relatively new) main, I hit 5k AA, saw that I had to get another 3-5k (including some of the less-important lower level lines) to maximize my usefulness on raids (this time without any AA bonus), and went LOL NOPE to the idea of any further grinding. I'm ecstatic that this is finally being understood (and that it is, perhaps, starting to be understood that AA is only an 'accomplishment' in being a marker of how often you play - I maintain that the endless slaughter of low-threat enemies cannot be termed an 'achievement' in any serious sense of the word).

I have to add, though, that for those who don't make lots of alts/do not run multiple accounts, this will not be a reason to go Gold for more than a single month. However, those who focus on one character usually raid and/or do high-end group content, making a Gold subscription already very useful and incentivized for them, so I'm not sure this is actually a financial/marketing problem.

Overall, I strongly approve of this change - and as anyone who knows this name already is aware, I'm a Ranger with an alt army that includes a Shadowknight, and will be very significantly nerfed in terms of AA gain.

Thank you, devs - and thank you, Piestro and other red names who have posted, for being willing to stand in the heat. Kudos and a big thumbs-up from me.

I may actually start playing again because of this, as the proposed change addresses one of the biggest reasons I have been playing other/no MMORPGs for the past year.

Well I'm glad you want the game to be catered for the players that only play enough to get 10 to 15 a month. Personal opinion is changing the game for these players is not a smart move. These people really have no room to talk they don't even log in enough to try and make friends or get a group, do you really want a game that is designed for people that play an hour a month Really the last few expansion have felt this way, if you play several hours a day you will run out of stuff to do, and group gear to upgrade to. So, we have alts, I don't know how many level 100s I know with nothing more to do then level alts, with this they will have alts maxed s soon they will have nothing to do with them also.

It has nothing to do with the "integrity" of the game. EQ for some people is purely based on a hierarchy based on player power, coming from gear, lvl and AA.

If more people suddenly get those AA, you drop on that hierarchy scale.

If you confine them to a secluded server, that doesn't happen.

At least be honest about your motive. It has didly squat to do with "integrity".

You guys are more transparent than a jellyfish.

Meh. PL 1-70 doesn't save that much time...a few hours, for sure, but in the grand scheme of things...getting to 70 isn't hard by any stretch of the imagination. Grab a tank merc (no matter what class you are). Go to old world zones because mobs have less hit points. The tank merc will take you to 50/55 in a day, or two if you are casual about it. At that point, cleric mercs may be better for you, class depending. Box a second character with a second merc if you have to, anyone can with F2P. Pretty soon, you won't even have to stop for AA at 51, 55, 60, 65, 70 etc. at all (if you are gold), because its being given to you...

Well, I'm certain this is not a popular opinion, but I for one, am pleased. These changes were long overdue, because EverQuest is about grouping and not just swarm killing. I'm sorry that a notable percentage of people will feel inconvenienced, but EverQuest is a living world in a sense, and sometimes the only way to know what works and what doesn't is to try it for a while and see what happens.

I'd rather that they did this now than taper it off in the next expansion because new players leveling up need consistency. Players will certainly complain because they cannot mass kill as well as they used to, but maybe we will see groups again.

The adventure is exploring great content and quests from level 1-85, that for the most part is much better than anything provided level 95-100 outside of graphics in some cases. They will play with themselves, friends they have now or friends they meet along the way. This is no different at higher levels. There are not magical pick up groups everywhere at the high end, they are just as rare at 90-100 as they are from 1-85. Gear at those levels is now 100% more overpowered compared to the content then ever. The big issue with new players is they are dumbfounded when they go from dominating content like 2, 5, 10 mobs at a time with open gear slots, augs, missing spells or discs to then getting up to current content and failing over and over against one or two mobs until they farm the perfect gear for every slot, for every aug and requiring every buff spell and aa in order to just get by in many cases. This is the main issue. They don't like what the game actually is. The envision the game being like it was where they could run into a zone pull 15 mobs and know nothing about them or the zone. They also are being lead to believe that there are 100's of players to play with at the high end that are just waiting them with open arms. Thats false.

Why must they be caught up in 6 months? It is very easy to catch up in a month or two if you have the knowledge and drive, which is the part that should be being shared if the health of the game is truely the motivation for this. The knowledge of using a merc to level to 80 or 85. The knowledge to ignore everything in the game except the daily xp tasks and underfoot task adds or quests. But this race to end doesn't make the game better or change its nature. The grind becomes slower, as the returns from time and effort becomes smaller and smaller. These magical groups that supposedly exist everywhere at higher levels don't exist. Most people simply use mercs, play with friends or box. Picking up random player X doesn't start happening at level 90+ it rarely exists anymore period.

Hello.
First i want to take the time to thank the devs. from EQ for all the responses and sofar done changes to the original thoughts/plans. I never expected them to actually work this hard to actually lissen to us, the players.

When it comes to the AA-grant, basically seem like that's 95% decided already, so not going to say that much about it, besides it's a bit much and a lot of players will keep on whining about having worked for years for them, themself. have done all the grinding myself, and with where i am right now on them, really don't care. BUT, my suggestion on fixing the "sense of accivement" and so that others can know that you done the grinding, why not simply add a separate tab, or a line to the current lines, for each expantion, in the ACHIVEMENTS window, simply saying "all genuine AAs "expantion name" "?

My main is a lvl 100 ranger, so not very happy with the changes to HS, even tho these current ones are better then the original idea. Yes, HS have been a good way to grind in AAs and might still be with these changes, even tho it's doubtful. Been ages since i done any mass-grabbing/slaying with it, thanks to the fact that rangers to a lot more dmg with melee/sec, then with a bow (bow just too random and not enough hits, compared to dualwielding and dual attacking with 1h weapons.

SKs: yes i do have 1 of thoes, but never done any swarming, and it beeing just 1 of loads of alts i really don't know what's enough for them to stay alive from a couple of adds, especially not nowadays.

Zerkers: same here, have 1 as alt, never done any decapitate, thanks to the fact it's 90+ and my character just resently passed that level.

Mages: have one of these too, never tried beaming, but from what i have seen here, must have been a huge problem. but really shouldn't matter that much this beeing capped to a set number of mobs, thanks to the fact that they really can solo heavy mobs without that much trouble, thanks to the pet.

Rouges: yes have 1 of these too, have no opinion, thanks to the fact mine barely have been worked on (= less then 200AAs).

In the scheme of things, a continual autogrant is no more destructive than a one time autogrant. When expansion 21 drops, House of Thule AAs will be autogranted. But guess what? The cost of AAs in expansion 21 will cost more per rank than the AAs in HoT did. That's just how things tend to go here. And it means that the gap (between max AA and autogranted AA) will grow each and every expansion, as long as they put out new expansions and keep making them cost more every time. Just saying...its no more of a horrible idea than autogranting at all.

At the end of the day when the nerfs happen... I still won't group with anyone new. I highly doubt I will pick up anyone out of my circle of people I play with. Why is that? Because I play with talented players that know how to play. I'm sure there will be plenty of people that agree with this. Swarming nerfs aren't going to make new groups. I wouldn't be too worried about losing your mage beam PL'ers either. Mob cap goes to 12 mobs without negative feed back effects? Add another mage or 2 to the group, back in business like always.