They should pick a zone appropriate for level 100 toons and add a bunch of NPCs that will give quests that help returning players get comfortable in playing those toons. Maybe even a port item to that zone to concentrate returning peeps as much as possible so they can group. How about a free level 100 heroic for one year subs by returning players? Then whatever we need to do to keep that from being exploited. This is not something I would use at all I am just thinking of returning players who want the Live game as opposed to TLP or those that leave TLP for Live. I know for many of us if we had to start a new toon we could get it all done no problem. Just trying to figure out ways to hold on to as many returning players as possible. There are probably a lot of good reasons not to do this but just put it up for discussion.
Might be best to get returning folks onto TLP servers though and I see the current tutorial to be good for basic gameplay but something that would help folks learn their classes might be a good idea. The idea of tying a free 100 toon to a sub helps prevent a ton of free to play 100s that might encourage foolishness... tying it to a one year sub gives Daybreak money and keeps the free 100s somewhat limited in being handed out. I wish I knew how giving out free 85s in the past effected daybreaks overall income.
Not a bad idea. Like what they did with the 85’s in Feerrott, the Dream but in say, Shard’s Landing? Something that may also help are guides like Sirene did for bards for the first batch of heroics. https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...oper-care-and-feeding-of-heroic-bards.209160/ Put in a highly visible place and officially endorse them somehow. Maybe a CRC initiative with input from players of the class.
What they did with 85 and Feerrott, the Dream. that zone is 85-90 for 85 heroic, makes sense. Shards Landing is 95-100 zone, for a lvl 100, does not make sense. Its a great zone but at 100 thats not the place to be. Better place is Plane of Health 100-105 zone. Thing is though 101-120+ its a group heavy game, most of the xp now is in quests/missions. EoK quests/missions. But PoH has gear upgrades its the expansion they made to help people catch up. They let you nearly solo/solo Feerrott the Dream group mission. But 100+ expansions? Difficulty ramps up drastically too 101-120+. Oddly enough lvl 65 difficult ramps up, lvl 90 difficulty ramps up. 101 difficulty ramps up. So you have lvl 100s playing in content with really ramped up difficulty. They keep pushing out expansions since 95 with mindset being difficult for end game players. Too many short term game expansions, they never look at expansion that is good for long term. Too many raiders sitting on the norrath council of raiders advising. Playing on Live server doesn't really remediate the issue, because 100 the issue is moreso you have a ton of AAs your expected to be using. Going 1 to 50 again, is no brainer will teach you nothing about vital AAs. Returner should go play on TLP, but playing at late game, TLP does nothing to help with that, they don't see crazy mechanics and they don't utilize all these AAs now available. Basically need a HowTo at 100 guide for every class to help address that. Other games like Guild Wars 2 very easy to get back into it. Goto https://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki copy the build, do the rotation. Your back in the game now. Raid ready, fractal, mission, pvp, wvw ready easy as 1 2 3. EQ, theres no nothing telling you how to play something at 100, and theres a ton of AAs they expect you to be using. Especially the ones that should be /autoskilled like kick, boastful bellow, shaman has a 6 second recast slow. etc. Shamans should have that 6 second recast slow /autoskillable, SMART /autoskill where it checks if its slowed, if not, do slow it, automatically. GW2 has boss timer, to have something to do while still figuring everything out. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Event_timers GW2 is pretty much the top MMORPG when it comes to catering to returners. And in evolving. They used to have challenges/map competition on navigating around on land. They have flying mounts, races, they adapted to flying mounts even though it pretty much made the core game a lot easier. GW2 has that EQ does not have. Seeing what EQ has and what other MMORPGs have. EQ has a lot of work to do, its behind. No jumping puzzles, no meta events, no races, no boats to control and ride on, no fishing minigames, no build templates, no gear templates, wardrobe banking, puts out a lot more cash store items, has competitive pvp, and 80v80v80 x4 (maps) x6 (match tiers) pvp system (WvW). Ques for WvW (over 80 people on a server trying to pvp), ques for PvE (over 100 people going to sameplace), GW2 has over EQ ongoing story aka Living Story, minigames, keg brawl, ToyPocalypse, easier use item and drop item system (snow ball pick it up, now throw it or exit carrying snowball), bell choir, their seasonal events are more used/fun then EQ. Super Adventure Box. Costume brawl. What does EQ have? fellowship, player housing, box heavy game, pvp server, overseer failed pvp system, no sPvP, WvW, (lack of vision) failed shroud system (lack of vision) Things EQ has and people saying lack of interest, other MMORPGs are doing it just fine. More like lack of vision (glass half empty viewpoints) Thats just 1 MMORPG, top 5 MMORPG compared to EQ. EQ isn't the grand daddy has everything others don't. EQ is BEHIND, lacking content compared to other MMORPGs. GW2 they don't even need to do a new tutorial after so long. It's easy to jump back in. EQ still trying to figure everything out over the years its been around. Maybe its time for EQ3 if still trying to figure things out. Still making things like 64 bit, UI upgrade (internal stuff). All this time spent on upgrades like 2022 was about 64 bit, 2023 is UI. 2 years, could have started on EQ3 and made good progress with those 2 years. Do it RIGHT. When I think about EQ, all I think is, this game is good for someone who knows how to code. Everything is text based, there's no minigames where it makes it difficult for some code to work. Coders could dominate EQ. Oh GW2, audio "come to me and help", not text based quests/missions, so easier to do and more fun. Also, visuals, red circles when mobs are doing AEs. dodge system. More status effects, you know if your poisoned or crippled, its easier to see, not like EQ where you have to click and read to figure out if its a corruption or something. Visuals, if you are jumping to avoid something, you see the 'something coming at you or about to happen'. Not textbased. Coders dominate EQ, so much text based. EQ is behind other MMORPGs it lacks content/depth/mechanics/fun things to do. It has that first or early games played value which is tough to beat though but when comparing EQ to other MMORPGs this game has a lot of work. Doing 64bit UI internal upgrades, 2 years of it, you could have had EQ3 foundation already done. Game lacks vision too. Wheres the minigames at? Fun things to do? Everyone is boxing on live because theres nothing fun to do together. Crickets. Fun stuff, where is it in EQ? Too much narrow focus in EQ theres no fun stuff. Back to the topic, EQ needs a better wiki or better fan pages, where its not total newbie, its more of a returner quick catchup guides. If your a 101 Monk, use these to be effective as possible. Just like how GW2 already has a guides. It's only 1 or 2, thats it. Doesn't need to 8 of them and bounce between all of them. EQ needs one of these, https://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki Have all these raiders and they don't even share their knowledge. Have to send them tells rather than goto a site to see. Ex. GW2 https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Catalyst_-_Fresh_Air_Cata scroll all the way down, 3 people the best at that class they came up with that build. EQ doesn't have this, something EQ needs in late game. Playing on TLP isn't going to help you know AA rotations, and effectively fight against mobs that are expected to be debuffed slowed, etc just to be more casual mob like in early game. This is 106-110 not even end end game. GINA should know that at end game. See all those AAs you need to know. You don't learn them in TLP. Players already know how to play MMORPG they don't need to be taught how to attack and macros. They returned to game they have knowledge. They need to know how to quickly jump back into the game. For newplayers, theres a ton of stuff at 100, assume they know how to move and what not. They need to get taught lvl 100 stuff like AAs, not things you do in TLP. TLP is the best for newplayers/returners because people actually group and early EQ isn't hard/complex in group game compared to expansions 19 to 29, which are pretty complex/difficult.
I would've just left the Heroic Character starting zone the same as 85. Realistically, fresh players at level 100 are soloing equal level mobs. Some weak easy con mobs with a boost in quest completion rewards, gear option, and spell options would've been way more in line.
