No way to catch up to live. Autogrant and heroci chars don't cut it.

No.
If people get a 105 with the AA's your talking about then your going to have a bunch of people running around and not knowing how to play. The time spent grinding aa and level is how people learn to play their class. Skipping that process would cause more issue then it would fix. We have enough ppl that have been PL that don't know how to play. Why on earth would you want to triple that number?

@Mazame

That is not my problem. DBG made a mistake with EoK not being a level expansion, but instead decided on lots of AAs. Getting to 105 isn't much an issue as getting to 110 with the majority of critical AAs through EoK. DBG created a giant road block in EoK for any returning new players.

It's their decision if they want to kill off any chance of retaining new customers or fix issue. This is not ours.

Because they will pay money to play if they go gold , and it's always about the money ! With out gold memberships none of us will be playing ....I don't care if someone is bad player , they just won't be in my groups or in my guild , but I welcome their paid membership so I can keep playing ....

YiMin

Whulfgar, all of those bullets and this game in general require a decent amount of diligent time management. If people don't have the free time, than perhaps that little chunk of time should be allocated towards something else that gives more enjoyment/reward.

Or maybe just not expect to get into a top tier raid guild while keeping all the other plates spinning. It's not realistic. Top tier guilds are not accessible to all players, even with ample time free. Your character has to be well played AND represents a hole in their roster. So it requires planning, time, and heaps of effort.

This game IS playable with limited free time. Just don't expect much. Plenty have mentioned that finding a larger casual family type guild is a fine place to start.....and many cases remain.

That is truth..

Just because you afford the cover charge to play does not make your skill in class equal to those who have played the class for 20 years ..

And that being said.. people like this OP.. will never make top teir guilds because even IF all things outside of skill were equal ..

They lack the skill .. they would rather try to get people to pity them. An start threads like this rather then learn from the best on server in class by asking questions .. learning how to ..

I think they need to make a nice balance between giving new players a chance to somewhat quickly get into the max-level game where the fun starts while still giving the player who has actually been playing for 10 years some type of bonus for his/her commitment.

As it is now, I would say they could just increase base exp from levels 1-105 and AA exp up to like 15k AAs so that chars can get kinda caught up faster, but still have to sink many months in to become really relevant.

"if they go gold" If you make heroics 105 with all EoK aa then how much money will be lost from the silver players that are no longer buying the extra AA slots because they been granted all the key aa they need?

As the Dev's have posted there a lot that go into upping the heroic level and personal I would rather they use those resources some where else. Then making it a cake walk to open the door to high end toon that don't know what they are doing.

Like you said you don't care if some one a bad player. So if a person is a bad player because of going heroic yes you can black list them from your group and guild. How long do you think that player is going to keep playing when they can't find groups or people to play with? "I welcome their paid membership so I can keep playing" I doubt that their membership will last long.

Like I said before what make this game different then all the other MMO is it not easy. and everything is not handed to you on a silver platter. You have to work for it and that what keeps people playing. It is what get people to return when they not found anything else out there that fills the void.

I don't want this to be come a pay to win game. I don't think the current heroic level is needed. You can get from 1-110 in a week if you want. you can get all the aa you need in a month or two.

I have a family, I work a full time job and I made it happen. I raid 2-3 days a week I spend time with my family and I grind when my kids go to bed. I not saying it for everyone only that it is doable. If you want a easy hand me out game I recommend WOW it was fun for a month till I ran out of things to do.

You can level from 1-105 in a week how much faster do you want it ? you can buy XP pots if you need i guess.

Most class get 15k aa with auto grant

I should have mentioned that my post is based on playing up to RoS and not the latest expac, but unless exp rates have drastically changed in a few months, you're comment on the leveling rate doesn't seem very accurate.

I recall it taking me over a month and quite a bit over 100 hours of gameplay to get my SK on Friona Vie to around lvl 105 - and that included a few Plvls 80+.

As for the AAs, when I was playing, I had about 12k AAs autogranted, so perhaps if you got 20-25% more AAs autogranted that would be a good solution for me. Getting 2-3000 more free AAs saves you probably 20-30 hours of grinding.

It's easier than ever before to take a heroic from 85 to 110 and get some essential AA's.


I made a move to FV server last year and started with a heroic, joined a guild that was rebuilding.
And in about 9 months, which is probably snails pace by many peoples standards...I am 110 , max aa, and one of the tops in my class on the server.

You just have to commit on some level and keep being proactive when looking for groups. Go to the zone you want to level in and approach groups and ask in /tell if they have room while you're standing there with them.

Be productive in those slower times when you can't find a group by doing daily kill tasks and other progression you can handle. And of course use those XP potions, get that free 10% 4 hour one and anniversary 10 shot 100%'er and /claim and if you have gift of legacies lost that's free 10 x 50% 30min potions there as well. Good luck.

1. Of course it's inaccurate, cause everybody still measures the time to level by the calendar, and not time /played. Doing this is a giant waste of time, because not everybody plays the same amount of time per day/week. But yes, you can level that far, that fast, under fairly optimal circumstances. But you're obviously not the right target market for "optimal"

2. 100 hours to get to 105 is perfectly acceptable. It's a helluva lot faster than I did it. This is an epicly huge game. You shouldn't expect to get to max level in a couple short sessions. Also, that 100 hours would fit in a week for a binge player (see point #1).

3. You have to keep up with changes. When you leveled the SK, it was before TBL was released, and maybe before RoS. Every new expac, they move the bar up for what expac they autogrant AAs for. 15K is definitely about the right amount as of now (through TDS). Obviously, it varies by class.

I definitely didn't do 1-105 in 100 hours...I said quite a bit over 100 hours - I recalled seeing something like 10 days played at L105, but that obviously includes time mulling around and doing other things besides leveling. But I spent the vast majority of my time leveling and didn't waste much except to snag epics (with a lot of help).

I started my SK when RoS was already out and got him to max autogrant prior to TBL...so the 12-13k number was pretty specific to RoS. I'd say that number should have been more like 15k which means now it might want to be 17 or 18k.

EQ has always really consisted of (2) distinct portions - [ Getting to Max Level ] and [ Raiding / Gearing at Max Level ]. Most people enjoy the second portion more than the first. My point was, if it takes something like 200 hours of gameplay just to get to the second portion, I can see why a bunch of people won't want to dive in.

I have no dog in this race though, I personally don't enjoy the button-masheyness of EQ Live quite as much as I like the simplicity of the older expacs. I do wish there was a happy medium and I definitely support the franchise making the best possible decisions to keep itself alive so I can continue to play.

I think there are some good points made in this thread and personally I think this issue is of high priority alongside better expansion balance and figuring out a way to not roadblock new/returning and causal players while also keeping more hardcore players engaged. The bigger question is how do we nurture new and returning players, keep them with current casuals around while also providing distinct challenges and accomplishments for the more hardcore players that keep them engaged without turning the entire game into easy mode.

A better autogrant AA system might help solve things. I know when autogrant came out there were a lot of the more hardcore players that hated the idea of people being handed xp that they earned. Several years have passed and I think for the most part most people don't care if others are given AA's that they earned as long as there are new AA's to be earned and something to work on. I see this issue to be of lessor importance though as someone can realistically get the most important class AA's after autogrant in a reasonable amount of time.

Levels are the next issue and probably the biggest killer of new/returning players. I know some people can race to the top but these are the players with prior knowledge, skill, and resources to do so in most cases. Things that the crowd that struggles literally lacks. As mentioned joining a large guild can help. Reading guides and coming to the forums is helpful as well. Neither of these things is a guarantee though especially when you consider other factors such as people who play during non peak hours when even the largest of guilds might only have a limited number of players online.

The path to the top is the next issue at hand. As mentioned those who can race to the top already have a game plan and know how to execute it. The hero's journey which basically took old quests and turned it into a leveling path worked well imo. Maybe a follow up for levels 85-110 is in order using quests already in place while increasing the xp rate might be helpful and it would provide an in game guide for the most optimal leveling path. This would also provide some incentive for current players to finish this should there be a nice end reward so its a win for everyone.

Lastly we have the issue of retaining current casual players while also keeping your more hardcore players engaged. A true tier system with expansions moving forward with missions that have different difficulty levels would be ideal. Those who want to be challenged on nightmare mode can do so while those that just want a more laid back experience could also have fun doing the same content. Make the rewards match the effort and again everyone wins.

At the end of the day this is entertainment for all of us and a business for DBG. Not everyone is going to agree on what they enjoy most about the game but I think we can all agree that player retention is important for all of us to continue to experience this game.

If people are coming here to complain about it being impossible to progress, then how many returning players do you think they are going to retain? For those who played through EoK and finishing up with TBL, there is little reason to continue to sub besides TLP.

Whoever thinks it’s a good thing for returning players to be stuck in the same 2+ year old content...

That's your opinion. And a bad one at that.

No its not. Its actually far easier to level up without a heroic character. If you go the HC, you're actually crippling yourself in a lot of cases unless you can get a big guild. That's not a problem with EQ, its a problem with you.

I wouldn't suggest trying it solo, but most two-box setups will work fine.

You level to 75, sit there doing Gribbles and TBM HA's to gear up, then level as you need to open AA. You'll actually finish a lot of the early AA far faster than anyone with a 105 Heroic. Either way, you're talking like an hour or two a night and you'll get like 75-100AA? More if you use a pot.

Did you read my post? It’s far easier to level from 1 to 105 (without any HC), than it is to just get 110 from 105 and EoK AAs. And while it is my opinion that they made a mistake with EoK and AAs, there are many who support it.

Basically this, except their bigger issue is there's still nothing to do at cap. Over the years they've truly ruined their own lands so they need that instant fast forward button to at least hope and make some money by showing off their garbage. Not trying to be a hater, I play EQ2 TLE, and used to love the game but it's in rough shape.

Topic at hand, I wouldn't mind an additional autogrant expansion or a slightly improved heroic, but really Everquest is as simple now as it ever was. Grind away, enjoy the journey and reap the rewards. I took several characters to level cap last year and even maxed AA my new Warrior and Bard in a few months, casually as I also juggled Agnaar server. It's not instant but it's not that bad.

TLPs are always an option and typically less of a mountain to climb and easier to get groups pre- endgame. Find a good guild that suits you and enjoy.

A casual player isn’t going to have time for multiple servers, let alone make it to max in a month. No ones asking for a “I win” button. We are only asking for a reasonable place to start.

DBG could make a new option and even charge more for it.

Way to turn the thread into a personal attack on someone. Why don't you keep your personal issues out of peoples threads and maybe actually try to give some positive advice instead of this garbage.

Don't you think skipping 19 years worth of game is a bad idea though?