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

All the way up to the point of the announcement they were shutting down that game. They shared devs not 1 but multiple..

It isn't about doing end game content though, people just want to join groups and play with others. With your point of view, you are forcing every new player to play in an empty world, all alone for several months at least, just for the chance to get to the higher levels and finally have a chance of grouping. That is ridiculous and you know it.

But the journey is garbage when you are forced to play it alone and the entire population is doing things that make everything you do completely obsolete. That's why your game is dead, and people like you contribute to it.

The OP literally referenced joining a guild raiding current content, and most of this thread is focused around that discussion.

All the QQers here implicitly are hostile to level 85 heroic characters to begin with. Any attempts to creatively upgrade the basic concept of accelerated anything will meet with their condemnation. Most of them are probably disgruntled ex vets who quit when microtransactions were introduced.

I want to say Silus? was the dev name for Vanguard. He said on multiple occasions that he was the only dev actively working on the game. He did mention he received help on stuff he couldn't figure out. He was one of the nicest devs I have encountered playing mmos.

I am not a vet and I am not hostile to 85 heroic char. I have posted and recommended Heroic char to a number of people both returning and starting new. I think it a great starting point.

From 85 you can group with 110's nothing is stopping people from grouping.
Also a number of people have recommend joining a Family style / larger guild. This again would help produce more grouping.
At no point has anyone said they need to do it alone for months.

What is being said is that a 105 is not needed. Time wise some one like the OP that is looking to "RAID" can take a 85 heroic and be raid ready in 2 month or less. For a top end raid guild it may take longer based on your skill level but it is possible. We do not need a NEW heroic that give you everything and holds your hand. part of getting ready to raid is learning your class and putting effort into the game. Jumping a toon to 105 and giving them 20k aa and completing progression for them is not going to make them preform well on raids.

Not correct, the OP wants to raid current expansions.

Context is key...

So do most people but getting there is impossible for most people. So your "I had to work for it so you should too" point of view just stops new players coming through.

And he should be able to do that, like everyone else did it. But he can't because there are no players.

This is glorious. Forced. Forced. FORCED...to play it alone.

When everyone you meet and everyone you talk to and everyone you interact with is an ---> You're the .

As some one that played Vanguard Most of the stuff your talking about was stuff that was being worked on before the game even came out. The games was released before most of it was complete and is a big part of what caused it down fall. with in a month people had reached max level and completed all of the content that was release and was begging for more.

So it was not "new Content" per say as in making stuff from scratch to add to the game but more of stuff being release as it was completed to try and retain the membership of those that were already moving on.

The overland raid mobs, level extension, crafting overhaul, and island of dawn were NOT stuff being worked prior to launch, so it was new content.

Ok because every one that is making it sound so hard. I would like to point out the OP came here to QQ about how hard it is. Where another returning player took on a different approach and came to the forms to learn and ask questions. In return he was given advice by many people and decided to switch to a different server. His new server he was starting from scratch.

"I got into a guild pretty quick when I rerolled a new toon on a populated server. They're very friendly and are making the leveling process much more entertaining with people to chat with. Once you hit 95 you can group with people at max level doing content. I guess from what I've found thus far on my return is finding an active guild that can help you transition into current content.

Foxpaws Dragonlover, Mar 29, 2019

I was 62 doing the 60 Hotzone,
Foxpaws Dragonlover, Apr 3, 2019"

So between March 29 and Apr 3 he found a Guild, leveled from 1-62. I not sure where he at now because I not seen any post updating his status. For a week worth of playing it looks like he progressing well and has found ppl to play with and help him progress.

So when you say " No way to catch up on live." Foxpaws is current proof that it is possible.

I don't play alone, why try to insult me, because you can't discuss something properly? I am saying new players are forced to play alone because the game is completely empty except the top levels.

Not trying to insult you.

NO ONE forces ANYONE to do ANYTHING, lest they be tried and convicted for slavery. People who play do so with the understanding that this is an MMO and requires social interaction. If someone is unwilling or unable to drum up a group in general, perhaps they need to read my last sentence in my previous post.

It's a social game. It goes by social rules. If you can't be social, you may be playing alone. But no one forced you there. Good lord.

What? I am talking about the regular servers where there are no players until 100+.

Last I heard.. This was Everquesr.

Not..

Nobody wants to play with me devs make them quest..

In Every single aspect I've ever seen in everquest.. the better you are at your class.. the MORE people want to grp with you.

How do ya "git gud" pretty straight forward 100% formula..

A. Make toon.
Plus..
B. Make friends..
Plus..
C. Join a guild of people..
Plus..
D. Ask for help .. take help ..
Plus..
E. Ask those in class for guidence..

Equals ..

You being social.. you learning your class from those whom know.. combined with actually grping with people..

Why do y'all be so willfully stupid on how to do this ?

It's not rocket science.. it's EQ..

If your not going to play an MMO socially.. why even bother ??

I don’t play current expansion raids. I don’t even raid currently, I have a newbourn. My guild is a family style guild, and we are currently working on raiding EoK T3, and RoS T1.

Toons get about 23% tougher each expansion, eventually catching up and surpassing content. So groupers can eventually do any expansion raids, in time. It is a progression line, where people are distributed according to playing ability, ability to form online social networks, and play time, in that order. Each year, autogrant gives thousands of AA for returning people and alts, pushing up the backstop.

If a returning player is competent at the game and at forming social networks, he can find a family guild, create a toon, heroic, and group with new guildies, in that order, on day one. Then it is a fast race to 106, conflagrant, and a decision on whether to grind AA or go for raiding level, 110. I think Mintalie did this recently, I do suspect he is not a casual player, though.

If the returning player is not skilled at the game, and not skilled at forming social networks, then it makes no sense to advance him to raid end game. The game is way too hard for that. I think some people do not realize the enormeous breadth of the game, where mastering a few settings, while fulfilling, is still light years away from the other end of the skill spectrum.

EQ being a Broad Skill Spectrum(tm) game is what differentiates it from the other MMOs. Removing or trivializing the BSS will ruin its differentiating quality, and make it compete with WoW. Been there, done that.

The game is also fun for us casuals. Enjoy it. The end game stuff that is currently being designed for the other end of the skill spectrum will come within reach one day, when mudflation makes the casual’s skill, social skill, and invested playtime sufficient for the content.

It just makes no sense to claim this game is too time consuming to return to. There is the approach above, many other approaches, and TLPs, where max level is very easy to obtain, if you have skillz and social skills. There is a vibrant community on Test. There is FV....

A cool thing to do however would be to have a Live’ish server that only went to lvl 100, with a free char transfer of the server, so all returning players had a place to start together, with auto-guilding to leaderless guild (From lvl 1). Selo xp...

I'm not really talking about returning players, although it affects them too. I am mostly talking about new players. This game is a gigantic turn off to new players, you have to be delusional to not see why.

It’s not a reasonable request to ask someone spend more than year of their life grinding old content just to catch up with friends. It’ no wonder why the retention rate is low.