Please adjust xp on phinni and any future TLPs

i think an adjustment to the xp rate when luclin launches could have solid benefit to the server population. helps those just joining the server catch up, those rolling new beastlord to catch up to their guilds, other people just playing alts to make more progress and stay engaged in the game...

and depending on how sluggish the average AA grind is it might be completely necessary to keep a large chunk of currently active players. (admittedly this is anecdotal opinion,just within my social circle i know a slow AA grind will have considerable impact on peoples decision on whether to keep playing or not)

Eh, I do care. I'm having a good time when I play and would hate to see the server die (which I don't see happening anytime soon). No, I don't plan on quitting with PoP. I've raided and killed everything thru GoD back as the xpacs originally released, I enjoyed it then, enjoy it more now (cheers instanced raids) as there is no needed to "compete" and we can ALL raid casual, at our own pace.

I do however plan on quitting when it's no longer fun for me.....you know, kinda liked I suggested all the folks screaming about how miserable they are with Phinny xp do. It's real simple.

Also, as an aside, I'd say while I find it funny people think this is extremely slow xp, the xp rate regardless of where it is doesn't affect me at all. Raise it 500% and I wouldn't gaf, lower it some more, still don't gaf. I log in, play with folks and enjoy, end of line.

Riiiight...casuals are doing raid content....sure....let's say you're a casual joining phinni....

To do PoTime raids in a couple of months.... that casual will need to

-get to 60
-get their AA
-do epic
-farm VT shards prolly
-do PoP progression

...all within about 5 months....you're off your rocker if you think that is going to happen

Especially VT shards and PoP progression, you really think there are casuals willing to do that? You really think that is going to happen in 2016 when they could be enjoying any other game without the massive timesinks? Get real.

With the current XP rate and the rate of expansion releases, casuals will always be hopelessly behind. In fact they will fall behind more and more every expansion.

Do you remember what a pain it was to get OOW group armor? How many days did that take to faction in OOW, 1000 mobs in dranik's scar? More? Casuals are going to do that in 3 months time? lol

Phinni is not a casual server in any shape or form.

Casual raiders have always been behind in expansions. That is the nature of EQ. Phinny has actually allowed for the casual raider to break into in-era raiding, which is pretty unique. This was never the case during the first few expansions.

The difference today is people seem to think the casual raider/player should be entitled to everything a hardcore raider is able to achieve. They don't think they should be able to achieve it as quickly, but they still think they should be able to achieve it. This just isn't the case in EQ.

Granted they have been given that opportunity in newer games since, so they have become accustomed to it, but that doesn't mean EQ needs to change.

The only problem I see here is that DBG has been very accommodating to players so far, but no matter how far they go people keep demanding they do more. We are at a point now where Phinigel is a very established server and people should know what they are getting themselves into.

So my suggestion to players would be to play here if you are enjoying yourselves, and do not play here if you are not enjoying yourselves. Do not worry about the health of the server. That is not your concern. Your concern should be to do what you enjoy.

Casuals had been perpetually mistreated in EQ for a long time, they were second class citizens for a long time. Raid gear eclipsed group gear for way too long.

It was in TSS that I personally pointed out to developers that it was easier for non-raiding casuals to kill raid mob Keldovan in CoA, get infinitely better weapons, than it was to progress through Ashengate group content for terrible gear. The ratio on the TSS weapons was adjusted after many complaints.

(I raided at the time, I was tired of seeing my casual friends not being able to survive in group zones, we personally went and killed CoA mobs for them)

EQ gradually became a casual friendlier game thanks to monster missions, expansions like DoN and DoD, defiant gear, ooc regen, monster missions and OMM (old man McKenzie).

It allowed a casual player to do something for 30 minutes, and get somewhere.

In fact, the only progression server where I saw the casual demographic survive beyond 6 months, was on a progression server where defiant gear dropped. (I forgot the name)

EQ did change, it was forced to change.

-it was forced to change in PoP to make travel easier
-it was forced to change in LDON / DoN and DoD, to give an alternative progression path beyond spawn farming
-it was forced to change with ooc regen, to mitigate the medding timesink
-it was forced to change with Monster Missions, giving casuals a way to get somewhere in 15 minutes
-it was forced to change with OMM (old man mckenzie)
-it was forced to change by giving druids and shaman a lvl 59 rezz
-it was forced to change by putting all spells on PoP vendors
etc

It was forced to do all that to prevent too many casuals leaving (often to WoW).

Well, the health of the server is pretty damn important to casuals, considering it's a server discouraging boxing (which I think is positive) with terrible solo XP (which I don't think is fine). It means you are completely dependent on others, and therefore on the health of the server to support groups.

Ya hi it's Velious atm. Like I said if you don't enjoy Classic - PoP when they started to make things more convenient then don't play.

Don't need to tell me, you'll see how terrible the population is by then. Like I said, if you think casuals are going to farm VT shards and do PoP progression on a 3 month release timer, and at the same time put up with terrible XP, you're off your rocker. I would frankly be shocked if anyone puts up with it outside of a small niche of hardcore players. There are a gazillion other games out there where they don't need to dedicate so much time to a game to have fun.

I only play on weekends, maybe 10 hours a week max, I did not start my ranger until Kunark was out, and I have all three of my accounts at level 60, and they have been there since the start of July .. oh and I have never used a exp bonus potion yet.

I expect the casuals to farm the crap out of Velious when Luclin comes out. Great gear in there and they'll be able to do open world & instancing without issues. After a month or 2 I then expect them to start farming for VT and eventually getting to do that instance maybe 2 months after Luclin comes out. There is a ton of content for them to do once we have Luclin because of all the past expansion content out there, it will be a great time for them. There will also be a ton more camps available for getting xp.

If all of this isn't enough to keep their interest then all the best to them when they go to other games. Every TLP has a population decline and that's just the way it is. People leave for all kinds of reasons not just experience rates, and there about 16-17 raid guilds actually killing raid targets, so we have a lot of people who stuck it out to 60. Phinny will keep being fun until it's not fun anymore and that's the way these games go. I think it's great that we have so many people playing a 17 year old game.

But are you boxing the 3 together or did you play them each separately to level 60?

You really need to be less narrow-minded and try to see things from another perspective. Not everyone has your mind set that thinks they need to do everything a game has to offer in 30 minutes of playtime twice a week. Casuals most definitely ARE going to farm VT shards and do PoP progression on a 3 month release timer. Actually Luclin is 4.5 months and PoP, when combined with LoY, is going to be a dreadfully long 6 months, so its just that much longer. Casual players make up a significant portion of the server and are enjoying the instanced raids and will continue to play on this server that caters to the majority of their needs. They don't NEED to have their VT key done in the first week of luclin. It might take 2 months or even more - but they will plug away at it because the sense of accomplishment, even from a casual, is much greater than if DBG just butchered the game and handed us everything as you seem to infer would be the ideal solution.

You are right, it is 2016, and there are plenty of other instant gratification games out there if that is what you consider to be fun. But keep in mind there are plenty of people, both hardcore and casual, who do NOT want that and will continue to play and enjoy the game in its current state.

Finally, I've said before that I agree that the exp rate should be bumped a bit, which should help casuals - but in reality, even a bump in exp isn't going to satisfy the extreme complainers like you. Its like you are going to a restaurant where you already know you don't like the food ahead of time, but yet you still go anyway and complain when the food comes out.

Lots said in this thread... TLDR is "adjust XP, doesn't hurt things, but should help some"

Longer version:

Maintaining a "casual playerbase", that is to say people that login for less than 3 hours a session, and probably less than 3 days a week should be a target (the hardcore are already maintained with what has been done, good job!). If people are willing to pay a sub to play that way... which they are.

Phinny XP rate should be adjusted any time now. In future TLP, I would say with Kunark/Velious but Luclin does offer a natural point with Bst, new race, the halfling/gnome extra classes and new leveling chain with some faster travel via spires. I'm not saying an insane boost (like FV server has), just better.

This doesn't impact 60+ folk obviously -though the AA rate needs to be carefully looked at... it shouldn't be too hard to pick an AA per hour in a great camp rate that allows the less-hardcore but still not casual types to max core Luclin AA before PoP. Casuals would still be able to do some progress at such a rate.

This does hugely impact anyone leveling alts (aka anyone that wants to) and new blood to the server. So everyone benefits, as at the very least lowbies levelling contribute to the server economy.

XP rate alone is not a win-for-no-effort gimme to casuals as gear acquisition [and gear is quite important] requires questing, faction, raiding --in short time and effort put in. If you want to do that quickly, you won't be playing casual. I know many casual types that are fully accepting of this (i.e., never getting to level cap in era, going to take 3 years to do epic 1.0, raiding with a family guild that is 3 expacs behind in content, etc.) but feel the current Phinny xp rate is punitive rather than enough of a hook to keep you inching along. These are people that would be happy inching along (and paying for it) for years to come.

Adjust the xp and this group is likely happy longer than the end-game hardcore population, after all we tend to lose most of a TLP server's population well before the lead guild takes it into current content. I personally think Phinny is set up very well, and could remain strong in population for years.

Yes that is true, I will admit not having to spend time looking for a group certainly helped speed things up, but my play time is far from hard core and I managed to get to 60 in era.

You are one efficient person man.
From start of server to start of July was what.... 205 days

So 205 days so about 29 weeks, 290 hours in total 12 days played per character to 60.
Nice all without potions.

Experience rates are fine..

Come AAs, I seem to recall an AA an hour being "GREAT" experience back in the day, and it generally taking closer to two hours to get one. Considering we were getting expansions once a year then, that was just fine. With less time between expansions, I am sure they are going to adjust it, hell experience rates now have already been adjusted compared to what it used to be.

It used to be level 51 over and over again, for each AA point. That isn't difficult to get, especially when a group of 60s are doing it. You will find more exp groups going on then, then there are now as well, so staying LFG for hours on end should be a mute point. All of the 60s will have a reason to be in groups again, as right now there is no reason.

The mentality of "GIMME EVERYTHING!" that people have is ridiculous. You should be able to take pride in what you have done, not be one of a thousand other people who got to 60 in a day or two.

I played through the original timesinks and hell levels. Loved it. I also played a necro as a main, which is a class that needs no one else, can gate to bind, and if played well, seldom dies. The slow xp never worried me. Had I been a warrior without a group I am sure I would have felt differently. Back then, however, there WERE groups. There are groups on Phinny. Yes the xp is much slower than other servers, but that old time feel is why it was created. On mainstream servers there are characters that can level 0-70 in 2 hours going "old school" monster missions. If you want fast xp, just go back to live...one HA and an xp pot and you have 30+ AA....if you want to play old school then enjoy the slow boat to China. If you weren't there at the first incarnation of the slow xp, when everything did take a long time, then perhaps you aren't ready for Phinny. Pick another server, play an independent class, or play another game if it irks you that much. However, as Phinny progresses things will gradually become faster with xp rates etc. Just a matter of patience and persistence. In terms of richness and complexity, there are no other games that match EQ, it is worth sticking with it, but on a server that is right for each individual. Try some servers, try some different classes, but don't ever think that there are other games that come close to EQ in complexity and immersion. Good luck on picking the server that suits you best.

Which monster mission gets you from 0 to 70 in 2 hours? Can you show us?

I always take what people say about leveling here with a truck of salt.

I'll have to agree on the XP rate here on Phinny. It's taken me almost a week of 3-4 hours a day sessions to get to level 21. And forget about finding groups at that level. Once you're too high for Unrest, it gets VERY difficult to find a group. And I'm a druid.

21 is not too high for unrest. Most players level to 27-29ish in the Unrest basement before moving on to Lower Guk, where there are again normally multiple picks and lots of groups. From there, CoM. There's a pretty clear path where you can find lots of groups.