I think its inevitable that there will be some kind of flagging, since so many complained about the way TOV was done - only tier 3 being meaningful to the race. Id rather there was a discussion instead of them just switching it back to the way it was.
From what I've seen the main complaint was the mess up on the release of T3 not the actual lack of flagging.
That and having to wait a month to start raiding but I think that will be a smaller issue now that we have an expansion of raids starting a month after expansion launch
I dont think too many disliked or hated the way it was done, the majority was upset about the server instability and lack of the ability to understand a leap year.
Your complaint/fix is for the wrong thing, as alluded to by others. Make raids available faster. Don't block us from content we paid for. Most of the competitive guilds BEAT (not saw, beat) the entire expansion raids in Beta ... and then had to wait FOUR!!! months to beat it on Live. The only raid that saw any significant change at all was Velks between Beta and Live launch, and still how many people beat it on the first day with the servers going down? Tier 1 raids should be available no later than 1 week into an expansion. If you want to do the artificial month delay for each next tier ... whatever. But we should be raiding new content no more than 1 week from expansion launch. And there should be a promise from the developers than any artificial unlocking system has a set schedule, laid out when the expansion launches. And they stick to that ... if there are server issues, whatever, no more bullpucky about delaying for another month ... they get it working ASAP. Let the raiding guilds sort out what that means for any race. It was pure bs that they listened to a few folks about delaying raids for a month ... their job is not to care about any race. Their job is to provide content when they say they will. I'm indifferent about the flagging changes in ToV. If the raids are going to be "easy" OR "not in proper progression of difficulty", the no flags system works because then folks can raid with alts if they want, open raids can easily access content instead of having to flag, and we don't have to spend time catching up new folks. My guild would love to attempt Mearatas on alts ... flagging folks to even attempt sucks (mainly because Esianti raid should be wiped from the servers). If the raids are difficult and in proper difficulty order for progression, I don't really care what system is used. But when has that ever happened?
Flagging is dumb beyond a single win. Having to beat a raid 4-5 times to try the next raid is dumb. If the next raid is hard enough I need to have geared up in the prior raid, I think that is great. But flagging beyond 1 win of the event is just dumb.
The system was nice to not have raiding during the holiday season when some are traveling to visit family.
It didn't occur to me some may be brick-walled on ToFS 1. I think many changes have been made to help with that, but the specter random number generator luck component is kind of out of control on that event. That could use fixing still. I've seen like three waves of almost entirely non-restless once or twice too. That's great at the start if you're going after one of the achievements, but not so great mid event as the timer is counting down. Perhaps a cap on how many specters are up before hall mobs spawn instead. Combining extreme randomness with an enrage timer is a recipe for problems. The HP increase makes it a bit crazy if unlucky. If you get a gazillion restless specters make sure to mark some so DPS isn't spread out all over the place. For ToFS 2 remember it's intended for non-tanks to be able to help tank the wedding guests. Again for ToFS 2 a certain class *ahem* is suited for helping deal with the boss' debuffs to the point I suspect it was designed with it in mind. A very low level ability is useful for one of them... A tip if the two minute timer after a player is chosen for the adds on Tserrina is an issue: Note what happens to the HP of the mobs every time they re-shuffle. Your DPS is not wasted if you start before a player is identified as the add to kill. Just be careful not to do so much DPS you can't stop killing the wrong one before the first shuffle (like I totally had our raid do the other day - DoTs persist after the shuffle on a mob, whether it's the right or wrong one... BOOM). ToFS is the perfect example of why this way is better for mid/low tier guilds, because a one-two punch of requiring each tier of raids to be completed first combined with tiers having a required event order (as with ToFS and Sathir's Tomb) amplifies issues if a raid force gets stuck.
Then don't raid. Why should others be dictated by your schedule? We had plenty of folks who had to take off work because raid tiers unlocked on early afternoon weekdays in US. What makes the holidays any different than that? If they really care about inconveniencing folks "during the holidays", release the expansion earlier ... or later. But I still shouldn't have to wait a month to start raid content I paid for.
Someone shouldn't be allowed to raid with their guild because they want to spend the holidays with their family? I am guessing that they have to release the expansion each year and releasing them earlier isn't an option for them either. What is wrong with being able to take the holiday seasons easy and progress at your own pace while waiting for raids to unlock?
So your guild shouldn't be allowed to raid because you are not there? During other times of the year, if you don't show up, does everyone just log? Should the game shut down on major holidays because you might be on a trip? At least don't try to mislead what you really are saying ... I'm too weak to make a raid/don't raid decision for myself and/or my guild so I would prefer that the game do it for me. Type 'kumquat' once if they are making you raid against your will. We will come rescue you.
Sone EQ players are more concerned about their virtual pixels than their real life flesh and blood. Which is a whole nother topic for another day, sad as that is...
If someone cares so much about the game to not go visit with their family (assuming they even celebrate said holiday), what skin is it off your back? I guarantee you I won't be raiding Christmas Day and the only way I'd do Christmas Eve was if the holiday fell at a bad time in the week and I was working that day or something already. I'm not going to demand my guild not do so (even though we wouldn't anyway), just because I don't want to. Be an adult and make your own choice.
That is not at all what I am saying as I can easily make that choice. However when you do have raids over the holiday seasons people do get pressure on both sides as their guild mates will want them to do the raids in order to get as high as possible in the rankings.
No skin off my back. Do not care what others do. However, I am allowed to have an opinion. And it is my opinion that players who care more about their character than they do their family is sad. You have a right to care about my opinion, or not care. Doesn't matter to me. Those who care and want to engage in discussion and conversation about it, cool. Those who don't care and want to ignore, cool.
Option 1) Guild votes on raids during/after holidays. Option 2) You just say you're busy. Freedom, that's the way Ron Swanson would want it.
The flipside to the "no raids during the holidays" coin is it gives the devs a bit more of a break too. No worrying about some raid event issue during their holiday time, etc. I wonder if a hybrid of the ToV system might work. If your guild beats all of the T1 raids, they can request T2 raids. Otherwise, T2 raids unlock a month later. Repeat for T3 raids, etc. Allows the top guilds to do their racing, while not bottlenecking mid/low guilds too badly or for too long.
