First I'd like to say, giving Tradeskill armor T2 focuses is a mistake, the components for these should drop off named if they're to be T2 focus, as it is the components drop like candy and you can already buy a full set for 1m platinum ( visible and non & weapons ), this is less than 1 day of farming, some farm faster than others but It takes me about 3 hours to farm that. Secondly, with the abysmal drop rate of T2 visibles, I'd actually acquire a full set of Ultra rare gear faster by farming than by camping a full set of T2 ( and I already have ). That aside, and the fact that I have a 3box that can farm at that rate, while many don't, I feel it skews the incentive system and really cuts short the life of this expansion. I understand the drop rate is intended to lengthen the experience of the expansion, but when you give away Tradeskill gear like candy that already has T2 focuses, I'm not sure why anyone would care to pursue T2 gear at all. Since I don't have the time to devote to raiding ( and my server doesn't have a guild capable of raiding current content anyway, merger pls ) I'm already nearly done with this expansion and likely won't be back until there's another, but I'll honestly question whether I want to play again since this expansion was so short lived. Is there stuff I can still do in this expansion? Yes. Is there anything I can do which would meaningfully enhance or better my characters? No, and that is a result of not providing proper risk/reward dynamic.
For reference, I returned in all TDS gear, 3 boxxing, playing 2-3 hours a day 6 days a week, and after 6 weeks there's nothing meaningful I can do to advance my characters, I feel that is far too short an experience for 120$. Simply making things rarer or take more time does not lengthen the experience if those items are not worth acquiring > what is easily acquired and 98% as effective. Don't give the game away. T2 focus gear components should not drop ( commonly no less ) off trash in the Entrance zone, that's re ed.
Tradeskill gear isn't really gear if it doesn't have focuses. I don't get your point... you have nothing to do because of tradeskill gear? Tradeskill components are dropped Most Expansion gear is vendor Bought. Also Group trade skill gear has always had focuses equivalent to Group gear versions. Also if your complaining about ROS tradeskilled gear for 106 + compared to TDS Group gear the first expansion of three 105 expansion......
Have you gathered all the T2 gear? Best in slot augs? Gotten the achievements? Been to VP? Completed VP? Completed hunter? Gear needs focus effects or it's useless. I haven't looked at group gear yet but I assume the dropped gear will be better at least in stats. Edit: Gotten all your heroic aa's?
Before i answer, first to something "wow" for me: wow, indeed! Please send me a PM and tell me how would you please? Because i am in current raid gear and can't - i could use the help! (but then, i also do not sell my tradeskill loot, i keep it to make something - perhaps it's that?) Hmm... I've spent many hours in EoK and haven't got a full set of "rares". I got 5-7pieces the whole year that i gave away (well, since i can get raid stuff...) More importantly though, i do not get your point on this, because my experience differs much. I (or we, the fellowship) get more T2 visibles than anything - especially when we are after something completely different. e.g. camping a T2 named for his rare drop, with the named making an appearance only 3 or 3 times and dropping the rare once - when we have to gear um... well, more characters than you, obviously. That alone took 2-3 of your "EQ days". Ah!!! *self-smacks himself* i forgot - you are already decked out in the EoK raid rares, so you'd ofc not need to camp those - and i am sure the rarer augments you got already too - sorry, my oversight! I have now around - combined - 2-3ALTs that (in theory) have T2 gear. Well, they WOULD, if we'd had any T1 gear for them - of those i got but 4pieces - 2 on CLR, 2 on ENC. So i just can sit here, amazed like an Inca by Cortez' fireworks! Thank you! Thank you that i had the luck in my life to read about such awsomeness. I am so sorry that i can not shake your hand and congratulate you! I wish i could, perhaps then just a tiny bit of that would cross over to me - i could sure use some of the you're having! Nah... The drop rate isn't intended to lengthen the expansion. The EoK T2 => RoS T1 => RoS T2 upgrade-chain is! Tradeskill armor, like the Darkened Sebilis armors, are an alternate gear path - and set squarely between RoS T1 and RoS T2. So there is your incentive to pursue RoS T2 right there - it's still an upgrade. Sorry to hear that, yet somehow i can't believe that. You spend 2-3hours per day for 6days a week on EQ and cannot commit to 2-5days of raiding? wow. Ok, i see the time constraint with the 2hrs... but since most raid days do not take longer than 4hours... You might want to give this another thought after all. Wow... (yes, once more i am sitting here, with mouth wide open in astonishment) 6weeks with 6days of EQ per week for 2-3hours per day - and you are done! That's cool, man! (says the Milka-man) You must've been really lucky to get all your VP keys for your 3-box (i've been sitting 2days for longer than 2-3hrs per day before i got my first "named" even on two of those spots), box your Hero missions before the nerf, get all your VP loot before they made the key mandatory probably - and the hunters too ofc. That's something that i still have to do yet - finish my VP key i mean, and subsequently finishing progression. i feel like a noob now! Granted, i am taking it slow - i have guildmates that ARE done too - well, thinking of it i think noone has finished their hunters yet. We must suck so much, dammit. no wonder we're not anywhere near the top. Don't you want to server-transfer to us and help us break into the top5? i mean, we sure can use someone as uber as you are, really, no joke! i am sure you must be 2meters tall, and fart lightning or something! Yes, RoS is "short". But not for the reasons you give in my estimate. For ME it will "last" at least another month before i am done with MY progression. Plus the time i need for hunters in static zones and, and, and... So overall, when all is said and "done", my estimate is that it'll JUN or evne JUL befor ei am actually completely "done". Still several months "too soon" i give you that. But well... still longer than 6weeks. Perhaps you might want to take a closer look at the /ach window and see if there really aren't any entries left in black instead of blue? Or, for the next expansion perhaps you might want to play only 2-3hours for 3-4days per week to lengthen it fun for you some? But most of all i must wonder what you are really complaining about. I mean, you say you got your EoK rares in less time than it took me to get my raid-copies of them. If that is so, then why bother at all? Simply deck yourself out in that TS armor and call it good? After all, combined, your team should already be better geared than a RoS T2 grouper anyways, by the sound of it. Are you really, actually, complaining that after 6weeks you haven't got a mere 24 visibles from T2? At your speed and uberness? Nah, you can't be serious!
By the time you finish hunter and the collections in RoS, I'd be surprised if you don't have 80%+ T2 visibles on your three characters. also lol @ being able to get a full set of ultra rare gear more easily than T2. I've got about four full sets of T2 gear now and have seen one ultra-rare drop in RoS.
Having 2-3 hours a day intermittently to play is not the same as having a 3-4 hour Block of dedicated time to raid when I can tell my wife/kids Daddy is unavailable. One means playing if/when I can, the other means prohibitting all other things and not being able to turn the game off or leave the computer. When I say "Farm" for ultra rares, I mean Farm the most profittable drops in the game to sell, to buy ultra rares, which sell for as little as 2 krono on my server ( 3-4 million plat ). So approx 10 hours of farming = 1 ultra rare. Vs. Farming 1 EoK T2 + 1 RoS T1 + 1 Ros T2 which across all slots takes a productive player probably 10 hours per slot for a 200 hp/mana upgrade vs a 700 hp/mana upgrade for an ultra rare slot, which seems more productive?. Moreover purchasable conflagrant piece of gear in Baz is Zero hours of work, and already has T2 focuses, this is 'giving away' some of the best group gear in the game for nothing, & when the upgrade is 100-120 hours of work, for just a 2000/hp/mana upgrade across the entire set, which isnt very valuable to Non-tank classes anyway... I mean, where's the motivation to pursue that? Achievements are great and all but can be done at any time in the future. RoS missions cannot be boxxed so I would have to pay someone for the assist for each character individually in my box group, since the missions require active emote responses. I have mixxed feelings about this, since I like difficulty but hate mechanics which 'completely' prohibit using boxxed characters. Hunter? Collections? I don't need any new bags, thanks. Rewards for doing this in previous expansions are Clickies that no longer work to level cap and 36 slot bags, I need neither. I'm simply saying Tradeskill armor is a cheesy giveaway which dilutes the value and motivation to pursue the hard things in the game. It is a skewed risk/reward dynamic which was probably designed to sell more Kronos, not to make the game more cohesive or enjoyable. If you made Tradeskill gear the exact equivalent of T2 armor, no one would disagree with what I'm saying, and yet... the cumulative benefit of outfitting in Full T2, which is 100+ hours of work, is only a 1.5% increase in hitpoints/mana, which will be completely Null & void the second the next expansion is released and the next iteration of purchasable gear is given away for nothing.
