The 540

It's not. If that was the case, this game would be much harder.

As critical as I am of some dev's idea of tuning (hi, Absor!), Pano is absolutely correct. Look at the period between late Velious and Depths of Darkhollow where the top end was being catered to and the group game was completely stagnant.

You say only the top players...I see the devs answering to those not at the top as evidenced by two straight months of tuning nerfs.

April 18th, 2018

- Sathir's Tomb raids - Combatable sarnaks will attack players on sight.
- Sathir's Tomb raids - Drusella's aura will no longer land on pets.
- Drusella's Vault - Made a few tuning changes to this event.
- - Reduced health on the bonepile and ooze spawners.
- - Increased health on basket spawners.
- - Reduced radius of Drusella's aura.
- - Reduced frequency of Drusella's wander.

May 16th, 2018

- Drusella's Vault - Implemented some bug fixes and tuning changes:
- - The size of the decal should now match the size of Drusella's aura.
- - Reduced attack and offense on golems, animated swords, and animated skulls.
- - Lowered spell damage on Bonk!, Enveloping Smoke, and Electric Blast.
- - Reduced radius of Whirlwind Slash.
- - Changed decal warning for Whirlwind Slash to match the impact radius of the spell.
- - Changed the models of the swords and skulls to make them easier to identify.
- - Created specific spawn points for the swords, skulls, and maces instead of having them spawn in random locations.
- - Removed Drusella's wandering during the event.
- - Corrected a misspelling of annihilate in the timer warnings.

And guess what...

Not One. Single. New. Guild....has defeated Drusella's Vault due to them tuning it down....twice.

We read feedback we get from all sorts of players, casual and competitive, across all of our public channels and forums. We absolutely don't just communicate with people in "top guilds" and to have them guide our game decisions.

That being said, it's also important to note that EQ's population has not dropped in any significant way as of recent times. Player counts have remained very stable.

Please refrain from spreading false rumors and information.