LOL Beim. Yes, that would go over really well with the 95% that isn't top end. Design everything in a lvl 95-100 expansion so you have to be 100 to even have a shot. (See how silly that sounds). ~ to 7th necro, think you missed the point of Eli's comment. This is about the raids and how some feel it's too easy and was undertuned and NOT about group content usage. I was 97-100 and still in Shard's Landing; so the # of people there doesn't necessarily correlate that they were all low level that first month. (Though, how many guilds were actually NOT overgeared for what the content is supposed to be and have said it's undertuned, versus those saturated in T4 gear?)
Other than a couple of CoB mission lesson burns at 96, I did all my leveling in RoF. Challenging is not a word I would have ever applied to my experience (outside of a couple missions like EW2). Then again, I wouldn't apply that word to any content since pre-nerf Kod`Taz. I would say I had fun, however, which is enough for me.
95% of the people were content with the pre-SoF system instead of the current every-expansion-makes-the-previous-worthless, yet that was changed. People of all playstyles want to have new content and to progress their character. The previous system did this. New content was designed for the top end. Mid-tier players had previous expansions that were still new content FOR THEM, and low-end and casual players had even older content. Everyone could play at their own pace and all was well in the world. (Except not really because there was always people complaining about it, but hey that's going to happen no matter what).
There's no way his comment was about the raids in RoF. If it was and he was serious, then he really needs to re-evaluate the loot that drops from the various tiers of raids, as well as sticking Vulak in the same zone as the easy dragons. You can't reasonably expect people that are gearing up to beat Vulak to not also gain levels/AAs/spells in their quest to slay the dragon.
Lock levels until someone beats those raids at the intended level range more then 5 times. That stop that! (probably peeve a lot of people off too ha!)
Really not neccesary for a new tier yet for "most" of the guilds in eq. Only 11 finished with 40 ish guilds that are either in t1 or Ntov. You rush thru you get bored that is pretty much how it goes. They can not make raids hard enough that the upper tier cant blow thru them and complain, all that is really possible is to do the best they <dev's> can. The way "you" do things, making raiding a fine tuned machine, more than just a bunch of people in a game having fun and killing stuff is well, not really how i'd want to spend my nights. I dont expect to be able to beat stuff at launch with our type guild but it's always fun trying. I must admit the dragons are incredibly fun, and hopefully after a few more runs and gear we'll start working on t1 with a bit more of a chance than our early attempts. And i know the upper tier raiders really enjoy playing the way they do, and being first, fastest, highest dps etc and i dont begrudge them a bit, and i dont mean to belabor the point that most guilds can not maintain the level of excellance in play that they consistently do. I'm afraid i dont have a solution to how to keep everyone happy. Any constructive thoughts on how to make raid's hard enough for you, yet not completly out of the realm of possiblity for the mass's? I think ntov was a very good step in giving more choices < and yes i thought it was going to be too hard after the upping of the dps and such> thankfully i was wrong And i dont mean everyone should win a trophy , but it's also nice to get a ribbon at least...wait what do i get for being ... Particpant ?
Do hard mode raids, but actually make them harder rather than just limiting the max number of participants like they did with SoD, even if that just means the mobs hit harder instead of new mechanics, with an incremental increase in the quality of gear, of course. Seems the easiest solution.
Locking levels sounds good.. 96 on release, 97 when shard's landing portal finished, 98 when T1 content has been beaten, etc. Like a mini progression server
A long long time ago when my old guild found content less than challenging, we would find ways to make it fun again by coming up with our own challenges. We did raids where we made everyone remove their chest armor. We made classes that couldn't pull, pull on raids where pulling was one of the more critical aspects. We did raids where clerics weren't allowed to heal, only nuke. And so on and so forth. It was a lot of fun coming up with interesting challenges and we certainly had a lot to talk about when we pulled off a win. People just need to learn how to challenge themselves, because it really isn't about how hard the content is, it is finding a way to enjoy that content.
Don't let the vocal minority get to you, most of us are very happy with the expansion, but just unhappy at the lack of communication of T3 (and T4?). Hey, you do know what the purpose of this thread is about right? Right? /sighs
Even if there is a T3 (and 4) I bet it is paid content... When we already paid for 1/2 of an expansion in RoF.
In what kind of gear? I spent a lot of time in Xorbb in beta, with betafish gear, typically with a 100 wiz, 100 magician and 100 enchanter, 2 mercwars and a merccleric. Nameds were a 50/50 chance that one of them would die. Even on trash, bad pathing would often result in an evac or challenging mezzes. I know my reaction time sucks and I kill more slowly, esp. when boxing, but I'm going to call you on that criticism. *.Lee of Povar
I'm not sure if you're blaming the playerbase for the developer's release of side-ways progression for the first two tiers, or if you're defending the release of side-ways progression. Did you expect T1/T2 to last very long? Seems like you understand the logic behind why it didn't, yet no steps were taken to stop the plow.
What level do you expect us to hit these zones? We did one quest in Shards Landing and got level 96, we didn't do anything other than RoF zones to level. We did a few quests in Xorbb at level 96/97. Should we have lost a couple of levels to be killing stuff in Shards landing? If we were of a MUCH higher level than intended, what was the intended level?
Yeah, I am not sure what the developers expected. Hasn't every expansion since Kunark pretty much gone the same way - 10-20% of the playerbase races to "complete", 60% grinds it out, and 20% stays focused on previous content. The only thing I am surprised at, is how surprised Elidroth is at this fact. Especially considering this is the first expansion in a long time that isn't over-tuned at the top with ridiculous mechanics/bugs to intentionally block people from advancing. The real reason why many didn't start in shard's landings, is the major foul up that was Argath on release - with lag so intense, an incoming mob might literally warp 10 times before actually showing up in camp. So over time, the playerbase has been conditioned to avoid the new expansion, and level up elsewhere, so they can be powerful enough that the bugs, lag, and broken bits of new zones don't cause massive deaths. Not having seen any of the Xorbb raids yet, I can't say anything about them, but the other raids were definitely doable, which wasn't necessarily true for the vast majority of people at the start of VoA (except the few "bleeding edgers" out there). I don't see 6 months from now there being a huge push on these boards to nerf down mechanics in some raids because they are blocking any progression chances from guilds with less than ideal make up of classes. Certainly no raid I have seen yet would be the total nightmare that Sep 5 had to have been, without the save point between Phase 2 and 3...
No, if it was coded to unlock for everyone once any guild or group of people beat that content at the selected level range. Not just for those people who won the event.
