Is the next expac pay 2 win, cause I'm spent

Unlocking T3 Raid Progression, which was confirmed to have been done by spending like $100 on Ascension ancients.

Developers told me that in Discord chat. Well, if Ascension and all this other stuff is too complex, just ignore it. You don't have to do it.

Here's the problem. From Rise of Kunark til the last couple of expansions, I've been able to lay out a plan for my character of the drops I need, the zones to run, the quests to complete, so that my character is at a nice level and can jump into the next expansion without having to do a lot of backtracking. I had choices, but it was never so convoluted or overwhelming that I couldn't come up with a plan. There was a sense of accomplishment, a logical path. Yet right now with heroic progression, you need third party websites (oh wait, there's only like 3 left) and players posting writeups on the forums (oh wait, they all got run off) to guide you.

When you say "well none of it matters" you know what pops into my head? "If you nobody cares about my character, why should I?"

Next expac will go futher the P2Win direction. Or settle for toodling around mostly solo, groups will want p2w gear for fast runs.

You can still lay out a plan and follow it. I don't raid and I don't pay anything, except my monthly 500DBC for anything. I group, I solo, I molo, and I have fun. I completed all of the KA signature lines, I'm level 10 in all ascensions, and I'm making progress on my epic 2.0. I probably won't finish until I'm level 110, but that's ok. I don't raid, so it's not essential.

As for caring about your character ... no one cares about your character, except you.

I believe you are playing with semantics.

Typically, ptw simply means you can spend real money to make your character more powerful.

Eq2 hasn't gone that way with gear, they have done it with spell upgrades. They started with ascension spells, and going forward, all spell upgrades will be gated by the requirement that you can only raise your spell to the next tier.

Is anyone terribly surprised they coincidently announced this change in conjunction with a level cap increase?

Drop rates may stay the same, or they may mirror ascension drop rates. In any case, drop rates are a hidden mechanic, so they can be tinkered with, nudged or moved at any time.

Gating all spells is not just going to effect rsiders.

You are not the arbiter of what is constructive, non-abusive and helpful, though you are try-hard in your self appointment to the role.

Some folks get feisty because they're passionate about changes to our game they think are negative. A few get angry because they feel betrayed by the company for making those changes. It might be a bitter pill for the team to swallow sometimes, but they need to know why players are UNhappy just as much as why they're happy.

And I'd rather see either of those than the bland, or worse, SUPER PEPPY - C'mon guys! Everything is fine, look how great it is, right? Right! - when it's not. It's clearly not.

Disagreement (with you) does not equal abusive. Frog-in-the-pot cheer leading is NOT helpful for the health and longevity of the game.


On topic - The extent of most pve I do is what's required for house items. So while I'm not really affected by the pay-to-upgrade ascension, I do disagree with it, given the abysmal drop rates for those who choose not to pay cash.

From what you say I understand that some players have only one goal in mind. To be powerful as possible to slay

ok, I see. So it is considered to be a bad thing since...because... not everyone can afford it?
Well, It would be heartbreaking and cruel not to support such intentions. I tend to agree.

On the other hand what should I do or what should I say when I see someone on a road in a car that costs 200000 dollars and another one in a car than costs 10 times less?

In case p2w starts to discourage many players then it should be changed in one way or another, that's a correct answer I assume? The "problem" is that we, as players, don't know about the outcome. We can only see some angry posts om forum from discouraged players, but angry posts will always be on forum no matter what reason it is.

I need to stop myself from writing that many posts on forum. It takes tot much of Norrath time

Aw, you deleted the good bit.

If you need to wait multiple years then it is pay to win. Also funny how you say you can just get the upgrades anyway, meanwhile you have 1 expert ascension ability and like 8 journeyman, no higher upgrades.

It is called an MMORPG, ROLEPLAYING GAME. Not an MMOFROYRLS, MMO Financial Reflection Of Your Real Life Situation. You can try to make arguments as to why pay to win could be good for this game. Sadly, (SPOILER ALERT) there aren't any. More fluff for cash? Sure, it doesn't hurt anybody and especially not the game. Increased potential for cash? I might as well go play that game where you buy spaceships for a few grand.

Soon it will be 'pay to play with others' as the only way to get to where others will accept you into the group is to have x,y,z that cost real $$$.

In previous years I would buy 6 copies of the expac, the last expac I only bought 1 copy. I probably shouldn't buy the next since I already have plenty to do for my alts for years.

So, I did the quest lines, worked on ascension levels, did the crafting and made all of my characters bloody tooth armor and adornments. Yet no one will group with me, not enough resolve, been doing PG's and working on my epic. Not sure why, by the time I finish, the new expansion will be out and then I will just be grinding for levels again. And I even bought some kronos, and got SLR items for my main (just 1), and I think I am now sitting on 255 resolve. Still not enough to get a group. I honestly don't know how you other people manage to get past that vast wasteland I keep staring at just to get a group every expansion. Honestly, after 8 years of this garbage, I am really close to done. I threw everyone out of my guild because I am really thinking about ending the madness. And no one gets my stuff cause I made 0 friends in 8 years on this game.

In my opinion the best thing for this game would be to go buy to play and get rid of the subscription model entirely. You pay for any new expansion and content updates only. Also, no more putting progression behind pay walls. If they went this route, I think it might bring back, retain and attract players. Many games that are or have gone buy to play are doing very well. Just my 2 c.

I got my two most important grandmastered, a few more jman, but even the apprentices hit for billions sometimes, and haven't paid a dime on research yet. But measuring your shiny dps numbers vs others is much like comparing your trendy clothes, cars,etc. It's just showboating for the sake of showboating. No, really. You're cool. We admire you. We all want to raise children that can outparse the other kids on their favorite mmo. And I'm not aiming this at anyone specifically, just the general idea and elitist attitude that so and so needs to hit x numbers to be part of my clique. I personally look at if we cleared the zone or not, that's about it.

In my opinion the best moment of the game are the moments when I try to achieve something. I find the journey more important then the result.

... in game that is

The 'pay for ascension' is the dumbest thing I've ever seen in EQ history. We already pay a sub for this game. Usually there is NEVER a "pay to play' and a 'pay to win(strength)' in the same game, at the same time.
The majority of dps is from ascension spells.
In the past, people would pay station cash (DBC w/e) to upgrade, but thats because it was a quicker advancement than buying/farming the spells, which weren't hard to obtain anyways. People would mainly use that feature to upgrade to GM or Ancient.
But seeing how rare these book drops are, I think I've seen maybe 5 drop in 2 months of doing expert zones every single day.
I dont think raising the drop rate % on these would solve anything, because all the people with fat wallets who upgraded their ascensions would then be the ones making threads about how they feel robbed. It's a never ending cycle. DB screwed up from the get-go.
The right formula isnt "making something the strongest in the game" + "rare drop for upgrade" + "spend cash for instant results".
They are taking a decade long-game millions of people have played and rejoiced over and turning it into another 'cash grab' mmo, and thats why everyone is pissed.

There are two types of players in this world.

I've heard that story many times. Open a forum of any random MMO and you'll find something similar there.
I suppose everyone need to make this "discovery" and get over it after a couple of posts.

That explains why I can't find your guild on the raid progression list (you haven't cleared a zone). Also funny how you call me an elitist yet I raid with Veni Vidi Vici. Over half the guild does not log on outside of raid hours which means some have a really, really big disadvantage. I still raid with them and help the guild as a unit by chasing the highest possible numbers I can, what am I an evil elitist...

Al though, regarding appearance gear I am an elitist. I am the very best looking player in all of Norrath with my various outfits that contain many very rare and limited items. For some singular appearance pieces, I did pay money. Never that I am paying for ascension upgrades.

PS Hitting billions is no longer something special, 100 billion + is what satisfies me.