I am curious to hear people's thoughts on whether or not Nagafen will hold onto its population (or even increase) through the end of the "event." Personally, I think actions of the few (not going to name names) by treating this as some sort of hardcore raid server set up the future of the server to be very bleak. They took an X4 to raid all the content, blocked people from catching up, got ridiculous gear and set the precedent that everyone had to do the same to compete. Not trying to discourage individual play-styles, but I feel like the server has become more blue than it has been red. No one wants to fight someone when they are wearing gear 10 stats ahead with ridiculous procs. Also scouts got the flavor of the month nerf and no one is rolling them anymore. Hoping we make it to AA, hoping it is a standing server with longer time so that more people are willing to come, and if you spend more time it is not wasted. Anyone else have thoughts? Sorry I know that was a lot!
I was on Nagafen, Vox and Venekor from their original launch. I beta tested Deathtoll, and joined the server when it went live up until its demise. I beta tested the new Nagafen and feedbacked everything I could, then joined the server on launch day. In all honesty, I didn't even make it three weeks before throwing in the towel. Let me start by saying that I love EQ2 PVP, it's super fun, but I am one of those players who likes to play the game and have the added danger of PVP to keep me on my toes. I like to craft things. I am not a hardcore PVPer. I mostly play solo, or sometimes duo. I did not take advantage of the race to 50 exploration exploit. Along the way as a solo fury on Q side, I had a handful of PVP fights - some fair, some unfair. My kills were more than my deaths, and I always find it fun when someone jumps me and I manage to turn around the situation and actually win. Sometimes I got steamrolled by groups, sometimes I had awesome one vs one scraps. It was still all good and I was enjoying myself. And then I hit 30. And there was no one there in my level range. It was like the game had just emptied out. I think the main reason behind this is that so many people sprinted to 50, there was no one left in the lower tiers. Fewer and fewer people seemed to be logging on in the guild I am in. I quested around in Nek Forest and Thundering Steppes...others were rare, and when I saw them, they were grey level 2 harvesters or reds. I quested around in Enchanted Lands and Zek...others were rare, but once in awhile I would encounter someone. The world felt pretty empty though. So I pushed my tailoring up to 40 and went out harvesting. Rivervale was empty, but as anyone who harvests Rivervale knows, there is a very limited area where you can gather at level 30 solo, so I went to Everfrost. Not a soul there either. I went to Lavastorm, and look! Groups out questing! People! Hooray! I was not alone! They were all level 50, and red agro to my baby fury, but I was so happy to see people were still playing that I decided to harvest there. I hadn't picked through two bushes when a level 50 warden attacked me. If I was level 50 and out questing in the world, I would not waste my time attacking someone 20 levels below me trying to harvest a bush, I would seek out fights with people my own size, but this person decided I was worth it. I did not fight back, because it was pointless. A bunch of other 50's started swarming toward me like I was this tasty green bean, so I just healed myself and then ran back to the dock and left the zone. It might seem silly to you, but this experience left a sour taste in my mouth. When the only people I could find out in the world were level 50, and all they wanted to do was squash me like a lil level 30 bug, it made me realize that this mentality of player was not who I wanted to play with. Imagine how much fun it would be trying to get to 50! I could no longer see that this server was going to be any entertainment for me, only death after death, and would I ever catch up and be able to hold my own? Not likely. So I stopped logging in. I still read the forums because I love the game and I want the PVP to be fun, dammit! I keep hoping I will see an update of some sort, or a change, something that means that the lower level players have a hope in hell, but I just don't see it happening. Maybe season two, if there IS a season two, will be better...
Unfortunately that's the price people pay by leveling slowly on a server that has 1 month expansions. The way this server is set up forces people to rush to end game. You missed out on a lot of fun at 50 at first but now the current mechanics are terrible so you lucked out. Melee damage is a joke, RIP half of all classes, leaving the server overrun by crusaders, summoners and druids.....fun.
Hmmm..I don't agree that the low pop and the number of people who sign up then leave soon after has much if anything at all to do with levelling slowly or the current mechanics. I think it has everything to do with the pretty toxic mentality of the majority of players on the server who are accurately depicted within Shanyn's eloquent post. These are the people who seem to think that acceptable behaviour on a PvP server is to rush to 50 using any method possible including disco exploiting, PvP XPing from guildies/alt accounts, then get the best raided gear possible, hug the broker for 90% of the time, cheat up the leaderboard, very occasionally go into a zone with a full group of twinks where you are likely to find solo players many levels below you, gank and teabag. THIS is what drives away other players and will lead to the absolute demise of this event server.
