So I've finally decided to vent and complain about the new expansion. its not the fact that SoE do their usual bug fix and break something else/ patch every day/ uk afternoon (when I get 30 mins to play) complaint but about everything else ( and please folks, if you want to add to the list, please do in a productive way, I’ll not have SoE abused……………..) So what have SoE been up to lately? Usual, Messing around, breaking things with a new expansion. So over the months ive noticed a few things, and forgive me if they have already been in the forums, I just need to vent. 1)SC Price Increases. Well I logged in a while back to treat myself to a new upgrade master, only to find that SoE had increased SC prices from 600 to over 1400, wow. Counter productive! gone has the £5.50 tongue in cheek , im worth it/impulse buy , hello the £15 you must be joking no-buy. Im back to hording my SC until I can afford the new race. Which brings me to complaint number two. 2) The new race. Not part of the expansion. Two tiered race that is aimed at the vet who wants it all, don’t get me wrong people, if you can afford it and its someone else’s credit card, go for it. As for me I’ll just have to settle for the Isle of refuge vet reward instead, but wait, I started playing properly a couple of months after launch and its…….its on the marketplace. Cheeky. Ok Complaint three. 3) The Vet Reward that everyone can buy. Oh come on SoE. A vet reward is a item that only the vet should be able to get. This is a house that you were going to sell anyway and because you didn’t have the time or you thought you could get away with it you let the vets have ONE free. Total joke. On to four 4) DM’s Got to add this one, SoE-Play your way, well, ive see the content. I want to PL if I want, everyone does it who wants to and you nerf it. Leave us to use your boring DM content which ever way we see fit. Next. 5) Experience in the new Content. Wow, new islands, new content, new levels. Not enough content to level to the new max. Is it me or did the other expansions have enough to level until SoE reduced/dismissed/moved its workforce to work on the new game……whats its name again…..its on the tip of my tongue....no.....its gone, six! 6)Beta Rewards You want to see the content, you help them out with Bugs, they reward you with a new mount that you think is exclusive……Oh, its available if you complete the live sig…......Seven 7) Cost of the new expansion. So we vets want to treat ourselves, we budget and buy the new Collectors Edition. Theres some nice things there, including a mount with some good stats, a painting, a merc (that heals instead of watching you die), some upgrade armour gems, worth it? £60? Well, its debateable, the mount is a waste of time. You get better if you complete the sig. the painting is nice enough. Worth £60?.......god I’m a sucker! and finally...... The Conclusion! Well, SoE. We have come along way you and i. Your getting greedy. You are alienating your loyal playerbase. Delivering expansions that don’t give value of money (inc ToV) Nerfing DM’s. Stupid reduced XP for adv/ts. Why do we stay? Well quite a few leave, I did. Always find my way back. Wish I didn’t feel like I’ve been mugged when I click on the buy button. Maybe they will listen to us this time…………… What have a missed and do you agree?
I'm only going to comment one thing, since I've honestly not spent much time in the new zones yet, I've mostly been crafting. #5 It is more unusual to have enough solo quests to level all the way to cap than it is to have to grind out/do other stuff to get to the cap. I remember grinding writs & stuff the night before Kingdom of Sky launched in Sinking Sands to get from 59 to 60 since I knew the new cap would be coming with that expansion and I didn't want to fall any further behind my guildmates. I don't remember hitting the level cap for any expansion without having to do at least a few instances or something, except maybe Chains of Eternity, that was a really long questline with a lot of instances and only three levels to gain, I still think I came up only to 94 and had to do other things to get the rest of it. I'm pretty sure things are built so that you don't get to max just doing the solo lines on purpose. So you have to group or go back and run the advanced solos etc.
Uhm.. all the beta mounts are exclusive. The one you specficially get through signature is 100% unique appearance that cannot be acquired any other way - even through SC. Not only that, it's the best (i think) ground mount in the entire game in terms of stats. The mount you get from the Signature on live is a Pterodon. In beta you got a Hellhound for Sig and a Dragonfly for other things. so idk what you're smoking. It's a huge improvement over the previous beta where the testing mount you got was just a different colour version of the same thing you got on live. I don't really agree with most of your other points either, but they're somewhat subjective and if you don't find value in the CE or Aerakyn, that's your call. I don't find value in them either, but it doesn't bother me in the least that they're available for those that do.
I understand about the solo quests not granting all the XP but this expansion is very short, 2 levels+ and the XP granted is low, so its back to grinding or PL'ing. In regard to the mounts, who cares what they look like, its the stats that are important and the main mount i'm talking about is the carpet with the 5% experimentation buff. As for the beta for ToV, who did that for a mount? I did the sig for the extra dislodgers. As for saying my points are subjective, well yes.......money, its all about money, us paying more above the rate of inflation, and before people say "if you want it you will pay", your right, I will, but ill be dammed if I don't have a good old moan about it as I'm clicking the buy button. Iook, i don't mind if you agree or disagree as long as you say why you don't and from what viewpoint you come from i.e Vet, mid, newbie, all access, F2P. You cant just say I don't agree with your points because your being subjective, tell me why, this is a forum! I work very hard for a living and don't need to "smoke" anything to see that in a recession they should be very grateful to have such a dedicated player-base, devoted to such a excellent game, instead of trying to mug us. I'm writing from the viewpoint of a 10 year vet, all access. I do love this game but .....ok......imagine eating out and ordering a starter of annoyance , followed by a main of criticism and a afters....well a large bowl of sarcasm , then re-read the post. I can see which way this game is going.......servers dying but they wont merge because they make more money from transfers, price hikes with the new grandmasters.....so many things slipped in..... I never planned on bothering returning to this post, and I wont be after this is added. SoE don't care, does anyone else? So what the point you might ask, easy, I just needed to vent. We will all enjoy our well priced, cost effective and value for service game. And if you wondered, so will I Yoply.
Well, i don't want to argue about personal opinions, but when it comes to inflation, we just use facts. I'd like to know what rate of inflation you're using to make your argument. I don't live in the US, but for sake argument I used the american inflation rates, based on this handy US inflation rate calculator (link) In 2004, the monthly sub rate was $15. With inflation, that should be $18.85 today. Is that what it is? No, it's way below. In 2006, the expansion Echoes of Faydwer was released with a price of $40. With inflation that would be $47.11 today, instead, I paid $36. (Note: different expacs have been released at $30 and $40 over the years, so i'm comparing equivalent ones.) Most people that I tested with. If you haven't noticed, unique mounts are some of the hottest items in EQ2. They tend to cost a ton in SC and people collect them / take great pride in picking out a unique one for their character. So getting 3 separate unique appearance mounts from doing beta is quite big reward - that's before even considering that this time around the mounts actually had relevant stats. The heroic mount gives 3k resists, which is huge for getting alts ready for heroics/alts. Basically allows you to put off doing the entire 100-quest signature line until you've got more time. It's pretty awesome. Aside from the fact that no in-game mount has same appearance, how is this NOT exclusive? What live-obtained mount gives this buff? (I'm not 100% caught up on tradeskill stuff, so it's possible i just haven't seen it)
Arieste, For the most part i'm not being subjective. these are not personal opinions, but in-game observations. As for rates of inflation, I'm not schooled in business but only comment on prices that effect in-game choices, so not too bothered by % around the world, but team SoE, it cost me 600Sc to get expert to master before, now, to go from expert to master is cost 1450SC then go from master to grand master it costs 1950Sc. That's expensive, isn't it? Mounts. This is one i've made a mistake on, the carpet, i've been told ,is exclusive to beta with the experimentation %. That's one that put a smile on my face, but not for long. so finally, Finished the sig, got to lv 99. they have nerfed the dm totally, have to run through the contested zone solo to get XP? Last straw, going to dust off my toons in TSW, not grinding trash to level. Well done SoE, you have finally made me quit. Good luck Arieste, have fun m8. Yoply.
Were you playing since release? Before KOS released, despite the fact I'd finished pretty much all of the quests from DOF except the final raid portions of the Peacock quest and healed for some raids and grouped in the expansion I had not made it to 60 until the night before KOS. With KOS I made all 50 of the aa & leveled to 70 with ease before EOF came out, but I was actively grouping or raiding every day of the week. With EOF once again I did get the 50 aa before Kunark released, but was still grouping or raiding daily. That continued into Kunark etc. I don't recall ever getting to cap doing JUST the solo (or even raid) questlines. What changed was the fact that people started JUST grinding for aa and whatnot in high xp zones like Skyshrine, and stopped the normal grouping for the most part until they were at level cap. And it became the norm to be capped before bothering to group. Before people were technically grinding, but they were doing it in current zones getting current gear for more than just the sake of grinding it out.
