After a year, is grouped (heroic) and individual tagged mobs working as intended?

Discussion in 'Zones and Population' started by ARCHIVED-Gaylon, Dec 5, 2005.

  1. ARCHIVED-Gaylon Guest

    This is not a solo vs. group thread. Both are good and very exciting. I've done the whole solo, group, high end raid thing through my five years of playing EQ. In EQ if you knew how to play smart you could solo, group, or raid in a large number of zones. In EQ2 the biggest limit to what I can or can't do in most zones is target flagged based, not skill based. I solo most of the time now, because of the freedom that gives me. (After EQ I want to avoid group and raid time sinks as much as possible)
    I'm finding it more challenging to find mobs that I can really stand a chance against these days. Not because of my lack of skill, but because of game design. Most of the mobs I see now that I'm lvl 40 are group or heroic tagged mobs, or are surounded by grouped mobs. Putting non-grouped mobs in packs of agroo grouped mobs really makes no sense. Most of the time I see a mob that I'd like to try my skills against I pass up because there's no way I could win because they are group (or heroic) mobs.
    This would be ok if there were a reasonable number of mobs that I could try my skills against, but this is not the case. The higher in lvl I get the pool of mobs I have access to seems to go down and their placement often further reduces their number. Additionally, often I find myself competeing with groups for the few individually tagged mobs, even when grouped mobs are right next to them.
    Personally, I think the idea of grouped (or Heroic) and individually taged mobs has a determintal effect on game play when done on the scale that we see it in EQ2 today. At the very lest I'd suggest looking at the ratio of these mobs and their location. When you have numbers of players avoiding content, this includes quest, because of this tag, I question it.

    Gaylon Dragonsong
  2. ARCHIVED-Magus` Guest

    So go get a group when you need to kill a heroic mob. You seem to understand the difference between the two, so where's the issue?
  3. ARCHIVED-Gaylon Guest

    The issue is that it's getting increasingly hard to avoid Heroic or group mobs, if you want to solo rather than group.
  4. ARCHIVED-mezagetu Guest

    I have to agree. No sure what the solution is though, do you have different instances of places so if you want to fight grouped you have a heroic/epic version of the area and if you want to fight solo there's a solo/small group area. That might work.
  5. ARCHIVED-Shailen Guest

    INCREASINGLY?? How long have you been in the game? each zone redesign has lowered the amount of heroic content more and more. Thundering Steppe and Nek Forest used to be almost entirely heroic. Now I need to search incredibly hard for a spot to camp and kill heroics with my friends. Almost the whole zone has been made into soloable content with pockets of heroic here and there.
    I understand the interest in soloers to have areas of solo content, but I swear sometimes it feels like you won't be happy until every overland zone is wholely solo. The idea is that both parties should have at least SOMETHING to do in overland zones and dungeons. SOE has said the intent is to make dungeons a focus for GROUPS with some solo content near the entrances so soloers CAN see the zone if not do the whole thing. Similarly overland zones will be the province of the soloer, but there will be some HEROIC content, so as not to triviallize the zones, and also to allow groups to have something to do and experience these zones as well.
    As for the random heroics or groups of heroics in soloable areas, thats intended to add an element of danger and alertness to the game. People need to actually look out. Avoiding the heroics is really pretty easy. Either is an isolated mob or two, or its a heroic area. Soloers wouldn't have interest if its a heroic area, and they can avoid the 1-2 heroics in a group of solos. The only area where this was an issue was something like in LS where that 1 heroic goblin was in the tunnel. That was a blockade of sorts to solo content. However in a zone like TS where there are heroic skellies at the center of an area with LOTS of solo skellies, I think that makes sense. Yes they can beat up a soloer good, but its the soloers job to avoid them.
  6. ARCHIVED-einar438 Guest

    Well, by your signature you are level 60, so you should probably look in a different zone for heroic encounters, as Nekutlos is 20-30.

    That said, although these zones were made less heroic some 6 months ago, they have yet again been revamped to provide heroic (group) content almost exclusively.

    Giants in both zones are ^^^ heroic mobs.
    Treants in Nektulos are ^^^ heroic encounters.
    Dragoon skeletons in Nektulos are mostly heroic (those required for quests, anyway).
    Skindancer gnolls around splitpaw are ^^^ mobs and encounters.
    100% of Varsoon is at least ^ heroic and all of the wandering golems are ^^^. All guards are ^ Heroic encounters of 3 or more mobs.
    Griffons, Mighty Griffons, and Majestic Griffons are all ^^^ heroic.
    Owlbears in Nektulos are now all heroic encounters.
    The flesh golem along the road near Nektropos are all heroic encounters.
    The fire bats in Nektulos swarm in groups of 6, effectively making any solo encounter in the general area to be inaccessible.

    Basically, if you are in Nek or TS and you are having trouble finding group/heroic encoutners, chances are that you've outgrown the zone. And seeing that you are level 60, it seems that this is the case.

    I suspect that you are basing your comments on the way the zones were some 6 months ago, after they were changed to make the world more accessible. You will be pleased to know that the world is once again nearly inaccessible to those that want a solo or duo playstyle.
  7. ARCHIVED-Shailen Guest

    I have a collection of alts in 3 of the other 4 teirs that I play almost daily. In the last week I've been in CL, FG, Nek, TS, Varsoon, RE, and RV. I xped and have seen the mob layouts and how they are in those zones firsthand.
    I spent 35 minutes running around TS solo to find any concentration of ^^^ mobs to kill with a group with my level 26 necro. Finally we found the gnolls outside splitpaw, but I kept finding tons and tons of solo mobs within my level, or sparse concentrations of heroics mixed with solos
    Message Edited by Shailen on 12-07-2005 04:26 PM