Snipped for this part. They kind of did. In order to unlock the last raid zone, you need to go shadow harvesting (or spend, what I am going to assume is a small fortune for the items from the broker) to get the orbs needed to craft the staff that unlocks the zone. Some of the staff components required crafting to help speed up the crafting research of the recipe and components so that we could buy them with crafting currency. The devs have made a conscious decision that everyone will be max crafting and max adventure and you will run all content if you want to be able to enjoy either part. No longer will you be allowed to be a crafter only and no longer are you allowed to be an adventurer only...not if you want the full benefits of either.
Not really, I said "How about we make it so NO ONE can enter a raid zone, unless they are a level 120 crafter, with at least 1,0000 combines at the appropriate level, and no they can't mass produce." You can easily get to 120 crafter, with very little combines. Not to mention, the new Shadow Balanzite Crystals can be bought off the broker, like you said. they don't need to harvest. And in time, as the newness wears off, the prices will come down like they always do, and then also you have people in guilds giving them to guildies that need it, as it should be, that is what guilds do. I see plenty of raiders who don't craft, they ask constantly for people to make stuff for them, straight out crafting or commissioned. My post is aimed at constantly tying recipes to adventure/overseer stuff. Crafters should not have to become raiders to get crafting materials and recipes. If crafters can get the recipes and raiders can get the patterns, then it becomes a symbiotic relationship.
Perhaps you didn't understand...Raiders were FORCED to become crafters in KA - we literally had 0 choice if we wanted to finish our Epic 2.0 weapons and they were required for some fights (the buff on them). We are now forced to, if we want to complete the raid quest, run crafting quests so that we can get crafting currency to buy he recipes to make the combines so that we can build a staff...it not only unlocks the raid zone, it forwards the raid quest. So yes, some adventure stuff requires that you be a crafter if you want to complete them. Personally, I cannot stand crafting and had NO desire to ever become one - but then it was forced on me and others to satiate some developer need to combine the two playstyles into one. Now we all have to live with it - or you can vote with your dollars and cancel your subscription.
Remember that there are lots of raiders who are also 120 crafters. They don't want everybody to have this stuff, is all. Annoying, but there you have it. I'd prefer not to be given recipes for raid stuff doing ordinary tradeskill things. Let us get it from raid drops, and have the raid boxes drop an additional tradeskill item every mob (i.e., don't cut into the gear drops! Raid-level TS stuff should be "in addition to", not "instead of").
I understand your frustration. But you aren't really equating things on the same level. Having a few items that require raiding to obtain is not the same as requiring everyone to raid and to craft. There are other examples of requiring crafting however. Back during Epic 2.0 everyone had to be a max level (100 at the time) crafter to obtain their Epic. I don't mind some items crossing lines personally. To me the concept that to defeat an enemy you have to defeat a powerful force to obtain materials to craft a weapon or other item to defeat an even more powerful enemy makes for a great story. In EQ2 you can play solo, group, or do epic content. You can craft or adventure. The idea that some content requires elements of both is ok for me, but since some people have no interest in those aspects, there needs to be enough content to keep people happy in each area. Right now there isn't, and they are using the different aspects as gates, which makes everyone unhappy.
Enough with last expansions recipes. Awakened Abilities can be bought for ZERO COPPER. I do not class this garbage as a reward. And yay yet another pattern I will never see a recipe for. How about you add the recipes to the reward table for some of this stuff.
Love your signature there, Argos; how long ago was Hartsman with the team, and is he still there? Uwk who wonders: why the hell did EQ2 (and other SOE games?) decide to go F2P as default with subscription as an option, while every other MMO did the opposite ("We've got the Betamax of MMO design! ")? At least (the last I knew) WoW doesn't have to stress about cranking out new product every year, will-'ee/nil-'ee, fixed or not, and while a lot of folks love the raiding and end-levels there, they're not the be-all and end-all, from what I've remembered and heard (they'd lost me at Cataclysm, and even though they've got "Classic WoW" [basically, EQ1] now, there's not enough hours in the day for Classic WoW and EQ2)
He was the Producer up to and including RoK. I wish he was still there. He was so much better than anyone that's followed.
Even if he wasn't there any longer, they could've learned from him, even by hearing his quotes...drat. Uwk
Me too. It's been all downhill ever since and at a rapidly increasing level of inclination the last few years.
