Illegible pages are still not dropping in PoP

Since the notes in the GU, illegible pages should be dropping in PoP content.
They are not. Please fix.

I have a feeling that it was thought that the books would be all that is needed and not the pages too. I know I have been getting the pages from KA but not any from PoP... on a side note Guildy discovered an adept book a couple days ago which just attests to the rarity of the books and how they were not really a good way to level up your spells
which is unfortunate

May 23 patch notes;
"Level 1 through 10 Adept and Master recipescrolls are now rewarded by Weekly Planar Mission Reward Crates.
Illegible Scroll Pages are now rewarded by daily Planar Mission Reward Crates."

We were told they would be rewarded in daily crates two weeks ago.
They are in fact not being rewarded.
Please fix it.

While your at it, please add in journeyman and expert scrolls to boss chests just as they were in KA.

still no pages dropping , kinda sad but when they do come in i really hope the master pages wont as rare as last expansion

Another patch and still no pages.
This is basic stuff, very disappointing...

tbh, i'd suggest completely removing the pages from the game. you have replaced the old 'Illegible scroll: spell name' with new 'recipe:spell name' anyways, but the components were left unchanged, so currently they are ofc complete trash cause noone has scroll pages.
just make us put a whole bunch of rares in there or something else, especially masters are still going to be nearly impossible to get even if you add scroll page drops in the future (unless you want to run every zone every day until your fingers bleed)

Funnily enough I've been looking for a thread on this topic just now,
I was just thinking after 2 days of straight sleep why I was bothering to log in today and why I feel so out of sorts with the game recently

And it hit me (quite softly) the characters I really play have almost no hope of upgrading and getting better because they've basically hit the gear and spell wall. Yes, there's other things but they're not relevant to this thread

Gear - well fair enough, the drops from raid were atrocious, but Gninja has fixed that now. It's helping to keep me a bit motivated, knowing that peeps I raid with are now getting a decent chance of gear

Spells - lets face it, ascensions are the perennial bugbear of a lot of players and the developers, well I don't know what the developers think about this issue.

From my viewpoint, nothing has been sorted out and EQ2 developers seem to show no interest in it. I'm guessing that upper management is, well, either insane or short term cashflow desperate and running the show here. I know it's starting to run me into the ground, but I still find it hard to believe any games developer would find this situation defendable


So I'm starting to feel really bored with the game atm, it's summertime, my toons are progressing upwards in power at a glacial freeze rate and it seems that one of the key elements of the game is still locked behind a low drop rate/P2W combo.

It's depressing & worse it's boring not being able to progress at any kind of reasonable rate, at least not without spending a krono's worth of plat, because everyone is being hamstrung and bored by the drop rate.

Ascensions are only required for raiding but you can still progress quite far in raiding with minimal upgrades. You can have an entire raidforce which never buys an ascension and only uses research and free daybreak cash and still be relatively successful. Yes you might hit a brickwall from time to time (as all raids do!!!) but history shows you will overcome it with time.

When you put ascensions into context of the wider gaming industry and alongside the current (to be expected) declining population of the game, are you really so surprised? A monthly sub is only going to get you so far these days. The game is great because its possible mitigate or remove entirely the costs of playing - krono, ascension, heartbound, upgrades etc OR if you are short for time you can support the game and boost yourself with money.

I agree they should put the pages into PoP like they said they would but even when they do, you probably wont generate enough pages unless you are extremely focused and play a tonne. I dont see any problem with this though because you can still research and use your free daybreak cash for these tiers.

The problem is some people want maximum entertainment at minimal to no cost. When the population was large 10+ years ago your monthly sub would cover that but times have changed.

Yes,

But this is a case that regularly yanks peep's chains

I don't like having my chain yanked

There is no feasible way to level ascensions (one spell, really) past journeyman within one year without spending real money.

You cite industry context to support you argument, but, you don't actually state what it is. What is the context you are referring to?

Cannot argue with the second part of your assertion. The population of the game has been deteriorating for some time, and I suspect that deterioration has accelerated over the last several years.

You seem to be asserting here that the game is great because one can buy character progression and character power with real money. You are entitled to your preferences, however I don't personally believe a p2w revenue model has been good for this game. We can disagree on this, different strokes for different folks.

You're coming back to this again, and seem to be ignoring that the game has been specifically designed to incentivize cash shop sales by making the probability of in-game ascension progression highly unlikely.

[/QUOTE]

I may be misunderstanding, but your reply seems more concerned with rationalizing and defending the current p2w business model as opposed to addressing what Doomravin was actually commenting on, and that is that the game has become boring, uninteresting, and overly taxing.

If you find the game fun and are fine with the p2w game design, great! But your comments don't really address the points Doomravin was making. Doomravin is saying, "Hey folks, I'm not enjoying this game anymore, and here's why..."

And you seem to be saying, "Problem solved! Use dbc and research..."

But here is my question, suppose Doomravin drops $800 and maxes out ascensions, then what? If that happens, does it fundamentally change his reasons for being dissatisfied?

I don't think so, because it's still the same limited content, still the same itemization, still the same game design philosophy, and still the same grind.

The problem is not that Doomravin is not spending real money or dbc awards to buy character progression and power. The problem is that for a variety of reasons, the game is not fun, and why would a rational consumer spend money on a product that doesn't solve the problem he or she wants it to solve?

Imho, a big reason why this game finds itself in the position it is in today is because this company has a long history of largely ignoring customer feedback. Instead, they have become (in my view) overly dependent on fooling people into buying a product of deteriorating quality. Furthermore, the coercive nature of the game design is more likely to generate resentment than goodwill.

The original issue in PoP was that adept pages were common but the recipe books were rare while master recipe books were common but pages rare. I think I managed to craft maybe two spells that way doing a lot of dungeons as I have plenty of time. Since the change I noticed a couple of random recipe master books have dropped which just adds not lessens to my annoyance on this subject; maybe if some adept recipe books dropped I might feel a little better about it but somehow I don't see it happening.

Dannni, you have the time to farm a lot of plat that means you do not have to pay for the game. Those that do pay real money want something for their money and the lack of content, endless grinds doing the same dungeons over and over and over again do not help. Forcing people to pay real money if they want to get their ascensions levelled just drives more people away from the game.

Gilly, I cant agree with you more.
The design team largely ignores it costumers.
They are entirely focused on draining money from the remaining player base instead of making the product we actually want.
I'm not sure how anyone could not feel resentment.

Dannni, sucking the life out of a game and its players is not a sustainable business model.
I promise you when I'm done here in Norrath I will not play any game that has multiple hundred dollars of start up costs.
As much as I enjoy this game, I see absolutely no motivation for anyone to start here from scratch and/or come back from a break.
The game is in a self induced death spiral.

I created a ticket for this: EQII-1109: Illegible Scroll Pages STILL NOT rewarded by daily Planar Mission Reward Crates.

Please, go upvote the heck outta this one.

I was going to respond to this mountain of misrepresentation and deflection, but Gillymann beat me to it.

Next time you rotund little ninja, next time.

In regards to Doomravin and others who have expressed the same sentiment, more often over the past couple of years, I would say this:

Games are meant to be enjoyed, to be fun. If EQ2 does that for you, carry on smartly. If it doesn't, then it's time to take a break or move on to something that does.

~ GAME ON! ~

Hmmm,

Thank you for that response Gillyman, I was just ignoring Dannni's post as being deflection par excellence (sigh...yet again)

And yes, it's helped me realise I do feel resentment at the way key game mechanics as so restrictive when it comes to ascension spells.

I resent the way it hinders my ability to develop alts, I resent the way it affects my ability to progress my main character's capabilities and I resent the way it locks characters into one ascension class. I think many of us could go on

Low drop rates are one thing, but tiny to non-existant drop rates coupled with P2W options and dps check combos for raiders make people like me start to resent paying a subscription.

Isn't a mmorpg supposed to be about people and progression as a character?

Everquest 2 atm seems like this: - "Look over the hill at the bright new dawn! Oh, it's yet another twenty tons of mud. If you wade through all twenty tons, which you've waded through many times before, you might earn a tiny upgrade or make some progression. Or you can buy either"

When it comes to P2W Ascensions (for a key dps feature of the game!) - well it's nonsensical at best; at worst it shows contempt for the customer.

I assume the developers want to make money for the company and have a profitable outfit - well, maybe they should try methods that don't alienate their player base and slowly grinds us down and drives us away. Other companies out there have got the micro-transaction model right. With everquest 2 paid spell research seems more like macro-transactions

&

Tekka,

I think I can pesonally guarantee you are not doomed. Not even with a perfect circle

I keep hoping that after the dust settles from everything that has gone on over the last few years that there will be beans spilt by flies on the wall who saw far too much and kept their mouths closed for far too long.

The last post is only my opinion and it’s ok to disagree with it, but I do hope we can at least keep this civilised. It’s good to be passionate but it’s a shame some don’t want to use that passion to be more positive and constructive.

If you want to jump straight into end game T3 raiding on a new character yes it’s going to cost you but there are many who have completed T3 who have never spent any money on ascensions - it is possible. There is so much content you can easily complete in this game without upgraded ascensions, go out there and enjoy it. If you find you are only unhappy and resentful it’s time to take a break. Go and find something you enjoy.

Who was being uncivil? I don't see it?

In any case, people have been leaving for 10+ years. Perhaps if people weren't unhappy and resentful, and thus creating an attrition rate>acquisition rate, the game would still have a sustainable population?

And to be clear, I don't post here because I'm unhappy. I post here when I see arguments being advanced that are based on misinformation, are misleading, or that obfuscate.

I also post here to comment on business practices I find objectionable.

Everyone is entitled to their own preferences. If you're having fun, carry on

Many of those players spent something more valuable than money... TIME. We only have so much time in our lives before we die. We want to have fun in our lives and if we spend a lot of time not having fun to have fun while playing a game, we often rethink our game fun and try another game. Why we are losing players daily. Not enough fun. If we wanted more non-fun, we would get a second job and not pay to play this game for non-fun.

Its an important point. Are you guys having fun and enjoying your time in the game? If not, why not stop. Vote with your feet. Your continued participation in the game and the fact the game still exists in difficult trading conditions after 14 long years, demonstrates that Daybreak are making many correct decisions. You might not like them all but you are still here