Improving Our Alternate Advancement (AA) System

Hiijinx, keepin' it real. +1

I would be happier if they condensed the AA tree's down, too many points need spent and it is confusing for non min/maxers like me. for example in the druid tree, Rebirth is an awesome ability but you need to waste 21 points in abillities I never use to get it. it's annoying having to place 350 AA points and it will get worse with patches and updates. 400 AA points, 500, 600 it is going to end up like Mists of Pandaria where people are dealing Millions of DPS and have Millions of HP

I used to get angry about paying sc for something, only to see it be given away free, or it being discounted the day or week after i bought it, lol. To be honest, it happens so often, that now when i buy something with sc, i pretty much only buy it if i'm willing to "throw away" that amount. Lets be honest-anytime we buy anything in this game, it is by its very nature, temporary. I buy 5 character slots on wednesday, the following monday, the game sunsets....what do i have to show for it? nothing...because i didn't actually own anything in this game. This attitude has affected how much and how often i buy and spend sc. Quite frankly, i dont spend nearly as much as i used to. With all the sweeping changes they've made to the game over the years, i guess i just don't take it as seriously as i once did. Every once in a while, they come out with some crazy change, and it's still irritating, but i've found that taking a step back, and realizing that it's just a game helps a lot, lol.

That argument has been used quite a bit, usually towards the "AoD expansion~no it's a feature pack" argument. There is a huge difference. People purchase expansions when they feel they have reached the amount of progress in the game where they feel they require the most current expansion available. That, or they plan on continuing the game long term, might as well buy it now.

You buy an AA bauble for one reason, that is to bypass the grind to 280 AA. Most players will consume that bauble immediately upon purchase because any AA below 280 points earned in the game prior to the use of that bauble is wiped out. Now that bauble is worth 320 AA *UNLESS* you purchased it and used it before the 18th of December. In that case, it's still only 280 AA points. They had a huge double sale, save on points, then save on purchases (as all access). People holding out on buying the baubles purchased them seeing a great deal. Then the new system was announced.

That would be like purchasing your expansion because of a sale that made it attractive to buy, then announcing everyone, even free to play gets the current expansion for free or can get the CE version for the $39.99 that you paid for the current expansion.

Expansions are reliable purchases. You can pretty much count on the price remaining the same and the items offered with the expansion being unchanged until the next expansion. If you purchased every expansion from day one until now, you got to play every expansion when the content was new and far more exciting. You can't expect a new player to purchase $300+ in expansions to enter the game simply because you did over time. In fact, the argument of the players is that the "old" content is something you should bypass (don't agree) to get to the "real" game.

Since the store has been getting $20 a bauble and tracking all sales, there is no reason why anyone who purchased the bauble in the past should not be bumped to 320 points. No refund, since obviously they got the perk that they wanted/needed and used the perk. Just a simple bump to 320 to show that they appreciate that $20 purchase and protect the customers investment.

It's not just 1-50 that has obsolete rewards. Back when 80 was the level cap the reward from the Fens quest "An Ugly Bounty" was so good I considered it a must-have for all my chars. Recently I ran a char up and did that quest and found the reward just didn't have that shine anymore. The quest was still fun but the reward was transmute fodder.

For that matter when was the last time you did a pre-CoE heritage or signature quest and actually equipped the reward?

Just tried it on Everfrost with my L81 wizzy. Doesn't work - state my effective level is below what the item requires. I have petitioned it but just in case anyone else has any left over it isn't working at the moment.

"We’re excited for this update on Thursday, December 18, and we’re grateful for your continued support"

The change hasn't taken place yet. This is effective after maintenance on Thursday, December 18th. Please refer to the original post, and then keep your eye out in the News and Announcements forum for a thread regarding the specific maintenance which will have the exact (well, predicted) timeline for the patch.

Doh!!!! Idiot alert - In my mind this went live with the patch for the DM nerf and I'm on holiday so lost track of what day it is. Apologies for the incorrect info and keeping fingers crossed for tomorrow/

The first char I made when returning to EQ2 I used solely for questing, this is when your adventure lvl locked your AA lvl. All of her armor was either crafted, quested or looted and I would lvl lock her adventure to max AA's and finish the quests at her lvl.
She ended up, eventually, obtaining lvl 87.

Then heroic characters came out, and suddenly there was no AA cap, so people were able to buy a heroic ( or get one free with their account ) with, not only, more AA than my quester but better armor and weapons. Fine, I can deal.

With the new AA system it is happening all over again, she already has her 280 AA, so again, the character I worked so hard on is dismissed and still weaker. None of the characters I have will benefit from this change at all.

I agree with a previous member, please stop making this game easier. Many players appreciate the challenge, I don't play mmo's when there is none. Save your easy lvling for EQ Next and stop dumbing down EQ2, make it harder instead.

I miss when the game was a little more difficult. I've been playing since 2007 and I can remember a time before AA was so easy to get, before leveling wasn't so fast, when enemies weren't such pushovers, when only a certain few classes could solo up cons or heroic enemies, and I remember having to wait on the boats to go to Kylong or actually wait until the spires were ready before I could travel to the kingdom of sky. Oh and when the traveling clouds Kingdom of Sky made you actually wait and enjoy the scenery while traveling island to island. Everything in this game now is about INSTANT gratification when this is the very subject in modern society that has become a problem. I know video games are supposed to be an "escape" from reality, but come on. The game doesn't have that same 'fun' that it used to because you can be anything at any time and any place. I will be honest, the only reason I still play is because I just want to see the zones I love, do the quest lines and play the classes I didn't play through. It's more of a bucket list now than an actual enjoyment.

I'm in agreement with those who are not happy about these changes. There should have been a way for those of us who prefer more of a challenge and actually like working for AA rather than having them handed to us to opt out of this.

I haven't decided if I like this or not yet. I do like the idea that people should have enough aa's as they level to be effective without having to obsess over getting aa's. However, some of my characters that I level locked to work on aa points, I wonder if I've wasted that? I especially hate that all those bosses and other things I did to get aa points put me at a disadvantage if I already had 280 or over.

I guess I like it on my low level low aa characters and don't like it on the ones I was concentrating on who had more aa points.

Make a new AA spec and only spend the points you used to have. Then spend the rest once you believe you've done enough to deserve them.

I am delighted with this change. True, I have quite a few characters I level locked to build lots of AAs at lower levels. But I also have many characters that will benefit from this.

Ok, before I go logging into my Beastlord (which had an AA potion used on him PRIOR to this update...) will those of us who are NOT level 90, but used a potion for AA's get 320 instead of 280 from previous potions?

Why do I ask?
Gee, I wonder.
It's evident that a level 30-something avatar with at least 280 AA's should NOT have 280 AA's except by using that potion...or exploiting the DM before changes were made.

Care to answer this please SOE? Thanks.
If No, then I want my AA's on my BL reset to their LEVEL APPROPRIATE number, and a reimbursement of the SC or AA potion.

Thanks

I can't believe people are whining and complaining about getting bonus AA points. I swear, 90% of every MMO playerbase is only there for the chance to be dramatically mad about something - anything - on a daily basis.

Whenever people say they wish the game was harder, I think that they are really just nostalgic for the early days when the game was new and exciting to them. If the game was made harder, lots of casual players would leave, and these remaining hard loving players would find themselves cursing the game every step of the way, just like they used to back then. They have just forgotten how much they hated the grind, back when it was harder, in the same way that women forget the pain of childbirth.

The game is still plenty hard, especially if you level up and raid and struggle for the best gear. There is still stuff you may only have a million to one shot at, in game. You don't have to mess it up for the rest of us, who are also struggling, maybe to get a dozen or more toons to level cap in one year. With the DM nerf, this is now much harder for us. That's why we were given some relief on the AA grind.

So how about you don't try to mess this up for everyone else, just because you feel it is "counterintuitive" to just not use some of those AAs you don't think you earned, or whatever.

Edited to say that if you really want a grind, why not grind for that lion mount that you buy from the city merchant with three hundred million status or whatever it is. Good luck! Enjoy!

I actually have several characters that have a huge amount of AAs at very low levels. Why? I slid the bar to all AA's when they were level 14 or so. Never did any sort of power level or DM silliness either. But, while I am grateful that that CE AA potion was finally fixed to work on level 10s just the the SC one does, I do feel it should also have been adjusted to be 320 AAs. We only got two total of them after all, and that was from buying the CE version of that expansion.

So with this new format is it normal to have my three level 50 characters all have 280 AA?