Improving Our Alternate Advancement (AA) System

I addressed this concern on an earlier page in this thread as a reply to another post. Here was the original question:

Here is my reply:

So to fully clarify this is an example of the way that it'll work now:

* Level 48 character logs in with 0 AAs. That character will be set to 133 AA.
* Level 48 character logs in with 101 AAs. That character will be set to 234 AAs.
* Level 48 character logs in with 200 AAs. That character will be set to 280 AAs.
* Level 48 character logs in with 280 (Or higher) AAs. That character will remain unchanged.

In terms of the AA trees and point allocation: I like the idea that you can use a left click to add points to an AA tree and a right click to remove them, each click adding/removing a single point at a time, exactly the same as http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/ ;-)

Sorry Lyndro, while we more or less have you here...

Is the date of the 18th correct, or is this supposed to go live with the DM changes?

I am absolutely done with spending any more money on your game. Here's why:

12/11 at 1:20 in the morning I purchase AoM, of which I previously was FTP and wanted to do DM because there are literally no people in the zones to group quest with and the dungeons are people power leveling others and unless you pay them, they do nothing but clear out the zones and people have to wait until the extremely late hours to fight through the world dungeons as intended.

12/11 at 2 am: I found out, if I want to DM, even though I am all access and have the current expansion, I have to pay an additional $10 to DM and if I don't want to die repeatedly I need to shell out 2k plat in coin to get items made, either the cost of the mats or to purchase the items ready made from the broker, AND I need to drop $20 to buy an AA potion, because I need to have the additional spells at a low level to be able to survive the 100 mobs stacked in one place throughout the dungeon. Sure, I asked about how to build my own in general chat, but was treated with so much disrespect that *gasp* I wanted to make a dungeon to play in, that not a single person answered my question without being a sarcastic troll.

12/11 at 11 am: I find out I should have saved the $10 because, guess what? It's going to be free and only for decorators.

12/12 at 10:45 am: Hey, if you waited an extra week you would have gotten more AA.

12/12 at 2 pm: I called customer service and asked if those who recently purchased these items would be getting a refund, of if there was a way I could have these features/items removed from my account, to which your very disrespectful customer service agent told me "Sorry guy, that's not what we do here. Next time wait a while before you buy anything and you won't be in this position."

It's quite obvious that you all won't be refunding the purchases made within the very short amount of time from when you announced it, while that is your legal right - and most companies will for customer retention, you've lost a customer.

Sure I may be one in the tens of thousands that you have. But how many have multiple accounts and steadily spend $500 - 700 + a month on this game? I'm betting that it's not much longer before you tick enough of us off and we all "play our way" somewhere else.

So essentially, you all just bent me over and took $85 ($15 sub, $40 Xpac, $10 DM Feature, $20 AA Potion for those mathematically challenged) out of my pocket and told me within 36 hours that I wasted my money because I didn't wait a week, and I didn't even get a thank you. Yes I can afford it, no it really isn't so much about the cash, but it is about the principle of the matter.

Way to go. Thank you SOE for showing me that there is a better game somewhere else that actually wants to retain me and my wallet as a customer.

The AA changes are slated to go out on the 18th, we'll certainly notify everyone if that changes.

Ah, alrighty. Just wanted to know if the changes were Tues or Thurs so I can decide which alt I'm playing first. Thanks.

So let me get this right....If I have several toons that are already level 100 with maxed AA tree, do WE have to start over with those toons as well?

Why are you doing this? I know I'm just weird but I actually like following the questlines in the game and I use my AA slider to regulate my advancement so I don't out level my quests. I don't need to be level 100 in a week or else, and then get bored with the game and quit like most people. I like to experience Norath and have characters at various levels to do this. I don't have any Idea why you are even doing this.

No. If you noticed what Lyndro's correction, they are going to change it to AWARD you level-appropriate AA's as long as you wouldn't exceed 280.

So if your alt is level 60 that's 11 levels of 5 AAs and 39 of 3 AAs, giving you 172 additional AAs as long as you do not exceed the 280 cap. Any character at or above 280 AAs is totally unaffected.

You can still use your slider and earn the AAs early. Once you hit 280 you can continue earning toward 350. All of this will slow your leveling.

No, this won't affect you.

I'm pretty opinionated, can get pretty ranty when it comes to subjects such as accomplishment vs reward, risk vs reward, time investment vs reward, etc.. People who invest more time/effort/etc should get more rewards in return.

And I can't find a way to be overly grumpy about this. Maybe it's a little more generous than I would prefer, but so be it - especially if it helps with imbalance and roadblock issues for newer players/characters.

As long as there continues to be room to earn AA at the higher end. There's nothing that annoys me more than being mocked by white stars for an entire expansions. Yes, that's right, I like the last 10 hell AA's...

ok so how does this effect players level 90 that don't have 280 aa? like right now my character is level 90 but only has 197 aa

On December 18th when you login you will have 280AAs.

Well I have one level 94, one level 90 and 4 level 85 and about 15 in various lower levels All of the levels I posted have 280 or higher. I don't mind I worked for them but I can tell you my lower levels Thank you very much

no you can still get extra aa they are just making sure that at certain check points you have a minium ammount their is no limit ot how much you can accrue through normal means

^^ This. Exactly this. What happened to playing the game to play it? AA were supposed to be "alternate advancement". This is almost forcing us to level whether we want to or not. Please stop pushing everyone to end game. It almost takes the fun out of getting to "the end". It doesn't need to be any easier- it's already oversimplified. Especially when one can "pay to win", as I've seen it so eloquently put.

Except you can still choose to grind them out. They aren't taking your choice away. XD

So this basically makes AAs under 90/280 work like Prestige points--sounds great to me! I loved the original implementation of AAs (wherein there was no exp conversion, and you could only acquire them via quests, named kills, discoveries, etc.), and I absolutely hated when it got changed to the EQ1-style eternal exp grindfest. Considering that the game has been balanced for a particular number of AAs at each tier since at least Kunark era, this is a great compromise. Having two forms of advancement that are mutually exclusive always annoyed my inner-game designer--it's so inelegant!

I'm quite happy with the recent changes to the game. Killing powerleveling in private instances and eliminating the AA grind below level 90 should make the game much more alt-friendly and accessible for true newbies as well. By making alts less time-consuming to advance, and forcing said alts into contested content, we improve the likelihood of interactions between veteran and new players, which is exactly what this game needs to feel more vibrant and alive. Granted, there will still be people who refuse to share, but that's not really something that SOE can fix.

As for refunds, I simply don't think it is warranted. Bear in mind that no matter when SOE decided to announce this change, there would invariably be somebody who just bought an AA bauble. It can't be helped. You still got the full value of the purchase at the time you used it, and it was never marketed as an investment.

Always remember: any feature of an MMO will eventually be rendered worthless. There is no such thing as intrinsic value in a virtual world.