new expac needs to be geared toward ONLY level 80 group players

Every expansion should include new content on all levels, even if the majority is aimed at one area. Folks keep talking about how fast you can get through but I don't understand the urge to grind through levels, miss content and then complain how there's nothing valid for them to do. There is always mentoring and experiencing new content at lower levels.
I have no desire to be a hardcore raider though I have two characters who are almost 80. I wouldn't want to pay for an expansion that provided absolutely nothing that I was interested in doing.

Gwyneth@Najena wrote:

I got into this argument with people before when people said soloing was harder than raiding. They used the excuse that if a soloer went afk in a fight then he/she would die therefore soloing is harder than raiding.


BTW, They did try to make challenging solo content...it was called the solo trials in splitpaw.
Guess what.....most of the soloers cried that it was too hard and it was changed to something a monkey could kill.

Gwyneth@Najena wrote:

Its not a myth. You cannot make challenging solo content that is on par with challenging group/raid content. If you make a challenging encounter based on say a wizard then say a bard tries to go do that content he probably wont be able to do it. Each class has strengths and weaknesses. Raid and group content are challenging (or can be) because its able to take in account different class abilities that groups can handle. If you make something challenging for one particular class then 8 other classes probably wont be able to succeed. Some classes will find it really really easy and some classes will find they cant do it at all.
I like solo dungeons and stuff too but in reality .. how can they design a solo dungeon that is more then just root/nuke, snare/kite, or tank/spank? Im sure you can add in some silly puzzles but does that make it more challenging? I think not.
I dunno...change my mind and post what a challenging solo encounter would consist of.

Xyra@Lucan DLere wrote:

Grinding or questing you are going to fly thru the lower levels. Why keep making lower level content that people will use for a few hours never to be seen again. To me that seems like a total waste where if you make content for the capped people it will get more use.

Kizee wrote:

But that's the point. Why is it more fun to do things at level 80 when you could as easily mentor and do some things missed at lower levels? There are even raids for those at very low levels. I feel like new content is new content at any level since you can find a group at that level and go back and experience it anyway.

Xyra@Lucan DLere wrote:

Like I said....why bother with content that will be seen once then forgotten. None of the loot will be good for my capped toon so why would I go back?

Wow. i didnt read every post but the OP has the worst idea ever. i think either expand the level cap 10 lvls and focus on content for that new tier or expand mid to high range content and add a new AA tree.
Focusing on the highest lvl only is an awful idea and the OP should stop posting if thats his best idea.

Ravaan wrote:

So what makes you so special that your play style gets all the new stuff...

Bah, just another lame topic ...

Mins wrote:

yeah lame topics seems to be the OP's speciality. Check out his other one on what classes he think needs to be revamped and what the chages sould be. i think its best to ignore his post, i think he just badly wants attention. aww.

Ravaan wrote, I reply in his or her post in (RED):

Anyway, I haven't read any other posts so my replys only reflect what the OP posted. But I do mostly disagree. We have to revamp the current lower tier zones, and add more, along WITH upper tier to keep this game alive. If we ONLY focus on level 80, then how many people leave due to lower tier being neglected, including a lot of the people with one or more 80th level mains?

I have one (1) level 80 toon and for the life of me can't get another toon past the mid 30's. This is because all the content is roughly the same. On my 80 toon I raid at least 3 times a week, run instances every night, etc. But I solo'd/duo'd about 75% of my way to lvl 80. I have an all around opinion/agree with 90% of the people on the upcoming expansion.
I started playing EQ2 during EoF and enjoyed being able to level without having to wander far off. I was dissapointed in RoK for it's lack of content between lvl 21 to 65. At the time of it's release I was only in my mid 50's and had bought the expansion and was pissed when I found out there was jack BLEEP for me to do.
My point is that for the new expansion SOE would be better off adding ;
10 - 15% solo content
55 - 65% group content
25 - 30% raid content
Make a few lower tier zones, but put the emphasis on the 80+ content. Give people who make alts something to play in that is new. RoK gave the starting point of TD from 1 - 20, have a new zone 30 - 40. And another from 50 - 60. Don't repeat the EoF, force people to find new places to go but give them a reason to go new places. Add a handful of new heroic instances and raid zones to these new lower zones. Add new lower HQ's involving these zones. SOE has what...15 expansions from EQ1 to work with on figuring out maybe 5 new HQ rewards!? Not hard to look back on EQ1 lore and find something.

As for the high end lvl players...move the level cap to at least 95. Yes I know...95!? My point for this is that with new alternating expansions they have increased the lvl cap by 10. It's been done in ALL MMOP, do something different. EQ set the standard, WoW followed, screw the norm. Make a stand and make a huge jump to make people work for the level cap and not cap out in 2 days. EQ2 needs to stop with the race to boredom and start giving more content to ALL it's *cough* paying customers. Every one of us pays to play, everyone of us should be able to enjoy a new experience (per EQ2) with every new expansion.

Side note: The last two (2) expansions have included 3 new races (arasai, fay, and sarnak), if SOE makes a new playable race it needs to be something new and different from everything else in the game. Either come up with a completely new class to EQ2 (Beastlord) or playable race (talk of the otter people or ice knolls) but how about making a giant, centaur, minotaur (not the "mentally chanllenged" buffalo thing WoW has), goblin, or send a dev out into the middle of no where on an acid trip with a sketch book to draw what he/she sees. GIVE US SOMETHING 100% NEW.

But I digress, everyone complains about not enough stuff to do. If SOE does a rough follow of what I have laid out above, everyone will have more than enough for all comers to do.

They cant raise the level cap by 15 without changing the spell/ability sytem again. It use to be spells upgraded every 14 levels. After ROk came out they moved spell upgrades to every 10 levels. If they put in a 15 level raise they would have to rework it again. Not that big of a deal I suppose but for me, I like continuity instead of constant change. We have been through combat changes a few times...resist changes... class changes etc...Personally im a little tired of relearning my class over and over.
The only thing that seems to be the same every expansion is that SOE nerfs everything just before an expansion and then gives you gear and aa's to get what you had back. This gives the illusion that you are actually achieving something. Except its just an illusion...you are only getting back what you once had. They have been doing this since EQ1 when AA's were first developed.
My favorite all time nerf was to Manaburn.. OMG 6 wizards are manaburning a dragon we cant have that! NERF! It was ok for bards and enchanters to solo them though lol...wtg!

Imagine an hour glass full of sand labeled EQ2.

Start the hour glass and you have your level 1 character on the island with an immense amount of sand / content remaining.

Now as you keep playing your character he/she grows in levels and the sand falls. Some of the sand below you is content you did, other sand is content you leveled past or skipped.

A year goes by, pick any level you want to be 1 through 80. I'll go with 50 because I heard once that is the average level in EQ2. A new expansion comes out and new content is added 1 through 80, some of the new sand is placed in the bottom some on top, with the end of fresh sand still not in site you are happy and keep playing.

A year goes by again, pick any level you want to be (higher than before), this time I'm 78. I can see the end of my sand, and see I have options for new sand I can put in called raid sand. I'm not interested in the raid sand, and I know that the sand I have left won't last me a full year. I really enjoy my current hour glass and don't want it to run out so I pray that the next expansion will have enough new sand to last me a year.

Six months goes by, and my sand has run out, I dabble with mentoring (flipping the hour glas to get some old sand back up top), I even try getting a new hour glass of EQ2 (rolling an alt). I find that I miss my first hour glass of EQ2, but have no more sand.

I consider my options, I can try the raid sand out, I can try another new EQ2 hour glass, or I can find an entirely new hour glass that isn't EQ2.

I know there are many play styles, some with many hour glasses with a lot of sand left (possibly why the average level is 50), and some with just one or two hour glass(es) that are pretty much empty now. Some will try the raid sand, some will try new hourglasses (AoC, WoW, etc).

The only time you add sand / content for EVERYONE is if you add sand that is for the top of the levels. You can add some below, but the bulk needs to be on top so people don't run out of sand in their hour glass. So even if an expansion caters primarily to the highest levels that is still new content for everyone it's just that some people have so much content still left to them they can't see the end of the sand yet to know that new sand got added. Have faith, the new sand is there for everyone.

* Note RAID sand comes in an optional pouch which players can choose to add to their hour glass or not

Cynzielle wrote:

Lucky for you and players like you EQ2 already has TONS of content to get you to lvl 80 where the real game begins.

Ragadagh@Antonia Bayle wrote:

You definitely called it Raga. Sadly, this is not an aspect that EQ2 could ever hope or dream of achieving. What youre talking about requires involved lengthy consideration that is instead spent on the raiding aspect of the game.
One way in which solo content can be as challenging as raiding involves soloing a current level instance. Only certain classes in the game even have a prayer of doing so and even then requires astonishing effort and preparation. But the rewards are just as valuable as a raid encounter. Now anyone can play any class, but whether you have a good time doing that is another matter. Whether you have it within you to roll up a class favored at that moment in time is yet another matter, taking months of hard time consuming work to achieve. SOE clamped down on that with Kunark though, so much reason for my type of solo'er to stay.

Thinking that the game begins at level 80 is foolish. The game is visually excellent, the content is grand and varying from bottom to the top.
Oh yeah, guess your a raider and lord knows that raiding is the only fun thing. ugh.

Jovie@Guk wrote:

80 ranger, 80 jeweler, 400 tinkerer, all heritage finished, all signature finished, max most factions. Ya, raiding is the only fun thing. Please stereotype me more!
How about content designed for the top levels can be used by everyone, content designed for the mid levels will be used by the mid-levels, maybe some people that play alts.
Endgame = brickwall of content. Lvl 55 = lvl to 60 and tons of new content opens.
The truly spoiled players aren't the ones asking for content at lvl 80 where it makes sense, its the people who think SOE should add content so every alt they play is a "new" experience. Talk about spoiled.

"new expac needs to be geared toward ONLY to ME"

That's what it sounds like your asking for.

he's not totally wrong, you spend more time lvl 80 than lvl 1 to 79. You have a limited number of alts.
T1 : refuge isle, greater fay, FP, Queynos, darklight wood, gorowyn ... you finish it in a few hours.
T2 : anto, common, greater, darklight, gorowyn, wailling caves, gnoll area, you can see 5 different time lines for 5 different alts.
T3 : Nek, TS, fallen gate, stormhold, butcherblock, varsoon, and nektropos for end T3, you still lvl quite fast and can see different things with different characters. the orc dongeon in greater too
T4 : Zek, EL, a bit of butcher, a bit a steam, citadel, runny, beginning of feerott, not bad either ... obelisk also
T5 : end of steamfount, ever, lava, end of feerott, cazic, sol eye, perma, obelisk, prisma timeline, for end of T5, SS, klak'anon, some instances also, plus they do revamp ever, which is cool. there are not much quests there and in lava, at least solo. a lot heroic. Nek 2
T6 : SS, pillar, maj dul, living tombs, silent city, lesser fay, klak also, instances in SS, don't know much lesser, shimmering citadel, poet palace, peacock timeline ... you have much to do ... Nek 3?
T7 : looping plains, mistmoore, dwarf old city, obelisk of blight, crypt of val doon, unrest, sanctum of scale, palace of the awakened, bonemire, the 2 other KoS outdoor zones, HoF, don't remember the others ... fire and ice PLUS claymore timelines
T8 : kylong, fens, kunzar, Jarsath, RE2, chardok, sebilis, maiden, vault, crypt, chelsith .. Am I forgeting something? epic timeline

look at that, you spend more time lvling 70 to 80 and grinding AA when max lvling. You can be 80 in a month, and you have a lot less content in T8 than the others.
Sure, when you have 7 alts, they are zones you must go back, but you have plenty of choice, from solo lvling and group lvling. they added new timelines so comparing to your 4 year old character, when you go back to certain zones, you can find new things to discover. but sure the content is note infinite but there are a lot of zones people forgot.
who goes pex in permafrost or Sol eye? many people do go down see nagafen very often? Klak'anon is not that old either. Ihave a 57 alt and went there only once and just at the begining since I was alone. And I block xp and pex only by questing ... so I'm not fast.
The new expension, you'll get more lvl 80 alt coz there's no lvl cap increase ... so we need a LOT of T8 content for not getting bored too quickly. because you spend a LOT more time lvl 80 than the 79 others combined.

quasigenx wrote:

Quoted for truth...
I'd like to say which levels/teirs I find levelling difficult, but talking to friends and reading this.... I'd be asking for a zone/revamp of what I want.