Summer 2016 Ethereals Begin!

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but I'm also under the impression you think it's acceptable these ethereal tokens are found in heroic content.

The only time I see raiders trying to tell soloers how to play (raiders are soloers too btw) is when soloers complain that raid strength items are not able to be acquired through solo gameplay.

From my perspective, ToT and Zek have catered to the soloer more than any other playstyle. I can solo and get items that are 90% as strong as raid drops, no, I can solo and get items that are as strong as raid drops. If anything the game caters more to solo players now than it ever has.

I've already said this a couple times but honestly, I was starting to get worried about things when my guild members are quietly preferring to do solo stuff 90% of the time because that's the only way they were going to get upgrades. I am happy about anything that encourages people to group.

I also agree it would be nice to get solo/adv solo/heroic versions of instances. Challenge Heroics or duo's. Even if the differences were as simple as resolve needed and increased RNG chances on top level drops.

This is dead on. They put a merchant in the game already for the solo/heroic players. You have been covered. This is for Heroic and Raiders. They actually are being fair to all and maybe a little bit more generous than they should be considering the desire for the runes for heroic players isn't strongly agreed with. Due to zones like MC I can see why some would want them. End of the day no trade extends content, which is a plus considering the recent rush for everything. Hopefully the gear will have more of a spread between play styles in the new expac along with more instances as mentioned. Baby steps.

End of the day no-trade means no alt tanks willing to tank scourge wastes (heroic). Have fun doing that zone without any tanks or having to spend almost as long begging for tanks to come help in general chat as it takes for the zone

The no trade is actually a good thing since we will see more alts out there running around and it won't all be completely geared egotistical people wanting to own the zone in 45 seconds. The variety will hopefully bring us back to normal. Guild/Alliance groups will still be the norm so some may have to consider making alts or joining a guild to better their chances.

Any Need?

So it looks from the coin reward that all 3 of the eth items AND the runes have a chance to come from the mission coin, but usually it's the umbrite coins. Has anyone got a rune as a reward yet?

My calcs say (if you ignore these double events), that you have to do every daily and weekly for 9 weeks to guarantee yourself 2 runes (2 runes is about the max people really crave, that being scout fervor and reset, some classes only have one really cool rune).

Standard member accumulation is 2 per day + 6 for weekly = 20 a week.

So just how long is the event on for?

Actually, no...my monthly sub insured FTP players get access to the world of Norrath. You know, the same FTP players that Plevel to Raid only to SLR and talk smack to Paying players on the Forums. Doesn't matter...since our acct's will be FTP soon anyways as well..and we can join the flipside and I won't give a damn..since I'm not PAYING to be aggravated or annoyed by DBG decisions anymore .

Regards.

DB Post

Sorry to give you the wrong impression. Ethereals would indeed be raid appropriate gear and should only be available to raiders for end game content, though I see no reason they can't also put out a line of gear that looks almost, if not just as nice appearance wise, for those of us who solo or those who run heroics. Then again, I'm not the kind of person who just HAS to have everything nice that comes out, and I'm not really all that concerned with gear beyond the fact that I want to at least be able to earn the gear I need to be able to progress further in the game. Until and unless they give us some kind of wardrobe, I'm not really concerned with appearance gear.

I waited years just to be able to finally run older lower level heroic zones, just to get the wonderful house deco items out of them. I know there are people who love the 'race to end game', but I'm a 'stop and smell the roses along the way' type. When I group with my friends, I know that I am accepted just for who I am and I accept them for who they are. I don't look for people who I KNOW can play their character well, nor do I profess to play my character well. People tell me I spread myself out too thin by playing a number of other characters, but I only actually focus on one character...my brigand. The others are trade-skillers and I only basically use them for crafting or to do quests or dungeons for housing items. Yes they are all level 100 adventurer as well as crafting professions, but that is because my friends and I will group and run High Keep or Skyshrine or whatever, just to level them up, so we can keep up with everything trade-skill related and quests for deco items.

That doesn't negate the fact that DBG put those items on a vendor where anyone with the appropriate currency can now purchase them. Personally I am not going out and busting my chops to earn the tokens to purchase those items, but I certainly don't blame people for taking advantage of the situation. It simply should not have even been done, but this is just another prime example of the poor choices the company oftentimes makes. If I had the coin and the inclination to do so, I'd certainly take advantage of it, simply because I could...doesn't mean I agree with the company for making these items available to us.

I am not looking for handouts. I prefer earning my way through, but I also don't like when what I'm doing begins to feel like a 'job' rather than entertainment...this is exactly what raiding does to me. The whole 'reforging' process feels like a job to me and I hate it. In a group, there is almost always someone who just wants to rush through everything, and I don't want to feel rushed. This is one of the reasons I prefer to solo. PuG's are simply a nightmare and I won't do it anymore. Grouping with my friends is generally casual and relaxing, because we are all comfortable with one another, but even one of my friends likes to rush through things and we are always having to remind him to slow down for us 'old-timers', hehe.

I do agree that the last two expac's and Zek are solo-friendly, but I really would like to see that trend continue in the future, where from the sounds of it, they seem to only want to put out raid zones. If they do that, I think a lot of people who pay to play will leave, because like myself, there are a lot of people who do prefer to solo. Hopefully this latest poll they put out will reveal just how many people are like myself, and hopefully DBG takes the results of this poll seriously. I certainly will not purchase an expac that only introduces new heroic and raid zone content, with no adv solo's to play in.

The last two expac's were also tradeskill friendly, so that really made them meaningful to me. I was just disappointed that they made the plunder items and shiny's only available in heroic and raid dungeons, and not in the adv solo's, in AoM.

Was happy to see they put shiny's in the adv solo's in ToT, but to make them Lore - No Trade was a real disappointment. Nothing like trying to pick up a shiny and getting the message that you already have one and can't have another, and having to delete it just to be able to pick the shiny up. I want to just pick up the shiny and be on my way...not have to stop and open my bags, find the other shiny, delete it, then go on my merry way...too much wasted time. Besides, what is the purpose of making those shiny's Lore or No Trade? It simply means if I want to do the collections on my alts, I have to run them through those dungeons as well, but I'm not interested in gearing them up to run those zones. At the very least make them heirloom, though even that would be somewhat of an annoyance. I say just make them like any other shiny...no Lore or No-Trade or Heirloom tag on them at all.

Would like to see etheral coins heirloom tagged instead of no trade. From someone who pugs quite a bit.... more often than not i'm forced to play my healer instead of DPS because lack of interest i guess from other healers or they've already done quests in another group. While this grants a fair amount of tokens on my HEALER I'd rather get the runes / jewelry on my ASSASSIN....

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding; but a choice in your playstyle is impacting you negatively?
You deserve the same rewards for making a conscious choice to limit yourself because-?

Don't get me wrong, it's a game. You play the game because you find it enjoyable, and the spirit of the MMO is the ability to avoid things you find distasteful if you so choose. Because you fail to bite the bullet to get items you want because you don't have the time to group/don't have the willingness to exercise socialization isn't anyone's fault beyond your own.

EQ2 was never meant to give advantages to people who play solo, especially not advantages on par with others who put in the time and dismal effort into grouping with others. It has always been a tiered system where sacrificing your time and effort yielded greater rewards, sort of like real life in that regard.
I understand it's a game, but you have to understand you earn what you earn.

In short, I've found this mentality of "solo players deserve the same rewards as raiders for more trivial content" to be moronic at it's core. If you want raid gear - raid. If you want the cake and to eat it too, then perhaps it's time to move on to purely solo game. I've been thoroughly enjoying myself with the Dark Souls series when I can't stand playing with people for the day.

TL;DR - Making a conscious choice to limit your playstyle =/= earning it fairly like everyone else.

So...I'm actually really enjoying these. I've managed to complete 3 dailies and the weekly on my dirge so far, and then do bits and pieces on my other toons. Dragging my bruiser through SK with a set of summoners and watching stuff melt, MC with an none optimal group and taking bets on when we die etc.

My only issues with them are: The 100 scourge keep orc kills on SK daily. It doesn't really add much besides needing to make you go around and kill the groups of orcs, which is a slog, not fun.

If you only solo - you don`t need ethereals - it is that simple.

If players that raid want the optimum gear to be for raiders only, then that optimal gear should "dumb down" to regular mastercrafted level when not being utilized in a raid instance. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. If the really good stuff should only be obtainable in raid zones then that same really good stuff should not be able to be used outside of raid zones. Problem solved.

Cyrrena

PS Slam me all you want for this opinion, but I do pay for accounts and am entitled to my opinion on any game issue
and it does not have to be approved of or agreed with by any player.

You can't get ethereals from raids, just solo and group content offers them currently so not sure why the hate on raiders. When I blow up a parse in heroic or solo content it is not any raid drop that is doing that, it is the pieces I acquired solo or with a group.

In fact my dkp continues to pile up because the solo/group stuff is strong. Scaling down the raid drops outside of raids would not lower my dps much.

Let's just form some pug's and step outside of our comfort zone for a few weeks for these tokens, might actually enjoy it. These types of events are usually the only time I'll pug and tbh there might be one lousy attitude rotten apple out of every 10 groups I join.

Pictures or this didn't happen.

Actually, I look at it from a converse angle...in that DB is trying to force a playstyle that doesn't fit with what we wish to pay for in our time allotment. No one is suggesting that solo'ers or duo'ers be GIVEN anything. We would like the opportunity to EARN our rewards (ethereal coins) fairly just as anyone else does that fits into our chosen playstyle that WE PAY FOR. I see nothing wrong with adding an Adv Solo weekly mission that rewards "A SINGLE" coin, so that over time, an extended LONGER time, a solo player can EARN a reward. This is the second time ethereals are gated by DB towards raiders/groups only. You know, WE like shiney new toys too and are WILLING to earn them, if it fits our chosen paystyle.

/shrug This is an inequity that some of us that PAY for a subscription are getting fed up over. You do recall, the motto for this game was " Play your Way". And for the record...it is actually MORE time consuming and oft times harder to earn a reward solo than it is to blow up content in 15mins with a group. My wife has been consistently doing missions for ferrin coins, for example, for the past 6 months to earn a Red Corsair. Thats ALOT of PAID FOR TIME. There is hardly a risk/vs reward argument to made in this regard because it doesn't exist in this game. Its actually polar to what it should be.

Regards.

My only question for soloers and duoers is why do you need an item that is designed for progression in heroics and raids now that you have a fabled loot merchant to assist you with your progression/game play? We pay for the same thing you do and most of the content takes us much longer and requires more tact/players. The content we pay for we use it and never complain about yours. If you are so willing to earn them then grouping might have to be added to your agenda.

But I want you guys to lfg so it's easier to put groups together.

This trend toward more mythicals, relics, ethereals from solo keyquests, status merchants, etc I feel is hurting the game, and I say this from the perspective of a person that enjoys grouping.

But a solo weekly (no dailies) I could support reluctantly.

Solo's and duo's don't need gear for raid zone as RedvBlue said but on the flip side the raid gear is not needed for non raid content either.We all see the post of how easy this or that was and most of the time its players with raid gear complaining so devs have to up the content difficulty to try please all.Raid buffs in raid zones only would be a fair way round the problem but then I'm sure those that run through zones wiping everything in raid gear solo would complain like mad cause they can't farm whilst not raiding