Contested content: yea or nay?

that is not what they are talking about.

Its dragons, raids zones etc. Quillmane was more just 1 person waiting around 6 hours for a chance at the cloak, like Hadden.

Wow.
I am totally surprised by myself in this poll. Actually had to think about it.
I voted for everything being contested. I cannot tell you exactly why, other than the games I have been playing where nothing is contested, really doesnt work out for me.
I miss the friendly competition that contested content brings.
I think it will also solve some problems of zerging to be honest. Bring more of a challenge.

Ofc everything should be contested in FFA PVP niche games.

Contested content seems to be to be designing a MMO where other people being around is a bad thing. I have an incentive to play at 2AM not 7 PM. Despite the nostalgia of people who follow a game a couple of years prior to launch, 2004 games may not sell that well in 2015 to the general public.

It seems to me that the move towards instancing everything has created an entire "generation" of entitled players that feel that they should be able to have everything, without putting in the same time and effort that the top players/guilds put in.

Agreed. Now if they want to do the WoW model of 25 man raid thing gives better gear but not crazy better gear compared to 10 man places, thats cool. But they are trying to get as many people playing not please a niche maybe a bit more than niche part of their fans.

Thats why I think the way to combat contested stuff is have alternate ways to get similar items.

What? Contested is contested. Gorenaire, Trak, Quillmane, the Avatar of War & Aten Ha Ra are all contested. Doesn't matter what the difficult is.

Now are we talking purely pvp based contested content or pve contested content. I think some player vs environment(npc) based contested content would be an amazing idea and add to atmosphere of a sandbox style game.

Having places like crushbone where the orcs and elves constantly push out for control of contested mines,lumber,raiding camps,control of local roads would be a great idea. Having cities and monster cities/dungeons competing over contested items like this would add a level of dynamic realism and immersion that hasn't really been done much in mmo's.

AS far as adding contested pvp based areas. Are we talking contested guild claims or set area where two opposing teams jsut battle over each other? Like good aligned and bad aligned players competeing in a battleground.

My mind is running wild. I wish the question wasn't so vague so i knew where your head was at with "contested content"

Everquest 1 beta tester and 5 year Everquest 1 player

well maybe they are talking about that also. I never thought mobs outside raids were contested.

That's how I read it too.
I'm already cringing at seeing "Safe Zones" setup in cities where players that don't want to PvP are corralled so they can craft and "serve" for PvPers out in "Contested areas". - If that's not what this poll is about, would REALLY like some clarification. Cause if I read this right; instant no play for me.

Everything should be contested if you want a legitimate game. The instances for anything OUTSIDE of newbie areas maybe, should not be happening. It separates the populace, requires no skill or competition. When did original EQ fall apart....AFTER instanced content....learn from your mistakes and do NOT fall in with the majority that want things handed to them.

I'm torn. My gut instinct says a good mix. But then the reality is that I tent to play in smaller, more social casual guilds these days, and I don't like the idea that chunks of the game will be off limits... It's a delicate balancing act to keep everyone happy I guess.

People that play hardcore should be rewarded, but people who don't play hardcore because of job / family / whatever (Including being burnt out from hardcore raiding for years and years... *Points to self*) should not be made to feel like second class citizens in a game they pay for and enjoy.I mean the hardcore gang will always look askance at us, and we can deal with that, but the game itself should not be thumbing it's nose at me because I'd rather not pull 6 hour raid shifts.

But of course, rewards can't be trivialized / cash shop purchasable because that de-motivates the hardcore gang.

I guess in the end I feel that most content should be accessible to most players if they put in enough effort, though that effort may take a different form for different guilds. (time versus might, etc...) But there HAS to be some tangible rewards for those loveable insane folks that play hard.

90% of the mmos I have played have become these "race to the end" grind fests to hit max level. Entire zones along the way are abandoned because they aren't "optimal" for leveling. Then at the top casual players get bored and quit because they are essentially locked out of endgame content, while the hardcore players hop on the gear treadmill. I'm waiting, and hoping that this mold will be broken... I know it can be done!

Bongo

(EQ1 was my first... *snif* Good times...)

This question is vague and depends a lot on exactly how the developers are planning on implementing certain game design concepts, or at least this is my understanding of how it all works:

From what the SOE Live presentations showed us, mobs are going to be bound to AI and intelligently seek out certain locations in the world. When it comes to named mobs, there would have to be certain logical restrictions keeping the mob from roaming all over the world in order to make it possible to be camped in the first place - for instance, binding Emperor Crush's AI so that he is inclined to sit on his throne and venture no further than Crushbone Keep. Furthermore, realistically once a named mob is killed, it's dead. There should be no respawning such that players can kill Emperor Crush over and over again. This of course causes some issue if that NPC is bound to some quest, and the AI would then have to dynamically create a new NPC to replace Emperor Crush, which in turn would have to change any number of other content elements, also bound by the AI (such as changing the name, location, race, etc. of the NPC to be sought out in a given quest). Questing, itself, is expected to be much more dynamic based on the emergent AI system, and most quests are expected to be generated on-the-fly, based on events taking place in the world or other AI values existing within the AI database (Ex: orcs were hunted down for camping out a road frequented by travelers, so they started raiding a nearby village, now a quest must be given to stop orcs from raiding that village).

Since they're asking this question, is it safe to assume some quests will be less dynamic for the sake of implementing content that necessitates always being available to all players, which would require targeting specific NPCs (something along the lines of heritage quests or mythical weapon quests from EQ2)? Or could those quests instead be created more dynamically as well, based on the AI, maybe targeting whatever NPC replaced Emperor Crush, assuming any did at all?

they still have to kill the mobs and do all the other stuff. Sony isn't giving them lvl cap and gear up to a certain point to do X.

YOu still have to put in the effort to kill things and kill it enough to get whatever items you want. I was one of the first game wide to get my warrior epic. I put in the time to be one of the first. I didn't care if someone barely worked for it. I played for my own fun.

PvE is player vs environment. Not player vs other player vs other player vs other player vs other play vs rng vs spawn times vs other player, vs kill stealer, vs ninja looters vs environment.

You still put in the effort but on a PvE server you should not have to fight other players for your own fun if you do not find that enjoyable. Obviously you have to do some of it. To make people raid and have 10 guilds going after same mob, doesn't make any player greater than the other. It just means either timezone difference, your guild is full of work at homers, your guild is full of the unemployed. You as a singular person in that guild aren't better than anyone. You just happen to get items faster since your guild cant be on at all times.

I always snickered at people that thought they were top players because they were always killing X or got all the loot from Y. Its not you getting it, its the guild which has the advantages i listed above.

After all that, regardless if its ALL instanced. The "entitled" must still kill Glob of Uber Death. They just don't show up and it falls over dead shooting out the best loot from the game from its butt.

Let's remember for a moment that EQNext probably won't have the crazy progression requirements that EQ1 or even EQ2 has. Not being able to kill X mob at Y time probably shouldn't affect your ability to participate in everything the game has to offer.

That being said, a contested world is more than a competitive, unfair world. That's a narrow, twisted view. A contested world is an alive world. When you begin making dungeon and raid content instanced, you make the feel of the world segregated and less communal. A dungeon should be a place where anything can happen and you can encounter anyone; it shouldn't same experience every time. It should feel like a real, physical place in the world. That's what Lower Guk felt like to me in EQ1: it was a place where everyone knew your name. You can't say that about any instanced dungeons. In open world zones, when spawn the same exact mob multiple times a day in the same spot for all players to be able to kill (ex: Guild Wars 2 bosses), you make the game's world feel less realistic and more contrived. In short, it fouls up immersion.

A contested world is a thriving, always changing world. This is the core of what EQNext has is supposedly behind. Emergent (or at least less repetitive) AI and permanent change. I understand if Sony wants to occasionally use instancing as a tool for certain situations. But instancing should be the exception, not the norm. They should strive to make the world contested (and therefore bustling and alive) while trying to do their best to maintain things like server stability and game fairness. I believe instancing is a solution to an old problem, and few MMO developers at the moment have the innovation to surmount it. If EQNext is truly an innovative MMO, it should seek to solve the problems that contested content has historically caused without throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

I didn't even know what to vote for here....This question is way too open...and at the same time we know the answer is non contested/contested...cuz they want versatility...weak poll.

Yea they should have said:

Should raid/group/dungeons targets be contested?

Right now it seems it can mean the snake that kicks you in lowbie zone 1 is considered contested.

• I think contested content sounds fun. It may just be me, but I think it sounds plain and simple fun.
• Can you imagine a war being held over like ... a mob! .. oh.. my .. gawd... im so happy I logged in that day. Like honestly. I wanna show up with my gear, pwn some newbs.

•As long as they can't just like, respawn right there and re-fill their ranks. In other words, if you die, and there is no-body to revive you. Thats it, you're finished, no respawning and running back allowed, you're done, sorry, good luck next time. The contested content should have a degree of planning and player skill to determine the victor, and how I mean planning and player skill, I can put it in one other word. Warfare.

• With warfare, Guilds would have to form around this concept. It would be great! Does that guild have a healer.. Maybe there is a guild that waits till the contested boss is almost dead only to sweep in last moment and steal it from the other guild! OMG can you imagine how pissed off some people would get.. It would be sooo fun. Not to mention the flame wars.. OMG YES!

Ok.. Ok .. Imagine being a big guild, planning this out, getting ready for this mob thats gooan be up and contested. You come in with your guild / party, you defeat other guilds.. Your ranks are still going okay.. But.. this is weird.. some other people are sort of just watching from a-far... Start the boss, you're into the fight a good way, only to get contested more!... OMG.. This would be so challenging.. And if you're like me.. challenge is great.. What if the boss kills everyone in teh guild! Right.. Then kills the other people and resets.. We still got a contested boss here... It could turn into a fight of longetivy.. Who has no life, and who can stay awake long enough to defeat the other guild! ... OMG YESSSSSSSS.... Challenge us nerds to nerd offs... BRING IT!

Contested Content FTW

I like contested content. I don't want to see 4,000,000 SSOY or 50,000 Rubi BP's floating around the auction house again. I think if you found something really cool, it can be allowed to stay unique. Let the crafted gear be the norm and the found gear be the highlight. It will foster more of a gather/craft/build and adventure on your way to get materials, than a KKND and eventually get to what this game is being built around.

2cp

7 hours of standoff in NToV in EQ was NOT fun. And imagine countless trains from one guild who showed up with 1 healer for 10 others blocking a fully ready raid group. Its is NOT fun ever.

Yeah, I don't think that's the case. Some of those options don't really make a whole lot of sense or add any clarity on the circumstances relating to that aspect. Waiting and competing and all of that is much more in line with requiring groups, raids, and the competition between guilds for trying to race to the finish.

LOL

For all my preaching about knee jerk reactions, I still fall for this BS rofl. These guys are hilarious in their choices. Just vote on what you think should be the majority type of PvE and PvP content in the game. It's just a way to guage what the players prefer in these terms and how much of any type, group or solo, should be added in the game.