Contested content: yea or nay?

Thankfully, we know we won't have any of that. They've said you'll only rarely get quests from NPCs, that just doing your own thing is a 'quest' and such. I'm not sure we'll even have a quest log, they haven't said. But they definitly seem to be trying to avoid the hand holding of other games. Nothing is static, the world is ever changing. Let's hope the EAI system is as impressive as it sounds.

It's not a VOTE. It's called a "poll" and its purpose is "discussion", not election. Would you like a dictionary reference?

Maybe there should have been some words on the exact meaning of "contested content"...

I like contested content - but I don't like how it's presented. Why should every name spawn in the same exact place so people can "farm" it? Why not randomize it a bit - or have it walk to the location in which it belongs. Have more random spawn timers on it. Maybe - for the epic x4 contested mobs switch them up in different locations. I just think it gets dry when it's on such a specific timer and in specific locations all the time. Additionally it lends itself to hogging by some - either "farming" players or higher end raid guilds that just wait for it to spawn when it's supposed to. Just my 2 cp.

Basically what I voted for. EQII had a nice blend, I though. Maybe heavy on the instancing if anything, buuut.. there were still open world raid bosses, and still -plenty- of group zones, where you could run through and see other groups fighting for their lives. It added a nice community feel to it, and made me feel more like I wasn't playing alone, or in my own little box. Contested Content makes the world feel more alive. Thankfully, we won't have static spawns, and if the EAI system works out.. fully open world content could be amazing, as the world changes around us.

Instancing excels at disconnecting and isolating players from the living world. The world isn't completely "one" anymore. The feeling of truly being part of the world is broken.

Maybe an idea would be a little bit of both. lets say you have your lady vox or trakanon contested dragons, and also instanced non contested content for the everyday player to have something to do when they just want to shoot the crap with their friends for the evening, now Lady Vox might drop this awsome pally sword that all hardcore pallies will want but Bob never gets to play long enough to get that sword, there could be a dumbed down 6 or 12 person group instance of lady vox that drops a version of that sword but it too is dumbed down a bit. That way there is awsome loot for the risk vs reward player and awsome loot for the more casual player and he does not have to feel like he is missing a big part of the game. Just some thoughts

The amount of people who think "Contested Content" talks about PVP makes me sad very very sad.
The term is being used in the instance that content (raid bosses/loot drops) will be sought after by more than one party, or guilds or groups or players. The best example of this would be EQ1 world bosses (wandering Dragons) or for them WoWKiddies the Dragons of Nightmare/Lord Kazzak.

Another set of Examples would be
Contested: 2 rats enter a maze with 1 piece of cheese at the end of it. Only 1 rat will reach the cheese and consume it, the other goes hungry.
Instanced: 2 rats enter 2 different maze with 1 piece of cheese at the end of each, both rats get the cheese.

In the end I think the fact that there wont be "Timed Static Spawns" for the majority of EQNext content I think contested could work well. Also we have no idea what sort of reward model will be in place. Going with both some instanced (which would be more static content) and contested world events/bosses (which would be very random) could do just fine to satisfy both groups in this debate, the random contested rewards could be better or more unique than the instanced rewards for sure.

I'm talking about pugs and public quest primarily. Of course it will still roll over into small and large groups, but I don't see why that's an issue. It's not an "everyone wins" style of play. It's a everyone has a fair and equal chance for rewards and receive credit where it is due instead of relying on some ridiculous random dice roll or personal distribution that isn't even necessary or wanted by the majority.

DKP is another system that shouldn't even be necessary in EQN. Outdated concepts that shouldn't even have any part in the game.

THE GAME WILL NOT HAVE STATIC SPAWNS IT WILL HAVE SEEDED SPAWNS LIKE IN SWG.

I want people to know this, because its very important, they are going to spawn things randomly in the world and let them roam, with no indicator to where they are.

There will be no zerging, because nobody knows where anything will be. You will have to go around hunting and seeking your prey.

East Commonlands had Griffins, West had the Hill Giants.

Hear, hear! It makes me feel like I live in a box, and it further breaks it down closer to a solo game. I want to see other people, hear them talking, or fighting in the distance. I want to run past them, help them out if they're having problems, continue on to my own exploration or maybe make friends. *shrug* Bonds of community sprang up in the oddest of places, after all.

Instancing excels at disconnecting and isolating players from the living world. The world isn't completely "one" anymore. The feeling of truly being part of the world is broken.

The problem is that other things can become "epics" in their own right. And that's where my concern is. When gizmo number 5 becomes the pinnacle of necessity, even if gizmo-giver number 5 wanders or spawns randomly... it's still going to be somewhat limited and people are going to get all weird about it.

I do want there to be things that people really want and will work hard for. But I do feel some concern in the way that this has been handled and I hope that it's something the devs keep in the back of their minds.

I think contested loot should be items that are very specific - for a mythic epic gear etc and obviously if you got one already OR your class doesn't use that mythic epic gear then you don't get to loot it.
However, I also think raid mobs that only drop 1-3 mythic epic gear parts and a bunch of absolute junk is a SHIITE way to do things. If it takes 10-30 ppl to take a mob down, that mob ought to be big enough to supply at least one really valuable whiz-bang-cool item per person. Fine if it's only got 1-3 mythic epic gear parts but don't load a 3tonne demon with a load of trash loot please.

This is a very tricky question. I love the idea for purposes of immersion, but In original EQ there was an enormous amount of asshattery that occurred because of contested spawns. My Suggestion would be that nothing critical for progression should be tied to a specific mob in an open environment. If there is something Critical let there be multiple paths to acquire it.


If guilds want to contest for nice gear that the Gopher king drops, let them. I should never lose out on a required piece for a critical story/class/epic line because someone in a more powerful guild wants the same piece for an alt. Give us both a path to success.

On Karana we had the Council of Guilds, with the large guilds who could actually take down the raid boss on a rotation for the mob. Worked ok.

Having played EQ1 from launch, EQ2 from launch, GW and GW2 from launch and many more, I voted for having all content contested and here is why.

Although at launch with there being a very large amount of people all doing the same content, it is a bit difficult to get contested named mobs or even mobs with quest body drops, it adds a bit of prestige to have item X or have completed quest Y because not everyone will have that said item.

I can remember when I got my first god loot in EQ1 (Engineers ring off innoruk in plane of hate) and it's been what? 10 years+? Those are the moments we remember and alot of us play for.

What pride is there in having an item from some mob that you can do every 3 days or every week and not even have the challenge of finding out the time it last died, trying to have the forces ready in time to be able to get the camp first not to mention being one of two or three thousand players on the server to have the exact same item and there be no competition between guilds to see who will be able to get there quickest and so on?

As time goes by and the population count drops to a point like say Crushbone is in EQ2 at the moment where setting up a group for heroic content is almost an impossible feat, of course it will be harder for Mr and Mrs everyone to get contested drops as only a few guilds will have the numbers to be able to be there in force when any of the top end named mobs pop but would we not be better served with a better population management plan where the servers are consolidated quicker to keep the ACTIVE population count up and say for any reason the population shoots back up, have an incentive for guilds wanting to move to a new or lower population count server which could be quest or server event based perhaps which would help bring the population back down to a faire level and reward the winning guild with more possibility to get the high end content on the lower population server or with each player from the guild being awarded a elite item which cannot be gotten other than by completing that quest which leads to a server move.

There is the whole social aspect to contested areas as well... like I stated, I have played many mmorpgs and other types of games like diablo and guild wars which are more online rpg's and it's very evident that when a game has most if not all high end content, and by high end I don't mean end game/top level but most rewarding/difficult content for each level range, in instances, it makes people group put a group together with a couple of friends or guild mates and go do whatever instance they can handle instead of encouraging people to play together.

As an example, lets say you are playing EQ1 and wanted a Fungi Tunic which as the time was a very coveted item, you would go down to Sebilis and try to get in a group which was camping the spore king and in the process meet new people and make new friends which in the end is very helpfull since you will have more people to play with and have fun with where as if the item would of been from a mob in an instance, you very probably have stayed within a very tight circle of player friends and never got to meet anyone new and when/if those people you play with stopped playing for any period of time, you would be left to yourself with little help and thus little fun and be alot less likely to keep playing which in the end, is bad for everyone.

I know some people are casual players who just want to play a few hours a week and in that time they want to be able to do everything and anything in the game and be able to gain every top end gear in game but if that's the case, why not just play a console game where you can be a hero with elite gear and play whenever you want (or can) but to be honest, even the casual gamer has more than enough content in SOE games to keep them entertained in contested areas even if the main named mobs are not up. I remember running plane's in the early days of EQ1 and never even bothering with the gods because we either didn't have the forces, the gear or the strategy to do them but we all still played and spent countless hours raiding untill we would be able to get the time and geared well enough to get the god or main boss.

Regarding difficult encounters (raids):

Both contested content and instanced content of high difficulty with rewards of similar, but high value should be available. Perhaps make contested rewards slightly better at the same difficulty - bonus for showing up (but difference shouldn't be huge). And it may also make sense to leave the hardest content to instances - so players can really focus without any lag and competition.

People will log in to work on instanced content. And they should feel like doing contested content instead if it's available during their game time due to rewards.

Rewards should complement each other rather than being direct upgrades - for example, you get the best gloves from an instance, and the best helm from a contested mob.

It is important to make sure that -important- contested content is available -only- during prime hours - it makes no sense to reward people just because they do not have to go to work. This assures there is actual competition going on, and that most people have a chance to participate in the contest.

Regarding open dungeons:

They are important. Absolutely. You get to meet new people, you get a thrill of competing for a boss encounter, you can help if another group is in trouble (or resurrect them), or you can just stay at entrance until someone picks you up for their group. It's something that I miss a lot in modern MMOs. They make the world feel alive, inhabited by people other than friends you typically play with...

Your assuming there will be static spawns, when the original release said they are NOT going to be static.