Feldon So we just had a Double XP weekend over the July 4th holiday. It was heavily promoted, and featured in an e-mail and on the forums. EQ2 Senior Producer SmokeJumper posted about spending almost the entire weekend playing and how quickly he earned levels, AAs, and how many groups he got.
Now, apparently, it’s time for the pendulum to swing the other way.
Yesterday’s Test Server Update Notes include the following details which will eventually make it to Live servers:
GENERAL
Many instances from Deserts of Flame and Kingdom of Sky are now persistent. This includes Ancient’s Table, Cazel’s Mesa, Scornfeather Roost, The Halls of Fate, The Blackscale Sepulcher, The Den of the Devourer, The Vaults of El’Arad, and The Nest of the Great Egg.
It will be impossible to repeatedly zone into and out of these zones, killing all the mobs inside multiple times.
Commentary
Players will always find ways to level quickly. What makes me and other players lose interest in logging in day-after-day is that after many players get to take advantage of an easy method for days/months/years, then changes are made which make it more difficult for the rest of us. In short, closing the door after the horses have left the barn.
Once I’ve leveled my main character up to level 90, 250 AAs, 90 tradeskill, 450 tinkering, 450 transmuting/adorning, I’m really not looking forward to it taking LONGER to do that same leveling up and skilling up on my alternate characters. And yet, that is exactly what these kinds of changes tend to do.
The Hole was a great dungeon — for about 72 hours, but because the ramifications of Refer-a-Friend, XP potions, Vitality potions, and other parlour tricks, were not considered, players could reach max level within 3-4 hours of gameplay. So The Hole was broken, and 3 months later has yet to be restored to a great (but not overpowered) place to level. Now, this dungeon which was repeatedly featured here on EQ2Wire, on EQ2Players, on the EQ2 Forums, and which took 2-3 months of development effort by programmers, the art team, itemization, etc., is now completely abandoned.
This is the type of change that makes players the most negative about a game, these “yank the rug out from under you” changes which only serve to make players feel that their time is being intentionally wasted to maintain an artificial leveling pace. It only emphasizes the treadmill characteristic that all MMOs have, but usually try to conceal.
Will this change accomplish the EQ2 teams goals?
Remember, the goal is a smooth progression from level 1-90, AAs from 1-250, and skillups from 1-450.
“Remember, the goal is a smooth progression from level 1-90, AAs from 1-250”
The latter may be part of the problem. There have also been a fair number of complaints about how players who power level by grinding heroic mobs end up at the cap with some atrociously low number of AA’s. If, instead of resetting one dungeon repeatedly, players instead run all of the above dungeons at least once, that’s an additional bundle of AA for named, discovery, and maybe quests.
It’s quite interesting that this change include the Nest, which is an exploit XP grinding playground for those AFKers for years… seems this will be the end of this exploit, lol.
SoE is just dumb when it comes to testing and such. The Hole is a dead zone now since it offers really nothing in value. For the most part, nameds there have the exact same loot table and they don’t even drop fabled items. What a waste of time and effort to create a huge dungeon.
the thing is, I would wager ‘most’ of the playerbase hasn’t used those as repeat instances for rapid leveling. I know I haven’t, and I’ve been playing since launch. For the ‘casual’ player, making instances persistent is often a plus, as it lets them start one and finish it later. So, these changes cater to one group (exceedingly time-limited and casual) while hurting another (those wanting to level an alt up fast or someone wanting to catch up with a friend). What’s the right choice? I can’t answer that, because I don’t know what the driver behind the decision was.
I can see both sides of the coin here. On one hand, if they were previously overpowered (and it appears they were), then changing that so they are more in line with other zones falls in line with their ‘smooth progression’ or ‘golden path’ they’ve been in the process of putting in place.
On the other, if you’ve used it in the path, I can understand the desire to want it to continue. If you knowingly have used these zones as a sort of bonus zone, then of course you want it to continue.
Either way, there is going to be dissent on both sides.
Nerfing content to push players down this so called golden path… There soe goes again trying to think.
Some games really dont start until youre end game, those are usually older games due to where the playerbase is at. Other games, new games, start right when you create your toon. With the rate of xp gain in today’s mmo’s, *most* games dont really start until end game, where you really learn how you class interacts in groups and raids (due to the fact that xp is so fast solo, people rarely group up during the low lvls)
EQ2 really starts at the end game now, where killing raid mobs and difficult instances is where you actually learn what your class is capable of doing. Nerfing content cuz players have been playing in a way the devs dont want anymore is bullshit imo. Make leveling more fun so we dont want to rush through it. Or for those who need to switch toons due to guild recruitment being low, give an option to switch classes at a cost to be the same level as current toon.
After all, its about the journey to the end, not the end itself right?? No, not really anymore….
Good chance this has actually nothing to do with how good those zones used to be for fast xp.
Since they implemented persistant zones somewhere at the end of EoF, it has been requested many times by the players to make the earlier zones persistant as well. And not for the xp, but to be able to zone in friends when you are already inside, or to get back inside the zone after a crash.
Umm, these zones have had lockout timers for years if not forever. The change is making them persistent, not giving them lockout timers.
I remember back when level 70 was the cap, I used to zone into Hidden Cache every day and kill Mullock who was level 60. He was the only thing in the zone that wasn’t grey. Occasionally he’d drop a master (very rare) but he’d always drop something I could sell. I then couldn’t do it again for 18 hours because of the lockout timer. Although Hidden Cache isn’t on the list, I’m sure it will be soon.
So unless I’m missing something, at the worst this makes you wait 30 minutes between zone resets since you get a 30 minute lockout timer just for zoning into most persistent instances. If you were planning on killing the names inside, this leaves things just like they are today but lets you exit and come back in if needed.
The vast majority of people playing EQ2, over 95%, are not raiding current tier content. I would guess that over 50% of players do not have a level 90 toon.
Some people choose to dedicate themselves to raiding and grouping current-tier content. They are some of the most passionate players of EQ2. They post on EQ2Flames and push the mechanics of the game to the breaking point. In my experience, most of them play about 15-20 hours a week (not 40). Most raiders also do not “live in mom’s basement”. Myth busted!
Some people choose to play the game at their own pace. They have a casual play style. In my experience, they can be just as passionate about EQ2, but in different ways. They reach out to friends, participate in live events and lore, they group low level content, they tradeskill, and they seek out interesting quests. They are not “scrubs”. Myth busted!
EQ2Wire covers and respects all gameplay styles. And if necessary, I will more heavily moderate the comments being posted here to make sure that nobody is being “kicked to the curb”. Because that’s what I’m starting to see here.
I am just amazed that someone could even call this a nerf. No one with any brains uses these to PL a toon. If you are gonna PL a toon you hit a zone once. There is zero reason to hit the zone more than once. Certainly there is no loot reason. The xp is ok the first time, but not something to sit and grind on. Every 10 level increments has several zones to go to. Why would you care if a zone becomes persistent. Even dumber is the idea that this is a nerf in any way. It was already a lockout zone, so who care if it is persistent now. That just means if you go LD you can get back in. And if you are really trying to pl a toon, just go kill all the named in Maj Dul. You will level faster by going from zone to zone than ever and the persistent vs lockout zone has 0 bearing on this.
Thank you Feldon for backing up my point. The high end raiders are the most vocal, so they feel they are the vast majority when in reality they are, like you said, by far the minority. This is why SOE is taking so many steps to address the lower levels of the game IMO. The 40 hours a week I threw out was an exaggeration but a high end raider devotes a ton more time than the majority of players. This doesn’t make them any more passionate, they simply play a different style than a lot of players.
I think end game is where the MMO aspect of the game starts for most people. Not even because of raiding, but because it’s hard to find even a group before that point if you don’t already know people playing.
I support this dungeon change and view it as a good thing. There are thousands of quests you can use to solo level if you can’t find a dungeon. If you can find a group at lower level or want to power level a toon on heroics, there are still plenty of zones to run, and you can always mentor and go back to old dungeons. By the time you’re done running a zone or two you’ll be high enough to survive in another dungeon, or you can go grind in a contested zone if that’s your cup of tea.
Yes, there were lockouts on these zones before; people interested in fast xp would take a toon in and park them at the door then kill all the non-nameds that wouldn’t activate the lockout, zone out, zone back in, rinse, and repeat. SOE obviously considers that an exploit and is ‘fixing’ that.
If your goal is to level as fast as possible to start raiding this is a good thing. It forces you to do multiple dungeons for AA and (if you’re not boxing) to learn your class better in a group environment. Win for the raiders, in that their new recruits won’t be so poorly played and AA’d. If your goal is to enjoy content as you level, this is also a win for you, since it encourages you to see more varied content.
As long as they don’t fix my spots I am content.
When I Use to raid on AB, our guild would normally raid for 6 hours a night for 5 days. That’s not adding prep time and just doing what I wanted. So saying 40 hours a week is very possible. as for this change… Oh well. I took advantage of the weekend with the bonus. And i liked how exp + AA + vit = 3 times the amount of AA exp that mobs gave out normally on that weekend. my level 11 enjoys that 121 AA’s made in 7 hours.
121 AA is about what people hit 80 with nowadays. You’d get from 80-90 with around 150 AA total, maybe (if you just quested). I used to hit 70 at about 100 AA then by the time I finished the 4 RoK zones to hit 80, I would be at 140-150 AA. (Obviously this is without extensive grouping, mostly solo questing for XP). Now it only takes Kylong and maybe a few quests in Fens to get from 70-80. A lot of people are skipping the AA-rich Fens, Kunzar, Jarsath, and Moors.
Our raid guild requires 200 AA to raid yet we’re seeing a TON of people applying with 150. And they *stay* there because they don’t want to go quest. =/ I understand that not everybody wants to quest, but I LOL so hard when people complain that AA is hard to get. I usually start prompting them…
Have you done Fens? Kunzar? Jarsath? Moors? The three KoS zones? LP? Lfay? Any of the lower level dungeons or non-Golden Path overland zones? Tradeskill quests, if you’re a tradeskiller? Mara? The TSO/SF group zones+quests for them? Moonlight Enchantments? Etc. etc. etc.
I usually get seething hatred in response but I’m ok with that =P My point is, there is *plenty* of content in the game to get XP/AA from.
It’s very easy to get a lvl 90 char plus 200+ AA right now.
For those who claimed they are casual players is just an excuse for not putting any effort into it.
Me, as a busy grad student, can only play 6 – 10 hrs a week, mostly on weekends and some on weekdays raids. But I still can get my Inq 250 AAs, and also get four pieces of T1 SF raid gears. (though to those hardcore raider’s this is easy like @#$!)
It is really not that hard!
But too many “casual players” wasted their time hanging around do nothing or do those useless slow xp quest for “fun” and then turn around blaming SOE for “not giving them enough casual content to play with”… lol
It’s not as long of a haul to get to the end game as it was when I started my main 4 years ago, even after exploits like that are fixed.
Clementtang what you may find ‘useless’ many others may find fun. For a lot of people they would rather enjoy the journey to 90 than the destination. I don’t hear casuals complaining, if at all, its always the ‘uber’ players complaining there’s not enough to do, not enough xp or aa to be had, when all it takes is a little looking around to find it.
10 hours a week is a pretty healthy investment into a game, that a lot of casual players may play that in a month, if that. I am good friends with a couple who used to play but they no longer have the time, as they have kids now, couple that with work, and other leisure activities, saying 10 hours a week is ‘only’ is a bit short-sighted.
The ability of so many different play styles being able to find fun and enjoyment in EQ2 is one of its best strengths. For the hardcore raider, there’s that, for the casual, there’s that too, and everywhere in between.
I briefly looked at this so excuse me if I’m way off base here. The zones are getting changed because the producer feels people are leveling too fast after he played allot on a “DOUBLE XP” weekend?
I don’t see this as a nerf, really. Those truly dedicated to grinding EXP tend to run instances in ways to avoid lockout timers entirely – this change wouldn’t particularly effect them in any way. What it would do is bring some consistency to oldworld grouping, preventing those irritating situations where someone would decide to zone out only to discover that (duh) you can’t zone back in to a non-persistent instance.
If you enjoy the journey to end game, this change shouldn’t be a problem for you. It encourages groups to experience multiple dungeons, and allows you to finish dungeons with another group that your first group couldn’t finish.
I’ve never gone above 40, primarily because every time I lose interest and then come back to the game, I’ve forgotten how to play my character so I start anew. There’s just so much you need to know and remember to be effective. And I don’t think I’ve ever been to any of the instances that are now persistent.
“I would guess that over 50% of players do not have a level 90 toon.
I’ve never gone above 40, primarily because every time I lose interest and then come back to the game, I’ve forgotten how to play my character so I start anew. There’s just so much you need to know and remember to be effective. And I don’t think I’ve ever been to any of the instances that are now persistent.”
ust goes to show how Itemization, tweaking of zone, revamping of quests are important to the games progression as to keep people interested.
I wish they would add persistent zoning to the lower teir raid zones such as the KOS zones, The other EoF zones (besides eh). Just the other night we were in Clockwork Menace Factory to get the guild hall trophy for our guild hall,and the zone was bugged, it had put a zone out door over the gate to get into the rest of the ring event, I clicked it and since I had never been in there figured it may zone you into the main area, nope it zoned me out to klak, I then had to go farm a battery on an alt and re-join the raid (zone ended up still being bugged and we couldn’t progress) but I think if they are going to do instances, they should also do the raid zones.
“This is the type of change that makes players the most negative about a game, these “yank the rug out from under you” changes which only serve to make players feel that their time is being intentionally wasted to maintain an artificial leveling pace. It only emphasizes the treadmill characteristic that all MMOs have, but usually try to conceal,” writes EQ2Wire’s Feldon.
Agreed.
As my accounts expire and I’m not subbing them back up. Reading things like this really enforce my over all view of where EQ2 is headed. It’s the constant changes in vision, which all boil down to SOE letting anyone run the show basically (seriously Brenlo) how the beep did they let him run things as long as he did is beyond comprehension. Ya OK, he had moments when he seemed OK, but as far as running the show. Please; he couldn’t run a lemonade stand.
Give it another year or two and same thing, Jumper will Jump ship and some other new person will come in and start making completely different changes as they try either impress the head honchos or caress their own ego. Which leaves EQ2 in flux. Some may say this is good, however when the rug is being ripped out from under you all the time, i don’t think is the type of changes folks want. EQ2 needs at least some sort of concrete foundation of what it represents. Currently it has no definitive persona that make it unique and will give the player base a confident reliability of this is what it is and will remain this way, no matter the changes we make you can always count on (what?). (SOE will do whatever it takes to try and steal as many wow subscribers no matter how affects the current player base.)
I really look at this change and scratch my head with why bother messing with things that have been this way for years, why? Seriously why is this even a topic over there. It completely reinforces SOE’s indecision and zero direction people keep complaining about. It makes us all know for fact that no one over there has any idea what the beep is going on.
It’s OK i guess as in a year or two when the new director person comes aboard, I’m sure they will switch it back to the way it was. Yes i’m being facetious.
A nerf is any time you take something and make it less effective. These zones were awesome sources of uncontested xp. Clear all the trash, evac and zone out. Rinse and repeat. To think this wasn’t a nerf is being foolish. Less xp by farming, more by the stupid quest lines. Problem for me, and many others, EQ2 starts at level 90 and we liked getting there fast.
Block, if your accounts are expiring, and you hate the game so much, why do you even care to comment? it’s comments like yours which leave me the most perplexed. Why do people who claim to dislike something so much put so much effort into voicing how much they dislike it?
If I watched a TV or movie and I hated it, I wouldn’t run over to IMDB and claim ‘this thing sucked!!’ all it does is reinforce the perception of being nothing more than a troll, looking for attention.
So they are fixing what people have been using for a long time as an exploit, an easy way to gain EXP that wasn’t intended. Come on, man, you know it was broken, you know it was an exploit, and they’re fixing it. It’s not like getting a toon to 90, if that’s your goal, is hard! There are plenty of ways to level a toon to 90, even more so now with self mentoring, exp bonus weekends, etc. etc. To sit here and say this one reason is proof of SOE having no sense of direction is ignorant. They’ve been making changes for months to smooth the leveling progression from 1-90, from introducing the storyline tab, from the golden path of quests, from the introduction of more quests in KoS to boost the 55-65 exp gains, that they obviously have a vision and they are working on it. To suggest that the fixing of these exploits is a change in that vision? You don’t know what you’re talking about.
You wondered why they’re fixing a known exploit? Really? So because things have been a certain way for a while changes shouldn’t happen? Give me a break.
Again, if you’re on your way out, why do you even care what changes they are making? Why make this long post about how you think they have no direction (which you are wrong on, by the way), if you truly are so bored and upset by SOEs choices you’re canceling your accounts? To level from 1-90 in this game takes so little effort now its not even funny.
Brian, post your in game name or else stfu. You claim all this bullshit, but yet, youre not really saying anything cuz as of right now, you dont even play the game nor can we find out your level of play from your toons gear and level.
Also, the game has direction, and it changes with every new SP or whim of the higher ups. That much change in direction results in the pile of shit EQ2 has become and it just keeps going deeper down the shitter.
Zianlo, your fascination with finding out my in game persona is bordering on stalking. Please stop. If I wanted to use my in game persona here I would have posted as such. No, I won’t bow to your whim to discover who I am in-game, as it has no relevance to the discussions here. What’s funny is you claim to be this raider, but your guild is made up entirely of your alts, you don’t have a level 90 toon, but you want to be the ‘expert’ on high end raiding? You claim to say I’m not qualified because you can’t see my toon and its gear, but your toon’s gear is hidden? Pot, meet kettle!
Anyone who has played this game since launch (as I have) is qualified to discuss the vast improvements this game has undertaken. Who shouldn’t be qualified? Oh I don’t know, those claiming to not have an active account, those actively recruiting players for another game (DDO maybe?), or those without even a level 90 toon.
Nerf? Hell no, why would you want to grind exp in any of those anyway…
They need to make all instances persistent already.
Zianlo, one last thing, as I am done responding to you, but if my viewpoints, as you state, are irrelevant because I don’t play the game, doesn’t that invalidate any potential point you make, because you, too, don’t play the game? You’ve stated repeatedly how you are ‘done’ with EQ2, how DDO is vastly superior, and how you haven’t played in months (actually it was the middle of May since you’ve played).
By your own assertion that because I may not even be an active player my input is irrelevant, you’ve just made yourself irrelevant.
Goodbye!
OK couple quick points:
Brian, I agree with most of what you have said, but refusing to add your toon name, calling Zianlo a stalker (borderline), and then doing the reverse to him is sorta poor form.
My only beef with the delay in going back into a zone you have left is that grinders will now clear out open contested zones, reducing this content for people trying to play those zones at level. For example, if the Nest has a persistent timer, then people will grind out SoS.
When I play an alt for exp I don’t want to go into a zone like SoS and have it cleared by some level 90 SK mentored to 65 and sweeping the place for their alt to gain exp, pulling whole rooms at a time, while their alt or friend is on auto follow. Yes I understand how this is a quick way to level, but this should not detract from others enjoyment. I would prefer that these grinders go find a closed zone and have their fun out of the way of others, if they choose not to play the game.
I also want to say that the game can start at level 90, if you have never really challenged yourself up to that point. For example can you kill Tundra Jack and Iceberg at level, not mentored but at level maybe say level 48? Can you and a friend or 2 take down a couple of the epic x 2’s in instances off Everfrost, at level. Can you and someone else clear to the basement of SoS at like level 62 to kill Gylton. Can you 4-man at level 50 Deep Forge, again I am not talking level 90’s mentored to 50, I am talking 4 level 50 ish toons with 50ish gear.
If you know how to play your character you can have fun and challenges at all levels, and I have more respect for people that know how to play their class at all levels, rather than someone who has PLd to cap, there is no challenge to that.
V
lol@ Brian, yeah, I do have a 90 toon, but nice try! Also, I ask your in game name cuz you stated you were guilded with me, which I want to know who you are so I can laugh at you some more. Great job stalking me too! Of course Im not in any other guild except my alt guild, due to not even playing any more!
I never once said Im an “expert” at high end raiding. Yes, I do know alot about raiding, but I am far from an expert (the experts would be people like Ballads (NPU) or Jaraxx (Strike) or Gungo (Elysium).
As far as your viewpoints being irrevelant, Ive never said that either. I said that youre full of bullshit since youre too chickenshit to even post your in game name. All you are is an anonymous troll typing out bullshit on the internet. And dont even dare to call me “anonymous” because all you have to do is google the word “Zianlo” and that will bring you to not only my myspace, but also my facebook and Im sure you can eventually find my email also.
So aside from putting words in my mouth, basically changing the meaning of every word I said, and really saying nothing of substance that matters, are you going to say anything of relevance??
Post your in game name, (insert witty insult about Brian).
Zianlo wrote:
“youre not really saying anything cuz as of right now, you dont even play the game”
Which can be applied to you, because you aren’t even playing the game right now, either. I, on the other hand, have an active account, have been playing since launch, so, unlike you, I do have valid insight on this game. You, on the other hand, by your own definition of not being an active player, are ‘not really saying anything cuz (sic) as of right now, you dont (sic) even play the game’.
Game, set, match. Goodbye, Zianlo. Please go troll the DDO websites where you are an active player, and leave the EQ2 ones to us active subscribers.
Let’s see, your in game name isnt posted nor known, so for all we know, you also quit playing. So, yeah, you dont play either.
Back to the topic at hand, if what was being fixed was indeed an exploit (and it sounds like it was…zoning out and in over and over surely wasn’t the intention of these zones) then its not the worst thing to have them fixed. If there’s a smooth path of progression in place, which it seems they have been working on, then it’s not a terrible thing.
I don’t see a problem at all with these zones being persistent myself, it makes them a little more realistic which should be an underlying goal of where an RPG aims to be.
Simply resetting and killing the same mobs over and over again isn’t very realistic, neither is it very interesting. Imagine trying to sell someone on EQ2 by explaining how you can get a few levels by constantly resetting and killing everything in a zone, no one in their right mind would be interested in playing a game like that.
The only people this appeals to are the people who enjoy watching the numbers on their XP bar increase over the gameplay. Its a minor change though but I have a lot of confidence in SmokeJumper, he seems to understand games well, my only doubt now is how much he’ll favour the RPG aspects of the game versus pure gameplay.
After the past year though he sure has a big workload cut out for him, for me the biggest problem with the game that has been left to fester are the core game mechanics.
Expansion after expansion we’ve been given 2-3 more abilities, and to not make each ability too powerful its meant they all have to be fairly weak.
I now have 30+ abilities I actively use on my toolbar, to be honest I could remove 6 or so of them and not really lose any depth at all.
Then there are the stats, who ever added percentage stats to the game really screwed up (WoW did the same at one point but sensibly removed all items that had them), now we are capping stats, so either we add in weird mechanics (more then 100+ crit means something), or we add in more weird stats (Flurry – what the heck is that). To me this is the toughest bit to fix, I’m sure any reorganisation here will result in a tidelwave of moaning on the forums.
Mentoring, it was a little OP to start with, now groups of 5 fresh level 20’s have to compete contested dungeons with one mentored down level 90, thats awful game design, why bother grouping at a low level if you can just trivialise it going up a few levels.
Lastly, I totally agree with you Feldon on the population thing, EQ2 isn’t raid or reroll game like WoW, I have found a lot of challenging content just to do with dungeons (they are challenging because I do not wear fabled gear), and the whole game should be aimed at being fun or few will bother getting to level 90 anyway.
Lomax, excellent post.
You may think its boring, and i agree, i am not a grinder, i’m an explorer/quest crusher/journey type player and very rarely raid anymore (only hard core raided in the summer of 2006 actually). However some people just love to grind. My problem with this change is that it affects those players, and i believe we are all missing the big picture here, “who was this really bothering” is the real point?
I can’t recall this ever being a topic on any forum? Out of the blue, some new guy thinks this should change after it has been this way for years. It’s core for some people.
A few years back, i got a few friends who play Anarchy Online to try EQ2 but all they wanted to do was pick a spot and grind & grind & grind and when they realized the only real leveling option back then was to quest, they left. They still play AO to this day. Mainly because AO isn’t changing direction ever other week. They are hard core grinders, to me i don’t understand it, but they love it.
This goes down as another SOE “Why? Head scratcher” I know other mmos have head scratcher’s every so often but SOE pretty much has you doing this every other week. Overall Feldon nailed it with this comment:
“This is the type of change that makes players the most negative about a game, these “yank the rug out from under you” changes which only serve to make players feel that their time is being intentionally wasted to maintain an artificial leveling pace. It only emphasizes the treadmill characteristic that all MMOs have, but usually try to conceal,” writes EQ2Wire’s Feldon.
I’d have to think the number of people who like leveling this way to be very small and as has been noted zoning out and back in to reset mobs makes no sense. SOE seem to be making changes to make the game more uniform through all the levels. You can’t zone out then back into a SF instance to reset the mobs so why should an old one be different?
Brian the problem with this one is anyone can get on either side and stand firm.
If they are making the game more uniform, then yes it makes perfect sense.
Although only a small portion may do this, it makes it even more of a why bother f’in with them at all, why mess with those players? look around the forums, where is anyone saying, hey how come i can do this in an old zone but i can’t in a new one? No where, it’s just the way it is and if some peeps want to do this then great for them. It’s not bothering anyone and it certainly isn’t confusing people. Just another pointless change.
Say in some fluke, %90 of the population ended up enjoying leveling this way, do you think they would change it because only %10 like to quest?
come on…
most of the ppl I have met since start of this game DO care about those end game contents, or say gears and AAs and other stuffs which bring us some kind of achievements, and I DO realize there are some ppl dont (TRUE dont not just bcuz they CANT or their play time is not allowed).
Once I were a player of EQLive, I spent 3 yrs to get to lvl 65 and 30ish AAs. I often dies and cant even get my epic updates before I quit. I claimed that Im a casual player though I spent a lot of time CR and hanging around waste my play time, but the truth is I dont know how to improve my skill and do those things in game with more efficience. Its not fun, its wasting time, if I knew how to improve, I can spent my time on other things, but get more fun in game.
So please, face the truth, most of the content in EQ2 nowadays is easy. Even raiding wont take too much time if everyone do things right. To me, hardcore players is only those who camp contest nms, others are just casuals.