Feldon A detail we missed in the April Update:
Spring Fever
Over the Easter holiday, we will have some fun Spring items for sale in the marketplace as well as some pretty big SOE holiday promotions. Everyone will get to enjoy double experience over the weekend too!
If you’re short on AA (you’ll need 280 AAs before you can start leveling to 91 and 92), this looks like a good time.
280 AAs was a bone headed move Take 5 minutes and hear what your people want? But we all know that will never happen.
I think 280 is a good idea, alot of 90 PL peeps with no AA and some if not all classes get skills that define their class from later AA lines. So at least you know now that someone you grp with is not a super noob.
I agree with the 280 limit too, maybe it could have been set a little lower, but its an acknowledgement really that AA’s are no longer an optional part of advancement.
The devs cannot make content for people at level 92 with 80 AA’s and with 320 AA’s, there is just too wide a level of ability there before gear is even added in.
the 280 aa is to make sure u have your end line ability 🙂
280 AA is a fantastic idea for T10. It ensures no one has to deal with gimp toons based on AA. They can still be bad players or have crappy gear. Gear being at a perfect level is harder then AA being at a perfect level.
280 AA is the answer to removing crit mit.
I don’t agree with the 280 limit, I can understand the reason behind it but I think it is a rather hamfisted way of doing something that could have been achieved with finesse had the dev team showed a bit of initiative.
Five of my seven level 90s have 300+ AAs so it doesn’t really affect me however it means that if I want to get the other two to 92 I will have to invest a significant amount of time into them to get 280 AA’s when they are toons I have built for harvesting and they don’t warrant the time to get 280 AA’s.
Maybe it should only affect adventure level and not tradeskill. A level 90 tradeskiller really doesn’t need many AA at all.
Why do folks think you need 280 AAs to get level 91 tradeskill? I’m puzzled.
The point is why would you want your toons to be lvl 92 that don’t have 280 AA’s? The content is designed around the fact that you have at least 280 AA’s so they wouldn’t be able to do the new content regardless of being lvl 90 or 92. This is a good move and pretty much required at this point in the game, if you ask me.
@Greygore
I believe it is only required for the adventure levels. If you are a tradeskiller you can level to 92 in your craft right away.
Bad assumption on my part I guess. My highest tradeskill is level 10 😉
Looks like they don’t keep up with EQ2Wire, Feldon. 😉 Otherwise the crafting whinge about 280AA would’ve been avoided.
280 AA for entry to > 90 levels is great! Could’ve been a bit higher, but with people crying over the extra 3 AA after end line, I guess they had to give somewhere.
And as an FYI, I don’t think there’s anything to keep all of the “uber” level 90’s with < 280 AA's trying the harder content at level 90. Play your way, but the rest of us are probably going to be at 92 pretty fast…and looking to group with others at that level, too….maybe with gear requirements…like MA…HP…and fashion sense.
On a serious note, though, does anyone have updated info about the new crafting quests, recipes, harvestables and such? (hint hint…Feldon…hint hint). 😉
Hahaha striinger, it’s funny you mention that. The whole thing about fashion sense – I’ve found that people that dress their toons like idiots, usually play like idiots, lol
Anyone know from when till when the double XP will run?
Friday to Monday ?
Personally I like the AA requirement–before when content was effectively managed in terms of crit mit, you could have characters with the right gear but sorely lacking in skill and capability going in and failing, then complaining the content was ‘too hard’ when the real issue was that they probably had no business going in there to begin with.
Not that any of this would be a problem if they weren’t trying to shoehorn multiple tiers into the same ten level range, but that’s a lost cause.
The aa requirement is a good thing. I think they actually are listening to the customers here. Being 92 without the AA makes your toon worthless.
280 AA is a perfect requirement. A lot of people powerlevel something to max level with 110 AA, slap some gear on it that they saved in the bank and wind up being more of a detriment to groups than an asset. This will ensure that people are more prepared (at least character progression wise) for the new content.
In the beginning I thought this was bad but now I have changed my view, this will hopefully change the guild dynamics for some time. The casual “chatroom guilds” will remain as they are. But the other guilds will have to be either big enough so people can group the DoV content in guild so that players can learn and grow both in skill and AP to 280 (or of course create some sort of guild program that allows this) or lose the players that they have that has some sort of goals with their game. As many have said here and elsewhere “this is good because it gives me skilled people to group with” This is also good as it hopefully creates an environment where people at 90 will have to reach out and create groups or join other guilds for growth and learning. I think it will be a challenge to many guilds if they are not careful.
I think the requirement of 280 AA is SoE’s answer to the removal of Crit Mit as a “gauge” to a player’s ability (to a certain extent). No longer do you have to say: ” LFG: ###CM”, now if you’re not level 91+, you don’t have the AA’s desired by most groups. I like the requirement.
I don’t think 280 aa is unreasonable to progress. Also I keep seeing so many people talk about people power leveling to get to 90 and having no aa’s. I found that odd only because mostly everyone I know who power levels their alts tend to power level their aa’s as well.
I agree with Aggy — anyone who is PL’ing to 90 knows to get those AAs up there, as well. Although there is a school of thought that says get to 90 and then do AA, but I think that’s a silly idea — much easier to get them early on.
@Anaogi. You are very correct in this. Using CM as a gateway mechanic is a horible idea because you can aquire gear to meet the requirement but that gear is not representative of the toons overall strengths/abilities.
By removing CM and creating a required aa gateway this allows developers to have a much more solid understanding of average character strengths and thus design content which can be utilized to a much greater level of success and enjoyment. This design is specific to heroic content and as such has no effect on a persons ability to harvest/solo quest in the new overland zones, so there is no need for anyone (who’s playstyle is not specific to heroic content) be upset about not being able to level to 92.
This is the best change the dev’s have made in years.
I prefer doing levels first then AA but thats only because I know that SOE offers x2 exp throughout the year and I’ll grind the AA then — easy to make 10aa/hr or more during those x2 specials
I fully support the 280 idea but I understand some players issues with it
Especially if they lose the Veteran experience bonus and have to earn 280aa per 90 to get it back
I think to some degree people are missing the point, I fully understand why 280AA’s is required on an adventure toon but what I am saying is that not all toons are adventure toons and as such while level 92 is useful to these characters AA’s are an irrelevance.
I have 2 toons that I levelled up to 90 (Well the reality is they were classes I lost interest in) so they could harvest zones but I have no interest in playing these toons as adventure toons and as such any more than 40 AAs is just a waste.
The problem now is that at 92 I could harvest more of Sundered Frontier so levelling up is useful but not essential however once they go beyond 92 to 95 or 100 with new harvestables it will become almost mandatory.
ok so if i have lvl 90 crafter do i have to get 280 aa to lvl them to 92 heck i hope not, half of my crafter are very low levels
No you can get to 92 crafting without 280AA’s as far as I can tell, I am looking more at harvesting than crafting.
There is nothing in game at the present time (or in the next GU) that being level 92 will make any difference in your harvesting ability.
How is overland solo content designed around level 90 easier to harvest at level 92? Level 92 will not gray out the zones. Mobs may be easier to kill? Come on… we have mercs now, and a huge increase in stats and access to gear that makes it so simple to harvest.
I just do not think anyone can make this arguement. And why is it that your alt’s have the ability to harvest but your main whom meets the aa requirement to level does not? If people are so worried about the extra two levels and have toons that meet the aa requirement, its probably 3 hours worth of effort or even less to take a level 90 toon from zero harvest ability to max.
The “I need to be level 92 in order to successfully harvest” argument is just not applicable in any shape or form.
Hello CritMit Part Deux, ANYTHING that splits the playerbase lowers an individuals ability to get groups and is BAD for the game.
Oh well perhaps they are trying to drive people away in preparation for EQNext.
Yes, driving people away NOW for a game that probably won’t hit beta until 2014 makes a lot of sense. 🙂
@Pyratt
That is partially true and I agree at 92 the AA requirement is an irrelevance however what about level 95 or 100, new tiers of harvesting etc, lets say the next expansion lifts the level to 95 or 100 toons that did not need anything more than 40AA will need 280 or they will not be able to function efficiently in the new zones (this is assuming that this is a one off cap and they don’t decide that for new expansions you will need 300, 320 or what ever they lift the AA cap to).
In essence what they are doing is going to change the requirements for every toon that leaves the guild hall and to a large degree it makes the game rather cookie cutter, the new (current) minimum for toons is now 90/280.
As I have said they could have achieved the same ends in a way that had a bit of finesse instead they chose the laziest path and in doing so will make every level 90 toon the same which is somewhat at odds with the “Free to Play. Your Way” mantra.
@zapp with the curve reduction and move toward even greater ezmode I am guessing when they increase the level cap we will see an aa awarding when a character dings 90, they will receive the min require 280.
Watch this will happen at the next level cap increase (my opinion of course).
That would be a great shame, however this is one of the problems caused by the 280AA requirement it opens up a long term can of worms for them and now they have realised this their answer is to devalue AAs by making them even easier to get.
Had they been a little more innovative in game design they would not have needed to do any of this.