scourge of the server
 

has anyone noticed that anytime someone asks for help or advice on starting a new toon, like 3 or 4 people respond by offering them free items from some 50-60 lvl zone?

sure this is a great way to get someone to 60 asap to join your raid team, but i think this could really hurt long-term retention numbers for the server. seems alot of people just level from 1-50 and then are never heard from again or then spend all their time farming low-level zones that they never got to experience while levelling, thus stealing the experience from more new players. (scourge is a literal term here)

IMO part of EQ is the hellish grind, camping a mob 16 hours for a quest item that you will replace in 5-10 levels.


EDIT: im looking for discussion here, so for you people who follow me around and troll my posts.. please try to contribute.

No one gave me a nice weapon when I started.

How is helping anyone play a game steal any experience from them?

Same here :(

I was given a couple jc items (hp/mana neck, wis earrings and hp rings)and a box of abu kar in classic (at about lvl 20), the jc things being from an old friend from Irreverent; the box I got otw to CB when i stopped in Kaladim and saw someone killing gaurds. That basically set me up until for a couple years haha (was p casual late 2010-early 2013), sure it shouldnt be expected, if it was ppl would just farm the forum for pity handouts to sell haha but in my case it helped but did t cha ge the grind for me (am a drood so the gear basically just helped me eek out an extra heal before oom

I'd say knowing I had at least a leg up with those things I was given was certainly a contributing factor in staying/coming back here

I think the claim you make is correct in some cases but I don't see it as the main influence of people quitting as a result of other willing and able players to give them a helping hand. I think it is a good community gesture and these players make up a very small percentage in relation to the server as a whole. Some enjoy helping, some enjoy taking, and some enjoy their place in the middle.

I'm curious as well why some people quit after 1 - 50 and maybe in some cases items of great value were passed down to them. EQ is one of those games where it can be many things to different people and their play style. I myself prefer the struggle in the beginning because for me I enjoy the challenge where some may view it as annoyance. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment at the end of the struggle. In my circle of gaming friends I am the only person of this mindset.

Do high level item donations cheapen the Classic EQ Experience? For some yes and for others they depend on these items at start up or they quit the game right there.

The game changes at 50. I don’t find it surprising that people who enjoy the game 1-50 discover they don’t 50+. Not that you can’t enjoy both, but some will not. I am not convinced all the twinkage has a lot to do with this.

Hey Phacemeltar



Do you want a Rotgus sticker

I think most of the people who ghost after being twinked would've ghosted anyway. But, "hellish grind" aside, twinking a new player big can't be good for their attitude towards the game/server. For example, 30pp and an Axe of the Iron Back to a L4 is a hand up that helps a newb quite a bit without taking away the experience of being a newb, but some of the handouts I've seen make that look like a dirty old penny you found lying in the street.

(Example is what some kind druid whose name escapes me gave my first char here when I was looking for a bind in Kelethin.)