Help non soloable classes

[Halladar]

Originally Posted by Reiker [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't get this whole "everyone is already level 50 I can't level now cause there's no one to group with!"

It's 9 PM on Thanksgiving. Not exactly the most populous of times. However...

Actually the lower levels are much better tonight than they have been.

Originally Posted by Reiker [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Same goes for any level range. I just don't understand this whole "the game is too hard now that the game's been out 2 months!" mentality.

You read the arguments do with them what you will. Actually I think you are tearing down a strawman though.

Originally Posted by Reiker [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I rolled my character a month late... about November 3rd. Hit 50 around Nov. 18th. 90% grouping, usually with Karsten and others I've met in-game who knew how to play well. It can be done, mang.

Now this is the thing that really gets me.

You made level 50 in 2 weeks. That doesn't seem unusual to you? You are probably going to take this as an accusation, but I never heard of anyone doing this on live unless they had their own druid hanging over them, or their guildies were helping. Or the original tumpy tonic thing on live. Not sure what this latest Kaladim thing was.

You know I think it is probably possible here. If you get a group of people experienced at this game, used to working together, know all the right spots.

Unless the guise or manastone or jboots are involved I doubt you have to wait for a camp.

And maybe have just a little help from other people who have made the slog. Yeah I can see it.

Reiker that story doesn't pass the smell test. For that to happen, you have to have no downtime forming groups, no debacles and cr's that waste a night.

You just decided to start one day, and by crackey you meet some like minded positive individuals and form highly efficient groups that don't screw around by the power of positive thinking? When I form groups it can take an hour to get everyone in one spot, then someone has to leave for real life, someone gets pissed off, we might get trained by some individual camping something, you can't find a cleric, you can't find a warrior...

Hmmm I don't think you are lying, but I don't think your experience is very useful. There is something awful screwy about you guys.

[Casezilla]

Originally Posted by Reiker [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's 9 PM on Thanksgiving. Not exactly the most populous of times.

....

Basically, at a very low population time, there's players to go group with at every level range.

I agree that those numbers aren't that bad and finding a group at any level range is possible, but that's not a very low population time. Yes, its Thanksgiving, but 9PM EST is pretty prime time if you ask me. The times I'm talking about are the middle of the night when there's often no one in many of those zones. That's when some classes are screwed. EQ isn't supposed to be a game that can only be experienced during prime time US hours. I have a feeling in a few months certain level ranges are going to be like this even during more normal hours. Its definitely an issue that should be considered so new players and off hour players aren't discouraged down the road.

[Dolalin]

Given time, pop will trend towards 99% of players at level 50, and a vast wasteland below it. This wasteland will cease being a grouping game, and become soloers or people being powerlevelled.

This WILL happen. NO question about it.

What will be our reaction?

That's the important question. Because there's attrition at level 50. Some number of people will quit every week. If you have no newbies coming in, and people slowly quitting at level 50, the server dies. That's how it always happens, in every game. Old EQ, DAoC, Vanguard, WAR, WoW, on and on...the same story, over and over again.

Right now, we're seeing the early warning signs of real problems for new players. This community better sit down and decide what to do, right now, and not put this off any longer. If we're not willing to accommodate people, they're not gonna roll new chars here, and we're up shit creek.

In a month or so, considering adjusting the XP curve for newbies, or even tweaking things like bind wound; those are going to seem gentle options, compared to how desperate for new blood we may become.

[Bubbles]

Karsten GRINDED.

No one should be questing his integrity or dedication.

He picked about the worst race for a insanely hard to level class, and from day one he grinded and formed groups and gutted it out the legit way.

I solo'd a cleric for the vast majority of my grinding. I didnt kill gnomes, dorfs, guards or any of the short cuts.

I never got an XP res that I didnt cast on myself coming up. Which means i didnt get any at all till 39+.

This game is not overly hard. I did plenty of soloing on my warrior, who wasnt even remotely as twinked as anyone thought. Hell I didnt have a PGT, a cloak, a mask, earrings, belt, or any of that jazz. I had an Obsidian Scimitar. And judicious use of bind wound and picking my spots (vital) I had little trouble grinding up through the ranks, playing that silly time slot of midnight to 8am EST.

Get the heck out of fayder. Your up and coming groups now are in eccommons, nro and oasis. There's zero reason to go to fayder until unrest/mistmoore becomes a reality. Those CB Belts won't help you if you cannot find groups.

You're a warrior, go where the shaman and clerics are. Hint: you wont find shamans anywhere near Fayder until they can SOW at 9, and evil race shammys are going to hit Guk and Oasis cuz it's closer to home.

You simply cant stand around on fayder and complain that you can't find groups. It's the obvious ending to a bad movie: there aren't many groups on fayder, and the majority of your classes starting there (esp this late in the game) are enchanters and mages and wizards and other classes that dont mesh well with a warrior. Most Dorf Clerics are going to hop right on that boat to FP, cuz that's where the action is.

Go where the clerics are. If you still can't find groups, figure out if you can change the times of day you play. If that doesnt work, re-roll as something that can solo till groups become available. I can tell you right now a naked mage or necro is going to have a lot more options than an armored tank.

You have to mold yourself to the server.. You can't pick the lousiest time of day to play and the most group-dependant class and expect us to play you sonatas on the worlds tiniest violins. Karsten is right: be pro-active. If that doesnt change your luck around, then simply re-roll.

If you get to freeport and still cant find any action to get in on, then you *tried*. But if you are married to crushbone or blackburrow, you are putting yourself in the hands of fate. And Fate is a cruel, cruel b!tch.

hugs : o

[Widan]

It's like you didn't even read the thread.

Edit: Your points have all been brought up and addressed, feel free to read from the first post to the end. It isn't the poopsockers who hold games together, it's the casual player.

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by Widan [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's like you didn't even read the thread.

oh i read it. I read all of it. and I'm never getting that time back.

If i didn't read it, I would have posted "TLDR" or "Don't Care".

I addressed both major issues in my posts that came up in the thread. If you don't agree with me thats fine.

I wasn't going to bust out a magic wand and presto-chango a fayder group or soloing gear for you.

Go to freeport/oasis area.. Move on to Unrest/Mistmoore/Guk/SolA. Profit. If the hours you play aren't helping you out any, change your hours or switch to a different class. /shrug. What else can we tell you?

Melee had *serious* issues until the patch last week. They've seen a remarkable improvement. The GMs handed out 1/4 pound hamburgers and this thread is basically pounding on the table demanding fries and a shake, too.

If the whole point of this thread is simply "The Casual Player gets left behind in EQ", well then bravo. That was something we all didnt realize and something that hasn't been going on since 1999....

err wait it has.

You can't solo efficiently. This is obvious. You can't find groups on Fayder.. This is obvious. You have trouble finding groups anywhere at off-peak hours. This is obvious. Karsten comes in and tells you how he grinded through without getting any special perks, and you basically $#!t all over him. We can lead you to water. We can't make you drink. What we cant do is destroy our integrity like Sony and give you mounts and mercenarys and a never ending supply of quests that give you XP instead of killing monsters and fast porting and whateverthehellelse happened after I said goodbye mid-Veilous. This ain't the place to find any of that... you can pop on a blindfold and pick any other server and have that kind of experience.

This server is hard? Good. It's supposed to be. If the casual player who won't leave their comfort zone leveled like mad and breezed through content, we'd be playing WoW or EQ expansion #37 Tales of Fippy or whatever. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Reiker]

Another thing, there's a lot of underutilized zones, guys. CT has been fixed nicely. The exp is huge. The loot is great. Try it out!

Edit:

One more thing... this topic reminded me of...

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[Reiker]

Okay let's break it down. I averaged about 4 levels / day (/played). That's 16% an hour. Do you really think gaining 16% of a level for every hour is that crazy?

[karsten]

actually reiker has a meth hookup and when he's talking about 4 levels/day, he really means 24 hour days

i didn't level as fast, all i've got is coke and access to copious amounts of lady gaga music

[Widan]

Originally Posted by Reiker [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Okay let's break it down. I averaged about 4 levels / day (/played). That's 16% an hour. Do you really think gaining 16% of a level for every hour is that crazy?

So you had 12 days played in 15 days? This thread doesn't apply to you, it's to help make the game more accessible for the casual player, who is in the majority.