Raid scene: Variance Socking

[texwilly]

I used to think raiding was to get elite gear to go back and attempt difficult encounters with friends. The endless cycle of raiding to raid better dies when you have no more progression. I will probably fall back into the shadows and watch from the sidelines, hoping some savant will discover the "correct" solution for the server.

A new blue server (green maybe?) on a correct timeline would be the best thing P99 staff could ever do. Why they resist this idea is beyond me (resources?).

[Magnar]

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

I used to think raiding was to get elite gear to go back and attempt difficult encounters with friends. The endless cycle of raiding to raid better dies when you have no more progression. I will probably fall back into the shadows and watch from the sidelines, hoping some savant will discover the "correct" solution for the server.

A new blue server (green maybe?) on a correct timeline would be the best thing P99 staff could ever do. Why they resist this idea is beyond me (resources?).

Another server would just be ruined by the same raid mentality as here.

[kaev]

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

Another server would just be ruined by the same raid mentality as here.

It takes time to achieve the level of ruin we have now. I don't think a "classic" timeline would allow for quite as much ruin. (But let us not forget the cockblocking that shat up some of the live servers back in the day. P99 did not invent the use of the word "competition" as a synonym for "do everything legal plus anything and everything else you think you might be able to get away with to shit all over your neighbors, PvE my ass!" mentality.)

There is a higher density of, hrrm, let's call them "extremists", that's not too pejorative? in our community than there was on live. There is also a lot better detailed knowledge about game mechanics and content than there was on live. I have no doubt that free accounts plus this extensive knowledge would be as heavily exploited by said extremists on a new server as they have been to date, but even so they wouldn't have the time (and the period of legal account trading) to take things to the level they're at now. In particular, limiting the Kunark to Velious delay to only the historical 9 months would probably have a pretty large effect.


[heresy]
Still, it's worth noting that on many/most live servers Lower Guk was paved with people camping single spawns for the last 2-3 months before Kunark dropped. The first year of content might should be compressed into a six-month span if the goal is to avoid the "ruin" that is the current p99 raid environment. Hell, given the way people play here, 6 months classic, then 6 months Kunark, then 12 months of Velious, and then introduce custom high-end raid content after that, if you want to achieve a substantial reduction in the friction between the extremists and the casuals.
[/heresy]

[Velerin]

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

I used to think raiding was to get elite gear to go back and attempt difficult encounters with friends. The endless cycle of raiding to raid better dies when you have no more progression. I will probably fall back into the shadows and watch from the sidelines, hoping some savant will discover the "correct" solution for the server.

A new blue server (green maybe?) on a correct timeline would be the best thing P99 staff could ever do. Why they resist this idea is beyond me (resources?).

Just another filthy casual that can't compete. /sarcasm

As much as the extended timeline of the server is the problem, I really think its the sheer amount of accounts (when account buying/selling was legal) that this extended timeline caused. When "competition" requires having people parked at each raid encounter. There's no way for an up and coming guild of new p99ers to compete with established groups of alt armies.