Soulbinders?

[Messianic]

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

I guess the issue is this: we're humans. Humans have lives and they're known for making mistakes and mindless errors. So the game punishes them when they make these said mistakes. It's like punching a man in the gut because he breathes.

This is a really poor comparison. You do not receive physical or mental or emotional injury because you died on a different continent without being bound there. You just have to ask someone for help or take the long, hard road to your corpse. No one is getting punched. You're simply losing time - that's all.

Are you disappointed that the game actually following its own rules? Should the game say,"oh, he only accidentally bound himself in a stupid location, let's not allow those mobs to bindcamp him." Doesn't seem rational to me. Errors of omission are errors just the same as errors of commission.

Part of the resonant appeal of EQ is how brutal and unforgiving it is. You treat it with more respect when you play because of that. I didn't give a crap what happened in WoW because I had nice safety rails everywhere I went. I still find EQ more fun despite all the safety rails and Ezmodes WoW installed. I found it difficult not to make progress in WoW, even when I tried not to.

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

Blaming them because they were unable to find a binder in the past 25 minutes, lacked patience and roamed around and got killed? There's a lot of blame going on and not much sympathy. Why?

It's supposed to be a game with set rules, not silly flimsy rules based on people who are unable to deal with them. This server would suck like most of the others if we installed all the EZmodes that Live EQ did, and the population would be way lower.

In your example, they died because they lacked patience (something that is of incredible value in EQ, given how much more of an attention span it requires over WoW or other modern MMOs), and they pay a price in time. That's it.

It's not like someone is being harmed or crying over it - there's no reason to have empathy for someone dying in paineel while being bound in Gfay. I'd offer them a port to save them time, but they did not experience something horrible for which I should feel bad for them...

Would anyone play monopoly then muse over the lack of empathy of others when you land on boardwalk with an opponent's red hotel? You either enjoy the game for all it is, or you only enjoy it when it's easy...meaning you don't really enjoy it.

I can totally understand not enjoying EQ because of how harsh it is. But to try to change its ruleset or ask for empathy about how hard it is, is just silly. Once you eat the cake, you no longer have it.

[Kika Maslyaka]

the people who keep pushing for "its a social game" aspect somehow forgetting that all the inconvenient things somehow only affect HALF of the classes.

-its the melees that have to walk THERE AND BACK, while casters only need to walk there, and can get back instantly
-its the melees who need to get "social" and get some caster friends to get a bind, and not wait for 45 min to get one
-its the melees who have to fight their way out of the dungeon, rather than just gate out
-its the melees who have to run across 3 zones from a nearest possible bind point, to join their group, while casters can bind just outside the zone in

somehow, all the PUNISHMENT and "hard game" experience only falls on melees, while casters are never bothered with this concept.

And then you start screaming how WoW made it easier for everyone - no, not for everyone, only for the OTHER half of the players who didn't had this luxury for the first 5 years - the other half ALWAYS had it easy.

And then classes like ranger and and Sk have insane Xp penalties, while none of the casters do...
Hows that a good game balance?

[falkun]

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

the people who keep pushing for "its a social game" aspect somehow forgetting that all the inconvenient things somehow only affect HALF of the classes.

-its the melees that have to walk THERE AND BACK, while casters only need to walk there, and can get back instantly
-its the melees who need to get "social" and get some caster friends to get a bind, and not wait for 45 min to get one
-its the melees who have to fight their way out of the dungeon, rather than just gate out
-its the melees who have to run across 3 zones from a nearest possible bind point, to join their group, while casters can bind just outside the zone in

somehow, all the PUNISHMENT and "hard game" experience only falls on melees, while casters are never bothered with this concept.

And then you start screaming how WoW made it easier for everyone - no, not for everyone, only for the OTHER half of the players who didn't had this luxury for the first 5 years - the other half ALWAYS had it easy.

In all my years in EQ, I never played a binding class above L20. I still managed to raid and experience tons of content.

But, I'll indulge your "the haves vs. the have nots".

- Its casters that always have to sit and med while melees get to fight a mob from 100% -- 0%.
- Its casters that always have to scavange for armor while the melees get awesome armor sets.
- Its melees that get game-changing clickies like warriors getting shrink, invis, and a healing clicky or rangers with free summoned arrows.
- Its casters that, for the entire life of classic, have inferior DPS to melees.
- Its casters that have to wait for the melees to arrive before they can start doing anything, so they aren't gaining anything by being an ass to the warrior thats running those 3 zones you mention.

This game is NOT balanced in the way WoW is balanced. STOP trying to shoehorn YOUR ideas of balance on this game. If you want the type of balance you are discussing, go back to your newer MMOs. I want this kind of balance, so I'm here. If you want some other kind of balance, look somewhere else.

[baalzy]

Int casters have a 10% xp penalty, to split hairs.

Seriously, Kika, shut up. You're pretty much the only person who has a major problem with melee not being able to bind while casters can.

[falkun]

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

Seriously, Kika, shut up. You're pretty much the only person who has a major problem with melee not being able to bind while casters can.

Thanks for saying what I was too polite to.

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

Int casters have a 10% xp penalty, to split hairs.

Seriously, Kika, shut up. You're pretty much the only person who has a major problem with melee not being able to bind while casters can.

1. no, not the only one, don't indulge yourself
2. i don't have a "major problem" I am sharing my view on a game design
3. You can shut up now, if don't enjoy reading what I have to say. or don't read

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

In all my years in EQ, I never played a binding class above L20. I still managed to raid and experience tons of content.

But, I'll indulge your "the haves vs. the have nots".

- Its casters that always have to sit and med while melees get to fight a mob from 100% -- 0%.
- Its casters that always have to scavange for armor while the melees get awesome armor sets.
- Its melees that get game-changing clickies like warriors getting shrink, invis, and a healing clicky or rangers with free summoned arrows.
- Its casters that, for the entire life of classic, have inferior DPS to melees.
- Its casters that have to wait for the melees to arrive before they can start doing anything, so they aren't gaining anything by being an ass to the warrior thats running those 3 zones you mention.

This game is NOT balanced in the way WoW is balanced. STOP trying to shoehorn YOUR ideas of balance on this game. If you want the type of balance you are discussing, go back to your newer MMOs. I want this kind of balance, so I'm here. If you want some other kind of balance, look somewhere else.

you are confused here - i am NOT trying to change your game- this discussion about design flaws, instabilities and imbalances. If you don't see it that way, you can leave the discussion.

and no, WoW is not balanced neither, if that makes you happy =P

[bruno.sardine]

Any discussion of "haves" vs "have-nots" comes down to the fact that you know what your class can and cannot do at character creation. You don't arbitrarily pick a class with your eyes closed, you pick them because you think it'd be fun to play.

If being able to cast Gate and Bind Affinity are that important, play any one of the SEVEN classes that can cast it. For those keeping track at home, that's fully half of the available classes. If you don't want to play a caster, then accept that you can't and enjoy your class in spite of its supposes "limitations".

Classic Everquest was NEVER about balance or fairness. I could list about a hundred different ways in which Classic EQ isn't fair or balanced. Classic Everquest was, at heart, a role-playing game. It came from the same mindset as Dungeons and Dragons. That being said, it wouldn't make sense for a Warrior, say, to be able to cast a spell to bind his soul to a certain location. You have to decide whether the character you want to play is able to cast spells, or is evil, or can pick pocket. Homogenization doesn't make for a fun game. You have to decide what limitations and what powers your character has because nobody is forcing you to play one class or another, or to play the game at all.

The reason Classic EQ lost its feel was precisely because the developers started trying to make things fair and balanced. Everyone being able to port to the Nexus if they waited at a Scion was an example. PoK and how all the guards are neutral is another.

tl;dr: Classic EQ is and hopefully always will be about living with your choices and weighing your pros against your cons. It's up to you to decide where your characters' priorities lie.

[Eggborn]

I can't wait to get into this! Still contemplating if I want to be an SK again. I might go Troll this time, instead of lizard, but .. I really like being a lizard. Anyway....

What about getting someone to bind you at the fire pots? It's a long swim, but the dragon isn't usually there. Those are Kunark era, they should work.

[baalzy]

1) Firepots aren't a dungeon, so only casters or people using items with Bind Soul could bind at them.
2) Nobody can bind at the firepots anymore, this was only available for the first week of Kunark.