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#11
12-08-2021, 05:07 PM
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I rather like the way EQ mostly let the players run with emergent gameplay rather than bust out the nerfstick anytime someone figured out a way to do things that the designers didn't envision (hello, Warcraft). I know a lot about this game that I didn't know twenty years ago and I enjoy using that knowledge. I'm not interested in trying to re-live the past. I've enjoyed P99 for a lot longer and got much fuller usage out of it than I ever did the original.
There are a number of additional factors beyond experience rate that encourage solo on P1999. Part of it is the very helpfulness of the community--when it's trivial to almost always find a port and rez, death isn't so scary anymore. Part of it is the low population that makes pick-up grouping flat-out difficult at some level ranges, so sometimes people solo out of necessity and if they didn't, they'd quit. Part of it is the culture of a player base that has been influenced by solo-centric games that have come out in the past twenty years. Part of it is the reality that we're twenty years older and it's rude to join a group if I'm going to be AFK every little while to do various tasks around the house. That P1999 EQ supports different modes of gameplay is a strength, not a weakness. Danth | ||
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#12
12-08-2021, 05:11 PM
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It's a hard question because not all groups are created equal. Certain configurations of duos\trios\full groups or whatever would have more or less incentive to group based on how well their classes can solo individually, regardless of a group bonus.
A group bonus won't be equally enticing to all classes, so classes who already solo a lot will probably continue to, and you'll have lots of groups of all rogues or something. | ||
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#13
12-08-2021, 06:26 PM
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Best XP I ever had solo or group wise (outside of PL/chardok AOE) was a bard using singing steel helm to chain pull while still twisting & meleeing with the group.
__________________
Real Money Trading = Perma Ban
Boxing = Perma Ban | |||
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#14
12-08-2021, 06:48 PM
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I think the pieces some of miss from the game is the feeling that grouping is the best option. For a lot of reasons group composition might not be “maximized” and as a result many are pushed to solo more than seems classic. On green server in particular it’s fairly common to come across a guy soloing an area that might be frequented by groups and you’d ask “hey wanna get something going?” To be met with “naw, I’m good.” It doesn’t feel like classic and is off from what most of us think was the original vision for the game. Just thinking of ways that could jump start the culture and drive more pick up groups and a thirst for adventuring with new people.
__________________
- monstra sunt vera, nos sunt
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#15
12-08-2021, 09:22 PM
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#16
12-08-2021, 11:45 PM
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https://thinkgamedesign.com/flow-theory-game-design/ A game which is easy for one person is unchallenging and boring. Another person might find it too difficult and boring. A third person will find it is a good challenge and fun. Game design theory has progressed so that most video game players today are not good at playing video games. You could compare something like Counter-Strike to Overwatch. In Counter-Strike, for the most part ignoring the limited economy, every round is the same. Your only ability to win or lose is based on your skill. In Overwatch (which I've never played) the concept of an "Ultimate" ability is introduced. At any given moment you can use an ultimate and "win". There is still skill involved but there is also an "I win something" button you can press. Now there is less incentive to be good at the game you just hit your "I win" button and get your dopamine. This is just a simplified example of the direction games have gone. Another would be EverQuest's brutal experience loss and corpse runs, which by the way is provably about 2x as bad in classic era than P99 makes it, another change they never put in here. Compare that to WoW with it's armor repair and ghost walk to your corpse mechanic. So, what might be less fun for you or others who aren't good at EQ in particular, would be more fun for me and a lot of other people who enjoy a more challenging true to classic EQ experience. Now let's talk about the types of gamers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle...f_player_types I would argue P99 with its' raid and max level focus is designed for achievers. It also can appeal to social gamers. It can appeal to explorers but mostly if they aren't familiar with the game already. Finally, it has very little appeal for killers. My feeling is that Nilbog / Rogean must be achiever game types because their decisions often promote that style of gameplay while ignoring the others. I am a killer, social, explorer gamer in that order. My competition fix from EQ is thriving in a punishing game model while others can't handle it. On Live I played PvP almost exclusively. However, I am also a social gamer. While P99 has socialization most of it ends up stacked at the max level and is socialization between achievers to that end. P99 also offers exploration to me because there are zones I never really played in during live and they aren't raid zones. Making the game more difficult appeals to all three of these drives. Why? Because now if you can succeed more than others you have a basis of competition especially if it involves things like training, psychological games, PvP, etc where you are directly competing with them and not just the game. This is the killer gamer. It also promotes socialization because players group more realizing the game is very difficult and it's more efficient to play with others depending on your class. Finally, it promotes exploration because a more difficult game closes off more options for places to try to level and the promotion of grouping which typically overcrowds certain areas and dungeons due to more efficient mob killing leads players to be willing to leave and try another area. On P99 they diminish the killer play style by having heavy handed play nice policies and implementing things that make the game easier while ignoring things that would make it more difficult. Similarly, they discourage grouping and socialization by leaving OP classes like Enchanter in place and implementing things like Teal instance and increased mob spawns. Suddenly there is no real reason to talk to anyone and people complain about the "lonely P99" experience on these forums all the time. Oh don't worry people say, just get up to max level, but that isn't what those players are talking about. They don't WANT to be max level or the game is effectively over for certain types of gamers. They don't want to eek out raid pixels and talk about the guild UN and petition quest. Same for explorers. If a camp is always available because high ZEMs, mob spawns, easy leveling, etc lets players progress easily through areas then that is where you will always go. In fact, on P99 "the camp" is so much better than anything else you could be doing if you know where "the camp" is that you feel like you might as well not play if you aren't there. You're certainly not going to leave The Hole and go get a group in KC you're just going to log off, play an alt, etc. Hopefully that helps you understand. P99 is a low skilled achiever friendly server and I'd like to see it start accommodating other gamer types more because that is the furthest thing from my style. I am a high skilled killer gamer who also likes to socialize and explore but not the effort of min maxing my pixels. You see instanced Teal, increased spawns, easy mode channeling, etc and get excited! YAY! I can get to those dragons so fast and the 300 player AFK raiding I love so much to get my pixels! I don't see that. | |||
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#17
12-09-2021, 12:21 AM
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Sure, if you’re in a smaller group rather than a full one maybe the exp starts to get closer if you’re just nonstop chain pulling. But is that really a good answer? Having people exclude others from groups if they’re able to handle the content with, say, 4 people? I kinda think that’s even worse than a server with a ton of soloers; feels worse when all the groups are sitting there with open spots but won’t take another player. | |||
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#19
12-09-2021, 01:49 AM
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Linear Mode
