Lonely MMO

[Dreake]

Hi!

I just wanted to say that the high-end of this game has been a major disappointment and definitely not classic-like in any way, shape, or form. It likely has to do with what some of what is being discussed in this forum lately. When I played Everquest in 1999, I was 9 years old. I had learned to play by reading the thick-book manual that came with the game, as well as watching my brother. At the time, I had stupidly chosen the hardest class ever to play - a warrior! I also played a necromancer. Both were a blast and some of my fondest childhood gaming memories are from that time. Back then, I never had trouble finding people to play with. Basically anywhere, anytime, you could find something to do with a group of people. I even remember when I finally got outed as an 12 or 13 year old in my guild - sitting in Siren's Grotto killing random trash and asking my guild why everyone in my group was joking about Pearl Necklaces dropping. Good times!

But now, none of that. Can't find things to do with anyone, anywhere, in zones where there is XP. Seems like high-end guilds run with do-not-invite-outsider policies in most zones and full camp them non-stop. Do you all even keep your chat screens on or do you just block /ooc and anyone looking for groups?

I'm sure some will say I'm just complaining about being low level or whatever. Honestly the pixels don't mean anything to me, I was just looking for a decent experience. I was probably a total trash player back in 1999, but at least people wanted to play together...such a shame that we lost that here.

Have a good night! Peace be with you!

[Fammaden]

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

Peace be with you!

And also with you.

[TripSin]

Sorry you didn't have an enjoyable experience. That has not been my experience. Take care.

[unsunghero]

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

Hi!

I just wanted to say that the high-end of this game has been a major disappointment and definitely not classic-like in any way, shape, or form. It likely has to do with what some of what is being discussed in this forum lately. When I played Everquest in 1999, I was 9 years old. I had learned to play by reading the thick-book manual that came with the game, as well as watching my brother. At the time, I had stupidly chosen the hardest class ever to play - a warrior! I also played a necromancer. Both were a blast and some of my fondest childhood gaming memories are from that time. Back then, I never had trouble finding people to play with. Basically anywhere, anytime, you could find something to do with a group of people. I even remember when I finally got outed as an 12 or 13 year old in my guild - sitting in Siren's Grotto killing random trash and asking my guild why everyone in my group was joking about Pearl Necklaces dropping. Good times!

But now, none of that. Can't find things to do with anyone, anywhere, in zones where there is XP. Seems like high-end guilds run with do-not-invite-outsider policies in most zones and full camp them non-stop. Do you all even keep your chat screens on or do you just block /ooc and anyone looking for groups?

I'm sure some will say I'm just complaining about being low level or whatever. Honestly the pixels don't mean anything to me, I was just looking for a decent experience. I was probably a total trash player back in 1999, but at least people wanted to play together...such a shame that we lost that here.

Have a good night! Peace be with you!

What level are you?

The last invite I got was level 6 at orc camps outside crushbone. I’m level 19 now. Not only have I never gotten another group invite, I haven’t seen much chatter in /ooc in any of the zones I’ve exp’d in, other than the occasional “camp check”. I do see some people in duo’s or trio’s and assume they probably rolled chars together

So I can concur for low levels that everyone keeps to themselves and generally doesn’t talk. High level people are usually pretty helpful and toss out buffs and even offer free ports sometimes. For me, not getting invites is no big deal, I’m not asking and if they did invite I would politely decline because I’m 100% focused on farming plat for my first p9@ char (amassed about 2-3k already by level 19 just from vendor drops). Eventually I may want to group, but only when I’ve made enough pp to be comfortable with sacrificing my pp intake for the sake of exp

[BlackBellamy]

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

What level are you?

The last invite I got was level 6 at orc camps outside crushbone. I’m level 19 now. Not only have I never gotten another group invite, I haven’t seen much chatter in /ooc in any of the zones I’ve exp’d in, other than the occasional “camp check”. I do see some people in duo’s or trio’s and assume they probably rolled chars together

So I can concur for low levels that everyone keeps to themselves and generally doesn’t talk. High level people are usually pretty helpful and toss out buffs and even offer free ports sometimes. For me, not getting invites is no big deal, I’m not asking and if they did invite I would politely decline because I’m 100% focused on farming plat for my first p9@ char (amassed about 2-3k already by level 19 just from vendor drops). Eventually I may want to group, but only when I’ve made enough pp to be comfortable with sacrificing my pp intake for the sake of exp

This is a weird post. You are not asking for invites and seem to be ready to decline any groups and are 100% focused on plat farming, yet it seems from the first few sentence that this is the course you decided upon because you weren't getting any group invites.

Anyway, I don't care about that, I just want to point out the super obvious:

By focusing on plat farming at lower levels instead of actively seeking out xp groups, you are fucking yourself hard over long term. Your 2-3k plat is chump change compared to money you can make later when you level higher, and it will take you 1/10th the time to do it. You are spending 20 hours farming plat so you can buy gear that will improve your leveling rate by like 2%, saving you maybe 5 hours over time.

Also, have you ever sent out a group invite?

[Jimjam]

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

By focusing on plat farming at lower levels instead of actively seeking out xp groups, you are fucking yourself hard over long term.

The real opportunity cost is the friends we make along the way.

[unsunghero]

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

This is a weird post. You are not asking for invites and seem to be ready to decline any groups and are 100% focused on plat farming, yet it seems from the first few sentence that this is the course you decided upon because you weren't getting any group invites.

Anyway, I don't care about that, I just want to point out the super obvious:

By focusing on plat farming at lower levels instead of actively seeking out xp groups, you are fucking yourself hard over long term. Your 2-3k plat is chump change compared to money you can make later when you level higher, and it will take you 1/10th the time to do it. You are spending 20 hours farming plat so you can buy gear that will improve your leveling rate by like 2%, saving you maybe 5 hours over time.

Also, have you ever sent out a group invite?

I understand, that it does look weird. I wasn't saying I have an issue with the lack of early game grouping, just pointing out that I haven't ever seen anyone saying "[x] group LF1M " or anything like that in /ooc. This will probably change at later levels, I can only comment on early levels

And no, there is actually very few other leveling spots even many levels above mine that offer the same rate of pp/hour as my method of farming bandit sashes has been at a particular location in WK. I can accrue an entire inventory of bandit sashes in about 1 hour and turn those in for bronze weapons making about 250pp per trip. Someone camping HG's mentioned he is making about 450-500pp/hour from their drops. So leveling up 20ish more levels will only net me +250pp/hour assuming I could even get a HG camp, which are far less likely to be open than the bandit camps had been

I have tested other spots that had reputations for being good pp/hour such as Lavastorm mountains (gems, etc) and they didn't even come close. It is the fact that bandit sashes are nearly weightless and each convert to 2-6pp average that puts them far ahead of the curve in terms of efficiency of running back and forth to vendor. Even if I could find a camp of guards dropping FS weapons, I wouldn't be able to fill my inventory with those and be able to move like I can a near-weightless sash. I also don't like the idea of staring at an empty spot on the ground waiting for a mob to spawn so I am not going to be the type to camp high ticket items for pp

I personally understand that levels > pp in terms of pp accrual but I prefer to feel like I am playing a char that is powerful relative to his level, moreso than the same char I played in vanilla. I have far better gear now on P99 than my chars ever did in vanilla around this level (pushing 200CHA at level 19). I also do other unique non-optimal things such as haste my charmed pet then sit close enough to be able to watch their white damage on the combat menu, putting myself in additional danger for charm breaks (optimal method would be to sit farther away) for no other reason than I enjoy watching big pet damage scroll by. Just playing my own way

If anyone has any other level spots they think can compete with sashes from 20-25 I'm definitely interested tho. I do intend to check out Sol A when I am able, although even that I doubt will be able to beat my previous pp/hour rate

[loramin]

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

By focusing on plat farming at lower levels instead of actively seeking out xp groups, you are fucking yourself hard over long term. Your 2-3k plat is chump change compared to money you can make later when you level higher, and it will take you 1/10th the time to do it. You are spending 20 hours farming plat so you can buy gear that will improve your leveling rate by like 2%, saving you maybe 5 hours over time.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you're even thinking about plat at low levels, you're playing inefficiently. Now note that I did not say "you're playing the game wrong"; there's no wrong way to play the game as long as you're having fun [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

But if you're not having fun, while also playing in a very suboptimal way ... maybe before you blame the game for not being fun, you could try playing in a more optimal way. That means just worrying about experience. Virtually every mob that gives XP drops some items/plat, and whatever garbage plat you get that way will be sufficient to get you a decent weapon/your spells ... and that's all your really need.

As for finding a group to do that ... it's a big game, and players tend to want to play optimally. That means they tend to cluster in zones that have (or at least, are perceived as having ) better XP.

I once tried to start a wiki page to collect those popular zones, and it has some info, but it's never really caught on the way some other wiki pages have: https://wiki.project1999.com/Group_Hunting_Spots (NOTE: You ... or anyone else ... can improve that page: it's a wiki!)

Still, I'd start there. Also, let's say you're level 27: you can use /who all cleric 25 30 (or something similar) to find where all the level 25-30 clerics on the server are .. and that will likely give you some indication of places you can find a group.

[theredcrosss]

I've been playing on green off and on for about a year, and there have been times I've felt like this. Days in a row where it seems like I would play for four hours and do nothing, just run around looking for groups or open camps. Those days where pretty demoralizing, but it isn't always like that. Now with the Hole out there's a centralized zone with tons of people grinding, it's the liveliest endgame area in a while. Most guilds don't seem to be in guildie-only mode (I can't speak for everyone obvs) it's just easier to organize when you share guild chat and a discord.

Good luck, I hope tomorrow is more fun!

[Cen]

The social aspect is mostly what I remember but people are older now so act slightly differently. People do get more distant as they get older I find.