anyone else tired of new eq play style?Follow

The reason for the instanced zones is because alot of the higher end zones are a crawl, not a camp and the main targets are long respawn times. So say you have 10 guilds waiting to do the raid and only 1 guild can do it a week. See the problem?

Missions and tasks are setup for the casual player who doesnt have time to sit and wait for a camp. They only have an hour or so and want to get something done. Kind of like a mini quest.

I started playing post PoP but from what I have heard of the way the game used to be (and a little time in EQ2) I would LOVE to see a classic server, pre PoP. Back when quests would net you nice gear and you actually had to EXPLORE to get anywhere.

The new MMs have destroyed the game in my opinion. I would love a solid grind group with players who knew what they were doing and could hold a decent conversation.

Edited, Thu Dec 8 14:19:45 2005 by jchapin

Personally I think instanced zones are great...not the MM instances, but instaced zones like the DoN missions. Not only do the mobs and loot table increase as you increase with level (in theroy) it is also possible to play without the worry of getting run over by another group, or having mobs/loot KS'd/NL'd.

Not to mention that instancing PoTime was something that was very needed IMHO. Guild that wish to farm time no longer have to fight about when to go with other guilds. Guilds spend so much precious time and resources trying to get access to PoTime, that getting there and not being able to kill anything becuase UberestGuild01 is clearing the zone is almost a slap in the face.

I'm sure back in the day it was fun to wait for hours for a chance to get into a LGuk group, but at the current point my life is in I don't have the time to stand in a zone and wait for a spot in a group open up. I'd much rather get a group, head to an instanced zone and have some fun for for a while.

I'm not in this game for the best loot, nor do I judge my playtime buy amount of XP/hour. I do judge it by the amount of fun that I am having. I have the most fun grouping with my friends in a zone that is void of /ooc arguments and griefers.

I say long live instanced zones for they are the way of things to come, hopefully.

MMs Destroyed EQ?

I would rather not have to fight to get a camp and instanced zones are one way of dealing with that problem.

I like the MMs. I do not rely exclusively on them to level from 10 to 67 like someone described. Used to be people would use LDoNs to level, now it's MMs. People said the xp for LDoNs was way out of line then, and it's MMs now. No one is forcing you to play that way. No one is forcing you to play in any manner.

I do not see much difference in a 'grinding group' as you put it, and a MM group.

OP: You can still go to Lguk and get a 'camp' if thats what you want to do. Those zones you talk about are still there last I checked. Even so, the last two expansions contain non-instanced places you can get xp. Ever try to 'crawl' through the broodlands? Ever camp the creepers in Corathus? You can do both at level 50.

Some of you people need to get over this mania for nostalgia. Nothing stays the same. Even so, nothing is stopping you from suiting up in banded armor and attacking Naggy.

Sorry, just tired of whiners complaining that SOE is ruining EQ with this new expansion or that new feature. I played way back then and you know what? I'd rather have the maps, the expanded bank, the augs, the new spells, the new armor, the instanced zones, PoK access to Norrath, Guild Hall, and STILL be able to go back and do the early content like Vox, Naggy, epic 1.0s....

Well, actually, loot and quests stay the same. I'd like to see them make quests and loot more dynamic.

I know it would be a lot of programming work, but that IS what we pay for isn't it? People will stop farming the same thing over and over if it isn't dropping the same loot over and over wouldn't they? Right now they have looting tables that are static. The only place you can go get this item is off that mob in that zone. Some things can only be gotten in zones from this expansion or that expansion. Mix it up! When a cool item drops, randomly pick a level-appropriate mob somewhere in the world and put the next on on him. I guess they could still leave tradeskill items "farmable", but slot equipment could certainly work this way. I'll bet people would spread out more and visit "old" zones more often if there was a chance that mob just "acquired" a new toy to drop without having to kill him to make him get new loot.

Same for quests. Maybe the same guy starts the same quest every time, but mix it up on where he sends you and who he wants you to talk to.

And I have ALWAYS wanted zones to be dynamic. If I throw a fireball, the next guy to come through there should see the damage the fireball did. Maybe if I wipe out that camp of orcs over there, the next ones to repopulate that spot are gnolls, or zombies, or griffons, etc...

Programming nightmares? Probably. But I can still want it.

Personally I love all these new instanced and uber raid zones. Keeps morons out of the zones I want to solo (LGuk, Nurga, Charasis, etc). But then again I'm a Necro and somewhat antisocial by trade. If I want a group I've got a guild with some great people who don't mind if I accidentally get them killed while they're AFK.

Is it the conversation part we're lacking?

Well I'm glad I finally figured out who Raolan is!

Damn. I've been spotted

Don't get me wrong, the occasional groups with my fellow AS members are pretty much the only good groups I find any more.

Other than that, the last 9 out of 10 pickup groups I have been in were full of a buch of people who had no idea what they were doing.

I am sorry but I find it pretty sad when people cant even take the time out to ask you to join a group before they shoot you an invite.

How hard is it to /tell soandso Hi, were going to this place. Care to join us?



I think he's that guy who picks up the slack when the Fabled Cleric isn't around

Edited, Fri Dec 9 09:57:22 2005 by jchapin

I try to send a tell before inviting someone, but if its a high demand class, we have been waiting a long time for, I will occasionally send an invite then send a tell right away after. ie Cleric when all other spots are filled and waiting to go.

I know it would be a lot of programming work, but that IS what we pay for isn't it? People will stop farming the same thing over and over if it isn't dropping the same loot over and over wouldn't they? Right now they have looting tables that are static. The only place you can go get this item is off that mob in that zone. Some things can only be gotten in zones from this expansion or that expansion. Mix it up!


And then we would have to hear you complain about a 1 week patch and how soney is screwed up even more. No thanks

Aside from the instant death?

Nostalgia mania aside, this is always a lame retort to say "So go it do that way!" The obvious issue is that it takes forty-odd people in their bronze armor to kill Nagafen, not one. It takes a group to go kill Frenzied at level 40. People aren't real understanding of your Old School ways when they invite you to their LDoN in Butcherblock and you say "Ok, I'm in Western Karana... give me an hour to run there unless I can find a druid to port me." They're not real impressed when their tank shows up in appropriate gear for a lvl 50 in 1999 but stuff that your lvl 15 now would be selling to vendors. The reason the old ways worked before was because there was a shared culture and level of gear that all had to deal with. There's a valid argument to be made from the fact that you can't find forty people to fight Nagafen in bronze armor that perhaps it's a good indicator that most people don't want to, but the answer isn't "Go do it yourself".

I guess Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be.

It does seem to me that EQ is changing very rapidly. I mean I only stepped out for a beer and the whole game changed. It makes me nervous about coming back since so much is different.

It is very good that SOE - despite its many failings - is prepared to adapt and incorporate new features either in-house or from elsewhere in order to keep EQ alive. I have to wonder how much of that is fueled by the failure of EQ2 to "take over". It is unusual in the world of PC games for an original to remain more popular than the sequel.

One of the greatest features of EQ was the sociability. This is unfortunately directly opposed to being "casual-friendly". One of the failings of the newer MMO such as EQ2 and WoW is that groups tend to be very short-lived and task-oriented. They form, they do the quest/instance, they break up. This seems (from what I read) to have seeped into these new "missions" in EQ.

I really must log in one of these days - although I doubt my characters will recognise me.

That was one of the main reasons I stopped playing WoW. Groups weren't really groups. There was no light conversation. It was completely unsocial. You'd get random invites and when they left it was abrubtly and without warning. I've even had some people leave a group in the middle of a fight because they got the loot/part they was after. I got sick of it.

I like EQ. I enjoy when people have conversations in a group. I like it when people send a tell asking before inviting. I enjoy other's company and joke around. It makes grouping all the more enjoyable. A group shouldn't just be formed to take down a certain mob or camp, but the social aspect is very enjoyable. It's also the best way to make friends so you're not on the LFG list as much.