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AA's in VOA locked behind language progression.Follow

#1 Nov 16 2011 at 3:09 PM Rating: Good
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I've noticed that many class AA's "latest ranks" and spells are locked behind the language progression in VOA.In my opinion, this is a mistake on the developers part.

I'm thinking that their reasoning was to make people "work" for their spells and AA's as many complained on EQ Forums that task adds in HOT were creating too many lvl 90's with many aas that hardly actually played the game and were thus inexperienced with their character for their lvl. So they nerfed the HOT task/Missions xp which will solve that problem no matter if we agree with the solution or not.

But for the developers to force us to do the entire linear arc of progression to get our basic lvl 92-95 rk2 spells and almost all of our lvl 90-95 class AA's from VOA is not good. The tasks/missions are not repeatable for language points.. For me personally, this will not stop my Necro main and my chosen alts (SK,Shammy).

But I find myself playing my other much loved alts almost as much as my main 3 nowadays. Especially with returning players as many are in the 65 to 85 ish range and can get better aaxp with my 70-88 "strong alts" some of which I purposely leave below my main for that reason and for the other old world content I still enjoy from time to time.

For one to have do almost all VOA tasks/missions on every character just to get enough language points for their basic Rk.2 spells and most class AAs will discourage many from even levelling their alts above 90. Though I know I am in the minority in EQ as far as playstyle-3box but with many other alts which I still totally enjoy playing.

It would be interesting to hear others views on this issue.


Edited, Nov 16th 2011 4:21pm by hexeez
#2 Nov 16 2011 at 3:19 PM Rating: Good
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Not really sure I agree. You only need to unlock these for spells and AA's above level 90. The only zones in the game for 91+ are in VoA, so they're just trying to make you fight in the zones aimed at the expansion.

And it doesn't sound like a huge grind. Do the quests once (and I think most are solo quests) and you have the language requirements down.

Besides, when you play those alts, you HAVE to do something. Might as well do this, at least once. Then go back to doing whatever it is you want to do.

Tat

PS - for the lower level alts, it's moot. They're not forced to do these missions, because they can't use the spells or AA's til they're 91+ anyway.
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#3 Nov 16 2011 at 3:32 PM Rating: Good
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Yes Tatankaseventh,I see your point.

True that it doesn't really affect my three 90's as they always do progression for the gear,unlocking zones etc..except for my 88 Berserker and 87 wizard which I simply dont have time to do the arc of missions for... re: the other lower ones,youre right it doesn't make a difference as I want them to stay lower for a good while at least.



Edited, Nov 16th 2011 4:41pm by hexeez
#4 Nov 16 2011 at 6:18 PM Rating: Excellent
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Amongst the rage on the official boards it *appears* that the language restrictions will eventually be lightened up. The feeling I got from those posts was that this is an intentional bottleneck to start this expac off, more with an intention to spread out some population for more than a few weeks and having 98% of player in the same two end-grouping zones.

Maybe... maybe this way 80% are in the same 2 end grouping zones.

The idea has some merit, I'm very curious to see how it plays out.

Really what they have done is put WoW faction in and called it a language (visible, measurable, linear faction).
#5 Nov 16 2011 at 9:51 PM Rating: Good
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I feel the pain of the OP. I was so happy when I heard that the zones wouldn't be locked away in progression because I am often struggling to find groups in specific zones (either they aren't flagged or I'm not flagged). I also three box when I can't find a group. Now if I want to three box and be effective I will need to three box even more and turn away real groups so I can run my boxes through together so they all learn the language and can buy their much needed AA's.

I just have to accept that we are the minority and they need to do something to keep the others occupied. If I didn't box I don't think I would play much once I got to 95 and my AA if they didn't have the language requirements. The irony is that I didn't box until UF made it very necessary for me to do to progress so I could play with others in higher tier zones, the exact thing they eliminated in VoA.

I am not sure the language thing is "fun" but I do get the feeling of progression.

#6 Nov 22 2011 at 2:06 AM Rating: Decent
This language requirement has been implemented poorly. The "solo" tasks are not solo and require a group to complete successfully even if they don't require a group to request them. This basically puts those who like to solo in a position where it will be impossible to advance as a soloist. You will need to box or group. The tasks are not repeatable for language improvement so I predict if alts are not leveled up immediately there will be a pool of toons that can not be advanced once the crowding in Argath is decreased as toons move out to other zones and groups can not be found even if you want to. I bet we see plat farmers selling groups for language skill advancements before long as the zone depopulates. I don't mind working for advancement. I love it. Just don't make it impossible to solo the "solo" tasks. My necro has nearly 9000 AAs but now I find it impossible to advance alone to get my spells and AAs. Thanks for killing the expansion for those of us who play in our spare time and cannot dedicate hours at a time to searching for groups.
#7 Nov 22 2011 at 2:09 AM Rating: Good
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One thing that I did like is you could see exactly where you were in the language (faction). No more guessing, looking at /cons.

That said, I agree with the posters the majority of folks won't want to repeat these, as all but a few have no repeat rewards at all.

I feel for the soloers/those habitually LFG.
#8 Nov 22 2011 at 3:13 AM Rating: Decent
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I'm finding one of the big problems with VoA is that its so crowded with people getting their mains and then their collection of alts through the progression that I can't get any further than half way through "Protect the Arms" because of the bottleneck at the killing the nameds part.
I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to finish it with a friend I group with and the buildings where the nameds are are packed with others hanging around waiting .. we can't even move onto the next quest either until we get that out of the way.
Back to HoT to level up until ( hopefully ) folk run out of alts and we can finish that quest.
#9 Nov 22 2011 at 3:51 AM Rating: Excellent
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Even though I'm up to 82 language thanks to a strong fellowship of groupers, I sympathize with the frustration so many are feeling over this progression.

While the Class AA's give people a good reason to pursue the progression, it's also the biggest reason for the frustration with it. I've been the player in the past who's mostly stuck solo without a dependable group. It is bad enough to struggle for new gear/spell drops, having AAs locked away from you is just an added frustration.

I know I read about likely future plans to remove the requirement for AAs once the content isn't current, I'm just sorry some people will be stuck waiting til' then involuntarily, and hope the annoyance doesn't pull the final straw for too many.
#10 Nov 22 2011 at 5:47 AM Rating: Good
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One thought...

instead of lowering the requirement for language in the new content, I'd rather see them add lower-level solo tasks throughout the old world as the rest of Norrath "learns" about Alaris. Maybe some new mail for the Antonican bards to deliver...
#11 Nov 22 2011 at 1:24 PM Rating: Good
snailish wrote:
Amongst the rage on the official boards it *appears* that the language restrictions will eventually be lightened up. The feeling I got from those posts was that this is an intentional bottleneck to start this expac off, more with an intention to spread out some population for more than a few weeks and having 98% of player in the same two end-grouping zones.

Maybe... maybe this way 80% are in the same 2 end grouping zones.


After 8 months, the language requirements decrease. I'm not sure if they drop to 0 or just reduce by a % (and then reduce again 8 months later.)

FYI, there are 4 end grouping zones this time, not 2. People complained that HoT only had 2 end grouping zones, so they added 2 more. Pillars of Alra, Windsong Sanctuary, City of Bronze, Sepulcher of Order (which has a separate zone for east and west Sepulcher) are the T4 zones.

#12 Nov 24 2011 at 6:04 PM Rating: Decent
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I agree..
I also play a necromancer and do not have time to group (casual player). I have managed to solo up to 23 language skill and I am currently trying to complete a last solo task for 25, but the "blades" are always camped. I did two solo tasks in the Valley since it is less crowded, but I have become very frustrated since they have given no language improvements from the book given. I want to unlock my class AAs but can't skill up the langauage requirement or even discerm from the guide what the hell the language parameters are to unlock them.
#13 Nov 24 2011 at 9:33 PM Rating: Good
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suuan wrote:

...the "blades" are always camped....



My highest (and main) I suppose is my necro as well. I understand the frustration, but... the expac isn't even a week old. Presently everyone needs the kills/tasks/named. In that scenario groups tend to overule soloers simply by the ability to control more spawns.

This doesn't mean the progression isn't soloable in some regards, but it is perhaps a bit much expecting it to be on-demand readily soloable while it is at its popularity peak. If the language progression was easily soloable within the first week of the expac is there any point to it being there at all?

They (SoE types) have said the lang. requirements will be lessened eventually. One could surmise that will happen when peak population has moved beyond those early zones/tasks. The devs have intentionally bottlenecked this. The devs (while history has proven this wrong numerous times in respects to intentions vs. results) aren't intentionally trying to shrink the game by forcing people to quit.

If people want to do this stuff fast and early... socialize and group up. Keeping in mind that if that isn't your preferred normal playstyle you might still have a hard time with it since guild groups stick together best when they have common goals such as this to do.

Personally, when I bother to buy a new expac I tend to stay out of the new zones for months. Busy zones to the point of crowded seems to bring out the few remaining clowns in this game and that just isn't worth seeing for me.



Edited, Nov 24th 2011 10:38pm by snailish
#14 Nov 24 2011 at 10:55 PM Rating: Good
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suuan wrote:
I did two solo tasks in the Valley since it is less crowded, but I have become very frustrated since they have given no language improvements from the book given.


Read the Alaran language guide at either Rasper's or EQ Resource, and you'll see why those tasks aren't giving you anymore skillups (I like EQ Resource better for the Alaran info).

Basically it's because the tasks for both Argath and Valley share the progression, and you only need to do one or the other to get your Alaran skill raised.

For example: there are 10 "kill" tasks you can do to get Alaran skillups: 5 in Argath and 5 in Valley. BUT only the first 5 of those tasks (combined from both zones) count toward Alaran progression. So if you've done more than 5 of these kill tasks, you won't get any more skillup from the rest of them.

It's the same thing with the group missions, only the first X amount give skillups.

Read those guides I linked above as they explain it in better detail.
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