exp bonus in groups

[Gnomers]

Looks like SOny is doing something good again. I wonder how cold can HELL get anyways.
May 27th, 2003
-------------------------

** Experience System Change - Grouping **

We've made some improvements to the way experience is rewarded in all of EverQuest. At its core, the idea is to positively reinforce grouping. There should never be any penalty to adding "that sixth person over there," whatever class they may be, into your group. That is exactly the type of behavior that should be rewarded.

In a massively multi-player game, any mechanic that penalizes those who group is one that we need to take a serious look at. While there are definite benefits to forming "well balanced" groups in terms of damage, tanking, healing, and support, there shouldn't be an active penalty to those who cannot find groups of "optimal" balance.

As it stands in EverQuest, groups gain a 2% to 20% experience bonus, which we refer to as the "group bonus", for having two to six members. In practice, however, this has never been much of a bonus, even in the case of a full group, given that the experience was already being divided six ways.

In the past, we had also attempted to reward people for adventuring in the more challenging Planes of Power zones by making those zones give a better rate of experience.

As of this update, groups now gain 20% to 80% "group bonus" experience for having two to five members.

Full, six-person, groups now see an additional bonus. Their experience is only divided five ways, yet they still gain the 80% "group bonus." For those who think in terms of pie charts, it amounts to a larger piece of a larger pie.

Accordingly, the bonus inherent to Planes of Power zones will be decreased slightly. However, as long as person is grouped with at least one other, they will see an improvement in experience gain over the old system. The one down side to the new system is that there will be a slight decrease in experience for those who do not group, and only for those who do so in Planes of Power zones.

We realize that we are, essentially, "manufacturing" a new type of experience after a kill. As players, we also understand it is the people who spend time in full groups who have to deal with the most interruptions and setup time caused by organizing the extra people. It simply makes sense to reward that extra time, especially if it means bringing more people together. After all, that's the whole point.

We look forward to seeing how these changes play out on Test Server.


** Experience System Change - Level 60+ **

In addition to the above changes, we have increased the range of NPC levels that give a person experience after they reach level 60. The "blue to 65" range has been increased as far as level 50, with the "light blue" range extending to level 45. The best benefits, however, are still for fighting things around and above your level.

The world of EverQuest, at this point in its history, is truly immense and full of the best and most interesting content and visuals out there. Ideally, when a person logs on they should have a wide array of places in which to adventure. The addition of new content shouldn't entirely obsolete what already exists. Hopefully these changes will once again make that the case

[Casai]

omg they doing something that actually makes fucking sense!

It was so retarded that when I'd group up a few of my buddies only to find out that I have to pay a price of shity xp.

[Gnomb]

I really hope this goes live.
Although for some solo classes it wont make that much difference (bard swarm kiting) it will make a lot of difference for charm and quad kiting.
And maybe we will finally see an exp increase for tier 3 zones.
It always was odd that I could get more exp over time in PoV than in PoTactics for a zone where basically is almost zero risk.
Biggest reason was to go for loot to Tactics but that has been toned down quite a lot.

[Casai]

I love tactics! I ended up in PoV today cause friend of mine was on and bored who doesnt have tactics flag. So we minding our own business picefully killing razorfiends outside of caves with group of 3. Then I go splat before I can even realize what happen and sure thing. A nice bard thought we had no challenge there and decided to test us against all of the near by undead population...

I fucking never going to pov again. Tactics xp is better for me then pov except maybe the cave camp which is taken 24/7 anyways and not anywhere near as much fun as tactics. I love tactis great pop dungeon. Leave outdoor zones for poons.

[Gnomb]

100 percent agree.
Only other place I love the same or maybe more is Crypt of Decay.
Loot isnt bad and with a good chanter the place rules.

[Gnomers]

BUt what I am afraid of when they modify the exp modifer in POP zones to balance the EXP gained that there will be hardly any modifier to speak off and all that extra bonus that SOE said they are giving us from this is just what we were getting in the first place. I don't expect it to be a good thing at all all I see it is another attempt to NERF the soloing classes. I posted this when I first read and was overjoyed but after thinking about it for a while it is not gonna change a thing.

[Casai]

are you meaning to tell me you give a shite about solo xp?! Are you one of those warriors that "solo" in PoP. It says right there is you have any group new xp > then old. Also its about time those enchanters and bards came back where they do most good - to groups.

[Sackett]

Originally posted by Casai
omg they doing something that actually makes fucking sense!


I have to agree with ya there! Look out the sky will fall next.

[Gnomers]

Yes the new EXP is great for us, I also play a necro when I dont want to deal with people. This change sucks for soloers for those who can in POP and I will be there shortly. This change can be described as GIVING to ONE and TAKING from ANOTHER. They do not have to do it this way why penalize those who want and can solo when they can simply just balance it out completly. They are basically going to make the Zone EXP modifier next to nill to balance out the bonus so who does this effect the most SOLOERS. It is just another attempt to discourage soloing in the game.

[Varatho]

http://pub149.ezboard.com/fthedruidsgrovegeneral.showMessage?topicID=31173.t opic


The nerf to exp is approx 15% according to numbers.


Meaning duos for all the soloing people out there and even more exp for everyone than before.

[Gonaden]

Originally posted by Gnomers
It is just another attempt to discourage soloing in the game.

And a damn good idea too! I hate seeing a soloer taking up a camp that a group of 6 people could be using. I hate seeing soloers cluttering up zones whilst more sociable people are sat twiddling their thumbs looking for a group.

If this change means more necros, druids and wizards are now going to group more often with other people, I'm all for it!

[rolsdar]

Excellent, about bloody time too, nothing is more annoying than seeing damn soloers get 4 or 5 aa in the time it takes me to get one.

Also with the level change, i wonder if there will be any decent xp spots where us warriors can solo again. This would be useful when you only have a limited time to play and want a bit of xp.

:D

[Gnomers]

It doesnt matter what they are doing is baisically screwing with the game design. What I mean is that the game is designed around greater the risk the greater the reward. Soloing is by all means has more risk than grouping. In a group we have the resources to aid us and therefore we share all the exp in soloing all you got is you and your skills. So how I see all they are doing is Penalizing the soloers by giving them less of a reward but having the same risk. Is this fair no does it effect warrriors no. Also why shouldn't they be able to solo camps that usually takes 6 people groups to take if they can do it and hold the camp and not cause any trains then more power to them. I play both I play a warrior and a necro and I as a warrior think Sweet better exp equals more levels but as a necro I say WTF why am I getting penalized for this.

[Varatho]

What I mean is that the game is designed around greater the risk the greater the reward. Soloing is by all means has more risk than grouping.

So a paladin gets more exp while soloing than a druid? It is far "riskier" to have to deal melee damage to a mob solo than it is to use spell damage.


Unless all classes can generate the same amount of xp as each other while soloing per unit of time; soloing is not balanced.

[Crist0]

Yes, there certainly is a ton of risk in snaring a mob then running and turning to nuke it at times.

Danger Will Robinson! Danger!

I think they should have left the exp modifiers alone myself, but at least when I take my shaman out I don't need to cringe and think "God, I could have gotten a couple yellows instead of a couple blues.".

[Glatius2]

If what they say ends up being what they do, it should be good.

[Gyzz]

This is the kind of change that may bring me back to EQ. I've always been a casual player, and sitting /lfg for 2 hours when that's all the time I have to play is disheartening. The only thing (and I mean the ONLY thing) Wolfpack did right with Shadowbane was making exp relatively fast and giving you a numerical value so you could actually see the exp gain in a hard data figure instead of EQ's visual display. Other than that, the game was pure, unadulterated hot garbage.

I'm all for any change that makes levelling less of a grind. As a warrior, I have little concern for soloing or how this change will affect soloers. I think the playing field has been uneven for far too long as it is.

[Adzar]

I have seen the argument in other places that this is in effect bad for solo classes. Please help me to understand this a little more.

1.) I did not see anything about nerfing solo XP in any way. Did I just miss it?

2.) If this indeed does not change the rate of XP for solo classes then will they not still have the option to solo as they always have done?

3.) If they can still solo at the same rate of XP why is helping the classes that are more group dependant considered a bad thing?

Just curious about this argument. I have only one toon in his 20s that solos but I guess I made him to solo when I do not want to be LFG. I figure I can still do this and get XP so I do not see this as bad.

[Glatius2]

Accordingly, the bonus inherent to Planes of Power zones will be decreased slightly. However, as long as person is grouped with at least one other, they will see an improvement in experience gain over the old system. The one down side to the new system is that there will be a slight decrease in experience for those who do not group, and only for those who do so in Planes of Power zones.

I think this is the paragraph that is being contrued as a solo nerf. They're basically saying that if you solo in PoP, you will in fact receive less experience for it than previously. They claim it will be a slight decrease. Hopefully that will be true. However, a system that actually encourages and rewards grouping, particularly taking on more group members than you absolutely require, is something that has been needed for some time and is way past due.

Having solo experience be some of the best experience possible while making half your population almost completely unable to solo at all was just whacked as hell.

[Binnamar]

Well to help give your soloing exp a boost... go and find a partner, find a lonely melee lfg and let him beat on the mobs with some no agro weapons. Then you will take advantage of the 2 person group exp bonus, and it will make you kill faster /shrug.

[Redhenna]

If I understand the numbers, currently a 6 person group gets a 20 % exp bonus, making a mob worth 120 % exp, split 6 ways + 20 % of a mobs exp per person in a 6 person group. This is now being raised to 80 % exp bonus, 180 % divided 6 ways is 30 % mob exp per person. Combined with more blue con mobs, and ZEM decrease outside PoP, I am wondering if this will make grouping for exp outside PoP worthwhile. That would be nice. DN, CT, UP, AR among others could all see a lot more use after this change.

[Kaesorn]

Actually, the way it's worded, even if you have 6 people the exp is only split 5 ways. They'll take that 180% and divide it by 5, then give all 6 people that much exp each.

180% / 5 = 36%...which would you rather have...36% or 20%? You get the exact same amount of exp per person if you had 5 or 6 people...but adding the 6th person can let you kill faster at absolutely NO penalty to how much exp you get. Best bonus of them all.

[Redhenna]

Thanks for the clarification Kaesorn. I hold out high hopes that this will make exp in non PoP zones more of a possibility. Could be a nice change.

[Jysin]

I really hope the Live version comes out better than whats currently running on test. Its a very wordy version of just coming out and saying Solo XP has been nerfed hard. Classic psychology to please the masses... They come out first by saying we added all these modifiers to group XP and now everyone thinks of current xp with the new bonus would yield uber XP. So, we all cheer and are happy, but fail to realise the effect of the next paragraph saying PoP mobs xp will be nerfed.

It equates to the bonus is to make up for the PoP mob xp loss to GROUPED people, while solo classes will be smacked over the head with the nerf bat.

Think about the logical way of SoE coming out with this announcement saying outright Solo XP has just been nerfed. PERIOD. Because, in the end group xp hasnt changed one bit. There would be uproar from the masses.. instead, it will be limited to Necros, Druids, and Chanters I imagine.

Follow?

[Isk]

exactly ^

[Crist0]

Considering the modifier decrease is only for PoP, the group modifier is everywhere...and "as long as person is grouped with at least one other, they will see an improvement in experience gain over the old system",
I think you're buying into the Druid panic.

Are you now or have you ever been a druid?

[Varatho]

HOWEVER, AS LONG AS PERSON IS GROUPED WITH AT LEAST ONE OTHER, THEY WILL SEE AN IMPROVEMENT IN EXPERIENCE GAIN OVER THE OLD SYSTEM


'cause some people are having trouble reading~

[Dobbo Baggins]

need it bigger varaho my eyeglasses aren't with me.

it's good for us and this is a warrior board not solo leet exp board.

[Varatho]

Originally posted by Dobbo Futreet
need it bigger varaho my eyeglasses aren't with me.

There you go~

[Glatius2]

Well, now those solo experience people will have a reason to add at least one person to their group. So they can fear kite or whatever, and the poor schmuck Warrior can beat on the mobs from behind or something, rather than being forced to LFG for hours.

[Lorre]

Well instead of one druid soloing/quading 4 mobs, it'll be 2 druids grouped and soloing 8 mobs at once. Choo Choo!

I dunno why they wanted to "slightly" decrease PoP zone exp. They should just bump up Old World exp to come close to PoP exp. Finally, you can actually get exp in Old World zones . . . go figure

[Casai]

I cant belive ppl have the nerve bitching on warrior board about PoP solo xp. I say fuck you! No warrior solos in pop. Dont bitch about solo xp here. We dont give a shit.

[Adzar]

Who exactly was complaining?

[GSW]

Only problem with this is...exp is already extremely easy already. I don't care about how soloers will react, soloers have the power to take down a mob of their own level and have all the loot and good exp for themselves. And they don't need to spend time LFG. But...this change would make the exp much too easy to get. Who the heck are the people from Verant listening to? A few wierdos who scream "OMG Shadowbane r so 1337!" because they get easy exp in that game? Sure, i can get easy exp. Yay! But think about how many more horrible players you will see in the high end game. Heck, i know 3 people who used to be newbies a while ago and now are 60+. One of them is in a 65 only guild(sucked up to them apparantly) wearing very good gear, including a BoC. The other joined a 60ish guild of powerhungry and not very smart people hoping to get loots. The 3rd one just hit 60 and is guildhopping until he finds a 60+ guild that raids very high end places so that he can get good gear. I don't talk to any of them anymore. Anyway, imagine how many people like that will be considered better than you because they have better gear and are in a good guild? Of course, if you're in the elemental planes you don't have to worry about that *yet*...

[Glatius2]

Actually, I believe they've been listening to the community at large, but primarily the classes that are completely unable to solo past level 60. It has always seemed kind of retarded to make a number of classes completely dependent on grouping and yet reward them at a lower rate than the independent soloers.

With disadvantages should come corresponding advantages, right? The advantage soloers have of not needing to rely on others shouldn't also reap them faster experience than other people who have to futz around for half an hour or more getting the right combination of characters together and so forth.

And why are you worried about how fast the experience comes? PoP experience has always been insane. You can go from 60 to 65 within a week to ten days if you're playing diligently. So now it will be four or five days, so what?

[slyse]

And so what if there are morons that get to 65, big freakin' deal. It's not like there aren't plenty already. I dunno about your server, but on quellious there's a pretty large shit list that everyone who talks to anyone knows about, so the dumb people are mostly avoided. Suck it up and deal with it, let the xp flow...

[Gnomers]

What EXP you all think that EXP is going to be better now I thought it really like it was said here that the ZEM is going to be next to nill and all that extra EXP you tought you are getting is the same exp that you got before. I garuantee this. That is my gripe about it. It shows that SOE is nothing but a two faced bastard of a company who is to scared just to say WE ARE NERFING SOLOERS AGAIN. Alo everyone that says that soloers just have to ask someone to join, if they are capable of killing by themself they should not be penalized for it. What ever happen to Greater the risk equals Greater the reward.

[Gonaden]

EQ is a gamed fundamentally designed to be a social game of interaction, teamwork and team skills. Yes soloing is possible, but it should be discouraged and this change is a great step in the right direction.

Its so annoying to group with people and go to popular camp spots, only to find them taken by 1 person.

Its so annoying to see non-soloable classes in LFG mode by the hundreds because other classes are being greedy and want to solo for more xp/plat/loot.

Its so annoying for a group to go to a zone and find it being farmed by soloers, with all camp spots taken.

If you want a solo game, there are plenty of decent RPG games out there. Everquest is not really a solo game. What the developers are doing with this recent change is right.

Soloers - get over it, stop whining, live with the change or find a new game - one thats designed for you to play on your own.

[Gnomers]

Dear god that is the most ignorant response to a post I ever read Gonaden. Why should soloers get penalize for what they design the classes are able to do. That is what comes down to it.

It is not Fair to take from one and give to another that is what this exp change patch will do. Is it positive change yes it is for most is it negative yes it is to soloers. They are implementing this totally wrong. They should increase exp for grouping and leave the soloers get the same amount therefore totally balancing the gain of exp to both rather than penalizing one group and giving one a gift

[Adzar]

That response is from someone who does not play a solo class Gnomers. I have a mage who solos a lot and I still view this change as positive. I will still be able to solo when I want to get away from flaming idiots and I will still get XP. It is unfair that with my mage I can ding in less than half the time it takes with other characters on similar levels. You may say it is all risk vs reward but if people wanted to play a game that did not require you to depend on other people then go get a playstation 2 and play something on that. I depend on other people all the time and I would not have it any other way. No I do not like being dependant but nothing makes a better friend than someone standing toe to toe ankle deep in bad guys.

You can call his response ignorant but the only ignorance I see is putting on the blinders and having the view "This must be bad those bastards at Sony are taking something away from my beloved solo class"

[Gnomers]

My main is a a Warrior my necro is my alt. OK I see both side of the spectrum on this ok so you are aggreeing to penalize one group of people just because they have to group. That is wrong ok. I choose to play a warrior and I new I needed to be dependant of others to get my exp like everyone else here so why the changethe exp now and not before. Why didnt this change happen in Luclin or Velious. Why tell me this. What makes POP zones so favorable to nerf the soloers exp. I would like to know. OK I do not know what else to say I strongly disaggree with this change it is tottaly unfair. But that is my opinion.

[Redhenna]

It shows that SOE is nothing but a two faced bastard of a company who is to scared just to say WE ARE NERFING SOLOERS AGAIN

Why should soloers get penalize for what they design the classes are able to do. That is what comes down to it.

Several thoughts pop to mind. Yes, they should have said strait out that they are nerfing soloers in PoP, they are. I think that is a good thing, but it is still a solo nerf. Encouraging grouping is a possitive thing. Soloers will still be able to solo when they choose, just for lower rewards. This is only right. Maybe it would help to think of it not as being penalized, but being balanced.


I thought it really like it was said here that the ZEM is going to be next to nill and all that extra EXP you tought you are getting is the same exp that you got before.

From initial reports from test, this sounds as if it might be true, but you ignore one detail. The grouping bonus still applies outside of PoP, and, combined with exteding blue and lt blue mobs, might make hunting in zones that are lower level, but with better drops worthwhile. CT, DN, AR, UP might all see a little more use after this. Taking a full group and farming drops might actually be worthwhile now. It will certainly be interesting to see how it plays out.

[Khumak]

"Soloing is by all means has more risk than grouping."

No it doesn't. If they removed the ability of solo players to inflict damage without taking any THEN it would involve more risk than grouping. Hmm, snare + dot, plus run around in circles never getting hit. Yeah that's pretty dangerous and involves tons of skill... Charm 500DPS mob and go wait for xp message... yeah that takes skill.

Solo xp has been unbalanced since they introduced the game and it sounds like maybe they're FINALLY going to do something about it. About Fing time.

[Khumak]

Even if this change does go live soloers will still have a HUGE advantage in loot earned/time spent xping. The xp advantage just won't be as large anymore. IMHO they should tweak it so that the theoretical max XP you could get soloing is no more than half what a group of 6 could get.

[Beornegar]

I'll put it simply. My warrior is my main, my shaman is my alt that I play when I get sick of grouping. With KEI I can not only get better xps solo than in a group, I can get SIGNIFICANTLY better xps solo than in a group. I see this as a real problem. It shouldnt work that way. They're not taking the ability to solo away from solo classes (and some might argue that in all fairness they should since it can cause such a disparity xp gain between soloers and non soloers, as well as depriving group dependent classes of needed group members), they're just toning down the reward for soloing to a more realistic level. I'm all for it.

Beo

[Smohg]

I'm pretty sure SOE was looking at the average AA points of "solo" classes (classes that can easily solo) verus classes that are group oriented.

I wonder what the average AA is for a warrior with 200 days played and compare that to the average AA for a bard/wizard/druid who has the same amount of time.

[Gnomers]

Maybe I am blowing this out of porportion, maybe I am jumping to conclusion. I see your points and still beleive my points. We will never aggree on this so lets aggree to disaggree

[Haass]

Well, 2 problems exist really.

First is that solo XP beat the living hell out of grouped XP from day one. I figured this out the day my necro tag teamed with a druid in NK and we killed yellow and red con beetles ALL DAY LONG and I barely got more than a bubble of xp, when I could do a level in about 3 hours solo. I stopped grouping for my serious XP after that. Grouping in a MMORPG should be encouraged, and it wasn't for the longest time.

Second, the insane ZEM that PoP brought to the table made all other zones obsolete. When everyone's advice is to "Get flagged for POV/POS" because that's the only way to get XP these days, that's wrong. Outdoor XP should never be higher than dungeon XP, I don't care what mobs hit for.

So there we have 2 longstanding issues, both of which broke the game. I'm sorry, but soloing should not bring in faster XP than grouping. It needs to be adjusted in one way or another. You can call it a nerf to your necro if you want, but your necro still gains XP 1000 times faster than a warrior in PoP, doesn't he? And ever since PoP came out all of the old world zones have been empty, which isn't good for the population of a server. What good is having 5 expansions if everyone level 50+ is crammed into the same one?

Good solution, solved 2 long standing issues in one fell swoop....however, it's about 4 years too late on one of the issues. They really need to be more proactive about this shit and solve the problems when they come up, not 4 years later. They'd have a better game that way.

[Casai]

I agree Haass. That was the first thing I kept asking where the hell are the dungeons! PoI/PoD/PoN nop. PoV/PoS nop. First dungeon in pop I found is Tactics and I love the zone. BoT is sorta like a dungeon where you can sow but I dont think there is much difference if any in xp between those zone and PoV I found that a bit desturbing. Since I dont really give a shit that these mobs drop spectral pearchments instead of ethernals...

HoH outdoor and I dont like it. CoD is not bad but xp I think even worse then pov at least near zone.

[Gerick]

the way i see it this will make OS, KC, ToFS and sever other old world zones worth visiting, notice a trend here? revamping old zone and loot tables like PoH. they are trying to tone down bottle necks, as for solo'ers the patch DOESNT take all the bonus xp just some of it, and with the extended LB and blue range solo'ers have a wider choice of weak mobs they can kill.

besides, if you ever hung around the EQ boards before they were closed verant(now SoE) said all the time, they never intended for people to solo, if you want that go play morrowind, and as you see solo'ers foxored up balance because they made druids and necros and mages more powerful thinking they would be more welcome in groups, but instead they join for 5 min. complain about XP and then go off to solo

also they did say group xp(aim of the game here peps) will be faster or the same, think of it this way they have 2 expantions coming out REALLY soon and people wont buy them unless they can see a benefit, just look at the opening month sales of PoP compaired to the rest of the expantions, they are trying to jam the end game up with more players so they can raise the level limit again and sell alot of games(prolly will make them online again)

[Abynormal777]

As someone that plays both a 55 warrior and a 55 druid, all I can say is about frickin time! I have a lot of fun with the warrior (actually prefer him), but the xp rate is painfully slow. I went from 51 to 55 with my druid in a little over a week. It's taken me over 2 months to go that far with my warrior.

Group xp sucks now and I'm glad to hear SOE's looking at changing it.

My preference would be to just increase group xp to be on par with solo xp, but as long as they don't go too far, I don't mind a small nerf of solo xp as long as group xp gets a big boost.

Abinormal

[wyndaria]

Sorry...

Bard visitor in da house.

As one of the best solo classes in the game (if you consider all levels, not just 60+), I have to stand firmly in the 'This change is good for the game' camp.

In fact, I'd skew the delta even further against solo'ing. There is simply no reason that a bard at level 50 can go and take the entire werewolf camp in PoN by himself and rocket to 60 while warrior_02 dings 52! woot!

Sure it takes skill. Who cares???? There are 400,000 EQ accounts. Solo = 1, MMORPG=400,000....

Carry on,
Wyndaria,
Virtuoso, Firiona Vie.

[Jakle Attakle]

The voice of reason almost hit us in the head :)

[Gerick]

woah that was sane, awsome

[Rumblingdeth]

ready....WAAHHAAAA I can't solo for more exp than a group. Let me relay a story:

50SK can't get a group in Seb, soloed his way up, bitched repeatidly about it demanding to get more exp than my warrior (as he always had) soloing while making fun of the fact I couldn't. Then he couldn't handle the fact I passed him in levels as I knew many people on our server. Got invites in TT before I even zoned into Seb. I EARNED respect and recognition from raiding (something he avoided) and meeting a zillion people.

50 Druid whining he can't get a group in Seb because he soloed dwarves for 20 levels (and assorted crap before that) and now no one knows him. Always wouldn't group with me "I get more exp soloing". Now upset I get more exp than him. Druid whiny bitches got modified CH heals to make them more group friendly after playing the game set to "easy" for the first 50 levels.

I can assure you a dr00d, necro, and many soloing classes have it no where as hard as a group forced char to get exp.

It is back to Kunark, YEAY, and developers always meant for groups to get more exp than soloers, as it should be in a MMORG. Devs working for Sony have stated such before, the soloers just didn't want to hear it.

Soloers should get less than half the exp of a decent group, they had it way to damn easy for way to damn long. Now this gets done as EQ is dying, fools at Sony should have done this after Beta.

[Glatius2]

I have to admit, sometimes it makes me laugh. I often debate/argue with the Paladins at PoN and one way they regularly give me a chuckle is they lament how Warriors have a slight advantage getting a group until the 60s. They then bitch and moan about how they have to go get crappy solo experience in LGuk as a result.

I try and explain to them that while they might be getting 'crappy' experience in LGuk, it's a hell of a damn sight better experience than a Warrior would get without a group. And then they feel they have to point out that if the Warrior has a fungi tunic and an additional 15k in other gear he can solo just fine into the 50s. It doesn't seem to impact them at all that a Paladin can do it with less than 5k worth of gear.

It just makes me laugh.

[Abynormal777]

As a 55 warrior with fungi, cobalt bp, windblade, CoCW, etc., I have to disagree with the warrior solo option in the 50's...even with my gear soloing still sucks. I was fine until about 51, but since then it's been basically impossible.

On the other hand, when I use my 55 druid with fairly crappy gear...soloing is great - even in PoP with cheap gear.

I'm still surprised this game has been out there for so many years and they are just now considering dealing with the solo vs group xp issue. The way the game is designed, if you want to lvl, don't invite your friends or meet new people! (I just went though this again last night...I only had an hour so I could have solo'd with my druid to get 2 or 3 blues, but instead ended up grouping for less than a blue...it was fun playing with friends, but it's frustrating that the xp is sooo slooooowwwww)

[Beornegar]

I say again, this should have been done a long time ago. Cant tell you how many of my friends have started <insert solo class here> alts, and had them pass me in levels, especially after the advent of KEI for lowbies. Really bugs the crap out of me. 'Bout damned time. (We won't even mention the ability to solo the hell out of cash mobs while I toil endlessly in SolA for my cash, but that's OK, because I'm so much more gear dependent than they are.) :P


Beo

[Flair]

Good solution, solved 2 long standing issues in one fell swoop....however, it's about 4 years too late on one of the issues. They really need to be more proactive about this shit and solve the problems when they come up, not 4 years later. They'd have a better game that way

Heh if this is the same Haass from warriors eq.stratics board I think we had this discussion 3 years ago ;-)

Personally I'm glad they are shifting incentives to grouping. My best fun in EQ was during the original game/kunark era when it was all about groups; not raids not soloing.

Possibly raised: is it a coiincidence that they are adding an incentive to group right around the same time they are hyping their upcoming "Lost Dungeons" expansion? Is a coincidence that they are restoring "old world exp spots" at the same time they want people to reaquaint themselves with the area in which "the Lost Dungeons" will take place?

I mean seriously doesnt anyone else get tired of the game carrots being lined up so we do what Sont wants us to buy next?

[Lamoeb]

Good to see them addressing grouping mechanics at last. Looks like an effective plan to solve two long standing issues at once. That said, I couldn't let this pass without comment...

I mean seriously doesnt anyone else get tired of the game carrots being lined up so we do what Sont wants us to buy next?

Getting tired of the carrots? The exit is always open. We sometimes get too involved and forget to step back. A break can do ya good.

Second, this game is a business built to maximize profit and minimize cost. Fussing about that is like spitting in the wind.

Third, no one forces us to whip out the cash for the next expansion. Don't buy if you're not satisfied. I still haven't bought LoY. I resolved not to buy another expansion until class balance was addressed. Now they're talking about it, which is good. If class balance isn't solved to my satisfaction I'll turn away for good.

We have three powers they cannot effectively oppose and stay in long term business. They are: cash, population, and the pen. We'd all do well to remember that we aren't victims unless we allow it. In the end they will always do what we encourage them to do by opening our wallets.

[Flair]

Good point.

Hrmm I wasn't going for the victim thing...more the frustration thing. When things get this blatantly inconsistent between releases I think thats appropriate.

One other thought: isn't the execution of the powers you mention kinda contingent on people venting this frustration as a start?

[Lamoeb]

One other thought: isn't the execution of the powers you mention kinda contingent on people venting this frustration as a start?

Yes, it sure is! :)

It's a good start. Here we can work on ideas and options until they finally crystallize. Once they do, the next step is to take them to Sony. That's where it really counts.