So, what now?

Luceus · 12-03-2007, 05:27 PM

Well, the new expansion is out and most "hardcore" players are lvl 80, and most "casual" players seem to be at least 75+. This being just a month after the expansion.

So, obviously they put in a ton of easy to do quests which made it nearly impossible not to level even at a casual rate. I'm not complaining, I hate the grind and was glad they didn't require me to sit in KC to level up.

The problem i'm now having though, what is there to do now? I'm level 80 doing exactly what I was doing at 70 a month ago, sitting in Qeynos between raids waiting for the next one. Is this what the game will be for the next 11 months waiting for the next expansion? Just sitting around, waiting?

My options between raids (keep in mind i'm a level 80 templar with 133 AA's)

a. Work on epic quest - Ok, let's pretend this was even in the game. I suppose this could be something to do assuming they don't make it mind numbingly boring and easy like the SoD quest. I don't have much faith this will be a fun quest, but i'll wait and see. And wait, and wait, and wait... when will this be in?

b. Tradeskill - I have a high level jeweler and a high level tailor, and neither draw me any interest. I use the same components as everyone else to make the same items with the same stats, which most are sub-par to the quest rewards for the grind to 80. So what's the point? Tradeskillers are just assembly line workers producing the same exact product using an insanely boring system. Give us some variety, make us work at it and actually potentially create items that even casual players may take a peak at.

c. Run Instances - This seems to be the popular option, as it seems like the only options. That being said, it's not a good option. CoA and Vault are insanely easy, and Chelsith is insanely boring. Maidens is the only half decent instance in the expansion and it takes about 1/2 hr to 45 mins and usually only drops the item needed for the quest which is going to get nerfed soon. Before the nerf announcement, that was pretty much the only reason to run the instance. Sure, you can go through and get items which are slight upgrades (if that) to the quest rewards and/or T7 raid items, but as a plate healer (and i'm sure chain agree), it becomes less worth it when leather healing items seem to drop most of the time.

Oh, I could also do the instance in Chardok, but last time we did, we tried to explore chardok after and killed nameds dropping absolutely nothing. Good job on the itemization, and good job making Chardok RoK's SolEye. A massive zone full of nothing.

d. Farm for Masters - No thanks. The upgrade between AD3 and M1 isn't nearly enough for me to sit through these zones to just watch wood chests drop from like 85% of the named kills. Give us real upgrades, and that becomes a maybe.

e. Grind AA's - I'm at 133 right now, and could honestly care less if I make it to 140, or they took away 33. The thing that made me happiest about the AA change was that I could spend more on the Cleric tree. The first thing I did with RoK was respec, spent 21 points in templar to get blessings then spent the rest in cleric. Their AA system has so little thought put into it, i've honestly just been tossing points randomly at things in the Templar tree until I raid again and then i'll just get the upgraded Sanctuary. Woo, fun. I assume it's not much different with other classes either.

So, my guild raids 3x a week, what is really the point of this game to load up any time during the other 4 days? I'm sure more casual players will not be at this point yet, but i'm also sure it won't take them too long to be asking the same question themselves.

Oh, and raiding isn't even that big of a deal anymore now that I already seen my class set in the shipyard. What a disappointment, is anyone putting any real thought into these items, or are they all just done with a random item creator? Why do some treasured/legendary items have better effects on it than the class sets which encourage you to wear all 7 pieces in order to get a set bonus.

Sorry for the long rant, but i'm just a little bummed i'm sitting in Qeynos bored off my ass just a month into the expansion, and I know i'm not alone.

Caswydian · 12-03-2007, 05:40 PM

Why do you assume the game has to provide you with something to do every day?

Luceus · 12-03-2007, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caswydian

Why do you assume the game has to provide you with something to do every day?

Because I pay monthly. This isn't a 'me' post either, unless i'm the only one sitting around Qeynos a month after the expansion bored.

Caswydian · 12-03-2007, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luceus

Because I pay monthly. This isn't a 'me' post either, unless i'm the only one sitting around Qeynos a month after the expansion bored.

I pay a monthly cable bill, but I don't expect there to always be something on TV that I want to watch.

Let me rephrase the question - why should MMO designers design games in such a way that their game becomes the only source of entertainment a person might have? As game publishers have multiple titles to their name, it becomes more sensible to encourage people to play multiple games (preferably the publisher's games). Further, as consumers are presented with more choices in games, they will want to try more than one game at a time. Thus, there is a convergence of interests - it is no longer beneficial to design games that will be played for many hours every day for months or years on end.

Uyaem · 12-03-2007, 06:12 PM

By your definition, continuing to work on a game after release is a waste of time.
Content is only one part in the time the development process of the game takes. Engine, adjustments to mechanics, ... are others. By investing more time in releasing content, you actually gain - because engine et al are already there. You will want to bind people to the game for as long as possible.
Of course this is an approximation, since we all know that mechanics changed quite a few times

Kampfer · 12-03-2007, 06:12 PM

A) If bored quit
B) If no keep playing until A becomes true

Simple

Luceus · 12-03-2007, 06:16 PM

There is a huge difference between cable and an MMO. Cable constantly provides new things to watch, even if it's the news. Would you continue to pay cable if they just ran re-runs on every station?

I don't expect them to keep me entertained 24/7, but if you're going to have a game you want people to play, why continue to produce things that look automatically generated? Like I pointed out, no epic quests yet, tradeskilling could be FAR better, they could give us more reasons to run instances, farm for masters or grind AA.

I'm not asking them to personally keep me busy, just stop half assing everything they do. I don't care if they have 1,000 other games they're working on. That's not my concern. We all pay monthly, so i'd hope they'd be able to afford a dedicated and competent staff for the game we play.

aduros · 12-03-2007, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caswydian

I pay a monthly cable bill, but I don't expect there to always be something on TV that I want to watch.

Your looking at this too broadly. An EQ2 subscription does not supply me with 100+ (channels of) games. If people subscribe to HBO, and can't find anything to watch except the same movies 3 nights a week, subscriptions will be canceled. It's that simple.

Drakhammor · 12-03-2007, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luceus

Well, the new expansion is out and most "hardcore" players are lvl 80, and most "casual" players seem to be at least 75+. This being just a month after the expansion.

So, obviously they put in a ton of easy to do quests which made it nearly impossible not to level even at a casual rate. I'm not complaining, I hate the grind and was glad they didn't require me to sit in KC to level up.

Same, slowly making my way there, 75 now. Just exploring, enjoying the quests, some of the little quips and humor put in. It's fun and I like it. I DO wish grinding was an option; nobody really wants to just sit and do KC, and sometimes ya just wanna kill shit.
The problem i'm now having though, what is there to do now? I'm level 80 doing exactly what I was doing at 70 a month ago, sitting in Qeynos between raids waiting for the next one. Is this what the game will be for the next 11 months waiting for the next expansion? Just sitting around, waiting?

This is a toughie; unfortunately depending on your playstyle and what your expectations are from the game, you may very well be bored no matter WHAT is offered to you. Unfortunately, they can't cater to absolutely EVERYONE, and that needs to be understood. Any MMO will be unable to make everyone happy/content 100% of the time.

My options between raids (keep in mind i'm a level 80 templar with 133 AA's)

a. Work on epic quest - Ok, let's pretend this was even in the game. I suppose this could be something to do assuming they don't make it mind numbingly boring and easy like the SoD quest. I don't have much faith this will be a fun quest, but i'll wait and see. And wait, and wait, and wait... when will this be in?

I think they took the right step with SoD questline (EXCEPT for statues... timesink sucked). Good storyline, GREAT rewards for non-raiders and raiders alike. This was good; Claymore was cool too, although it ended up being abit long (even considering PH's can update quest dings now). I hope Epics are a measure of length close to Claymore, with a good bit of storyline thrown in as well. I don't want to ever see "Kill 10000 orcs" at any point in any epic weapon quest. But I see this being a viable option if they do it right. Hold your breath, no clue when it's in.

b. Tradeskill - I have a high level jeweler and a high level tailor, and neither draw me any interest. I use the same components as everyone else to make the same items with the same stats, which most are sub-par to the quest rewards for the grind to 80. So what's the point? Tradeskillers are just assembly line workers producing the same exact product using an insanely boring system. Give us some variety, make us work at it and actually potentially create items that even casual players may take a peak at.

For everyone that DOESN'T like the tradeskill system, there's 10 that do. Again, they can't cater to please everyone. Also, T8 tradeskilling isn't THAT terrible. Adept 3's are for the most part upgrades to t7 master counterparts, and Mastercraft seems to be decent for the level. There's always exceptions when you throw in some of the available quest rewards, but in general, MC armor and Adept3's SHOULD hold the casual player through most of t8, with the random quest reward(s) thrown in as needed. Of course there's not much for raiders of t7, but raid-upgrades has never been the goal of the tradeskill system. Should it be? In some cases it has been, combining components from raids with high-level tradeskillers for a win/win, and the stuff is mostly good. don't know if they've done this much with t8.

c. Run Instances - This seems to be the popular option, as it seems like the only options. That being said, it's not a good option. CoA and Vault are insanely easy, and Chelsith is insanely boring. Maidens is the only half decent instance in the expansion and it takes about 1/2 hr to 45 mins and usually only drops the item needed for the quest which is going to get nerfed soon. Before the nerf announcement, that was pretty much the only reason to run the instance. Sure, you can go through and get items which are slight upgrades (if that) to the quest rewards and/or T7 raid items, but as a plate healer (and i'm sure chain agree), it becomes less worth it when leather healing items seem to drop most of the time.

I hope they address drop rates for chain/plate healers. No matter the 'effect' or intended 'role' of a class, it's gimping an individual's playstyle to deny them that choice. Pretty lame IMO. As far as easiness/quickness of these instances: You're t7 fabled, no doubt (being that you were a 'bored' raider) and well geared compared to alot of the playerbase. Expect it to be easier. Prolly still easy-mode wearing t7 legendary sets. It would be nice to have much tougher instances for higher-level crowds tho, like unrest or CMM was back in end of EoF; even fabled

Oh, I could also do the instance in Chardok, but last time we did, we tried to explore chardok after and killed nameds dropping absolutely nothing. Good job on the itemization, and good job making Chardok RoK's SolEye. A massive zone full of nothing.

d. Farm for Masters - No thanks. The upgrade between AD3 and M1 isn't nearly enough for me to sit through these zones to just watch wood chests drop from like 85% of the named kills. Give us real upgrades, and that becomes a maybe.

e. Grind AA's - I'm at 133 right now, and could honestly care less if I make it to 140, or they took away 33. The thing that made me happiest about the AA change was that I could spend more on the Cleric tree. The first thing I did with RoK was respec, spent 21 points in templar to get blessings then spent the rest in cleric. Their AA system has so little thought put into it, i've honestly just been tossing points randomly at things in the Templar tree until I raid again and then i'll just get the upgraded Sanctuary. Woo, fun. I assume it's not much different with other classes either.

Well I'm pretty happy with expanded AA as a swash, ymmv. Any tips you might have on improving the tree should probably be /feedback'd (and yes lol ignored or whatever) but see what your fellow templars are doing and if they have a different viewpoint on this. I don't play a healer, so nothin' here from me other than me bein' pretty happy w/ AA for the most part.

So, my guild raids 3x a week, what is really the point of this game to load up any time during the other 4 days? I'm sure more casual players will not be at this point yet, but i'm also sure it won't take them too long to be asking the same question themselves.

Oh, and raiding isn't even that big of a deal anymore now that I already seen my class set in the shipyard. What a disappointment, is anyone putting any real thought into these items, or are they all just done with a random item creator? Why do some treasured/legendary items have better effects on it than the class sets which encourage you to wear all 7 pieces in order to get a set bonus.

Sorry for the long rant, but i'm just a little bummed i'm sitting in Qeynos bored off my ass just a month into the expansion, and I know i'm not alone.

Well again, can't make everyone happy all of the time. I tried playing LoN at one time, bored quickly, but I still hunted abit for boosters over the weekend; got a cool loot card to turn me into an ice skeleton. Went broke buying afew more boosters shortly thereafter trying for other loot cards, only got stupid card-cases so far and an xp potion (worthless considering grinding blows, but anyway). Searchin' for little things like that is my latest obsession. But probably nothing anyone says will change your opinion, perhaps roll a character just for 'fun' and goof around with 'em, learn new playstyle or w/e.
You have a right to rant or whatever, but the only problem that I see with posts like these in general is they are only rants, and don't ever offer any real constructive criticism about how to make things better (in their opinion) so just come off as a little bitchy with no resolution. The whiny kid that tells his mom "I'm bored" even tho there's an entire world outside; she'll make him clean his room. Think about what you'd LIKE to see, and possibly suggest it. This board is more trafficked than the official forums from what I've noticed, by players as well as devs. I imagine if presented in an appropriate light, most considerations would be taken and acted on where applicable.

Good luck in finding something you like,

Added replies above

sloppy · 12-03-2007, 07:03 PM

i agree the new loot this expansion seems to be completely half assed and nothing much too look forward too. you can only see so many +damage and +crit gear before the awe wears off. What ever happend to uniquie procs, effects, and clickies on items? something people acctually want. set gear is pretty sucky too i agree.