Ninibi

I agree with the nostalgia/newness factor. Nostalgia is probably one of the more powerful tools in an MMORPG from what I've seen since I started this one - just look at how twitterpated everyone gets when a new "old" zone opens up (Unrest, or "hey is the statue still over kaladim? is the chessboard still here?" etc.).

T5 seemed like a good mix, though, too - lots of contesteds and short instances - and one nice big long one for those who were nostalgic for the long zones of EQ1. Sort of "something for everyone."

And, there was a lot of "somethings" to choose from - you can go do Zalak, Rognog, Lich and MoTM in one run, or, you can run up to Drayek, Vox, catch Krathuk and Vision, maybe Zatan and other contesteds on the way through - or, go do Tremblar and Spirits, or ...

It's perfect for ADHD brains - we don't get bored being able to mix and match and throw in different targets... you can keep people on their toes, guessing where you're going to send them next rather than one big revelation at the beginning of the night: head to LoA. I miss that excitement of "oo I wonder what we'll go do - and, I wonder if it'll be the mob that drops loot I want!" vs. "dang I hope I get some relic leather out of here tongiht..."

DoF actually had a moderate amount of content, but much of it was outgrown way too quickly - when a contested epic can be trio'd by people not yet out of the tier, that's not an epic.

Boosting up those lower epics would have been fair BUT for the fact that T5 content was so screwed up it was nearly unraidable when DoF came out, due to the combat revamp. If that had not been the case, it would have been totally fair for the T6 stuff to be much tougher and new raiders still go learn on T5 stuff before taking a bite out of T6.


One thing people want in this game is: lots of variety. Most of us are short attention span types, I think - and unless something keeps us really entertained (unrest!), long zones are momentum killers (HoF). There are good things about them, don't get me wrong - but a mix of contested, short and long zones is, to me, the best formula for keeping curiosity piqued.

But, I don't necessarily see that they're not doing this now - it's just on a smaller scale. Or, the "short" zones are x2 and if you have 3 groups, one is sitting around outside with their thumbs up their arses waiting for you to get finished in there.


Perhaps we want what we had when we first started out - tons of choices, lots of x4, lots of places to go - brand new "full game" content vs. pared down expansion content. So maybe it ends up being a disappointment to players and designers alike - designers feel like: we put all this work into it and made this great thing! Players feel like: why didn't we get more - we paid for a whole new game! But, otoh, how many years went into making EQ2 and old world content vs. the 6-8 months or so that goes into an expansion? So maybe it's partly over-expectation on our part? I'm not criticizing the desire for more content - I want more - tons more. Bluntly I want it all! Literally double the game every 6 months - more puzzles, more zones, more AA, more loot, more more more. Stuff that'll keep me busy long past the next expansion, so that I'm scrambling to catch up. /greedy :D

But, I think at the same time, I don't think it's possible for any expansion to meet the bar of what came with the original game. 6 months - even under 12 months - is a pretty short period of time to develop a ton of content. In this case, EoF felt "empty" for many of us already in t7 who didn't want to start up Fae toons - but for people starting with Fae toons, there's a ton there, particularily for an expansion.

Anyway just my rambling meandering thoughts.



At any rate, I still like T5 - we've been throwing them in while rebuilding after VG for s&gs, AA, alt goodies, etc. It's a change of pace & scenery, nostalgia for those of us who started out there, a good place to get newer raiders in to learn - and some of the mobs still have cheek. I miss that shiny armor! It surprises me how many people have never at all been on a T5 raid, or seen the zones - so it's huge fun for me to find out it's the first time they've seen it or been there - while we try to remember how the heck the encounters went (which is to say: we remember as it's happening... "oh yeah, hey, he spawns adds!") while remembering how much pain we went through the first times we were there. Good stuff.



Btw, don't mind Gusta's bitterness over DoF. ^^ He got all excited about it, dueled the wrong girl then got slammed with child support payments and nagging everywhere he went for the rest of the tier. ;) Come back home dear, the kids and I miss ya! xoxoxoxo ;D lol /duck

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Manyak

Looking back, the only thing i wouldn't want from t5 is the mechanics. I dont want to cast breeze over and over 1000000 times a fucking raid, thank you.

But like everyone said, its having so many damn mobs and stuff, with enough of them being easy enough for the noobier people.

If all t5 and t6 contesteds got bumped to t7 stats, and given their old wrath of fury, that shit would so own like no other. Wed have a total of 26 contesteds not counting avatars.....which is enough to keep all the guilds on a server occupied. Of course, assuming itemization is done correctly in that all mobs have at least one piece of loot that someone would want, it would create ALOT of competition on all servers. Enough contesteds would be easy enough to kill that EVERYONE would be forming up for them, and enough would be so hard that only the best guilds could go for em. And there would aways be enough contested up at once that it would be hard as hell to lock down everything. Like if vox AND nagalik AND sols fist are up, if say 2 guilds are at vox trying to kill her, the third guild can just say hey lets go get a head start on nagalik and fuck him up before they get to it. THATS fucking competition. Putting in enough mobs with a loot table that actally has RARE things in it that everyone would want is the trick.

I know for a fact that every uber guild on any server keeps hurricanus on lockdown just for the hell of it. Maybe to gear up their alts. But if another 20 contesteds got bumped up into the game, maybe then we wont have to bother wasting our time. Let some other guild get hurricanus while we go and kill vox for something we actually need. It would definately make shit alot more enjoyable.

There was nothing like T5 where ud have 3-4 guilds at war with each other to kill something. And there was NO FUCKING LAG!!!!

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Red Rock Candy

There was raiding in T5?

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"OMFG Rock, you are like a fucking 5 year old, I want to give you graham crackers and milk and put you to bed." FrutyCocoPebles, XBL

Manyak

on befallen? yes. raiding existed on befallen until near the end of t6. cuz once that server merge happened, the faydark guilds pwnd the befallen guilds, and they still own the server =)

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arieste

like someone said above.. T5 was the original game, T6 and T7 are expansions. The only problem is that an "expansion" implies there being MORE to do, but with tier increases, expansions in effect left us with LESS to do because they made the original content obsolete.

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Twiztd

and you cant forget ( with the exceptions of contested and week lockout zones) its not a guaranteed master chest...

as much as that pissed me off... it just gave me more reason to go back into the zone the next day and pwn them again...i remember when i first started raiding we did MotM a week and a half in row and we never saw a master chest.... but when he finally did drop a master chest... glorious!

Twiztd

what are the chances soe would make some new servers with the pre LU 13 and lvl cap at 50 ???? think it would ever happen???

Niber

I think it would be cool to just see a new server period. WoW launches 3-4 of them every other week it seems like.. there hasn't been a new EQ2 PvE server since launch.

Laodaron

If you wanna do T5 and don't think its overrated, go to the thread right abve this, something about Progression and doing some non-carppy raids.

Pinski

About the same chances as an actual Enchanter playing and not being botted on that server.

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All of the seasons and all of the days
All of the reasons why I've felt this way
So long...
So long
Then lost in that feeling I looked in your eyes
I noticed emotion and that you had cried
For me
I can see