Deson

Crafters have hashed this out already, most expansively last year when Ilucide introduced the EH recipes. The consensus was we don't mind as long as we are involved though we differed on exactly what involved meant. The rest of your questions don't make much sense they all are easily covered by effort vs. reward and already are well answered in other respects as well.

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Azleya

Raiding requires more time, more organization, and more skill (not that this game is particularly hard, but a lot of people are amazingly bad at it) than any of that other shit. Greater effort = greater reward. If greater effort = same reward as less effort, most will choose not to put in that extra effort, thus killing raiding. Not being able to get the best stuff from casual play style doesn't mean casual fucks can't enjoy the game, as being able to get the best shit quite clearly =/= 100% of game enjoyment, but raiding cannot survive if everyone can get the best shit.

I feel like someone has to bring up this same dumbass argument every fucking month or so. Can we please put this dumbass fucking care bear argument down like a dog with no bowel control?

Hexus

LU #44: THE DOG GETS A BOWL FOR HIS BOWEL CONTROL PROBLEM. -"We just couldn't see putting him down.." - Aeralik -

-Hexus-

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The simplicity of grace is the reason many will fail to see it.

Lisabish

Thanks, Illuminator - you got my point exactly.

EQ2 isn't JUST about raiding. I love raiding - I did hardcore for a long long time - even then, I wouldn't have screamed and hollared because one or two items came from a *different aspect of the game* as opposed to a raid zone.

Yes, raiding is the majority of the end-game content, however, not everyone plays for that. Push comes to shove, Sony has an extraordinary play base to cover when it comes to itemization and play in this game. From the anti-social solo'er to the hard-core raider. Putting in items like these brings together different aspects of the game and opens up new avenues of possibilities therefore covering a much larger player-base in the long run.

/shrug I've got my complaints about Sony (nil crystals anyone?) however, seeing something like this is just good business for them. Keeps a larger base of players happy and as a player, I just find it something interesting to look at as opposed to simply yelling because my charm slot item didn't come from raiding.

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Gaige

It starts with charm slot items but where does it end? "Oh its just charm slot items" "Oh its just some shoulders" "Oh its just a BP".

The point is nothing, at all, should be an upgrade for a hardcore raider unless it comes from a raid mob. Its just stupid for a raider, who raids 7 days a week and kills every killable mob in the game to have to go to a heroic dungeon, farm some named and then hire a crafter to craft them an item superior to everything accessible to him, by, oh I don't fucking know, killing the GODS.

If they want crafters to have a hand in crafting some of the best items available then the components for those items need to drop FROM FUCKING RAID MOBS. Not from some heroic named.

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Azleya

You're fucking retarded. You're putting up straw men and you probably don't even realize it because you're just that much of a casual care bear. No one is arguing that eq2 is just about raiding, but in order for raiding to survive, the vast majority of the best stuff MUST come from raiding. Furthermore, it is in no way necessary to give casual fucks the absolute best items in the game in order to appeal to them. It is very fucking possible to appeal to them and also preserve some sane fucking item progression so that raiding remains viable. And please don't act as if this is the first example this expansion of overpowered shit from soloing/grouping. People would not be bitching quite so much if these charm items were merely the first examples of this in this expansion, but right now, as a ranger wearing basically the best gear in the game, almost half of it comes from solo/group shit. That is fucked up and to argue otherwise is simply ludicrous and makes the arguer look like a fucking moron. So stop throwing out bullshit information and arguing against ludicrous positions no one is taking and wake up to fucking reality.

Gaige

Exactly I raid 6 days a week and I'm in an avatar killing guild, right now I have:

Blue Shiny collection helm
Heroic Instance BP
Mastercrafted gloves
Heroic Dungeon wrist
Solo quest ring
TWO solo quested earrings
Solo quest necklace

When this charm slot item comes out I'll have it too.

So in RoK so far, raiding since the 3rd week, 3rd guild WW to clear VP, two of the three killable avatars dead and 9 of my 21 items were acquired outside of raiding. To argue that this situation isn't fucked up is insanity.

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Cleansing the internet of e-whores since 2003! Just saying!

Karel

I don't know why ppl are surprised at the charm slot items. Thuuga neck is hands down the best neck item (probably even better than the avatar neck item) and it comes from a series of quest that can be done in 3 hours.

I don't know what to make out of Domino. All that behind the stage gossip only begs for the usual: "screenshots / logs or it didn't happen". But I know, like it was stated a few posts ago, that she keeps pushing content. Wish more devs would do the same as far as other spheres go, especially raiding.

Anduri

I don't see a lot wrong with the items that drop or can be aquired from crafters or grouping. None of them are particularly overpowered. I don't see a lot wrong with Domino's obvious passion for fixing a lot of appalling design decisions in the past for crafting either.

What the real problem is is that we do not have a Raid Developer with the obvious commitment to their cause as Domino, nor the dialogue with the playerbase that she has cultivated.

We do not have appear to have any kind of itemisation dev for raids, we all know that itemisation is a total joke. The fact we do not have raid items that replace instance drops is someones total failure to look at the big picture. The fact we have not heard a peep from a dev to say that things are being looked at is the raid devs total failure to communicate with the players in the way Domino has with crafters. Basically, she is making a lot of her colleagues look fucking stupid.

Who is it that does it anyway? They're never seen round here or the official forums. How the hell can they know what it is that players would be looking for. At least Fyreflyte chips in but raid stuff is not his bag.

So I think instead of aiming the gun at Domino for doing her best to make her sphere as good as it can be, and for engaging with the playerbase moreso than any dev I recall in the past, we should be asking why SoE haven't gone out and hired someone with a similar level of commitment to raiding.

LFG

Moved from the crafting section to items and equipment, based on the way this thread is going.

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