The clock on the cable box in the living room is twenty minutes slow; I *know* I shouldn’t rely upon it. I was trying to be clever and use my Asus Eee from the living room to SSH into my Linux box and copy the latest episode of The Middleman to my Vista laptop so that my PS3 could find it and play it. I have this crazy idea that I can use the Eee to control every piece of electronics in the house. I’d managed all that, when I noticed the Eee had a different time from the cable box — the correct time — and that I was late for the Tuesday Nostalgia group.
I ran to my room, jumped online, but nobody else from the group was there. I checked the boards and it looked like a lot of people weren’t going to make it; Hakiko may have been there and left already, I don’t know and nobody on had seen him. So I went to the Bazaar and thought about buying some gear to fill up all the empty slots in Sela’s armor, but after about an hour, decided to work on Tipa’s levels and AAs instead.
Since we raised the level cap from 52 immediately after killing the dragons last week, most everyone has been madly leveling … the three levels to the new cap of 55. Some people have wished for the cap to be 60 instead, but I want Nostalgia the Guild to be the kind of place you can come once a week and not fall behind. With AAs, there’s always something to do for those who want to play more.
I made level 53 the same night we removed the cap in the Crypt of Nadox, the level 55 hot zone. I made 54 in Akheva Ruins while we tried to do with one mid fifties group what raid guilds used to do with four level 60 groups — take on Va’Dyn, the giant rock monster who is one of Luclin’s first raid targets. We eventually managed to get him solo, but we could not take his damage. Still, made a level from the attempt because AR is, too, a hot zone.
Last night it was back to Nadox where I got 40% of the way through level 55 and my 20th AA, which I spent on Weapon Affinity. There are SO MANY AAs after so many expansions that it’s tough to figure out which to get. I have Run Speed 3, Innate Regeneration 3, Foraging (by mistake), Combat Fury 2 and Weapon Affinity 1. The last couple will increase my dps a lot.
The group I was in couldn’t keep mobs off me, even if I did nothing but auto-attack (I’ve a variety of nukes and dots I can add, including uber nuke Icewind that I quested for last weekend). I kept casting jolt, but finally decided nothing would work but to stay out of the fight entirely for the first few seconds. That helped some. Chain casting Jolt worked somewhat but was harsh on my mana.
The night was marred by the constant stream of high level monks who would go from camp to camp in Nadox looking for nameds to steal, bringing trains with them wherever they went, leaving death behind them. Sure, they could have feigned their trains off, but there was always the possibility that some level appropriate groups might get the nameds in their areas before they did. And there were plenty of level appropriate groups around. The fifties are the time you start coming upon the majority of the players. Most of the group was probably alts, but their twinkage was usually not high; I was the only one wielding epics, anyway.
So when I say training skills, I’m talking about the monks’ skills at training. I can’t tar them all with the same brush — we had two monks in the group who seemed very capable — but it certainly seems that if you want to be a real jerk, and you really care nothing about anyone besides yourself, a monk is the way to go. Once all the lowbies in the area are dead or dealing with your train, you can steal their named mobs.
Years ago, being trained would have really bugged me, because I cared about leveling and loot. Now that I realize neither of those things matter, I just take these things as they come. Being able to affect someone else’s game play, for good or ill, is just part of EQ. I got trained, and I died, but I got dragged to a friendly cleric, got a rez, full buffs, and an invitation to join their group. Being trained was bad, but I got to meet new, friendly, good people as well. In an entirely instanced game, neither would have happened. World of Warcraft, et al, by taking away the bad parts of open dungeons, took away the good parts as well.
I like your idea of the level caps for the players. I cannot count the number of times I had several people in my old guilds in WoW, EQ2, etc, all outlevel anyone else, then QQ because they have no one to play with, except us lowbies, and we of course could get screwed for XP etc…(at least EQ2 and the mentor system was awesome)
Now, I wonder, did you really care about that train or not? And how does your comment make you feel about the discussion of WAR’s use of Open Dungeons and the Boss Encounters being instanced (according to posters…not any REAL evidence yet)
Keen posted about this here…
K and G discuss PvE
Interested in your opinion…
No, I really didn’t care about the train. After I dinged and got my couple of safe bubbles into the level, I was just there kinda running on autopilot like you do in EQ0, trying to plan out my AAs, enjoying the fact that this random pickup group I joined out of nothing was filled with competent, clever people and everyone automatically knew their job. That is something I NEVER see outside of EQ and EQ2. It’s something that comes only by having to group all the time.
The level cap was one of the rules we all agreed to when we started Nostalgia, so everyone knows why the rules are there. Yeah, it means we won’t get to some high level content for awhile, but we’ll arrive there together. I think it’s nearly mandatory for the current state of EQ, where it is difficult to find groups pre-50.
I dunno much about WAR. Since I am not that much interested in a solo MMO — and I have GW for that anyway — and don’t care about RvR or PvP that much, WAR is clearly targeted toward a different kind of gamer. One of the problems with open dungeons is people camping areas with the best loot; aside from trains, that was the number one objection toward EQ’s system. If you wanted the Short Sword of the Ykesha, you got in line in a Ghoul Lord group, and hoped for the best. Once a few expansions had come out and the player base had spread out some, that became less of an issue, but I imagine it still exists today. The groups I join in EQ are focused almost entirely on XP and very little on loot. I will note, however, that Vanguard was going to use open dungeons and instanced bosses, but I have not heard they ever got it working.
Having read the K&G article, it certainly sounds like there will be a lot of gear obtainable in a very short time, so for those people who play MMOs to gain a lot of gear without much effort, this will likely be their Mecca.
Do I sound dismissive? I don’t mean to. I am just convinced they are making this game for people who find WoW players who find WoW too tough. I’m not a WoW player, I am looking for the game targeted for EQ1/2 players, I guess. Vanguard isn’t it. I dunno WHAT Vanguard is.
Ouch
There you go again mentioning Vanguard…
Of course you are totally right about Vanguard. It feels even more disjointed than the zones in EQ2, even if it is not. Just the way that it plays.
I am starting to think WAR will be gear heaven for sure. I like getting stuff. I like diablo 2 clones (check my thoughts on a new demo I tried for Single Player later this week, Diablo 2 with enhanced graphics), but WAR sounds like a battle to get those “Ubah!” weapons and stuff…
Wait…like WoW! (*hides from the angry WAR fanboi club)
But, I am at a loss to how to feel about WAR.
It is just as I read your post about the train, I remembered even LOTRO having this (due to issues with Mob release taking too long, and you could end up with 10-12 mobs on your tail). Or Age of Conan where several zones had broken mob follows, and I had to leave the zone (after running to another end of the map) to get away from said “Death Squads” (I got chased for 5 minutes, and almost gave up before finding an exit)..
I am not sure I am ready for those mechanics anymore.
Well, gear in WAR is supposed to count for only 40% of your character’s progression. I’m not sure how they will apply that percentage or where, but 60% of your character’s power is supposed to not depend on your gear. So while there will be plenty of gear to get, it may not be as necessary. Contrast that with gear-focused games like WoW and EQ1, where your gear is nearly everything. EQ2 requires good gear AND good combat arts and spells as well.
Still, there’s a huge difference between a 600 health character and a 1000 health character, so I think that 40% could very well be a crucial difference that will make WAR gear-focused even though it tries not to be. Because in the end game, every little bit you are better than the other guy is an advantage worth working for.
Trains really aren’t so bad if you treat the game like a game instead of something that matters. It’s the experiences, both good and bad, that make the memories and stories (and made mine, today). Doing the same thing you did yesterday and will do tomorrow is pretty boring. In the end, I won’t remember any loot I got, but I will remember the OOC comments about the trainers and how we all came together to keep appraised of where they were going so we could prepare.
Trainers are just like bad weather, you just have to deal with them like you would any other natural disaster.