Child's tear

[fastboy21]

i don't understand the OPs problem.

Shaman epic is easily purchasable. the whole friggin thing. there are plenty for sale each week and plenty of lowish shamans running around with them (not alts in A/A, actual people who bought the epic).

If your gripe is that you want the "joy" of having killed the golem yourself and looted the tear in fear then you need to join a raiding guild...it doesn't even have to be A/A for shaman epic because the golems are 3 day timers, and afaik the poop sockers only go after the golems to do CT.

I wish I could buy my bard's or wizard's or necro's epic for 60k.

[Baler]

My anger on this subject comes from the point of view of a new player. Someone who has spent a lot of time playing p99 but may not know the ins and outs of the server just yet. Shaman's epic seems (from that position) like it's locked behind a wall where only the elite can obtain it. And while yes it is an epic so it shouldn't be handed out willy nilly. It does seem that the pay wall is absurdly high and for those non guilded it's nearly unobtainable.

One of the biggest false senses of accomplishment is the shaman epic quest line. You can go through it start to finish, Sit in CoM, or do turn ins. None of which are difficult what so ever. So you breeze through the factioning part of the epic quest and then suddenly get hit in the face with said pay wall or needing a raid guild. I feel this leads to many new shamans or alt shamans becoming frustrated in not being able to wield their epic right away.

-- lost my train of thought--
Also shaman is played far more on p99 that it ever was back in the day. Prices for items on p99 are entirely made up based on perceptions and then cast is stone until they magically get lower.

Yes there are harder epics to obtain but that's irrelevant.
ps. I have my SoF, I paid for it. /shrugs

[fastboy21]

Originally Posted by Baler [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So you breeze through the factioning part of the epic quest and then suddenly get hit in the face with said pay wall or needing a raid guild. I feel this leads to many new shamans or alt shamans becoming frustrated in not being able to wield their epic right away.

How does the fact that (if you don't want to buy it) you have to join a guild that raids creating justifiable anger?

I'm not sure what you mean by "wield it the right way." You can easily get your epic if you want to do it "the right way" by joining a mid level guild that raids fear and going for the golems. Winning the golem kills isn't impossible on off CT days.

On live, you would have had to do the exact same thing...except much less chance of buying it.

If you want to seek a real challenge for your shaman there are plenty of other metrics you can shoot for other than getting your epic. Its a static server years after being stuck in Kunark...the epics just aren't the mark of respect that they were on live. That is the nature of the static server though, it has nothing to do with A/A being greedy.

[fastboy21]

Originally Posted by fastboy21 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How does the fact that (if you don't want to buy it) you have to join a guild that raids to get your epic creating justifiable anger for you?

I'm not sure what you mean by "wield it the right way." You can easily get your epic if you want to do it "the right way" by joining a mid level guild that raids fear and going for the golems. Winning the golem kills isn't impossible on off CT days.

On live, you would have had to do the exact same thing...except much less chance of buying it.

If you want to seek a real challenge for your shaman there are plenty of other metrics you can shoot for other than getting your epic. Its a static server years after being stuck in Kunark...the epics just aren't the mark of respect that they were on live. That is the nature of the static server though, it has nothing to do with A/A being greedy.

[Phatez]

Originally Posted by Baler [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

My anger on this subject comes from the point of view of a new player. Someone who has spent a lot of time playing p99 but may not know the ins and outs of the server just yet. Shaman's epic seems (from that position) like it's locked behind a wall where only the elite can obtain it. And while yes it is an epic so it shouldn't be handed out willy nilly. It does seem that the pay wall is absurdly high and for those non guilded it's nearly unobtainable.

One of the biggest false senses of accomplishment is the shaman epic quest line. You can go through it start to finish, Sit in CoM, or do turn ins. None of which are difficult what so ever. So you breeze through the factioning part of the epic quest and then suddenly get hit in the face with said pay wall or needing a raid guild. I feel this leads to many new shamans or alt shamans becoming frustrated in not being able to wield their epic right away.

-- lost my train of thought--
Also shaman is played far more on p99 that it ever was back in the day. Prices for items on p99 are entirely made up based on perceptions and then cast is stone until they magically get lower.

Yes there are harder epics to obtain but that's irrelevant.
ps. I have my SoF, I paid for it. /shrugs

It's an epic. Epics are attained by the elite. That is classic. What percent of people had their epic in velious on live? A much smaller than have it here.

[Cecily]

Originally Posted by Phatez [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's an epic. Epics are attained by the elite. That is classic. What percent of people had their epic in velious on live? A much smaller than have it here.

Good argument back when TMO ran the server. Epic bottlenecks years and years later get to the point where it's kinda ridiculous. Solution? Luclin probably. So in other words, the situation will never improve. You just need the stars to align and get lucky or buy it.

[Tupakk]

Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Good argument back when TMO ran the server. Epic bottlenecks years and years later get to the point where it's kinda ridiculous. Solution? Luclin probably. So in other words, the situation will never improve. You just need the stars to align and get lucky or buy it.

So says the elite.

[Westcreek]

Originally Posted by Phatez [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's an epic. Epics are attained by the elite. That is classic. What percent of people had their epic in velious on live? A much smaller than have it here.

Finally posting to say that this is dead wrong.

I was super casual back in the day, I obviously couldn't log on much early as there was only dial-up and I couldn't afford the insane prices to stay connected to the internet.

Even when I finally got ADSL connection and was able to play more than an hour or two here and there, I still was casual, and was only in the 5th or 6th best guild on the server. But I still had no problems getting epics for my alts, even the Shaman.

The "hardcore" players back then was nowhere near as rabid as on here, and you would often find raid mobs just standing about, and there was even healthy guild diplomacy, without having to be enforced by GM's.

A lot of my friends were all in the top 1-2 guilds on the server, and they all had jobs and healthy lives, they didn't live in the game like some people do now.

This is on the EU server of course, I couldn't attest to how it was on US servers.

[stonez138]

Originally Posted by Phatez [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's an epic. Epics are attained by the elite. That is classic. What percent of people had their epic in velious on live? A much smaller than have it here.

So dumb. What percent of servers had kunark for 5 years?

[tobolamr]

Originally Posted by Baler [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

My anger on this subject comes from the point of view of a new player. Someone who has spent a lot of time playing p99 but may not know the ins and outs of the server just yet. Shaman's epic seems (from that position) like it's locked behind a wall where only the elite can obtain it. And while yes it is an epic so it shouldn't be handed out willy nilly. It does seem that the pay wall is absurdly high and for those non guilded it's nearly unobtainable.

I'm new enough here yet... I agree that, after reading through the epics again after 16 years, that with the raid scene as it is that the epics can be seen as locked behind a wall... I also am not a fan of paying for MQ's or paying for quests. I'd rather participate in the activity of obtaining the item. But I also cannot spend huge amounts of time per week dedicated to a video game.

Detoxx asked what to do... There are a vast number of things that can be done. The question isn't what to do, the question is will it be followed and respected?

Bottom line is that there Is and ARE agreeable solutions. Back years ago, I played on a server that had a much different raiding situation at the high end. It left opportunity for all groups to raid, without a lot of trouble. But, what do I know?