Luclin

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

What a lot of people who companion about wow and eq post velious seem to dislike is new content. It's like you want to never upgrade your gear you got from guk or leave the original zones and starting area. Sorry to tell you but MMO's can't survive without a steady influx of new content. People aren't going to be happy with the new content if it doesn't provide upgrades for their characters.

I disagree. (well at least I feel this is not true for me).
I wholeheartedly welcome new content, since after all raids are done and all gear sets completed what else there to do?

The problem with new content in all MMO is that its done WRONG. Theme mismatching aside, balance and gear become out of whack NOT because they add better gear, but because they make better gear more easily obtainable than it was before.

Lets take this abstract example. Let suppose that you had a 10/22 weapon dropping from lev 50 content in original EQ. When In Kunark level goes up to 60, I can rightfully expect that a better weapon would drop from lev 55/60 content.
But what happens is that Kunark offers 10/22 at lev 45, and then 10/20 at lev 50, hence devaluing old hard earned gear.

It happened in EQ, less noticeable during Kunark/Velious era and A LOT more noticeably during Luclin/PoP/later eras. It happened in EQ2, WoW etc. Specially in WoW it happened in such ridiculous amount in Wrath+ era that solo gear from lev 50 in new expansion was better that hard dungeon group gear from lev 60 from previous expansion.

So, please do add new content, but don't ruin gear progression that has already formed, unless you want to turn entire old content into ghost-town like its happened in EQ, EQ2, WoW etc.

[Halius]

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

What a lot of people who companion about wow and eq post velious seem to dislike is new content. It's like you want to never upgrade your gear you got from guk or leave the original zones and starting area. Sorry to tell you but MMO's can't survive without a steady influx of new content. People aren't going to be happy with the new content if it doesn't provide upgrades for their characters.

I think the problem isn't the fact that new content is released, it is the fact that the new content so dramatically overpowers old content that people don't like it. For example from Kunark to Velious, the Kunark gear you can obtain is still relevant until you get up to Velious, where the gear is better but not by too much that it makes someone in Kunark gear irrelevant.

The problem in WoW was that when they released their first expansion BC, the green drops greatly overpowered any epic gear you may have obtained doing 10/20/40 man raids. It was just incredibly disappointing that all the gear you worked hard for was no longer relevant. And they have done that in every expansion since. EQ did it right by only slightly improving the gear in Velious so that old content still mattered when you were gearing up.

[SCB]

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

The problem in WoW was that when they released their first expansion BC, the green drops greatly overpowered any epic gear you may have obtained doing 10/20/40 man raids. It was just incredibly disappointing that all the gear you worked hard for was no longer relevant. And they have done that in every expansion since.

That's not a problem. That's a solution to a problem. It's a solution you don't like and I'm lukewarm on, but it's an attempt to solve the very real problem caused by "backflagging" and such.

I'm not a huge fan of how WoW went about resolving the issue, and wish 5man instances took more of a role there, but I can understand why they'd go that route.

[Zuranthium]

You don't need new zones to have new content. What's IN the zones can change, drastically (even without sandboxing). This has a carry-over effect to equipment - if zones/encounters are constantly changing, then it means you need different modifications on your gear to constantly have the 100% best setup for an encounter, which means players will constantly be seeking out a larger pool of gear to keep in their bank and face any given encounter with.

Also, actually, a lot of people don't like needing to change the look of their gear and are very happy with creating an individual look that they find most appealing and can use for years. Like if Bards could always wear Lambent armor, and just had a dozen different sets of Lambent armor with different stat mods, a lot of people would enjoy that the most.

[Borador]

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

You don't need new zones to have new content. What's IN the zones can change, drastically (even without sandboxing). This has a carry-over effect to equipment - if zones/encounters are constantly changing, then it means you need different modifications on your gear to constantly have the 100% best setup for an encounter, which means players will constantly be seeking out a larger pool of gear to keep in their bank and face any given encounter with.

Also, actually, a lot of people don't like needing to change the look of their gear and are very happy with creating an individual look that they find most appealing and can use for years. Like if Bards could always wear Lambent armor, and just had a dozen different sets of Lambent armor with different stat mods, a lot of people would enjoy that the most.

oh my... Who are these people?! I like gear options but many games go overboard with the multiple sets of resist gear. EQ was good for a bit with just the need for resist jewelry

But the SAME item look forever? I think the best part about MMOs is either showing off your gear or seeing someone else with some amazing item you would dream about getting.

Also, I look at games as works of art. At some point you have to stop adding to it and just say, its done. That can be hard to do.

[enr4ged]

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

Bazaar is such a no-brainer, that literally EVERY SINGLE GAME since then has had some sort of mechanic for it. You're either not really a gamer or haven't thought it through, if you don't want a Bazaar. It has been the single most grind-destroying structure in MMORPGs since its advent in Luclin, and may be the greatest contribution that EQ has made to the MMORPG genre.

If you mean that by it making the game easier and destroying the feeling of a real community, than yes it was the greatest contribution. And every game has it now because it caters to casual players who don't want to work for their things. It's because of the "auction house" system that so many cookie cutter mmorpg's this day are so easy and really encourage doing things by yourself instead of grouping up. Sorry but that's boring to me. But, it appeals to casuals, and there are more players that like it easy, rather than hard: thus more money for SoE and other MMORPG companies; so it will continue to exist.