Soulbinders?

[Messianic]

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

I guess the issue is this: we're humans. Humans have lives and they're known for making mistakes and mindless errors. So the game punishes them when they make these said mistakes. It's like punching a man in the gut because he breathes.

This is a really poor comparison. You do not receive physical or mental or emotional injury because you died on a different continent without being bound there. You just have to ask someone for help or take the long, hard road to your corpse. No one is getting punched. You're simply losing time - that's all.

Are you disappointed that the game actually following its own rules? Should the game say,"oh, he only accidentally bound himself in a stupid location, let's not allow those mobs to bindcamp him." Doesn't seem rational to me. Errors of omission are errors just the same as errors of commission.

Part of the resonant appeal of EQ is how brutal and unforgiving it is. You treat it with more respect when you play because of that. I didn't give a crap what happened in WoW because I had nice safety rails everywhere I went. I still find EQ more fun despite all the safety rails and Ezmodes WoW installed. I found it difficult not to make progress in WoW, even when I tried not to.

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

Blaming them because they were unable to find a binder in the past 25 minutes, lacked patience and roamed around and got killed? There's a lot of blame going on and not much sympathy. Why?

It's supposed to be a game with set rules, not silly flimsy rules based on people who are unable to deal with them. This server would suck like most of the others if we installed all the EZmodes that Live EQ did, and the population would be way lower.

In your example, they died because they lacked patience (something that is of incredible value in EQ, given how much more of an attention span it requires over WoW or other modern MMOs), and they pay a price in time. That's it.

It's not like someone is being harmed or crying over it - there's no reason to have empathy for someone dying in paineel while being bound in Gfay. I'd offer them a port to save them time, but they did not experience something horrible for which I should feel bad for them...

Would anyone play monopoly then muse over the lack of empathy of others when you land on boardwalk with an opponent's red hotel? You either enjoy the game for all it is, or you only enjoy it when it's easy...meaning you don't really enjoy it.

I can totally understand not enjoying EQ because of how harsh it is. But to try to change its ruleset or ask for empathy about how hard it is, is just silly. Once you eat the cake, you no longer have it.

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

The other guild was better organized. You are the idiot guild/raid leader that let all your casters sit around with their thumbs up their asses while your melees looked for binds. You want something to happen, make it happen. Send your casters to bind your melees. Or just have your melees not bind and don't wipe. If you are mobilizing first and you fail to get the raid target, then that's your fault, not the game's.

Again, your example is a minority case where your refusal to put forth effort or accept greater risk resulted in your loss.



What is stopping you from traveling between cities? I fail to see how I cannot remain bound in Ak`anon while I run to Paineel. Do I die from being too far from my bind spot? Is there a 3-zone leash that I can't be further than my bind spot from?

/shrug
the history have shown that game developers disagree with you, hence Soulbinders appeared in EQ [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[falkun]

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

/shrug
the history have shown that game developers disagree with you, hence Soulbinders appeared in EQ [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

And yet people return to P99 to relive an experience where socializing and creating relationships matter, where that name above your avatar can find you a group or keep you LFGs for weeks.

The same developers that added Soulbinders, hearthstones, etc. are also the developers that are now adding extra rewards because tank classes refuse to group with idiot, random DPS that die because they stand in the fire that the tank will probably never see again.

How many groups in EQ chat about BS while grouping? How many groups in WoW chat about BS while instancing? The ratio is highly skewed in favor of socializing in EQ because socializing is mandatory and rammed down your throat. And damnit, I like it that way, that's why I came back.

[stormlord]

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

And yet people return to P99 to relive an experience where socializing and creating relationships matter, where that name above your avatar can find you a group or keep you LFGs for weeks.

The same developers that added Soulbinders, hearthstones, etc. are also the developers that are now adding extra rewards because tank classes refuse to group with idiot, random DPS that die because they stand in the fire that the tank will probably never see again.

How many groups in EQ chat about BS while grouping? How many groups in WoW chat about BS while instancing? The ratio is highly skewed in favor of socializing in EQ because socializing is mandatory and rammed down your throat. And damnit, I like it that way, that's why I came back.

This is off-topic, bud. But what you say is true. I have spent more time chatting with others in EQ than in most other modern MMORPGs. In fact, it was very rare for me to chat with people in DnD like I have in EQ. There's just not very much downtime. Most of the time that we're together we're moving. But on the other hand, people play MMORPGs to kill things, to quest, to move and accomplish. They don't usually play them to sit down and chat while medding. If they want that, they can login to a chat server or something more appropriate.

[RiffDaemon]

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

/shrug
the history have shown that game developers disagree with you, hence Soulbinders appeared in EQ [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, those same developers who stripped classes of some of their utility usefulness by introducing the PoK books and potions, who merged the Commonlands into one zone with new graphics, who changed Nektulos and Lavastorm, who took away old-school mob graphics (bats, rats, skellies, gobbies, etc.), etc. etc. etc.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[guineapig]

What it all comes down to is that this server is replicating Everquest 1999-2000 era. Everyone knows that when they create their first character.

There are many servers available that recreate a different Everquest experience. People that do not like the way Everquest was implemented in the beginning are encouraged to compare this server with one of the many other emulated servers available to choose from.

I'll tell you what though, many people that leave eventually come back here.

[quellren]

You sure like to point fingers.

I've played a ranger, bard and a warrior on this server to mid-levels and before that, I played a Troll Shaman who came to EC at lvl 3, and a gnome necro who came to EC at lvl 4. Everycharacter I've played on P99 has needed a bind at some point.
I never waited more than 5 minutes for a bind.

If you are waiting 45 minutes, you're doing it wrong. /ooc'ing passively is well, lazy.
I have received literally DOZENS of tells from players while sitting in EC at the market asking if they can donate a few plat for me to bind them in FP. I've always done it.
Hell, I once ran to Neriak to bind someone for 10p. I buffed and SoW'd them as well.

crying in ooc, as you yourself claimed isn't going to make me want to help you either.


So you can drop the 'pity me-I'm a warrior' attitude, all it takes in zoning ONCE into EC and doing a /who, then politely sending them a tell.


As for your example of the Nagafen raid. This example is FAIL. Why the hell would you care where you're bound for a dragon raid? You're guaranteed to have several clerics who have this nifty spell called resurrection. Does it matter whether you respawn in Oggok or FP? You clearly aren't joining the fight again.

[Aadill]

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

This. All of this. And then some

+1

In any and call cases the basic idea behind soulbinders was to eliminate the inconveniences of the game that were easily rectified with careful planning. If you aren't willing to take the risks or plan ahead don't expect good results.

Furthermore, learning to talk to people and find friends that are willing to help you or /tell some random person and pay them a few plat to bind you is way more reasonable in terms of actually interacting with people instead of typing 'bind my soul' to another half-assed attempt at catering to the anti-social/casual solo gamer.

[Kika Maslyaka]

the people who keep pushing for "its a social game" aspect somehow forgetting that all the inconvenient things somehow only affect HALF of the classes.

-its the melees that have to walk THERE AND BACK, while casters only need to walk there, and can get back instantly
-its the melees who need to get "social" and get some caster friends to get a bind, and not wait for 45 min to get one
-its the melees who have to fight their way out of the dungeon, rather than just gate out
-its the melees who have to run across 3 zones from a nearest possible bind point, to join their group, while casters can bind just outside the zone in

somehow, all the PUNISHMENT and "hard game" experience only falls on melees, while casters are never bothered with this concept.

And then you start screaming how WoW made it easier for everyone - no, not for everyone, only for the OTHER half of the players who didn't had this luxury for the first 5 years - the other half ALWAYS had it easy.

And then classes like ranger and and Sk have insane Xp penalties, while none of the casters do...
Hows that a good game balance?

[falkun]

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

the people who keep pushing for "its a social game" aspect somehow forgetting that all the inconvenient things somehow only affect HALF of the classes.

-its the melees that have to walk THERE AND BACK, while casters only need to walk there, and can get back instantly
-its the melees who need to get "social" and get some caster friends to get a bind, and not wait for 45 min to get one
-its the melees who have to fight their way out of the dungeon, rather than just gate out
-its the melees who have to run across 3 zones from a nearest possible bind point, to join their group, while casters can bind just outside the zone in

somehow, all the PUNISHMENT and "hard game" experience only falls on melees, while casters are never bothered with this concept.

And then you start screaming how WoW made it easier for everyone - no, not for everyone, only for the OTHER half of the players who didn't had this luxury for the first 5 years - the other half ALWAYS had it easy.

In all my years in EQ, I never played a binding class above L20. I still managed to raid and experience tons of content.

But, I'll indulge your "the haves vs. the have nots".

- Its casters that always have to sit and med while melees get to fight a mob from 100% -- 0%.
- Its casters that always have to scavange for armor while the melees get awesome armor sets.
- Its melees that get game-changing clickies like warriors getting shrink, invis, and a healing clicky or rangers with free summoned arrows.
- Its casters that, for the entire life of classic, have inferior DPS to melees.
- Its casters that have to wait for the melees to arrive before they can start doing anything, so they aren't gaining anything by being an ass to the warrior thats running those 3 zones you mention.

This game is NOT balanced in the way WoW is balanced. STOP trying to shoehorn YOUR ideas of balance on this game. If you want the type of balance you are discussing, go back to your newer MMOs. I want this kind of balance, so I'm here. If you want some other kind of balance, look somewhere else.