Velious Variance Discussion:

[SCB]

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

^ ?

Yeah that post needed a serious edit.

[falkun]

After all this time in Kunark with Variance, TMO wants to remove it because it'll make NToV more annoying?

I'm all for removing Variance and adding Server Resets at reasonable intervals.

Variance makes NToV a hassle instead of the raid dungeon crawl it was meant to be. I don't believe you can invis through it the same way that can be done in VP.

Due to the increased mob DPS and HP in Velious, Variance will make it so that batphoned raids have to be larger than the already ridiculous size of P99 Kunark raids. Only because you are the guild that currently kills most dragons is this question directed at TMO, at what point do you give up batphoning the instant something spawns and go to planned raids? Right now it appears TMO will batphone at any time and muster the ~35 it needs to kill any 32kHP target. Will you still batphone at 3AM to get Ikatiar (136500HP) or Aaryonar (221500HP)?

It appears TMO will do what it must to maintain dominance given the environment it lives within (simple predator/prey relationship), so either TMO must balloon in size to respond to Velious' increased difficulty, or TMO is happy with its size and would like Velious to shrink to its size.

The majority of the rest of the server has decided to say, "Screw it, we'll play at our pace regardless of the environment," and we get the amount of kills we do. Personally, the server as a whole would be better served by "shrinking," since the majority population does not want to expand to the size necessary to be abundantly fruitful in killing mobs. And it appears TMO is here with the same request to "shrink" the environment.

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

24/7 tracking is brutal for something you have no clue when it will spawn. Random method would favor the pop in tracker or xp groups in the area discovering something is up potentially making raid mobs more accessible to guilds in the right spot at the right time. It would make it extremely hard for guilds to camp out at the next biggest target "due up" when they have no clue which it will be. The so called competition would shift from logging in hoping for FTE to a race on who could mobilize fastest and engage.

Random method would also cater to the force with the most alts camped out at all the different locations. I'd rather give advantage to the lone 60 guy (note I'm included in this group) than the person who has leveled/purchased 4+ toons and spread them across Norrath. But I can also see how the person who invested the immense time/money into those 4+ toons thinks I'm a charity case because I haven't put in similar effort. That next raid kill means a lot more to the lone 60 than it likely does to the multi-character player, but then I'm more a fan of the journey than the destination.

[Nerosys]

I think variance should be removed, however the discussion doesn't end there, there has to be a solution to the toxic raid environment. Velious is no joke you will not be zerging mobs in velious and if you do you will be met with a wall of death. I do not think rotations or things of that nature were required in Kunark but come velious i think some agreement will have to be made, the competition should come from killing the content. Remember how long it took people to kill AoW with no aa points? Are we really going to try and guild hop and FTE engage in velious ? Besides the fact that it's just getting old i think you will find the results from dying due to rushed engages will get old and some agreement will be reached in the end.

[isoka]

Removing variance in Old World upon Velious release would allow big guilds willing to lockdown content to know when to log alt number 7 for a trakanon kill or a VP kill.

My guess is casual raiders will not perma track mobs but much more log a tracker, find a mob up and mobilize or find no mob and log the tracker off. In this case, variance in old world doesn't hurt casual raiders at all, though it hurts hardcore raiders willing to keep all content on lockdown.

Keep variance in place in my opinion to stop the tracking fest bullshit and let everyone enjoy the thrills of defeating a big bad mob.

[Ruenaros]

We know that simulated maintenance day repops are in the works as of that Sirken interview the other day. The implementation there really is what's going to decide whether or not variance is going to be needed anymore.

[Barkingturtle]

Remove it or not, there's no fixing the raid scene on this server because no amount of code can fix broken people.

[diplo]

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

Remove it or not, there's no fixing the raid scene on this server because no amount of code can fix broken people.

one of the realest things i've read in my p99 career.

[Gadwen]

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

Remove it or not, there's no fixing the raid scene on this server because no amount of code can fix broken people.

Well done sir

[Nlaar]

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

Remove it or not, there's no fixing the raid scene on this server because no amount of code can fix broken people.

Prost!

[falkun]

Well I tried answering the question, but then Barkingturtle came in and stated the blunt truth without beating around the bush. The raid scene is easy to fix, its the people that suck.