Bard swarming ruins classic experience.

[rxfh]

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

You can petition if you feel a player is taking up too many mobs in a zone.

We do appreciate it if you attempt polite conversation with the player you are petitiong first, however, and try to work something out so that everyone can share the zone in peace - this is almost always the first thing I will do when called into a situation like this. Obviously if a compromised can't be reached for whatever reason, I'll usually just limit the bard to a single camp and they'll leave on their own accord (after raging at me in tells for a bit).

Bottom line, for me, is that I'm more interested in making sure the group of 6 trying to XP has mobs to kill than the 1 bard PL'ing someone for platinum. This goes double for newbie zones, where a lot of people get their first impression of P99 and really start to "relive" Everquest.

Thanks for the reply. I usually do send a tell, and a few times have come to an understanding, but in general I just get ignored. It's not worth it for me to petition or find a new zone, I usually just log and check back a few hours or days later.

Unfortunately the 'play nice' rules require a level of civility and responsibility from people which is asking a lot, more than most seem to be able to muster. I find technical solutions work better when possible, but can only imagine how the various coding scenarios would break things at a fundamental level in EQ.

If it's as big of a problem in Velious, I'll just move on (or get my shinebox or whatever). I want to relive the classic vibe and exp where I did originally, not beg for scraps and hope someone is nice enough to leave a few mobs behind so they can be selfish.

PS - to the "omg kiting is totally classic" crowd - be serious - it was never 20+ mobs in a pull. It was more like 4-6, not a zone-destroying kites.

PPS - I'm not worked up over any of it, and really appreciate the hard work the volunteer staff puts in - we're mostly all older and have real jobs / kids etc these days [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I have limited gaming time, if it's not fun to me I'm not gonna invest the small amount of time I do have

[iruinedyourday]

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

(or get my shinebox or whatever)

ah hey man I didn't mean anything negative I was just messin' around with ya [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] not like filthy trolling but like just like lighthearted trolling.

Dont go! stay! There is plenty of eq to see, actually there is a vast majority of EQ to see and enjoy that bards cant kite!

I don't really like to ruin anyone's day not here [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[toolshed]

People are so bored on Kunark right now that everyone is rolling ridiculously twinked alts or trying out bards it seems.

It's either a bard at the camp or some rogue with a fungi and epic since lvl 1 monopolizing the camps; had a rogue last night with a fungi, epic, and a camped/boxed lvl 60 cleric to buff/heal... how bad of player do you need to be that a fungi and epic at lvl 30 isn't enough??

And honestly it wouldn't be that big of a deal if the uber-twinks weren't the biggest assholes I've met on P99. Not only do they monopolize zones, but they are rude and arrogant; none of the crazy twinks ever want to duo a camp, but will gladly inspect and mock you for wearing new gear.

I guess I haven't had that bad of a time with bards....it's every rogue I meet with a fungi+epic+asshole that isn't classic

[Swish]

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

People are so bored on Kunark right now that everyone is rolling ridiculously twinked alts or trying out bards it seems.

It's either a bard at the camp or some rogue with a fungi and epic since lvl 1 monopolizing the camps; had a rogue last night with a fungi, epic, and a camped/boxed lvl 60 cleric to buff/heal... how bad of player do you need to be that a fungi and epic at lvl 30 isn't enough??

And honestly it wouldn't be that big of a deal if the uber-twinks weren't the biggest assholes I've met on P99. Not only do they monopolize zones, but they are rude and arrogant; none of the crazy twinks ever want to duo a camp, but will gladly inspect and mock you for wearing new gear.

I guess I haven't had that bad of a time with bards....it's every rogue I meet with a fungi+epic+asshole that isn't classic

Have had similar experiences on alts. If they talk smack on red you can at least pvp them.

Cue Drpepper and Macarena in Kurn's Tower... probably a year ago now...

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[HippoNipple]

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

I'll preface by saying - I played a bard from Luclin thru GoD and loved the class. Now, I feel they're ruining quite a few zones. Have you tried exping in LOIO or OT? Or any other open outdoor zone without a faction hit?

This was totally not part of classic. No one had a computer or internet connection stable enough to pull such huge chunks of zones, over 30 mobs per pull. This didn't start until PoP, in PoN/PoD and HoH.

Is this something that is going to be address in Velious? I can't see investing more time in this game only to have giant tracts of zones totally overrun by bards - thinking about all the outdoor Velious zones I can see it being a total joke.

I imagine the coding would be complicated, but it seems like, if more than 6 or 8 mobs are on a player for more than N number of minutes, reset those mobs and ignore all aggro / damage from that player (or any player until it reaches its spawn point).

This swarm kiting was not the classic experience and it sucks.

I love p99 and have been having lots of fun but I'm disappointed to see a lot of the zones I used to level in being essentially wastelands while a few players dominate the entire zone. It seems to violate the 'play nice' policy and the spirit of p99, the classic experience.

If there is no plans to address this in Velious I'd love to know, so I can cut the cord before I invest more time..

This server is trying to replicate the classic game mechanics that was released in 1999. No one gives a shit about your personal experience when you were 10 years old and we aren't here to make sure everything goes the same way for you as it did in 1999.

[toolshed]

And genuinely, these twinks are awful at playing their characters as well. When they do finally group up: necro twink not healing/twitching, only nukes; bard fungi twink only singing one song; shaman fungi twink not buffing or healing; multiple fungi+epic rogues drawing agro against a SK because of 'leet deeps dude'

I don't know if this is because their character was just created 2 hours ago and they don't have the right spells since they got plvled, or maybe they think that once people see their gear it won't matter the skill level, but the twinks are awful to play with and I have never seen so many ridiculous twinks in my EQ days.

Okay I just started playing on this server, and they got here first, but holy shit do they need to learn to play.

[MilanderTruewield]

My first character on this server is a rogue. No epic, but oh well. His dps is ok, he does have a rapier of oriin and a css... no haste though [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Evade rarely works pre-20. Warriors at this level suck at keeping agro due to the dependency they have on proccing weapons in order to keep agro. Thus, my rogue constantly gets agro. I hit evade after every BS, if not more often, and I turn attack off if the mob turns to agro me. I still have agro for the rest of the fight. When a pally or SK is tanking, as long as they know what they are doing, they can keep agro.

Not all twinks are bad. Just the majority [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Daywolf]

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

My first character on this server is a rogue. No epic, but oh well. His dps is ok, he does have a rapier of oriin and a css... no haste though [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Evade rarely works pre-20. Warriors at this level suck at keeping agro due to the dependency they have on proccing weapons in order to keep agro. Thus, my rogue constantly gets agro. I hit evade after every BS, if not more often, and I turn attack off if the mob turns to agro me. I still have agro for the rest of the fight. When a pally or SK is tanking, as long as they know what they are doing, they can keep agro.

Not all twinks are bad. Just the majority [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Duo with a cleric against undead. Works really well.

Er well excluding high elf [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
But full plate, better than summoned weapon, and a bit of extra str. Will hold 95% of the fight with one DD. And even with the rogue pulling [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Though the trick is finding one that isn't just loaded down with wisdom junk.

[Taminy]

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

Evade rarely works pre-20. Warriors at this level suck at keeping agro due to the dependency they have on proccing weapons in order to keep agro. Thus, my rogue constantly gets agro. I hit evade after every BS, if not more often, and I turn attack off if the mob turns to agro me. I still have agro for the rest of the fight. When a pally or SK is tanking, as long as they know what they are doing, they can keep agro.

Not all twinks are bad. Just the majority [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you're grouped with a warrior (or trioing with a healer) have someone root the mob then use proximity aggro.

[Klapton]

I am a little disturbed by people thinking some kind of nerf is the answer to this problem. The answer is for those Bards to stop being bogarts.

I would also like to point out, not that it's going to help much, that people are using the wrong terminology to describe this solo technique. "Swarm Kiting" is actually a method that uses a large group of "social" mobs by proximity aggro, then charming one to attack the others. The "swarm" beats the pet down very quickly. When the pet is almost dead, charm is broken, and the former pet "chanted" down to finish it off. The Bard gets the full xp for the mob. Rinse repeat until the "swarm" is dead.

What people are describing here is simply "AE Kiting." As others have noted, AE kiting has been around since the game began.

The places where this can be done are limited. I agree that it is especially annoying when a Bard bogarts in newbie zones, making it difficult or impossible for newbie groups to xp. At higher levels, I'm less sympathetic to non-bard players who can't simply find somewhere else to go.