FTE is for nerds

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

FTE is a meta-game solution to a game design flaw.

In eq2 contested mobs was a FTM situation -- first to manage. Wipes were common. Through the first 5 years or so of eq2, you could dominate a server simply because you could manage the contested fights.

In my last 2 guilds in eq2 we would often let any guild that wanted to try, to try while we watched and gave them a shot. Never lost a mob. You had to know all the details of the fight and how to execute. One mess up can be a wipe.

In eq1 as p99 has reconstructed it, we still have the original flaw of the game: the content is easy until much later expansions.

When content is hard? You can do contested.
When content is easy?

Earthquakes and FTE is one solution. Rotations and mob tiers were another. If you do FTB (first to burn) you end up with SK armies taking down Venril Sather in .05 seconds.

p99 does not rule out sk armies or any other raid tricks that really should count as meta-gaming. FTE is meta-gaming. But so are Earthquakes.

I think voice chat is meta-gaming so ignore me.