Nino...One of the upsides of VG.

[tad10]

Originally Posted by Kreugen

I liked Qualia because it has a hell of lot less dead space and far superior questing hubs, at least for the levels I saw. Sadly it also has less people.

I prefer Qalia too. I still think the likeliest reason for the difference in my perception of the game and say someone who quit three weeks after start is not the bugs (we both had em) but the fact that I went in with a RL buddy and we managed to fairly quickly form a very decent static group with some guys we meet online and whom we've leveled with from 15 to 40. The best content remains the group content and pugs work only if you're at the right level and doing the right content at the right time (e.g. RotK and Dargun's when they was hot, Graystone now and ?? in the future).

This is why that while I'm not in favor of server mergers I am in favor of shutting down the 1 or 2 lowest pop servers (even though the high end pop on those servers is just fine) and allowing char transfers to the other servers. There needs to be a sufficient base on each server so pugs aren't impossible and you can ideally form a static group as you level. Currently I think if someone new to the game starts out on a low pop server they're going to be like wtf?

Alternatively, I would be in favor of something like the current EQ newbie dungeon where everyone on the same server has the option to spend the first ten levels in the same place -- get some decent armor and maybe meet a couple people they wouldn't otherwise before heading out to the world. And for those who are guilded and/or don't want to meet anyone they can just zone in to the regular starting zone.

[Gaereth]

It doesn't matter how they do it...but they need to get more people together. For a mostly group oriented game the biggest killer is lack of people to play with.

Hell...even if there are people on close to your level they may not be close to you. I know I can't wait an hour while people sell, travel, screw off.....it just not worth it to group for me then. Merge em...close em....shut half the world down for a bit...whatever.

[rinthea]

Originally Posted by tad10

I prefer Qalia too. I still think the likeliest reason for the difference in my perception of the game and say someone who quit three weeks after start is not the bugs (we both had em) but the fact that I went in with a RL buddy and we managed to fairly quickly form a very decent static group with some guys we meet online and whom we've leveled with from 15 to 40. The best content remains the group content and pugs work only if you're at the right level and doing the right content at the right time (e.g. RotK and Dargun's when they was hot, Graystone now and ?? in the future).

This is why that while I'm not in favor of server mergers I am in favor of shutting down the 1 or 2 lowest pop servers (even though the high end pop on those servers is just fine) and allowing char transfers to the other servers. There needs to be a sufficient base on each server so pugs aren't impossible and you can ideally form a static group as you level. Currently I think if someone new to the game starts out on a low pop server they're going to be like wtf?

Alternatively, I would be in favor of something like the current EQ newbie dungeon where everyone on the same server has the option to spend the first ten levels in the same place -- get some decent armor and maybe meet a couple people they wouldn't otherwise before heading out to the world. And for those who are guilded and/or don't want to meet anyone they can just zone in to the regular starting zone.

Nup, you (and arudane) are wrong. The problem isnt the low pop servers. The problem is the retention rate is shit. This is because theres no solo content and people have to group to make progress. So people log in then log off when they cant get a group quickly. They dont want to fuck around doing nothing so they log off.

If theres anything to be learnt from VG, its that solo content is god damn important.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by rinthea

Nup, you (and arudane) are wrong. The problem isnt the low pop servers. The problem is the retention rate is shit. This is because theres no solo content and people have to group to make progress. So people log in then log off when they cant get a group quickly. They dont want to fuck around doing nothing so they log off.

If theres anything to be learnt from VG, its that solo content is god damn important.

There is quite a few solo stuff in VG. I know i could have solo'ed all the way until 40. at 40 it's a little bit tougher right now becuase there is hardly any quests. Hopefully they get that shit put in asap.

[Laerazi]

... or that having a game centered around grouping, where the little population you have is spread out on opposite ends of the map, unable to easily find/move to each other, doesn't seem to work that great... Who knew? (Everyone but Sigil)

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by holymight

Xennumet is Dragon's Backbone. It's that whole water area.

Ahh, nice, i will be there, my toon is actually inside the damn tent right now. I know patch probably isnt for another few days, but i cant wait.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by Laerazi

... or that having a game centered around grouping, where the little population you have is spread out on opposite ends of the map, unable to easily find/move to each other, doesn't seem to work that great... Who knew? (Everyone but Sigil)

If you bind somewhere smart, you can get around Telon fairly fast. The only fucked up travel is on Thestra. Qalia your basically 5 minutes from everywhere, depending on your bind.

I am bound at the Zaraj Arena, if i get asked for a group, i can be anywhere, fairly damn fast.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by tad10

DB has the the Xenn Tech quests right now which involve the Isle of Madness but yes there are a dearth of low 40s quests in Qalia. The Rahz Inkur/Afrit line is really mid-40s and Nusibe is also I'm pretty sure. FWIW, there is also the Tar Janashir starspark quest line which starts mid-30s but finishing quests are suitable for low 40s (killing 40-42ish minos).

Where are them quests at right now? I dont have a damn quest icon on top any npc atm in that area. Hell, until last week's patch i was kos there.

[Kendrick]

What class(es) do you play Rinthea? Because my two unguilded characters (non-kiting ranger and non-kiting bear shaman) found plenty of solo content up until oh, 40+, and even after that there's things you can do (and more coming every patch).

You aren't going to get much heroic+ gear trying to do the whole game solo, but it's quite doable, you'll just have to settle for mostly rare items, those you find and those you buy off the broker.

It may be a bit on the painful side after level 20 if you're a warrior, monk, or rogue, a bit on the slow side if you're a cleric, ranger, paladin, disciple or dark knight, and it's pretty painless if you're a bloodmage, shaman, druid, sorcerer, bard or necromancer. (The above breakdown doesn't count the ability for some classes to solo 4 and 5 dots, it's just the ability to gain experience and complete quests solo).

It's not as solo-friendly as WoW is for all classes, but it's a helluva lot more solo-friendly than EQ ever was.

From my point of view the only ball that was dropped was the raid content, and that's surely coming down the pipe soon.

One of the major complaints over on SV by the "true believers" is that there is TOO MUCH solo content and not enough people want to group because of that, which is aggravated by the travel time.

[Mkopec1]

Kendrick-I agree about the solo part. I found solo hubs in my 1-25 levels I played. Its a huge fallacy that there is no solo content in this game. It surely exists but you have to find it. And IMO this is the biggest crux, having to find it.

There are shit for guides on the net for this game yet. So you have to actually explore the content to find the hubs. And this is a pain in itself because the world is so fricken huge that exploration and finding these hubs can be a pain.

But once you find them, the quests themselves are pretty good, most are soloable, and you can get a shit ton exp doing them.

[Hachima]

Originally Posted by rinthea

Nup, you (and arudane) are wrong. The problem isnt the low pop servers. The problem is the retention rate is shit. This is because theres no solo content and people have to group to make progress. So people log in then log off when they cant get a group quickly. They dont want to fuck around doing nothing so they log off.

If theres anything to be learnt from VG, its that solo content is god damn important.

You must be one of these people that don't even play the game but like to preach as if they know whats going on. There is a lot of solo content and I've done 200+ solo quests at least, probably more like 300+. And there are a ton more I could of done if I wanted to.

[Morderick]

Originally Posted by rinthea

This is because theres no solo content and people have to group to make progress.

You're nuts. There's a ton of content, both solo and group based. You can easily solo to 40, easily.

[Kreugen]

Doing quests with a 20 warrior was ball-crunching painful, Kendrick is right there. A cleric can at least complete the majority of quests solo, but killing those 3-dots takes an eternity.

A game based on grouping with everyone spread the hell out everywhere with no way to quickly travel, what could go wrong?

Ironically if you start merging things to make the lower levels more tolerable you'll wind up crowding everyone at the top end EQ1 style.

... unless you had used the zone concept! Look how easy EQ2 had it. Here's two big zones and misc dungeons for 1-10. Here's two more big zones and misc dungeons for 11-20. And then you progress to these two big zones and misc dungeons for 21-30. Now we put out an expansion, here's a big zone for 51-55, and a big zone for 56-60. You could have a third grader as project manager with that design.

There's no win here. In order to retain members as the low level grouping game shrinks and shrinks they are going to have do the same damn thing EQ2 did and "wow-ize" the leveling areas and classes. WoW is not a dirty fucking word. It works for a reason.

Sadly the real world makes for a poor game ;/

[Geaux]

have fun 20+ solo grinding for anyone who falls for the "but you can solo!" like i did.

[Mkopec1]

Originally Posted by Geaux

have fun 20+ solo grinding for anyone who falls for the "but you can solo!" like i did.

Like kendrick said, you can solo, it just depends what class you are.

I know for certain that my shaman and ranger soloed quite easily. The shaman in particular almost felt too powerful.