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Itemization

Discussion in 'EverQuest II General Discussion' started by Mermut, Jan 20, 2020.

  1. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    So.. in order to be effective in heroic zones, you need to get a bunch of resolve 165 achievement jewelry. (AND plat infuse ALL your gear)
    T1 heroic drops 165 jewelry.

    For me, it seems painfully obvious when a zone required gear that is as good or better than you can get in the zone, to RUN the zone.

    However, an indordinate number of people in the official forums cannot see how that could possibly be a problem.. since the achievement gear can be gotten via solo means.

    It shouldn't matter how the gear is acquired...
    It's so bad that the first heroic group I ran this expac.. every single piece was crushed. There wasn't a single piece that was an upgrade for any of the 6 people in the group.

    And yet people are still insisting that there is nothing wrong.. in fact they're going further and saying is the most 'casual friendly' expac ever.... because you can get 'heroic' level gear from solo achievements.

    *shakes head* I guess I'm just insane to think that zones should drop gear BETTER than the gear that is needed to be effective in the zone. (aka if your potency is below 120k, you're swinging wet noodles in the t1 heroics, no matter your resolve)
     
    • Agree Agree x 7
    • Appreciation Appreciation x 1
  2. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    They still haven't learned this since Velious. Solo quest gear was amazing. Tower of Frozen Shadow gear was worse than Public Quest gear and anyway the zone progression quests were broken for 2 weeks.

    "You need better gear then the gear that drops in the zone." has been the design for a decade.
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
  3. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    I'm just baffled that PLAYERS are defending it...
    It's also frustrating because the only reason to run the solos OR the heroics is for shinies.
    Solo gear is same or worse than sig line gear.
    Heroic gear... sure, there are a few pieces that are upgrades, but at least 1/2 the stuff has been getting crushed since day one because people have to the 165 achievement gear.

    Barely a month into the expac and it's already stale because there are no carrots that aren't being crazy rare RNG.
    There's not even anything to spend tokens on besides armor unlocks and a few 3 use recipes.
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
    • Appreciation Appreciation x 2
    • Like Like x 1
  4. Alarra

    Alarra Active Member

    I agree, the progression is out of whack this time around.
    The reason why they defend it is probably because it is easy for them to get.

    I have found that I need to get Armour pieces from heroics, also 170 resolve jewellery pieces.
    The rest is crushable.

    As a coercer, I'm finding it real hard to dps at my current potency; at 143k only doing like 200-600 mill damage in heroic.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  5. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    It was easy for me to get too. That doesn't mean I can't see that it's messed up :p
     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Agree Agree x 1
  6. Fuli

    Fuli Well-Known Member

    Yep. This is exactly why I keep saying i've got this nagging suspicion they're moving the game toward a p2w raiding game.

    Let's look at the undeniable facts:

    (1) The same quality entry-level raiding gear can be obtained from either heroic or overland environments.

    (2) Crafted gear is currently obsolete.

    (3) They have introduced an overly-complicated ability crafting system that has the effect of extending the monetization of ability upgrades into the expert tier.

    (4) The map and the amount of non-raid content has been reduced to a bare minimum.

    (5) They do not have the staff to produce a finished released product.

    People spend money on fluff and deco, so I'm confident they'll keep that element.

    If course, I could be wrong and maybe this team is simply grossly incompetent with respect to business, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

    In terms of customer reaction? There are always going to be folks who only see what they want to see.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
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  7. Errrorr

    Errrorr Active Member

    Official forum community gets more and more moronic each day. I read that thread and tried not to facepalm.
     
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  8. Sweatypie

    Sweatypie Active Member

    If you want more of a laugh read this one. The stuff some people write makes no sense and even some veterans who also use this forum have no idea how the game works in Luclin. You have people who thinks this game still plays like it did when Shattered Lands launched and other still play the game like you did in SF and its baffling to me they even have the nerves to call out people with such lack of game mechanics.

    I fear for the mental health of some of the older EQ2 players.

    Yes gear progression is stupid. Does it need fixing? Sure. But there are a thousand other things that needs sorting first.
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
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  9. Anaogi

    Anaogi Active Member

    It's self-selecting. Most of the folks with a clue fled already. Siggy and the like are all that remain now, for the most part.
     
    • Agree Agree x 6
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  10. Fuli

    Fuli Well-Known Member

    I would have so much more respect for Longdale, Kander, et al if they just fessed up, bit the bullet, and produced the game design they are actually aiming for. Every expansion, they reduce content, manufacture some new leveling or loot box system, and effectively eliminate some self-sufficiency component in favor of cash shop progression.

    People like Siggy appear completely disoriented atm. Their goto move of asserting everything you need can be accomplished with 60 hours a week of crafting and harvesting has been knocked off the fence.

    Saying this again: the crafted gear issue is not "broken" - it is intended. The severe rationing of ts books is not a broken mechanic - it is intended. The overland and heroic gear equivalency is not broken - it is intended. All of these changes point to three things: (1) get more people into the raid environment more quickly, (2) reduce the necessity to produce casual content, and (3) encourage dependencies on the shop for character power attributes that are not a function of chest loot.

    No, current issues are not "broken" issues, they are merely a manifestation of Longdale's desire to gradually acclimate people to a new game design while extracting as much money from theme as possible along the way. I'm confident she knows full well that with each new expansion, she's going to lose a big chunk of customers who she has, through design changes, alienated and angered. And that's exactly why with each new expansion, they hide the crap they know is going to piss people off until after the game is released. Because at least this way, the collect the expansion sales and maybe a few months of shop sales before those customers get frustrated and leave.

    People can kid themselves all day long. They can make excuses. They can rationalize away design decisions. The can confuse hope with optimism. All we have to do is know two things: (1) what DBG wants, (2) how they like to go about getting it.

    Anyone who argues that customer satisfaction is the dominant concern over there is smoking the whacky. Their dominant concern is extracting money from customers, and eventually, they'll either end up with a game that serves folks happy to pony up to the shop for raid content, or the game will be shuttered. In the mean time, they'll be playing these manipulation games the entire way down to that point.
     
    • Agree Agree x 5
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  11. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    Thing that kills me about the fiasco that is crafting itemization: Caith spent lots of time and effort making gear that is 100% useless. Making gear he had to KNOW was 100% useless.
     
    • Agree Agree x 10
    • Winner Winner x 1
  12. Meneltel

    Meneltel Active Member

    Perhaps he hasn't played the game recently enough to remember...
     
    • Funny Funny x 3
  13. Khendrask

    Khendrask Active Member

    I was a compulsive crafter; well, I still am, just in other games. I used to make gear for my toons, and my friends. And the gear was USEFUL. Need anything made in SWTOR? or LOTRO? I've got a max level crafter for that.
    So I did in EQ2, I actually enjoyed the difficulties in doing the KA tier crafting with level 20-30 toons. PoP is where they **** the bed on Crafting, and obviously, because Domino was gone, and Gninja only likes raids. I left at PoP, and am not inclined to ever come back, as long as the likes of Holly is in charge. (Okay, ttobey is great, but that's about it).

    When my friends and I were actually playing, getting through an expansion was both fun, and took some time. KA was fun, re-utilizing old zones (well, one, really), but the grind was just plain annoying. PoP was essentially All Grind, with boring, overland quests, that were mostly repetitious. I can't comment from experience on the expansions after PoP, as PoP was my swan song.

    IF they actually brought in a New Dev Team of Players, and dumped Holly, I might consider coming back to look around, but even so, I am not happy with a new mechanic each expansion, essentially destroying all the work done in prior ones, and the bloody insane statflation. Many many games manage to increase levels, without moving to the billions of hit points, and hundreds of thousands of stat points. They keep things challenging, but reasonable. Even EQ1 hasn't gone so far overboard, and have done well I think, in keeping content interesting, and challenging.

    Some of my friends did come back, to start on normal servers, with level one toons, and work through the old content, and while that is appealing to me, I refuse to support DBG, or now DPG, as long as they have absolutely zero thoughtful, creative, communicative people at the helm and on the Dev Team.

    On another note, again, from playing other games, the DBG/DPG cash shop is franking insulting. It is 100% PayToWin. Other games have lots of fluff (SWTOR/WOW/LOTRO) Mounts, cosmetic (but slotted) armor, decorations, or conveniences if you are just in a hurry (LOTRO/WOW) 'Deed Accelerators' and such, but none have the "Buy Your Spell Upgrades Now" that EQ2 does. I am not like a lot of people, but if I play a game, I sub. Even when I stop playing, I keep the sub usually, because I'll come back (ESO broke that rule, because I hate the controls... I seriously HATE the controls). EQ2, I cancelled my sub and removed all payment methods. Hell, I've been subbed to WoW since launch, and don't have any toons over 20, but I appreciate being able to come and play. It is frankly insulting that EQ2 has a subscription model, when the sub gets you nothing. Even Star Trek Online (F2P, but really you do need to buy reasonably priced upgrades and such) is better. The last time (back in PoP again) that I looked at researching Ascensions, and my normal spells, I would have had to take out a bloody mortgage! The prices are insane!

    I would love to come back to the EQ2 version of Norrath, especially now with Luclin, I loved Luclin on EQ1, but I can't deal with the rise of the bile in my throat when I consider it.

    /rant off

    ETA: /rant on
    The other thing is, from every source I can find, the actual "Player Numbers" on EQ2 are falling drastically, it cannot be self-sufficient at this point. They are being kept alive by the EQ1 numbers, which are decent, but not anywhere near in-line with any other major MMORPG. I'm in SWTOR right now, and even unused, old, forgotten instances have 34 people in them at the moment (the one I'm in). Every zone is populated. Ditto LOTRO, WoW, and if I could stomach loading it up, I bet EQ1 is pretty populated as well. EQ2 is mostly the "Maxxers" with more cash then sense.
    /rant off Again.
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2020
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  14. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    Except it doesn't take playing the game to know.. it just takes understanding numbers...
     
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  15. Charlice

    Charlice Active Member

    Let's face it though, very few of them play the game, and even fewer care.
    They need to get rid of a few more people, starting from the top. You first Windstalker.
     
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  16. Meneltel

    Meneltel Active Member

    Its rare that the bosses get fired first, usually its the ones who actually do the work and add value to the company. Middle management mainly just pushes paper around and make sure that things get done (not that they really help doing that) and make sure assets are not too wasted. Upper management just tries to guide the company along the path of cheapest reward vs risk. And kiss the rears of anyone with power or money who presents their ass out to be kissed. If I win a few lotteries and get enough money to consider buying DBG or whatever it is now, I would. And start firing middle and upper management and hire many of the posters on this forums to either advise, run or monitor things... Oh, and I would bring Lanys T'Vyl back as a deity to be worshipped like the other ones!
     
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  17. Fuli

    Fuli Well-Known Member

    The only sense I can make out of itemization fiasco is that Caith's tools allow him to spin-up gear pretty easily.

    I stand by my hypothesis that the team is trying to phase out much of the crafting game, and one of those brainiacs probably decided it's too soon to start pulling them off the table completely. So Wallah! Push a button and spit out a bunch of useless crap that no one is gonna make.

    Just out of curiosity, what does this crafted gear look like? Is it a bunch of vanilla, or did art put some time into it?
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2020
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  18. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    Except adventuring itemization is all borked up too.. solo instances have zero upgrades for any toons that have done the sig line
    And since they stripped flying until each toon finishes the sig line.. any toon you're going to play, is going to do the sig line
    By the time you can do heroics, 1/2 your gear is already the same as what you get in the heroics, and most of the drops in those zones are weapons.. or the same slots you get 165+ resolve in outside of heroics...
    The main reason to run any instances (solo or heroic) is the shinies...
    The currency merchant gear is also the same or WORSE than sig line gear...

    it's not just TS itemization that's messed up (though it is messed up the worst)
    Top to bottom, adventure and TS, itemization is a disaster.
    There is no path to improving your toon this expac.. it's just close your eyes, grit your teeth and grind to please the RNG demons
     
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  19. Meneltel

    Meneltel Active Member

    sacrifice more halfling rangers to the range gods, cant do your chances any harm and should be a lot of fun!
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  20. Sweatypie

    Sweatypie Active Member

    The biggest issue right now is that guilds are working on getting world first, but the old character clone bug where they cant loot from chests and everything they do will be lost once the characters merge again, which requires a server restart. Some people might say, so what? But in a world first race a few days matters, a lot. It usually happens when you zone and it takes a long time, you then spawn and suddenly all chars and NPC vanishes in front of your eyes and you get a crash to desktop a few seconds later.

    You better not lag and crash cuz you risk having your character progression and the guilds progression wiped out once they "merge" again

    [​IMG]

    Customer service claims they can do nothing until server restarts (why dont they just do it right away...). Truly a pathetic company.

    Almost nothing works in Luclin and the dev team and especially Holly is as quiet as ever.

    [​IMG]

    Pics from a friend. From what I have gathered you can walk around, you can zone as you please, you can kill anything. You can get rewards from PQs. You just cant loot chests and you risk losing everything you done once the characters merge together again. The clone just stands there and you can even inspect it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2020
    • Shocked Shocked x 3
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