One little quibble with LU16

[Almeric_CoS]

<P>On the whole, I think even just the "a" portion of LU16 looks like one of the coolest Live Updates we've seen in a while <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>BUT</P> <P>What's up with the increase in Vitality?  Do we really need people getting through the upper levels FASTER?</P> <P>There's SO much content for people to see and experience; why encourage them to trivialize it so quickly?  Vitality - I thought - was to be a bonus for people who don't get to play as hardcore as others, so they can keep up with their friends/guilds/etc.  I don't agree that Vitality should become a way of life for the heavy grinders of the world.  If you run out of Vitality, that should be a clear tip that it's time to go do some questing, or exploring, or maybe tradeskilling, or even mentoring some lower-level guildmates to spread the exp-bonus love.</P> <P>You doubled quest exp recently to encourage people to lay off the grind, right?  Give more motivation to quest?  Increasing Vitality gain will be working counter to that goal.</P>

[Prufro]

The reason it's changed is at level 45 if you wait an entire weekend to play the game you get about 30% vitality, and in 1-2 hours of grinding it's gone. 72 hours to gain, 1-2 hours to disappear. Well, that seems to be their reasoning anyway.  You still get the 30% vitality, and that's quite a bit at 45, so i don't really see the problem with burning through it right away, but whatever. <p></p>

[Moorgard]

<P></P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Almeric wrote:<BR> <P>You doubled quest exp recently to encourage people to lay off the grind, right?  Give more motivation to quest?  Increasing Vitality gain will be working counter to that goal. <HR> <P></P></BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <P>Increasing quest XP was intended to make questing more rewarding, not to force people to play a certain way. We never stated that our goal was to impede those who find enjoyment in killing the same stuff over and over again.</P> <P> </P> <P>Vitality at the high levels simply depleted way too quickly, and even those who spent only a moderate amount of time adventuring were blowing through it. This change addresses that issue, and has nothing to do with the rewards gained from quests.</P> <P> </P> <P>Don't misunderstand; these aren't random changes. The pattern is a simple one: to make all aspects of the game more fun and rewarding. This applies to adventuring, questing, and--as you'll see in the updates ahead--crafting and itemization.</P> <P> </P>

[Quicksilver74]

<P>Thanks Moor.  Too many people assume patches are totally random.  It helps when an explanation of "WHY" comes along from time to time. </P>

[Ironmeow]

<P>Yah vitality does go really fast especially at lvl 51+ where 100% vitality only covers around 35-40% of the level.</P>

[MeridianR]

Went to Philadelphia for business the other weekend, and didn't get a chance to play for about 6 days.  Came back to over 80% vitality, and was done with it in like 3 hours. So I 100% agree with this change....no way should 6 days of vitality, be blown in 3 hours (only moderatly grinding)....good change. <p></p>

[Almeric_CoS]

<P></P> <P>I didn't say force, I said encourage <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><BR> </P> <P>Well, since I recently retired my high level char to get back to basics, I'll just have to take your word for it.  But I can say that at level 48, I was absolutely thrilled over the combo of kill exp and quest exp after the recent quest exp increases, and I think I wasn't seeing Vitality as an issue because of that combo.  I mean, it is EverQUEST and all...keep encouraging people down that line, IMO!</P> <P> </P> <P>Thanks for the reply Moor - much lubs to ya <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P>

[Almeric_CoS]

<P></P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Ironmeow wrote:<BR> <P>Yah vitality does go really fast especially at lvl 51+ where 100% vitality only covers around 35-40% of the level.</P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Considering an intended minimum of 6 months between expansions (per original release statements of ~2 expansions a year), is a slower leveling pace bad?</P> <P> </P> <P>Also, to another poster, I didn't say it was a random change, or even poorly thought out.  I do think that even without Vitality, however, people got to 60 unpleasantly fast.  And yes, that's my opinion, and no, I don't claim to represent tne viewpoints of everybody <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P>

[Eepop]

<span><blockquote><hr>Moorgard wrote:<p></p><p> The pattern is a simple one: to make all aspects of the game more fun and rewarding. This applies to adventuring, questing, and--as you'll see in the updates ahead--crafting and itemization.</p> <hr></blockquote>Please let this mean one or all of the following: More diverse graphics for equipment. Armor Dyeing. Custom stats on weapons so they can be custom made to fit the user. Master 3s. Please please please.</span><p></p>

[Star]

Maybe Moor or another dev can correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the Vit Bonus applied to XP gained from quests too. I will admit I never made a point of testing it with a repeatable quest, but if it does then this change doesn't make the grind preferable because you'd be getting double the bonus quest XP. <P></P>

[Almeric_CoS]

<P></P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> jwmaynar wrote:<BR>Maybe Moor or another dev can correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the Vit Bonus applied to XP gained from quests too. I will admit I never made a point of testing it with a repeatable quest, but if it does then this change doesn't make the grind preferable because you'd be getting double the bonus quest XP. <P></P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>From LU#4  (lonnng time ago <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> )</P> <P><BR> </P> <P><EM>- Experience earned through questing is no longer affected by Mentoring, Vitality, or any other XP modifier (except for paying back XP debt).</EM></P> <P><EM><BR> </EM></P> <P><EM>- Quest coin and experience rewards have been increased from this day onward. The experience increase will be especially noticeable in non-repeatable quests that are of a lower level than your character. You may want to complete any quests that you may have missed during your journeys in Norrath.</EM></P> <P><EM></EM> </P> <P>And when they recently doubled(ish) the exp from quests again, it made questing a really strong method of advancement, *especially* when Vitality is running low.  Out of Vitality and want to keep levelling?  Go fill up that quest journal!</P> <P> </P>

[KerowynnKaotic]

<P></P>--------------------------------------<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE>Almeric wrote:<BR> <P></P> <P>I didn't say force, I said encourage <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><BR>*snipped*</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>--------------------------------------<BR></P> <P>You can encourage people all you want till you are blue in the face and some will still not get the idea.  :smileytongue:</P> <P> </P> <P>Seriously!  My husband & I are always turning off exp and doing nothing but quest exp to level and my own guildies (who we are always grouping with) are still *boggling* over the concept of turning exp off.  </P> <P> </P> <P>Just last night when we dinged 50 (together, of course).  Everyone said Grats and stuff .. and .. I mentioned that we had thought about staying 49 for another week but decided to take advantage of the mobs we were all doing for the SM quest and they were like "why would you wanna do that?!?" .... *chuckles* ....  Everyone is in such a hurry to max out a game they forget there is way more to do than to just level.   </P> <P> </P> <P>But, even though We seldom take advantage of the Vitality (generally 100% vit all time) I will say when we do go combat exp the Vitality is sucked dry in a very, very fast time.   example:  Last night .. 100% vit ... doing greens/blues in CT for the SM HQ (don't you just love acronyms) plowed through that vitality in 6 hrs .. camped last night at 8.5 % vit.  Now the sheer number of mobs required to pop the SM names and doing the Heart of Fear Access quest is frankly mind boggling but when you consider that the Vitality is regened at something like 1% every 2hrs of in-activity or something ... seems abit off-set for the higher levels with their increased larger exp required to level ... </P> <P> </P> <P>So for those that do enjoy the (EVER)Slaughter Feast I am happy they are upping the regen rate.  :smileyhappy:</P> <P> </P> <P>.</P>

[Banef]

Leveling even faster now, I didn't even try and 60 came way too fast. Bleh. Hope you folks ( Sony ) have some great things in store for the 60's as all the 50's are going to be there <u>this month</u> for sure. ( And no, before you say anything, I did not just grind like crazy, I've done every access quest I came accross, worked on lots of other quests like the carpets ( yes both ), shimmering and poet's access completed etc etc. )  I also helped countless people through the access and other quests as well.  AND explored a ton, and wasted a ton of time in the areana and getting Maj factions.  Lots of folks are hitting 60/60 too, it is just crazy how fast it is now even without this increase. 60 does not feel like an accomplishment when you're just handing it out like this. <p></p>

[ShadowDragon32]

<P>I like the change.  Vitality in its mid 50s is currently a joke.  Im glad that this is being corrected, but then again im a grinder. hehe</P>

[Ci]

Quest XP still suck!<p></p>

[Klapton]

<DIV>Most of the squillions of quests in this game are just grinding with specific instructions.</DIV>

[btennison]

<P>I still don't get why it's so important, to some of you, how fast I level. I don't care how fast any of you level, rip it up or stop altogether, it's all the same to me. I've got my hands full worrying about my own game and how I want to play that.</P> <P>Now I have more control over my experience; if I find myself going too fast, I'll simply turn off exp for awhile. Too slow? grind for a bit. Please just put your noses back into your own business and let the rest of us do as we like. :smileyhappy:</P>

[Ninusar]

<DIV>Yes Vitality goes by fast at high levels. Yes it takes a week+ for 100% vitality post 50. And yes that 100% can be burned through in a few hours.</DIV> <DIV>Do we need more Vitality? NO</DIV> <DIV>Look around there are lvl 60s everywhere. It took all of what a week-2weeks for the Hardcore players to hit 60 after DoF launch and all the other players followed within the next month.  Its quite obvious that without Vitality leveling is to fast as it is.  Granted eveyone wants to level as quickly as possible but when its easy to do its just not that great of an accomplishment.  you would think being a lvl 60 would mean you were an experianced well rounded player who knows the in's and out's of his char.  But this is not so... a group of these high levels have not been in most flagged zones, are poorly equiped ( and im not saying they dont have T6  rares, im sayin they are wearing lvl 40 common), and dont know the first thing about playing the game efficiently with their class selection. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just an example.... was exping a few days ago... lvl 58 illusionist was in the group with me and we are killing pretty good.. well tank gets a bad pull and along comes numerous mobs commin 2 womp us.  Scout in group decides he wants 2 tank instead of evac, and of course he dies. (first mistake but a minor one). soon after i fall, and that leaves the illusionist and the Templar.... well Templar is getting hit and what does the Illusionist do? Runs.... when asked why he ran he said he had no choice.  Well im no enchanter but i have seen plenty of them AOE mez and then mez individually. Call for help use rez stone on healer and remez as nessesary till healer can get a few grp members up and going. when i explained that he said, and i quote.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Never thought of that, that could have helped me a few times. lol"</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>These kinds of things are forced on you when leveling takes time.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So more Vit will do no more than create more high levels and less no how. (granted there are plenty of people who can play correcty)  All im saying is being high level does not by any mean make you a competent player because you dont have to put time into your char to lvl him.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>