Something new soon?

[Jakoi]

It's been over a year since a level cap, and the AA system introduced in EoF made it easier for a toon starting at zero then one who was level 70 with 50 AA's to hit 100. There are 3 instances, Unrest, Obelisk, and Crypt that are for level 70's and drop decent loot.  90% of the loot drops are no trade and not worth selling, and master rates are a pittance of what it used to be in Den, Sepulcher, and HoF (not that many folks who have been playing long enough even need masters these days). There is no major dungeon to go spend hours in like Palace or Sanctum were.  Mistmoore Castle is as much raid zone as it is progression zone for the high end groups. What is the plan for the next few months?  I've seen guildies leaving for Vanguard (a game that is basically in beta) and I've even leveled myself up a character in WoW just to play with some friends who went over there.  I loved the leveling in EQ2, loved the farming of instances when gear was sellable and there was a reason to run them over and over.  At this point our guild is having issue's putting together a 24 man EoF raid when 3-4 months ago we'd have 6-10 people sitting outside.  With the need for certain classes (and their being quite frankly so MANY classes) it makes raiding/recruiting that much more difficult. I guess this is less a rant about the way things are, but moreso a plea for a plan from the Dev's for the future and what we are getting.  If Rise of Kunark comes with no level increase I can see at least 75% of our guilds playerbase leaving.   There are fewer and fewer folks on our server, and less people to pull from for recruiting.  Please no more (or very little more) content for the 3 people actually in Steamfont, Kaladim, Greater Fay, Lesser Fay, New Tunaria etc.  If half that effort was put into content for those who were already at 70 and not into playing alts we wouldn't have a complaint. Folks can say go do KoS zones, or go do one of the adventure packs but quite frankly there are no upgrades there, or upgrades really outside of X4 content in EoF and when it gets to that point it means they need to add a whole lot more content. As an fyi, this is from someone who was here on day 1, and been playing ever since.

[DocSilver]

<p>I would also be interested in seeing the general 'roadmap' for EQ2 and what are SOE's long-term plans and intentions.</p><p>I have joined EQ2 about 15 months ago, and for me as halfway 'casual' player the content and the EoF expansion have been just right. During this time I've reached 70, and I will still work some time on the high-level signature and heritage quests, as well as Claymore and other major quest lines. Also, I've started raiding a bit. So there's still very much too do, but not overwhelmingly much any more (which is also a good feeling).</p><p>For a new expansion I think it would be a little soon, as EoF is only out for a couple of month. There are lots of pros and cons if an expansion should rise the level cap or not, already been discussed in other threads in these forums. I think the most important issue with that is that a cap increase will make all existing endgame content nearly obsolete. For example, only real quest fans will do the Claymore line any more, and they will have much difficulty in doing it because it will be hard to get groups for that. (Just look at the Peacock/Godking quests todays). On the other hand, a higher cap would allow significant progression of your toon again, whereas without a cap increase it can only be done by getting better and better equipment (and the AA thingie).</p><p>Let's see what plans SOE has...</p>

[Miele]

Content is consumed much faster than it can be created. True story. There is no answer really, except that SoE typical pace is an expansion every 6 months, so one should be out in not too long. Given the approach I have with EQ2 (totally content-oriented and not level oriented, meaning I'm not outlevelling anything before I explored every inch) and the fact I play it in small groups, a level cap increase would be welcome for me, opening the possibility to do hard things that wouldn't have been doable before. Doing the various prismatic line at 50 would be pointless for a lvl 70 nowadays, but not for a player like me. Anyway, the more the better (I can't wait for Kunark), I just hope they'd give us 2 more character slots at least, especially if they will release a new race once again.

[Thunderthyze]

<cite>Jakoi wrote:</cite><blockquote>It's been over a year since a level cap, and the AA system introduced in EoF made it easier for a toon starting at zero then one who was level 70 with 50 AA's to hit 100. </blockquote><p> Amen to that....my 58 Zerker has way more AA's than my 70 Mystic, mainly down to me finding little to do with him outside of raiding.</p><p>I think the OP raises a valid point in that the longer SOE takes between releasing level increasing updates the more out of balance the game will become. When level 80 becomes a reality you will have a plethora of level 70's racing away to be the first "new" uber. Some will be fully fabled, fully mastered, others will be newly arrived at 70 and will bypass that whole raiding tier. It will be interesting to see how that affects the gameplay balance. My guess is that you will have half the population complaining that it was all too easy to get to 80 whereas others will bleat on about how difficult the new mobs are.</p><p>I think SOE are perhaps sitting on a ticking timebomb and will need to be VERY careful on how they balance the next expansion. The danger is that the game is now SO top heavy due in part to the lack of advertising bringing in new players at the bottom end that even if level increasing expansions are released every year most players will spend well over half the time kicking their heels. This will result in the gradual decline in player numbers and more and more instances of server mergers.</p><p>I love the game but fear for its long term future. Like has been said, it would be nice for some idea of SOE's blueprint for the next 5 years.......continued progression to level 200 (or whatever the game was originally designed for) or EQ3?</p>

[Jal]

Im a bit confused by the OP mention of lack of zones.  How would a new tier help this? You'd have probably 3-4 new dungeons and would trivialise most of the eof and kos stuff completely removing their importance to go back to.  Then people complain they have nothing more to do and quit. Im hoping the cap doesnt get raised but they find a new non AA form of progression including spells and abilities because with another expansion full of content for 70's we'd have a huge selection of content to solo/group/raid for those of different playstyles.

[Eugam]

My best guess is that there will be a "half" tier raise to 75. This would eleminate the old T6 CA's and spells and make the top raids more doable for a broader audience without completely trivializing them. New zones would include content and mobs up to 80.

[Thunderthyze]

Thing is that this game was designed to go to level 150+ (can't remember the exact figure). At this rate it will be 15 years before we get there and, let's be honest, THAT will NEVER happen. Tastes and benchmarks will be totally different by then and no amount of "tweaks" and "upgrades" will avoid EQ3 and EQ4 being needed instead. It will at that point be a terrible shame that this game will have never reached its potential. Of course you could argue that SOE have made this rod for their own back by slowing the cap development in order that as many as possible begin each new stage on an equal footing. Of course the downside to this is that the lower and mid level areas become almost redundant. Hopefully there will be no more "full level range" expansions, there are far in a way sufficient zones for the lower levels as it is, bearing in mind the relatively few number of new players being attracted to the game these days.

[Decad]

<p>Well, I've never been one to get involved with Beta'ing expansions here in EQ2. With that said, if my memory serves me correctly, the expansions for EQ2 always seem to come out around early summer (June/July) and late fall (Novemeber/December). Given that it is mid April, I'd say we'd start to hear more about RoK soon, especially beta sign-ups and such if the expansion is to release sometime June/July.</p>

[Turb]

A L75 cap sounds good.

[rakki]

Raising the level cap isn't the answer and anyone who's played this game knows all that will come with 5 or 10 more levels is the same spells with increased potency.. With the new potency comes increased difficulty on mobs so its like what was the point in the first place? Just so you can say oh we got new spells etc but there the same old ones with a new name and do more dmg etc... What they need to do is re-work loot so it varies more.. What I mean by this is the same piece of chest plate drops with the exact same stats, theres no variance at all to any of the loot.... All same name items and weapons etc have the exact same stats, theres no difference at all and crafting has no experimentation at all either.. No rare components to combine or add extra procs to weapons or armor... The games loot has become stale and boring.. Add variance and experimentation to crafting, spice things up a bit... Flood the market with similar stat legendary and fabled gear, but add the various stats to different pieces... Put experimentation mods into the game so crafters can make the same weapon twice but have varying dmg.. Put way more imbueable gems, items, hilts, metals, hides etc into the game... As far as I'm concerned, if they add more levels, I'm done with this game... I don't need to feel occupied by an endless grind because some twits on a forum want more grinding.. I want more complex and variable loot and crafting systems which makes it an endless grind for the best gear.... Not an endless AA or level grind...

[Ealthina]

I am only 62 atm and have soooo much to do I can't ever imagine being 70 and feeling like thtere is nothing left.  /boggle

[Polywogus]

I'd love to hear a potential 'road map'...and also to hear about a new expansion & lvl cap to 80.  SOE, give us some news please =D

[Kri]

<p>It would be cool if they could make level 70+ a completely different experience instead of just adding more of the same. Not sure how though. Raid only (a la Plains) would be a disaster for many players. Perhaps paths that took advantage of the combination of adventurer class and crafter class? Then again, many people hate crafting... If they just add more of the same we will hear capped players complaining about having nothing to do two weeks after the expansion is released. </p><p>For an altoholic like me EoF was awesome but I realise some players want to play one character and one character only. How to please them while still adding new stuff for the rest of us... Not an easy task.</p>

[Lakaah]

"I guess this is less a rant about the way things are, but moreso a plea for a plan from the Dev's for the future and what we are getting.  If Rise of Kunark comes with no level increase I can see at least 75% of our guilds playerbase leaving.   There are fewer and fewer folks on our server, and less people to pull from for recruiting.  Please no more (or very little more) content for the 3 people actually in Steamfont, Kaladim, Greater Fay, Lesser Fay, New Tunaria etc.  If half that effort was put into content for those who were already at 70 and not into playing alts we wouldn't have a complaint." Even in the wee hours when I usually play, I see a fair number of people in the low/mid level areas that I inhabit. /who returned 19 and 26 people in RoV and Steamfont, respectively, on Sunday afternoon. What percentage of the population do you think has a level 70? 50%? I think that would be a very generous guess. Of those 50%, maybe 50% again have little interest in playing alts? Again, I think a generous estimate. That leaves 25% who should want an expansion with solely top-tier content, yes? I agree that it would be nice to hear a plan from the devs. I appreciate seeing a post from a raider that is polite and not full of venom towards the casual players. I just think that your point of view is over-represented on these forums overall, and so I would like to give my opinion, which is that another expansion structured similarly to EoF would be great <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[interstellarmatter]

<p>If you read Hartsman's last interview, you get a feel of the general direction.  Their focus seems to be polishing stuff up right now.  You are seeing stuff that had been put off for years, new LFG system, new macro system, quest sharing, etc, etc...</p><p>They also plan on releasing smaller bits of content like Unrest.  So, you can probably expect to see new zones such as these in the next few months. </p><p>A new expansion is being worked on but at a slow pace.  Gone are the days of the rushed expansions.  I would look for an expansion either towards December or Q1 2008. </p><p>As far as t7 stuff, I think that you are just going to be thrown bones for a while.  My guess would be a lvl cap raise to 75.  So, it won't trivialize all the old raid zones.  Just a guess....</p>

[Kaku99]

<p>The answer to boredom doesn't lie in adding more levels or zones, but in making the existing content more meaningful.  Here are some suggestions.  I'm sure you can add more:</p><ul><li>There should be more meaningful rewards for high status numbers. It takes a great deal of effort to achieve millions of status points. The effort should be acknowledged. </li><li>Reward the completion of a series of heritage/hallmark quests to encourage people to do more of them.</li><li>Rewards for completing a large number of individual quests (increments of 1000 or 500?) Yes we get experience and completion rewards but where is the big picture. Seasoned adventurers should be acknowledged.</li><li>Rework old zones and update the loot tables periodically. Create spontaneous events like rare spawns to encourage people to revisit old content. Many of the legacy zones have become virtual ghost towns. Give these zones some dynamic content.</li><li>More events like Frostfall that galvanize the entire server.</li></ul>

[Jai1]

Due to NDA's and such, I don't think we will ever get a 5 year plan.  I guess if you want to know what's going on, you can just keep logging on and buying expansions.  There is always new content added but it won't always be appealing for everyone.  I imagine you have to look at the overall quality of the game vs. what would appeal to the sense of progression.  

[Eugam]

Just for the records. EoF was an expansion. So next thing should be an adventure pack. At least thats how SoE did it in the past. I too think that raising the cap doesnt help to much. There has to be something to do. I d like to have more signatures. Signatures who are class based for example.

[Dagorth07]

<p>Its almost a no-win situation when you look at it. No matter how much content, level raising ect ect things soe throws out there, there will always be the crowd who has to rush to do it fast and first to be "uber", then turn around and complain that there is nothing to do.  Like the guy that rushes out to buy that new video game, plays it 12 hours straight and beats the game, then complains the game sucked and he cant even play it anymore. </p><p>Note: I was not meaning the OP is one of the type of people in the group mentioned above,  just meaning in every game there are those types of people and you can never satisfy everyone. </p>

[valkyrja]

Holymoly@Runnyeye wrote: <blockquote>Thing is that this game was designed to go to level 150+ (can't remember the exact figure). At this rate it will be 15 years before we get there and, let's be honest, THAT will NEVER happen. Tastes and benchmarks will be totally different by then and no amount of "tweaks" and "upgrades" will avoid EQ3 and EQ4 being needed instead. It will at that point be a terrible shame that this game will have never reached its potential. Of course you could argue that SOE have made this rod for their own back by slowing the cap development in order that as many as possible begin each new stage on an equal footing. Of course the downside to this is that the lower and mid level areas become almost redundant. Hopefully there will be no more "full level range" expansions, there are far in a way sufficient zones for the lower levels as it is, bearing in mind the relatively few number of new players being attracted to the game these days.</blockquote>Designing a game to scale to level 150+ != intending the game to get that high. Level cap raises lose as many people as not raising them I'd imagine.  I loathe the idea of having to grind levels.  I'd much rather have new ways to improve my existing character. Raising the cap simply makes content obsolete, leaving the cap makes more viable content.  Granted the old stuff gets easier as player progress, but the "old" content can still be used.

[Und3rt0w]

<p>It's a bummer to be at lvl 70 and at 100 aas (where I'll be at one aa ding).  I raid often also, so the loot from quests...etc. dwarfs what can be found in most quests.  So you get to a point where raiding is your only option left to "progress"...otherwise you're mentoring or spending long hours grinding to a quest reward that you won't end up using.</p><p> I'd love to see a lvl cap if only because it gives my main more stuff to do and more room to "grow".  Reading through these posts though it does make me think more as to what they will impact.  Specifically the extremely expensive master spells that cost a fortune, will be worth a fraction if the lvl is raised and a new tier of spells are added.</p><p> I am also loving leveling alts, but the same basic problem exists - once you're at 70, 100 aa's, and raid exhausted, what else?</p>

[Cathars]

Kallarn@Splitpaw wrote: <blockquote>Im a bit confused by the OP mention of lack of zones.  How would a new tier help this? You'd have probably 3-4 new dungeons and would trivialise most of the eof and kos stuff completely removing their importance to go back to.  Then people complain they have nothing more to do and quit. </blockquote> Too true.  The fact is that theres an incredible amount of content out there.  I find it hard to believe that all the people saying theres nothing to do did all of it on their way to 70 and since being there.  If the cap was raised again it would only mean people rushing to the top, ignoring all else on the way, and claiming theres nothing to do.  The number of people who have 3k quests done and all raid content squashed has to be a very small number.

[Dasein]

I would much rather see some new form of advancement added to the game besides a level cap increase. Honestly, at this point, the last tihng I want to do is have to hunt down master spells and new gear. I'd much prefer more AA lines or even something like DAoC's master levels and secondary classes. There are a couple of things I would like to see: 1. Spells/combat arts which are enhanced via quests, similar to the master strikes we get from the L&L quests. 2. Expanded deity abilities, and more deities overall. 3. Faction based abilities from city faction. 4. An expanded crafting system, including crafting AAs of some sort.

[DCart]

<p>All those people that complain about the cap not being raised would have a valid point had the cap been raised in EoF. but its been 70 for a while now so a level cap of 80 is due. Yea so some old content wont be used as much o'well. </p><p>The shouldnt just stop at 70 b/c some people are afraid some content will become obsolete. The game needs to go foward with better gameplay AND levels and it should.</p>

[Dasein]

Actually, with the level cap being 70 for so long, levelling doesn't appeal to me much. I've gotten my character virtually all Master 1 or Adept 3 spells, and fairly decent T7 fabled/legendary gear. The prospect of doing all that again is not something I look forward to. I would much rather be presented with alternative methods for advancement, like more AAs or secondary classes.

[Jai1]

<p>I agree 80 is probably due for the next expansion.  That's a bit aways though.  I do know that getting 10 levels is vastly easier than gear/spelling up for the tier.  It's really a minor point of progression and shouldn't be anyones main goal.  EQ1 has been out 10ish years?  They are like up to 75 but they don't really have tiers.</p>

[Lornick]

<cite>Dasein wrote:</cite><blockquote>Actually, with the level cap being 70 for so long, levelling doesn't appeal to me much. <b>I've gotten my character virtually all Master 1 or Adept 3 spells, and fairly decent T7 fabled/legendary gear. The prospect of doing all that again is not something I look forward to.</b> I would much rather be presented with alternative methods for advancement, like more AAs or secondary classes. </blockquote><p>This attitude from players has always bothered me.  So now that you've managed to acquire the best spells/gear that you currently can you should be able to just stay at the top forever without anymore work on your character?  Did you win teh EQ?  This game is meant to by dynamic.  There is nothing like a level cap raise to shuffle players up.  Instead of viewing a level cap raise as instantly trivializing all your gear/spells look at it as a fresh start!  </p><p>Well... even that isn't true.  Despite the attitude, it's incorrect to assume all your current gear/spells are now worthless.  Master spells are often better then the adept version of their upgrade or close to adept 3 quality.  So you would still have a significant advantage over a new player who just dinged 70.</p><p>One of the best things about a level cap raise is renewed motivation for the players to continue to log in.  There is nothing like the first couple weeks of a level cap increase where groups are constantly forming and going off to explore new zones.  It can be argued that a level cap increase would take motivation from some people for whatever reason, and that maybe true is some players cases.  But let's be honest here.  The players that are at the level cap and satisfied that their characters are about as progessed as they are going to get probably don't log in all that often anymore anyway.  And that is fine.  But it isn't right for the players who log in 4hrs a week after reaching whatever they feel their cap is to hold back the rest of the players who want to advance their characters further. </p>

[DCart]

i couldnt agree with you more Lornick

[Kri]

<cite>Lornick wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>One of the best things about a level cap raise is renewed motivation for the players to continue to log in.  There is nothing <b>like the first couple weeks</b> of a level cap increase where groups are constantly forming and going off to explore new zones.  It can be argued that a level cap increase would take motivation from some people for whatever reason, and that maybe true is some players cases.  But let's be honest here.  The players that are at the level cap and satisfied that their characters are about as progessed as they are going to get probably don't log in all that often anymore anyway.  And that is fine.  But it isn't right for the players who log in 4hrs a week after reaching whatever they feel their cap is to hold back the rest of the players who want to advance their characters further. </p></blockquote><p>A couple of weeks is all that it will take for many people to reach level 80 and then what? Maybe a few more weeks to get geared up. But your character will still be basically the same, just 10 levels higher. What's even worse, most level 80 characters of a certain class will be carbon copies of each other. What I think Dasein is suggesting, are new ways of diversifying your character. By expanding upon deity abilities, factions and quested spells/combat arts, you'll get a chance to make your character a little more unique. Only problem with that is that the Devs need to balance the different factions and deities very carefully or everyone will pick the same direction.</p><p>I also like the idea of crafting AAs or something similar. </p>

[Mimzel]

When eq2 first launched, they promised to bring pioneering tradeskill mechanics to the MMO world. In my book though, they havent delivered. The tradeskill window in itself is booring as "#¤%, and the same goes for the mechanic. Id like to suggest they take some time to really discover the wheel on this one, and revamp the tradeskill mechanics. I know they already did, but it was limited to the products. How about a dynamic tradeskill process where you can team up to create things? Keep the old way, though, but make an option to team up to create something bigger than each individual TS class <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> And get rid of the old TS window. Booooooring.

[Thunderthyze]

<cite>Eugam wrote:</cite><blockquote>Just for the records. EoF was an expansion. So next thing should be an adventure pack. At least thats how SoE did it in the past. I too think that raising the cap doesnt help to much. There has to be something to do. I d like to have more signatures. Signatures who are class based for example. </blockquote><p> I think that I read somewhere that SOE are likely to not produce any more adventure packs for quite some time, preferring to concentrate on fully fledged expansions while releasing additional content á la Estate of Unrest in free GU's.</p><p><b><i>Lornick wrote:</i></b></p><hr /><p>This attitude from players has always bothered me.  So now that you've managed to acquire the best spells/gear that you currently can you should be able to just stay at the top forever without anymore work on your character?  Did you win teh EQ?  This game is meant to by dynamic.  There is nothing like a level cap raise to shuffle players up.  Instead of viewing a level cap raise as instantly trivializing all your gear/spells look at it as a fresh start!  </p><p>Well... even that isn't true.  Despite the attitude, it's incorrect to assume all your current gear/spells are now worthless.  Master spells are often better then the adept version of their upgrade or close to adept 3 quality.  So you would still have a significant advantage over a new player who just dinged 70.</p><p>One of the best things about a level cap raise is renewed motivation for the players to continue to log in.  There is nothing like the first couple weeks of a level cap increase where groups are constantly forming and going off to explore new zones.  It can be argued that a level cap increase would take motivation from some people for whatever reason, and that maybe true is some players cases.  But let's be honest here.  The players that are at the level cap and satisfied that their characters are about as progessed as they are going to get probably don't log in all that often anymore anyway.  And that is fine.  But it isn't right for the players who log in 4hrs a week after reaching whatever they feel their cap is to hold back the rest of the players who want to advance their characters further.</p><hr /><p>Totally agree mate! </p>

[Ravaan]

Kallarn@Splitpaw wrote: <blockquote>Im a bit confused by the OP mention of lack of zones.  How would a new tier help this? You'd have probably 3-4 new dungeons and would trivialise most of the eof and kos stuff completely removing their importance to go back to.  Then people complain they have nothing more to do and quit. Im hoping the cap doesnt get raised but they find a new non AA form of progression including spells and abilities because with another expansion full of content for 70's we'd have a huge selection of content to solo/group/raid for those of different playstyles. </blockquote><p> agree! i hope they come out with another way of progressing our characters instead of taking the easy way out and just raising the level cap.</p><p>Personally I would like to see "multiclassing" kinda similar to the system in Final Fantasy 11. Where you take a secondary class and get some benefits of that class to your main. So for example as a Battle Cleric(inquisitor) if i take the zerker class as my secondary class, it would add some mitigation as well as some more combat/taunt abilities.</p>

[Ravaan]

<cite>Lornick wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite><blockquote>Actually, with the level cap being 70 for so long, levelling doesn't appeal to me much. <b>I've gotten my character virtually all Master 1 or Adept 3 spells, and fairly decent T7 fabled/legendary gear. The prospect of doing all that again is not something I look forward to.</b> I would much rather be presented with alternative methods for advancement, like more AAs or secondary classes. </blockquote><p>This attitude from players has always bothered me.  So now that you've managed to acquire the best spells/gear that you currently can you should be able to just stay at the top forever without anymore work on your character?  Did you win teh EQ?  This game is meant to by dynamic.  There is nothing like a level cap raise to shuffle players up.  Instead of viewing a level cap raise as instantly trivializing all your gear/spells look at it as a fresh start!  </p><p>Well... even that isn't true.  Despite the attitude, it's incorrect to assume all your current gear/spells are now worthless.  Master spells are often better then the adept version of their upgrade or close to adept 3 quality.  So you would still have a significant advantage over a new player who just dinged 70.</p><p>One of the best things about a level cap raise is renewed motivation for the players to continue to log in.  There is nothing like the first couple weeks of a level cap increase where groups are constantly forming and going off to explore new zones.  It can be argued that a level cap increase would take motivation from some people for whatever reason, and that maybe true is some players cases.  But let's be honest here.  The players that are at the level cap and satisfied that their characters are about as progessed as they are going to get probably don't log in all that often anymore anyway.  And that is fine.  But it isn't right for the players who log in 4hrs a week after reaching whatever they feel their cap is to hold back the rest of the players who want to advance their characters further. </p></blockquote><p> I log in constantly and i am maxed level, if they did raise the level cap(too high) that would probably make me quit to be honest. I hate grinding out mobs all day. </p><p>I would rather them find other ways to advance our characters instead of adding more of a mindless level grind.</p>

[bleap]

Yannos@Unrest wrote: <blockquote><cite>Lornick wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite><blockquote>Actually, with the level cap being 70 for so long, levelling doesn't appeal to me much. <b>I've gotten my character virtually all Master 1 or Adept 3 spells, and fairly decent T7 fabled/legendary gear. The prospect of doing all that again is not something I look forward to.</b> I would much rather be presented with alternative methods for advancement, like more AAs or secondary classes. </blockquote><p>This attitude from players has always bothered me.  So now that you've managed to acquire the best spells/gear that you currently can you should be able to just stay at the top forever without anymore work on your character?  Did you win teh EQ?  This game is meant to by dynamic.  There is nothing like a level cap raise to shuffle players up.  Instead of viewing a level cap raise as instantly trivializing all your gear/spells look at it as a fresh start!  </p><p>Well... even that isn't true.  Despite the attitude, it's incorrect to assume all your current gear/spells are now worthless.  Master spells are often better then the adept version of their upgrade or close to adept 3 quality.  So you would still have a significant advantage over a new player who just dinged 70.</p><p>One of the best things about a level cap raise is renewed motivation for the players to continue to log in.  There is nothing like the first couple weeks of a level cap increase where groups are constantly forming and going off to explore new zones.  It can be argued that a level cap increase would take motivation from some people for whatever reason, and that maybe true is some players cases.  But let's be honest here.  The players that are at the level cap and satisfied that their characters are about as progessed as they are going to get probably don't log in all that often anymore anyway.  And that is fine.  But it isn't right for the players who log in 4hrs a week after reaching whatever they feel their cap is to hold back the rest of the players who want to advance their characters further. </p></blockquote><p> I log in constantly and i am maxed level, if they did raise the level cap(too high) that would probably make me quit to be honest. I hate grinding out mobs all day. </p><p>I would rather them find other ways to advance our characters instead of adding more of a mindless level grind.</p></blockquote>they will raise the level cap...they didn't do it for the last EXP, they can't do 2 in a row without a raise....You have people now that have been level 70 for a long time.....If SOE doesn't raise it it to 80 people will get even more bored and go play something else....Even if they all came back when the cap was raised (and they never all come back) it would hurt SOEs market share worse than it is already hurting...WAIT....maybe that's their plan...since they have made no effort to gain, or even keep their existing market share, maybe they plan on making it even smaller by not raising the level cap!...

[Dasein]

Raising the level cap would be a mistake, as a new expansion would only introduce a very small amount of T8 content, yet render the vast amount of T7 content obsolete. I am sick of the level grind. I played Vanguard for a bit, but realized I'd been here and done it all before, and had no desire to do the grind again. What keeps me playing EQ2 is the fact that I don't have to grind through more levels. What I would like to see are more forms of non-level advancement, like quests to enhance spells, more AA points, expanded deity abilities, and perhaps some new forms of advancement. however, one thing is for certain: I am tired of levelling. If I play another MMO, it will be one that removes the concept of levels entirely.

[mkd1200]

pretty much, i would rather have a full on t7 expansion then one which introduces t8.  everyone here that wants a t8 expansion for added content apparently doesnt understand that in the long run you willl have less.

[interstellarmatter]

<cite>bleap wrote:</cite><blockquote>they will raise the level cap...they didn't do it for the last EXP, they can't do 2 in a row without a raise....You have people now that have been level 70 for a long time.....If SOE doesn't raise it it to 80 people will get even more bored and go play something else....Even if they all came back when the cap was raised (and they never all come back) it would hurt SOEs market share worse than it is already hurting...WAIT....maybe that's their plan...since they have made no effort to gain, or even keep their existing market share,<b> maybe they plan on making it even smaller by not raising the level cap!... </b></blockquote><p> Holy Crap, Bleap!  You've figured out their plan.  Did you have to think of that all night?  </p><p>Raising the level cap is not necessary.  It's just another mindless drivel of repeating spells and grinding xp.</p><p>Now, if they don't raise it, they do need to make a meaning character progression for lvl 70s.  Multi-classing sounded cool.  If they do AAs, it needs to be more class defining AAs than the current watered down ones.</p><p>I'm kind of curious on their current thinking since they have been pretty closed lipped about it.</p>

[bleap]

<cite>interstellarmatter wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>bleap wrote:</cite><blockquote>they will raise the level cap...they didn't do it for the last EXP, they can't do 2 in a row without a raise....You have people now that have been level 70 for a long time.....If SOE doesn't raise it it to 80 people will get even more bored and go play something else....Even if they all came back when the cap was raised (and they never all come back) it would hurt SOEs market share worse than it is already hurting...WAIT....maybe that's their plan...since they have made no effort to gain, or even keep their existing market share,<b> maybe they plan on making it even smaller by not raising the level cap!... </b></blockquote><p> Holy Crap, Bleap!  You've figured out their plan.  Did you have to think of that all night?  </p><p>Raising the level cap is not necessary.  It's just another mindless drivel of repeating spells and grinding xp.</p><p>Now, if they don't raise it, they do need to make a meaning character progression for lvl 70s.  Multi-classing sounded cool.  If they do AAs, it needs to be more class defining AAs than the current watered down ones.</p><p>I'm kind of curious on their current thinking since they have been pretty closed lipped about it.</p></blockquote>Have you not figured out the the DEVS at SOE are basically lazy? Yep, another line of repeating spells and XP grinding because their game is designed around a 10 level tier system....multiclassing and more defining AAs would mean redesigning a lot of the game and coming up with clever new ways of doing things...If this game was newer I might agree with you, but SOE isn't going to put forth that kind of effort on a game pushing 3 years old with less than stellar market share. I would think that very soon we are going to find that the top devs of EQ2 will be moving on to SOEs newest product and EQ2 will be developed by journeymen and intern game devlopers like they did with EQ1. So if they don't give you what you want are you going to continue playing EQ2 Interstellar? I thought you were taking a break from all this EQ2 drivle....You got tired of the game yet you feel the need to speak about a game you find boring and mundane?

[Mawie]

...and every single one of your posts is so thoughtful and inciteful... it screams your love from this game and this community.

[Besual]

<cite>Dasein wrote:</cite><blockquote>Raising the level cap would be a mistake, as a new expansion would only introduce a very small amount of T8 content, yet render the vast amount of T7 content obsolete. I am sick of the level grind. I played Vanguard for a bit, but realized I'd been here and done it all before, and had no desire to do the grind again. What keeps me playing EQ2 is the fact that I don't have to grind through more levels. What I would like to see are more forms of non-level advancement, like quests to enhance spells, more AA points, expanded deity abilities, and perhaps some new forms of advancement. however, one thing is for certain: I am tired of levelling. If I play another MMO, it will be one that removes the concept of levels entirely. </blockquote> <cite>mkd1200 wrote:</cite><blockquote>pretty much, i would rather have a full on t7 expansion then one which introduces t8.  everyone here that wants a t8 expansion for added content apparently doesnt understand that in the long run you willl have less.</blockquote> You don't want to grind? May be you should play Second Life. No grinding there. KoS is already obsolete content for me. EoF zones have better drops. Same will come true when the next expansion comes out: The drops in the new expansion will be better (or no one would go there more then once). T8 or not the new drops will make the current one obsolete. Beside the drops I have done the KoS intances way to often to have any interest in doing them again. Well, even the EoF zones are boring now because I have done them to often. New levels give me at least the sense of progression (and yes, I know I will stay at the same power level compared to equal level mobs but I will become stronger compared to the current mobs). New AA skills... when it would be good one like the AAs in EQ1 but here...

[Kri]

Yannos@Unrest wrote: <blockquote>Kallarn@Splitpaw wrote: <blockquote>Im a bit confused by the OP mention of lack of zones.  How would a new tier help this? You'd have probably 3-4 new dungeons and would trivialise most of the eof and kos stuff completely removing their importance to go back to.  Then people complain they have nothing more to do and quit. Im hoping the cap doesnt get raised but they find a new non AA form of progression including spells and abilities because with another expansion full of content for 70's we'd have a huge selection of content to solo/group/raid for those of different playstyles. </blockquote><p> agree! i hope they come out with another way of progressing our characters instead of taking the easy way out and just raising the level cap.</p><p>Personally I would like to see "multiclassing" kinda similar to the system in Final Fantasy 11. Where you take a secondary class and get some benefits of that class to your main. So for example as a Battle Cleric(inquisitor) if i take the zerker class as my secondary class, it would add some mitigation as well as some more combat/taunt abilities.</p></blockquote>I like that idea - a lot! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[JohnDoe058]

<p>I don't care what they do...as long as they add a way to progress beyond 70/100.  The population on my server (Nektulos) is rapidly contracting, and I suspect that it has to do with the same reasons that i'm getting tired of the game...no way to progress outside of gearing up (which involves 100's of hours of raiding, and/or Unrest grps, which are hard to find now that server populations are low, even during peak times).</p><p>I seriously think that if AA cap or something isn't raised within 3 months, that the global population will be reduced by 30-60% by the year's end.  </p><p>For anyone who has bothered to log in for more than 5 minutes a year, there is now nothing to do but raid grind.  And frankly, the raid system is, and always has been, anything but fun.  And My guild can't even pull together enough ppl for a good raid anymore.  I've seen this echoed in other guilds.  </p><p>I've raided for 100's of hours only because there is no other way to progress my main.  And I have 4 other chars at 70!!!  All this on top of a full-time job.  The game has a lot of great, fun stuff...but now we're all damned up, by caps.  It's like being in the middle of a good fiction book, and you turn the page...only to find that the next page, and all that remain, are blank.  Cut off abruptly.</p><p>SOE, I don't think that you understand how many players you stand to lose.  I'm a loyal player, since day 1, and fear that pretty soon, I'll be just about the only person left on my server.  People leave when there's nothing fun or meaningful to do, which isn't far from the current state.  And don't say Claymore/Swords of Destiny lines.  Because those aren't fun.  I think that if you were to evaluate your databases to see what % of players have completed the Claymore line, you'd see that most people flatly agree with me, based on results. </p><p>PLEASE DO SOMETHING SOON.  More advancement...normal advancement, that can be done without an elite guild, and doesn't require camping named mobs.  And no more contested raid mobs!  Those help exactly 24 people per server.  Only spend time on things that help the majority.</p><p>And as far as existing adept III's/Masters becoming obsolete with a lvl cap increase...PUT UPGRADES ON SERPARATE RECAST TIMERS!!!  Like how it was pre-LU13...I liked it SOOO much better that way.</p><p>I'd be amazed if tens of thousands of your players didn't share similar sentiments to those listed above.</p>

[Kri]

<cite>JohnDoe058 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I don't care what they do...as long as they add a way to progress beyond 70/100.  The population on my server (Nektulos) is rapidly contracting, and I suspect that it has to do with the same reasons that i'm getting tired of the game...no way to progress outside of gearing up (which involves 100's of hours of raiding, and/or Unrest grps, which are hard to find now that server populations are low, even during peak times).</p><p>I seriously think that if AA cap or something isn't raised within 3 months, that the global population will be reduced by <b>30-60%</b> by the year's end.  </p><p>For anyone who has bothered to log in for more than 5 minutes a year, there is now nothing to do but raid grind.  And frankly, the raid system is, and always has been, anything but fun.  And My guild can't even pull together enough ppl for a good raid anymore.  I've seen this echoed in other guilds.  </p><p>I've raided for 100's of hours only because there is no other way to progress my main.  And I have 4 other chars at 70!!!  All this on top of a full-time job.  The game has a lot of great, fun stuff...but now we're all damned up, by caps.  It's like being in the middle of a good fiction book, and you turn the page...only to find that the next page, and all that remain, are blank.  Cut off abruptly.</p><p>SOE, I don't think that you understand how many players you stand to lose.  I'm a loyal player, since day 1, and fear that pretty soon, I'll be just about the only person left on my server.  People leave when there's nothing fun or meaningful to do, which isn't far from the current state.  And don't say Claymore/Swords of Destiny lines.  Because those aren't fun.  I think that if you were to evaluate your databases to see what % of players have completed the Claymore line, you'd see that most people flatly agree with me, based on results. </p><p>PLEASE DO SOMETHING SOON.  More advancement...normal advancement, that can be done without an elite guild, and doesn't require camping named mobs.  And no more contested raid mobs!  Those help exactly 24 people per server.  Only spend time on things that help the majority.</p><p>And as far as existing adept III's/Masters becoming obsolete with a lvl cap increase...PUT UPGRADES ON SERPARATE RECAST TIMERS!!!  Like how it was pre-LU13...I liked it SOOO much better that way.</p><p>I'd be amazed if tens of thousands of your players didn't share similar sentiments to those listed above.</p></blockquote><p>66.42% of all statistics are made up <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Instead of just complaining how everything is so booooring, give the Devs some suggestions. More advancement in what way? Claiming tens of thousands of people share your view doesn't help your case much unless you can back it up with facts. </p>

[Kyouki]

<p>Personally I believe in expanding towards the sandbox (You know, how SWG once was..)</p><p>One of my thoughts was expanding the arena idea (Until I saw how empty it is...) with bot fights, making tradeskilling the only way to build one, having different parts from different skills (Potters making fuel, tinkerers making engines, armor for armor, weapon for weapon, woodworkers for frames and so forth)</p><p>The first thing I'd say is to smash together a few servers, even during primetime some are still lightly populated.</p><p>From there one could for example use the gates (Name slips me, but those who beam you into the sky) to make instanced islands for guilds or such to shape and create as they will, think guildhousing gone big.</p><p>Also I watched an episode of TEDtalk (<a href="http://www.ted.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.ted.com/</a> any decently intelligent person must know of that site) about what makes a good product good... Short answer was 'difference'. Right about now, with the WoW era upon us and the insane amounts of clones (LoTRO springs to mind) coming after it, it could just be the time to take a chance and do something that make people go "OMG!".</p><p>Further the episode elaborated the fact that in our time one must learn that "Safety = Risk & Risky = Safer"... People need to be blown away every now and then.... So, ya, trying to blow us away would be nice..</p><p>Imagine the things you that could come up.. A siege raid maybe? Bit of strategy tossed in where a raid group advance with mobile giant shields, ladders and whatnot to storm a castle, get in and whack the king.. </p><p>Or even bigger, again using the previously mentioned guild islands in the sky.. Put the whole island into action, arm it with guns, put up defenses and let the guild sail away with it towards different places in the sky (Exploration!) where they can find both enemies and loot, and at the same time risking their poor island. This could be done for solo players too, but with smaller islands (You just ain't gonna solo a guildraid island, peridod <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p> Go forward with the Heroics and take a step further and let people merge their classes into one entity (Now this is getting trippy) where one character is played by two people, both steering both casting (Remember the Aprils Fools joke from Blizzard a few years back with the two-headed ogre? I support that idea!)</p><p>Re-use the old zones and introduce "Dreamland" where only those of proper greatness may enter (Read:Lvl 70) Basicly it's the same place.... GONE HELL! Remember the old days in Commonlands or Antonica when you were just a newbie? Well, welcome back, it's time to save the world! The forces of darkness are slipping into our reality, and someone has to save us. (This making an impact on the world, if the people don't manage to seal opened places (Which give them LOOT! or possible "Dreamland XP" (Another set of levels and another set of skills for another world <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)) those who venture within the commonlands and antonica is in for a real treat... Demons, nightmares of giant sizes lumber through and, if they see the small small newbies, crush them.. Your heroes better be there!)</p><p>To sum it all up in a sentence: "Come on, blow our minds soon enough!"</p>

[JohnDoe058]

Shadowbreath@Splitpaw wrote: <blockquote><p>66.42% of all statistics are made up <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Instead of just complaining how everything is so booooring, give the Devs some suggestions. More advancement in what way? Claiming tens of thousands of people share your view doesn't help your case much unless you can back it up with facts. </p></blockquote><p> Now don't be misquoting me.  I didn't say that the game is boring, I said that many of us can no longer progress.</p><p>And I didn't list any statistics.  Stating that "I think" something, isn't the same as claiming it as a fact.  I simply shared my experience of rapid attrition of server population, and stated that I THINK it's a result of the aforementioned.  Yes, I could be wrong, and I could also get hit my a meteor.  But I can tell you what I'm seeing is that many many people have left the game lately, and it seems no coincidence that so many people have been 70 for so long.  Many people I know have even directly stated that they left the game for said reason.</p><p>I checked online server population last Sunday, and yes, over half of the people online were lvl 70 ("/who all [level range] count"; had to break it up by class at 70 because a search won't return more than 100 results).</p><p>And for ANYONE who doesn't enjoy levelling, whether that be regular levels, or AA's: give some thougt as to why RPG's simply are NOT right for you.  That's the core of an RPG; anything else is a platform quest game, like the Myst, Zelda, or King's Quest series.  I'm getting a bit tweaked at people who are turning this RPG into something else.</p><p>And if you have a better explaination for why so many people are leaving this game, then lets hear it.  Otherwise, zip it.  Something tells me that you don't know this, or any other RPG as well as I do, having played them far less.  You don't speak of experience; so your opinion doesn't matter.</p>