Leaving the game - but some ideas that would make me come back.

[Denon]

<p>I have canceled my EQ2 account and during the process filled out a small questionnaire about why I am quiting and what things could change in the game that would help me change my mind and come back.</p><p>In the questionnaire you only can select a few checkboxes and dont get the opportunity for to much feedback, so I figured I would post here to help give SOE some more feedback.</p><p>First of all - I REALLY WANT TO COME BACK !</p><p>The first year I played this game I had a great time, there seemed like there was always something to do - and I was easily able to find friends/people to hook up with and work on quests and explore.</p><p>But for the past year ( except for a month or 2 after EoF came out ) It has been impossible for me to find groups to work on common quests. I am in the PST Time zone, and by the time I log in everyone I know who is still playing the game is pretty much just raiding or getting ready to log out for the evening. When I post in the chat channel LFG for anything other then EoF instance there is never enough responses to get a group going.  So basically I have run out of things that I can do solo , or with a small group. I am sick of OOB/CoV/Unrest runs, and there are NO scheduled Raids on my server that are starting when I can log into the game ( around 8:00- 8:30 PST ). I have even checked other servers and made posts about trying to find anyone with later raids.</p><p>So what are my ideas that SOE do about this?</p><p>1. More solo/duo T7 Content ( T8 - Kunark ). Yes I know when Kunark comes out there will be some solo content for T8, but just like EoF , any good series, or any signature/heritage quest will require a full group - and if you dont get in these groups within the first 2 months the expansion comes out - you will need to beg for hours in guild and chat channels to try to get people to help you. Solo content will keep me busy for maybe a month or 2. But really ... How about a 'Claymore' type series that has 20 some quests that you could do (and complete) solo/duo.</p><p>2. Group Scalable Generated Instances - something like CoV/OOB/Unrest - but it can scale to your group size/level, the bigger the group the tougher the mobs and the better the chances at good loot.  But more importantly, have randomized variations in these instances, NOT always the same exact thing at the same exact places - randomized bosses with different drops - randomized hallways/rooms so you dont always know the exact path to take to get to the end, randomized traps/ambushes - MAKE it EXCITING - even if you have done it many times before. Have there be a reason people would want to do these instances again if they already got the 'known' drop from there - like a variety of drops - including some super rare, super good stuff - that can change week to week.</p><p>3. Ability to Hire NPC's to group with to help with a quest! - you have been spamming for 2-hours for a healer to help with 'Avatar of Flame' Sol Ro deity series final quest, but no healers would ever want that deity, and all the healers you know are raiding.... hire a NPC to help ... heck of a lot better then waisting my entire night looking for one. I dont know how many nights I have spammed to try to get a 'Avatar of Flame' group together for my 70Wizard - MONTHS - I have had this quest and NEVER got a group together so I can complete this deity series - extremely frustrating.</p><p>4. Some form of Mercenary for Hire system. I'm not sure how to describe this other then another LFG system that does not get used. But here is the idea...</p><p>a) People can tag themselves as a MERC for hire - you have a place where you can add a description of yourself and your rate and availability. </p><p>b) People can post to a MERC system - need whatever types to complete a specific task - the system knows the quest or instance and amount to be paid. </p><p>c) People/MERCS can search the MERC system and see if the Mercenary's are available to get the group you need, or if there are jobs you are interested in.</p><p>When a MERC is interested in taking a job, both parties agree on the job and rate. The person who needs the job - pays the system and it holds the money. When the quest is completed ( guy gets update he needs) the MERCs automatically gets the payment from the system</p><p>5) Merge existing servers to increase overall population, then add some new servers that are more time zone specific, and have free optional transfers to the new servers.</p><p>Anyway - there are my ideas - I just wish I could either get a group together to do quests, or have more quests/dungeons that I can do without getting together a big group. Of all these ideas, the one I wish for most is #2, with instances/dungeons that are extremly random - it would be really fun to have a repeatable dungeon/instance available for whatever group you are able to come up with and have NO IDEA what is in this dungeon - ( a real dungeon crawler ) where you figure out where to go, run into traps, ambushes, and kill a named that has a chance at something really good that someone can use. The only thing you would maybe know is - an estimate on how long it will take - so maybe have an option for short/medium/long instance.</p><p>Hope to see you soon.</p><p>Denon/Draziw/Thomm -@- Mistmoore</p>

[Xrazor]

<p>Yea, I am thinking about going as well....On the server I am on there is no one around...started a new character because of boredom and was in Antonica for 6 days before I saw another person...6 days!</p><p>Yet my server says medium load....lol...yea right</p><p>Just can't find any good loot without raiding....so in reality I have been killing things just to watch them fall down...It really doesn't get any dumber than that.</p><p>Quests are all the same....if you look closely a level 60 quest is just a tweaked quest from level 20, there are so many like that.</p><p>Tried WOW 10 days free account and I found a sweet sword the 3rd day that made me kinda Godly for 5 levels of play, now that is true fun...chance for god drop....no wonder they have 9 million subscibers...just wish graphics were better though...to colorful.</p><p>I doubt they will take your thoughts into consideration, but hope they do something, I too don't want to leave, the graphics are great, but according to the G4 game channel on cable TV, Everquest 2 is loosing people at a terrible rate. I just wonder why they don't listen to customers and are letting this happen...maybe they made the money and are fine with it...who knows.</p>

[Vatec]

<cite>Xrazor wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Yea, I am thinking about going as well....On the server I am on there is no one around...started a new character because of boredom and was in Antonica for 6 days before I saw another person...6 days!</p><p><span style="color: #006600;">Yet my server says medium load....lol...yea right</span></p><p>Just can't find any good loot without raiding....so in reality I have been killing things just to watch them fall down...It really doesn't get any dumber than that.</p><p>Quests are all the same....if you look closely a level 60 quest is just a tweaked quest from level 20, there are so many like that.</p><p>Tried WOW 10 days free account and I found a sweet sword the 3rd day that made me kinda Godly for 5 levels of play, now that is true fun...chance for god drop....no wonder they have 9 million subscibers...just wish graphics were better though...to colorful.</p><p>I doubt they will take your thoughts into consideration, but hope they do something, I too don't want to leave, the graphics are great, but according to the G4 game channel on cable TV, Everquest 2 is loosing people at a terrible rate. I just wonder why they don't listen to customers and are letting this happen...maybe they made the money and are fine with it...who knows.</p></blockquote>Well, it probably -is- a medium load server.  I'm betting the average level is around 45, though.  Which means the majority of characters are high level hanging out in T6 and T7.  Furthermore, whatever newbie characters exist are probably in Darklight Woods or Greater Faydark, not Antonica.So it's not at all surprising that you wouldn't see anyone in Antonica....As for G4, I'm not sure where they would get that info.  It's not like SOE is going to call them up and tell them "Yeah, we're losing players at an alarming rate."  So whatever info they have is probably anecdotal, not based on hard numbers.  I'd take it with a grain of salt.That being said, I find looking for groups annoying as well.  And what's worse, SOE added a nice LFG and NO ONE USES IT!  As far as I can tell, no one turns their LFG tag on and fills out the form saying what they'd like to do.  Likewise, no group leaders turn on the LFM tag and fill out the form saying who they'd like to add.  The tool looks like it would work really well if anyone used it :^P

[interstellarmatter]

<cite>Xrazor wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Just can't find any good loot without raiding....so in reality I have been killing things just to watch them fall down...It really doesn't get any dumber than that.</p><p>Tried WOW 10 days free account and I found a sweet sword the 3rd day that made me kinda Godly for 5 levels of play, now that is true fun...chance for god drop....no wonder they have 9 million subscibers...just wish graphics were better though...to colorful.</p></blockquote><p>It's funny.  I'm sitting here reading this while trying to find a group in WoW for my lvl 70 Priest.  Everyone is raiding for the good loot.</p><p>All the games are the same.  I've never been a fan of the level system.  But since we're stuck with it, your best bet is to find friends.  If you don't, yes these are boring games...all of them.</p>

[Xrazor]

<p>Thanks for telling me about WOW, they probably give good drops in the first 10 levels or so to make you think it is a good game...then bam, nothing just grind and no drops.</p><p>If you have never tried Diablo 2, you should give it a go....played that for over 10 years, heck I still do from time to time....man there are some good drops in there....and all stuff can drop at anytime off any NPC, of course getting the drop can be hard like the windforce bow...never did find it but just knowing it could drop of anything keeps you going, trust me....That's why it was the longest running game in history....people still play Diablo 1 and that is over 20 years old.</p><p>The most excitment you will ever find in an online game.</p>

[nia]

    Diablo 2 is horrible....It was my second MMO after UO....Basically it was just kill Diablo then watch several players scramble after all the loot....Most of the time there were players that just stood there waiting for the drops they didnt even fight.....Also 99 percent of the player base sold the crap on ebay after it dropped.....If Diablo 2 is the answer then I would be done with MMOs.....Personally I dont think you can ever please the playerbase.....If you make your game a group based game (EQ1, Vanguard) then they scream that XP is too slow and they want more soloable stuff....if you give them lots of solo content (Wow, EQ2) then they scream they cant get groups.....If you think the grass is greener in WOW because they have 9 million players (yeah right) then by all means go.....I have played both games (WoW for over a year) and I dont think the grass is greener there.....I have gotten much better loot in EQ2 than I ever have in WoW....Oh and the quest system?? You seriously think WoW has a beter quest system?? No way in the world......it is the same thing over and over and over again.....At least in EQ2 you have many different types of quests, many of which are soloable or very small group......IF you think WoW is the answer you will be looking again shortly...it is not a long term solution type of game....

[Demitri]

Diablo2 was in no way a MMO.  It's an action+rpg game that happens to be multiplayer.  One of the defining elements of a MMO is a single persistent world that everyone (per server) plays in and it's always there.

[Tyrus Dracofire]

G4 properly had folks in audience room filled out the current polls, it shows that folks are losing interest to stay playing eq2 due to recent arrogance and series of nerfs and quests are getting extreme grouping. they don't care and wont fix or do some update for older quests that was required serious groupings, and no one cant find any helps after 3-4 months later. it does need "scaling" for solo/small group instanced zones. some wouldn't even able to sneak pass those heavy heroic traffics to finish if they cant find any helps, not much of choice they have... wait for few more months of finding decent group or quit for good. SOE should had design for heroic mobs in specific designed zone = more loots and some extra drops for groups compared to designed solo reward drops. boss fights in solo would need to be challenging and fair, especially for non-dps healer class which they cant do lot of damages in short time. same zone layouts for designed solo/group and scaling and density as the optional. so we need optionimized zones (optional-customized), it may will bring back several players and have extended account life. hardcores will still do extreme zone like Unrest Estates and Nek 3 which is not required for serious quests, it is more like "advanced trainings" for groups to test out new skills and upgrades.

[Chondrichtheyia]

<cite>Tyrus@Butcherblock wrote:</cite><blockquote>G4 properly had folks in audience room filled out the current polls, it shows that folks are losing interest to stay playing eq2 due to recent arrogance and series of nerfs and quests are getting extreme grouping. they don't care and wont fix or do some update for older quests that was required serious groupings, and no one cant find any helps after 3-4 months later. it does need "scaling" for solo/small group instanced zones. some wouldn't even able to sneak pass those heavy heroic traffics to finish if they cant find any helps, not much of choice they have... wait for few more months of finding decent group or quit for good. SOE should had design for heroic mobs in specific designed zone = more loots and some extra drops for groups compared to designed solo reward drops. boss fights in solo would need to be challenging and fair, especially for non-dps healer class which they cant do lot of damages in short time. same zone layouts for designed solo/group and scaling and density as the optional. so we need optionimized zones (optional-customized), it may will bring back several players and have extended account life. hardcores will still do extreme zone like Unrest Estates and Nek 3 which is not required for serious quests, it is more like "advanced trainings" for groups to test out new skills and upgrades.</blockquote>d No offense, but don't trust G4. The target demographic for that show is exactly what's wrong with videogaming in general today. In fact, I'm kind of glad and relieved that those "gamers" are staying away from EQ2.

[ganjookie]

I liked the original G4, with will wheaton as a host on one show.  And this other MMO show where some guy would jump into different games trying to look for the drifter or some such nonsense.

[ke'la]

<cite>Tyrus@Butcherblock wrote:</cite><blockquote>G4 properly had folks in audience room filled out the current polls, it shows that folks are losing interest to stay playing eq2 due to recent arrogance and series of nerfs and quests are getting extreme grouping.they don't care and wont fix or do some update for older quests that was required serious groupings, and no one cant find any helps after 3-4 months later. it does need "scaling" for solo/small group instanced zones.some wouldn't even able to sneak pass those heavy heroic traffics to finish if they cant find any helps, not much of choice they have... wait for few more months of finding decent group or quit for good.SOE should had design for heroic mobs in specific designed zone = more loots and some extra drops for groups compared to designed solo reward drops. boss fights in solo would need to be challenging and fair, especially for non-dps healer class which they cant do lot of damages in short time.same zone layouts for designed solo/group and scaling and density as the optional.so we need optionimized zones (optional-customized), it may will bring back several players and have extended account life.hardcores will still do extreme zone like Unrest Estates and Nek 3 which is not required for serious quests, it is more like "advanced trainings" for groups to test out new skills and upgrades.</blockquote>Consitering everyone at G4 is either a Total Die Hard Blizzard Fanboy/girl or a Consol player I seriously doupt thier numbers and any "Poll" they do will be of audiance members of the same type. It would be like going to an EQ2 fan site and running a poll about WoW and then reporting that people are leaving WoW in droves. At Fan Fair I spoke to a dev and he said that EQ2 is Technically growing but its at such a slow rate right now to be virually flat growth if you charted it.

[Loolee]

Tech TV > G4  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Wingrider01]

<cite>Chondrichtheyia wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Tyrus@Butcherblock wrote:</cite><blockquote>G4 properly had folks in audience room filled out the current polls, it shows that folks are losing interest to stay playing eq2 due to recent arrogance and series of nerfs and quests are getting extreme grouping.they don't care and wont fix or do some update for older quests that was required serious groupings, and no one cant find any helps after 3-4 months later. it does need "scaling" for solo/small group instanced zones.some wouldn't even able to sneak pass those heavy heroic traffics to finish if they cant find any helps, not much of choice they have... wait for few more months of finding decent group or quit for good.SOE should had design for heroic mobs in specific designed zone = more loots and some extra drops for groups compared to designed solo reward drops. boss fights in solo would need to be challenging and fair, especially for non-dps healer class which they cant do lot of damages in short time.same zone layouts for designed solo/group and scaling and density as the optional.so we need optionimized zones (optional-customized), it may will bring back several players and have extended account life.hardcores will still do extreme zone like Unrest Estates and Nek 3 which is not required for serious quests, it is more like "advanced trainings" for groups to test out new skills and upgrades.</blockquote>dNo offense, but don't trust G4. The target demographic for that show is exactly what's wrong with videogaming in general today. In fact, I'm kind of glad and relieved that those "gamers" are staying away from EQ2.</blockquote>You missed that G4 says what ever they are paid the most to say also

[Gromph]

<p>Merging servers is not a too good idea. I find the server I play on just too overcrowded. Often one can not do quests without interference.</p><p>Servers could have indication of preference, however. Group or solo. In this way people who find it important to group could choose a group server. And solo artists could go to the solo server where they don't have to see the LFG spam.</p>

[Spyderbite]

Threads like this always confuse me.I've been playing for a year now (almost to the day) and I can count on one hand how many times I've had trouble putting a group together for something. I'm in a large supportive guild which I'm sure lends something to it. But, more often than not my groups are made up of people from various guilds. I don't raid. And, I play on a PvP server. And for the first half of the year I've played I was also living in PST.So, can somebody explain why people like the OP have such a problem finding people to play with to the point that they quit. When, in the meantime, I'm usually politely declining invites all day long. *scratches head*

[liveja]

<p>If I want groups, I group with my guildies. We go out in duos or trios, sometimes full groups. We get what we consider "good" loot, & we have fun. I'm not sure why other people can't figure out how to do the same.</p><p>If I wanted to hire clueless NPCs to group with, I'd play Guild Wars. & I can already put myself up as a mercenary for hire; it's called "using the LFG tool".</p><p>I'm not even going to comment on Diablo 2 <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>

[deKoven]

<cite>Spyderbite@Venekor wrote:</cite><blockquote>Threads like this always confuse me.I've been playing for a year now (almost to the day) and I can count on one hand how many times I've had trouble putting a group together for something. I'm in a large supportive guild which I'm sure lends something to it. But, more often than not my groups are made up of people from various guilds. I don't raid. And, I play on a PvP server. And for the first half of the year I've played I was also living in PST.So, can somebody explain why people like the OP have such a problem finding people to play with to the point that they quit. When, in the meantime, I'm usually politely declining invites all day long. *scratches head*</blockquote>It's quite simple, really. One phrase contains the whole situation; The glass is either half full or it's half empty.For those who are quitting, I have to say "Don't let the door hit your behind as you exit." I can think of two reasons just off the top of my head; either you're playing on a server in the wrong time slot or you're playing the wrong server. Try running simple alts through different servers. I have NEVER, in all the admittedly short time I've been playing found an "empty" world. It IS true that there are times when not many people are around. Just as true, there are times when there are so many people that my puter has "overload" symptoms.I play on Mistmoore, PST zone, and I play from 6'ish in the morning to, usually, 2'ish in the afternoon with some excursions into the earlier evening hours. On that server, from about 2:00PM on it's a madhouse in Qeynos Harbor constantly. There's prolly 40 to 50 people just in that one small area. I'm with Spyderbite; I find no trouble getting groups. If you just try to help someone else for a change instead of looking out for your own butt you might just find that you're in demand as a guy that other people can rely on.<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Spyderbite]

<cite>Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If I want groups, I group with my guildies. We go out in duos or trios, sometimes full groups. We get what we consider "good" loot, & we have fun. I'm not sure why other people can't figure out how to do the same.</p></blockquote>Ok.. phew.. I was beginning to believe that I was the only one out there with this rare affliction called "friends". <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Serinde]

<cite>Xrazor wrote:</cite><blockquote> <p>people still play Diablo 1 and that is over 20 years old.</p></blockquote>Diablo is <b>NOT</b> "over 20 years old" <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />  It was released in '97.

[dhvyse000]

I have to agree with all of your ideas.  They seem really fun, espiecially the mercenary idea.  People who need money could help people level, and people who need to level can spend cash to get things done!  Brilliant!

[Ciara52]

<cite>Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If I want groups, I group with my guildies. We go out in duos or trios, sometimes full groups. We get what we consider "good" loot, & we have fun. I'm not sure why other people can't figure out how to do the same.</p><p>If I wanted to hire clueless NPCs to group with, I'd play Guild Wars. & I can already put myself up as a mercenary for hire; it's called "using the LFG tool".</p></blockquote><p>        Same here <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />   LOL I play Guild Wars and ya sometimes they can be really clueless especially Koss.</p><p>          Anyway,  the impression I am getting is that if your *wants* are met you will come back.   </p><p>           Go or not that's your option.  Play it as it is or not.   I have plenty of options ingame to group or play solo.</p><p>          Had many good times with friends, guild mates, and random groups.   With some effort on your part you </p><p>          shouldn't have any problems.</p>

[Xrazor]

<p>All I was saying about Diab is it was built to scale...you could solo or group and the NPC would scale to that....also the drop rate would scale.</p><p>So grouping had purpose and so did solo.</p><p>Everquest is a computer game it is not real, therefore it can be programmed for everyones enjoyment...</p>

[liveja]

<cite>Xrazor wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>So grouping had purpose and so did solo.</p></blockquote><p>Grouping in EQ2 has a purpose: hanging out with your friends & having fun. But it sounds to me like you're more concerned with loot.</p>

[Kaalenarc]

<cite>Loolee wrote:</cite><blockquote>Tech TV > G4  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote><span style="color: #ffff00;">So say we all!</span>

[StormCinder]

<cite>Nutella@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Xrazor wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>people still play Diablo 1 and that is over 20 years old.</p></blockquote>Diablo is <b>NOT</b> "over 20 years old" <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />  It was released in '97.</blockquote>I was gonna say...

[liveja]

<cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Loolee wrote:</cite><blockquote>Tech TV > G4  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote><span style="color: #ffff00;">So say we all!</span></blockquote>Yea, but which one has Morgan Fairchild & Adam Webb? That's the winner.

[Morgane]

<p>I play on the Everfrost server and I've never really had problems grouping. Even when I started playing and mostly solo'd, I eventually clicked the "Do not accept group invites" box because I got invited to groups so often. Once I decided I'd like to try grouping, I started talking to a few people and joined a guild. Between my guildmates and THEIR friends and aquaintances, I rarely have trouble finding a group.... especially on the weekends. </p><p>So to the OP... maybe try joining a guild, if you haven't already? That might help. </p><p>Morg</p>

[azekah]

<cite>deKoven wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>It's quite simple, really. One phrase contains the whole situation; The glass is either half full or it's half empty.</blockquote>QFE

[mrsma]

TOTALLY UNRELATED QUESTION.. Hello, PLEASE HELP.. or is there no hope for me??? I have a really newb question. How do i post a question on the forums?? Sad i know and probably beyond all hope but i have spent 2 hours clicking every link available and no luck. Am i really that sad? Hope not. FYI I am a lvl 8 warden who has just landed in freeport / nagafen server. Last night I wandered around looking for my "room" that i can rent for 5 silver a week. I think i am going to do some harvesting to get some money - and then work out the mechanics on selling the stuff later. I dont want to level fast at all - i am taking it all in ( i'm a complete newb so feel a bit overwhelled ). I did get a few heals off on a fellow pvp'er that was attacking some skeletons so I really proud of myself :: pats himself on the back:: Sorry to to bother - just like the game and need some starter help - i feel i'm going to need it. Thanks MrSmall PS - BTW it took me 3 weeks to get this game Ended up buying Kingdom of the Sky and downloaded EoF. - It has not dissapointed !!! the graphics are awsome. LOL just need to know what i'm doing / try and find a group and heal them. what could be easier....

[liveja]

<cite>mrsmall wrote:</cite><blockquote>FYI I am a lvl 8 warden who has just landed in freeport / nagafen server. Last night I wandered around looking for my "room" that i can rent for 5 silver a week.</blockquote><p>Open your map (hit "M" to open the map), check the box marked "hide fog of war", & look for an icon on your map that looks like a four-poster bed. That's the Inn.</p><p>Go there, & talk to the Innkeeper. Follow the conversation. Or, just click on the door near him, it will ask you if you wish to buy the room, & then you're set.</p><p>The "newbie island" forum is probably a better place to ask questions, tho, just so you know.</p><p>Good luck.</p>

[Leatherneck]

<cite>Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Loolee wrote:</cite><blockquote>Tech TV > G4  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote><span style="color: #ffff00;">So say we all!</span></blockquote>Yea, but which one has Morgan Fairchild & Adam Webb? That's the winner.</blockquote>If by Morgan Fairchild and Adam Webb you mean Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler, you are absolutely correct.

[liveja]

<cite>Leatherneck wrote:</cite><blockquote>If by Morgan Fairchild and Adam Webb you mean Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler, you are absolutely correct.</blockquote><p>ROFL!!!!!!!!!</p><p>Yea, that's the two geeks I meant. Thanx for the correction, I knew I had those names totally borked somehow!</p>

[Bloodfa]

You might try rolling on a different server, one with more of an active nightlife, so to speak.

[azekah]

I miss those two old guys...the channel went down the drain after they fired them...

[Journee]

<p>Ok personally I like the idea's of npc's for hire.  I am a mom with 2 active teen-agers and I have played EQ since a year out of beta and I remainded there until EQ2 went live.  I have a life off of the computer which I enjoy fully but my game time is what most would equate to the amount of time they spend watching tv... ie. somedays I get a hour some week-end's I get all day.  I am in a small guild which is made up of my rl friends and family memebers, as I have family which live in australia (which 12 to 16 hours ahead of me depending on the time of year) this is our cheapest way of keeping in contact and I have no desire to expand the guild outside of those rl friends/family.  If there was a npc for hire system then I wouldn't have to worry when the dryer goes off when I am playing on the week-end, I could find some safe corner go fold my laundry and then come back and continue where I left off.  Should I be interupted to go deal with 2 argueing teen's I could get up in the middle of a battle and not have the guilt for anyone dieing other than my own character which honestly I don't care if I have debt.  </p><p>I understand that for the majority of the 'gaming population' NPC's for hire may not be needed and most people prefer the larger 'here is what I have to offer you' guilds but they are not for everyone.  I play on a crowded server and there are only one or 2 times I can think of that I have zoned into a zone and not found someone else there but that doesn't always mean that I can find a group or a group who would be understanding. I don't care if the NPC's are dumb, it then becomes a challenge to me to figure out a way to make them work, it isn't like they are the leader, you are the one who has to maintain control.</p><p>So here's my positive vote for the NPC's</p><p>/crosses her fingers and hopes for mindless NPC's who don't care if I'm afk a half hour</p><p>~journee</p><p>P.S. I do <b>not</b> however want them to combine the server's like they did on EQ1.  I do think adding time zone to the server name (EST/PST etc) which would be an average of that server's players would be benificial to those making new characters on different servers.</p>

[Denon]

<p>OK ( OP here) a couple of comments about the thread.</p><p>1. Population of EQ2 dropping...</p><p>I guess I would agree not to trust what any TV shows says about this, but my own experience is my friends list is huge from people I have added over the past few years - and I hate to remove them just incase they start playing again - but of all the people on the list i would say I only see about 20% of them ever log into the game anymore.  Also I do know a number of people who have canceled in the past few months - So maybe its just me, but i would think this is an indication of how things are going.</p><p>2.  Join a guild, use guildies....</p><p>I have 4 level 70 toons. I have been playing since the EQ2 beta, I have always been in guilds. When I log in - the majority of them are raiding, and most of them only log in now for scheduled raids.</p><p>3.  I have no problem finding a group .. why do you..</p><p>OK - on the super rare occasion, when my kids are not at home - I have been able to log in around 6:00 PST, and at that time I HAVE NO PROBLEM FINDING A GROUP !!!! but listen please I am not going to abandon my family just to be able to log in during prime time to get a group or to join a raid !!!!!!!!!!!! As I mentioned in my original post I can not log in until about 8:30 PST- ( when my kids are in bed )  By that time - it is extreamly difficult to get a new group together - TRUST ME! Maybe I can find a group for lower level content - which I have already probably done 4 times, but if I want to try to get a group of L65+'s together for a specific T7 quest - forget it.  I have made lots of frinde in the past few years of playing - and they are either not playing anymore, only log in for raids now,  or getting ready to log out by the time I am loggin in.</p><p>4. Swith Servers ....</p><p>Um - which server has the 'Late night  / PST tag on it ?????</p><p>5. WoW, Diablo 2 ....</p><p>I have played both of those - I loved Diablo 2, did not really care for WoW , of all the MMO's I have played my favorite was EQ2 !!! The original intent for this post was simply throw some ideas out there that would possibly help for people who play off peak hours - not to argue about how long a game has been out there / or what a TV show says about the game - I really dont care - I'm just hoping that something eventually gets put in place that would help out players that fall into the 'Its hard to get a group' catagory. You basically are in this catagory or not. If you are not - I am happy for you - enjoy the game.</p>

[Sevlar]

<p><b>"if you dont get in these groups within the first 2 months the expansion comes out - you will need to beg for hours in guild and chat channels to try to get people to help you.."</b></p><p>The above quote from the OP is the core of his problem in my opinion.</p><p>No one in a decent guild should have to beg for hours in guild chat to get some help. My guess is either your in a garbage guild or your one of those guild members that begs for so much that people just ignore you.</p><p>Really if you need to beg your guild for hours for any sort of help you need to look for a new guild and not a new game.</p><p>Oh and Diablo 2 hasn't even been around for 10 years so I can't see how you have been playing that game for as long. As someone else already said Dialbo 1 has been around for 10 years as of 2007.  </p><p>Hopefully these tips help make your game experience a little better.</p>

[Journee]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>OK ( OP here) a couple of comments about the thread.</p><p>3.  I have no problem finding a group .. why do you..</p><p>OK - on the super rare occasion, when my kids are not at home - I have been able to log in around 6:00 PST, and at that time I HAVE NO PROBLEM FINDING A GROUP !!!! but listen please I am not going to abandon my family just to be able to log in during prime time to get a group or to join a raid !!!!!!!!!!!! As I mentioned in my original post I can not log in until about 8:30 PST- ( when my kids are in bed )  By that time - it is extreamly difficult to get a new group together - TRUST ME! Maybe I can find a group for lower level content - which I have already probably done 4 times, but if I want to try to get a group of L65+'s together for a specific T7 quest - forget it.  I have made lots of frinde in the past few years of playing - and they are either not playing anymore, only log in for raids now,  or getting ready to log out by the time I am loggin in.</p><p>4. Swith Servers ....</p><p>Um - which server has the 'Late night  / PST tag on it ?????</p><p>5. WoW, Diablo 2 ....</p><p>I have played both of those - I loved Diablo 2, did not really care for WoW , of all the MMO's I have played my favorite was EQ2 !!! The original intent for this post was simply throw some ideas out there that would possibly help for people who play off peak hours - not to argue about how long a game has been out there / or what a TV show says about the game - I really dont care - I'm just hoping that something eventually gets put in place that would help out players that fall into the 'Its hard to get a group' catagory. You basically are in this catagory or not. If you are not - I am happy for you - enjoy the game.</p></blockquote><p>/applause</p><p>I totally agree, thank you very much for letting me know I am not alone.</p><p>~journee</p>

[Bloodfa]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><p><snipped></p><p>4. Swith Servers ....</p><p>Um - which server has the 'Late night  / PST tag on it ?????</p></blockquote><p>Well, Nagafen's a PvP server, so that might not suit your playing preference, but there has to be another that has players on during those hours.  I know that I usually get the guild "Hey, what are ya up to?  We've got a group, one opening left, heading to xxxxxxx, wanna join?" about 1:00 am Eastern. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  And I've never had a problem finding full groups at 2:00 am.  The problem is they're usually the enemy.</p><p>Might not be the server, though.  Someone suggested it could be the guild.  Why not get a toon up to 20 and start guild-hopping with them?  You might find one more in line with what you are looking for.  Or rather more in line with your availability.  Married middle-aged dad here, I know what it's like to not be able to hit a group or raid due to time restrictions.</p><p>Middle-aged?  Did I just call myself middle-aged?  [Removed for Content] ...</p>

[Morgane]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>2.  Join a guild, use guildies....</p><p>I have 4 level 70 toons. I have been playing since the EQ2 beta, I have always been in guilds. When I log in - the majority of them are raiding, and most of them only log in now for scheduled raids.</p></blockquote><p>Hmm. I wonder how easy/hard it would be to find a guild on your server with some west coast folks? Or, at the very least, a guild that concentrates more on questing and grouping than raids? Isn't there a forum here specifically for guilds to advertise? Or is that over at GuildPortal.com? </p><p>Morg</p><p>EDITED: for spelling and to also say that my guild has quite a few guildies from the west coast. We actually schedule events (usually on the weekends) later than we normally would (around 9pm central time) so that we can accommodate those folks in the PST zone. </p>

[Andok]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>As I mentioned in my original post I can not log in until about 8:30 PST- ( when my kids are in bed )  By that time - it is extreamly difficult to get a new group together - TRUST ME! Maybe I can find a group for lower level content - which I have already probably done 4 times, but if I want to try to get a group of L65+'s together for a specific T7 quest - forget it.  </p></blockquote>I start playing at the same time (for the same reason), and I have the same problem - most of the time, my guildmates are already grouped and well into an instance/dungeon/whatever by the time I log in.  Too bad that you're not on AB, because we could get a regular duo going... and maybe more if we found more people in our same circumstance (I know there has to be a lot of parents on the West Coast that don't play until their kids are in bed... it's just hard to find them).

[Finora]

<p>While I'm lucky enough to be a healer with a husband who plays a tank (so I'm never without a good base for a group and a fine fine duo) and also in an absolutely fantastic guild, I can see merit in many of your ideas. </p><p>I particularly like the idea of the mercenary system, though technically people could do that with the current LFG system (put in the description that you are willing to do whatever if you are paid, and vice versus for those willing to pay people to help them do x).</p><p>I personally loathe hired NPCs when I've used them in other games, but to each their own, I wouldn't have to do it and it could help the folks who play off hours for whatever reason. I'm not sure how it would affect grouping with real players though... suppose it would depend on the quality of the hired NPCs. In any case, I like the merc idea better than hired NPCs in general.</p><p>The scalable/randomizing instances sounds remarkably like EQ1's Lost Dungeons of Norrath expansion hehe. And many over the course of this game have expressing interest in such an add on. </p><p>And I must say it would be nice to have more long in depth quests that were soloable or small groupable. But I do love quests and more quests I can do without a raid the better for me =).</p>

[Spyderbite]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote>3.  I have no problem finding a group .. why do you..<p>OK - on the super rare occasion, when my kids are not at home - I have been able to log in around 6:00 PST, and at that time I HAVE NO PROBLEM FINDING A GROUP !!!! but listen please I am not going to abandon my family just to be able to log in during prime time to get a group or to join a raid !!!!!!!!!!!! As I mentioned in my original post I can not log in until about 8:30 PST- ( when my kids are in bed )  By that time - it is extreamly difficult to get a new group together - TRUST ME!</p></blockquote>I still don't get it. Sorry.I play early morning until late afternoon when I go to work. Then I log back in after work at 8:00 PST and play til the wee hours of the morning. A group for me is always just a /tell or guild chat shout away for me. Perhaps #4 is the answer for you after all. PvP server may be your best bet as Chaly mentioned. They're a mixing pot for people from all over the world and thus people are usually playing at all hours. If PvP is not your style or preference, then you may need to roll some toons on the various shards until you find one that you are comfortable with.Don't know what to say really. In all my years of gaming.. finding people to play with or against has never been a problem. This is coming from somebody who's played online games from just about every time zone on the planet.. Arizona, Missouri, Canada, Denmark, London & Australia. /shrugs

[Andok]

<cite>Spyderbite@Venekor wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote>3.  I have no problem finding a group .. why do you..<p>OK - on the super rare occasion, when my kids are not at home - I have been able to log in around 6:00 PST, and at that time I HAVE NO PROBLEM FINDING A GROUP !!!! but listen please I am not going to abandon my family just to be able to log in during prime time to get a group or to join a raid !!!!!!!!!!!! As I mentioned in my original post I can not log in until about 8:30 PST- ( when my kids are in bed )  By that time - it is extreamly difficult to get a new group together - TRUST ME!</p></blockquote>I still don't get it. Sorry.I play early morning until late afternoon when I go to work. Then I log back in after work at 8:00 PST and play til the wee hours of the morning. A group for me is always just a /tell or guild chat shout away for me. Perhaps #4 is the answer for you after all. PvP server may be your best bet as Chaly mentioned. They're a mixing pot for people from all over the world and thus people are usually playing at all hours. If PvP is not your style or preference, then you may need to roll some toons on the various shards until you find one that you are comfortable with.Don't know what to say really. In all my years of gaming.. finding people to play with or against has never been a problem. This is coming from somebody who's played online games from just about every time zone on the planet.. Arizona, Missouri, Canada, Denmark, London & Australia. /shrugs</blockquote> <p >You probably don’t get it because you are not playing under the same constraints.<span>  </span>You play “<span class="postbody">early morning until late afternoon” and again from “8:00 PST… til the wee hours of the morning”.<span>  </span>With that much play time, you almost certainly have a much larger base of online friends to pull from that someone that can only play from 8:30 to midnight.</span></p>

[Denon]

<p>There is a thread on the Mistmoore forum that was started back in May called ( Looking for a guild that raids at 8:00 PST ) it was not started by me but I have posted on that thread over the past few months, adding what I was looking for.</p><p>But there has never been a responce from a Mistmoore guild.</p><p>I have also searched the Mistmoore guild apps for something indicating they are 'West Coast' , but not had any luck with that.</p><p>I have considered trying to start a PST Guild ( I actually have a toon that is guild leader of an empty L28 Guild that I use for bank space ) 'Righteous Fury'. But since I have a family, and limited play time - I think I would really be a bad guild leader. </p><p>I appreciate the suggestion - find a new guild - you are probably right ! I have changed guilds before for this same issue. My current guild has alot of great people, and they would be happy to help me and have in the past. Its just the time that I usually play thats the issue. I feel bad asking someone for help when I know its 1 AM their time and they already said they are tired and have to get up for work in the morning.</p><p>If I knew of a PST guild on my server, or one with a good PST population (that is not raiding) I would join them.</p><p>I actually have received a PM's about a guild on another server that has a good PST population. I need a break from the game - but when/If I do come back I will be contacting them.</p>

[phoenixshard]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>OK ( OP here) a couple of comments about the thread.</p><p>1. Population of EQ2 dropping...</p><p>I guess I would agree not to trust what any TV shows says about this, but my own experience is my friends list is huge from people I have added over the past few years - and I hate to remove them just incase they start playing again - but of all the people on the list i would say I only see about 20% of them ever log into the game anymore.  Also I do know a number of people who have canceled in the past few months - So maybe its just me, but i would think this is an indication of how things are going.</p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Thats the way it is with most MMO's though.  People come and go quite often, with RL coming up so they can't play, burn out, etc.  It takes a lot to keep someone in a game for long periods of time.  You being here since beta from your post seems that maybe the burn out has come into effect, that is a long time to go with playing one game, you saying you still like the game but have nothing to do would point to that too.  That may not be the case, just MO is all.</span><p>2.  Join a guild, use guildies....</p><p>I have 4 level 70 toons. I have been playing since the EQ2 beta, I have always been in guilds. When I log in - the majority of them are raiding, and most of them only log in now for scheduled raids.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000;">Maybe another guild that is West Coast based?  Not sure of your current guild, so it may help you to look for a guild with primarily West Coast players.</span></p><p>3.  I have no problem finding a group .. why do you..</p><p>OK - on the super rare occasion, when my kids are not at home - I have been able to log in around 6:00 PST, and at that time I HAVE NO PROBLEM FINDING A GROUP !!!! but listen please I am not going to abandon my family just to be able to log in during prime time to get a group or to join a raid !!!!!!!!!!!! As I mentioned in my original post I can not log in until about 8:30 PST- ( when my kids are in bed )  By that time - it is extreamly difficult to get a new group together - TRUST ME! Maybe I can find a group for lower level content - which I have already probably done 4 times, but if I want to try to get a group of L65+'s together for a specific T7 quest - forget it.  I have made lots of frinde in the past few years of playing - and they are either not playing anymore, only log in for raids now,  or getting ready to log out by the time I am loggin in.</p><span style="color: #ff3300;">That is the curse of the end game of any MMO, you do run out of content and more and more players will not log into the game, I understand exactly where you're coming from.   Maybe look for that guild though that has mostly West Coast players again though.</span><p>4. Swith Servers ....</p><p>Um - which server has the 'Late night  / PST tag on it ?????</p><p><span style="color: #ff3300;">Can't help it, but I had to giggle at the response.</span></p><p>5. WoW, Diablo 2 ....</p><p>I have played both of those - I loved Diablo 2, did not really care for WoW , of all the MMO's I have played my favorite was EQ2 !!! The original intent for this post was simply throw some ideas out there that would possibly help for people who play off peak hours - not to argue about how long a game has been out there / or what a TV show says about the game - I really dont care - I'm just hoping that something eventually gets put in place that would help out players that fall into the 'Its hard to get a group' catagory. You basically are in this catagory or not. If you are not - I am happy for you - enjoy the game.</p><span style="color: #ff3300;">Hopefully with Kunark, it may give you a reason to log back in for old times sake if for not before then.  GL with whatever game you choose.</span></blockquote>

[liveja]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>There is a thread on the Mistmoore forum that was started back in May called ( Looking for a guild that raids at 8:00 PST ) it was not started by me but I have posted on that thread over the past few months, adding what I was looking for.</p><p>But there has never been a responce from a Mistmoore guild.</p></blockquote><p>My little friends-&-family guild doesn't raid, but we're pretty active. I don't know if we have members on at 8:30 PST, but I'm on the West Coast, & would be happy to adjust my schedule to work with a new guildie.</p><p>Drop me a PM if you're interested, send me an in-game e-mail, or whatever.</p><p><a href="http://owb.guildportal.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://owb.guildportal.com</a></p>

[Bloodfa]

<pats Flaye on the back> For a bloobie, yer alright.  <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Gungo]

If your a type of person that finds meeting people or a persistant groups of people to do stuff with hard. Then you really should go to a heavy load server. nagafen(pvp),  antonia bayle(rp), and crushboneAre the top 3 in order. If you dont like pvp go to antonia bayle, if you dont like roleplay servers go to crushbone. If you are on antonia bayle and still find gettign groups hard then you got issues and it is not the server population.

[azekah]

what are you leaving EQII for? WoW?

[Denon]

<cite>azekah wrote:</cite><blockquote>what are you leaving EQII for? WoW?</blockquote><p>No - not WoW. I tried WoW 2 times, (once in beta and again a year after it was out) and I did not care for it to much. I am not sure why, but the graphics bugged me and I felt like I was playing with a bunch of 12 year olds.</p><p>[edit: no offence to any 12 year olds - I should say immature 12 year olds ]</p><p>I actually may try Neverwinter Nights 2, also looking forward to Halo III ( for something different )</p>

[Morgane]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>azekah wrote:</cite> <p>No - not WoW. I tried WoW 2 times, (once in beta and again a year after it was out) and I did not care for it to much. I am not sure why, but the graphics bugged me and I felt like I was playing with a bunch of 12 year olds.</p><p>[edit: no offence to any 12 year olds - I should say immature 12 year olds ]</p><p>I actually may try Neverwinter Nights 2, also looking forward to Halo III ( for something different )</p></blockquote><p>Personally, I suggest taking Flaye up on his offer. Having said that, I played Anarchy Online a few years ago and rather enjoyed it. </p><p>Whatever you decide to do,  I wish you luck. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[interstellarmatter]

<cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>azekah wrote:</cite><p>I actually may try Neverwinter Nights 2, also looking forward to Halo III ( for something different )</p></blockquote><p>I loved the first Neverwinter Nights.  I tried Neverwinter Nights 2.  It's hard to go back to a single player game after playing MMOs for a while.  It seems so quiet and lifeless....</p><p>Any how..the first few hours of the game is pretty boring but it picks up some if you slug it out.</p>

[Bramwe]

<cite>interstellarmatter wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Denon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>azekah wrote:</cite><p>I actually may try Neverwinter Nights 2, also looking forward to Halo III ( for something different )</p></blockquote><p>I loved the first Neverwinter Nights.  I tried Neverwinter Nights 2.  <span style="color: #cc0033;">It's hard to go back to a single player game after playing MMOs for a while.  It seems so quiet and lifeless....</span></p><p>Any how..the first few hours of the game is pretty boring but it picks up some if you slug it out.</p></blockquote>I agree.  Buying Oblivion was the dumbest thing I have done in a long time.

[nia]

<p>       One of the things that EQ2 does need to improve is that it is built for the short term....It is what would be labeled "short term good long term bad".....THe problem with fast leveling is that you eventually hit a wall....A game like EQ1 would be labeled "short term bad long term good" because it lends itself to being played for a long time...it takes a long time to accomplish things there....Several zones require flagging and raiding to unlock....Epic quests can take months for certain characters.....We really cant say there is anything in EQ2 that is like that...There are some quests that do take time but many of them are hardly necessary they are just things the players choose to do......There is alot of freedom in EQ2 but there is also alot that you never have to do......While I enjoy EQ2 now I would be hard pressed to see myself playing it in 3 more years (same applies to WoW btw).....</p><p>      I think the issue for MMOs nowadays is to figure out how to please the player base, especially those that have limited time, yet make a game that will still be appealing 3-5 years later with goals for the players to still accomplish....While EQ1 has great long term goals it really does not fit the players that have limited play time.....The raids are demanding and can take alot more time than many players have.....I think alot of people are looking at Kunark with great interest.....The reason why is it's success/failure may determine how much longer alot of people will play EQ2.....</p>

[Ranger13]

<p>You'll be back when Kunark is released.  <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>

[azekah]

people, please make sure your deleting the correct names when quoting someone who already quoted...

[Morgane]

<cite>azekah wrote:</cite><blockquote>people, please make sure your deleting the correct names when quoting someone who already quoted...</blockquote><p>To which post are you referring to?</p><p>EDIT: Oops. Looks like mine. So very sorry... my bad. I hearby solemnly swear to never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever make that mistake again. Amen. </p>

[Guy De Alsace]

<p>I have no problems grouping except when I need to do a specific quest thats not part of a line.</p><p>With Sword of Destiny, MoA and Claymore - those quests alone are eating up a rather large slice of what people are available to quest with. I dont blame them since the rewards are much better than your average one-off quest.</p><p>The rest of the people not specifically raiding are doing instances.</p>

[Meech_1]

<p>I also would like to see them make instances scale to groups I think that would intice lots of people to keep playing or maybe come back.  I would even go as far as saying then some instances could be  a raid too!  To get the super uber loot.  I almost got excited when they first had tears grifters quests because I thought ooo finally I can do something solo if I only have an hour to kill.  But then those got boring after a while.  </p><p>As for changing guilds it would be nice if guilds put in thier description what time zone they are.  I look for guilds in the system they have now and most don't put what time zone they play.  Not talking raid times most put that.  Mostly I  see people who just log on for the raids and don't log on at all the rest of the week.  </p><p>So Denon I completely agree with you and that's why I am quitting too.....not just cuz I married you <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  </p><p>Oh and for those of you who have no problem on Mistmoore finding a group at 8pm PST.......give me your names and maybe I'll group with you before my account becomes inactive.  But seriously when we LFG we almost never get respones even when we say LFG for anything.  So it gets frustrating sitting there waiting  I can't tell you how long if finally took me to finish acadechysim (sp)  basically my husband and I did it duo after weeks of trying to get a group.  </p><p>So that's my 2cp for those who care,</p>

[hansomepete]

Few things i think they should have done. Heroics and Epics except for a few should be dungeon instances. Why? because people with quests and groups would be headed there. No reason there should be any ^^^heroics on the main body of land. That way your solo'ers would be fine with getting xp and your grouper's would be happy because they would have somewhere to go. Nothing makes you feel like to you got there anymore. Level 20 was a comming of age quest. Made you fight for it, you wanted it now here's your chance, that's been gone now. At Level 50 they should make a new quest for you. Maybe get an uber spell, a uber weapon or something. Maybe a warlock that deals only in poison based attacks give a huge plus to them in that area. Maybe a wizard that wants to just use fire etc... NEW SPELLS!!!! for god sakes ever since lv 20 it's the same crap wrapped up in shinny paper. I think there are 10 basic spells, just the damage increased, oh boy what fun that is... Fluff spells are just to fluff, it's nice to be able to summon a bat, rat or what ever familar but why?? have it give you something like infravison. THe list is endless but they seem liek the way to fix everything is to nerf the player and change mechanics.

[interstellarmatter]

<cite>hansomepete wrote:</cite><blockquote>NEW SPELLS!!!! for god sakes ever since lv 20 it's the same crap wrapped up in shinny paper. I think there are 10 basic spells, just the damage increased, oh boy what fun that is... Fluff spells are just to fluff, it's nice to be able to summon a bat, rat or what ever familar but why?? have it give you something like infravison. THe list is endless but they seem liek the way to fix everything is to nerf the player and change mechanics. </blockquote><p>There are new spells in your 50s.  Sage's can make them from the ancient scrolls.</p><p>Plus at level 50, most classes get a new line of spell.  Rangers get assassinate, Inquisitors get a nice DPS buff, Warlocks get  Devastate....</p>

[Uumuuanu]

<p>OP  Take a break and come back for several months around each expansion.  Make sure to cancel your billing in between expansion sessions.</p><p>Personally I agree with the merge server part and the timezone preference and the free moves part.  It would be nice not to be left out of the raid if I can't make it home by 5pm pacific. As for the population of the servers, most people have NO idea what its like to be on an empty server.  If you are making a new toon, don't put it on any server that doesn't say HEAVY population when you logon at your timezone.  Simply put,  if Sony won't consolidate, consolidate yourselfs.  If you are planning on moving your toon, logon at your regular time and check which servers are HEAVY population.   Also go to the forums and see what servers have the most posts, it shows interest in that server and the game.  </p><p>I can warn you away from Lucan, I think on a good night there MIGHT be 5000 people across all levels.  Take out the bots and you have 4000, break that into tiers with a weighted average and you will find about 85% of all people are over level 60.  Which means that across all other tiers you might get 500 toons (we are talking about 100 world wide for your tier).  Take out crafters, AFK people, soloers, only online to chat, etc and  you are taking 4-5 groups total world wide for anything under 60 for any given tier, substantially less for anything under 30 which is considered soloable now and achievable in under 1 week.</p><p>Contrast that with HEAVY servers and you are probably talking 10-15 groups for any given tier, basically double to triple your odds.</p><p>Oh yeah and the other thing Sony could do to help,  advertise.  Can't say I have seen any real advertisement online for EQ(all editions) in months. Simply put, the EQ population is dwindling as people go to other games and as new people never hear about it.</p><p>Beyond that, make a class that can solo well.  Good luck.</p>

[Brook]

I agree with some of what hansome wrote, I remember the struggle at and to lvl20, it gave a sense of accomplishment to finish the class quest. Sadly they were removed/revamped w/e... and there are many people who are glad, but I wasn't one of them.SOE did make one helluva game, the graphics are the best in the industry imho, the game play is soso though and lvling is a joke anymore, been with it since LU13 and afraid that I am going to go the way of the OP myself. Mine are for different reasons though, I don't have trouble putting together groups and finding peeps to play with, its more that the game is evolving into something it wasn't when I started playing. Maybe more fun for some but not for me. I cant bash SOE for trying to make money, thats what its all about in the long run. Think I will try out 2moons its in open beta and free, there are some bugs but no more than we have had here recently (and it doesn't have that stupid [Removed for Content] card game in it)! I swear it wouldn't be so bad if they added stuff and it actually worked as intended, but give me a break... the lagg hit an all time high and when they tweak that I crash to char select if I zone.... [Removed for Content]?Hey Sony get a clue and add a server with the old rule set on it  Without: LON, Without: diminishing returns, Without: click a button raise a level... give back the old trade skill grind, give back exploding chest and forges, separate good and evil the way it was etc....

[Stat]

<p>It is funny to see the same people saying over and over that there is no problem.</p><p>I've seen a few threads over the last months on the subject of how hard it is to get a group going. Yet every time same people gets very vocal with "I have no problem; it is you that must be a problem" answer. Hah.</p><p>Myself, I play on AB that is supposedly one of the most populated servers. I have level 70 healer and level 70 tank. Last Sunday I left my character logged on and checked level chat every now and then. For all the levels 10 - 70 in 4 hours I saw messages for 6 groups forming. </p><p>SIX groups forming on the whole server during what I consider over the prime time slot (weekend mid-day). </p><p>My experience is similar to the OP - it is getting harder and harder to find groups. It used to be that it was hard to find groups to do speciifc quests. Then it became hard to find groups for queslines (haha, try to get a Claymore group or a SoD group). Now it is getting hard to find any group at all. </p><p>Can I get a group if I try hard enough? Yes, but it starts to take hours to do that.</p><p>Same as OP, unless SoE does something about it (group schediling tool or merge servers), I don't see myself playing much longer.</p><p>EQ2 could be a fantastic game - if you can get a group <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Denon]

<p>Thanks everyone for the great feedback...</p><p>My account will expire in the next few days, and I will be taking a break.</p><p>However I am sure I will be back - especially after all the feedback here - you have helped me realize that I really need to put more effort into finding the 'right' guild.</p><p>I will probably come back shortly after Kunark is released, I am sure alot of people will come back to try Kunark, at that time i'll begin my hunt.</p><p>#1 on the List to contact will be Flaye (Order of the White Bear) I really dont want people to change their schedue for me , so hopefully I'll find others out there with a simular schedule. </p><p>Then if I dont find a guild with a good population of later PST people, I'll move my search to other servers. My playstyle is not PVP so I would probably check AB , and some of the other servers suggested and with those who have PM'd me. </p><p> Then again who knows maybe some day SOE will impliment some ideas that help people who have a tough time grouping. There are often times I am on earlier but can not group because I am 50% afk dealing with the kids - and I know others ( like journee ) whom often avoid grouping for this same reason. </p><p>Thanks again - </p><p>Denon/Draziw/Thomm/Steab -@- Mistmoore</p>

[adolf102]

I agree with OP. Something should be done to make questing more fun, even if there are no enough people for full group. Instances scaling is working very good in even older games like City of Heroes for example.Only thing I maybe don't like is server merge. Those "shared" instances and named/quest related mobs outdoors plus harvest nodes would get ever more annoying if more players will start fighting over them.As for friends, my friends don't play EQ2 or don't play games at all. Pure fact that I have a few doesn't help with mentioned problems then, does it? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Sniffsniff]

<cite>Denon wrote</cite> <blockquote><p>3.  I have no problem finding a group .. why do you..</p><p>OK - on the super rare occasion, when my kids are not at home - I have been able to log in around 6:00 PST, and at that time I HAVE NO PROBLEM FINDING A GROUP !!!! but listen please I am not going to abandon my family just to be able to log in during prime time to get a group or to join a raid !!!!!!!!!!!! As I mentioned in my original post I can not log in until about 8:30 PST- ( when my kids are in bed )  By that time - it is extreamly difficult to get a new group together - TRUST ME! Maybe I can find a group for lower level content - which I have already probably done 4 times, but if I want to try to get a group of L65+'s together for a specific T7 quest - forget it.  I have made lots of frinde in the past few years of playing - and they are either not playing anymore, only log in for raids now,  or getting ready to log out by the time I am loggin in.</p></blockquote>Theres your problem, your not willing to sacrifice.

[Andok]

<cite>Sadpanda@Najena wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Denon wrote</cite> <blockquote><p>3.  I have no problem finding a group .. why do you..</p><p>OK - on the super rare occasion, when my kids are not at home - I have been able to log in around 6:00 PST, and at that time I HAVE NO PROBLEM FINDING A GROUP !!!! but listen please I am not going to abandon my family just to be able to log in during prime time to get a group or to join a raid !!!!!!!!!!!! As I mentioned in my original post I can not log in until about 8:30 PST- ( when my kids are in bed )  By that time - it is extreamly difficult to get a new group together - TRUST ME! Maybe I can find a group for lower level content - which I have already probably done 4 times, but if I want to try to get a group of L65+'s together for a specific T7 quest - forget it.  I have made lots of frinde in the past few years of playing - and they are either not playing anymore, only log in for raids now,  or getting ready to log out by the time I am loggin in.</p></blockquote>Theres your problem, your not willing to sacrifice.</blockquote>Not sacrificing time with your family to play a game is hardly a "problem" <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Denon]

<p>I think Sadpanda was being somewhat sarcastic, but sadly it is kinda true.</p><p>I would imagine the people that are the most successful in these type of games have made alot of RL sacrifices, not that thats a good thing - but thats the reality of it.</p><p>Heck .. I know someone who got divorced (even though they wont admit it) because of this game.</p><p>Anyway - about the server merge idea , some people like the idea , and some people really dont.</p><p>I want to emphasize the second part of that idea.</p><p>1. First you pair up most of the servers and merge those 2 together- maybe not the ones that are 'Heavy'. So at this stage you have doubled the population of those servers. So this would remove maybe 8-10 servers.</p><p>2. Then add 4 NEW Servers, one for each continental US time zone.  So people can choose to move to a time zone specific server if they wish to.  So - lets say 10-20% of the population of the combined servers move to that, then your server population has increased but it wont be quite double, maybe closer to 50%. </p><p>3.  The other thing is contested zones still have the ability to be instanced, I remember way back when there would be like 3 instances of Thundering Steeps because of so many people in a tighter content of the game. I really think the game was 'healthier' back then. Anyway, they could also trim down the amount of people it takes to spawn another instance of these zones. If some zones are to competitive shrink that number way down - maybe cut it in half game-wide for the 'combat' zones.</p>

[Binford]

From my experience getting a group is not as hard as most people make it out, ill give you that some nights its dead.  But if you start a group and have a goal in mind its pretty easy to fill out.  But if you just go /lfg and sit there spam the level channel now and again, yes your going to increase the number of times you DON'T get a group.   So my advice take some initiative start a group, many dungeons can be duo'd or trio'd with little skill.  Find some good people leveling up, stick with them and its not so bad, Get away from the Solo mentality this is Massive multiplayer game so MULTIPLAY!  Solo FTL.

[garretth]

I believe the game should focus much more on duo's for quests....it's usually easier to find at least one other player...and many of us play with a friend or family member.  Raids should be set up for duo's as well...have it so that 5 duo's...or 10 duo's group for raids.

[Kasar]

<cite>niack wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>       One of the things that EQ2 does need to improve is that it is built for the short term....It is what would be labeled "short term good long term bad".....THe problem with fast leveling is that you eventually hit a wall....A game like EQ1 would be labeled "short term bad long term good" because it lends itself to being played for a long time...it takes a long time to accomplish things there....Several zones require flagging and raiding to unlock....Epic quests can take months for certain characters.....We really cant say there is anything in EQ2 that is like that...There are some quests that do take time but many of them are hardly necessary they are just things the players choose to do......There is alot of freedom in EQ2 but there is also alot that you never have to do......While I enjoy EQ2 now I would be hard pressed to see myself playing it in 3 more years (same applies to WoW btw).....</p></blockquote>There ARE long access quests, and originally most raid zones had them.  All of that's unlocked now so the quests are irrelevant.  It seems they only want to place access quests in the current expansions.  There's some rationale that makes sense for it, if you've reached end-game, do you really want to redo those long, boring access quests that often involved camping for each alt?  Probably not, even when they're level-appropriate.I'd expect the DoF zones to be unlocked with the RoK release if they're consistent, though it trivializes much of what once were significant milestones.