Returning player. Where has everyone gone?

[Phaseo]

<p>Hello all, when I last left early after kunark, Freeport was still a busy hub of activity at the docks. Now it is empty. Where are people gathering nowadays?</p>

[Lilvoice]

<p>probably all in the guild halls</p>

[Jrral]

<p>Most guilded players will be in guild halls, or out in the newer content. That'd be the ROK zones, Moors of Ykesha or Lavastorm. Or at the entrances to the TSO instances. The cities are, more than ever, just spots to stop on the way out or back.</p>

[Gungo]

<p>Guild halls</p><p>And hopefully you have a toon on a very populated server crushbone or antonia bayle =P</p>

[Phaseo]

<p>Thats pretty discouraging. I had hoped to join the game and start over but it looks like EQ2 if not very newb friendly. I dont understand why they would split up the population like that. Wouldnt it be better to have people mingle and interact with each other in central areas rather than be split in their own cliques?</p>

[erin]

<p><cite>Phaseout wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Thats pretty discouraging. I had hoped to join the game and start over but it looks like EQ2 if not very newb friendly. I dont understand why they would split up the population like that. Wouldnt it be better to have people mingle and interact with each other in central areas rather than be split in their own cliques?</p></blockquote><p>Its extremely newb friendly.  Here's a hint:  join a guild.  Anyone can find a guild, any level any class any skill level.</p><p>There's MORE social interaction than ever before. People never mingled and interacted in central areas, at least not that I ever saw.  They do now, those social hubs are called guildhalls, and there's more social interaction than I've seen in a long time in this game.</p>

[Jrral]

<p><cite>Phaseout wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Thats pretty discouraging. I had hoped to join the game and start over but it looks like EQ2 if not very newb friendly. I dont understand why they would split up the population like that. Wouldnt it be better to have people mingle and interact with each other in central areas rather than be split in their own cliques?</p></blockquote><p>SOE didn't split up the population like that, the population decided to split up like that. Mainly because the population's doing content, and those places are where the content is. Adventurers are looking for adventure, and adventure rarely occurs in the cities. Cities are the civilized, boring places where you sell your loot, buy your supplies and prepare to go out for the next adventure. You won't find Lady Vox or the Spider Queen parked by the Ironforge fountain in North Qeynos.</p><p>As far as being new-player friendly, EQ2's fairly easy for new players. In the newer starting zones you get some pretty good quest-reward gear that'll hold you into T3 (20s) easily. By then you'll be able to keep yourself in Mastercrafted as you level up. You can do the lower-tier heroic dungeons if you want, but there'll be more than enough solo content to let you level up to T8. You can run it on your own, or grab 2-3 other people and really burn through it. You can join a guild and get help levelling up. Yes, T1-7 are mainly used anymore to level up to T8. That's what happens when an MMO matures: most of the players have their main characters in the end-game tier, and most of them want to play in end-game content.</p><p>And there is a central area to interact. It's called level chat. Of course, the active channels are 1-9 (open to everyone) and 70-79 (open to most main characters by now).</p>

[Odys]

<p>I agree with the opener, i started around ROK and meeting people in Kelethin was nice. It was much better than the chat channel. I keep  all my chat channels on and i see very often new players asking  "what is going on?" "where is the city" "where are the people".</p><p>I usually advice them to get a guild and explain that people are in their guild mansion .... i don't add that 95% of the people are not listenning to the 1-70 channels ... Sure i don;t want them to quit <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Rahatmattata]

<p>North Qeynos is packed with crafters and stuff on AB.</p>

[guillero]

<p><cite>Rahatmattata wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>North Qeynos is packed with crafters and stuff on AB.</p></blockquote><p>Yes in their Tier1 guild halls. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Loolee]

<p>Except for early mornings (east coast) I see lvl 1-9 chat very busy all the time on Kithicor.  The game seems to be doing well, there are always folks around, they may be in the guild halls, but they are also out and about playing the game.  If you don't see anyone in the channel chat, say, "Hello all!" and you will find them, just waiting for someone else to start the conversation.</p><p><img src="http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs19/f/2007/256/2/d/Smile_by_zsoly.gif" width="150" height="150" /></p>

[Mikkachu]

<p>As a Kithicor player who doesn't have a guildhall (I am a guild of one!... yeah.), I agree.  Although, thinking about it, I usually find at least someone else at the South FP broker/bank or the North Qeynos bank/crafter/broker three buildings.  However, they say no more to me then they did back when there used to be crowds of ten or so people there.  It admitedly might look a bit lonelier, but the amount of talk is the same as it's always been.  People chat away in the channels (although mostly the 1-9 and 70-79 ones.  Only during very rare times (ala, eight in the morning EST weekday) is there not much chat, and usually if you give a few pokes, people will start gabbing.</p><p>Really, many players- especially guilded players- seem to prefer it this way, as they're a lot more likely to talk to say, their guildies at the broker then they are a stranger.  For most guilded players, things are a lot more social then they've ever been.  It's those who don't have a guildhall or a lot of guildies who feel things as empty.  I suggest joining a guild, if your up for it.</p><p>The only thing I miss is that with so few people in cities, my records of 'snarky things various races snark at other races' haven't been updated in months.  I keep a notebook and pencil with me to record, but these days, the only times I hear comments is when someone's snarking about one of my characters races.  Sigh.  Guess it's up to me to go betray a bunch of races... can't count on just picking up comments hanging around brokers anymore.  /g</p>

[Yimway]

<p>Zone out of your city, zone into a t3 guild hall that allows guests.</p><p>There ya go, likely find as many people as you saw in QH before the guildhall addition.</p>

[Hasad]

<p>I Agree with Atan. Wander through a few guild halls and you're going to see halls that will knock your socks off. Ask in chat which guild hall is the most spectacular and I'm sure you'll get a few suggestions.Only down side is the load times for these halls.</p>

[Rahatmattata]

<p><cite>Jerokane@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Rahatmattata wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>North Qeynos is packed with crafters and stuff on AB.</p></blockquote><p>Yes in their Tier1 guild halls. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>And in the crafting building, around the bank, and by the broker.<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Chickenchucker]

<p>This is indeed a big dilemma for mmo's. I personally felt that social interaction was bigger in eq1 and has done a big flop since eq2's release. The problem occurs because everyone eventually reachs the end level! It kills alot of the lower level end of the game and newbs just say screw it and quit. Why else are they having to make a tool so you can go back now and do quests you maybe didnt do before? because you miss so much in this game, they add..add....add and things just get branched out out out. I love eq2, but I feel these problems should be addressed and looked at more in the future. I really feel like the game is dead to an extent due to everyone being at end game level.</p>

[Spyderbite]

<p><cite>Chickenchucker wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I really feel like the game is dead to an extent due to everyone being at end game level.</p></blockquote><p>I'd agree with you.. but, then we'd both be wrong.</p><p>I sit in a guild hall, working tradeskills with somebody who hasn't even hit level 38 yet in adventuring and is working on level 50 in tradeskills.</p><p>My highest level character is 65 after 4 years. Not from casual play, cause I play every day.</p><p>Don't blame the game for the End Level rush.. blame the players. This is what MMO's have become. Kids grew bored of the console games.. they can win them in a weekend. So, they tackle the MMO's on the computer. End Game is reached, they move on, and everyone else rushes to catch up.</p><p>Meanwhile.. the developers bust butt to develop content to keep the subscribers subscribing.</p><p>Ying.. meet Yang.</p>

[Myste]

<p>The game is also several years old now, and every game has it's life cycle.</p><p>In saying that, I've returned from a 2 year break and started afresh - it's great! Very new player friendly and I'm having a lot of fun.</p><p>My only advice would be to choose a busy server - so many are light these days its ridiculous.</p>

[guillero]

<p>Well,</p><p>Revamping the old zones and adding some high lvl content to them is slowly helping getting the high level players more spread out.</p><p>As that is what also creates the problems.</p><p>All high lvl players (and not just EQ2) are funneled into new zones again and again and again with each expansion pack.</p><p>So adding to the desertion of older zones.</p><p>A high level player is more likely to jump in and help a new player on a difficult quest or Heroic mob if he's around in the same zone.</p><p>But when he is far away in some high level overland zone... most don't bother as it's quickly too much fuss for them.</p><p>That's why I believe developers should keep making use of all the existing zones when working on the next expansion.</p><p>Ofcourse you add new zones, something fresh for the players to level up in when the cap is raised.</p><p>But they should also add new high level content in the older zones as well, so everyone is spread out more across the whole game world.</p><p>This way... all zones keep being alive and has players in it all the time.</p><p>And in the end... it also benefits new players. They still see players all over the place. It's easier for them to get help when needed, without begging for hours or forced to join a guild as soon as possible (and then you can't expect high lvl players to constantly help them on each request.).</p><p>I hope after the TS revamp, they finally start on revamping Antonica. It's a very big zone, with plenty of space and options to add some high lvl stuff in there.</p><p>And the same needs to be done with Quenos and Freeport! Plenty of options to add lots of high level stuff in there to bring a little bit of life back to these cities!</p><p>Just my 2cents.</p><p>Jer</p>

[deathsway]

<p>i would have to say this game is very noob friendly i am new and within a week or two i hit lvl 25 and have had not one problem finding a grp on anotnia bayle server</p><p>i am having a great time</p>