51/50

[Kroonerr]

<p>Well this is sure to generate a lot of flames, but just going to throw it out there anyway...</p><p>In eq1, they recently launched a new server that had a 51/50 rule.  Basically you had the option when creating a new character to either do it the normal way at lvl 1 with nothing, or you could opt to have the toon start at level 51 with 50 aa and it would have some basic armor/weapons and the basic spells needed up to that level.</p><p>The intent was a way for new players to the game to not have such a long road to catch up to the main player base, and also to make it easier for older players to roll a new toon and not have to spend as much time grinding it up to catch up with friends.</p><p>This would be an interesting option to do in eq2.  There is a limited amount of people playing in the 1-70 level range with most people online at any given time being in the 70-90 range.  So it's frustrating if you're on your level 20 alt and you see a lvl 35ish group forming and that's the only lower lvl group you're seeing.  If you could start alts at lvl 51, you'd have the entire range of 1-51 that you could mentor/chrono to form groups and explore content.</p><p>Creating and playing alts is good for the game- it keeps people engaged for longer and gives more options for forming groups.  It's really cool to me (as a long time eq1 player) to see people in chat saying "zerker, wiz or warden LFG" instead of just "monk lfg."  With people having more toons at max level in eq2, the ability to form groups is so much easier then eq1 and makes for a better experience.</p><p>Also, the lvl 90 content is designed to be slow enough in terms of obtaining marks and grinding instances that it will still take people a long time to fully gear multiple toons, except for maybe the most hardcore players (as usual).  Giving the normal player base a leg up on creating alts and letting them join the "main stream" higher end content faster would be good for the game.</p><p>As a preemptive way to avoid abuse on this, maybe only allow one character/account to be created this way every 6 months or so in order to prevent a flood of toons coming into the game this way.</p><p>Just as a disclaimer, I've been playing eq2 for roughly 6 months now, have one 90 toon and am working on an alt now that is lvl 30.  They could make my lvl 30 toon instantly 90 and I still have months of work to do just to get both toons set up with respectable mark gear and I would still only be considered "average" from that point of view.  I'm not looking for the EZ mode to instant god-mode with endgame raid gear and everything.  Just a relatively short time span (month or two?) to get a toon to a sufficient point to be useful in high end content.</p><p>Ok- bash away!  =)</p>

[Landiin]

It is so easy to get to 50 they might as well give us the option to start there if you already have a max lvl toon.

[Aurorrae]

<p>Not to bash, but to disagree gently...</p><p>First, EQ1 is a much older game than EQ2 and is structured quite differently.  For those who haven't played it, it is far more difficult to level solo - it was virtually impossible for my cleric.  Moreover, the number of aas is signficantly higher.  When I quite EQ1 with a character in the 70s (level cap at the time was 80) I had about 800 aa and was considered far behind.  End game EQ1 characters I believe are at 100 level cap and have literally thousands of aas.  Finally, there was a signficant amount of back flagging, keying, etc., to be done to get caught up.  Frankly, we gave up and came over here because the task was virtually impossible - it could literally take a year.</p><p>While it takes a bit of effort, you can get a 90 level, 200+ aa toon in a relatively short period of time.  The level is no problem, with concerted effort, maybe a month or two on the aa.  It's a big difference.</p><p>I'll admit to having played the "MMO that shall not be named"  - when they introduced Death Knights, they did a similar thing, you could have a DK at a higher level with minimal gear if you had an existing toon.  What ended up happening is that everyone had a DK and no one knew how to play them.  They were awful (speaking as a healer who ended up trying to heal these people who were tanking for the first time at level 60).   There is value in those lower levels to learning to play your character and knowing your spells so that when it comes time to do the higher end stuff, you actually have a clue.  There is no replacement for getting out there and killing stuffs!</p>

[Cuedywene]

<p>People just blow thru those levels.  I don't see auto leveling to 50 as removing any hurdles that prevent new toons from getting to end game levels quickly.</p><p>There is a ton of solo content that will rocket them past 50 rather easily...</p>

[Deadeyes]

<p><cite>Kroonerr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Creating and playing alts is good for the game</p></blockquote><p>Which is why they should gives us more character slots.</p>

[Alenna]

<p><cite>Deadeyes wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kroonerr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Creating and playing alts is good for the game</p></blockquote><p>Which is why they should gives us more character slots.</p></blockquote><p>/agree</p>

[Gladiolus]

<p>There should be an option to create a level 90 character that only goes in the battlegrounds.</p>

[EQ2Magroo]

<p>I was kinda hoping they'd put something in similar where you got to create your characters at a higher level (only if you wanted to), provided you had first levelled some characters to max cap. Something like:</p><p>1 max lvl char - can create new chars at level 30 with 30AA</p><p>2 max lvl char - can create new chars at lvl 40 with 40AA</p><p>3+ max lvl chars can create new chars at lvl 50 with 50AA</p><p>I kinda flip between thinking this is not really such a good idea (e.g. removes a potential pool of low level alts to assist new players/drive marketplace etc), to wishing it was in game already (e.g. if you have 3 max level characters already, are you really going to enjoy the whole lvl1-50 levelling experience again ?)</p><p>What really suprises me though is that this isn't available via Station Cash. I can't believe they've managed to restrain themselves for so long, the temptation must be huge <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Elebu]

<p><cite>Adeyia@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I was kinda hoping they'd put something in similar where you got to create your characters at a higher level (only if you wanted to), provided you had first levelled some characters to max cap. Something like:</p><p>1 max lvl char - can create new chars at level 30 with 30AA</p><p>2 max lvl char - can create new chars at lvl 40 with 40AA</p><p>3+ max lvl chars can create new chars at lvl 50 with 50AA</p><p>I kinda flip between thinking this is not really such a good idea (e.g. removes a potential pool of low level alts to assist new players/drive marketplace etc), to wishing it was in game already (e.g. if you have 3 max level characters already, are you really going to enjoy the whole lvl1-50 levelling experience again ?)</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>What really suprises me though is that this isn't available via Station Cash. I can't believe they've managed to restrain themselves for so long, the temptation must be huge</strong></span> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>I bet we see some kind of advanced character service before the end of 2010.  Ultima Online has been doing this for years...not a max level toon but a toon skilled/leveled up enough as to be an enticing buy for veteran players not wanting to run the same lower level content again for the nth time.</p><p>It's gold.</p>

[BMonkeeus]

I want a Lev 89 with 249 AA please...and fabled out...awesomesauce!

[Elebu]

<p><cite>Aurorrae@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Not to bash, but to disagree gently...</p><p>I'll admit to having played the "MMO that shall not be named"  - when they introduced Death Knights, they did a similar thing, you could have a DK at a higher level with minimal gear if you had an existing toon.  What ended up happening is that everyone had a DK and no one knew how to play them.  They were awful (speaking as a healer who ended up trying to heal these people who were tanking for the first time at level 60).   There is value in those lower levels to learning to play your character and knowing your spells so that when it comes time to do the higher end stuff, you actually have a clue.  There is no replacement for getting out there and killing stuffs!</p></blockquote><p>Absoultely agree, there is no substitute for that experience you get 1-max level...however, I would submit that many veterans that have played the game for any length of time wouldn't take long dropping into say a level 60/70/80 toon of some completely unfamiliar class and being able to learn pretty quickly what the class can (and is expected to) do if they didn't know already via alts or whatever.</p><p>There's no doubt that your FotM classes would be the top sellers...where you might charge a bit of a premium even, or heck even have monthly specials - like "Special this month: Shadowknights!" <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Honestly though - I would like to try every class in EQ2 but time limits me from leveling any thing else to any playable levels.  Would it be worth it to me to pay a small fee to be able to jump into that 60-80 toon and get a head start? Absolutely.</p>

[agnott]

<p><span style="font-family: "><span style="font-size: x-small;">You really have to consider the consequences of all these "ease of play" changes to this game. Always remember, every ease of play change is designed to one thing, bring in the masses that love an easy game.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "><span style="font-size: x-small;">The problem is the SOE servers can't go one night without having some sort of senior moment.  Should they be trying to draw in more subs at this point and time?   ......especially since it has become abundantly clear that no % of any added revenue that is made (SC for one) by EQ2 does not appear to be reinvested into EQ2.</span></span></p>

[Kroonerr]

<p><cite>agnott wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: "><span style="font-size: x-small;">You really have to consider the consequences of all these "ease of play" changes to this game. Always remember, every ease of play change is designed to one thing, bring in the masses that love an easy game.</span></span></p></blockquote><p>I look at something like this more as convenience to players then "ease of play."  When I hear "ease of play" I think of teleporters put in all over the place, free mounts, overpowered gear, etc that makes doing anything just trivial.</p><p>I see this as something that doesn't actually change gameplay, but just shortens the road in getting people from Point A to Point B, with Point B where all the high end players are and a point that keeps getting further and further from Point A.</p><p>At some point the endgame gets too far from the beginning and the game begins to die because nobody in their right mind wants to play by themselves for a long time to catch up.  Something like this helps stem the tide of a shrinking player base by hopefully keeping a few people longer and getting a few more new people to start.</p>

[Brook]

<p><cite>Kroonerr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>agnott wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: "><span style="font-size: x-small;">You really have to consider the consequences of all these "ease of play" changes to this game. Always remember, every ease of play change is designed to one thing, bring in the masses that love an easy game.</span></span></p></blockquote><p>I look at something like this more as convenience to players then "ease of play."  When I hear "ease of play" I think of teleporters put in all over the place, free mounts, overpowered gear, etc that makes doing anything just trivial.</p><p>I see this as something that doesn't actually change gameplay, but just shortens the road in getting people from Point A to Point B, with Point B where all the high end players are and a point that keeps getting further and further from Point A.</p><p>At some point the endgame gets too far from the beginning and the game begins to die because nobody in their right mind wants to play by themselves for a long time to catch up.  Something like this helps stem the tide of a shrinking player base by hopefully keeping a few people longer and getting a few more new people to start.</p></blockquote><p>This is not a personal attack on the OP or the development team but is the way I look at it from my point of view.</p><p>Does it really matter what the players want or dont want?</p><p>If it does matter then why do we have micro transactions in a game we are paying for, was this addition asked for by the community and did it matter what the community thought of it?</p><p>If it doesnt matter then the question is irrelevant and we are going to get whatever the development team thinks is best.</p><p>The game isn't dieing because its getting bigger and the points from beginning to end are to far apart to keep people interested, the game isn't dieing because its been out for 5 years. The game is dieing because things are being changed to rush everyone to the top and nobody really has to try anymore. The uniqueness of each individual character and the paths from which we had a chance to choose how we wanted to play and spec ourselves have been removed in lieu of streamlining and stat consolidation so when you get to the top every warden is the same, every guard is the same, every wizard is the same, and there is no choice in it because of the way encounters are designed so if you want to play with the top dogs you have to have this and that and be spec'd a certain way because anything else will not do.</p><p>Its all cookiecutter crap if you ask me and that is why we are here now discussing this and waiting to see which servers will be merged because of the current population explosion we seem to be missing.</p><p>On the bright side of things concerning server merges, I am certainly hopeful that the equipment being used to run the now empty worlds will be used to start a classic server that has the original ruleset in place to offer a challenge to people like me who happened to like spirit shards and such. I may be one of the few who actually liked the old game, but I am willing to bet that that server would be the busiest there is for a long time to come.</p><p>Then ya'll can start at 90 and work backwards and I wouldnt care.</p>

[Ealthina]

<p>I would absolutly support a 70/100 server. There are reasons I only have one main.  The thought of doing all those quests again make me queeeeeeeezy.</p>