SOE - PLEASE No More Bonus/Double EXP weekends. It brings out the Jerks.

[Denon]

<p>The problem with this weekend was the Jerks who are already pulling a train of mobs and running right past you to beat you to the next mobs and AoE'ing everything to grind AA from the kills.</p><p>Basically making it very difficult to actually work on Quests - Remember this is Ever'Quest'?</p><p>Every day this weekend I ran into this problem in the different areas I went to. At first I tried to be nice, I would see them coming and stop and tell them ' Hey throw me an invite so I can get these updates. They just run right past me and kill all. Then I tell them 'OK Thx - you just killed everything I needed - now I need to sit here and wait for respawn. And their response would be something like 'yw' or 'target faster' or complete ignore..</p><p>This happened over and over in different areas by different toons.</p><p>I suppose if my toons had raid gear and could support 10 solo mobs beating on them at one time I would have had a chance to compete with these jerks -  but I dont. So basically I ended up logging out and doing something else.</p><p>I'd rather play the game, when I can actually play and actually work on Quests.  </p><p>I really want to list here the names I took down of the Jerks that were doing this on Mistmoore - but I dont know if thats a good idea.</p><p>But basically If YOU were doing this, you already have mobs on you and you would run right past someone and AoE everything they were working their way towards. AND You would not throw them an invite when they ask you to so they can get updates. - <strong>Then yes YOU are a JERK</strong>!</p><p>SOE - Please dont encourage Jerks by doing this in the future.</p><p>Denon</p>

[Verrie77]

<p>THe good news is, that in 2-3 days everything is back to normal and you can go on with your quests again <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Dont worry, XP bonus i only 2-3 days every 6 month <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Jrral]

<p><cite>Denon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The problem with this weekend was the Jerks who are already pulling a train of mobs and running right past you to beat you to the next mobs and AoE'ing everything to grind AA from the kills.</p></blockquote><p>If you see them, send them a tell saying you need X named for a quest and are in the process of clearing to him, especially if you're close (ie. are working on the last set of trash before pulling him). When they proceed to blow past you and kill him anyway, take a /report from the point you sent the tell, then /petition them for zone disruption. Don't complain about him kill-stealing or anything, complain that he took a named you needed for a quest <em>after</em> having been told you needed that named for a quest and after you'd asked if you could group with him to get the update. It may take the GMs 10-15 minutes to get to those petitions, but several of those petitions from different people in a short time tends to make the GMs annoyed with the offender.</p>

[Jeal]

<p>two words....</p><p>CONTESTED ZONES</p>

[Nektulos_Rishi]

<p>@OP---</p><p>Seriously? With 250 aa and how easy it is to get to 90 with very little aa unless you level lock, you want to have no more bonus weekends?</p><p>Yes, I am a jerk who takes lots of mobs because my alt tank can have 20 + mobs beating on her with her gear and yes, I am going to give you the response that every other person who isn't a cry baby will tell you---There are plenty of things you can do to get your aa that don't involve those zones. And seriously-- with 30 + people in the hole, 25 + in most low level zones, everything is a competition anyway. Its a DUNGEON, if you want areas where people don't take the mobs you are running to go to an INSTANCE. If you can't do it because you're not geared enough to solo it and can't get a group, then go do solo quests.</p>

[melaine_dvarvensplitter]

<p>As others have said it's contested for one and two if you are polite and do the /tell with what you are doing and they don't reply etc etc. /report /petition.</p><p>I don't have a raid geared tank but I can survive with 20 mobs or more beating on me. However, if I am asked not to kill a mob because if it is needed for a quest update I will generally not take the kill or I will wait for the one asking to get it and then keep grinding.</p><p>Contested Dungeon's = most fun at any level <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>These weekends make it feel like the old days when groups existed or at the least dungeons were contested.</p>

[Deago]

<p>When I was doing my 250aa grind @ 14  A few folks needed the orcs I was pulling so I literally just sent them an invite and even invited them to stay just for the exp/aa.</p><p>I have yet to really run into somebody that would not let you have a few kills for a quest.  *shrug*</p>

[Eritius]

<p>On my SK I usually pull all the mobs needed for the quest in one pull. Why? Because I can and I'm going to kill those mobs anyway. Its power inefficient for me to pull one at a time so I don't.</p>

[brightwhite]

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[Grumble69]

<p>The issue isn't the bonus weekend per se.  The issue is 1) SOE intentionally whacked a number of instances (forcing the AA grinders into your area), and 2) made AAs so slow & insanely dull that people would rather mass kill mobs than choke down another stupid quest for the jillionth time.  Those are the elements that are spoiling your fun.</p><p>Reduce the AA curve, particularly from 160 on.  Or alternatively give *significant* bonuses to people that already have a 90/250 character.  Then you won't see as many people chain pulling for the entire weeked.</p>

[Kizee]

<p><cite>Grumble69 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The issue isn't the bonus weekend per se.  The issue is 1) SOE intentionally whacked a number of instances (forcing the AA grinders into your area), and 2) made AAs so slow & insanely dull that people would rather mass kill mobs than choke down another stupid quest for the jillionth time.  Those are the elements that are spoiling your fun.</p><p>Reduce the AA curve, particularly from 160 on.  Or alternatively give *significant* bonuses to people that already have a 90/250 character.  Then you won't see as many people chain pulling for the entire weeked.</p></blockquote><p>That is exactally the reason why people were mass pulling in contested dungeons. SoE nerfed a bunch of out of the way instances that people could grind AA's without disturbing other people.</p><p>If you are going to blame somone...blame SoE.</p>

[PlaneCrazy]

<p>I can't believe there's actually people that think it's ok to /petition someone because they killed a mob you needed in a contested zone.  Sheesh!  Get a grip!</p>

[Denon]

<p>OK - so then what do you recomend a 'casual' player to do when their 'Solo' content is constantly getting wiped out by 'people who have taken the time to equip their player to completely wipe out a region in 1 swipe?</p><p>Also - the fact that they are doing this does not make them a Jerk - its the fact that they are running right up to you and doing it right there infornt of you AND IGNORING YOUR SIMPLE REQUEST TO GET A QUICK INVITE FOR AN UPDATE.</p><p>OK so you say - Its Contested so I should go do NON-contested content.</p><p>Can you recomend any good T9 'Solo/Duo/Casual' NON contested content????  NO?</p><p>So basically I am hearing this responce.... I am geared - you are not - haha to bad.</p><p>Again....</p><p>SOE - Please dont encourage Jerks by doing this in the future.</p><p>Denon</p>

[Andu]

<p>Noone agreed with your first ost. I think you'll find noone will agree with that one either.</p><p>The XP weekends are a nice change of pace. Is it really so bad that <em>at the absolute worst</em> you have to wait a couple of days for normality.</p>

[Kizee]

<p>Is this what you are reduced to complaining about Denon? lol</p><p>TBH if the people are clearing solo mobs in overland zones then they are probably working on the same quest as you are. The AA grinders ar in the dungeons mass pulling yellow/orange heroics....not solo mobs.</p>

[Denon]

<p>Well they are sweeping around the entire area killing everything and coming back 6 minutes later and sweeping everything and coming back 6 minutes later and sweeping eerything - not even taking the time to loot.</p><p>Whatever - I stopped plaing this weekend I'll just play again when its over.</p><p>Usually I dont have any problems..</p>

[Crismorn]

<p>Go somewhere else</p>

[Nektulos_Rishi]

<p>Go play WoW.</p><p>Seriously? That's what you're complaining about? You think people weren't like that when the xpac came out and everyone was doing the same quests and harvesting the same nodes and OMG!!! someone took my mob /cry cry cry!!!</p><p>Grow up. Mobs in over land zones should be mass pullable anyway. They don't hit very hard at all this xpac and most should go down within 2-3 hits. Just because you suck at this game, doesn't mean SOE should take away the bonus xp weekends that pretty much EVERYONE else loves.</p>

[Alenna]

<p><cite>Nysse@Kithicor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Go play WoW.</p><p>Seriously? That's what you're complaining about? You think people weren't like that when the xpac came out and everyone was doing the same quests and harvesting the same nodes and OMG!!! someone took my mob /cry cry cry!!!</p><p>Grow up. Mobs in over land zones should be mass pullable anyway. They don't hit very hard at all this xpac and most should go down within 2-3 hits. Just because you suck at this game, doesn't mean SOE should take away the bonus xp weekends that pretty much EVERYONE else loves.</p></blockquote><p>Actually when I saw the OP I was thinking is he mistaking WoW for EQ2. I've never had the experience the OP had in EQ2 because when I politely sent a tell to a person explaining that the mobs were needed for an update they invited me to group wiht them so I could get my updates. and I do the same for others if they ask. In WoW more often then not they just ignored and continued thier grinding for XP, of course the mechanics kinda set that up since unlike EQ2 WoW has it so the more people the less xp you get. Honestly what harm would it have done to the mob puller if he'd invited the OP group for the updates needed?</p>

[Kizee]

<p><cite>Denon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well they are sweeping around the entire area killing everything and coming back 6 minutes later and sweeping everything and coming back 6 minutes later and sweeping eerything - not even taking the time to loot.</p><p>Whatever - I stopped plaing this weekend I'll just play again when its over.</p><p>Usually I dont have any problems..</p></blockquote><p>Well laugh at them next time since they are getting really bad exp for the time invested.</p>

[erin]

<p>I was in SoS this weekend trying to help my friend with claymore quest.  Yeah so 1) I'm a [Removed for Content] for going to SoS on a bonus weekend <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>People were pulling the mobs way faster than we could, we just weren't geared like they were.  Finally, in shear frustration I said something in tells like "any chance we can finish this quest".  They were terribly apologetic, basically in the mass pulling they didn't even see us!  They knew we were in the area, and knew we were questing (its obvious who's doing a quest and who's mass slaughtering) and they tried very hard to stay out of the way.  The fact is, the exp/AA in there was ungodly, and you can't blame people for taking advantage.</p><p>So I packed up and did instances to PL my friend the rest of the weekend, and stay away from the content that people were getting lots of AAs from.  Why should I (questing) take priority over them (AAing)?</p><p>They were faster and stronger and they "earned" those mobs.  So I readjusted my bad thought patterns and moved on to greener pastures.</p><p>Or as others put it, target faster <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Alenna]

<p><cite>erin wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I was in SoS this weekend trying to help my friend with claymore quest.  Yeah so 1) I'm a [Removed for Content] for going to SoS on a bonus weekend <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>People were pulling the mobs way faster than we could, we just weren't geared like they were.  Finally, in shear frustration I said something in tells like "any chance we can finish this quest".  They were terribly apologetic, basically in the mass pulling they didn't even see us!  They knew we were in the area, and knew we were questing (its obvious who's doing a quest and who's mass slaughtering) and they tried very hard to stay out of the way.  The fact is, the exp/AA in there was ungodly, and you can't blame people for taking advantage.</p><p>So I packed up and did instances to PL my friend the rest of the weekend, and stay away from the content that people were getting lots of AAs from.  Why should I (questing) take priority over them (AAing)?</p><p>They were faster and stronger and they "earned" those mobs.  So I readjusted my bad thought patterns and moved on to greener pastures.</p><p>Or as others put it, target faster <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>yeah that is what I woudl do but I do understand the Ops frustration since the puller in his case didn't even bother acknowledging what was happening.</p>

[Denon]

<p>Ya I tried WoW and thats how it was. I came back to EQ2 because the people are much better here. Also I have never really had this problem before - even when the expansion came out it was fine ( also there were multiple instances of the expansion zones because of the volume of people ). Now its not the volume of the people - it is the capability of a few people clearing everything out.  I am guessing that right now that AA EXP of 20 solo mobs in 10 seconds is greater then a single ^^^ mob, so people are taking advantage of it and in to much of a rush to grind the AA to pay attention to anyone else.</p><p>It was not in just 1 area, I would go somewhere else and same thing just by another toon.</p><p>There is probably a better solution to this issue then stopping bonus exp weekends. I am over it anyway, family's coming over and we are having a cookout - better then playing a game anyway.....</p>

[Crismorn]

<p>Then go do an instance.</p><p>I like the added RL card at the end, it shows how much this hurt you and I'm sorry.</p>

[Larce]

<p>So how exactly is SOE responsible for a player's actions exactly?</p><p>Especially when I observe this behavior even without a double XP weekend.</p><p>Not their fault with regards to the XP, you have targeted the wrong cause for your symptom.</p><p>Creating the high dependency of AOEs by giving a lot a classes AOE and tons of them is your true enemy here, not the double XP. </p><p>A little foresight and you will see this to be true.</p>

[Dimi]

<p>Umm soloing quests is what thyey were trying to do</p>

[Deago]

<p>If you hit the mob first you get the credit correct (lock?) So regardless of gear you should be able to hit one of the mobs or two before said sweeper runs by?  *shrug*</p>

[WeatherMan]

<p>You aren't going to convince SOE to stop offering Double-XP weekends.  Period.  Doesn't matter who does what in which zone - that XP covers more than just contested zone grinds.  I tradeskilled this weekend, and I'm jolly glad I did - I hate tradeskilling.  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/ed515dbff23a0ee3241dcc0a601c9ed6.gif" border="0" /></p><p>And no, do not post their names, at least not on these forums.  That's blacklisting (which is prohibited), and it WILL earn you the Banhammer, no questions asked.  Find a sympathetic blogger (or start one yourself) and THEN 'out' them - SOE can't say squat then - but if you post the names here, you WILL regret it.</p><p>Every game has jackwipes, even EQ2.  While most of us are willing to be adults and accomodate others, you will inevitably get the snot-nosed juviepunk who thinks his raging stiffy is uber because he's raid-geared and wiping the zone in ten seconds flat or whatever.  You just are NOT going to escape that sort of shrubhead mentality.</p><p>Keep your list, and keep track of where they are, so you can do something at some other place where they are not.  Warn your friends about them, and let others know IF ASKED.  Do not 'out' them in channels, though - guides (or worse) will take a dim view of that, and you would likely draw the ire of other shrubheads who see nothing wrong with being a jackwipe.</p><p>You have the right idea...be patient, sit back, and wait for elementary school to get back in session.  That will take care of a large portion of the juvieshrubs right there.  The rest, you will have to trust to luck, and the maturity of others when you log in.</p>

[Te'ana]

<p>I have to agree it does bring out the selfish jerks. I can live with the folks poaching  my mob, but the real jerks just run amok and do not bother to loot thier corpses. This really messes with respawn rates since each unlooted corpse will remain there for about 5 minutes for its owner to return to loot it, then it will stay there for a few minutes more for someone else to loot it. That really messes up respawn rates.</p>

[Keikoku]

<p><cite>Denon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>OK - so then what do you recomend a 'casual' player to do when their 'Solo' content is constantly getting wiped out by 'people who have taken the time to equip their player to completely wipe out a region in 1 swipe?</p><p>Also - the fact that they are doing this does not make them a Jerk - its the fact that they are running right up to you and doing it right there infornt of you AND IGNORING YOUR SIMPLE REQUEST TO GET A QUICK INVITE FOR AN UPDATE.</p><p>OK so you say - Its Contested so I should go do NON-contested content.</p><p>Can you recomend any good T9 'Solo/Duo/Casual' NON contested content????  NO?</p><p>So basically I am hearing this responce.... I am geared - you are not - haha to bad.</p><p>Again....</p><p>SOE - Please dont encourage Jerks by doing this in the future.</p><p>Denon</p></blockquote><p>Chances are the person was PLing an alt.  In which case, if you sent a /tell, or used /say, it wasn't really ignored.  I know that I personally have the /say channel in a separate window and don't check it regularly.  Also, I don't pay too much attention to the alt.  So, it's possible they just didn't see it, and weren't ignoring you.  </p>

[Geothe]

<p><cite>Lateana@The Bazaar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I have to agree it does bring out the selfish jerks. I can live with the folks poaching  my mob, but the real jerks just run amok and do not bother to loot thier corpses. This really messes with respawn rates since each unlooted corpse will remain there for about 5 minutes for its owner to return to loot it, then it will stay there for a few minutes more for someone else to loot it. That really messes up respawn rates.</p></blockquote><p>Erm.Corpses dont affect respawn rates, [Removed for Content].</p><p>As for OP:One weekend 2 or 3 times a year, I think you can live with busy dungeons then, since they are pretty much dead the other 50 weekends in the year, heh.</p>

[Te'ana]

<p><cite>Geothe wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Lateana@The Bazaar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I have to agree it does bring out the selfish jerks. I can live with the folks poaching  my mob, but the real jerks just run amok and do not bother to loot thier corpses. This really messes with respawn rates since each unlooted corpse will remain there for about 5 minutes for its owner to return to loot it, then it will stay there for a few minutes more for someone else to loot it. That really messes up respawn rates.</p></blockquote><p>Erm.Corpses dont affect respawn rates, [Removed for Content].</p><p>As for OP:One weekend 2 or 3 times a year, I think you can live with busy dungeons then, since they are pretty much dead the other 50 weekends in the year, heh.</p></blockquote><p>Well, at least we know who you are now <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Denon]

<p>I admit it, I really do not expect SOE to even consider getting rid of Bonus EXP weekends. I also would have been shocked if anyone else responded that they think it also should go away. I wrote the original message out of frustration when I realized that the quests I was working on was taking more then twice as long as they normally would - therefore resulting with less then normal EXP. I was also frustrated because I would log in a different toon to work on a different part and just run into another person doing the same thing. So I would stop, try again a few hours later and find the same thing and again someone who would ignore or give me a jerky response. So then I was thinking whats with all the jerks this weekend? I thought this was EQ2, not WoW, people are usually not a problem here. Yes there are the occasional jerks, but this many right now, and I keep running into them?</p><p>Anyway, these are the T9 SH solo quests that were added 2 updates ago that end up with the Legendary Weapon and Belt.  My Main did them when the quests were added, I figured bonus EXP weekend would be a great time to go through them with all the alts - now I know better. </p><p>As far as wiping out an entire area goes, my main Wizard can kind of do it, and I have done it and yes it is fun! Especially mentoring down and wiping out places like Runneyeye - thats really fun. HOWEVER, I never do it when there are other people around and I definitely would not do it during bonus EXP weekend when I know people are in there. I actually do a '/who' just to make sure in some of those places.</p><p>I also was not going to get into an instance group over the weekend because my kids were home. I'll log in and play while they are watching a movie, but I never know how long until they get bored. So I dont want to get in a group  when I know there is a very good chance that 20min later I will have to tell them oops sorry got to go - or sorry got to go AFK, not sure how long it will be - possibly 10-20min.</p><p>Next Bonus EXP weekend I try better to find something else to do if I want to play the game. I wish there was some 'Solo/Duo' NON-Contested content that I could casually do with a friend.  I probably should have originally asked for that in this thread instead of 'No More Bonus/Double EXP weekends'. I know everyone likes the weekends - so I take it back.</p><p>Denon</p>

[Lannan]

<p>I was doing a lot of aoe'ing this weekend. It's the most effeceint way for my sk to fight. No one sent me any tells and everyone seemed ok with it. Of course when I saw someone trying to do something I would move on. At level 22 I spent most of my time in the rumbler caves, a solo resettable instance. That way I wouldn't bother anyone. I can understand the frustration of watching someone clear out 50 mobs in 2 pulls. </p>

[Gilasil]

<p>If it indeed happened as the op says it happened I can see why he's upset and I don't blame him.</p><p>However, this kind of behavior comes with the territory with MMOs.  I can't believe someone's response was that he should play WoW.</p><p>MMOs are not the place to go if for consistently mature considerate behavior.  Most people I encounter are considerate but there's enough which aren't that everyone is going to have to deal with them.</p><p>And of course nobody is going to agree with you about killing bonus experience weekends because they all want bonus exp weekends.  They want more, not less.</p><p>This kind of crap (both in-game and ulterior motives in posts) comes with the territory.  I wish it didn't but it does.  If you're going to play MMOs (ANY MMOs) you just have to deal with it.</p>

[Kordran]

<p><cite>Denon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I wish there was some 'Solo/Duo' NON-Contested content that I could casually do with a friend. </blockquote><p>People have been asking for solo/duo instances for a long time (and there's actually a few in the game, but they're lower tier). The problem comes in with regards to what the rewards would be for those zones. Likely there would be players wanting the same kind of legendary and lower-end fabled you get in other instances; realistically however, it would be treasured and lower-end legendary drops (like what drops from overland contested), and so very few people would even bother running them more than once (for the named AA).</p><p>Personally, I think it would be nice if all instances had easy/normal/hard mode settings with loot dropped based on difficulty. Easy mode would be designed for 2-3 and drop mostly treasured with some legendary. Normal mode as they are now. Hard mode would have an increased chance to drop exquisite chests and would award more plat and shards/marks for completion (of course, if they actually had more things worth spending those on, that would be special too). Perhaps throw in some decent achievement awards for doing hard mode instances as well.</p><p>I wouldn't be holding my breath, though.</p>

[Yimway]

<p>They've been systematically removing the instances that respawn for people to troll them for aa, as a result the troll the contested dungeons.</p><p>Even outside of a bonus xp weekend, dungeons like FG are frequently overrun with aoe level locked aa farmers.</p>

[Ahlana]

<p><cite>Atan@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>They've been systematically removing the instances that respawn for people to troll them for aa, as a result the troll the contested dungeons.</p><p>Even outside of a bonus xp weekend, dungeons like FG are frequently overrun with aoe level locked aa farmers.</p></blockquote><p>True story I have been doing Runny Eye/SolEye before and after the xp weekend. If they gave me an instance that respawned at a decent rate and could be used over and over.. I would be there instead.. but atm nothing beats the mass pulling of RE basement for me lol</p>

[Larce]

<p><cite>Atan@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>They've been systematically removing the instances that respawn for people to troll them for aa, as a result the troll the contested dungeons.</p><p>Even outside of a bonus xp weekend, dungeons like FG are frequently overrun with aoe level locked aa farmers.</p></blockquote><p>Exactly why I posted what I did earlier in this thread, it's the double XP that is the issue, it's the bagillion AoEs this game has.</p>

[Valdaglerion]

<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><strong><em>nm</em></strong></span></span></p>

[Denon]

<p><cite>Arandar@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Denon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I wish there was some 'Solo/Duo' NON-Contested content that I could casually do with a friend. </blockquote><p>People have been asking for solo/duo instances for a long time (and there's actually a few in the game, but they're lower tier). The problem comes in with regards to what the rewards would be for those zones. Likely there would be players wanting the same kind of legendary and lower-end fabled you get in other instances; realistically however, it would be treasured and lower-end legendary drops (like what drops from overland contested), and so very few people would even bother running them more than once (for the named AA).</p><p>Personally, I think it would be nice if all instances had easy/normal/hard mode settings with loot dropped based on difficulty. Easy mode would be designed for 2-3 and drop mostly treasured with some legendary. Normal mode as they are now. Hard mode would have an increased chance to drop exquisite chests and would award more plat and shards/marks for completion (of course, if they actually had more things worth spending those on, that would be special too). Perhaps throw in some decent achievement awards for doing hard mode instances as well.</p><p>I wouldn't be holding my breath, though.</p></blockquote><p>I think this would be the ideal solution.  ' instances had easy/normal/hard mode settings ' would be awsome !</p><p>I almost want to rename the title of this thread now - removing the EXP weekend is the wrong way to go. I am sorry I posted it like that. Solutions like this are 100 X better !!!</p>

[Barx]

<p>I took my alt through some contested dungeons over the weekend, does that make me a Jerk? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p><p>People do this even without bonus weekends (especially now that XP bonuses stack differently). The people that are jerks about it are going to be so regardless of whether or not it's a bonus XP weekend. There's also plenty of people that take alts through to level them up or to grind AA that are not Jerks, and frankly it's not hard at all to avoid being a jerk. All it takes is some common courtesy, like not pulling through other people or running ahead of other groups to grab nameds.</p>

[Draylore]

<p>What i find amazing in all this is that there are still so many "leet toons" that still need all this AA.</p><p>250 is so easy to get even doing it normally without any mass grind sessions...../shrug.</p><p>They had to have been PL newb level 90 alts with like 100 AAs or something and if they do it like I have in the past, then they were not even looking at tells or chat or anything.</p>

[Solarax]

<p><cite>Jrral@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If you see them, send them a tell saying you need X named for a quest and are in the process of clearing to him, especially if you're close (ie. are working on the last set of trash before pulling him). When they proceed to blow past you and kill him anyway, take a /report from the point you sent the tell, then /petition them for zone disruption. Don't complain about him kill-stealing or anything, complain that he took a named you needed for a quest <em>after</em> having been told you needed that named for a quest and after you'd asked if you could group with him to get the update. It may take the GMs 10-15 minutes to get to those petitions, but several of those petitions from different people in a short time tends to make the GMs annoyed with the offender.</p></blockquote><p>this is the correct thing to do BUT its sometimes difficult to do</p>

[Laenai]

<p>Dear SoE,</p><p>Please never ever remove the bonus weekends. Ever. Because they're amazing and I love them. Its like getting a puppy on a day other than Christmas or your birthday.</p><p>Love,</p><p>Me</p>

[Frenzywolf]

<p><cite>Draylore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>What i find amazing in all this is that there are still so many "leet toons" that still need all this AA.</p><p>250 is so easy to get even doing it normally without any mass grind sessions...../shrug.</p><p>They had to have been PL newb level 90 alts with like 100 AAs or something and if they do it like I have in the past, then they were not even looking at tells or chat or anything.</p></blockquote><p>Not necessarily. I was never power leveled but as a new player I did not understand the significance of leveling your AA's  along with your level and now playing catch up (now that I understand my alts are doing much better with this) Some of us understood too late when we started out.. not much explains the AA thing until you learn the hard way hehe.</p>

[Grumble69]

<p><cite>Draylore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>What i find amazing in all this is that there are still so many "leet toons" that still need all this AA.</p><p>250 is <strong>so easy</strong> to get even doing it normally without any mass grind sessions...../shrug.</p><p>They had to have been PL newb level 90 alts with like 100 AAs or something and if they do it like I have in the past, then they were not even looking at tells or chat or anything.</p></blockquote><p>The "ease" factor has nothing to do with it.   It's the time sink that's involved.  Most people that are working on alts are wanting to reach the end game asap and have no interest strolling through lowbie land for a few months doing quests, dungeon grinds, and named killing.  ...yet again.</p>

[Jeepned2]

<p>I'm a raider. That's all I do. So yes, I'm still not at 250AA. Actually, not even close. Oh well. SoE has screwed up so much of the game as far as I'm concerned that I log on, raid, log off.  So when do I pick up some extra AA? Weekends like this one.  Do I do a lot of stealing of mobs? Not really. As a Coercer I can't really have 20-30 mobs on me. But I can go for the big boys. And I always try to have a big boy charmed for the jerks who steal my mobs. It is very east to get my charmed mob close to the jerk then dump the charm and let him aggro the jerk. Tinkered FD item makes this even easier. So I don't worry too much about the AA "farmers" interfering with me. There are always a way to fix the problem.</p>

[Gungo]

<p>Send them a tell saying you need the mob. Then imediately follow that up with a petition. Sure it takes you a few moments to type that up but hey afte ryou are done someone has a mark on thier account. Eventually if it is a reoccuring theme or if more people petition this type of behavior you will get the person suspended.</p>

[Cuedywene]

<p>I play on Mistmoore and I noticed quite a few people in the shared dungeons....I went and did instances and didn't have that problem.</p><p>I did a few rounds in the shared dungeons and saw a couple lonely toons following us around a bit.  That wasn't you was it?  If so we never received any tells.  We would have invited you!</p>

[Wigg]

<p>I plvled a friend over the weekend.  I have a T2/ couple pieces T3 raid geared zerker.  There was a group farming mobs in the hole.  I politely sent them a tell and asked them if the wanted to share mobs, they declined.  For 4 hours every 30 minutes I sent them a tell with this request.  After almost 6 hours of them having the mobs, I decided screw it.  I pulled every mob in that area and did so for the next 3 hours.  </p><p>Just because someone is geared doesn't mean they are the jerks.  I gave that 6 man group plenty of time to split mobs with me, because none of them had close to my gear.  One basically told me to F off and that was the end of me being polite...  So out of the 100 mobs I would kill in that area, they would get maybe 5 of them.  Just don't assume because they are mass pulling they are always the ones being the jerk. </p>

[Thunndar316]

<p>Well, my Mystic alt went from 125 to 225 AA in one weekend doing solo quests.  Also went from level 75 to 80. </p><p>I love the double weekends, only problem is after 40+ hours over 3 days I feel sick to my stomach for playing that much EQ.</p>

[isest]

<p><cite>Wigg@Butcherblock wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I plvled a friend over the weekend.  I have a T2/ couple pieces T3 raid geared zerker.  There was a group farming mobs in the hole.  I politely sent them a tell and asked them if the wanted to share mobs, they declined.  For 4 hours every 30 minutes I sent them a tell with this request.  After almost 6 hours of them having the mobs, I decided screw it.  I pulled every mob in that area and did so for the next 3 hours.  </p><p>Just because someone is geared doesn't mean they are the jerks.  I gave that 6 man group plenty of time to split mobs with me, because none of them had close to my gear.  One basically told me to F off and that was the end of me being polite...  So out of the 100 mobs I would kill in that area, they would get maybe 5 of them.  Just don't assume because they are mass pulling they are always the ones being the jerk. </p></blockquote><p>I saw a similar situation on our server.  This group had a defiler, a zerker and 2 dirges boxed.  I was the only other person there.  I would have been content just killing 2 mobs at a time but they wanted the entire zone.</p><p>I sent a tell to ask them if I could join,  the replay was ST** this is a contested zone and we will do what we want. I then asked them if I could stick to the one coner and the reply was you can pull what you get, then they parked their toons on top of me, and did there best to chain agro on me. </p><p>Well I logged into my sk who is at the max 250 aa, and took the wife's inq down who did need the AA.  I decided if they wanted to be jerks I would give them a little taste of their own medicine.</p>

[Valentina]

<p><cite>Arandar@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Denon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I wish there was some 'Solo/Duo' NON-Contested content that I could casually do with a friend. </blockquote><p><strong>People have been asking for solo/duo instances for a long time</strong> (and there's actually a few in the game, but they're lower tier). The problem comes in with regards to what the rewards would be for those zones. Likely there would be players wanting the same kind of legendary and lower-end fabled you get in other instances; realistically however, it would be treasured and lower-end legendary drops (like what drops from overland contested), and so very few people would even bother running them more than once (for the named AA).</p><p><strong>Personally, I think it would be nice if all instances had easy/normal/hard mode settings</strong> with loot dropped based on difficulty. Easy mode would be designed for 2-3 and drop mostly treasured with some legendary. Normal mode as they are now. Hard mode would have an increased chance to drop exquisite chests and would award more plat and shards/marks for completion (of course, if they actually had more things worth spending those on, that would be special too). Perhaps throw in some decent achievement awards for doing hard mode instances as well.</p><p>I wouldn't be holding my breath, though.</p></blockquote><p>As one member of a duo, we'd love that.  We have enjoyed duoing instances like Nektropos, but are finding that, as we reach higher level instances, the encounters are often scripted so as to require more than two people, (off-tank for adds, secondary healer, etc.).</p>

[Krakus]

<p>Brings out the jerks?</p><p>Deal with the fact that this a MMO and not everyone is gonna be helpful, or kind.</p><p>I think this weekend was the most activity Butcherblock has had in awhile. Everything was selling, Groups for every tier were going on.</p><p>All in all, we need more of these instead of every 6months IMHO.</p><p>I didn't hear one complaint this whole Labor Day weekend.</p>

[KatrinaDeath]

<p>Zone into Sanctum of Fear... Clear to first named... Zone out... Repeat. Unlimited mobs and no competition.</p>

[erin]

<p><cite>Draylore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>What i find amazing in all this is that there are still so many "leet toons" that still need all this AA.</p><p>250 is so easy to get even doing it normally without any mass grind sessions...../shrug.</p><p>They had to have been PL newb level 90 alts with like 100 AAs or something and if they do it like I have in the past, then they were not even looking at tells or chat or anything.</p></blockquote><p>LOL.</p><p>I have been playing literally since launch day.  I have 3 level 90 chars, and none of them are at 250.  Neither are any of my other alts.  It may be easy for some, but those of us that are altaholics tend not to get to 250 quite as easily.  Its a choice, don't get me wrong, its a choice I made.  But don't assume your playstyle is everyone's.</p>

[Teshra]

<p><cite>Anduri wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Noone agreed with your first ost. I think you'll find noone will agree with that one either.</p><p>The XP weekends are a nice change of pace. Is it really so bad that <em>at the absolute worst</em> you have to wait a couple of days for normality.</p></blockquote><p>People agreed with the OP in this thread. You just chose to ignore their side of the argument. For the record, I'm pro-XP weekends.</p><p>But to answer you question, is it really so bad that <em>at the absolute worst </em>you have to wait a couple minutes for the mobs you are plowing thru to respawn so one person or group can get their update?</p>

[Shareana]

<p>Let's remember to be respectful in the posting please?  Insults will help no one here <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>As for the OP, If you asked them to leave you some mobs and they ignored, then there is always the /petition route.  There were a lot of people playing this weekend, which does make contested mobs harder to get.</p>

[Kaszan]

<p>Contested zones are bound to have some small problems on these exp weekends, I encountered one guy who was making it hard for everyone in a particular area in Stonebrunt to get updates for quests.</p><p>However on the other side of the coin I was pulling Orcs in Frostfang and accidently pulled the entire camp, not noticing the guy standing off to the side of the camp. But a swift apology and the offer of an invite to the poor guy seemed to prevent any agro.</p>

[Drakks]

I didn't realize we defined "jerks" as "people who didn't want to group with you".

[erin]

<p><cite>Drakks wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I didn't realize we defined "jerks" as "people who didn't want to group with you".</blockquote><p>I LOLd, gotta admit.  There's some truth to this statement, but I think what makes them jerks is refusing to talk.  Say something, say "sorry group is full", or "sorry but we're trying to get a few AAs, its a contested dungeon", or "tough luck lugnut", say something.  Its not the refusal to group as much as the lack of communication that makes some folks jerks.</p><p>But yeah, with the proliferaton of boxing, you are probably talking to a drone and not the real player half the time <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[BloodyDragon]

<p>Sorry to say, but there are people that do this regardless if it's double xp weekend or not. And good luck with the /report on them. Those mobs are no more yours than they are theirs. If they get them first, then that's too bad for you. Unfortunately SOE stopped building solo instances since before DoF, so you have to deal with it. Is it right? No. Is it wrong? No. Is it inconsiderate? Probably. Maybe all six people in that group needed the same update and couldn't fit you in. Don't assume they did it just because you were there.</p><p>And sending them a tell might not work either. If I'm in group voice chat or typing in guild chat or something, I almost never see tells. Depends where my focus is.</p>

[Boldac]

<p>No offense, but I have MMOADD....in other words, I have no one specific main toon.  I have 5 or 6 that I enjoy playing for different reasons.  And the bonus xp weekends are great. </p><p>However, for the next one, please turn off the RAF crap.  Zoning into T8 and T9 zones to find a L1 toon parked there is crap.</p><p>Personally, I'd like to see SOE do this sort of thing once a month.  Maybe not double xp all the time.  But a weekend this month that has an undisclosed amount of bonus to AA xp or a weekend with an increased chance to drop exquisite chests, etc.</p><p>It's sad that most of the higher end of the game is done for those who log in 3 or 4 nights a week for a couple hours, raid, and log off. The people who are truly "playing" the game are left with the knowledge that maximum developer effort is put in for the minimum amount of the player base.</p>

[Dreadpatch]

Bonus xp weekends are totally win. I think if they happened all the time you could complain but once every several months you can deal in the contested zones.

[drakkenshie]

<p><cite>brightwhite wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>So, if someone invested the time, energy and/or PP to get geared out and better at the game, that makes them a jerK?  I'm with their response, target faster.</p></blockquote><p>No, you are a jerk for being so inconsiderate and anti-social (ironically in an MMO) you can't be bothered to cooperate with another player.</p><p>Exactly how is it going to hurt you to pause so someone who is questing can get a kill rather than have to wait 10-60 minutes for the respawn?</p><p>How can you expect anyone to feel you are anything but a jerk for a childish and inane comment like "target faster" instead of something MMOs were designed for: "Hey, np, we'll kill it together."</p><p>I farm zones in my higher level toons sometimes, and it has never bothered me to wait on a lower level toon for which the area is con and they need quests.</p><p>Its a social game... how about being social?</p>

[Dreadpatch]

Man was I a jerk this weekend and it was darn sweet aa. Seriously, you can't find something else to do for one weekend every 6 months (meaning dodging the 3 or 4 zones people do for AA). PoA SoS FG Those are the main ones I can think of off hand. Cool thinga bout this game is that there are about 100 zones and I'm pretty sure some are empty.

[isest]

<p><cite>Elusion@Nektulos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Bonus xp weekends are totally win. I think if they happened all the time you could complain but once every several months you can deal in the contested zones.</blockquote><p>I totaly agree I only had one experaince the entire week end that was not good, but I had a fix for it.  Contested zones are just that, and if folks dont want to be nice to each other then that is what the /report option is there for. </p><p>Honestly I wish we had more bonus xp weekends it great to finally cap off alts taht been needing it for a very long time.</p>

[brightwhite]

<p>edited for bi polar-ness</p>

[Jeepned2]

<p>For those complaining about jerk pullers in this game, I would love to hereby banish you to one month in Everquest. More specific, I hereby banish you to one month in BB. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> Then I want to hear your take on pulling jerks.</p>

[WeatherMan]

<p><cite>brightwhite wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>drakkenshield wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>No, you are a jerk for being so inconsiderate and anti-social (ironically in an MMO) you can't be bothered to cooperate with another player.</p><p>Exactly how is it going to hurt you to pause so someone who is questing can get a kill rather than have to wait 10-60 minutes for the respawn?</p><p>How can you expect anyone to feel you are anything but a jerk for a childish and inane comment like "target faster" instead of something MMOs were designed for: "Hey, np, we'll kill it together."</p><p>I farm zones in my higher level toons sometimes, and it has never bothered me to wait on a lower level toon for which the area is con and they need quests.</p><p>Its a social game... how about being social?</p></blockquote><p>Inconsiderate? It's a competition!  Survival of the fittest... it's not necessarily childish to have the desire to dominate, humiliate and forever widen that gap between the leet and not leet ^.^  One could just as easily say that it's childish to expect other players to hold your hand and carry you up to their level.</p></blockquote><p>Competitions do not generally involve the more advantaged one behaving like a pig and laughing at the more disadvantaged one simply because their gear allows them to be a complete arsehat.  That's akin to winning a baseball game and then urinating in the opposing dugout to 'dominate, humiliate, and forever widen' (or whatever socially deficient or intellectually void reason the person may have).</p><p>I don't see anything about hand-holding in Drakkenshield's post - he's speaking about courtesy.  If you can't stomach that idea, go play WoW or a FPS, where no one cares if you act like a jerkoff.</p>

[Goldburg]

<p>Please remember some of us keep tells in a seperate window and don't check them.</p><p>As for this past weekend I had a blast pulling rooms in Crushbone and no one other than characters in my group were in zone. It's all a matter of finding a sweet spot to be left the hell alone. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Gaige]

<p><cite>Boldac wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's sad that most of the higher end of the game is done for those who log in 3 or 4 nights a week for a couple hours, raid, and log off.<strong> The people who are truly "playing" the game are left with the knowledge that maximum developer effort is put in for the minimum amount of the player base.</strong></p></blockquote><p>WHY do people say this.  It is so untrue.  Raiders hardly get anything.  We get the least amount of content, we get the slowest fixes, we get ignored most of the time and for the past 3 expansions they've been doing away with our playstyle.  Contested?  Ya right.  Every single "boss" mob has an easymode so any 24 players with a pulse can kill it and see all the raid content.  Fabled is BUYABLE from merchants.</p><p>Its so untrue. I wish everytime someone posted that all the developer effort goes towards hardcore raiders their posting rights were automatically suspended so this crap would quit getting posted.</p>

[Draylore]

<p>Its a two way street and has nothing to do with being bonus XP.</p><p>.....I like to do the daily 1-mark quest in The Hole.   I have lost count how many times I have run to the mob of the day...like The Stargazer dude......see some player just standing there.............So I send them a tell and a group invite and get no reply or join.....do a 3 count and kill the mob.  Only to be berrated minutes later for killstealing or being a jerk or whatever.   More often than not its the players that somehow think things "belong" to them that end up being jerks.</p>

[EQPrime]

<p><cite>Boldac wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's sad that most of the higher end of the game is done for those who log in 3 or 4 nights a week for a couple hours, raid, and log off. The people who are truly "playing" the game are left with the knowledge that maximum developer effort is put in for the minimum amount of the player base.</p></blockquote><p>It's funny that people think this.  Most of the people I raid with are logged in every day running PUGs, 2-boxing, soloing, crafting, or doing guild groups.</p><p>Sure, the past month or so we've had maybe 50% of our people only log on to raid but that's due to several factors, including growing bored with the lack of content, disappointment over the ex2smedbux plan, and general apathy towards the game as a result of GU57.  You know what, those people weren't on working on alts during the bonus xp weekend either.  The ones working on alts were the ones who log in every night.</p><p>I personally was 3-boxing in POA using my 89 SK to tank.  His gear really isn't any better than what a casual level 90 player would get from running SF instances.  Low end TSO fabled and a few TSO T2 and T4 pieces.  Most of his jewelry is legendary or even treasured quest rewards from SF.  In fact, for killing heroics, BG gear or legendary SF instance gear would be better than what he has on.  The gear I had on my lame SK certainly didn't give him an advantage over any level 90 toon mentored in there.</p><p>I ran into a few other groups XPing in there and generally went the other way when I bumped into them.  A few times we went after the same rooms and/or raced ahead of each other to try to get to a room first, but that's what contested zones are all about, isn't it?  If anyone had asked me to avoid a room because he or she was questing I would have had no problem with that, but when everyone in there was just after XP then more power to whoever can kill the fastest.</p>