What is the reasoning behind changing player Attributes?

[Kallirye]

<p>Hi, I just restarted my subscription to Everquest 2 after being gone for 2 years.  I log in to find that Attributes have been "simplified" (I call it dumbed down) so that now only 2 attributes have any gameplay affect.  One of the things I love about Everquest 2 (and Everquest 1) is the large amount of character customization.  I don't want there to be "one way" to play a class, even if "end game raiders" tell me my choices are sub-optimal.  I have 2 Paladins (yes 2) and I love how with Alternate Advancments  I can focus them on healing, group buffs (Wisdom line), spell damage and resists (Intelligence line), higher melee damage output (Strength), or the traditional "tanking" Stamina line.  I used to have more options with my gear and attributes as well, such as improving Agility for avoidance, Wisdom for power and resists, or Intelligence for spell damage.  There was a lot of thought and strategy in how I wanted to play my character and equip him and her (both of them) for a particular challenge.  Now those choices have been taken away from me as I'm only allowed to focus on Strength and Stamina.  From a roleplaying perspective this limits me as well, as being a fast and agile Paladin is no longer a practical option (I can still put points into Agility, but it does nothing).  This is not an improvement, except for people who don't like to think.  I'm guessing SOE is trying to target the World of Warcraft player base?</p><p>There is an old saying in EVE Online, "Every time a player leaves EVE Online for another MMO, the average IQ of the playerbase for each game increases."  CCP, the developers of EVE Online, realize they are targeting a very specific demographic of game players.  They have no interest in dumbing down there game to attract World of Warcraft players and in the process alienate their existing subscribers.  Back in 2005 there was a lot of debate amongst gamers over which game they were going to play, WoW or EQ2. I knew I was an EQ2 player, especially having come from EQ1.  Over the years I have briefly tried different MMOs as they came out, but I keep coming back to EQ2 for its rich lore, realistic graphics (compared to the cartoony crap of other games), and detailed customization, especially with the appearance slots.  Over the years, the SOE developers have made some significant changes, some of them I've agreed with and some I don't.  Overall though, I have seen a trend to simplify this game and make it more accessible, such as with the removal of spirit shards.  Like a parent who has seen the bad choices their adult kids have made over the years, I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed.</p>

[Lethe5683]

<p>With the gear they had there was no option to use stats to customize your character much anyways so it makes little difference other than for buffs.</p>

[The_Cheeseman]

<p>Before the SF attribute changes, green stats were almost entirely worthless anyways, so they really provided no meaningful means of customizing your character. Any extra fun you may have derived from focusing on a different set of green stats was mostly placebo effect, as the mechanical value of those differences would have been inconsequential. Now, however, green stats actually mean something and provide an appreciable benefit, even if it is a bit uncreative.</p>

[Lethe5683]

<p>Lack of variety in green stats is not the problem with DoV itemization.  The problem is generic gear that is almost all the same among items for each class only with more or less of the same stats on them.</p><p>Want to gear as a melee priest?   Too bad.</p><p>Want to gear as a defensive scout?  Too bad.</p><p>Want to gear as a DPS fighter?  Too bad.</p><p>These can all be achived to a certain degree with AAs but my point is that there's not really any choice in gear that can make any difference other than being simply better or worse in every way.</p>

[feldon30]

Oh goody another one of these threads.

[Lethe5683]

<p><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Oh goody another one of these threads.</blockquote><p>I wonder why.</p>

[Jacquotte]

<p><cite>Kallirye wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hi, I just restarted my subscription to Everquest 2 after being gone for 2 years.  I log in to find that Attributes have been "simplified" (I call it dumbed down) so that now only 2 attributes have any gameplay affect.  One of the things I love about Everquest 2 (and Everquest 1) is the large amount of character customization.  I don't want there to be "one way" to play a class, even if "end game raiders" tell me my choices are sub-optimal.  I have 2 Paladins (yes 2) and I love how with Alternate Advancments  I can focus them on healing, group buffs (Wisdom line), spell damage and resists (Intelligence line), higher melee damage output (Strength), or the traditional "tanking" Stamina line.  I used to have more options with my gear and attributes as well, such as improving Agility for avoidance, Wisdom for power and resists, or Intelligence for spell damage.  There was a lot of thought and strategy in how I wanted to play my character and equip him and her (both of them) for a particular challenge.  Now those choices have been taken away from me as I'm only allowed to focus on Strength and Stamina.  From a roleplaying perspective this limits me as well, as being a fast and agile Paladin is no longer a practical option (I can still put points into Agility, but it does nothing).  This is not an improvement, except for people who don't like to think.  I'm guessing SOE is trying to target the World of Warcraft player base?</p><p>There is an old saying in EVE Online, "Every time a player leaves EVE Online for another MMO, the average IQ of the playerbase for each game increases."  CCP, the developers of EVE Online, realize they are targeting a very specific demographic of game players.  They have no interest in dumbing down there game to attract World of Warcraft players and in the process alienate their existing subscribers.  Back in 2005 there was a lot of debate amongst gamers over which game they were going to play, WoW or EQ2. I knew I was an EQ2 player, especially having come from EQ1.  Over the years I have briefly tried different MMOs as they came out, but I keep coming back to EQ2 for its rich lore, realistic graphics (compared to the cartoony crap of other games), and detailed customization, especially with the appearance slots.  Over the years, the SOE developers have made some significant changes, some of them I've agreed with and some I don't.  Overall though, I have seen a trend to simplify this game and make it more accessible, such as with the removal of spirit shards.  Like a parent who has seen the bad choices their adult kids have made over the years, I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed.</p></blockquote><p>yes, Everquest2 had the most unique class system and ability to define your character so specific, like a tanking mage or a poison'ous scout, a healing paladin and so on</p><p>the new cookiecutter ultranoob - wow-player-appealing nerf is just as depressing as you describe it.</p><p>they also changed the following, to simplify the game enough for 5yr olds to play, this used to be a game for adults, but no more.</p><p>consolidating crits was an awful idea in the first place</p><p>break it back like it was in ROK:</p><p>spell crit</p><p>heal crit</p><p>melee crit</p><p>ranged crit</p><p>---</p><p>while you are at it, give us back all types of resists:</p><p>heat</p><p>cold</p><p>magic</p><p>mental</p><p>divine</p><p>poison</p><p>disease</p><p>---</p><p>further more, make all classes benifit from all stat-types like they used to</p><p>strength: auto-attack damage</p><p>wis: resists</p><p>int: spell / proc dmg</p><p>agi: parry/avoid</p><p>sta: hitpoints</p><p>---</p><p>stop noobyfying the game by catering to the wow crowd</p><p>this would make you have to care about the uniqueness of your 24, soon 25, classes that this game has and stop the cookie-cutting one-size-fits-all gear. Everyone basically has the same gear with a few class adorns, 200CC/CB/Pot, capped on CS/MA etc</p><p>all classes have endless power and heal/ward-procs un mass, class-lines and roles are non-exsistent anymore</p><p>-stop destroying our game-</p>

[Garlin1]

<p>Who cares, they are redoing stats and AAs soon anyways.</p>

[Vaylan77]

<p>whole stat thing is broken now anyway - all the debuffs and buffs the classes have had a reason. an illy buffing flash of insight was said to be buffing the spell damage of the whole team. what does an sk now do with int pls? also debuffs for example to debuffs all the resists of someone (wis reduction) and not just reduce the power pool of priests. or a brawler that buffs str was said to buff melee dmg of whole team and not just power for tanks.... also a lot of crafted gear has nowadays just useless stats on them. like the brawler t4 stuff - they don't need agi now anymore but soe didn't fix it. if this items still should give the same as before they should add to str a blue text which grants +x% avoidance but they just nerfed the stats and didn't revamp all the buffs/debuffs/items.</p>

[thegriss]

<p>The dumbing down of stats was a bad thing I do agree.  But to the OP it doesnt take brains to play EvE online.  You acctually have to be pretty stupid to play eve as in it takes more RL money to play that game effectivly than any MMO out there. EVE = Lots of RL money + lots of RL time.  Spread sheets do all the work for you when it comes to playing the game.  I will admit EVE has a hell of a learning curve but it was designed to cater to players who have played the longest and spend the most money.  It has very little to so with "Skills"</p>

[Trensharo]

<p>Just give DoV gear sets interesting set bonuses adn I'll be fine.</p><p>EQ2's gear is nothing like WoW's, so I dunno what these hysterical people are talking about.</p>

[Cocytus]

<p><cite>Garlin1 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Who cares, they are redoing stats and AAs soon anyways.</p></blockquote><p>Yeah, this announcement from fan faire received applause from me, lol. I've been talking about how idiotic the stat changes were since they were introduced in beta.</p>