Please add a cross-server Dungeon Finder and gear score (new post-no trolling plz)

[KenCoop]

<p>I know it has been asked for before, but the threads that I have found have all been locked or died, so I don't want to necropost.</p><p>i raid mostly drunder hm/pow, and group mainly in guild (and pug if I see someone I know spamming for dps).  I think what turns me off the most from grouping is that I really hate to fail, and I'll sit there at it trying over and over when realistically the group has no shot at taking something down (e.g. Tank for ST challenge in lego WL gear, healer with adept spells, no support, etc.).  I don't mind joining a group, but when I'm doing 500k on the named and holding agro f/t on my assassin it just becomes tedious, because I either have to just sit there on my hands or accept that I'll be tanking, which I know can be super irritating for the tank (as someone who also plays monk/pally).</p><p>The simple solution I see would be to have a cross-server dungeon finder with a gear score.  I mean WoW does it with ilvl, why can't eq2.  I am not for separating players, but I think matching raiders with other raiders and casuals with other casuals would be a good thing.  I would really like the chance to group with other raiders from other servers and chat while we're pulling in a zone, and I dont think that really anyone would be opposed to meeting new people, plus it would bring the community as a whole closer together.  Matching people with similar gear scores (which we know are there) would prevent frustration, as people would know what type of group they were getting in when they joined, and it would seemingly encourage people to reque more often as they would have better experiences (would not be in over their head tanking, get kicked for low dps, not be able to keep the tank up, etc.)</p><p>For setup, there could be something like (it really seems like it would not be too hard to program this):</p><p>-tank</p><p>-healer</p><p>-support (bard or enchanter)</p><p>-dpsx2</p><p>-1 random</p><p>At this point, with the gear that is out there, even a subpar setup can beat nearly all group content relatively easy if the players know what they are doing, and I think this would be really beneficial to the players that want to group and may simply just log on during non-peak times.</p>

[Ulrichvon]

<p>I'd fully support this system being in eq2, however it doesn't seem new features are really on the table given the current team assets.</p><p>One of the reasons it doesn't exist is how much players hated the gearscore idea back a couple beta's ago when they started to put it in.  Unfortunately this was yet another example of not realizing when to ignore player feedback.</p>

[CoLD MeTaL]

<p>Separating the playerbase even further will increase the degredation rate and the attrition rate of the game.</p><p>I realize you just want a way to not have to group with non raiders, but heroic content is for others too.</p>

[KenCoop]

<p><cite>CoLD MeTaL wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Separating the playerbase even further will increase the degredation rate and the attrition rate of the game.</p></blockquote><p>I had to LOL @ this.  Because the current setup is so much better, and we are all together obviously.  Just changing the code to allow DF to pull from all servers would allow for exactly the opposite of what you said.</p><p>Heroic content is for everyone, but look at how people actually form groups.  There are different playstyles in EQ2, why on earth would you want to throw them together and just frustrate players.  I am not advocating that one playstyle is better than another, just that they are different.  If you look at the success of WoW, I would think any observer could see that being able to find a group in 10-15 min would be a big selling point.  They grp you for specific content based upon your gear level (usually dictated by playstyle), and have a very successful mechanism for this to work.</p><p>People love to whine about how this would be so awful, but it seems that allowing a larger amount of players for you to group with is a good thing.  The only people I see this hurting are casuals that get drug through challenge and get easy upgrades for not putting forth much work.</p><p>i don't know about you, but I take pride in my toon and want to contribute when I'm in a grp.  If I hop on my Wizzy that's mostly heroic geared I'm not going to try to run challenge, because I am not going to be contributing to the group and really I'd be a detriment.  I want to help a group I am in succeed, not have the group succeed in spite of me.</p><p>All we have to do is look at other MMOs that have this feature to see that it is a good thing once implemented, and would likely be a success if small tweaks were made in eq2.  If you look at the almost nonexistent pug grouping going on during off-peak time and can honestly tell me there is not a problem then fine, but I would be shocked to hear someone advocate that things are working great right now.</p>

[KenCoop]

<p>Sorry double post, stupid iPhone.</p>

[yohann koldheart]

<p><cite>CoLD MeTaL wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I realize you just want a way to not have to group with non raiders, but heroic content is for others too.</p></blockquote><p>i agree, but when im outdpsing a lock, and wiz and im playing my illy there becomes a problem.</p><p>heroic content is for everyone , but leveling is so easy that alot of pug pickups dont know how to play thier class . they rely on superrior players to drag them through hm heroic content. this is the reason most people that raid do not pug, most of us would rather run a zone with 3 players that they know can play their class , then risk dragging pugs through content that cant play their class, the only thing we gain is their buffs.</p><p>then god forbid you call a lock or wiz out for being doubled on the parse by a illy and then OmG ... im a elitist a$$ hole!!</p><p>bottom line is if they put the DF's to be cross server, and let it set a gear score range at least then we know people have put effort in their toon and the chances of getting  captain worthless would be less</p>

[Gilasil]

<p>You're actually asking for two things, (both of which I support btw).</p><p>Gear score.  Currently players seem to single out one stat and focus on that to the exclusion of all else.  It used to be crit mit and now it's crit chance.  To a degree it's justified but I think that after a point it isn't.  Players need one number they can use to decide if this or that player has a chance of contributing in some level of content.  A gear score which took into account all the stats would make a LOT more sense.  However, when this surfaced a year or two ago it was flamed left and right by posters on this board.  It's likely SoE has decided that players don't want a gear score; therefore, they won't provide it.  Moral of this story:  If you see a bunch of people flaming a good idea, speak up.  If you don't that good idea is going down in flames.  so to speak.</p><p>I think the most legitimate objection to the gear score was it introduced artificialities.  People grabbing some wholly inappropriate piece of gear simply because it gave them a high gear score.  Obviously, the calculation of the gear score would have to take into account the entire character including class, level, AAs, and other gear.  It would be nontrivial.  I suppose that might be another reason they've shied away from it.</p><p>Cross server dungeon finder:  This has been asked for repeatedly by players.  I agree it would be a wonderful thing.  However, in this case I suspect there are technical issues or we'd have seen it by now.  It's likely their server side architecture just can't handle it.  Most likely the battlegrounds were architected differently from most regular dungeons.  If they find themselves having to virtually write a whole new game they might as well write that new game instead.  Perhaps EQ Next will allow it.</p><p>And of course combining a gear score and cross server dungeon finder would be awesome.  Not just for raiders but for everyone.  Except it requires TWO things of which neither is likely to happen.  Oh well <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Koleg]

<p>Isn't this (DF & Balance) what the current Battlegrounds are handling, with stat ehnacment code and auto-grouping?</p><p>Gear score is on the code, SOE just won't show it to you.  They assign gear a value and it is the basis of all itemization.  Whether SOE gets it right or wrong is not the point, the point is that it exists in the current code and it is being used when auto-generating itemized gear.  The players use CC, CM before as mentioned, they will always and forever use a single value to base achievement and judge / compare themselves to thier fellow groupies / raiders.  get over it and use it for an advantage.</p><p>Separation should be self administered within reason, but there are always slackers who want to be carried on the backs of other members.  Sorry, but its true.</p>

[Ulrichvon]

<p><cite>CoLD MeTaL wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Separating the playerbase even further will increase the degredation rate and the attrition rate of the game.</p><p>I realize you just want a way to not have to group with non raiders, but heroic content is for others too.</p></blockquote><p>You so completely fail at seeing the forest for the trees.</p><p>Gear score isn't so dungeon finder will only group raiders together, not even remotely.  It just means the players grouped together for dungeon x meet the developers min base gear score of y in order to be placed in it. </p><p>If anything it will increase the people that would be included in groups, not the other way around as you seem to suggest.</p><p>Gearscore actually makes things more inclusive.</p>

[Ulrichvon]

<p><cite>Nynaeve wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #ff0000;">*Please do not quote forum violations*</span></p></blockquote><p>You don't care if the one healer put into your group gets one shot to every ae?  Really?</p><p>Seems to me, yes there is a mininum gearset to reasonably attempt a zone.  Certainly there is no need to exceed the zone's rewards to do the zone, but there is little poing in a DF that groups in a healer that can't stay alive to heal.</p>

[heyua]

I agree. i am new and cant do anything of raids untill 90-92 pretty much dead and its very hard to get good armor since none raids and many alts in game just got fable(or best gear for their lvl).

[zehly]

I totally support this idea, but I think the cross-server DF should have an option for "use gearscore" and "not use gearscore", that way if the raiders are feeling generous, then they can meet up with some of the non-raiders. Personally, I only group with a few people whom I know are going to "see it through", and rarely PUG unless I'm just plain bored.

[Vlahkmaak]

<p>The main problem with gear score is that it does not take into consideration player skill.  We have all grouped with players that are "well geared" who absolutely were unable to contribute properly to the group. </p><p>A healer who has bought his or her gear may not realize the importance of curing and/or precuring.</p><p>A DPS in bought gear my have a terrible sub par combat art/spell rotation.</p><p>A tank in bought gear that cannot tank,..., well we all know how that ends.</p><p>These players may be able to absorb more damage but they are still not any better off for the group than the alt of a well played toon in slightly less than adequete gear.</p><p>I think a more appropriate solution would be a LFG hub, similiar in concept to the BG hub, where players from cross servers can meet up, talk with one another, and then form groups after deciding x,y,z would be good valuable group members.  For those wanting to help out lessor geared players they could form an appropriate "core duo/trio/quad force" that can handle the content and then drag along 1-2 charity cases. </p><p>We could call this hub the "Nexus" or something similiar paying homage to an EQ1 place of mass gathering back in the day or something new just for EQ2 - "End of Days Station" etc.  Just my food for thought on this topic.</p>

[Koleg]

<p><cite>Vlahkmaak@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The main problem with gear score is that it does not take into consideration player skill.  We have all grouped with players that are "well geared" who absolutely were unable to contribute properly to the group. </p><p>A healer who has bought his or her gear may not realize the importance of curing and/or precuring.</p><p>A DPS in bought gear my have a terrible sub par combat art/spell rotation.</p><p>A tank in bought gear that cannot tank,..., well we all know how that ends.</p><p>These players may be able to absorb more damage but they are still not any better off for the group than the alt of a well played toon in slightly less than adequete gear.</p><p>I think a more appropriate solution would be a LFG hub, similiar in concept to the BG hub, where players from cross servers can meet up, talk with one another, and then form groups after deciding x,y,z would be good valuable group members.  For those wanting to help out lessor geared players they could form an appropriate "core duo/trio/quad force" that can handle the content and then drag along 1-2 charity cases. </p><p>We could call this hub the "<span style="color: #ff0000;">Nexus</span>" or something similiar paying homage to an EQ1 place of mass gathering back in the day or something new just for EQ2 - "End of Days Station" etc.  Just my food for thought on this topic.</p></blockquote><p>It is already called Champions Respite, give it a try you'll be able to find lots of folks up there that didn't buy thier gear from anyone except for the merchant selling raid gear.</p>

[Mohee]

<p>If only a system like the one you mentioned could detect the people that buy SC cards, sell them for plat, then spend plat on SLR'd raid gear. Thay way they don't get put in my group because they have absolutely no idea what-so-ever how to play their toon. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Other then that, I think its a fairly good idea.</p>

[Seidhkona]

<p>Dungeon Finder worked well the first week. I had a blast, I could do any dungeon any time I wanted.</p><p>However, it won't matter if there is a gear score or if it's cross server, because what killed it off is the ssame set of problems that regularly afflict pick up groups.</p><p>I have had the tank just... stop. His toon is there, but he isn't moving or responding. Getting a replacement tank when you are halfway (or more) through is a PITA.</p><p>I've had several healers under the mistaken impression that they were DPS. Cure! Cure! Golblastye! /cracks whip</p><p>And worst of all, the way the thing makes up groups can be entirely undoable. Instead of just throwing six people together with no tank, it should say, "We have no tank for you guys, please try later" or something.  I've seen groups trying to have an Inquisitor tank, which was not pretty. Having a Swashbuckler tank works slightly better. But neither is really what I'd call a fun experience.</p><p>We all want a perfect group, with a steady tank, a healer that can cure and heal anything, and a bard, and a chanter, and big DPS. We want all of the people in the group to be fabulous players. But that's not what you get.</p><p>The people most benefitted by DF are people who are in starter armor for the tier, and THEY need a group where everyone else is better-geared to compensate. And, sorry to say, a newbie tank is often a horrific experience. If the tank can't stand up, the whole group dies, which is no fun.</p><p>If DF would notice that the tank has all apprentice combat arts and treasured gear from three tiers back, it could put this waif in a group with a MT who IS properly geared for the zone. But DF should only inflict ONE newbie like this on any group.</p>

[Mohee]

<p>I love it when Dungeon Finder finally finds you a group, and then you zone in, only to discover that everyone else declined the group! Awesome!!! Remind me why they queued up for that zone again? ...................</p><p>Or you finally get in a DF group, you zone in to find the group makeup something like... Wizard, Wizard, Templar, Brigand, Swashbuckler, Dirge.  lol In the past, the Dungeon Finder has often created groups entirely missing a tank or healer. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Ulrichvon]

<p><cite>Mohee wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I love it when Dungeon Finder finally finds you a group, and then you zone in, only to discover that everyone else declined the group! Awesome!!! Remind me why they queued up for that zone again? ...................</p></blockquote><p>We used to queue for Kael zones just for fast transport to Kael...</p>

[Mohee]

<p>Yeah, most the time it works ok when you have a group formed already and then queue everyone. Although I've even experienced in the past many times where it split the group up when using this method! what the..... DOH! now we got to wait 15 minutes to try again!</p>

[Freejazzlive]

<p>I strongly disliked cross-server dungeon finders in WoW, & want nothing to do with them ever again. But since I never use DF to begin with, I guess my opinion doesn't matter -- except to say that while I might be tempted to use DF out of sheer desperation, I would not do so if it were made cross-server.</p><p>As for GearScore, while it had its amusement purpose, I saw an awful lot of garbage because of it. SOE would have to be careful as to how it uses such a thing, because in WoW, I saw cases where someone could put together a very high GS by equipping gear that wasn't really good for them -- like, the Mage armor set that had all STA & Frost Resist, but no other worthy buffs or stats -- in order to get into a high level group, then switching out to much lower GS gear that still wasn't good enough for the instance. Then there are the "dude ur GS is for scrubs your a newb lol" idiots.</p><p>I'm not saying that GS is inherently bad. I am suggesting that it's not a cure-all for hi-level grouping issues, & I'm further suggesting that an awful lot of MMO players are ... um ..... less than mature in their dealings with others, & that I'm very leery about giving such people even more reason to be immature.</p>

[Ulrichvon]

<p><cite>Freejazzlive wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'm not saying that GS is inherently bad. I am suggesting that it's not a cure-all for hi-level grouping issues, & I'm further suggesting that an awful lot of MMO players are ... um ..... less than mature in their dealings with others, & that I'm very leery about giving such people even more reason to be immature.</p></blockquote><p>I understand your concern, but players already do this based upon HP alone.</p><p>Gearscore is nice as it allows developers to place a recommended gear level for an instance.  So like with the new ST instance, they can publish it with a recommended gear score of 150.  This way players have a very clear indication of what is needed, and the developers have more influence over how we culturaly approach the content.</p><p>Or you can have what is in the game today.  Someone gets invited to the group with less than 50k hp, and people say wtfrak you can't do this zone!</p><p>The absense of the game makers providing a score and recommended range for dungeons leaves it to players to set their own basis, and players will always set that bar far higher than it needs to be which results in a system that is far less inclusive than it could be.</p><p>Sure, as you state some people can figure a way to coast into a gearscore min, but that indicates the player is atleast analysing their gear and what is available to them, which is more effort than alot of eq2 players do currently (sadly).</p><p>None of us should have an expectation that just cause a gearscore is higher that an item is better.  EQ2 itemization is far too complex for anything to be summed up so neatly.  But it absolutely is an indication if the player has WL equivelant quest gear or is still using SF quest gear.</p>

[Mohee]

<p>There once was a gearscore in EQ2, they called it Crit Mit.</p><p>That went well <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">/sarcasm</span></p>

[Freejazzlive]

<p><cite>Ulrichvon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>EQ2 itemization is far too complex for anything to be summed up so neatly. </p></blockquote><p>Which is another reason I'm quite leery of any attempt SOE might make to implement something like GearScore. I'm 90/274, & until very recently I was wearing a level 72 helm ... why? Because until I got my WL upgrade, everything else I'd seen was inferior in almost every way other than armor rating.</p><p>SOE itemization is not merely too complex, it's also in very bad shape at the moment, & I think it would require yet another complete overhaul before they could even consider GearScore. But I have little confidence that such an overhaul would be done well, given the results of the last one, so I've even less confidence that anything resembling GearScore could be done properly.</p><p>I just don't think it's a good idea for this game.</p>

[Gilasil]

<p><cite>Mohee wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>There once was a gearscore in EQ2, they called it Crit Mit.</p><p>That went well <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">/sarcasm</span></p></blockquote><p>That was an example of what happens when there is no gear score.  Players hang onto one number because it's easy.</p><p>Anything which combined several key stats and was by class would be an improvement over basing everything on one stat for everyone.</p>

[Koleg]

<p><cite>Mohee wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>There once was a gearscore in EQ2, they called it Crit Mit.</p><p>That went well <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p><p> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">/sarcasm <span style="color: #ff0000;"><turned back on></span></span></p></blockquote><p>And now its CC, whats your point?  There will -ALWAYS- be one numerical value that is the Sum on 'You' for others to compare too.  Regardless whether you choose to ignore it, I assure you, others do not ignore it. </p><p>and since I can't help myself even though I know better, CM was fine for anyone that had any level of knowledge about how the game mechanics work or had any level of friend / guild membership.  The Devs removed it for the exact opposite as many people think, and that was becasue it made content too -EASY- and removed any and all ability for mobs to harm you.</p><p><cite>Mohee wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If only a system like the one you mentioned could detect the people that buy SC cards, sell them for plat, then spend plat on SLR'd raid gear. Thay way they don't get put in my group because they have absolutely no idea what-so-ever how to play their toon. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Other then that, I think its a fairly good idea.</p></blockquote><p>They do have this ability if you know how to recognize it; I just look for the players that have low playtime and high DPS/HPS/Survivibility.  The players which didn't struggle for months and months leveling up in a game which became irrelevant the minute they dinged 92 and didn't have to unlearn all the bad class skillz they though they learned along the way.</p>

[salty21db]

<p>Make it cross server, put in an auto mentor system to allow queueing of any dungeon at your level and below, give some sort of bonus for people who "random," put some kind of rating system for characters at top level queues, vote/kick system, profit....</p>

[Gilasil]

<p><cite>salty21db wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Make it cross server, put in an auto mentor system to allow queueing of any dungeon at your level and below, give some sort of bonus for people who "random," put some kind of rating system for characters at top level queues, vote/kick system, profit....</p></blockquote><p>No mentoring.  It's completely broken and only good for exploiting.  Completely trivializes content.</p>

[salty21db]

<p><cite>Gilasil wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>salty21db wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Make it cross server, put in an auto mentor system to allow queueing of any dungeon at your level and below, give some sort of bonus for people who "random," put some kind of rating system for characters at top level queues, vote/kick system, profit....</p></blockquote><p>No mentoring.  It's completely broken and only good for exploiting.  Completely trivializes content.</p></blockquote><p>Then maybe they could fix it a bit or add a checkbox for the lower levels "allowed mentored members in group."</p><p>Regardless allowing an older, top heavy game to interact with the lower levels and new players is just pure win to me.  There are plenty of times I would just hit random when I'm doing nothing and wouldn't mind helping lower levels on another server, etc. as well as my own (especially if there is some kind of small reward for doing so like a mystery box or something).</p><p>Conjoining your entire playerbase and allowing them to interact as they've done with the battlegrounds or dungeon maker is just awesome and gets rid of the "older, top heavy" game issues.</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>Crit mit did NOT make content 'easy' what it did was completely gate it to anyone with less crit mit then the mob/zone buff packages.</p><p>in effect, a gear score. if your gear didn't give you X amount of crit mit, any mob in the zone, trash included, and a very real and easy time of 1 shotting you.</p><p>yes the mob that hits the crit mit meeting tank for a MA attack of 4 hits, each for 25k, that puts him in the orange after the wards/reactives trigger, kills the tank that gets hit for 50k each swing because they all critted him. and trash was able to do just that. and named coudl hit even harder.</p><p>So yes, for the HM raiders, and the constant raiders, the number crunchers, yes, you can feel that getting a group with people who parse lower then your expectations of what they should do is a detriment.</p><p>but I notice that a lot of HM raiders I've seen, or hell even consistant raiders, have in many cases unrealistic expectations of what a player can do when they can't afford to spend 400p in adornments for gear. Or can't get red adorns becuase they don't raid to get the blue velium shards.</p><p>yes, for some people 400p is a LOT of money they can't easily access. not everyone gets plat spilts or can solo old raid zones.</p><p>just like someone mentioned about people getting in the group for a DF, and then every declined. it's probably becuase the tank saw that he was getting a troub and not a dirge. or a illy and not a coercer and quit, which of course made everyone else quit.</p><p>whic is another thing that causes these issues. I've done ST with 2 necros, a troub, a ranger, and a templar and myself (paladin) with no issues. but I know a TON of people that wouldn't tank with that setup if thier life depended on it. which is another reason the DF 'failed'. granted yes, getting no tank, or no healer is an issue. but if you got a tank, and you got a healer, the other four are just dps and icing on the cake. but no one would run a group if it wasn't tank/healer/bard(dirge)/chanter(coercer)/highdps/highdps.</p><p>making it 'cross server' and 'gear scored' won't make it usable to picky folks who insist on getting the 'perfect' group or they won't play.</p><p>I bet right now, these people in favor on this thread, would not join even a group of HM raided folks if the group they got was Berserker/Warden/Coercer/Necro/Assassin/Beastlord. becuase heaven forbid they'd run a zone without a bard. they'd disband, reque, until they got the 'perfect' setup.</p><p>they might as well just sit in front of the zone on thier own server and spam thier 1-9 channels for what they want.</p>

[Mohee]

<p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Salty21db made me think of this when he said his comment about "allowing an older, top heavy game to interact with the lower levels and new players is just pure win"</p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I wish even at 92, you had the option to queue for ANY level of zone in the Dungeon Finder, and upon zoning, auto mentor me to the correct level. This would be enjoyable for everyone if you didn't remain so powerful when mentoring down. I miss the old zones, and would love to help out lower level/new players in doing these dungeons. It's not really fun for the others in the group (and for me being the 92) to be able to just 1 shot everything though... Things should still be a challenge! Also creating somewhat of a reward that is usable to the person/people mentoring as someone else mentioned, would be a win-win and encourage even top end players, to go back and do old content with new players and show them the ropes!</p>

[Mohee]

<p>You can tell SOE recognizes the failure that is Dungeon Finder because even after all this time, they haven't bothered to add the Skyshrine zones into it at all. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p>

[salty21db]

<p>I can make SoE a ton of money with the EQ franchise with ideas.</p><p>Problem is sometimes they are like an ADD child who just saw a fluffy kitty...</p>

[Gilasil]

<p><cite>salty21db wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I can make SoE a ton of money with the EQ franchise with ideas.</p><p>Problem is sometimes they are like an ADD child who just saw a fluffy kitty...</p></blockquote><p>In games, IDEAS are cheap.  Everybody has ideas. Talk to 5 gamers and you'll probably get 20 ideas.  It's the implementation which counts.  Until an idea is implemented it's nothing.</p><p>And it's easy to say someone did a lousy job of implementing something if you don't have to do it.</p>

[salty21db]

<p><cite>Gilasil wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>salty21db wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I can make SoE a ton of money with the EQ franchise with ideas.</p><p>Problem is sometimes they are like an ADD child who just saw a fluffy kitty...</p></blockquote><p>In games, IDEAS are cheap.  Everybody has ideas. Talk to 5 gamers and you'll probably get 20 ideas.  It's the implementation which counts.  Until an idea is implemented it's nothing.</p><p>And it's easy to say someone did a lousy job of implementing something if you don't have to do it.</p></blockquote><p>I'll agree with that for most random people who want magical rainbows in the games that pop out cheeseburgers everytime someone farts in real life.</p><p>But a lot of ideas in this world are taken from someone elses idea and are just improved on.  Duster...to swiffer for example.</p><p>My idea is simple really in terms of the hardware/coding they already have available.  They already have a network setup with their servers shown by the cross server battlegrounds (let alone the spider web they have setup to communicate with eq1).  They already have the mentor system in place (although it needs some scaling fine tuning done).  All that would need coded is the instant mentor which is enter x dungeon = y level if greater than z level (obviously more technical then that but that is the just of it).  Also would need to put all the dungeons on a server to meet on as they did with the battlegrounds...copy/paste. </p><p>So what are we talking here.  Server to utilize dungeons matchmaking, coding to auto mentor along with utilizing coding of dungeon finder already in game (maybe to add an option for lower levels to deny higher levels in group), tweak mentor scaling so that is a little more on par with a geared person of that level but utilize coding already in game for mentoring as basis.</p><p>A cheap addition to their tools already in game.  Profit for very little input in comparison to other ideas they put out (not to say those ideas are bad just stating that they could do a lot better with a whole lot less...what investors want to hear afterall).</p><p>Phew, that's really tough in comparison to face recoginition software that less then half the population would currently utilize.  As I've said in many other posts...if I had the college degree and experience I would gladly work for them and do it.  Until then I can just set on the forums and push ideas at them hoping they'll take heed.</p><p>P.S. -  You want me to really blow your mind with a cheap idea?  They have the Player Studio now...they have dungeon maker.  Give the tools to actually create dungeons to the players with all the current schemes/layouts currently in the game (trees/walls/etc)...have players vote on their favorite ones over a couple weeks....devs pick top 10...choose one...hone it with fine details, etc....release one every month.  VALLA!  Player made content, voted on by the players, reviewed by the devs, and a new dungeon every month.  Saves on developer time, let's players make/vote on their own content to be put in the game along with some other developer added content, and keeps a consistent flow of content coming in, player who made it gets compensated monetarily along with notoriety.  *Mind blown*.</p>