Fan Faire Atlanta [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

Faddor_of_Midnight_Tempe

04-10-2006, 12:44 PM

<DIV> I was not sure where to post this, so I tagged it on here. I did want to say thank to you personally for all the effort and putting up with me and our 5’ bundle of pally joy. Thank you for taking time from your family, and the little bundle of joy I read about here, to come to Atlanta for Fan Faire. My family, guild mates, guests, and I all had a great time. My wife, Seamy, won the costume contest! The competition was tough, and the final decision close, and she is still bubbling over with excitement and from the honor. I have a question though, all the other big contest winners get an in game title. Does she? She is a class act and a good face, even with the pointy troll ears, for our game, and I know she would wear and display the honor with great demeanor and pride. Thank you again for coming to Atlanta. I know it is a different pace than Las Vegas, but was a good contrast for bringing families, and we had a great time at the off site party as well as the events in the hotel. We plan to attend another one some time down the road, maybe the wife and I if it is in Vegas again, or possibly the whole family especially if it is in a family oriented venue.</DIV>Message Edited by Ashlanne on 04-11-2006 12:18 PM

Faddor_of_Midnight_Tempe

04-12-2006, 12:47 PM

<div></div>Are 98% of the people that play Everquest raiders and if so, would they choose to raid if there were other high end game options? One SoE Dev team member told me the percentage of raiders is 98% and implied that the future was all about raiders. Are there any family guilds out there? Do any of you prefer groups over raids? Would you like to be able to have a larger force than six without going to a full scale raid, maybe take out bigger camps with ten of your friends without the huge XP hit? Would you like an expansion or game changes aimed at the group, or small raid, at the family guild that plays a few hours a week and does not have time to research intensely, or be on line every night for hours on end to be a number in a raid? Have you found a way to break into most of the new group content without the help of an already raid equipped tank? These were a few of my questions going in to Fan Faire. There was very positive response, especially from Chris, about the family guild. The interaction was two way with both asking questions and listening. I have a lot of thoughts on this and could write a book, but I really want to see if many of you out there really believe 98% of the game is raiding, and that the only purpose for playing other than in a raiding guild is as a training and feeder guild for the raiders. Frankly, if that is all we have to look forward too, I am getting burned out recruiting new people to the game and our guild, teaching them how to play, and eventually watching them leave. Some do like the raiding guilds and still play, many left completely. I do not mean this to sound all negative because it is not. There is some good content in the expansions. Chris had some very positive things to say, and only time will tell if they are implemented. It is my belief that many that want to play Everquest, past and present, do not want to play a game where success is based on making a commitment to play for hours every night in a structured environment. Taking nothing away from those that do, we that do not, buy all the expansions, have more than one account, and play a lot of hours as well. Hey guys, don’t just bash Sony, give some positive ideas. They may be selling the product we consume, but in the end, we have the common goal of wanting a fun game that more of our friends can and will play. If more families, and casual players, went to Fan Faire I think they would realize that we are the backbone of the game. We bring new people into the game and show them how to play. Our members play for years and have many accounts. Some roam from game to game, but always come home to EverQuest. If more attention is given to our needs, and a feeling of inclusion in a partnership with Sony, the game will only grow stronger. Newbie is not a curse word. Raiders need us to train and recruit new people to the game. (No we are not a training guild so do not recruit our people. They will come to you if they have a choice and want that style of play.) People like us that do not want to raid all the time need that 14~15k tank to access even the single group content that has been coming out in the last few expansions. A note about my personal play style: I go to work at 5:30 am and often do not get home until after 7pm. I will look up some information about quests or camps, but with only a few hours for family, home chores, and game play, I do not have time to hunt for information. Almost every night I get on to see my friends and play for a while. Usually we will do an instanced mission, or work on an individual’s quest, XP in group, or go exploring a new part of the game. None of our 50 or so active guild members want to raid all the time, and about a third of them refuse to at all. They do not like the rules and restrictions required to make raiding successful. After all the game is a relief valve from the every day where the boss or the teacher tells us when and where we can go, what we can wear, and what we should be doing. Can they play? Hmm … let me see, most of us have one or more level 70 toon. Most of us have several hundred AAs on that toon. Most of us have as good of gear as you can get without raiding. Those of us that do raid some are highly respected by our raiding friends … and oh, yea, there was the time the 5 group raid by the strongest guild on our server wiped, and seven of us got their bodies back. They used brute force, we outsmarted it. There is the time four members wiped Fear. Yea, we can play with the best of you. We just choose to play a different way. How ever you play, that is personal preference like what kind of ice cream you like. I hope you enjoy it your way as much as I do mine.

Straylig

04-12-2006, 04:27 PM

<div></div><div>You can tell by the gear that the '98% are raiders' number is quite a bit off.</div>

Faddor_of_Midnight_Tempe

04-16-2006, 03:18 PM

<div></div>I find it a little incredible that only one has responded to this. The response I get in game is overwhelming about there being more than one playing style. I have gotten a stack of good ideas. Don't any of you have an opinion one way or the other?

Faddor_of_Midnight_Tempe

05-04-2006, 05:06 PM

<div></div><div>From a thread on the Evolution Alliance web site: (EA is an Alliance of non-raiders, non-raiding guilds, and friends that are in raiding guilds.) Faddor said: A month has gone by and we have done many spell missions in the 68s and 69s and even a couple of 70s, but as for completing a progression, 68.3 has us stymied. We can breeze through 68.1, 68.2, and 68.3 up to the named.In various combinations the following have tried:Faddor Cleric (516 AAs 6 years experience)Seamy Paladin (~500 AAs 2 years experience)Aatineth Enchanter (~500 AAs 5 years experience)Jasrasis Shadow Knight (~130AAs raiding experience on other toons)Fantun Wizard (~200 AAs raid experience and some raid gear. 6 years experience.)Blueline Mage (~150 AAs 4 years experience.)Vordania Necromancer (~130 AAs)Kimokeo Cleric (~125 AAs)Ranto Bard (~500 AAs raid equipped.)Morrigar Magician (~1200 AAs raid equipped. 7 Years experience.)Ribz Cleric (~150 AAs 4 years experience.Lamyen Bard (Raid Equiped)We have even had a raid equipped guest or two, including a ranger with 14K hp, suckie ranger AC, and we got it to 24% with him. We even explored the possibility of a shrouded tank.Last night, on our second attempt after we had burned our veterans benefits on the first, a group consisting of Faddor, Seamy, Aatineth, Vordania, Kimokeo, and Ranto had it down to 2% when we wiped. On our two next attempts, Morrigar replaced Ranto and we thought with his massive DPS and as much HP as Seamy, we would have it, but never got it under 20%. Jasrasis said: We need a big tank. I wish Japiqu or Gladiac were still around to stomp this bozo's nose. Either one of them would have been wiping the blood off their blades in short order... Kimokeo said: Even though i have only done this 4 times with you all, It is very very frustrating. I am going to see if I can figure out what others have done for strats for this punk.This is from a thread on the Evolution Alliance web site some other comments include as many as 56 attempts with people of similar experience. I am going to state this as simply as I can and mean no offense at the bluntness. Many have left this game because they do not want to raid. Many more are reaching the frustration point with it. We bought the expansions and we can play, but even the single group content is written for raid equipped toons, so we cannot access the material we are paying for. The level will be increased so we can access it, but then the rewards and gear will not be commensurate with our new levels. I have been a guild leader for six years. We have maintained constant activity and membership, but even I have about had it. If this problem is not addressed in a way that does not continue to drive our people from the game and make us be second class gamers for the same money as the raiders, I too will leave the game. WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR IT TO BE TOO EASY, JUST POSSIBLE WITHOUT BEGGING RAIDERS TO HOLD OUR HANDS. Damnit we can play this game as well as they can, we just don’t have as much gear. Our clerics are not 12k hp and 12k mana and our tanks are not 15k HP and 2.5K AC. If they were, we would probably own the raiders because they do with power of numbers what we do with our heads. At Fan Faire I had a long talk with the producer, Chris Lena, about this very issue, lack of content that non-raiders can access in the last four expansions, yet we have purchased the expansions just as faithfully as the raiders. He told me we should do spell missions, Archstone, and MGB trials. I pointed out to him that about 12K is as big as a tank can get without raid gear, so these are single group missions for raiders, but are not accessible to us. I wish I could sit down with him today with the family guilders on that list that have tried his advice since Fan Faire and tell him how much power and effort we have put into this, only to be stymied by only having a 12.3K ma with 500 AAs and a 8.6K mana pool cleric with 516 AAs. He told me this will be addressed in the next expansion. I suppose it will be in that a non-raid equipped cleric and tank at level 75 may be able to do these, but of course then the XP and gear will be rendered useless by the level 75 appropriate gear in the new expansion. How much frustration are we supposed to take? Seamy for one is about ready to say screw it to the whole thing. She has scratched and clawed, bought and sold, traded and XPed, and her toon has basically stopped growing. So has mine. I am not interested in raiding every night, am not going too in any game, and raid gear would be just as out of reach if I joined a raiding guild as a part timer. I want to play my main, not be forced to play up and coming alts that will be stopped just as dead in their tracks as my main. I am not interested in remaining relegated to second class status even though I pay the same money as the raiders not only to play but for expansions where I cannot access even the single group content until it is outdated and second tier, and on several accounts. All the while my friends leave the game in droves because the guild and toons we have built have been relegated to second class status. … Is the message that this is a raiding game with no place for family guilds or people that want to play in groups of 6 to about a dozen? Is this a game where those that do not want to commit to play every night for a set time in a set roll might as well cancel the account and find another pass time? Personally I love the virtual community and will miss it, but if this is another expansion for raiders and all we are left is the bone of finally being able to access the content of the last four expansions we already paid for, and only that because it is obsolete, I am finished.</div>

Bry

05-05-2006, 11:55 AM

Disclaimer: this is my opinion on the matter, so take it for what it's worth to youThe worst part of your situation sounds like it's not a lack of the ability, but rather a lack of the adaptive capacity or the mindset. Gear/AA wise it sounds like you have the means for 68.3, but only if you don't approach it linearly like treating it as if it were a named fight at an xp camp. Treat it like a situational event and it will work out for you.I'd like to think I'm the norm and not the exception, but perhaps I might be the exception, who knows. I think the key here is focusing and utilizing the positives. That is the key to victory and advancement at your own pace. I lead a family guild of people who are likeminded. I don't offer near as much as other guilds that are easy to get into and you can ride the gravy train to better loot/content, but I think the folks in my guild like the challenge of maintaining a hybrid guild (true family plus raiding). We raid maybe 2-3 nights a week, most of which is DoN, Time, epic 1.5s with no required raiding or required attendance percentages.If you really feel you are at the end of your rope on EQ, I offer you to perhaps if you wish, transfer to Tunare server and perhaps check us out to see what a guild of people who may be at a similar gear level can do and perhaps be in an environment more conducive to envisioning victory instead of continuous defeat.

Denuve

05-05-2006, 02:09 PM

<blockquote><hr>Faddor_of_Midnight_Tempest wrote:<div></div>I find it a little incredible that only one has responded to this. The response I get in game is overwhelming about there being more than one playing style. I have gotten a stack of good ideas. Don't any of you have an opinion one way or the other?<hr></blockquote>Dont expect alot of action here. Only about 5 people show up a day.Go to the EQ2 forums if you wish you get more responses.

Faddor_of_Midnight_Tempe

05-05-2006, 06:49 PM

<div>Bryko wrote: The worst part of your situation sounds like it's not a lack of the ability, but rather a lack of the adaptive capacity or the mindset.</div><div> </div><div>We pride ourselves in taking adaptive aproaches, and using unusual mixes. Once. before corpse summon, we took seven people and recovered a wipe by the most powerful guild on our server, all the time they were saying it was not possible. What would you suggest as an alternative stratagey? It would take pages to repeat all the different aproaches we have tried. We do believe we will eventually kill it, but it will be as much luck as tatics or skill and getting all our friends through it seems daunting.</div><div> </div><div>I have been guild leader of this guild for six years. If I choose to give it up, it will be in context of giving up the game. I have too much invested in my guild, my friends, and my charracters. Thanks for the offer though.</div>