I absolutely love this game, BUT...

[zzilba]

 ...Despite being an enthusiastic, but casual player, there are a few things that really damper the experience at times. Now, if you ask me, I do believe that Everquest II far superceeds the vast majority of MMO's out there. The quality is unsurpassed, and the devs have done a fantastic job maintaining it's coherency over time.

 Unfortunately, in the face of the juggarnaut that is WoW, comparions and parallels are distinctly unfair - apples and oranges. So, I'm not going to do that. But I will point out a few things that really inhibit my experience as a player in what I believe is the best MMO on the market.

 I'm level 55 on LDL. The population *feels* incredibly sparse, and i have gone days without running into another player. The most I have seen simultaneously is 5 players. Now, let me point out that the keyword used here is *Feels* not *is.* The world of Norrath is enormous and diversity in levels contribute greatly to spontaneous run-in's with other members of the community. Tht said, the adventuring would feel remote and solitary if it were not for the ocassional chatting in a global chat channel. I am a community minded individual, so working collaboratively with others is why I play MMO's and not single player console games, but I have to be honest and admit that the majority of the time it feels like a single player experience. The open world spontenaity of running across playing hunting or questing, gathering crafting goods or feeling as though you are a part of a much bigger picture in terms of an established and thriving society and culture is what seems to be missing. I have read so many threads where some players claim they have no issues running into players, or alleging that AB is the most populated server, which is great - if you're a player on AB. I understand transferring is an option, and I haven't ruled it out.

 I understand that there will be a sector of players who will want to meet my comments with the obligatory inflammatory remarks, but regardless, a lack of thriving population impacts the game on many levels; Accessibility to large scale encounters - many of mine turned gray due to lack of players to participate with; The economy is greatly diminished. Selling and purchasing from a broker, even the most rare items and necessary skills will only set me back a couple of gold, but I'm lucky to make that through consignments due the the little demand. Heroic mobs seem excessive when venturing alone; They're everywhere and often present an unfathomable obstacle between a solitary player and a quest objective. In a discussion the other day, someone had said to another individual who was disappointed in the visibility of other players and the large amounts of Heroic mobs that he could not solo that "Everquest 2 was never intended to be a solo game." Thats truly fair enough; Then the experience should not feel isolated. Some people are quite contented with an undeniably small community where everyone knows everyone else via the chat channel - But the cons far outweigh the pros when considering a goal driven environment, even for the most casual player.

I fully intend to continue my adventures here, so please don't consider this an end-of-the-world post. Just a few impressions from a dedicted player.

[Banditman]

You need to avail yourself of the "Solo Timelines" available at eq2i.  You should never feel a need to kill heroic mobs when leveling up.  There are more than enough solo tasks available.  What you are experiencing is not unusual.  There simply isn't much population between Level 1 and Level 79.  Not just your server, all servers.

[Bakual]

If you want to group or interact with other players in lower levels, you will need to use the chat (mainly level1-9 chat for most servers) and seek compagnions. That is the result of the game being some years old already and having many zones for a specific levelrange to play in. I don't think anything can be done about it.

Most players are level 80 and their Alts run through the game quite fast. But usually it isn't a problem to find some people willing to help out in a specific zones. The mentorsystem and it's bonuses help a lot with that, also the AA system which rewards you for killing nameds while not grey.

The rest is up to the player to decide if they want to start a group or solo all the way up to 80. Both are valid ways and both are possible on most servers.

[Aanadorn68]

In reply to your first paragraph the population IS very sparse, part of the problem is many people have dropped off because SOE is late to the party with their expansion, the other part is IMO there is too much of a steep mountain to climb for a new player.  SOE needs to get rid of most of the levels and start players at 70 or something.

In your second paragraph you lament the heroic mobs standing in your way.  You should have played this game in the first couple of years when heroics were all over the place and you actually got nervous if you had to run an overland zone.  That was an exciting time in which grouping was almost required, IMO a much better game and dynamic.  But some people love Soloquest, personally I'd rather just play Oblivion or some single player disconnected game at that point, I'd venture to guess a lot of players who don't log on anymore feel the same.

[Bakual]

Aanadorn68 wrote:

In your second paragraph you lament the heroic mobs standing in your way.  You should have played this game in the first couple of years when heroics were all over the place and you actually got nervous if you had to run an overland zone.  That was an exciting time in which grouping was almost required, IMO a much better game and dynamic.  But some people love Soloquest, personally I'd rather just play Oblivion or some single player disconnected game at that point, I'd venture to guess a lot of players who don't log on anymore feel the same.

The problem in the beginning was that you basically required a group, and many times you couldn't find one. That was no fun at all. Today you can choose. Overland zones are soloable, dungeons need a group in most cases. Not a bad decision in my opinion.

[Dareena]

Well as a LDL player, I can agree that you won't randomly bump into people in your 50's.  Why?  Because unless you're an old school player who fell in love with the DoF expansion, that level range stinks.  You'll see people in Everfrost and Lavastorm since there's worthwhile revamped content in there and the zones have a sense of coherent progression as a result.  But the 50's consist mainly of Lesser Faydark and the DoF zones.  LF quests are broken up into pockets in various regions of the zone, so you may have other people in the zone and never see them.  Let alone just how scattered the DoF content is, which makes it very hard to see people if you're not hanging around the docks or the croc cave mining circuit.

While some people may personally take their time in that level range, I personally consider the low 50's to the mid 60's to be my personal hell levels.  I enjoy the EoF zones (Lesser Faydark and Loping Plains), but generally dislike or loathe most of the zones from the DoF and KoS expansions.  When in that level range, I power solo as fast as I can just to get through that junk so I can get back to the content that I enjoy.  So if you're not seeing a lot of grouping in that range, there may just be a lot more people like me.  However even then, people will still consistently group up to run the SoS dungeon in their low to mid 60's.

If you want some company in the lower tiers, then you have two options.  The independent type of player would attempt to organize groups to hit the various dungeon zones in the level range.  Or they would put a FYI post into 1-9 chat when they planned on running through a zone's quest lines with the hope that they get back a Tell from someone who wants to join them. 

Otherwise the second option is to join a friends and family style of guild.  This guild format usually consists of players who have various alts and focus more on the leveling process (as opposed to the end game scene).  However when looking for a guild, you have to decide in advance whether you're looking to group up consistently or if you'd like to solo with people gathering together to tackle heroic content.  Various family style guilds will gravitate towards one philosophy or the other, so make sure that you're getting yourself into the right situation.  Also decide whether you're looking for a small guild (for that close knit feel) or a large guild (which will have the potential for many players and alts to group with).

[dawy]

Bakual wrote:

Aanadorn68 wrote:

In your second paragraph you lament the heroic mobs standing in your way.  You should have played this game in the first couple of years when heroics were all over the place and you actually got nervous if you had to run an overland zone.  That was an exciting time in which grouping was almost required, IMO a much better game and dynamic.  But some people love Soloquest, personally I'd rather just play Oblivion or some single player disconnected game at that point, I'd venture to guess a lot of players who don't log on anymore feel the same.

The problem in the beginning was that you basically required a group, and many times you couldn't find one. That was no fun at all. Today you can choose. Overland zones are soloable, dungeons need a group in most cases. Not a bad decision in my opinion.

when i joned in 2005 it was liek you say grouping was a requirment to do anything meaningfull and frankly if you couldnt geta group it was much fun at all.

Soloing has to in a modern MMO for it to survive this is the era of the casual gamer like it or not and its folly to think otherwise,the devs have just about got the balance between the playstyles right and i do mean just, the game is dead for a variety of reasons not just becuase of its becoming more solo friendly people just have large rose tinted glasses when thinking back to the old days.

[mrsma]

Banditman wrote:

You need to avail yourself of the "Solo Timelines" available at eq2i.  You should never feel a need to kill heroic mobs when leveling up.  There are more than enough solo tasks available.  What you are experiencing is not unusual.  There simply isn't much population between Level 1 and Level 79.  Not just your server, all servers.

You are incorrect Sir. 

I take it you have not played on Nagafen?

[Banditman]

mrsmall wrote:

Banditman wrote:

You need to avail yourself of the "Solo Timelines" available at eq2i.  You should never feel a need to kill heroic mobs when leveling up.  There are more than enough solo tasks available.  What you are experiencing is not unusual.  There simply isn't much population between Level 1 and Level 79.  Not just your server, all servers.

You are incorrect Sir. 

I take it you have not played on Nagafen?

I take it you didn't actually read the OP, and instead chose to bring irrelevant issues to the table?  Thought so.

The OP is playing on LDL, a "Role Playing Preferred" server.  Not Vox. Not Nagafen.  Not PvP.

Therefore, the advice I gave him is relevant and accurate within the confines of his present and future experience.  Had the OP stated that he was on one of the PvP servers, I would have had no advice to share with him, since my experience would have little bearing in that environment.

[thajo]

He is not incorrect.  If you are on a PvE server, the population basically anywhere besides the level cap is small and pale in comparison to the action kickin' for mid-range 70's to 80 players.  PvP is player verse player..so despite the level of course, you will find people engaging in it.  Fighting another player can be fun no matter what level, but thats a different realm of the game and not the norm on the remainder of the PvE servers.

Also, that pic needs to be Re-done to say "MMO's - Cause not everybody can handle FPS"

<3

[Avirodar]

Dakkota@Unrest wrote:

Also, that pic needs to be Re-done to say "MMO's - Cause not everybody can handle FPS"

<3

So true.  I always get a kick out of people on MMO PVP servers talking like its the hot tomale.MMO PVP is for people who are too slow for FPS PVP.

[kevincann]

Aanadorn68 wrote:

In reply to your first paragraph the population IS very sparse, part of the problem is many people have dropped off because SOE is late to the party with their expansion, the other part is IMO there is too much of a steep mountain to climb for a new player.  SOE needs to get rid of most of the levels and start players at 70 or something.

In your second paragraph you lament the heroic mobs standing in your way.  You should have played this game in the first couple of years when heroics were all over the place and you actually got nervous if you had to run an overland zone.  That was an exciting time in which grouping was almost required, IMO a much better game and dynamic.  But some people love Soloquest, personally I'd rather just play Oblivion or some single player disconnected game at that point, I'd venture to guess a lot of players who don't log on anymore feel the same.

I would simply *LOVE* some new overland zones that were simply overrun with ^^^ heroics...and which were properly itemized.

It would be *so* cool to need 2-3 people to get from point A to point B in a zone...like in many other games and in older versions of EQ1 and EQ2.

If it were only a max of 10% of the available zones, which were designed this way, the must soloto 80/90 cry-babies could simply be advised to skip those zones.

The rest of us who enjoy going around in small groups could have a lot of fun again.

I think that content  targeted to groups of 3 would add some real flavor, and 3 shouldn't be hard to get.

Wouldn't it be *sweet* that you zone into such a zone.. and then just loiter around a bit at the zoneline until a couple others are there to move around the zone with?

Is there a forum for recommendations the dev's ignore?

[Kigneer]

zzilba wrote:

I am a community minded individual, so working collaboratively with others is why I play MMO's and not single player console games, but I have to be honest and admit that the majority of the time it feels like a single player experience.

Ah, SP is better simply because there is no chat; no outside drama; nothing to distract you from just roleplaying and you earn everything yourself. You can be almost 100% immersed into the world and character.

In a MMO, it's a killer as MMOs are designed much like FPS multiplayer for instant gratification and group play (something that may also in time evolve, since online time is now more limited due to more online outlets). Where x4 raids from 1999-2004 was rad due to only a few MMOs to share the thousands of players, where today, a PuG x4 raid can clear world chat of chatters.

[Hikinami]

kevincann wrote:

Aanadorn68 wrote:

In reply to your first paragraph the population IS very sparse, part of the problem is many people have dropped off because SOE is late to the party with their expansion, the other part is IMO there is too much of a steep mountain to climb for a new player.  SOE needs to get rid of most of the levels and start players at 70 or something.

In your second paragraph you lament the heroic mobs standing in your way.  You should have played this game in the first couple of years when heroics were all over the place and you actually got nervous if you had to run an overland zone.  That was an exciting time in which grouping was almost required, IMO a much better game and dynamic.  But some people love Soloquest, personally I'd rather just play Oblivion or some single player disconnected game at that point, I'd venture to guess a lot of players who don't log on anymore feel the same.

I would simply *LOVE* some new overland zones that were simply overrun with ^^^ heroics...and which were properly itemized.

It would be *so* cool to need 2-3 people to get from point A to point B in a zone...like in many other games and in older versions of EQ1 and EQ2.

If it were only a max of 10% of the available zones, which were designed this way, the must soloto 80/90 cry-babies could simply be advised to skip those zones.

The rest of us who enjoy going around in small groups could have a lot of fun again.

I think that content  targeted to groups of 3 would add some real flavor, and 3 shouldn't be hard to get.

Wouldn't it be *sweet* that you zone into such a zone.. and then just loiter around a bit at the zoneline until a couple others are there to move around the zone with?

Is there a forum for recommendations the dev's ignore?

Some well done outdoor dungeons would be cool. It's a shame new tunaria didn't get used so much and was lacking as it was beautiful graphically.

[Banditman]

New Tunaria is a great looking zone, but there really wasn't much loot worth having there and it's a long, long way from anything.  I understand "why" it is where it is, but that zone could have been so much better if it was more accessible.

[Kkolbe]

Come to Nagafen, we have a healthy population from 1-79. Thats if you dont mind be ganked every now and then. :p

[dawy]

Banditman wrote:

New Tunaria is a great looking zone, but there really wasn't much loot worth having there and it's a long, long way from anything.  I understand "why" it is where it is, but that zone could have been so much better if it was more accessible.

Have to agree even all these years on i'll grab an alt and just go and have a mooch round that zone for my money its the best looking in the game by far even if theres little to do there

[Eliezer]

kevincann wrote:

Wouldn't it be *sweet* that you zone into such a zone.. and then just loiter around a bit at the zoneline until a couple others are there to move around the zone with?

Seriously?  You think it would be fun to just stand around at a zoneline and wait for someone else to show up who wants to group with you?  We had that game, it was called EverQuest :-p

You would zone into a dungeon and there would be like half a dozen people sitting at the zoneline.  You'd /yell Camp check! and the various groups would sound off the piece of real estate they claimed.  You would send a tell back to the area you were interested and see if they needed you.  More often then not they'd say there was a list.  You'd ask to be put on the list.

The camp group plays, you sit at the zone line.  When the named drops the good loot, the lucky guy who got the loot leaves group, they invite the next person on the list.  Rinse and repeat until it was your turn to get into the group.  I helped a friend of mine camp the FBSS for over 24 hours.

Sorry, while I get as nostalgic as anyone for old school EQ, being unable to play unless you are lucky enough to find people who want to play with you isn't a viable model in this day and age.  If you didn't like the crowds in EQ, where were you going to go?  Ultima Online?  Nowadays you can't browse a forum without getting inundated with free trial offers for a dozen MMOs.  Sitting around and waiting to play is a broken model.

[Lethe5683]

.

[Kigneer]

mrsmall wrote:

You are incorrect Sir. 

I take it you have not played on Nagafen?

Who would want too? PvP in EQ2 is a joke. It's not as tough as the MUD PvP, it's not even as tough as F2P PvP. It's the carebear PvP of MMOs.

[Lethe5683]

Kigneer wrote:

mrsmall wrote:

You are incorrect Sir. 

I take it you have not played on Nagafen?

Who would want too? PvP in EQ2 is a joke. It's not as tough as the MUD PvP, it's not even as tough as F2P PvP. It's the carebear PvP of MMOs.

Not to mention it's messed up as heck.

[kevincann]

Eliezer wrote:

 Sitting around and waiting to play is a broken model.

I agree completely!

That's what I do in eq2... sit around and wait to play... at least for mylevel 80 characters...

Once I hit 80, I cant get a group... so i start another alt... and get themto 80... then I can't get a group... it's crazy.

I've tried multiple servers. I've tried multiple guilds. I've created mostly thehighest in demand characters (healers, illusionist, etc).

I ask for groups in chat.

I ask for groups in guild.

I try the /lfg tool.

I post on forums to get hints about the best way to get groups..

Then I stop wasting my time.. and go back to 2-boxing alts.

I don't know how much more soloquest and 2-boxing I can toleratebefore I quit.

-Kev

[Xisi]

I blame on the ease of multi-box and mentoring system and heirloom, the guild hall system. 

As if the developers are happy with old customers only, they make new customers experience as hell as possible.   Now you have self-mentoring, heirloom system.  There is no reason for old players to group on their alts at all.

I started playing 2 year ago.  At that time, there were many lowbies in starting areas.  I constantly grouped for all lowbie instances. 

I just returned again.   No single player in the new zone!  no players in butcher mountain.   I joined a guild and found out why!  people have multiple accounts.  1 guildie has 5 accounts and he cleared level 80 instances all by himself. lol. Other guildies simply powerlevel alts with each other's level 80 in dungeons. 

If this trend goes on, you might as well make people all level 80 instantly.

I missed the days when we had all legitimate lowbeis doing RE, reivervale.  That was only 2 year ago.  Now I am the only person in bucherblock while everyone else is powerling their alts in dungeons.

This game is great except the developers do not know how to attract and retain new players.

/end rants

[fawdown]

Aanadorn68 wrote:

In reply to your first paragraph the population IS very sparse, part of the problem is many people have dropped off because SOE is late to the party with their expansion, the other part is IMO there is too much of a steep mountain to climb for a new player.  SOE needs to get rid of most of the levels and start players at 70 or something.

In your second paragraph you lament the heroic mobs standing in your way.  You should have played this game in the first couple of years when heroics were all over the place and you actually got nervous if you had to run an overland zone.  That was an exciting time in which grouping was almost required, IMO a much better game and dynamic.  But some people love Soloquest, personally I'd rather just play Oblivion or some single player disconnected game at that point, I'd venture to guess a lot of players who don't log on anymore feel the same.

Perhaps you should change servers then.  I think it's quite busy when I am on.  Better late with an expansion rather than only having a few lousy ones in the same amount of time.  A game where you can level a character to 30 in 3 days does not need a quick fix way to get to 70 or 80.

[Yimway]

Xisi@Permafrost wrote:

I blame on the ease of multi-box and mentoring system and heirloom, the guild hall system. 

Customer retention vs Customer Growth.

It may be easier and cheaper to milk your current customers than make all the changes + marketing required to create customer growth.

[Aanadorn68]

I hear you, but I'm very attached to my guild, some very cool and fun people on there, and we still have scheduled raids 3 days a week.  I still think the beginning levels need to be gotten rid of.  Content won't be an issue because they can revamp the content to be in whatever level range they do keep, let's say 70-80.  And as I suggested, make the crawl from 70 to 80 hell levels, make it as long as 1 to 80, change ALL the pre 80 content to fit in that 70-80, I'll bet you find a ton of groups.

Yes I realize I am VERY jaded and would rather rush my toon to level 80, it's my 5th or 6th toon getting to 80 and I've seen the content ad naseum.  But I'm also suggesting this for the NEW player.  They log on and see this huge mountain in front of them, 90 levels, 250AA, 150 shards (or whatever new currency will be), 20 masters, fabled then mythical weapon.  Now give them a single player Soloquest type game that is extremely lonely and anti social.  At that point I'll bet many of them say Hell I'll just play Demon's Souls (which is an incredible RPG BTW), or Oblivion, etc.  Much of the Everquest addiction is social, not just social interaction but of course social pecking order and having the "gear".  But you really miss out on a lot of this social interaction from 1 to 80.

I just am not getting what the purpose of 1 to 80 is.  It's not to learn how to group.  You can learn the basics of the game in 5 levels on the beginner island.  Lets just merge everyone into 70-90, make 70-80 hell levels, and I'll bet there will be plenty of groups and more of an original Everquest type social feel to the game.

fawdown wrote:

Aanadorn68 wrote:

In reply to your first paragraph the population IS very sparse, part of the problem is many people have dropped off because SOE is late to the party with their expansion, the other part is IMO there is too much of a steep mountain to climb for a new player.  SOE needs to get rid of most of the levels and start players at 70 or something.

In your second paragraph you lament the heroic mobs standing in your way.  You should have played this game in the first couple of years when heroics were all over the place and you actually got nervous if you had to run an overland zone.  That was an exciting time in which grouping was almost required, IMO a much better game and dynamic.  But some people love Soloquest, personally I'd rather just play Oblivion or some single player disconnected game at that point, I'd venture to guess a lot of players who don't log on anymore feel the same.

Perhaps you should change servers then.  I think it's quite busy when I am on.  Better late with an expansion rather than only having a few lousy ones in the same amount of time.  A game where you can level a character to 30 in 3 days does not need a quick fix way to get to 70 or 80.

[Pervis]

kevincann wrote:

Eliezer wrote:

 Sitting around and waiting to play is a broken model.

I agree completely!

That's what I do in eq2... sit around and wait to play... at least for mylevel 80 characters...

Once I hit 80, I cant get a group... so i start another alt... and get themto 80... then I can't get a group... it's crazy.

I've tried multiple servers. I've tried multiple guilds. I've created mostly thehighest in demand characters (healers, illusionist, etc).

I ask for groups in chat.

I ask for groups in guild.

I try the /lfg tool.

I post on forums to get hints about the best way to get groups..

Then I stop wasting my time.. and go back to 2-boxing alts.

I don't know how much more soloquest and 2-boxing I can toleratebefore I quit.

-Kev

I find it hard to believe that a player willing to play either a healer or an illusionist can't get a group in TSO.

Unless, of course, you advertise for a group and then log out after 30 seconds if no one has contacted you. Then I could understand it.

[erin]

Pervis wrote:

kevincann wrote:

Eliezer wrote:

 Sitting around and waiting to play is a broken model.

I agree completely!

That's what I do in eq2... sit around and wait to play... at least for mylevel 80 characters...

Once I hit 80, I cant get a group... so i start another alt... and get themto 80... then I can't get a group... it's crazy.

I've tried multiple servers. I've tried multiple guilds. I've created mostly thehighest in demand characters (healers, illusionist, etc).

I ask for groups in chat.

I ask for groups in guild.

I try the /lfg tool.

I post on forums to get hints about the best way to get groups..

Then I stop wasting my time.. and go back to 2-boxing alts.

I don't know how much more soloquest and 2-boxing I can toleratebefore I quit.

-Kev

I find it hard to believe that a player willing to play either a healer or an illusionist can't get a group in TSO.

Unless, of course, you advertise for a group and then log out after 30 seconds if no one has contacted you. Then I could understand it.

For once I agree with Pervis.  I don't buy it.  I have both an illusionist and several healers, and on any of them if I go lfg, I get a group.  Even when I don't go lfg, I get group invites.  It generally takes less than 10 minutes to find a group with these chars.  And no, I'm not uber, I'm talking T2 gear, maybe fabled epic in most cases.  My troub?  Don't even think about it   Can't log in without getting invites, everyone wants a troub and not enough out there.

[Sparxx]

Aanadorn68 wrote:

I just am not getting what the purpose of 1 to 80 is.  It's not to learn how to group.  You can learn the basics of the game in 5 levels on the beginner island.  Lets just merge everyone into 70-90, make 70-80 hell levels, and I'll bet there will be plenty of groups and more of an original Everquest type social feel to the game.

I think 1-80 and soon to be 1-90 is needed.     The reason is the same as why I don't believe people should be able to buy accounts.   You get somebody who has no clue how their class works.  They start out at 80 and are lost, getting group after group killed.   Even soloquesting to 80, I still have classes that I do not fully understand.  I use the 1-80 range to quest and get familiar with my toon, try different spells and see what they do.  I do understand that the group dynamic and playstyle is different than soloing, so it doesnt' make you an expert, but at least you learn the basics.That said, I do agree that population is getting sparse on PVE servers.  I have sat and waited for 2 hours or more to get a group on multiple occasions with lvl 80 content doing shard zones.  This is hardly fun and has me weighing the better options of transferring servers or quitting EQ2 altogether.   I personally think that another server merge is well overdue. 

[Yimway]

Aanadorn68 wrote:

I just am not getting what the purpose of 1 to 80 is.  It's not to learn how to group.  You can learn the basics of the game in 5 levels on the beginner island.  Lets just merge everyone into 70-90, make 70-80 hell levels, and I'll bet there will be plenty of groups and more of an original Everquest type social feel to the game.

Your not getting the purpose, as well, there is none.

They could make all content in game start at level 70 and have players start at level 70, and it wouldn't really affect anything.  So long as shattered lands is scaled for 70 and 0 AA, and newer expansions scale higher.  The entire game could be compacted to a 20 level  span, and you don't even need to make them 'hell' levels, just make AA level be the more significant level indicator.

I don't seriously think they'd make a change like that, but I'd agree it would be healthier for the game.  Its been my opinion since DoF that there is too much vertical growth in this game.  I've felt strongly since DoF they should have increased in 5 level increments causing the span of current 'tier' content to be MUCH wider.  This ever rising level cap feels like 'miracle growth' mudflation of class levels, and only serves to increase the barrier of entry for new players.