zzilba wrote:
...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.
I am on the same server as you are and I agree with you to an extent but I think with what I see as the reasons its not likely to change anytime soon. (reasons are in no particular order).
1. Guilds Halls. The existance of guild halls and their amenities have basically created a situation where, if you are grouping, there is little reason to be in the former gathering place, the harbors docks and the like. basically you have an express line from Guild hall to the zones where the instances are and then its just a sokokar, griffon, balloon whatever to your zone in, and thats if someone in your guild didn't put down a flag. There are also a number of guilds that have these travel amenities open for anyone to use so even people without guild tags, if they are in the know, have little reason to not go to a guild hall.
2. Lvl 80. The level cap has been 80 for 2 expansions now and its about to get to 90. Because of this A LOT of people are simply rolling on their 80's or even taking a break waiting for the level cap to jump to 90. This of course will also have an impact on low level grouping.
3. Guilds in general. If you are a member of a good/large/active guild you won't really do a lot of PUGS. You will have guildies with alts (even if they aren't taged) or guildies willing to mentor down, especially if they are not at the AA cap yet. Again not a lot of insentive to look for pugs.
4. There is so much soloing in this game that is brain dead easy that if you are in one of the above categories there is no real reason to look for a PUG.
It kinda stinks, especially for new players coming in blind, but really this appears to be a factor of a game that is 5 years old. Add in the existance of guild halls and the amenities that they can provide and you only compound the issue. There really is no easy way to deal with the issue. So I wouldn't say there is not a thriving population but rather than population currently is operating in distinct cliques with level and/or guild tag being the defining factors. I think the PUG environment will get a little more active come Feb. when the expansion gets released but again this will just be for the 80-90 crowd, which is why SOE is bending over backwards to make leveling to 80 that much easier. The solutions (if you want to call them that) really appear to fall into the following...
1. Look and get into a large guild with lots of active peeps willing to help out
2. solo to 80. Its really not that hard. I soloed a Ranger and mostly a Zerker to 80 and still have solo quests left over on both toons from all tiers.
3. do both 1 and 2.
Like I said none of the solutions are really ones that everyone would call "good" ones. A lot of people come to MMO's and think/feel/hope that the PUG environment will be a vibrant one but especially on a server that has 5 years of game time and 5 years of inter and intra-guild soap operas, the PUG environment is going to be weaker. Heck I can tell ya right now its A LOT weaker than Pre-ROK but as I said this seems to be primarily a factor of max level and age and the inclusion of guild halls. With that in mind there doesn't seem to be much to do about it.