Interview with Lead Designer Akil “Lyndro” Hooper on Game Update 63: SKYSHRINE

[Valentina]

Calthine wrote:

Valentina@Butcherblock wrote:

Calthine wrote:

Lyndro-EQ2 wrote:

The AA requirement won't be 320 for sure (We don't want to require AoD), the bar for earning XP in 90 is going to be 280, because you have your heroic endlines at that point (and I hate large primes so 277 wasn't going to work).

Lyndro, you know I respect you from days of olde.  I desperately do not want to put words in your mouth, but the way this reads you do not seem to want people to advance if they have not done the Heroic content.  Surely a game such as this, which supports and celebrates all playstyles, can't mean to do that?

I'm confused.  Heroic endlines means you have enough AAs to likely buy one of the final AAs in the heroic tree.  What does that have to do with the tier of content you've achieved?

I am strictly casual, have made it through all of 2 DoV dungeons, and have 300+ aas on my main lvl 90 character.  "Heroic endline" does not mean "have done heroic content" like you seem to think.

Hey, if I misread that I'd be happy.

Since he was talking about 'heroic endlines' in direct correlation to the # of aas, I think it's likely

[Cyliena]

Valentina@Butcherblock wrote:

Calthine wrote:

Valentina@Butcherblock wrote:

Calthine wrote:

Lyndro-EQ2 wrote:

The AA requirement won't be 320 for sure (We don't want to require AoD), the bar for earning XP in 90 is going to be 280, because you have your heroic endlines at that point (and I hate large primes so 277 wasn't going to work).

Lyndro, you know I respect you from days of olde.  I desperately do not want to put words in your mouth, but the way this reads you do not seem to want people to advance if they have not done the Heroic content.  Surely a game such as this, which supports and celebrates all playstyles, can't mean to do that?

I'm confused.  Heroic endlines means you have enough AAs to likely buy one of the final AAs in the heroic tree.  What does that have to do with the tier of content you've achieved?

I am strictly casual, have made it through all of 2 DoV dungeons, and have 300+ aas on my main lvl 90 character.  "Heroic endline" does not mean "have done heroic content" like you seem to think.

Hey, if I misread that I'd be happy.

Since he was talking about 'heroic endlines' in direct correlation to the # of aas, I think it's likely

I'm not even sure why having heroic AA endlines has anything to do with allowing people to reach 91 & 92 for prestige talents. Xelgad pointed out that prestige AAs aren't intended to be OP and definitely not intended to be as powerful as heroic AAs. So why do we need 280 to reach 91 to get the less powerful prestige AAs?

As you're testing and giving feedback, consider that we do not intend this tree to provide nearly as much increase to character power as the Heroic Tree did.

Lastly, I wanted to reiterate that we do not intend this tree, in its Game Update #63 state, to be as much as a power increase as the Heroic tree.

With 286 AAs (yay got one a bit ago!), I have yet to put a point into the Heroic AA endlines. So just because someone has 280+ AAs could fail to meet Lyndro's standard of "because you have your heroic endlines at that point". I *could* have them, but I don't, and frankly, they're the lowest on my AA priority list.

[Hirofortis]

Lyndro-EQ2 wrote:

Hey folks,

I know that much of this is information that you already knew, but we wanted to get everything in a centralized place, so people don't have to dig around to try and find the answers to these questions.

The AA requirement won't be 320 for sure (We don't want to require AoD), the bar for earning XP in 90 is going to be 280, because you have your heroic endlines at that point (and I hate large primes so 277 wasn't going to work). The requirement exists so we (the developers) and you (the players) have a little more information about what a level 91+ player is. Right now if you form a pick up group, you really don't have an idea whether your tank has 65 AAs or 317 AAs. The same goes for us, content for a level 90 with few AAs is pretty different than content for a level 90 with a whole lot of them.

All I can say is thank you. To all the arguments that leveling super fast, yea, peeps can, but they also have the right to move the bar to get aa.  New requirement for getting into a raid guild. lvl 91.  I am so glad this cap is going in. Thank you

[CoLD MeTaL]

Piestro wrote:

[Piestro] What message do you have for players while we wait for April 17 and the launch of GU 63?

The message I heard was, don't play our game unless you are a min/maxer with max everything.  Limiting advancement over 90 to 280 AA is a cheap shot to a lot of folks out there, WHEN THERE IS NOTHING IN GAME THAT EVEN SUGGESTS a 90/80aa isn't ok, except raiders.

Not to mention that the quests in the Withered lands give less than 0.5% xp per turn in.  What a joke this is gonna be, you guys just do not learn and keep listening to the raider/min/maxer and you continue to lose gamers.

[Edited for trolling.]

[Raknid]

I think this is a great idea. Might get people off their butts from thinking they can just buy gear to be powerful. Might get more people out doing the actual content so they can earn those AAs so they can then go on to level past 90. Great idea. You will see more people doing more content as a result.

[gourdon]

CoLD MeTaL wrote:

Piestro wrote:

[Piestro] What message do you have for players while we wait for April 17 and the launch of GU 63?

The message I heard was, don't play our game unless you are a min/maxer with max everything.  Limiting advancement over 90 to 280 AA is a cheap shot to a lot of folks out there, WHEN THERE IS NOTHING IN GAME THAT EVEN SUGGESTS a 90/80aa isn't ok, except raiders.

Not to mention that the quests in the Withered lands give less than 0.5% xp per turn in.  What a joke this is gonna be, you guys just do not learn and keep listening to the raider/min/maxer and you continue to lose gamers.

I guess the marketplace is making you so much money you dont care.

The default AA slider position says 90/80 isn't OK.  How difficult the content is at 90/80 also suggests so.  No, there isn't a big neon sign telling you that 90/80 won't work out for you, but there are a reasonable indicators that it doesn't work.

The quests in the Withered Lands don't give fewer xp than any other 90ish zones.  They should be a good way to get AAs for those that are still short.  Getting to 92 might not happen without some effort though.

It is funny how they've painted themselves into the prestige talent corner by attaching the 20 AA to AoD.  There is a lot of bad management going on with the game, but a 280AA pre-requisite for level 91+ is not that big of a deal compared to making sure that all DoV 2011 content doesn't matter.

[Peogia]

Lyndro-EQ2 wrote:

Hey folks,

I know that much of this is information that you already knew, but we wanted to get everything in a centralized place, so people don't have to dig around to try and find the answers to these questions.

The AA requirement won't be 320 for sure (We don't want to require AoD), the bar for earning XP in 90 is going to be 280, because you have your heroic endlines at that point (and I hate large primes so 277 wasn't going to work). The requirement exists so we (the developers) and you (the players) have a little more information about what a level 91+ player is. Right now if you form a pick up group, you really don't have an idea whether your tank has 65 AAs or 317 AAs. The same goes for us, content for a level 90 with few AAs is pretty different than content for a level 90 with a whole lot of them.

280 feels a little low but I guess it is okay.. I was kind of hoping the minimum would be --->300<--- and truly mean a player played the game, right now I currently have 5 characters at over 300 plus AA

Calthine wrote:

Lyndro-EQ2 wrote:

The AA requirement won't be 320 for sure (We don't want to require AoD), the bar for earning XP in 90 is going to be 280, because you have your heroic endlines at that point (and I hate large primes so 277 wasn't going to work).

Lyndro, you know I respect you from days of olde.  I desperately do not want to put words in your mouth, but the way this reads you do not seem to want people to advance if they have not done the Heroic content.  Surely a game such as this, which supports and celebrates all playstyles, can't mean to do that?

My main, who I have played since launch, has only 171AA.  Like Cloudrat I did a lot of content before AA's were introduced and there's no way to go back and get those now.

AA doesn't require heroic content only that you play the game, DOV faction quests usto give 1AA point plus a day and they were solo-able without a merc or group, quests and names all give AA and bonus XP weekends give great AA to

@ Lyndro-EQ2

Can we please get some bonus XP weekends so some people can catch up in AA

[Geothe]

CoLD MeTaL wrote:

Piestro wrote:

[Piestro] What message do you have for players while we wait for April 17 and the launch of GU 63?

The message I heard was, don't play our game unless you are a min/maxer with max everything.  Limiting advancement over 90 to 280 AA is a cheap shot to a lot of folks out there, WHEN THERE IS NOTHING IN GAME THAT EVEN SUGGESTS a 90/80aa isn't ok, except raiders.

Not to mention that the quests in the Withered lands give less than 0.5% xp per turn in.  What a joke this is gonna be, you guys just do not learn and keep listening to the raider/min/maxer and you continue to lose gamers.

I guess the marketplace is making you so much money you dont care.

If you are low on AA no wonder why you are always complaining about the difficulty of advanced lvl 90 content.

Needing 280AA in order to progress to lvl 91 and above is a wonderful thing.  Then content can actually be design assuming a min amount of character abilities are present.  Getting 280 AA isnt a difficult thing what so ever honestly.

[CleeGrahamx2099]

There it is. I knew someone was going to ask for double experience before it was all said and done.

EDIT: I understand you may not be asking for yourself but I was waiting for someone to eventually ask for it.

[resiler]

I see the logic behind the 280 requirement in that it absolutely delineates the relatively hardcore from the more casual and allows for designing encounters to two tiers of players, but is adding such a bar in the interest of the community after JUST taking out another (CM)?  It's a simple matter of checking a character's stats online now before a PuG or PuR.

In addition, are the quest rewards for Skyshrine content level 91/92?  If so, I'd think there would be less appeal to more casual players to doing this content, for rewards they'll stick in the bank against the day they can maybe use them.  Even if they're not, won't this just produce this issue down the line in further updates/expansions if the requirement stands?

A more reasonable mechanism would seem to be departing from the 5 points per level to a parallel point tracking system in which one could level as usual, but not earn prestige until they have 280 AA, at which point XP goes to AA and an equivalent amount goes to prestige.  Everyone can level and use 'current' items, but only those with high AA will have access to prestige bonuses.

2 cp

[CleeGrahamx2099]

The 280 AA requirements to level and not just for the prestige points probably has something to do with the fact I have heard them call levels past 90 "prestige levels". So in order to get the prestige content, you need 280 AAs. Again, that's my theory.

[Halo of G4]

I think people are complaining just for the sake of complaining. AA is not hard to get. The amount of AA one can obtain is insane. Completing 280AA via soloing is a piece of cake.  You can easily obtain that in less then a day by grinding the hole or seb. OR you can do the tier 6-9 overland solo questlines and the previous dungeons. This game literally vomits out AA, it's literally under every single rock.

Anyways, I'm very excited for the release. Is there some stuff SoE does wrong? Sure. But right now I can't wait to get ahold of that new content.

[Telairee]

CoLD MeTaL wrote:

Piestro wrote:

[Piestro] What message do you have for players while we wait for April 17 and the launch of GU 63?

The message I heard was, don't play our game unless you are a min/maxer with max everything.  Limiting advancement over 90 to 280 AA is a cheap shot to a lot of folks out there, WHEN THERE IS NOTHING IN GAME THAT EVEN SUGGESTS a 90/80aa isn't ok, except raiders.

Not to mention that the quests in the Withered lands give less than 0.5% xp per turn in.  What a joke this is gonna be, you guys just do not learn and keep listening to the raider/min/maxer and you continue to lose gamers.

I guess the marketplace is making you so much money you dont care.

/agree

I am a level 90 with less than 200 AA.  I do not consider myself lazy, nor do I have a bunch of uber gear that I bought.  I prefer to progress through the game with quests or grouping with friends and earning levels or AA as I do that.  I have no desire to raid or be part of a large guild, I did that in EQ and now in EQ2 I am more of a casual player.  I don't have the time or the inclination to sit and grind AA.  That doesn't mean I should be limited in my level advancement.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought AA was Alternate Advancement.  Alternate being the key word...now you're saying it's not alternate anymore, it's tied in with regular advancement.  Why should I ever buy more expansions if I am constantly going to be stuck at lower levels because of lack of AA?  Casual players should not be punished for the way that they play, and that is what is happening here.  If anybody wants to know my AA before grouping, they can ask me, but in day to day practice the only thing it's doing is preventing me from doing new content with my friends when my AA doesn't matter to them anyway.  If people are concerned about grouping only with people of a certain AA level, I suggest joining a large guild who has a level and AA requirement so that you always know what you're going to get.  The rest of us should be able to level/AA as we please without being penalized.

[Enever]

Okay, the AA cap requirment overall is stright out redicilous. Especially for those people who have many alts, and not enough time to play to get -EVERY SINGLE- character ATLEAST 280 AA.

So to me, this was a huge midde finger to the Casual player. Why an AA cap? Seriously?

After this, the release of Guild Wars 2 is looking even better.

This is a punishment to casual players for' not playing enough'. A few lucky Casual players may have gotten that AA point, but I didn't realize this game now has the requirments of a raid guild.

It's completly stupid and nothing more but a punishment to have access to the new content.

Guess this game is becoming more hardcore now huh? Screw the casual players that have little time to play, I guess. Especially those who had max level characters before AA was even introduced.

[CleeGrahamx2099]

I am only stating this because I keep hearing this is a knock on casual players. My whole guild, 236 of us, is nothing but a casual guild and a lot of us hit this requirement or pretty close to hitting it. The ones that are saying you don't have the AA's because you have a lot of alts. Well im sorry but isn't that kind of your own doing? I mean, I focused on one char at a time that way I knew I could get him there. You don't have to raid because we don't but we all know how important AA's are even for grouping, it makes things a lot easier. I have two 90s at 320 AAs. Could have seven 90s at however many AA's but I didn't want to go that route. My advice is to focus on one character and get them to 280 then switch to a different one.

[Cloudrat]

Raknid wrote:

I think this is a great idea. Might get people off their butts from thinking they can just buy gear to be powerful. Might get more people out doing the actual content so they can earn those AAs so they can then go on to level past 90. Great idea. You will see more people doing more content as a result.

The people I know with maxed AA didn't get it from doing content, but from killing massive amounts of mobs in a dungeon during double exp days. Which is fine, I think that is a great way for someone who wants to tweak the type toon they play, but this is once again trying to force people to play one way and not allow for diversity.

[Enever]

CleeGrahamx2099 wrote:

I am only stating this because I keep hearing this is a knock on casual players. My whole guild, 236 of us, is nothing but a casual guild and a lot of us hit this requirement or pretty close to hitting it. The ones that are saying you don't have the AA's because you have a lot of alts. Well im sorry but isn't that kind of your own doing? I mean, I focused on one char at a time that way I knew I could get him there. You don't have to raid because we don't but we all know how important AA's are even for grouping, it makes things a lot easier. I have two 90s at 320 AAs. Could have seven 90s at however many AA's but I didn't want to go that route. My advice is to focus on one character and get them to 280 then switch to a different one.

So those of us who had characters maxed before the introduction of AA is a bummer then, huh?

I created several characters to fit SEVERAL needs in whatever we need. But now, I'm screwed because I did that. The amount of Alts shouldn't even be mentioned.

I don't have much time to play i nthe week, and now, due to me, being busy in real life, I feel as if I'm being punished for being so.

I'm sorry, there shouldn't be an AA requirment to level again.

[DxPreist1]

Lyndro-EQ2 wrote:

Hey folks,

I know that much of this is information that you already knew, but we wanted to get everything in a centralized place, so people don't have to dig around to try and find the answers to these questions.

The AA requirement won't be 320 for sure (We don't want to require AoD), the bar for earning XP in 90 is going to be 280, because you have your heroic endlines at that point (and I hate large primes so 277 wasn't going to work). The requirement exists so we (the developers) and you (the players) have a little more information about what a level 91+ player is. Right now if you form a pick up group, you really don't have an idea whether your tank has 65 AAs or 317 AAs. The same goes for us, content for a level 90 with few AAs is pretty different than content for a level 90 with a whole lot of them.

Awww... But large primes are fun! Alzid.... Mikill... Rodcet.... Optimus....

Only cool people will get those...

Also thanks for the clarification, even my slacker alts can level WOOT!

[Telairee]

It is still a choice as to style of play and shouldn't be a requirement for leveling.

[Dreamaria]

I think 280 aa requirement is GREAT.

AAs make such a huge difference maybe people will see how much they increase a characters abilities. Example i had a dps class out at a RW that i accidently left in crafting aas (so i have 279 unspent aas, absolutly no dps aas spent) and i parsed half of what i normally do. Even if you figure having 150 aas it's still only three quarters what i would normally parse, huge difference.

All the requirement says to me is that the content is suppose to be prestige you are suppose to work for it. It's like prestige houses they don't hand them to you for 5p, you have to buy them for extra or earn them.

[Enever]

This style just screams "you must play this way to continue".

It's redicilous.

[Telairee]

Enever wrote:

This style just screams "you must play this way to continue".

It's redicilous.

Exactly

[Geothe]

Enever wrote:

This style just screams "you must play this way to continue".

It's redicilous.

Not it doesnt.

But it does say if you want PRESTIGE you need to earn it.Not very PRESTIGIOUS if any weak, inexperiences joe-shoe gets those abilities.

[Enever]

Geothe wrote:

Enever wrote:

This style just screams "you must play this way to continue".

It's redicilous.

Not it doesnt.

But it does say if you want PRESTIGE you need to earn it.Not very PRESTIGIOUS if any weak, inexperiences joe-shoe gets those abilities.

Really, You mean there's another way then "You must grind AA"?

And AA shouldn't define who's weak, It doesn't. I knwo how to play my class(es) exactly. Players were taught how to when RoK was released. That culled the weak from the skilled.

[CleeGrahamx2099]

Stop using "I got to max before AA's was introduced". Come on. That was years ago. There has been plenty of new content since then. I have maybe 30 minutes to play Monday-Wednesday, Friday because of my work schedule. Weekend is chores and all that jazz so Thursday is the best time I can play so I don't have a lot of time either. If you had a character maxed for years, I am sorry, there is no excuse to not have the amount of AA's, even if you are a super casual. My biggest thing here is, the level 91-92 stuff for skyshrine is basically for people that want's to group. So, if you want to group then wouldn't you want the AA's? Even casual players know how much of a difference AA's make to your character.

[Geothe]

Enever wrote:

And AA shouldn't define who's weak, It doesn't. I knwo how to play my class(es) exactly. Players were taught how to when RoK was released. That culled the weak from the skilled.

Actually with current content, a lack of AA, does in fact, make you weak.You dont have advanced abilities that are very powerful.

You may have the skill to play your character, but with low AA you still lack the tools to play at an advanced level.

[Cyliena]

Dreamaria wrote:

All the requirement says to me is that the content is suppose to be prestige you are suppose to work for it. It's like prestige houses they don't hand them to you for 5p, you have to buy them for extra or earn them.

I purchased Destiny of Velious. This is Destiny of Velious content. So using your comparison, I already purchased the prestige levels.

[Stuez]

All you people crying that your are being "locked" from gaining levels just sound ridiculous.  NOTHING is preventing you from getting those levels but yourself.  You are the one who chooses not to get the AA.  You are the one who makes the decision to play an alt instead of getting a couple more AA points.  You have nobody to blame but yourself.  I'm sorry that after playing for 6+ years, your main still cannot get max AA.  Quit crying over it and try sticking to one character for a week or two and actively look for AA.  Sheesh, its so simple.  

Oh QQ, you did all the quests before AA were released and now its impossible to get  AA.  BS, I was in the same boat until one day I decided I was gonna run some instances....then BAM, I got my AA maxed. 

Remember, its YOU that chooses to not focus on one character.  

Now before you say it, I only play a couple hours a week and usually take every summer off.  So don't tell me you cant do it because you play casually.  

Thank you SOE for actually putting something into the game to motivate people to better their characters

[Geothe]

Cyliena wrote:

Dreamaria wrote:

All the requirement says to me is that the content is suppose to be prestige you are suppose to work for it. It's like prestige houses they don't hand them to you for 5p, you have to buy them for extra or earn them.

I purchased Destiny of Velious. This is Destiny of Velious content. So using your comparison, I already purchased the prestige levels.

You Purchased DoV. Having access to DoV doesn't automatically give you access to Hard Mode raid gear, you actually have to earn it by progressing through raid content.

You purchased DoV, Having access to DoV doesn't automatically give you Prestige abilities, you have to earn them by first progressing through AA levels, which you also got with DoV, and obviously havent completed yet.

[Enever]

Edit: Knwo what...it's not worth it. There's a rift, and this pretty much does pry the game further from casual players, atleast in my opinion.

Screw it, I'm done, guess I'll just have to grind, like a job, in a game.

Besides, I see AA as a convience, not a crutch.