Supporting Returning Players and ideas for Refer-a-Friend?

[salty21db]

Freejazzlive wrote:

Ulrichvon wrote:

Freejazzlive wrote:

Ulrichvon wrote:

MMO's are about doing cooperative content with a large community of players.  In EQ2, that only exists at level 92.

You know why it only exists at level 92? Because the entire game up until level 92 has been gutted by SOE due to the misguided notion that only the "end game" matters.

Perhaps, but that ship has sailed, and we have to consider the game as it is today. 

Blizzard has more activity in lower levels not cause of anything they did as much as just sheer numbers.

That being said, a very functional dungeon finder that works at low levels is really nice there.  I don't actually play wow, but I watch my 12 year old play it from across the room while I'm playing my games, and I gotta say their dungeoning and tools for doing them work flawlessly.

Blizzard has more activity at all levels, & the sheer numbers, because they have never denigrated their lower level game for the higher level. That is precisely the point. You're telling us "the ship has sailed," & I'm trying to suggest bringing it back to port.IMO, & with all due respect, your approach is defeatist. It's accepting a "reality" that doesn't have to be, & which can certainly be changed for the betterment of the entire game.

But what tactics does Blizzard use to entice people to revisit old content?

I'm just confused by your thinking on that lol.  I mean once capped level in WoW what do they have in game to make you go back to visit old content that EQ2 doesn't have?  Achievements, appearance gear?  On top of that we have a mentor system, collectibles, and a crafting system that can actually be utillized at lower levels.  I'm not sure where the comparison to WoW utilization of lower levels is going to help in spruce this games up when it already has more?

[Ulrichvon]

Freejazzlive wrote:

Blizzard has more activity at all levels, & the sheer numbers, because they have never denigrated their lower level game for the higher level. That is precisely the point. You're telling us "the ship has sailed," & I'm trying to suggest bringing it back to port.IMO, & with all due respect, your approach is defeatist. It's accepting a "reality" that doesn't have to be, & which can certainly be changed for the betterment of the entire game.

I'm sorry, but I just don't think the resources exist to fix this and continue to deliver content at end-tier at a sufficient level.

It would be better for them to focus on what they have today that is fun and engaging, focus their playerbase (existing, returning or new) into that and direct their focus at a much more narrow field than trying to fix overarching content stretching over 6+ years of continuous development.

You can call it defeatist, but I'll say its just practical and reasonable.

[mylin1]

Nothing I have posted said anything about me expecting not to pay to play the game - What I have said is that the current "free to play" model locks the wrong content out for cash. The core mechanics of the game should not be locked out for payment - spell teir and items should just be alowed to be used, you are making it so returning players cannot actaully play their characters without dropping a heap of cash on unlocking spells and items they earned while playing previously - this imho is totally flawed way of doing things.

I also question the choice of race/classes being locked out - idealy they would all be open or at least open to 20 or open in a cluster rather than locking all the interesting ones behind cash shop.  Having the class packs linked  - unlock necro/conj, pal/sk, etc, that way we also have the betrayal option open rather htan requiring to unlock 2 classes just to change faction. 

Having too much core game locked behind a cash shop world gives a feeling of the game being cut down too much.

Also broker buying and selling and cash caps -they dont add anything to the game other than make it really annoying to have locked out - are you suggesting you annoy your ftp players into subscription because I can bet its not going to work - there are Plenty of games out there with a less restrictive model - with or without ability to unlock restrictions with in game currency or time played.

Currently on my ftp account I have necromancer and ratonga pack unlocked - I had upgraded to silver account and had unlocked several of my fabled items on my warlock - its not even close to being free but I am happy to spend my cash on what I want - what i dont like is having to spend my cash on core mechanics, buying unlocks for gear I had gained during my sub times was a real put off, and ive shelved that character because the thought of having to buy more and more core items just to get my toon back to the state they were at when the game went ftp doesnt feel right.

The game is FTP like it or not, thats what EQ2 is now, the sub based game is dissapearing; look at the population on servers and you find freeport up there, if not the most full, close too. If you want the game to thrive then they need to do more to attracted FTP players not put them off - reasons not to play this game should not be part of a ftp model.

[CoLD MeTaL]

mylin1 wrote:

...

Go Gold and have none of those issues.

If you choose microtransactions, you chose those hurdles.

FTP only works for $OE IF they make more money from you in microtransactions than they would from a sub.  People asking for the FTP model to be changed just want it to be actually free.

I have 2 accounts I changed to FTP, bought the unlockers, and it is far cheaper to maintain those 2 spare accounts to box with since i don't swap their gear much.  my main account is still gold and FTP would cost more.

Honestly if $15/mo is stopping you from playing this game, they could make it truly free without microtransactions and you wouldn't stay long.

The key to more subs is still leaving raid mechanics in raid zones, and developing for mere mortals who want to feel heroic.

[JShield]

From the people I've personally talked to since this thread was posted the common problem was the lockouts were a turn off and seemed in your face.  For this I would suggest topical changes like making locked bag and bank slots look grey instead of red with a padlock.  They'll know it's unavailable when they try to add bags there.  Same with the gold sub window. Maybe have the initial popup down by the SC button and when moused over expands to the full window. Additionally the info on that full window could better reflect what you'd be getting with gold, maybe some bullet points with different color texts.

I think if there were one or two noteworthy additions to the game that were sub only it would allow easing of free features down the line.  Not only that it's implementation, if noteworthy, would gain the attention of the MMO community which is always a good thing when trying to attract new customers (or bringing back old ones).  The trick is having those changes be wanted by subs but not game breaking to Bronze or Silver.

A feature that allowed subs to change class or tradeskills with the same character would accomplish this IMO.  Visit a class trainer and once you've done an intro quest to test your new abilities you can go back anytime to switch back to that class. You'd start at level one of course but that may better entice those looking for something new to do so without creating a new character.  They would also be meeting new(er) players for a reason rather than taking the same class through the same area again.  If you stopped subscribing for some reason you'd go back to your original class.  Adding "sidekicking" (though not a sub feature) along with class swapping would expand this and enable those needing a certain class not out of luck.

The additional benefit of desirable sub features is that lower tiers could loosen up a bit and attract at that level as well. It would be a win/win/win so to speak IMO.  Also, since it's a feature and not content once it's in it doesn't have to be maintained past bugs.

[Freejazzlive]

salty21db wrote:

Freejazzlive wrote:

Ulrichvon wrote:

Freejazzlive wrote:

Ulrichvon wrote:

MMO's are about doing cooperative content with a large community of players.  In EQ2, that only exists at level 92.

You know why it only exists at level 92? Because the entire game up until level 92 has been gutted by SOE due to the misguided notion that only the "end game" matters.

Perhaps, but that ship has sailed, and we have to consider the game as it is today. 

Blizzard has more activity in lower levels not cause of anything they did as much as just sheer numbers.

That being said, a very functional dungeon finder that works at low levels is really nice there.  I don't actually play wow, but I watch my 12 year old play it from across the room while I'm playing my games, and I gotta say their dungeoning and tools for doing them work flawlessly.

Blizzard has more activity at all levels, & the sheer numbers, because they have never denigrated their lower level game for the higher level. That is precisely the point. You're telling us "the ship has sailed," & I'm trying to suggest bringing it back to port.IMO, & with all due respect, your approach is defeatist. It's accepting a "reality" that doesn't have to be, & which can certainly be changed for the betterment of the entire game.

But what tactics does Blizzard use to entice people to revisit old content?.

I don't think Blizzard uses any specific "tactics" to get people to revisit old content, but the last I heard, all of the dungeons were "scaled" during the Cataclysm expansion, such that "low level" dungeons like Deadmines, Shadowkeep, & so on now have "high level" versions.Whether they get high-level people to re-visit the old lands isn't relevant to my point, though: they regularly have LOW LEVEL groups doing that content, which is precisely NOT what EQ2 has. The low-level zones in WoW aren't empty. The cities are full of people. They don't NEED to ask what can be done to support returning players. If it wasn't for their loathsomely immature player base & cartoony graphics, I'd be there now.

[Freejazzlive]

Ulrichvon wrote:

Freejazzlive wrote:

Blizzard has more activity at all levels, & the sheer numbers, because they have never denigrated their lower level game for the higher level. That is precisely the point. You're telling us "the ship has sailed," & I'm trying to suggest bringing it back to port.IMO, & with all due respect, your approach is defeatist. It's accepting a "reality" that doesn't have to be, & which can certainly be changed for the betterment of the entire game.

I'm sorry, but I just don't think the resources exist to fix this and continue to deliver content at end-tier at a sufficient level.

It would be better for them to focus on what they have today that is fun and engaging, focus their playerbase (existing, returning or new) into that and direct their focus at a much more narrow field than trying to fix overarching content stretching over 6+ years of continuous development.

You can call it defeatist, but I'll say its just practical and reasonable.

You say po-tay-to, I say po-tah-to.Again, I say that if SOE is going to "focus on what they have today," then they should officially announce that this is truly no longer a game for the 1-91 crowd, give everyone a 92/320 character, & have done with the farce. Heck, at that point they might as well shut down every zone prior to SF, perhaps even everything earlier than DOV, because -- as you imply -- nobody wants to play that content, & if everyone has a 92/320 character, nobody would have to do that stuff.I think that's essentially the approach they've taken ... which is PRECISELY why they're in this state to begin with. In short, they have tanked their own game from following the advice of well-meaning, well-intentioned, perfectly reasonable people like you. I think the fiasco resulting from following that advice is what we have today. Why they should continue following that advice -- doing the same as they've been doing, while apparently expecting different results -- is entirely beyond me; that's the definition of "insanity."Finally -- FWIW, & this is a red-letter OMG moment -- I actually agree whole-heartedly with Cold Metal's statement: if people don't want the restrictions, then they need to GO GOLD & quit whining. People who want the F2P thing need to suck it up & deal. I can see allowing prior subscribers to have their old gear & characters, but no more than that, & like Avirodar, I think a significant time restriction needs to be applied as well. I'm pretty much opposed to going beyond that, & my statements about giving everyone a 92/320 character should be taken as pure sarcasm.

[Gravy]

Freejazzlive wrote:

Again, I say that if SOE is going to "focus on what they have today," then they should officially announce that this is truly no longer a game for the 1-91 crowd, give everyone a 92/320 character, & have done with the farce. Heck, at that point they might as well shut down every zone prior to SF, perhaps even everything earlier than DOV, because -- as you imply -- nobody wants to play that content, & if everyone has a 92/320 character, nobody would have to do that stuff.

Yuup. Just scale all old content to 92. Make the game about playing and not about leveling. As if its about leveling any more anyway. Then add perks for completing old content like super rare items that look awesome but only appear in specific zones.

[StargateFanGirl]

Do you really want to know what it would take to get me to return under your FTP model? Okay, but let me tell you about the player that you lost.

I've been playing SOE's games since Novemberr of '99 when I began playing EverQuest, I progressed to SWG (how I miss you!) when it came out and played that off and on individually or under a station players sub and when EQ2 went beta I was there and when it went live I was there as well - and have continued to be with few exceptions when my finances just didnt allow it.  So I stepped back into the game about a week or so ago after canceling my sub since I think around March - I canceled my sub for 2 reasons the first was that I now have a satelite internet connection (no other option besides dial-up) and I get noticably more lag now than I did when we had cable at our old house in MMO's (it's also the reason I quit SWTOR - lag was even worse there - rubberbanding for the win) and the second one was that I was so angry over the shoddy way the whole transition with FTP was handled and then that joke you guys called an expansion I just didnt care enough anymore to deal with the lag and find a way to make the game playable - which I could have by turning down the graphics. By the way, that was the first time I have not purchased a collector's edition/special edition when it was available, I've always been willing to pay a little more for the extra's starting with the original CE, but the basic expansion "content" the dev team put into AoD wasn't worth paying $80+ for a few fringe benefits, I still cant believe I gave you guys $ for the normal version. I've always been one of the people who said it wont be as bad as you think it will whenever SOE changed something or started something new, I said just wait and see and usually it wasn't anything horrible and typically turned out just fine. Well this time I was wrong.

So, I stepped back into the world of EQ2 the other day, wanting to see if after a few months or so SOE had worked the kinks out of the new system. NOPE! I think it may actually have gotten worse.

My level 90 swashbuckler who was equiped entirely in Legendary and Fabled and my Mythical - everything minus my master crafted ranged weapon and my ammo bag were completely stripped from my character and my inventory was overflowing. And is still overflowing because I have no where to put any of that gear - not even in my bank or house vault (which is full of holiday house items, clothing etc :p ) and since most of my armor pieces are no-trade I cant stick them in one of my broker bags either (are they still atuned? I dunno). So even if I were willing to pay for equipment unlockers to unlock every single one of those items - which I'm not and then the upgrades that I know I'd get just from completing quest lines. I'm going to guess that they probably cant be unlocked unless they're actually in my inventory. 

While I'm grateful that you grandfathered my existing race/class characters (my Woodelf Monk, my Dark Elf Bruiser and my Half Elf Paladin and probably the other 3 that are locked due to the character cap as well) and am sure that does not hold true for any new characters I might try to make, you've made it pretty much impossible for me to do anything with my main character and I feel this model is overly restrictive and extremely limited in it's expandability. I can do just fine with MC armor and arts on my alts, I dont really start investing in higher tiered armor until around 60 anyway and my next highest character is 32. 

But you know, when you guys were talking about this FTP system, ya'll made it sound like everything would be unlockable, levels, classes, races, spells/CA's, tradeskills, equipment, bank slots, inventory slots, broker, plat cap, mail, chat, everything. There are 8 shared bank slots and silver accounts get only 2 to use and the rest cant be unlocked, there are 12 bank slots and silver accounts are limited to 3 with no unlocks. Plat is capped with no unlocks I'm not allowed to have more than 18pp on my level 90? I have more than that waiting for me to pick up on the broker alone and limiting bronze accounts to 5gp per level is just moronic. Silver accounts can recieve mail but not send it? Why? and it again can't be unlocked. Can't unlock my quest cap either. I'm a quest hound, it's not unusual for me to have a full journal. 

I can't equip any of the heirloom legendary or fabled items I got from in-game holiday events on any of my characters either. What's wrong with making all heirloom tagged equipables equipable by everyone regardless of them being treasured,  legendary or fabled? Especially when it's a reward for a live event.

I'd avoid all this headache and just pay the subscription except I'm not willing to pay a monthly fee when I have so much lag that I cant reliably group with anyone - and the blame does not lie solely with my internet connection and there isnt a thing wrong with my hardware. 

And it isnt as if I'm not willing to pay for micro transactions. I gave EA around $300 of my money last month for The Sims 3, the expansions, some add ons and store content. They let me pick and choose what I want in my game and if they're good at anything it's getting money out of players even if they suck at fixing their games. Nope, I'm willing to pay for micro transactions, just not under the model you have in place.

I dont mind having to purchase extra character slots to unlock my remaining characters or to make new ones. I'm willing to unlock fabled, legendary, mythical and Master tiers but not on an item by item or art by art basis. If you wont do it as a one time fee per character - which I know you wont - then do by tier. Level 1 - 20 should be free, 21-40 an unlock then 41-60 after that do it by individual tiers - 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91+. Hey guess what? I can unlock my gear that way without it being in my inventory and I can just put it all back on with no hassle!

I think any class should be playable up to level 20 or 30 for free so people can get a feel for the class and decide if they actually want to pay for it. 

Limit bronze accounts to purchase only on broker by default with broker slots purchasable per character, silver accounts can buy and sell with 3 broker slots by default and the rest purchasable per character. Convert tokens people purchased to broker slot unlocks, unusable tokens (because they've unlocked all broker slots) could be usable by another character on the same account.

Shared bank slots should be 2 but no less than 1 for bronze accounts, no less than 3 for silver and again make the rest purchasable...

Bank slots themselves - I dont know how many bronze accounts have access to but silver accounts only have 3, increase that and then make the rest purchasable. 

Character bag slot system is fine as it is since we can already purchase additional slots.

Bronze account players of level 90 should be able to have more than 4.5pp.... some items sell to merchants for more than that and master crafted could easily go for a lot more on the broker. Minimum of a 50pp cap for bronze no less than 100pp for silver and yeah we should be able to remove the cap with a fee per character.

I dont see the point in limiting the quest journal on bronze and silver accounts. But if you must, raise the cap for bronze to 40 and make 75 a perk of upgrading to silver.

See all that potential money there SOE?

Let us decide what's important to us to have and tailor the features we use to our needs. Then I'll come back and I'll be more than happy to spread the word to people I know who game. 

[Purr]

All this ^ !  + 10k for what StargateFanGirl wrote.

Plus, if you really can't be bothered to grandfather in worn equipment, and have every player who comes back having to face this stone ugly clothing that was appropriate when you launched that game, but since you took the starter ship and the islands away, is really worse than standing there butt nakid (at least my Kerra have their fur).  Is it really so difficult to give us briefs/boxers for the guys and bikinis for the Ladies?

And while we speak about how you can make money of the silver, bronze and GOLD people:  How about unlockers for heirloom items?  We have been waiting for connected accounts since forever.  Give the players who want to trade their loot a method to get loot to alts on other accounts.  It could also revive DM a bit if all the stuff from Mystery Boxes etc. that now can't even be transmuted could be given to alts on other accounts.  You already sell us Un-attuners, so what's the problem with Un-heirloomers?

How about a token to claim things in your house people gifted you? We had a one time reset like that iirc, for items that belonged to chars that no longer exist.

More later...

Thanks for reading and considering.

Purr~ of Test

[Avirodar]

StargateFanGirl wrote:

Do you really want to know what it would take to get me to return under your FTP model? Okay, but let me tell you about the player that you lost.

I've been playing SOE's games since Novemberr of '99 when I began playing EverQuest, I progressed to SWG (how I miss you!) when it came out and played that off and on individually or under a station players sub and when EQ2 went beta I was there and when it went live I was there as well - and have continued to be with few exceptions when my finances just didnt allow it.  So I stepped back into the game about a week or so ago after canceling my sub since I think around March - I canceled my sub for 2 reasons the first was that I now have a satelite internet connection (no other option besides dial-up) and I get noticably more lag now than I did when we had cable at our old house in MMO's (it's also the reason I quit SWTOR - lag was even worse there - rubberbanding for the win) and the second one was that I was so angry over the shoddy way the whole transition with FTP was handled and then that joke you guys called an expansion I just didnt care enough anymore to deal with the lag and find a way to make the game playable - which I could have by turning down the graphics. By the way, that was the first time I have not purchased a collector's edition/special edition when it was available, I've always been willing to pay a little more for the extra's starting with the original CE, but the basic expansion "content" the dev team put into AoD wasn't worth paying $80+ for a few fringe benefits, I still cant believe I gave you guys $ for the normal version. I've always been one of the people who said it wont be as bad as you think it will whenever SOE changed something or started something new, I said just wait and see and usually it wasn't anything horrible and typically turned out just fine. Well this time I was wrong.

So, I stepped back into the world of EQ2 the other day, wanting to see if after a few months or so SOE had worked the kinks out of the new system. NOPE! I think it may actually have gotten worse.

My level 90 swashbuckler who was equiped entirely in Legendary and Fabled and my Mythical - everything minus my master crafted ranged weapon and my ammo bag were completely stripped from my character and my inventory was overflowing. And is still overflowing because I have no where to put any of that gear - not even in my bank or house vault (which is full of holiday house items, clothing etc :p ) and since most of my armor pieces are no-trade I cant stick them in one of my broker bags either (are they still atuned? I dunno). So even if I were willing to pay for equipment unlockers to unlock every single one of those items - which I'm not and then the upgrades that I know I'd get just from completing quest lines. I'm going to guess that they probably cant be unlocked unless they're actually in my inventory. 

While I'm grateful that you grandfathered my existing race/class characters (my Woodelf Monk, my Dark Elf Bruiser and my Half Elf Paladin and probably the other 3 that are locked due to the character cap as well) and am sure that does not hold true for any new characters I might try to make, you've made it pretty much impossible for me to do anything with my main character and I feel this model is overly restrictive and extremely limited in it's expandability. I can do just fine with MC armor and arts on my alts, I dont really start investing in higher tiered armor until around 60 anyway and my next highest character is 32. 

But you know, when you guys were talking about this FTP system, ya'll made it sound like everything would be unlockable, levels, classes, races, spells/CA's, tradeskills, equipment, bank slots, inventory slots, broker, plat cap, mail, chat, everything. There are 8 shared bank slots and silver accounts get only 2 to use and the rest cant be unlocked, there are 12 bank slots and silver accounts are limited to 3 with no unlocks. Plat is capped with no unlocks I'm not allowed to have more than 18pp on my level 90? I have more than that waiting for me to pick up on the broker alone and limiting bronze accounts to 5gp per level is just moronic. Silver accounts can recieve mail but not send it? Why? and it again can't be unlocked. Can't unlock my quest cap either. I'm a quest hound, it's not unusual for me to have a full journal. 

I can't equip any of the heirloom legendary or fabled items I got from in-game holiday events on any of my characters either. What's wrong with making all heirloom tagged equipables equipable by everyone regardless of them being treasured,  legendary or fabled? Especially when it's a reward for a live event.

I'd avoid all this headache and just pay the subscription except I'm not willing to pay a monthly fee when I have so much lag that I cant reliably group with anyone - and the blame does not lie solely with my internet connection and there isnt a thing wrong with my hardware. 

And it isnt as if I'm not willing to pay for micro transactions. I gave EA around $300 of my money last month for The Sims 3, the expansions, some add ons and store content. They let me pick and choose what I want in my game and if they're good at anything it's getting money out of players even if they suck at fixing their games. Nope, I'm willing to pay for micro transactions, just not under the model you have in place.

I dont mind having to purchase extra character slots to unlock my remaining characters or to make new ones. I'm willing to unlock fabled, legendary, mythical and Master tiers but not on an item by item or art by art basis. If you wont do it as a one time fee per character - which I know you wont - then do by tier. Level 1 - 20 should be free, 21-40 an unlock then 41-60 after that do it by individual tiers - 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91+. Hey guess what? I can unlock my gear that way without it being in my inventory and I can just put it all back on with no hassle!

I think any class should be playable up to level 20 or 30 for free so people can get a feel for the class and decide if they actually want to pay for it. 

Limit bronze accounts to purchase only on broker by default with broker slots purchasable per character, silver accounts can buy and sell with 3 broker slots by default and the rest purchasable per character. Convert tokens people purchased to broker slot unlocks, unusable tokens (because they've unlocked all broker slots) could be usable by another character on the same account.

Shared bank slots should be 2 but no less than 1 for bronze accounts, no less than 3 for silver and again make the rest purchasable...

Bank slots themselves - I dont know how many bronze accounts have access to but silver accounts only have 3, increase that and then make the rest purchasable. 

Character bag slot system is fine as it is since we can already purchase additional slots.

Bronze account players of level 90 should be able to have more than 4.5pp.... some items sell to merchants for more than that and master crafted could easily go for a lot more on the broker. Minimum of a 50pp cap for bronze no less than 100pp for silver and yeah we should be able to remove the cap with a fee per character.

I dont see the point in limiting the quest journal on bronze and silver accounts. But if you must, raise the cap for bronze to 40 and make 75 a perk of upgrading to silver.

See all that potential money there SOE?

Let us decide what's important to us to have and tailor the features we use to our needs. Then I'll come back and I'll be more than happy to spread the word to people I know who game. 

We really need TWO threads, not one. There is some significant differences between recruit-a-friend (brand new players), compared to returning players.Now, for some comments in response to "StargateFanGirl"You were playing when AoD was released (based on your comments). So not only were you here during the existance of "EQ2Xtended", you were here when the whole game transitioned FTP. You should be well aware of the system. I can only hope it is obvious to everyone, that EQ2's "FTP", is mostly a glorified extended trial of the game. The entire design of it revolves around lowbies, getting people into the game with little overhead... But as the characters progress the associated need to invest cash into the account, increases.SOE wants your money, especially if you play high level characters. With such, the model is designed so that the higher your level, the more "reason" you are given to pony up the cash. So one way or the other, if you want to be logging in high level characters with legendary/fabled gear, you will be paying for it. If you do not want to pay for it, roll a new lowbie and forget about your 90+ characters. It is not in SOE's financial interest to let someone who quit yesterday, to log in today and still be wearing everything they had on. You effectively fall into this category.If you're so happy to unload $300+ in one month, to EA for Sims3 fluff content, why not just pay up the $15 a month for EQ2, and see the end of all the issues causing you greivance?While you can indirectly imply that if SOE made it only cost a few dollars for you to fully unlock your max level toons, that you would THEN be happy to spend hundreds of dollars on trivial fluff, the fact remains that the core of your entire post, revolves around wanting a system that facilitates playing higher level, fabled-equipped characters, for much less than maintaining a gold sub. While this nice for the player, SOE has to make the money from somewhere.Edit to add: The inventory dump which can occur on former subscribers, who return as FTP, does need to be improved. If someone quit just the other day, or week, or month, I think the gear strip is entirely justified, but it should not create an overflow nightmare.

[Natsume]

The only thing I don't like is the whole mentor limit. I referred a friend yesterday to EQII and wanted to help him with questing and combat and everything. He enjoyed it a lot. I did to an extent. I was getting 1 XP and by having fun and jumping from a cliff my debt was over 200 XP I think, so imagine me not even earning 1 XP?! The group limit should be fixed so that it is more fun to refer someone, help and quest with them. EQII is completely solo from 1 - 91 then on 92 you really starts the game. But I don't want to go fast through the content, I want players to come around, help others to finish the hard dungeons for me (55 - 60) or any others. I always have this quest which requires me to go deep into a dungeon and my level is far too weak to go alone. So I wait and level, level, level until it's grayed out and I can go. I'm level 55 and still in Steamfont mountains trying to finish the quests by going to Kaladim, but I just can't and no-one is willing to group. And I don't want to ask people to waste their time, instead of earning 100XP per monster they get 1XP? I sure wouldn't be happy and I know they won't. So what's the use? By fixing this I can assure you I will refer more friends here. I love EQII but some stuff in it just take that love away.

EDIT : I also would like to see an increase in storage for newer players. As a new player, I was asked to harvest, craft and keep most of the armour etc because I would need them later BUT with no place. And I couldn't possibly afford the brokers 22 gold items (with having just 3g only then) I had to delete all my harvest, always... could we also possibly get a 100 slot bag? :p

[Necrotherian]

I've seen a few good ideas. Having a progression server would be good for the ones that miss the original EQ2. If you're going to do that, though, you might as well also make a no-marketplace server, to give players that hate the marketplace a server where they can avoid it. In addition, give players 2-3 weeks of free transfers to transfer their toons to that server (but don't allow transfers off of that server). Advertise the heck out of it. Doing this would accomplish three things: 1. It would give players who detest the marketplace a place to go to be away from its influence. 2. It could lure a lot of players that quit because of the marketplace back to the game. 3. It should markedly decrease the amount of SC-related whining that occurs on the forums. (I say should, but we all know that there will be at least a few people that will practically never stop complaining about it.) Since the marketplace would not be available on that server, the server would need to be restricted to those with gold accounts.

[Delirya]

For returning players, raise/get rid of the plat cap, and get rid of the equipment restriction. I like the idea of a short term gold trial. Even if it was only for a day, it would help a lot. I lapsed to silver a few months ago (RL decided it needed some playtime), and every time I think about logging in I'm turned off by knowing that my girls are nakey and can't access all my moneys! Regarding RAF, I don't know. Maybe the one month sub would still work with the FTP model. I'd certainly be more inclined to invite friends if this were the case (though I never did use the referral system the first time around.) edit: removed broken record-ness~!

[Ulrichvon]

Delirya@Guk wrote:

For returning players, raise/get rid of the plat cap, and get rid of the equipment restriction. I like the idea of a short term gold trial. Even if it was only for a day, it would help a lot. I lapsed to silver a few months ago (RL decided it needed some playtime), and every time I think about logging in I'm turned off by knowing that my girls are nakey and can't access all my moneys! Regarding RAF, I don't know. Maybe the one month sub would still work with the FTP model. I'd certainly be more inclined to invite friends if this were the case (though I never did use the referral system the first time around.) edit: removed broken record-ness~!

Lets be reasonable though, the F2P model is entirely about getting the player to either convert to sub or pay more than the cost of a sub in the F2P model.

Allowing any exceptions only allows abuse.  Every example I see thrown out, even like your returning one, I see potential for how I could abuse it.

Keep in mind, they already sell a short term sub.  Isn't it a 3 day sub?  That allows you to come back full powered, play around and decide if its still fun agian.

Now, if they want to email all the ex players and give them 3 days free gold, or 2 weeks, or whatever to entive them to come back, thats a great idea as a one time carrot.  But anything else opens up exploits IMO.

[Delirya]

Ulrichvon wrote:

Delirya@Guk wrote:

For returning players, raise/get rid of the plat cap, and get rid of the equipment restriction. I like the idea of a short term gold trial. Even if it was only for a day, it would help a lot. I lapsed to silver a few months ago (RL decided it needed some playtime), and every time I think about logging in I'm turned off by knowing that my girls are nakey and can't access all my moneys! Regarding RAF, I don't know. Maybe the one month sub would still work with the FTP model. I'd certainly be more inclined to invite friends if this were the case (though I never did use the referral system the first time around.) edit: removed broken record-ness~!

Lets be reasonable though, the F2P model is entirely about getting the player to either convert to sub or pay more than the cost of a sub in the F2P model.

Allowing any exceptions only allows abuse.  Every example I see thrown out, even like your returning one, I see potential for how I could abuse it.

Keep in mind, they already sell a short term sub.  Isn't it a 3 day sub?  That allows you to come back full powered, play around and decide if its still fun agian.

Now, if they want to email all the ex players and give them 3 days free gold, or 2 weeks, or whatever to entive them to come back, thats a great idea as a one time carrot.  But anything else opens up exploits IMO.

You raise a good point regarding exploitation and, you're right, it would be easy to do if they aren't careful. A "one-time carrot" is exactly what I meant. I don't think they have the 3day sub (the weekend pass for $5?) anymore though that is something I'd be willing to consider if it were available, if only to allow me to get my account in order before deciding who needs what. I do recall that chat was a lot busier when the did the last big email push, I think they offered something to returning players then too.

[Araxes]

Windstalker wrote:

• What would float your boat if you are, or were, a returning player at some point? Creative suggestions?
• And do you have ideas that would make you excited to not just refer a friend, but play with them too? 

My suggestion if I were returning player, what would really get me going and excited:

"Epic pathways" through solo content.  If I start in Neriak it would be nice to be sent to other areas aside from the standard BB > Gnomeland > .  For example, a revamped Nektulos, and then Enchanted Lands, Lavastorm, revamped Pillars of Flame, redone Loping Plains, etc.  If I start in Halas, why not be sent to a revmaped Thundering Steppes, and then to Zek, Everfrost, Sinking Sands, Lesser Faydark, etc.  Obviously most of these zones would need quest touch-ups, and probaly some art upgrades, too.  (Like what was done in Darklight was just amazing.)  After the KoS zones the content becomes more streamlined but even in Kunark you have essentially four different options that could each be part of a different path.  The Moors are also not used, presently. What about the Isle of Mara?  And not just there for the sake of leveling and pushing through content -- you'd have to have, for each pathway, a sort of main questline that really tells a big, long, epic story, perhaps derived from the start as part of the good/evil thing.  I mean, just for example, you already hear about vampires right from the get go in DLW -- so if you are following this big epic story arc and you get to Loping Plains as part of that pathway, well ... fill in the middle.  How about using some of those hundreds of little instances in the Shattered Lands that no one really goes to (Rumbler Cave, etc. there are really a ton of them) -- like part of the personal story instances?  It seems like there could be lots of room to develop some very unique "epic path" stories that are distinct from one another.

As playing with a friend, well, I view the main reason to play with friend/s is to go into heroic dungeons.  But, I honestly feel that it's rather anti-climactic when I play with someone and we go into a dungeon like Fallen Gate or WC, and someone is in there PLing alts and really just destroying the whole atmosphere by mowing everything down.  It's not a problem in newer contested dungeons like the Hole, etc. becuase they are SO big.  But those smaller dungeons offer a lot of atmosphere and are really cool to show new players, plus they are fun to go through and do offer lots of named, etc.  So ... perhaps make those instanced rather than contested?  There was a time when I wanted more contested, not less, but since the trend has clearly leaned toward powerleveling and mentors and mercs, I now feel it might be more fun for me to play with a friend in an instance dungeon as opposed to a contested.

That's my nickel.

~ Ara

[Raienya]

How about supporting your CURRENT players?

There are bugs, too numerous to mention, that haven't been dealt with in months, some years. Quests, items, game mechanics, you name it.

The Tradeskill/Battlegrounds/PVP Developer (yes, one person handling three areas) hasn't even been on the forums in almost TWO MONTHS. How do you expect support when the developer can't even log in to see what concerns people have posted?

Can you please, PLEASE hire a permanent tradeskill developer so the current one can devote his time to solely PVP/BG, and maybe your new tradeskill developer could fix the Mastercrafted gear errors that are now thirteen months old?

[Kinya]

StargateFanGirl wrote:

So, I stepped back into the world of EQ2 the other day, wanting to see if after a few months or so SOE had worked the kinks out of the new system. NOPE! I think it may actually have gotten worse.

My level 90 swashbuckler who was equiped entirely in Legendary and Fabled and my Mythical - everything minus my master crafted ranged weapon and my ammo bag were completely stripped from my character and my inventory was overflowing. And is still overflowing because I have no where to put any of that gear - not even in my bank or house vault (which is full of holiday house items, clothing etc :p ) and since most of my armor pieces are no-trade I cant stick them in one of my broker bags either (are they still atuned? I dunno). So even if I were willing to pay for equipment unlockers to unlock every single one of those items - which I'm not and then the upgrades that I know I'd get just from completing quest lines. I'm going to guess that they probably cant be unlocked unless they're actually in my inventory. 

While I'm grateful that you grandfathered my existing race/class characters (my Woodelf Monk, my Dark Elf Bruiser and my Half Elf Paladin and probably the other 3 that are locked due to the character cap as well) and am sure that does not hold true for any new characters I might try to make, you've made it pretty much impossible for me to do anything with my main character and I feel this model is overly restrictive and extremely limited in it's expandability. I can do just fine with MC armor and arts on my alts, I dont really start investing in higher tiered armor until around 60 anyway and my next highest character is 32. 

But you know, when you guys were talking about this FTP system, ya'll made it sound like everything would be unlockable, levels, classes, races, spells/CA's, tradeskills, equipment, bank slots, inventory slots, broker, plat cap, mail, chat, everything. There are 8 shared bank slots and silver accounts get only 2 to use and the rest cant be unlocked, there are 12 bank slots and silver accounts are limited to 3 with no unlocks. Plat is capped with no unlocks I'm not allowed to have more than 18pp on my level 90? I have more than that waiting for me to pick up on the broker alone and limiting bronze accounts to 5gp per level is just moronic. Silver accounts can recieve mail but not send it? Why? and it again can't be unlocked. Can't unlock my quest cap either. I'm a quest hound, it's not unusual for me to have a full journal. 

I can't equip any of the heirloom legendary or fabled items I got from in-game holiday events on any of my characters either. What's wrong with making all heirloom tagged equipables equipable by everyone regardless of them being treasured,  legendary or fabled? Especially when it's a reward for a live event.

I'd avoid all this headache and just pay the subscription except I'm not willing to pay a monthly fee when I have so much lag that I cant reliably group with anyone - and the blame does not lie solely with my internet connection and there isnt a thing wrong with my hardware. 

And it isnt as if I'm not willing to pay for micro transactions. I gave EA around $300 of my money last month for The Sims 3, the expansions, some add ons and store content. They let me pick and choose what I want in my game and if they're good at anything it's getting money out of players even if they suck at fixing their games. Nope, I'm willing to pay for micro transactions, just not under the model you have in place.

I dont mind having to purchase extra character slots to unlock my remaining characters or to make new ones. I'm willing to unlock fabled, legendary, mythical and Master tiers but not on an item by item or art by art basis. If you wont do it as a one time fee per character - which I know you wont - then do by tier. Level 1 - 20 should be free, 21-40 an unlock then 41-60 after that do it by individual tiers - 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91+. Hey guess what? I can unlock my gear that way without it being in my inventory and I can just put it all back on with no hassle!

I think any class should be playable up to level 20 or 30 for free so people can get a feel for the class and decide if they actually want to pay for it. 

Limit bronze accounts to purchase only on broker by default with broker slots purchasable per character, silver accounts can buy and sell with 3 broker slots by default and the rest purchasable per character. Convert tokens people purchased to broker slot unlocks, unusable tokens (because they've unlocked all broker slots) could be usable by another character on the same account.

Shared bank slots should be 2 but no less than 1 for bronze accounts, no less than 3 for silver and again make the rest purchasable...

Bank slots themselves - I dont know how many bronze accounts have access to but silver accounts only have 3, increase that and then make the rest purchasable. 

Character bag slot system is fine as it is since we can already purchase additional slots.

Bronze account players of level 90 should be able to have more than 4.5pp.... some items sell to merchants for more than that and master crafted could easily go for a lot more on the broker. Minimum of a 50pp cap for bronze no less than 100pp for silver and yeah we should be able to remove the cap with a fee per character.

I dont see the point in limiting the quest journal on bronze and silver accounts. But if you must, raise the cap for bronze to 40 and make 75 a perk of upgrading to silver.

See all that potential money there SOE?

Let us decide what's important to us to have and tailor the features we use to our needs. Then I'll come back and I'll be more than happy to spread the word to people I know who game. 

90% of returning players are logging out in a moment they realize their toons are naked and they can't use bags, bank and so on although they paid to SOE lots of money previously.

I convinced many people to give "a try" and check EQ2. Many of them leveled up to lvl 90 on FTP accounts. From  around 30 people only one of them decided to buy DoV. Rest simply were "surprised" that not only they have to pay for x-pac but also can't equip items from quests so they have to spend even more money for unlockers. They also didn't like the idea of 18 plats limist and bags/ bank limit, they even wanted to buy unlockers for those stuff, but there is none.

Allowing FTP players equipping gear from quests, no matter what level (legendary/ fabled) as long as they have x-pac bought, is a good idea imo. First of all you would be able to sell more x-pacs and other players will be happy that there will be more people to group with on higher levels.

Problem is that some people won't be paying for game 15$ per month, but at the end they will increase player base on servers even on lower levels, which means more customers who are willing to spend lots of money might start playing in EQ2. Those paying customers might not feel that "game is dying" and Norrath is basically empty world apart from 92 lvl.

Population is really low atm. It is hard or even impossible to find a group on channels. Lots of people are quitting beacuse "eq2 is dying, time to move on". And yet SOE is not doing anything to attract their old and current player base to stay in EQ2, which is really sad. Sorry, but words "game is great and world is huge" are not enough nowadays. There is lots of other FtP MMO's out there with way better approach to client.

I am surprised how different approach Planetside 2 team has. Developers are actually communicating on forums. Lots of info about the game. Every day.. Even during weekends. Players see that developers care and are bringing even more friends.

Same company and two different ways of treating their player base...

And I have no idea why SOE is keeping each expansion in a such a great secrecy. Common, other companies are advertising and promoting their expansions long time ahead before release date because they know the more people talk about it, the more people will buy it...

[Wolfsbaine]

Kinya@Splitpaw wrote:

StargateFanGirl wrote:

So, I stepped back into the world of EQ2 the other day, wanting to see if after a few months or so SOE had worked the kinks out of the new system. NOPE! I think it may actually have gotten worse.

My level 90 swashbuckler who was equiped entirely in Legendary and Fabled and my Mythical - everything minus my master crafted ranged weapon and my ammo bag were completely stripped from my character and my inventory was overflowing. And is still overflowing because I have no where to put any of that gear - not even in my bank or house vault (which is full of holiday house items, clothing etc :p ) and since most of my armor pieces are no-trade I cant stick them in one of my broker bags either (are they still atuned? I dunno). So even if I were willing to pay for equipment unlockers to unlock every single one of those items - which I'm not and then the upgrades that I know I'd get just from completing quest lines. I'm going to guess that they probably cant be unlocked unless they're actually in my inventory. 

While I'm grateful that you grandfathered my existing race/class characters (my Woodelf Monk, my Dark Elf Bruiser and my Half Elf Paladin and probably the other 3 that are locked due to the character cap as well) and am sure that does not hold true for any new characters I might try to make, you've made it pretty much impossible for me to do anything with my main character and I feel this model is overly restrictive and extremely limited in it's expandability. I can do just fine with MC armor and arts on my alts, I dont really start investing in higher tiered armor until around 60 anyway and my next highest character is 32. 

But you know, when you guys were talking about this FTP system, ya'll made it sound like everything would be unlockable, levels, classes, races, spells/CA's, tradeskills, equipment, bank slots, inventory slots, broker, plat cap, mail, chat, everything. There are 8 shared bank slots and silver accounts get only 2 to use and the rest cant be unlocked, there are 12 bank slots and silver accounts are limited to 3 with no unlocks. Plat is capped with no unlocks I'm not allowed to have more than 18pp on my level 90? I have more than that waiting for me to pick up on the broker alone and limiting bronze accounts to 5gp per level is just moronic. Silver accounts can recieve mail but not send it? Why? and it again can't be unlocked. Can't unlock my quest cap either. I'm a quest hound, it's not unusual for me to have a full journal. 

I can't equip any of the heirloom legendary or fabled items I got from in-game holiday events on any of my characters either. What's wrong with making all heirloom tagged equipables equipable by everyone regardless of them being treasured,  legendary or fabled? Especially when it's a reward for a live event.

I'd avoid all this headache and just pay the subscription except I'm not willing to pay a monthly fee when I have so much lag that I cant reliably group with anyone - and the blame does not lie solely with my internet connection and there isnt a thing wrong with my hardware. 

And it isnt as if I'm not willing to pay for micro transactions. I gave EA around $300 of my money last month for The Sims 3, the expansions, some add ons and store content. They let me pick and choose what I want in my game and if they're good at anything it's getting money out of players even if they suck at fixing their games. Nope, I'm willing to pay for micro transactions, just not under the model you have in place.

I dont mind having to purchase extra character slots to unlock my remaining characters or to make new ones. I'm willing to unlock fabled, legendary, mythical and Master tiers but not on an item by item or art by art basis. If you wont do it as a one time fee per character - which I know you wont - then do by tier. Level 1 - 20 should be free, 21-40 an unlock then 41-60 after that do it by individual tiers - 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91+. Hey guess what? I can unlock my gear that way without it being in my inventory and I can just put it all back on with no hassle!

I think any class should be playable up to level 20 or 30 for free so people can get a feel for the class and decide if they actually want to pay for it. 

Limit bronze accounts to purchase only on broker by default with broker slots purchasable per character, silver accounts can buy and sell with 3 broker slots by default and the rest purchasable per character. Convert tokens people purchased to broker slot unlocks, unusable tokens (because they've unlocked all broker slots) could be usable by another character on the same account.

Shared bank slots should be 2 but no less than 1 for bronze accounts, no less than 3 for silver and again make the rest purchasable...

Bank slots themselves - I dont know how many bronze accounts have access to but silver accounts only have 3, increase that and then make the rest purchasable. 

Character bag slot system is fine as it is since we can already purchase additional slots.

Bronze account players of level 90 should be able to have more than 4.5pp.... some items sell to merchants for more than that and master crafted could easily go for a lot more on the broker. Minimum of a 50pp cap for bronze no less than 100pp for silver and yeah we should be able to remove the cap with a fee per character.

I dont see the point in limiting the quest journal on bronze and silver accounts. But if you must, raise the cap for bronze to 40 and make 75 a perk of upgrading to silver.

See all that potential money there SOE?

Let us decide what's important to us to have and tailor the features we use to our needs. Then I'll come back and I'll be more than happy to spread the word to people I know who game. 

90% of returning players are logging out in a moment they realize their toons are naked and they can't use bags, bank and so on although they paid to SOE lots of money previously.

I convinced many people to give "a try" and check EQ2. Many of them leveled up to lvl 90 on FTP accounts. From  around 30 people only one of them decided to buy DoV. Rest simply were "surprised" that not only they have to pay for x-pac but also can't equip items from quests so they have to spend even more money for unlockers. They also didn't like the idea of 18 plats limist and bags/ bank limit, they even wanted to buy unlockers for those stuff, but there is none.

Allowing FTP players equipping gear from quests, no matter what level (legendary/ fabled) as long as they have x-pac bought, is a good idea imo. First of all you would be able to sell more x-pacs and other players will be happy that there will be more people to group with on higher levels.

Problem is that some people won't be paying for game 15$ per month, but at the end they will increase player base on servers even on lower levels, which means more customers who are willing to spend lots of money might start playing in EQ2. Those paying customers might not feel that "game is dying" and Norrath is basically empty world apart from 92 lvl.

Population is really low atm. It is hard or even impossible to find a group on channels. Lots of people are quitting beacuse "eq2 is dying, time to move on". And yet SOE is not doing anything to attract their old and current player base to stay in EQ2, which is really sad. Sorry, but words "game is great and world is huge" are not enough nowadays. There is lots of other FtP MMO's out there with way better approach to client.

I am surprised how different approach Planetside 2 team has. Developers are actually communicating on forums. Lots of info about the game. Every day.. Even during weekends. Players see that developers care and are bringing even more friends.

Same company and two different ways of treating their player base...

And I have no idea why SOE is keeping each expansion in a such a great secrecy. Common, other companies are advertising and promoting their expansions long time ahead before release date because they know the more people talk about it, the more people will buy it...

I had the same issue a few months ago. I was all access for a long time and had a normal subscription as well. I did the all access because I wanted more toons. I wanted to change the billing date, but was told I had to unsuscribe and resub. When my subscription dropped I was silver. I had 4 bags I could use, but I couldnt use the slot for my ammo on my dirge.  All the quest gear was unavailable to me. I had to go out and buy the MC 77 gear. The 82 MC gear was a bit expensive on the broker and you could only have a set amount of plat on you.  It was a little depressing to finish a quest and see the money being thrown away, and not be able to wear the gear. It got to the point where I would only log on the game just to chat with guild members and then log off. I did recently notice that some of my quested gear now shows unlocked on them. 

I think any and all quested gear should be unlocked. I would also up the amount of money you can have by about 20-30 plat. For the people that are returning I would think that the early DOV gear and stuff from previous expensions should be unlocked. I am meaning stuff that you get from ToFs and the group instances. I would also like to see something for getting people to return. I am not that fond of the SC Market. I have used it on Server Transfer Tokens. I would love to see people getting rewarded for bringing others back to the game, and not just adding a second account to box. I know it would be hard to tell the difference. I think we should take alot of the different ideas out there and put them in some polls to see what people think about them. I seen an idea of giving some SC to people who bring people in or back to the game. Maybe give 100 SC per person a month for 6 months. Let that cap out at say 1000. Maybe give someone that comes back a pet that gives them a slight buff. The buff could be something like 30% more XP when mentored, maybe also give a nice run speed and slow fall when equiped. Might even throw in a few quests to be able to get that cloak to work.

[Wolfsbaine]

I almost forgot maybe do more Guide events to welcome the returning and new players. Gives them something to look forward to

[TheRealBritz]

I quit the game over a year ago and logged in today thinking I might play for a bit as FTP, and if I decided I was enjoying it again then resub.

However, as I cannot equip a single piece of my gear, and actually don't even know what kind of gear I can equip and how to get it at level 92, I just logged out again. The tooltip just told me I couldn't use it, and pushed me towards a sub, but didn't bother teling me what I *could* use.

My suggestion would be to give returning players an armor / weapons crate with decentish gear if their stuff can't be used, so they can at least start adventuring again.

(edit to add: also, all these pop ups urging me to upgrade... a pop up telling me what I can actually do as a FTP player would be more welcome! Or at least direct me to a webpage where I can read about it.)

[Striikor]

I was a regular raider and player a year or two ago. I have come back and I am enjoying things. The changes in my work schedule prevent me from working with guildies. It is almost as if I switched time zones. The problem I have is that it is almost inpossible to get groups. Particularly between 90 and 92. It would be really nice if you could get a cross server group to allieviate the population problem. It is done regularly in BG why not allow cross server groups to get formed for particular instances/zones? Queing for a particular zone you need to finish up a quest line or to get the faction you need.

[juan]

I believe we need to come up with a radical way to boost population, and I believe i have come up with that Idea!!

Lets take a look at how all mmorpg run their games, all populations are seperated on servers. yet what happens is that everyone on each server maxes out and the lower lvl areas become vacant.Now what if instead of seperating the populations by choice, we instead break up the tiers and place them on seperate servers!!! 

imagine an upside down pyrimid with the bottom ending in a point , with only one server to handle the load but everyone who is playing a low lvl char is on that one server, and only those  characters at that tiers can be on that server , so there arent any influences from higher levels, we also roll back the game and place some of the old challenges that the early veterans had to accomplish inorder to progress to the next tier! Remeber having to earn access to enchanted lands and feerott.

As people progress and make it thru each access they are moved to different servers higher up on the tier, make the servers like instances and allow for movement laterally across the teir of servers but never down . Allow for communication throughout the server base. allow for guilds to be connected thru each server and tier to allow for early recruitment.

what this would allow. more players funneled together making the world seem more populated. And would force new players to really enjoy the whole area instead of focusing on just lvling to make it to the end game. Each tier would be different from the next altering the area around the player. Example would be from 1-30 just have the shattered lands on the next teir implement feerot, lavastorm,enchanted as well as shattered lands and have the tiers 31-60 .

In other words let the newplayers and old enjoy each expansion as it happened on each tier just the same way the old veterans did. and instead of creating new content for the high end implement new content for each teir, even change the land scape and factions on each tier make it interesting for old players to try out the new content , that with new players being funneled into that one and only bottom teir will help drive new players into the game.

[Mctpol]

This may be the wrong spot for this but it does affect recruitment for returning members. 

Our guild is Old Timers Guild (OTG).  We have well over 6000 members, world wide playing several different games on different platforms.  Our members like to rotate through the games till they find a home, a game they can stay with, in an adult only Guild.  We specifically see 20+ members a month (about) returning to experience the new content and our EQ2 Chapter tries to support X2 casual raiding.  I am  Chapter Leader for OTG on Unrest server.  My members are asking me to contact SOE  and take issue with the lack of X2 since the release of DoV up to and including the current bete CoE.  X2 would be a perfect spot in Skyshrine for the 160 series armor.  Is it possible to take the X4s and cut them back a little and poof, you have X2.  This is becoming a retention issue as members are looking to go to games where they can play a X2 casual raid.  This halps the smaller guilds keep people happy (those that do not want to hardcore X4 raid).

Please let me know what can be done so that I may inform my guildmate and hopfully stem the loss of members to other games. 

Thank you.

[Ulrichvon]

I just wanted to add to this thread something that came up in another thread.

CoE does not include all previous expansions, so your asking any returning player to purchase 2 expansions to be caught up with where the vast majority of the population will be in game.

This should be re-thought.

[Juggercap]

Ulrichvon wrote:

I just wanted to add to this thread something that came up in another thread.

CoE does not include all previous expansions, so your asking any returning player to purchase 2 expansions to be caught up with where the vast majority of the population will be in game.

This should be re-thought.

Why are 2 expansion purchases required? (I'm not at all against AoD being included, but what's different now?)

[Ulrichvon]

Juggercap wrote:

Why are 2 expansion purchases required? (I'm not at all against AoD being included, but what's different now?)

In order to get the full game, you need to now purchace CoE and AoD.

[quazaar]

Hello, I've played Eq2 for about 6 years, quitted after Destiny of Velious.

If i want to play again seriously I have to pay: monthly subscription + Age of Discovery + Chains of Eternity ?

If so, I really have to pay about 95 dollars to enter again ??

Every other mmorpg in the world make me some discount, Eq2/Soe don't ??

Edit: also, I have to pay 25 dollars each to transfer my 2 chars from a unpopulated server to a "more" populated server.So.. 145 dollars to play again... pls, tell me i have misunderstood all !!

Can't be possibile !!

[naladini]

Two suggestions: 1) Mentoring up. Its not fun to have to drag friends down to lower levels just to play together. Let FrodoN00b join the higher levels if there's a good fit, don't make the high levels kill stuff in lower zones. 2) Group travel - nabbing replacements for groups should include instant porting. There's no good reason to limit this any longer. We often hear how important grouping is to MMO's, how much more fun it is, etc ... these changes help embrace that concept.