The folks at EverQuest II have posted a preview of the changes to the experience system that will come in Game Update 49.

The amount of experience needed to progress from levels 20 - 70 has been lowered to allow a speedier progression for people playing in those tiers. This is especially good news for all you altaholics out there!

Now it will be faster and easier to rejoin your friends with the new you! With this change, it is possible that people who are close to their next level may ding, but no one should ding more than one level.

Read more here.

Why don't you go ahead and start the game at level 70? It was already so easy to get to 70 it was a joke....

While you are at it, just change the name of teh game to WoW 2....since this is now almost a clone of Blizzards game...

Originally posted by ohreally

Why don't you go ahead and start the game at level 70? It was already so easy to get to 70 it was a joke....

 

While you are at it, just change the name of teh game to WoW 2....since this is now almost a clone of Blizzards game...

Nice one, did you pick that line out of your belly button?

I'm glad EQ2's moving ahead with this. As a guy who quit EQ2 several times over having to grind alone with heavy XP luls, I may renew my subscription for this.

Originally posted by ZDPhoenix

Originally posted by ohreally

Why don't you go ahead and start the game at level 70? It was already so easy to get to 70 it was a joke....

 

While you are at it, just change the name of teh game to WoW 2....since this is now almost a clone of Blizzards game...

 

Nice one, did you pick that line out of your belly button?

I'm glad EQ2's moving ahead with this. As a guy who quit EQ2 several times over having to grind alone with heavy XP luls, I may renew my subscription for this.

Of course you would like it, it means unlike those of us who were loyal customers and never left, you get to level your characters in about 33% of the time it should take...Once again, SOE bows to it's disloyal customers and screws those who have been with them from the start...Frankly I think anyone who has been gone for more than a year should have to start over from level 1...After all, with these new EXP rules, it should now only take about 3 weeks to get to level 70....

Originally posted by ohreally

Originally posted by ZDPhoenix

Originally posted by ohreally

Why don't you go ahead and start the game at level 70? It was already so easy to get to 70 it was a joke....

 

While you are at it, just change the name of teh game to WoW 2....since this is now almost a clone of Blizzards game...

 

Nice one, did you pick that line out of your belly button?

I'm glad EQ2's moving ahead with this. As a guy who quit EQ2 several times over having to grind alone with heavy XP luls, I may renew my subscription for this.

Of course you would like it, it means unlike those of us who were loyal customers and never left, you get to level your characters in about 33% of the time it should take...Once again, SOE bows to it's disloyal customers and screws those who have been with them from the start...Frankly I think anyone who has been gone for more than a year should have to start over from level 1...After all, with these new EXP rules, it should now only take about 3 weeks to get to level 70....

And how exactly are you screwed? I started EQ2 on day one and applaud this change.

Yeah level grinding ITSELF is not challenging. (of course it forces the players to do/experience fewer quest and contents than usual because many more contents will go gray fast... but actually I don't know whether it's good or bad) It's just grind and this exp change itself is not a real matter. 

The real deal is, how much exp requirements they will reduce in this GU (amount I say).  

but SOE has to reserve appropriate amount of whole exp requirements to not make EQ2 an 'easy game'

Originally posted by celline

Yeah level grinding ITSELF is not challenging. (of course it forces the players to do/experience fewer quest and contents than usual because many more contents will go gray fast... but actually I don't know whether it's good or bad) It's just grind and this exp change itself is not a real matter. 

The real deal is, how much exp requirements they will reduce in this GU (amount I say).  

 

but SOE has to reserve appropriate amount of whole exp requirements to not make EQ2 an 'easy game'

It already is an easy game since RoK with it's 90% solo content. I am holding out hope for the newest expansion because I did have a lot of fun playing EQ2 pre ROK but nothing I have seen so far has piqued my interest. I just saw a new video showcasing the shadow odyssey expansion and 95% of the enemy mobs were the same character designs they've been using forever, some even dating back to vanilla EQ2 launch zones. Get with the times, put new art in, fix the gimped classes that no one ever takes on raids or groups. Optimize your graphics engines for modern CPU's and graphics cards. Move light and shadow rendering to the GPU, your game will run A LOT better just doing that.

I care because the game had a lot of good things going for it and I played for over a year and a half and sunk alot of money into the game. But after Scott Hartsman left, (the guy who resurected EQ2 after it's abysmal launch period) and Rise of Kunark came out, it has been downhill since. I think Scott knew what was coming since the game has taken a drastically different direction, alienating their core player base along the way and screwing up the good will built up since they fixed the game and made it fun.

The new game director who took over for Scott is out of touch and if I remember correctly was responsible for the abomination of the EQ2 launch. He is out of touch with what the base eq2 player wants. Not to mention the corruption and exploit scandals among the EQ2 dev team. Please SOE, give me some good reasons to resub and buy this expansion and I gladly will give it another shot.

Originally posted by ohreally

Originally posted by ZDPhoenix

Originally posted by ohreally

Why don't you go ahead and start the game at level 70? It was already so easy to get to 70 it was a joke....

 

While you are at it, just change the name of teh game to WoW 2....since this is now almost a clone of Blizzards game...

 

Nice one, did you pick that line out of your belly button?

I'm glad EQ2's moving ahead with this. As a guy who quit EQ2 several times over having to grind alone with heavy XP luls, I may renew my subscription for this.

Of course you would like it, it means unlike those of us who were loyal customers and never left, you get to level your characters in about 33% of the time it should take...Once again, SOE bows to it's disloyal customers and screws those who have been with them from the start...Frankly I think anyone who has been gone for more than a year should have to start over from level 1...After all, with these new EXP rules, it should now only take about 3 weeks to get to level 70....

lol. It's all I can say really. That is such a silly rationale.

You in no way get screwed by me being able to level faster, and actually stay interested in the game. If anything that brings sony more money, thus more interest/effort in "bigger" expansions.

100 hours of gameplay is the new guesstimation, instead of 146 (or was it 164?). I really don't have the ability to be hardcore anymore, so it will still probably take me two-three months of playing to get close to that.

this game has allways been easy, all you whiney mutha F'ers, "ahh its hard to level " etc....grats to you!

death means nothing!

Solo play rules!!

No incentives to group, no social interaction, when u get a group they dont chat.

I am done with SOE, I await a game that take some IQ to play, and encourages groups, not greedy anti-social solo play.

Solo players should be able to hunt green mobs only!!

So SOE up yours!

whiney bastards who complain its too hard, up yours too!

hehe it turning into a right little car-bear game.

Lets have the old eq1 with the new graphs.

They're being perfectly loyal to the fan base.   It's not much of an MMO if the playerbase stays goes slack.

When i first found out about this I didn't like the idea, I've played EQ2 for almost 4 years and thought it was letting down its loyal players - but the more I think about it, I dont know about other servers, but Runnyeye server's main population are all 70+ player base now, if you want a new character for raidning or what or because your bored of your current main, you often find yourself grinding the lower levels alone on quests you have done numerous times before and it can be monotonous. On my server its more about raiding and going over quests/lore from lower levels once you get to level 80.

So I welcome the xp change, it might mean we start seeing a return of a more diverse range of classes again as people try classes they have never tried before, rather than the same tried and tested ones which have over populated and dominated the server for way too long.

If you do not like leveling fast, or feel that you are leveling past an area you have not done all the quest in you can do 2 things, turn off your xp gain completely so you can do all the quests, or mentor down to a lower lvl and quest with them.

What's the difference if levelling an alt will take 3 months or one? They will catch up eventually. Besides, we already had our fun in the game when we levelled our mains, when there were more people around and we all started at the same time it was easier for us. It's always harder when you have to catch up and even more, when boredom catches you (doing the same level grinding over and over again, with all alts - not really funny, is it?)

So it's OK that veteran players had to grind out slow, tedious levels pre ROK, and now new and returning players can zip right through to end game levels....right....

Like I said, just put a instant level 80 button in the game and be done with it....SOE has already pissed of 3/4 of their player base to the point they left the game...might as well try to salvage what they can...

I don't play EQ2 but...

I think that veteran players had a huge advantage not having to grind all the levels by themselves. It is easier when you have lots of people around. And I don't think you have lots of people around now, judging from the fact that there are not many in WoW starting areas nowadays.

I might be wrong of course...

But usually all games lose players with the time

and if I go and play EQ2 I will probably have to do everything alone or with an occasional alt,

won't I???!!

You veteran players had your reward, be proud that you are a veteran as you know the game and your class more than anyone's alt could do.

Originally posted by ohreally

Originally posted by ZDPhoenix

Originally posted by ohreally

Why don't you go ahead and start the game at level 70? It was already so easy to get to 70 it was a joke....

 

While you are at it, just change the name of teh game to WoW 2....since this is now almost a clone of Blizzards game...

 

Nice one, did you pick that line out of your belly button?

I'm glad EQ2's moving ahead with this. As a guy who quit EQ2 several times over having to grind alone with heavy XP luls, I may renew my subscription for this.

Of course you would like it, it means unlike those of us who were loyal customers and never left, you get to level your characters in about 33% of the time it should take...Once again, SOE bows to it's disloyal customers and screws those who have been with them from the start...Frankly I think anyone who has been gone for more than a year should have to start over from level 1...After all, with these new EXP rules, it should now only take about 3 weeks to get to level 70....

Do not speak for me. I am a loyal customer and have been playing eq2 since the day it went live. SOE did not screw me with this change. You simply sound like an elitest that thinks you are owed something. If you dislike it try a new game. You want a hell of a grind? Play Final Fantasy 11, there are other mmos out there if you want a slow grind and leveling. If you can get to level 70 even with these new rules in 3 weeks. Then you need to get outside and enjoy the real world. No casual player or for that matter a more hardcore player could reach level 70 in 3 weeks unless they sit there all day. Oh by the way mister "I am a loyal EQ2 player" the level cap is 80 not 70! Do you even play?
 

As for myself I am a very busy person. I do not have the time I had almost 4 years ago when I started EQ2. I also see that EQ2 does not draw ton's of new players. EQ2 is filled mostly with veterans and this is great for us to level our alts and keep the vet's subscriptions. This is also great for the rare new player, like a friend who just left WoW, he can get to higher levels a bit quicker to join us in our raids and higher level content. I do not base my fun on an elitest view that I worked harder the you and deserve respect for my total dedication to a game. If I am having fun I could careless about how others play or feel about a game. I could careless what gear or level I am as long as the journey is fun. Fun is why I play and pay for mmos.

Originally posted by ohreally

So it's OK that veteran players had to grind out slow, tedious levels pre ROK, and now new and returning players can zip right through to end game levels....right....

 

Like I said, just put a instant level 80 button in the game and be done with it....SOE has already pissed of 3/4 of their player base to the point they left the game...might as well try to salvage what they can...

Eh? the veteran players most likely liked to play the levels between 1-70 - otherwise they wouldnt have played? I personally loved amost all zones in EQ2 and have quested most of them to death, reagardless of what level I was - it took me about almost 14 months of pretty regular playing with my main, albeit on and off with alts, to get it to level 70 (the cap at the time) because I spent so much time making sure I did each zone inside out - I know alot of other veteran players are pretty similar. The point is, EQ2 is an ageing game, its losing it's player base - there isn't the population to play the lower dungeons/instances etc anymore so lower levels cant grind xp at the lower levels like they used to, by reducing the amount of XP needed, you are essentially wiping out the need for group instances but still keeping enough xp needed to get through via solo questing through the zones.

Some of the lower zones throughout norrath have been lowered as well so they are easier to quest for solo players - basically SOE are making the essential transition between a populated MMO and one that has a more refined player base of veterans.

Originally posted by mark90_2k2

Originally posted by ohreally

So it's OK that veteran players had to grind out slow, tedious levels pre ROK, and now new and returning players can zip right through to end game levels....right....

 

Like I said, just put a instant level 80 button in the game and be done with it....SOE has already pissed of 3/4 of their player base to the point they left the game...might as well try to salvage what they can...

 

Eh? the veteran players most likely liked to play the levels between 1-70 - otherwise they wouldnt have played? I personally loved amost all zones in EQ2 and have quested most of them to death, reagardless of what level I was - it took me about almost 14 months of pretty regular playing with my main, albeit on and off with alts, to get it to level 70 (the cap at the time) because I spent so much time making sure I did each zone inside out - I know alot of other veteran players are pretty similar. The point is, EQ2 is an ageing game, its losing it's player base - there isn't the population to play the lower dungeons/instances etc anymore so lower levels cant grind xp at the lower levels like they used to, by reducing the amount of XP needed, you are essentially wiping out the need for group instances but still keeping enough xp needed to get through via solo questing through the zones.

Some of the lower zones throughout norrath have been lowered as well so they are easier to quest for solo players - basically SOE are making the essential transition between a populated MMO and one that has a more refined player base of veterans.

Well said Mark90_2k2 that is exactly what is happening. I will be playing EQ2 until SOE pulls the plug so changes like this will help keep eq2 around a couple more years.
 

After reading the posts in this forum I am not surprised that some will complain. There always seems to be those who can not find anything good in any change made to the game that they did not ask for.  I have been playing the game for about 2 years now and only have one toon to lvl 80. I have another at 75 but the rest of my alts seem to have bogged down in the upper 40's to lower 50's. Although I don't think the range that they changed was absolutely necessary, I do think it needed to be made easier for a solo player to get from the upper 40's to 70 a bit faster. Those levels seem to need more grouping to get the good drops and exp that those of us stuck there were just that, stuck. The amount of grouping in those levels has dropped off drasticly in just the last year. On the Runnyeye server it seems like the main focus is on raids and no one seems to want to raid anything lower then T8 so unless your lvl 75+ your SOL. With this change, I am excited about the possiblility of raiding my alts without having to stop playing my main to get the alts up to raid level.

I also think that the change to the mentoring achievement xp gained will also help get some of those upper level players willing to mentor to those real low levels for the AA points.

In an overall view, I see this as an advance in allowing more players to attain those magical T8 levels to raid without having to beg for help at every turn. Yes, some of you know all the secrets to power leveling your toons and some spend a ton of plat in doing so. Unfortunatly not all of us have unlimited time or plat tio invest in power leveling a toon! This is going to allow me to actually raid the toons I like more then my main. If I had known that no one was going to want to do the lower level instances and raid zones after RoK was released, I would have chosen a different toon to max first, but alas, now I can get my other toons caught up. I might even up my membership to allow for those extra char slots and try some classes I might not have tried before.

I for one am excited to get a shot at advancing my alts in the near future!

Back when EQ2 first came out it was hardcore.... not EQ1 hardcore but still up there.

1. You had soul shards you left when you died, you could leave up to 3. Each one you left your stats lowered and would not go back up until you got your shard back. Or you could wait three 3 days and you would get it back.

2. Group debt: one person dies and everyone in the group gets exp debt. So if you were a sucky player... good luck on getting a group.

3. access quest to get to EL,LS,EF,Feerrot... or pretty much anywhere you had to do these access quest and they were all grouped quests.

I know im missing some other points but cant remember at this time. But as time has gone by they have made this game more and more "casual friendly".....not WOW friendly but just more friendly.

With this new update... I can see it being good and bad.. but more good then bad.

Originally posted by smut

Originally posted by celline

Yeah level grinding ITSELF is not challenging. (of course it forces the players to do/experience fewer quest and contents than usual because many more contents will go gray fast... but actually I don't know whether it's good or bad) It's just grind and this exp change itself is not a real matter. 

The real deal is, how much exp requirements they will reduce in this GU (amount I say).  

 

but SOE has to reserve appropriate amount of whole exp requirements to not make EQ2 an 'easy game'

 

It already is an easy game since RoK with it's 90% solo content. I am holding out hope for the newest expansion because I did have a lot of fun playing EQ2 pre ROK but nothing I have seen so far has piqued my interest. I just saw a new video showcasing the shadow odyssey expansion and 95% of the enemy mobs were the same character designs they've been using forever, some even dating back to vanilla EQ2 launch zones. Get with the times, put new art in, fix the gimped classes that no one ever takes on raids or groups. Optimize your graphics engines for modern CPU's and graphics cards. Move light and shadow rendering to the GPU, your game will run A LOT better just doing that.

I care because the game had a lot of good things going for it and I played for over a year and a half and sunk alot of money into the game. But after Scott Hartsman left, (the guy who resurected EQ2 after it's abysmal launch period) and Rise of Kunark came out, it has been downhill since. I think Scott knew what was coming since the game has taken a drastically different direction, alienating their core player base along the way and screwing up the good will built up since they fixed the game and made it fun.

The new game director who took over for Scott is out of touch and if I remember correctly was responsible for the abomination of the EQ2 launch. He is out of touch with what the base eq2 player wants. Not to mention the corruption and exploit scandals among the EQ2 dev team. Please SOE, give me some good reasons to resub and buy this expansion and I gladly will give it another shot.

 Quick lev 70 button my ass =)

Anyway.... if   [ 1=easy, 3=mediocre difficulty(aka normal), 5=hard ] then the EQ2 is currently (even with RoK and all the misc) in 2.3 or 2.5 I think. So, there's a little more room for 'dumbing-down'  lol

All the jokes aside, yeah from what I understand SOE has removed a lot of good things from the game I agree with ya to an extent.

and it's very sad that SOE creaked from the get-go because of the unoptimized game engine.

Originally posted by smut

 

It already is an easy game since RoK with it's 90% solo content. I am holding out hope for the newest expansion because I did have a lot of fun playing EQ2 pre ROK but nothing I have seen so far has piqued my interest. I just saw a new video showcasing the shadow odyssey expansion and 95% of the enemy mobs were the same character designs they've been using forever, some even dating back to vanilla EQ2 launch zones. Get with the times, put new art in, fix the gimped classes that no one ever takes on raids or groups. Optimize your graphics engines for modern CPU's and graphics cards. Move light and shadow rendering to the GPU, your game will run A LOT better just doing that.

I care because the game had a lot of good things going for it and I played for over a year and a half and sunk alot of money into the game. But after Scott Hartsman left, (the guy who resurected EQ2 after it's abysmal launch period) and Rise of Kunark came out, it has been downhill since. I think Scott knew what was coming since the game has taken a drastically different direction, alienating their core player base along the way and screwing up the good will built up since they fixed the game and made it fun.

The new game director who took over for Scott is out of touch and if I remember correctly was responsible for the abomination of the EQ2 launch. He is out of touch with what the base eq2 player wants. Not to mention the corruption and exploit scandals among the EQ2 dev team. Please SOE, give me some good reasons to resub and buy this expansion and I gladly will give it another shot.

From what you say you want, my advice is to stop holding out for some major changes. They are not going to happen. If you do not like the look, performance, easy of play, or content then move on. EQ2 is a great game and on systems like mine plays and looks really fantastic. There will be no big graphic revamp. SOE made the wrong decision on how it optimized this game engine. WE all know this. However it runs great on many systems. You will not see a huge change in the graphics either. I love the look of the game. They will keep the look consistant with any new expansions that comes out. What you are really asking for is a new game. You will not see this with a 4 year old game. Remember EQ2 will be 4 years old soon.

I have played more then a year and a half like you. I have been in game since the first day it went live 4 years in November. I just want more expansions, more live events, and a continuation of the fun and great game I play, for a few more years. You say you sunk a lot of money in the game? Do you buy gold? If not you sunk no more into the game then anyone else who plays it. Alienated the core players? That is a false statement. It alienated you. As a 1.5 year player I would not consider you a core player. Us who have been in game since launch are the core players and I know of hundreds of core plyaer who are still in game and love it.

EQ2 has gotten better and better over the years. That is why so many of us are still playing. You want a different game and it will not happen. You should just move on to another game. EQ2 is not for you and will not change enough for you based on your post. You have well thought out reasoning but you seem to be hoping for something other then the EQ2 many of us love. EQ2 is what it is and will be around for a few more years, I hope, but you will not see the changes you hope for. Try playing and embracing a game for what it is not what you want it to be. If a game can't do that then simply move on to another one.

I hate the way EQ2 is heading. It is a great game at it's heart, with a great community, but the constant powering down it gets has turned it into a virtual knitting machine where you only have to turn up to advance (which at least is 1 step more then CoX after the nxt expansion... but thats a different thread...). I would love to play again, but the feeling of 'going through the motions' is too overpowering. It's gradual slide into a casual lite solo quest grind game has destroyed it for me.

IMO, This game needs a 'harcore' server. Just one would do. Won't ever happen, but oh well.

• Reintroduce a decent death penalty. Without meaningful failure, success means nothing, and everything becomes grey.
• Slow down the XP gain to launch rates.
• Turn all those solo mobs back into group mobs. Same with all those quests.
• Make HQs hard again.
• Make the toned down zones, such as nek forest, hard again.
• Take away the extra bells, let player TPs have value.
• Make crafting inter-reliant again. Sure, keep the higher harvest/ craft yields higher, thats not a bad thing, but lets have the craft channel bough back to life. I miss that.
• Make rares, you know, rare.
• Reintroduce the Qeynos vs Freeport dynamic. Lets have the divides rebuilt.

If EQ2 pushed itself to the huge niche of social gamers looking for a PvE challange or a great in depth craft system it would find a whole new influx of players I think. By being the same as the others, only older, it is being lost to many.

Don't you resent it when developers treat players as retards who are unable to play a challenging game, so they dummy it down?