Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Dinjadai

Originally posted by Zorndorf

To the poster above.

Exactly 5(!) guilds worldwide could :

Defeat Algalon the Observer without any raid member dying on Heroic Difficulty.

http://www.wowprogress.com/achievement/3005

FIVE  guilds out of the millions.

That's epic and look a the other 0.XX% of feats. Like, Alone in the Darkness, Conqueror of Ulduar

Conqueror of Ulduar : 95 guilds worldwide. It simple means there are hundreds  of realms which couldn't do this.

That's EPIC.

And most of all, .... you aren't up there, so commenting about it is rather pathetic.

 

Great, so five guilds are capable of defeating a hard mode boss that most can't.  I'm not talking about hard modes.  Read my post again.  I'm not a fan of them, some people are, obviously you, ITG.  I think they lack creativity and are simply difficulty sliders for bored hard core guilds.  That was the point of the main article . . . ya know, the one the OP asked us to respond to.

But I guess you ARE up there, eh ITG?

 

 

If you don't want to talk about WOW's hard modes, then what are you even talking about....
 

So you didn't see the final boss of Ulduar and still want to discuss things.

It is like wanting to talk about professional baseball, but you only want a local softball competition.

The scaling in difficulty within the dungeons is terrific. It allows a lot of players to see some content and it allows the hardcore and very good players to distinguish them from the people who ... fail.

And apperently you fail if you can't do the hard modes.

 

Actually, I've done quite a few Uld hard modes up through IC.  I never said I didn't or couldn't do them, I just said they're a stupid concept that lacks creativity. 

You, on the other hand, argue it's a good idea to let everyone in the game see nearly all end game content, regardless of skill level or dedication.  That's why WoW doesn't feel epic . . . because any warm body can /faceroll easy modes and see essentially the same encounter, if not the same loot (and sans Algalon). 

BTW, because those encounters become so famliiar, you have high-end servers like Mal'Ganis and Kel'thuzad running wild on hard modes, where even green-geared toons get pulled through in PUGs, much less guild runs.  That ties largely back to my complaints about handing out gear like candy . . .

But what I find really funny, and completely representative of the WoW community as a whole, is that you've now responded  twice, and both times felt required to attack me personally as 'pathetic' and 'fail' because I disagree with you.

EDIT:  I just read some of your recent posts.  You're the most blind/biased WoW fanboi I've read in a long time.  You're incapable of having an open minded debate about end game raiding. 

If they revamped the PvE zones, quest chains, and streamlined the time it took to be RvR-ready . . . absolutely.  DAoC was a great game in its time. 

Originally posted by Zorndorf

To the poster above.

Exactly 5(!) guilds worldwide could :

Defeat Algalon the Observer without any raid member dying on Heroic Difficulty.

http://www.wowprogress.com/achievement/3005

FIVE  guilds out of the millions.

That's epic and look a the other 0.XX% of feats. Like, Alone in the Darkness, Conqueror of Ulduar

Conqueror of Ulduar : 95 guilds worldwide. It simple means there are hundreds  of realms which couldn't do this.

That's EPIC.

And most of all, .... you aren't up there, so commenting about it is rather pathetic.

 

Great, so five guilds are capable of defeating a hard mode boss that most can't.  I'm not talking about hard modes.  Read my post again.  I'm not a fan of them, some people are, obviously you, ITG.  I think they lack creativity and are simply difficulty sliders for bored hard core guilds.  That was the point of the main article . . . ya know, the one the OP asked us to respond to.

But I guess you ARE up there, eh ITG?

Good game, not great. 

Far to repetitive to be enjoyable for more than an hour here and there.  But the writing is absolutely hilarious!

The problem. . . which I think is part of the author's point . . . is that Blizz forgot how to give players a challenging, mind-blowing epic encounter that you walk away from thinking, boy that was fun . . . with or without gear in hand. 

IMO there's not a single 'omg' boss encounter in WotLK, sans perhaps algalon, which I never saw first hand.  Nothing feels epic, and 99% of people are there farming gear, or  DKP to spend.  Everything's a version of Kara.  Run it 40 times, get your loot, move on to the next instance, rinse, repeat.

Once MMOs get less gear dependent, developers will have far greater flexibility in how they design epic encounters, both the progression leading therein, as well as alternatives to gear checks.  Otherwise, Blizz will keep bolting on hard modes (which I agree feel superficial and uncreative), and pushing out progression bosses that are nothing more than loot pinata that guilds rush to put on 'farm' status.

EQ was and continues to be an amazing game.  Perhaps it lost some luster over the years, but there's simply no larger in-game world.  Although it softened through the years (mercs, level-based flagging, etc) it remains a terrific experience if you can get past the steep learning curve for new players.

I will say, however, that EQ was the first to fracture its playerbase between the haves and have nots.  You either raided or you didn't, with time being the greatest difference between the two.  Those with it had the gear and progression required to raid, those without it faded away over time. 

It's a trend firmly established in EQ's modern contemporaries where time spent = gear/progression > skill.  IMO Everquest is still far more difficult than WoW, but that difficulty is still based in the endurance of its players rather than individual ability.

First post, long-time anon troll!

I just returned to EQ after many previous fails.  I started playing pre-Kunark, so I've experienced EQ's original and current incarnations.  I initially quit shortly after hitting the PoP level cap. 

After a few previous resub fails, I logged my 65 necro about a year ago and decided to get a second account in order to two-box a shaman.  I tried to group but I got tired of sitting around for hours LFG.   And yes, I solo kited to numbness. 

In any event, I leveled my Shaman to 60 incredibly fast.  Defiant gear was a blessing, and the corpse summoners greatly cut down on the time/hastle of CR's.  I've been on 4+ hour corpse runs before and I can honestly say it was never fun or nostalgic.  Although I feel for Wizzy and Druid pocketbooks, begging/paying for a port was never enjoyable for the other classes.

Alas, I stopped playing a few weeks after my Shaman hit 60.  Although my kiting options opened up with the shaman/necro duo, I still couldn't find groups to do more interesting group-level encounters.  Plus, kiting all the time in the same 2-3 areas misses the point. 

I re-subbed last week after reading about SoD and mercenaries.  And I love it.

EQ will never be the same place it was a decade ago.  But the addition of mercenaries is nothing short of brilliant.  My necro/shaman with tank/healer mercs can do a boatload of mid-range content that wasn't previously fit for kiting.  And ironically, I see and get more player groups by being in those areas.

I probably won't ever raid again.  But I can level, see truly nostalgic/cool content, and put myself in a position to progress every time I log. 

All that said, I don't these changes lend themselves to brand new players.  I couldn't imagine walking into Norrath without existing knowledge of the game mechanics, zones, progression, etc.  There's just so much content . . . which makes it that much more interesting for a returning player that hasn't seen a majority of it.