From the heart(about HoH)

[Taladome]

Going beyond that double point weekend that we all enjoyed and had alot of fun with...grouping together, getting to know other people, and evolves moving at a much faster rate. I feel I should post my true feelings about the zone on an everyday basis.

First let me say that I realize that many people farmed and worked there asses off for months to get their evolves lvld up and my hats off to you...all of you.

At this point, with HoH being the final zone and considered endgame I find it far from what i expect for endgame. I am sure there are others that feel the same way. There is just no incentive to keep me grinding on trash for months and months to try and get every item I possibly can in this zone. Rather I and others might wait and pray until the next tier boss zone comes out to simply bypass this one.

Sure, exp can move faster in raids of huge numbers but even then you end up with zone crashes ranging from 1 hour to 4 hours and I know Vaion is working hard to try and remedy that problem. Everyone says, we just need more people killing right? Our max players in zone during 2x was around 50, many afk but mainly with 4 to 5 hardcore groups killing stuff. At that point you were searching for mobs and waiting for spawns. Imagine what thats gonna be like when your tier below guilds get flagged and another 40-50 people come in.

For those who have suffered Im sure you understand, for those not there yet youll soon see. IMO the current exp system even with your 1 a day necklace is still too slow for casual gamers to progress a single zone. 1.5 or 1.2x exp would seem more reasonable with the slight chance if even .3% that the lower augs would drop off trash or some of the evolve items would drop from minis etc. There just has to be more incentive to get people in the zone to grind this trash other than just the points. At the moment its only rare symbol drops, rk1 spells, and potion components that you can combine with skill if you are able to kill volkara and get a rare drop bag to combine.

Everyones gaming style is different I guess, mine tends to feel needless grinds should be at the front of a game not at the end. Ive got a few evolves, two final, 3 lvl 4 about to final and I would also love to have those 10k augs, but you wouldnt catch me grinding that hard just to buy one let alone all of them.

This is in no way a bash at the devs for creating the system or at those who worked thier asses off to get what they have. Im simply speaking from the heart, and have spoken with many others that feel the same way.


Tal

[Lillu]

needless grinds should be at the front of a game not at the end.

Totally disagree. One thing I agree with, everyones gaming style is different I guess.

[Brontu]

There just has to be more incentive to get people in the zone to grind this trash other than just the points. At the moment its only rare symbol drops, rk1 spells, and potion components that you can combine with skill if you are able to kill volkara and get a rare drop bag to combine.

There is incentive beyond the grind - you grind to be able to kill bosses. That should be enough right there 8). If you want to progress in the zone the grind is part of it. Its a drag i know, i have spent a HUGE amount of time in the zone grinding. But the reward for all the hard work and hours spent grinding was watching Volkara finally die.

If being able to kill the bosses isnt enough incentive... well it should be 8)

[Womos]

Agree with Tala on this. I always preffered everquest to be a test of your skills, and not a test of how much free time do you have.
But Tala, you're wrong about your proportions there. You don't need maxed out gear to beat hoh, because it will take you lots of months to get that. Use your DSK gear, get 2 weapons so you're able to dps, and thats all. The other gear you should get as points allow you to.
Even the weapons you don't need to max.
What is the difference between third level and final evolve ? only 6 damage overall, bane and normal. also a slight boost to the proc. Same aug slots. And to get the third level you only need 4500 kills, 5k if you for 2 weapons.

[Jugganot]

Agree With Womos and Tala on the grinding issue, today was the first day i have been back in HoH since double point weekend, and I found it very hard mentally to kill the same mobs over and over again with only .02 progress per kill on an item. I appreciate the hard work and time put into this server, but there has to be a better way. Maybe quests in zone for points, turn ins, or kills, etc... . Just something to add a little excitement inbetween menotonous killing. As always thanks for the hard work, and keep up the good job.


Thanks,
Jugganot

[Kron]

Warrior-King Kron agrees with Jugganot in all matters

[Taladome]

needless grinds should be at the front of a game not at the end.

Totally disagree. One thing I agree with, everyones gaming style is different I guess.

I dunno, but every game I have ever played(which is not a few) that kind of grind was to level up so you could start raiding and pvping. Even EQ live was like this. Once you past the grind it was all raiding and killing stuff for fun. You can say that AAs added additional grind to EQ, but they came so easy did not seem like a grind. You could also say that some key quests had a bit of a grind but again not that kind of grind. DAoC also had evolving weapons and armor, which would level up on anything you killed so again, did not seem like a grind. I can list comparisons all day but 99% of the time this kind of grind is considered front of the game not end.

Womos, I never said needed this gear to kill bosses there. Besides the chance of rk 2 rk3 spells I honestly have no desire to kill them. I get my weapons and armor from grinding. The next tier is not out yet which requires me to kill said bosses or even know which will need to be killed. Ive looked at the loot tables for those bosses and it doesnt excite me enough to try other than yea we killed that boss factor.

I realize that guilds are blowing through content faster than devs can come up with and debug it, and I respect coming up with ways to slow things down. I even consider myself pretty hardcore as to time spent online but to spend that time in the same zone, killing trash over and over is a bit much.

I can only make one prediction that will most certainly come true. Unless you require these items to be evolved and all bosses killed to enter the next tier and the tier or tiers above
have better loot. It will be bypassed.


Tal

[Lillu]

I dunno, but every game I have ever played(which is not a few) that kind of grind was to level up so you could start raiding and pvping. Even EQ live was like this. Once you past the grind it was all raiding and killing stuff for fun. You can say that AAs added additional grind to EQ, but they came so easy did not seem like a grind. You could also say that some key quests had a bit of a grind but again not that kind of grind. DAoC also had evolving weapons and armor, which would level up on anything you killed so again, did not seem like a grind. I can list comparisons all day but 99% of the time this kind of grind is considered front of the game not end.

Imo any game that starts with "needless grind" is a fail.

I don't really get your reasoning though. Most of the (successful) games start relative quick. Leveling, getting item upgrades, quest difficulties/lenght, etc. But once you get involved, it slows down. Even live EQ is like that, it offers real time sink and grinding for the end game. If you start grinding levels or AAs it's relative fast now at the beginning on eqlive but slows down a lot once you have gained some level and AA.

End game should be time sink for the most persistent (hardcore) gamers. Most games are like that.

I could keep on giving you examples but I'm not trying to prove anything here, just giving you my explanation, why THF is like this and will stay like this. We have faster exp to get to 70 where a lot of good stuff is, then obviously, it slows down.

Your reasoning is based on what YOU consider to be fun or not fun (needless grind). But again, everyone's gaming style is different I guess, and thus we can't make everyone happy.

[Micah]

The higher the level in EQLive the bigger/longer the grind. It has always been like that on quests, gear, exp or AAs.

I am not aware of any game that the higher the level the smaller/shorter the grind.

PS: I personally don't like EQLive grinding, that's why I play here :p

[Brontu]

The higher the level in EQLive the bigger/longer the grind. It has always been like that on quests, gear, exp or AAs.

I am not aware of any game that the higher the level the smaller/shorter the grind.

PS: I personally don't like EQLive grinding, that's why I play here :p

only game i can think of that wasnt like that was wow but that was 0 grind in beginning and 0 grind @ end cause they nerfed everything to easy mode 8)