Server Round Table (Community)

[xadien]

Similar platform, but expanded to all raids.

[jsre]

To point out the obvious, if content is tuned down for non donors, donors will plow through it even faster. With kicking around the possible change in instance system, could we get a set of instances tuned to HARD? Gonna say a dirty word, in WOW, they had heroic raid instances with heroic rewards. These were difficult and fun, for those of us who love Harder content.

I think there are many competing themes with THF donor system but to be respectful to the admin team I don't want to start a donor mechanics debate. I think there is a strong case for developing content primarily for donors (they fund things after all), and a competing case for developing content that is tuned for non donors (heart and soul).

However I do want to pull you up on something! To me, non donors are the ones who enjoy a challenge, not the people donating for gear. I've donated for items so i'm guilty of watering down the difficulty. People don't donate just to make lillu smile - they donate to make it easy. To make this crystal clear, I once donated purely for the sake of donating and it was met with puzzlement AND the news that it was a first. The server had been up 3 years and not one person has donated for any reason besides making things easier. So let's agree that donors are not your typical elite challenge seekers

[cbarrett]

... you then get back into the eternal plat farming cycle which gets really old really fast. Granted this could be overcome with having an area that is better for plat farming aside from LDoNs or Seb. Not to mention the fact that new players might get a bit flustered with the fact that if plat becomes more important they will never get a spawn in Seb.

I feel that this cannot be overstated. T1 through T6 raid zones should have the same platinum / gem drops that lowly LDoNs and Sebilis do. I've run 3 different groups from T1 through T6 and you are basically broke if all you do is raid. You are forced to take time to go back to one of these lame zones just to get platinum for gear.

This is not related to the problems of older members having too much plat. They just dont have anything to spend it on so dont confuse the issues.

[Rude]

If you wanted to institute raid DZ's, you'd probably have to flag lockouts via account instead of character. Otherwise, people would do a lot of mix/matching to try and maximize their lewtz.

I still like the idea of vastly improving the bot system Each character gets 1 bot slot at creation, can quest to add a 2nd bot to group, and can donate for one or two more slots. Allow bots in raids (though set a limit, 6-12?), and greatly improve their abilities so that they're just slightly under the skill of a player.

You'd have people who wont/cant box an army competing through progression, donating for slots/gear for bots, and contributing a lot more to raids

[Sian]

the automations are already filling a kind of bot role. Less efficient on some point maybe (can do less thing than a bot), but can't die.
The automations II and III will be a different class than cleric and will fill a different role then, though won't be "stackable" with the previous. Gonna have to choose which one you want to summon.

[Bareth]

As of the date/time of this post. I am having a problem with summoning mobs and my mage pet. I will get proximity aggro, and run away, I will send in my pet, and I get summoned, and attempt to flee and the pet does not keep aggro on the mob.

Never like this before

[Rude]

the automations are already filling a kind of bot role. Less efficient on some point maybe (can do less thing than a bot), but can't die.
The automations II and III will be a different class than cleric and will fill a different role then, though won't be "stackable" with the previous. Gonna have to choose which one you want to summon.

Doesn't quite accomplish what I was thinking of though Improving and multiclassing automations adds power to everyone, whereas increasing bot limit/improving their scripts (while adding a # limit to be allowed in raid) primarily adds power to people who don't want to box 6+ toons. While innovative, I never really liked those lil bastards. They're an ok toy that may save your life a couple times a week, but they're not a means to an end and shouldn't be lumped into the same class as a bot/merc.

The creation of the Mercenary system pretty much saved Live EQ from the death of low population. Though the live system is simpler and more elegant than the emu bot system (from what I recall.) Coding emu's bot system is likely a pain, but could be simplified somewhat similar to live by only allowing 3-4 classes (war/clr/rog/wiz) and simply ironing out those specific bots.

That is a crapload of work though

[Denizen]

I see no reason for not decreasing the timers on the HoH instances. When HoH was end game, made some sense to pour molasses on these instances and to make them contested, but that is history.

I really don't see why there should be any lock out on them and why they shouldn't be run like LDONS. As it is, Chaos is almost never up and, I'm sorry, but its not my idea of fun game play to check it once an hour or maybe even to make an alt that can just sit there and click every 5 minutes (hmm maybe I will do THAT if the timers aren't changed).

Anyway someone tell me please if there is any rationale for keeping these contested with long lock out timers....

[Enrikk]

Oh, Oh, Oh!!!!

I seem to remember, after a time, that the "end game" zones on live all opened, once the end game had sufficiently moved up and away from them. I'm thinking of the PoP zones, in this case.

Again, it's probably only because I'm stuck where I am, so it's probably selfish, but if people knew that, eventually, they will get to see the content regardless, it might make them more willing to stay the course and keep working on it all. Whether instances, lock-out removal, or what have you, keeping the progression a possibility for all, eventually, would be nice.

Again, I see nothing wrong with the T1-T6 progression, but after that it's more difficult to stay without real friends playing, or an automated bot Army. As I mentioned, I'd prefer instances rather than a straight unlock, but something else to consider maybe?

Ciao all!

Enrikk