Turul, I couldnt disagree more on your comment about server mergers.
A greater player population per server would be the answer to so many players complaints and it would relieve the most consistant complaint which I hear voiced EVERY DAY ingame.
and that is /general "well I'm done LFG for today, back tomorrow to try again"
No other complaint amounts to a hill of beans if you cant find a group to hunt with.
Solo'ing after several years sux pure and simple.
If I wanted to spend my EQ time solo'ing I would play Diablo or another play with yourself game.
I can log in at any time other than raid times and spend 95% of that time with LFG up and spend that time solo'ing / tradeskilling...boring s**t!!
If the server is vastly populated I would log in and get a group and spend time hunting instead of LFG.
And dont give me that bulls**t about starting a group myself its the same thing, /general "Group in XXX needs, XXX class to roll, pst" and then sit around with 3 other peeps for an hour or more looking for that last class needed until the 3 souls you found start 1 by 1 heading out.
The bottom line is there is NOT enough people in the LFG pool to get groups together, content doesnt mean **** if you cant get the group together to hunt it.
Do you really think that new players to the game give 2 shakes about this expansion or that expansion if whenever they log in they are unable to find anyone to group up with and learn about the game?
I have several RL friends and several ingame friends who dont play EQ anymore because they got bored with it, bored with not finding groups but only raiding and soloing.
I have one ingame friend who "inherited" 5 accounts from people who quit the game and gave them to her and now she has quit as well. That's 6 accounts that SOE has lost because they got bored of LFG all the time.
The entire reason for expanding the servers from the original amount the game began with was the common complaint of overpopulation and at the time that was a brilliant solution, more servers.
Well the glory days of eq are long gone and everyone knows it, at least everyone who has been with eq since the begining, now its about game survival and I for one plan to ride this ***** down in flames if need be.
I'm invested like all the rest of you hardcore.
I dont disagree with about how many expansions they release, I love them.
I look forward to the next expansion because it means more quest's I can solo and gives me at least something about the game to get excited about.
At this stage of the game solo'ing & LFG bites the big one and raiding is only minorly entertaining after all these years. What IS entertaining is finding a group and spending a couple hours hunting and BS'ing with them.
Who do you shoot the s**t with when solo'ing? or LFG? Raiding? /general chat is about it, which is about as entertaining as doing dain's but, thats the game nowadays.
Right now, this very moment its 10a.m. and there are 138 people in the /general channel and nobody is talking in it and there are 2 people in the LFG tool.
I started this game so I could log in and have choices, a choice to group or solo, tradeskill explore whatever I choose. I dont have the group choice now and the response of "well not many people play this time of day" doesnt cut the cheese.
If when I purchased this game it said on the label "Game play with certain limitations including time of day" I never would have started it. EQ is a social game, bottom line and you can shake your head no as often as you like but that is a fact of the matter.
If social intercourse does nothing for you then solo your *** off and who cares.
But if you enjoy the comraderie and entertainment of a group effort then you are not goin to be satisfied with what you will find in EQ today.
My toon lvl range are as follows:
75nec / 75bst / 72rog / 67chant / 65dru / 64sk / 62cleric and I advertise all of them for anything no preferances or restrictions and find zilch.
You say server merging is not a solution, I dont think there will ever be any single solution to satisfy all of the issue's people have addressed in this forum but as long as I'm in a group hunting I'm happy and thats not possible with the population of my server atm.
On the contrairy Turul, server merging is the solution to at least one problem, empty zones and lack of players.

I really wish SoE would spend some time reinventing the 200plus zones that are not being used at all, I mean I love South Karana, however the only reason I have had to go there was during the Fabled event to get some tunes the lev cloak.

They need to up the levels of all old world mobs in game, every zone should have content for every level, SK is a huge huge zone theres no reason why the, say , east side of zone couldnt have some level 65 gnolls etc...

and Id like to see some game wide item drops, nothing fixed, but whos to say that an SK gnoll for example in its travels couldnt happen across a good magic sword or a nice aug. make the items random and stats/effects based on level of mob. if they can add sunshard drops to every mob in the game, this dosnt seem too far fetched.

I love the fact that the level keeps going up in game, otherwise a 3rd shift working, father of 2, with very little quality EQ time would never be able to get some of the gear from MPG etc... yesterdays raid mobs are next years single group mobs and soloable a year after that...anyone remember Lodi :)

Love the game, very relaxing after playing Gears of War :) keep those expansions coming.

Safe hunts and rare drops!

PS. let us permanently name our pets! ( and refuse ***** as a name, silly necros )

Expansion after expansion.. will it ever stop?

There are a lot of people out there who have max AA, for them it is very good to add new AAs. About the new level cap: the only problem is with this, that it will make many zones obsolete, AA XP will suck even in ashengate. Also, extra level will not help the guilds who struggle with low numbers. When a raid guild loses 10-20 members, the remaining 30-40 is not able to raid and progress anymore. +5 level is approx. +10% power, that is not enough. When the cap was raised from 70 to 75, that did not help a much with DpoB progression. Simply, because most high end targets have either insane regen rate, or increasing dps, or an increasing number of adds. If I were Sony, I would revise some of the high end raid targets, and reduce their regen and remove the dps increase. So if a guild have 30 people, with sufficient skill and gear, they can still do it, just in a longer time.

SOE AQUIRES SIGIL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 15, 2007 San Diego, CA – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online games industry, today announced that it has completed a transaction to purchase key assets of Sigil Games Online, Inc. Through the deal, SOE now owns Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Sigil’s tentpole property, a highly-successful massively multiplayer online game. The Sigil acquisition also builds on SOE’s successful strategy of cultivating game development studios around the world to further boost the company’s capabilities. The announcement was made by John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment.

As part of the acquisition, a majority of the Sigil team will join SOE, integrating into SOE’s worldwide group of studios which includes offices in San Diego, Seattle, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles and Taiwan. The acquisition will strengthen SOE’s position as a leader in the online gaming space by expanding the company’s portfolio of gaming offerings.

“With an unparalleled team and exceptional product, Sigil has been a creative force in the online games space. We look forward to continuing the vision for Vanguard and to continue to deliver some groundbreaking game play,” said Smedley.

In May 2006, SOE acquired the title’s rights and the two companies agreed to co-publish Vanguard. The MMO launched in late January of this year and has sold nearly 200,000 retail and digital units worldwide. Sigil CEO and Vanguard creator, Brad McQuaid will become a consultant with SOE as Vanguard Creative Advisor.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes takes place in the fantasy setting of Telon, a vast and ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure where thousands of players from around the world have formed a steadfast community exploring the grandeur of a world crafted by the seminal fantasy artist Keith Parkinson. The game introduced many groundbreaking new features and an art direction second to none.


http://eq.crgaming.com/

Well I really dont know what to say. I agree with alot of what Crastin said about the whining as well as alot of the complaints themselves. I did notice that alot of people were complaining about the expansions focusing on the High End raiders. Honestly these are the people who are bringing in the consistent money to the company. They have been here and will be here long after all these people that arent getting as much attention are gone. They are doing what is important for their business. You always take care of the existing income and then worry about building the new income. I have noticed some people saying that they give too many expansions. Well if you look at the rate at which alot of these bigger raiding guilds are moving forward you will notice that SOE is merely trying to keep up with the pace and not force that existing income into finding new and exciting things to donate to elsewhere. Alot of people have complained about lower levels not being able to play cause the game is mostly all high end players. DoD missions were built for just that reason. I think the problem is these lower level players are wanting to focus attention of certain things that they each want at the current time. Well when you factor in all those different people all over wanting different things its virtually impossible to please everyone. I hate to say it but the cure for this problem is just as much in your hands as it is in SOE's. You want more lower level players to group with? They are out there they just dont all play at the same time. New players are coming to the game everyday. They need guidance and want a friend to hunt with as well. ADVERTISE YOURSELF and quit waiting on everyone else to fix your problems. Post on the web and forums for different classes. Check with guilds and players from different servers. Players can move from server to server and it just might be worth paying a few dollars to get the kind of group your looking for. All im saying is do something about it on your end. Like Aenril said start making posts just keep them clean and not so sarcastic. In the military they teach us not to point out anyone esles mistakes until you make sure your not making any yourself. Start with yourself then talk to SOE.

I wish sony would due it right this time and make reuired quests to be done 1st for an AA that allows a level advacment. Forcing peeps to play the new quests and not grind some where.

Griding just makes the game stand still for 30 days while all are just doing EXP over and over. Like a hamster on a treadmill.

my little wish for this expansion would b to fix up the Shrouds, they were a nice idea. but have become ineffective except in limit situations. I would like to see the level cap raised on them and some items to improve the stats and effectiveness some sort of shroud only items. that could be quested for, and then equiped onto your shroud. either a generic item or class type items

/yawn

I have played for to long now and this is the last straw for me. I dont care about going to 80 or raiding yet another new high lvl zone. I would love to see the old zones redone or add new low lvl zones. I still enjoy running around with my lvl 15-40s. Sadly i am by myself now a days. I am just another in a long line of day dreamers who would love to go back when Velious came out. Take care all.

Frogslobber, you are right about the poles and taking care of the experienced, loyal player but one factor you forgot that poles do not show is the game also needs to expand on clients (NEW, never played before, Players) Sony can take advantage like they did long ago by adding a new zone in one of the dead end paths throughout the zones in Norrath like the Warrens. Let them not tell anyone. Let the discovery be pass by word of mouth. So that the old players will go and explorer some of the forgotten zones with the hope of finding those new treasures first.
Sony needs to market the game to bring in the fresh new player. Steal from wow or other on line games I don't care...just give fresh blood to the game. I am tired of seeing the same experienced player making a new toon and speed leveling him up in a week.
The game, to survive, needs the player who is excited about the discovery of the zones, quest and adventure of the game. Just like most of us were when we first started playing.
I think Sony needs to reward players who bring others on line. And after 3 months of the new player still playing give a item or key to a private zone, or something that won’t cost them real $$$’s as a finders fee. There are other was too of bringing the new player, which I have wrote about in other post and will not bore you here.
But we need the NEW PLAYER first, then the new adventures for the older players.

Armourcarr, Trader Zek Bazaar.
Vinney DeWanderer, 63 Ranger Zek

I love how you people... instead of dealing with universal issues (like how SoE is having their perverted little ways with our wallets), you decide to take the time out of your day to FLAME other players, just on the grounds of their grammar or what have you. with that being said, stop degrading other players, and focus on the issues at hand... that is all.