9:45 am CST:
You make the connections. Paid servers are dwindling. Server load on Antonia Bayle: Light. Server load on Freeport F2P: Medium. Antonia Bayle is the most crowded paid server.
Well my hopes for some nice playtime in EQ2 pretty much were snubbed the past couple of weeks as I further realized that due to the shrinking playerbase on the paid servers, the age of the game, the fact that no one rolls alts and the unwillingness of elitist high level snobs to PUG anything that doesn't benefit them that my time there would be lonely and full of solo grinding. Not exactly why I sign up to play MMO's. My online gaming time has been limited lately as it is since I have been shifting more to wargames and giving up the cloned, over copied MMO world (thanks to a co writer here at the blog). However I do respect EQ2 for its lineage to EQ1 and the times I had in that game. I wanted to like EQ2 and this is my FOURTH such endeavor. Every time though, due to in game mechanics and the overall attitude of the populace, I end up solo'ing and doing garbage that is downright boring to me.
I can understand people want to solo but even World of Warcraft has more incentives to group than this game. And the community doesn't help this either. I give you this thread HERE, started by some poor soul that just got back to the game, about why no one groups. At every angle this gentleman is shot down and destroyed by elitist close minded snobby paid server players that describe in detail why they hate helping people or "socializing with misfits that don't immediately join some guild with a bunch of level 90's in it".
And that is what you will get folks. Guilds with level 90's that only want to get more raiders for their scant endgame population. A new player has no hope in hell of finding ANYONE with the same goals and outgoing personality in this game on paid servers at this point. This is why almost every server is being merged and why the Free To Play servers are experiencing an influx of people with more open minded attitudes.
Take for example this elitist snob that pines on and on about how awesome he is and how, if he groups with you, the only time he will do it is if you are a recruit for his overly awesome pixel chasing raiding guild:
That's Staven on the Permafrost server. Pay him a visit with a flood of tells. He will love you for it. Ask him where the bank is.
More from Staven:
Hey thanks for not gracing us with your Norrathian Godlike presence. Didn't mean to ask you to get up off the couch in your mom's basement.
This thread
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?&topic_id=491182
is full of people like that. From the cat lady that is afraid of swear words so she doesn't PUG, to the guy that likes to group only to be powerleveled by his guild mates you have the entire gambit in that one forum post. Pretty much sums up what is wrong with the game. There are a few bright spots that get to the heart of the issue as I have stated such as:
Another issue is the 10 ton behemoth World of Warcraft Cataclysm and its PUGINATOR feature. Find a group at anytime, whenever you want, any role by simply clicking a button and waiting 1-15 minutes (longer if you are easy mode DPS).
Other people sum up basic mechanics issues in EQ2 never addressed by Sony at least in the 6 years I have seen:
Personally, from my own perspective...
You can gauge the sad state of a game by meandering its forums. Well except World of Warcraft which has forums that have always been a cesspool. If you are going to play EQ2 I have learned two things:
A) Play on the extended free to play servers
B) Roll a berserker because apparently every class sucks but that one. Nice balance Sony. Reference: http://forums.station.sony.com
I think even Sony fanboys like the editors of ZAM and various bloggers out there will tell you that.
- Number of people in Frostfang TWO on free to play server: 45. Two instances running of Frostfang
- Number of people in Frostfang ONE on paid server: 20
You make the connections. Paid servers are dwindling. Server load on Antonia Bayle: Light. Server load on Freeport F2P: Medium. Antonia Bayle is the most crowded paid server.
Well my hopes for some nice playtime in EQ2 pretty much were snubbed the past couple of weeks as I further realized that due to the shrinking playerbase on the paid servers, the age of the game, the fact that no one rolls alts and the unwillingness of elitist high level snobs to PUG anything that doesn't benefit them that my time there would be lonely and full of solo grinding. Not exactly why I sign up to play MMO's. My online gaming time has been limited lately as it is since I have been shifting more to wargames and giving up the cloned, over copied MMO world (thanks to a co writer here at the blog). However I do respect EQ2 for its lineage to EQ1 and the times I had in that game. I wanted to like EQ2 and this is my FOURTH such endeavor. Every time though, due to in game mechanics and the overall attitude of the populace, I end up solo'ing and doing garbage that is downright boring to me.
I can understand people want to solo but even World of Warcraft has more incentives to group than this game. And the community doesn't help this either. I give you this thread HERE, started by some poor soul that just got back to the game, about why no one groups. At every angle this gentleman is shot down and destroyed by elitist close minded snobby paid server players that describe in detail why they hate helping people or "socializing with misfits that don't immediately join some guild with a bunch of level 90's in it".
And that is what you will get folks. Guilds with level 90's that only want to get more raiders for their scant endgame population. A new player has no hope in hell of finding ANYONE with the same goals and outgoing personality in this game on paid servers at this point. This is why almost every server is being merged and why the Free To Play servers are experiencing an influx of people with more open minded attitudes.
Take for example this elitist snob that pines on and on about how awesome he is and how, if he groups with you, the only time he will do it is if you are a recruit for his overly awesome pixel chasing raiding guild:
"I don't expect anyone outside my raiding guild to know anything. Actually could care less unless they are applying to my guild, then I do expect them to know 100% what to do. I have, when asked, helped people who have called out with either a question, a problem on a quest, or just having a problem they need help with. I either answer the question, help with the quest (up to a point) or try to solve their problem for them. Then I'm on my way again. If you need help to complete a quest...then I'm not your guy."
That's Staven on the Permafrost server. Pay him a visit with a flood of tells. He will love you for it. Ask him where the bank is.
More from Staven:
"Glad you're out there helping them (no sarcasm). Down the road, they may be a recruit at my guild. Question for you, do you raid? I happen to. Do you have any idea what it is like to join a pug and have 3K more hit points then the tank in the group? Ever have a bunch of remarks made trying to make you feel bad because you dedicate 20 hours a week to raid and have really good raid gear?"
Hey thanks for not gracing us with your Norrathian Godlike presence. Didn't mean to ask you to get up off the couch in your mom's basement.
This thread
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?&topic_id=491182
is full of people like that. From the cat lady that is afraid of swear words so she doesn't PUG, to the guy that likes to group only to be powerleveled by his guild mates you have the entire gambit in that one forum post. Pretty much sums up what is wrong with the game. There are a few bright spots that get to the heart of the issue as I have stated such as:
No new blood coming in: There is a miniscule number of new players coming to EQ2, current new players are "pushed" in the direction of EQ2X, from what I gather populations at lower levels are much better than EQ2.
Server populations are in pretty bad shape: Even the up coming merges won't really help that much (as it's only merging two servers into a single server for each "merge"). Low server populations means that even if people are leveling up new toons the odds of actually seeing one or bumping into them and grouping (even if they/you want too) are very small.
Another issue is the 10 ton behemoth World of Warcraft Cataclysm and its PUGINATOR feature. Find a group at anytime, whenever you want, any role by simply clicking a button and waiting 1-15 minutes (longer if you are easy mode DPS).
Other people sum up basic mechanics issues in EQ2 never addressed by Sony at least in the 6 years I have seen:
Personally, from my own perspective...
The players these days have no patience. Have no desire for challenges. Don't want to spend a minute more then they have to to finish an instance.
Instead, the encounters have turned into nothing but DPS checks. And as a result, groups only want members who fit the ideal "template" for max DPS and fastest kills. If a group wipes the first attempt, it's a catastrophe and everyone is complaining about this player or that player. People who ask to join a group and get rejected because they are not the class the group wants will eventually stop asking. When the group should instead be glad to have that player and adjust itself to make an attempt on the encounter.
That's a very sad fact of EQ2.
You can gauge the sad state of a game by meandering its forums. Well except World of Warcraft which has forums that have always been a cesspool. If you are going to play EQ2 I have learned two things:
A) Play on the extended free to play servers
I've been playing a bit on the free server and the best thing about is is the constant call of "lfm". I just turn on my LFG flag, wait for someone to send me a tell and nine times out of ten we have great fun. I like meeting people like that. I enjoy running around with different people rather than the same ones all the time. And I much prefer actually playing a toon rather than having guildies powerlevel him up to 90.
This has been one of my favourite parts of the game since I discovered Blackburrow in EQ1 and realised it might be a good idea to team up with another player.
B) Roll a berserker because apparently every class sucks but that one. Nice balance Sony. Reference: http://forums.station.sony.com
I think even Sony fanboys like the editors of ZAM and various bloggers out there will tell you that.
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