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Maximum of 4 char slots across all servers
jimhus
Member UncommonPosts: 180
SOE recently announced there would be 4 character slots across all servers. You could have 4 chars on 1 server, 1 on each of 4 different servers, etc. Have as many chars as you like - so long as there is 4 or less of 'em. Total.
Some think this is less than a big deal, for others it makes the game non-viable. Most are somewhere between.
Since discussion of this is off-limits at the SOE EQ2 Forums (I'm sure that will make the issue go away), I thought I'd discuss it here.
I am, clearly, for more than just 4 slots. I generally play most of the classes, back and forth, until they are mid-level. Then I take my favorite class and play him toward the end-game.
But the others still aren't "throw away." When I play with friends that didn't level as fast, or that rolled a new Alt, or hunt with a Guildmate at a lower level - I will use one of the other characters.
My idea of trying the other classes does not include "play/level them for a month - then delete them." It's often when I am playing Class#3 that I group with someone playing my CLass#1... and being much more effective than I was. I learn what my mistakes might have been and revisit the class. Learning and experimenting is part of what I enjoy with MMORPGs. I also can't see having to pay $300 for 6 copies of the game + $90/month to keep those characters.
I can understand people that have a favorite type (Mage, Warrior) and therefore don't want/need to play multiple classes. Seems to me like they miss a great part of the game - but it's their decision.
What I don't see is why people would get fanatic about not wanting more slots available. Some of the (somewhat) reasonable reasons I've heard were:
- Griefers generally use Alts so as to not spoil the reputation of their mains. Limited slots will decrease griefing.
- If everyone can make 10 characters, my character becomes less unique. (Didn't say they were good reasons - just reasonable)
- Damages the player economy
- Storage cost to SOE. Having multiple slots would force SOE to pay for more storage and increase the cost for everyone.
I've been a developer for 25 years, I guarantee that multiple character slots do not cause some huge DB load nor astronomical storage requirements. They cause no additional server load, bandwidth utilization, customer support, or maintenance costs. Given the "personal web pages" each character gets in EQ2 - there would be a slight additional storage cost, but it really would be small. I'd also gladly concede they could only provide the web pages to a single character if that was significant.
I'm afraid the real reason is SOE decided that this would be a way to force people to buy multiple accounts.
I don't grumble about service like this, play the game, enjoy what I can, and grumble some more. I simply don't pay companies that act this way. I have no problem with them making a profit, if I love the game I want them to get rich on it. I have real problems with this type approach though.
Censoring the forums (Beta forums as well I gather) is another pet peeve - but I suppose it belongs in a separate thread.
Comments
welcome to... yesterday
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion.cfm/load/forums/loadforum/446/loadthread/25424/setstart/1/loadclass/145
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Games Played - Too many to list~
Games Currently Playing - City of Heroes
Favorite Game So Far - Lineage 1 ^^
Waiting For - EQ2 and WoW (OB is gonna be hell T_T l33t d3wdz everwhere >_<;;)
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Aye, I am one of the ummm .. instigators on the public EQII forums that had my thread locked. It was a reasonable thread and said pretty much I planned to get the game no matter what, but having been spoiled by EQLive (and other games) if they wanted to limit the number of characters to 4 make it 4 PER server (and / or limit how many servers you can put those characters in that way) or if by account , 8 per account and to please consider that.
The reasons against are non assential. Items are useble by lvl restrictions so no real twinking. I just like to play different races and classes. Plus the way I understand the crafting .. you end up majoring in 1 field once level 20 in it, whether it be jewelry, alchemy, spell writing, food maker (provisioner) armor or weaponry. I plan on having a Dark elf chanter that will go into scholar crafting from 10 to 19, then possible jewelry at 20. I also want to try out a half elf druid/fury and have that go to craftsman for level 10-19, then become a provisioner. I also know 3 to 4 others race classes I want to try although no idea on what if any crafting abilities. From what I have seen and heard alot of the crafters will be interdependant on each other to make finished products and from what I know the scholar will be dependant on the craftsman for spell creation components for at least the 10-19 ... no one I know has a 20+ trade skiller so do not know what it's like after that. I am not a sales person, never was , never will be, I just want to provide a few things for myself and my guild to help keep costs down and also have a few characters just to play with friends that are at various stages in the game (and to help keep boredom from setting in by having a selection of choice ... EQLive I have 8 characters from level 24 to 66, no 2 races or class the same) just guess when that happens I cancel and move on.
4 is plenty for me the main reason or people have more than one account was to have chars on the same server for lots ect in swg
I will have one main char then the rest will be for my craving i often take up and want to make a new race or class often del but keept if i get to like the char
So, they're admitting the game only has four classes. And they're admitting Artisan doesn't exist as a class or they'd give you five whole slots.
They were quick to point out, that people using slots for their wives, kids, etc were violating the EULA. Technically it may be true, but I doubt SOE really cares about that - they simply put it in, as a guess, so if your kid deletes your main char or somesuch they have no customer support duties.
Why do I play more than 4?
While there's lots of "beta reports" and the like people have kindly written up - none of them knows what I like in a class. Nor can I tell just from reading which class I will play best or enjoy the most.
I could try a class, try another, decide which of the two I like so far, delete the other and try the next class... etc. The problem is on my 4th class I discover a synergy between two classes or a technique I didn't know (from watching/playing with other players) and want to re-try my now-deleted character.
Far better to keep the "deleted" pool as small as possible. 4 slots will guarantee at least 20 deleted char for the "kept" 4 classes. That's ignoring the good vs. evil and racial differences.
It also means I need to make sure each of my existing 4 chars cover the spectrum of levels and classes that will mesh decently with whoever I group with from lower levels (new recruits to the game, helping guildmates, etc).
I realize not everyone else does this - but it's the way I play. The way most of the people I've been guilded with play: we always have lower level chars available to help with leveling, quests, what have you.
How will you decide which of the 24 class / (good vs. evil) / race combination will be your main? Assuming you and your wife have your 2 main chars and the other 2 are used as Artisans or an alt to play with a slower playing friend... if you have a friend or guildmate wanting to hunt or quest: do you just say "No - I can't play with you?" Try to group your level 40+ with their level 3? Delete your level 30 and roll a new character?
Anyway, playing all of the classes / races / factions has always been enjoyable to me. Playing with friend and guildmates, regardless of level is important to me. Important enough I would either end up paying for 3 accounts or not buying the game.
I won't be buying the game - I don't reward companies that operate in this fashion. Had they let it be known months ago, and given some decent reason for it (other than we want more money) I might have decided differently.
If they came up with a decent way to handle playing with lower level chars (ala CoH I gather) I also might look past the 4 slot restriction. Although I don't actually know how the sidekick system works - it appeared to handle what I need lower level characters for.
I saw that a number of people had already "pre-planned" some of their characters. I generally don't, but if I had already planned, named, and decided the early paths on 6 characters - the 4 slot limitation would have really annoyed me.
Well, hard to get any more annoyed than "I won't play it."
Playing as long as you can with the 4 slots, then quiting is what a lot of people say they will do. Others say they will live with 4 slots until the expansion comes along. Both are viable, for others.
But I hear this little voice, from all the anti-SOE people I've ridiculed in the past saying "Wait until you hear yourself say, 'OK, this sucks. But I am sure SOE will fix this in an expansion.'"
First, I am not picking on you Jay.
Your post is a good example of someone who is not affected by this decision. And you are honest when you say you dont understand those who are. Thats perfectly acceptable.
What I dont understand is the people who are ranting and raving about those of us that would like more. It wont affect them in any way. Griefers wont go away with 4 character slots anymore than they would with only 4 or even just 1 slot. Ecomomy wont be affected, not everyone is going to max all the alts and mule up every rarity and max out crafters in all areas. Jimhus addressed cost of storage very well in his post ..that too is irrelevant. Character uniqueness - with the traits, classes, factions and customization available, how would this ever be an issue?
Create - delete - some say? Why bother to build a character at all only to have to toss it away?
The point many are overlooking is this - We are paying for a game that has 16 different races, 2 factions, 4 adventure archetypes which each have 3 sub-branches to choose from followed by 2 more sub-classes at higher levels. If you do the math -that's 768 different character combination possibilities - not including differences available through the recently added trait system.
And being given access to 4 character possibilities you are granted access to only 0.5% - (ONE-HALF PERCENT) of what the game has to offer. Now considering what you are paying for the game and comparing it to other MMOs - Is this an acceptable percentage?
I say NO. I play RPGs to explore character 'roles'. In this case, its not possible. If I am paying full price for a game, I deserve reasonable access to fully enjoy it - and 4 characters is not reasonable to me.
Karma of some sort.
The 4 slot limitation isn't a huge deal to me. Not disclosing the 4 slot limitation before all the pre-orders were made was just slimey.
I just cant see why other than greed that they would do this....
I hate the idea that if I want to play on more than one server (like if they put in a RP or PVP) Then i am only allowed like 1 per server. I do not want to have to delete my high lvl character so that I can go try something different.
Unless they allow you to reset skills and get the xp back so you can change your template say maybe once every 2 months then 4 character slots simply is not enough.
"I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation."
Malcolm X.
Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture.
I don't know if it's a matter of greed or just trying to limit the amount of unused toons adding to Database clutter. Also, to try to guide you to play one character to maturity rather than never seeing the higher level content because always creating new characters.
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THIS IS MY SIGNATURE, THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT BUT THIS ONE IS MINE. MY SIGNATURE IS MY BEST FRIEND. IT IS MY LIFE. I MUST MASTER IT AS I MASTER MY LIFE. WITHOUT ME IT IS USELESS, WITHOUT MY SIGNATURE I AM USELESS.
honestly, if I do not give a crap about seeing end game and just wallowing in n00b-ness because I choose to create characters I feel that I should be able to do so. That is part of the essence of a game like this, IMO. Not everyone wants to be uber. I got most of my kicks in EQ1 by trying out different things with new characters. Not just grinding to level 100 to 200 or whatever. I don't see anything wrong with those that do, but every play style is differrent. People are generally attracted to games like this for different reasons.
04.10.29
$15 for 4 characters in the EQ2 account is a deal breaker for me and over 50 other people I know that were going to try it even with the lack of unique variation in class (untill level 50... those not playing 3 to 8 hrs a day, 7 day a week would take nearly a year to get to level 50, that is too long to wait for what we should have at lvl 10 or 20.)
It is like SOE is insisting if one wants a good collection of race & class and friends on different servers we are forced to buy and maintain multible accounts.
Basically you want fewer people playing while have them pay more to play. Alot more.
This will be a significant detriment to EQ players used to twenty and thirty characters spread over many servers.
? Do you want to keep giving people reasons to goto wow instead?