so what does everyone think of the increased solo/small group xp?

jayheld90 · February 2005

Big Changes for Soloists and Small Groups!

With all the recent buzz generated by Scott Hartsman's EverQuest II Producer's Letter, we thought we would take a moment to call out all the big changes in experience gain that have just occurred for soloists and small groups of adventurers. Yes, that's right, solo and small group experience gain has been boosted across the board. Loot drops have been increased for these soloers and small groups too! These changes went into effect after Wednesday's patch and immediately spurred a spirited discussion between player and developer alike. Here's a recap of yesterday's big news:

* For soloists and small groups, dozens of new quests and hundreds of new NPCs have been added all over the game world since launch. Expect the steady stream of additions like this to continue over the coming weeks and months.

* In yesterday's update, a significant boost in small group and solo experience across the board will allow for advancement that will be much more visible and feel much more satisfying.

* Brand new item rewards will be added for soloists and small-groupers. Additionally, some of the rewards that have been reserved solely for groups will also make their way, though more rarely, to the solo and small group encounters in the world.

* Group rewards have improved as well. The chances for some of the group-only ultra-rare drops have been increased.

* In the weeks following, expect new dungeon instances to be made available for those who solo, duo, and trio.

* Soloing and small grouping should be a way to advance at a satisfying rate. You should be able to earn good rewards that are exciting in their own right. Soloing and small grouping should also provide a chance at the great rewards that people might not expect in anything except the traditional six-person group.

* Grouping will still provide the fastest overall experience gain, but the advantage won't be as drastic as it is today. Grouping will also provide better chances at the spectacular ultra-rare rewards.

Amatay · February 2005

Huge difference. My friend (28 berserker) and I (29 inquisitor) made about 35% in 90 mins running around killing giants. We were getting over 1% a kill and were swatting them down like flies. I am vey happy they did this.

Saigonshakes · February 2005

Yeah I've been able to solo in nekutolos forest much better than I could before. It's refreshing to know I can hop on and not have to find a group all the time.

Umbrood · February 2005

It is so good in fact, ( and please do not forward this to SoE ) that a good 2-3 man group out XP any 4-6 people group you can possibly find.

Me, ( 37-38 warden at the time ) and a friend 35-36 wizard did just about 80% XP in about 3 hours time hunting lvl 38 group mobs, later when we were 38 and 37 we did 50% in about the same time on same mobs. Regardless of what group you get there is little chance of beating that XP gain.

dexter25ca · February 2005

I also think these annonced changes are for the better.

Now, my question is for anyone who bashed all the games that are soloables and that let you get significant XP in like, what, 90 minutes? Is EQ2 now going to turn into a "newb" game? Too easy for the "Oh So L33T" hardcore player?

Were we right to turn to other game to get this? Isn't it the way EQ2 should have been from start? Don't you think beta testing should have clearly showed this?

hercules · February 2005

Well those i know with 2 accounts are jumping with joy.

While small group experience might be good news for the zerkers,monk,bruisers and healers for the rest it just spells less chance of getting a group espically if early indications continues to show 2 man group been as effective in exping like a full 6 man group.

But guess no way everyone is going to be happy.Luckily as a guardian i am guilded or else no one would duo with me due to my horrible dps.

Wickes · February 2005

Originally posted by dexter25ca

I also think these annonced changes are for the better.
Now, my question is for anyone who bashed all the games that are soloables and that let you get significant XP in like, what, 90 minutes? Is EQ2 now going to turn into a "newb" game? Too easy for the "Oh So L33T" hardcore player?
Were we right to turn to other game to get this? Isn't it the way EQ2 should have been from start? Don't you think beta testing should have clearly showed this?

I think the point people have made about some other games is that they are TOO easy to solo all the way through, or close to it. I agree that the changes in EQ2 are positive, and, from what I've seen so far, they've maintained a good balance between what you can do soloing and what requires a group or raid. But if as Hercules says a 2-man group is now as effective as a 6-man group, that's a bit off and will need adjustment.

As for whether it should have been done in beta, who knows, who cares. It's a lot different once you have hundreds of thousands of people playing constantly to see where things might need a bit of modification ... and people don't play the same way in betas. Anyway, I'm not one who lays awake nights tormenting myself over what should have been done in a beta ... I just like what they are doing now.

jersey · February 2005

Well, I may actually resubscribe to EQ2 upon hearing this. I quit because the new game made it impossible to solo. I hope this brings back a lot of players.

Umbrood · February 2005

Addition though:

They swiftly put the soloer back again with todays patch, maybe even further back then they were before.

The agility "nerf" or fix influences everyone, so solo or small group people are now stuck with either the solo mobs they hunted before, these still give crap XP regardless of XP bonus or not. Or they can hunt the new semigroup or halfgroup mobs the put in, these are few and mostly placed in the middle of large groups of not-so-solo mobs.

At the very least solo or small group is back to what it was from the beginning, in my opinion maybe even a bit further back.

So in all honesty, solo or one to two friend groups with limited online time should honestly stay away from the game until further notice. I feel they migth change this somewhat again but as of now you travel in groups of 6 or yer dead.

They increased the overall difficulty of the game by my estimate by about 20%, furthermore grey mobs are no longer so grey, sure you will not get XP from them but they sure as hell can kill you pretty fast. Meaning you need to wait even longer to finnish of them quests alone just to clear the log.

Allthough many many things were fixed and the balancing of the high end game was needed I dare say this will go down as one of the black days in eq2 history.

There is no need, at all, to launch a SS-22 intercontinental ballistic thermonuclear device at the fly that annoys you while sleeping, chances are it will hurt yerself somewhat.

Anofalye · February 2005

Meals left over...no thanks!

Amatay · February 2005

Originally posted by Umbrood

Addition though:
They swiftly put the soloer back again with todays patch, maybe even further back then they were before.
The agility "nerf" or fix influences everyone, so solo or small group people are now stuck with either the solo mobs they hunted before, these still give crap XP regardless of XP bonus or not. Or they can hunt the new semigroup or halfgroup mobs the put in, these are few and mostly placed in the middle of large groups of not-so-solo mobs.
At the very least solo or small group is back to what it was from the beginning, in my opinion maybe even a bit further back.
So in all honesty, solo or one to two friend groups with limited online time should honestly stay away from the game until further notice. I feel they migth change this somewhat again but as of now you travel in groups of 6 or yer dead.
They increased the overall difficulty of the game by my estimate by about 20%, furthermore grey mobs are no longer so grey, sure you will not get XP from them but they sure as hell can kill you pretty fast. Meaning you need to wait even longer to finnish of them quests alone just to clear the log.
Allthough many many things were fixed and the balancing of the high end game was needed I dare say this will go down as one of the black days in eq2 history.
There is no need, at all, to launch a SS-22 intercontinental ballistic thermonuclear device at the fly that annoys you while sleeping, chances are it will hurt yerself somewhat.

This is one of the falsest things I've read in awhile. Since the change I have yet to have been in a 6 person group, entirely by intention. I play this game with 2 other friends of mine and we purposely no longer invite anyone else into our group because the exp for us is so much more now. We (29 inq, 28 gaurd, 28 berserk) kill only even and yellow mobs (as conned by my 29 inq) and pull down over 1% per kill with little trouble at all. And there have been a few times where we have gone and killed things faster than the 6 person group that is camped not too far from us.

This whole thing about 6 person groups being "needed" is a bunch of crap. All you "need" is a few people who know how to play their class. This game is not as hard as people would like to make it seem.

However, the part about solo exp still being crap is true. It's MUCH better than it used to be, but being better than super-shitty just leaves you at shitty.

jayheld90 · February 2005

Originally posted by Umbrood
Addition though:
They swiftly put the soloer back again with todays patch, maybe even further back then they were before.
The agility "nerf" or fix influences everyone, so solo or small group people are now stuck with either the solo mobs they hunted before, these still give crap XP regardless of XP bonus or not. Or they can hunt the new semigroup or halfgroup mobs the put in, these are few and mostly placed in the middle of large groups of not-so-solo mobs.
At the very least solo or small group is back to what it was from the beginning, in my opinion maybe even a bit further back.
So in all honesty, solo or one to two friend groups with limited online time should honestly stay away from the game until further notice. I feel they migth change this somewhat again but as of now you travel in groups of 6 or yer dead.
They increased the overall difficulty of the game by my estimate by about 20%, furthermore grey mobs are no longer so grey, sure you will not get XP from them but they sure as hell can kill you pretty fast. Meaning you need to wait even longer to finnish of them quests alone just to clear the log.
Allthough many many things were fixed and the balancing of the high end game was needed I dare say this will go down as one of the black days in eq2 history.
There is no need, at all, to launch a SS-22 intercontinental ballistic thermonuclear device at the fly that annoys you while sleeping, chances are it will hurt yerself somewhat.

all they did was make it so you couldnt cheat by using stacked agility buffs to make it so mobs couldnt hit you. sounds like a fix to me, it didnt really make it worse on you unless you were cheating.

Umbrood · February 2005

Did i say this was per the 1/2 agility nerf patch? If not I am now.

I am currently a lvl 39 warden, I have gotten to that lvl almost exclusively by teaming with one RL friend who is a wizard. None of us have any agility buffs to speak of, we did not use this for our game play at all. I can say without a doubt that not only do we know what we are doing at this point we are finely tuned killing machine, we are always on voice com and we know each other pretty damn well. You would be hard to find a better synched 2 person group in this game.

I would suggest the people who post here to read up on official forums at least now and then, I am merely relaying some of the information from there as well as relaying what I experienced SINCE 1/2 patch.

The mobs we hunted for XP before are no longer available to us and that is a FACT, we now have the option of hunting pure solo mobs or the halfgroup mobs that are not only heavely contended for but also pretty few.

Yesterday we ran the "operation greenhood" hallmark quest that opens up deathfist citadel and also opens up a nice heritage quest. Now we have been here before and allthough cautious we have managed, mobs here top out yellow BTW, in the 41-42 area. Now yesterday aggro equaled death, nothing EVER misses.

So you see, by "fixing" the scout agility stack thingy they nerfed my play into unrecognition. I never benefitted from it but I am sure as hell suffering from it now.

Jorev · February 2005

First off, since when is grouping hardcore compared to soloing?

Obviously if you are in a group, it is easier to take down mobs rather than solo, which requires a player to rely only on their own skills and talents.

If you design a game like EQ2 to require groups to lvl because all the mobs are joined and can't be pulled solo, that doesn't make it hardcore, just designed for grouping.

SOE created EQ2 because supposedly the playerbase at large which became dissatisfied with EQdead, wanted more grouping and raiding. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The reason people left EQdead was because many felt it was too hard because of the experience loss. I did not, I think that is one thing SOE had right. It made it challenging and created a healthy respect for the environment.

The other reason people left later on is because players wanted to try something new after a couple years, and many left as I did because the game started focusing on group and raid content exclusively, shutting out soloers.

The fact that SOE is now scrambling to enhance solo content proves how wrong they were. Too funny.

Radmuz · February 2005

I have mostly been disappointed in SOE. However with this change I might actually consider purchasing the game.

I really enjoy grouping with people, and the dynamics it takes to win difficult situations with group tactics. However in every game I have been in putting groups together is more work then actually playing. I want to see how far SOE goes with this first of course, but as a former EQ, SWG and Planetside subscriber this might actually draw me back.

If it would not require an upgrade of my system to run their graphics I would run out and buy a copy to test the game. But I have heard horror stories about the graphics.

Larry2298 · February 2005

Most importantly is if SOE give us better exp then they seemed to have the permition to increase the mobs performance in a ridiculous way at any time.

How can they make a wolf, bear to be invincible and hard kill. What about those Paladin, Guardian to feel it's honorable to kill those poor animals or humanoid human or a dogface gnoll?

I feel like I am hunter in a wildlife world. Besides, it is really bored if you hit high level.

I think the game designer designing this game just wanting us to enjoy the fortune we can make from auction and trading, and buy a house with finest furnitures. Crafting ....crafting and crafting means making money more money.

The main scenario to play EQ2 is making money.

Amatay · February 2005

Originally posted by Umbrood
The mobs we hunted for XP before are no longer available to us and that is a FACT, we now have the option of hunting pure solo mobs or the halfgroup mobs that are not only heavely contended for but also pretty few.

It's time for you to explore new hunting options then.

Umbrood · February 2005

Thats is precisely my point, there are none.

I do not yet have access to Everfrost of feerroot and if anything they are WAY over what we can handle.

As of now there are Zek, Enchanted lands and Rivervale, these are the only hunting grounds that exist, I have been everywere in all them places.

If you are willing to show me maybe if there are other places, or tell me?

What lvl/class btw?

Ryker · February 2005

I think EQ2 thought that the majority of people liked to group. WOW let you solo or group and actually see your xp bar move both ways and alot of people came to their game instead of EQ2 or left EQ2. In light of what they were seeing with WOW they decided to revamp their system to try to get some more people in the game. I think this is an excellant idea but I think they wont do enough to benefit the people who solo and occasionally group to make it feel fun instead of like going to work.

jmd10222 · February 2005

To little to late

Howdy, Stranger!

so what does everyone think of the increased solo/small group xp?

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

so what does everyone think of the increased solo/small group xp?

Comments