The sub level 50(lv 60?) levels are desolate

T
-Tomes are too slow unless you're in a power group with tier 13 ringers. There's no reason to make them take so long.
Every time sink you put / allow to remain in chases out casual players who would otherwise enjoy this game and contribute to the community. Imagine if Grinkles didn't have the time to commit to leveling and gearing up and ended up not sticking around? Look how much he contributes to the community. How many Grinkles have you scared away do you think?

This a lot. I guess the general thought is that if a player does all the exp they possibly can in the game they will quit. I feel like that is only partly true. The other part is "I have so much to exp, why even bother?" Experience is one of those things I think should be pretty easy to do and faster than it is currently. I mean I can take a group and exp for literally hours, mass pulling monsters and never stopping. Vitali + any guild tank. In that time I can make maybe 20-30% of a tome? And I mean this is an all day event. Depending on the tome too. But I feel like that is so slow given what is involved. T12+ tank and healer and some pretty stellar DPS usually.

Now I imagine that exp rate on a T6 or so tank and healer + equivalent DPS. It'll be half that rate if that. Just way to slow.
 
Cool idea but you're just trading one grind with a sense of progression for a grind that involves endless work and targeting an NPC and pressing 'c' every now and then to see how you're doing.

I'd take leveling 1-65 over doing faction work for the same amount of time (probably longer tbh, theres a lot of faction you need that you don't realize.)

While I agree with a lot of this, I disagree with the conclusion.

The main part of the problem is that there is simply no one else to play with sub 65. Allowing noobs to start at 55 or 60 and then funneling them into some of the still often used zone for faction works for two reasons: 1 they will have content to play, and 2 they will have others to play with. (I am thinking of Elds in this case. There are still enough ppl getting medals for alts that its not a dead zone, and bounties are another option).

The idea, at least from my point of view, is to create an environment where new players can group and contribute (even if a minor contribution) from almost the get go.
 
I think maybe I can be extremely pertinent to this discussion. I am currently TOTALLY new to Dalaya as of today. I am lucky and have a friend's old druid account he gave me a few years ago. I have never played on Dalaya myself until now. I JUST quit playing EQ Live because of a massive expansion release debacle, as did hundreds of other people. I tried P99 and here, found Dalaya way more interesting. I really want to stay here and play.

I now have sub-20 necro and cleric in an adventure band with my 62 druid babysitting my necro while the cleric mostly leeches offline. I am a diehard EQ fan who raided on Live until last week. I also have the druid account + a bunch of goon friends thanks to SA who are willing to help me get caught up. I came looking for a new EQ-like experience to put my time into after leaving Live. So far, I'm having a great time except for the fact that between /who and /ooc, it's pretty obvious that my choices for leveling 1-55+ are to either suck it up and play alone for however long or leech sitting at the zone-in with nice people I'm lucky enough to know from somewhere else.

Neither of these strike me as remotely fun at all, and if I were a totally new player without the druid account (which is apparently useless here aside from SoW and a 6 point DS) or ready-made friends because of a third party site, there is exactly 0% chance I'd play here for more than an hour or two. I'm admittedly new, so I have no idea why this particular scenario exists, but if Dalaya wants to attract new players, now is DEFINITELY the best time (tons of EQ live people quitting the game and looking for something new) but something needs to change with the low level experience. You can't honestly expect new people to spend days/weeks leveling solo while being completely bored until they get to the point they can actually interact and have fun with other players.

There are FAR more people leaving EQ Live now than ever (go check the live forums if you don't believe me). We all want to play EQ, just not THAT EQ. From what I can tell, SoD has exactly what they're all looking for, but nobody's going to survive long enough to see it unless something changes. As a noob, the noob experience is horrible, period. Either create a reason for the top-end to play the lower levels again (extremely hard, as EQ Live shows) or let people advance through it quickly enough they don't get bored as hell and quit before seeing all the awesome stuff this server seems to offer, because I'm as close as you'll ever have to finding a totally new player who wants desperately to keep playing here, and I'm struggling too.
 
I think maybe I can be extremely pertinent to this discussion. I am currently TOTALLY new to Dalaya as of today. I am lucky and have a friend's old druid account he gave me a few years ago. I have never played on Dalaya myself until now. I JUST quit playing EQ Live because of a massive expansion release debacle, as did hundreds of other people. I tried P99 and here, found Dalaya way more interesting. I really want to stay here and play.

I now have sub-20 necro and cleric in an adventure band with my 62 druid babysitting my necro while the cleric mostly leeches offline. I am a diehard EQ fan who raided on Live until last week. I also have the druid account + a bunch of goon friends thanks to SA who are willing to help me get caught up. I came looking for a new EQ-like experience to put my time into after leaving Live. So far, I'm having a great time except for the fact that between /who and /ooc, it's pretty obvious that my choices for leveling 1-55+ are to either suck it up and play alone for however long or leech sitting at the zone-in with nice people I'm lucky enough to know from somewhere else.

Neither of these strike me as remotely fun at all, and if I were a totally new player without the druid account (which is apparently useless here aside from SoW and a 6 point DS) or ready-made friends because of a third party site, there is exactly 0% chance I'd play here for more than an hour or two. I'm admittedly new, so I have no idea why this particular scenario exists, but if Dalaya wants to attract new players, now is DEFINITELY the best time (tons of EQ live people quitting the game and looking for something new) but something needs to change with the low level experience. You can't honestly expect new people to spend days/weeks leveling solo while being completely bored until they get to the point they can actually interact and have fun with other players.

There are FAR more people leaving EQ Live now than ever (go check the live forums if you don't believe me). We all want to play EQ, just not THAT EQ. From what I can tell, SoD has exactly what they're all looking for, but nobody's going to survive long enough to see it unless something changes. As a noob, the noob experience is horrible, period. Either create a reason for the top-end to play the lower levels again (extremely hard, as EQ Live shows) or let people advance through it quickly enough they don't get bored as hell and quit before seeing all the awesome stuff this server seems to offer, because I'm as close as you'll ever have to finding a totally new player who wants desperately to keep playing here, and I'm struggling too.

Sounds like it is prime time for an account drive, bonus xp, and that Highlander thing I was rambling about. Also, a permanent boost to xp across the board based on server funds.
 
Now I imagine that exp rate on a T6 or so tank and healer + equivalent DPS. It'll be half that rate if that. Just way to slow.

More like 1/10th the rate. The power gap is ginormous and the xp difference between single pulls or small groups with downtime (in say, Kaesora) compared to massive pulls with nearly zero downtime with a high tier group is substantial.
 
Sounds like it is prime time for an account drive, bonus xp, and that Highlander thing I was rambling about. Also, a permanent boost to xp across the board based on server funds.

I'd 100% agree with the account drive. SoD's never going to have a better time to recruit than RIGHT NOW and from what people say, this place has a fantastic theme. SoE totally screwed the pooch with the new EQ Live expansion and people are leaving in droves. If SoD wants new players, never going to find a better time to market than now! But something needs to happen for new players first, or everyone new will just quit. I'm too new to know what that thing should be, but literally anything is better than "Have fun duo boxing alone for who knows how long, then maybe you can finally start interacting with people in a month or two". Fun is not a word that ever comes to mind regarding that situation.
 
It's all too bad because the leveling process is actually fun. Well, it is fun if you aren't alone. The best thing about MMOs is that there are always people online to game with...
 
Also, I think all of these population threads should be moved to a hidden part of the forums that require 10 posts to view/comment. There is no reason for new guys to read this shit and get discouraged from playing before they even log in, but there is clearly value in this discussion.
 
Also, I think all of these population threads should be moved to a hidden part of the forums that require 10 posts to view/comment. There is no reason for new guys to read this shit and get discouraged from playing before they even log in, but there is clearly value in this discussion.

The problem with that is, with that requirement we wouldn't have heard the message Littlebuscuits had to offer. Insight from brand new players is nice and necessary
 
Littlebiscuits, that was very well stated. The fact that you have a complaint, but really like it here and want to play gives us hope that we can get the server population up a bit. Maybe we can come up with something to try to attract these people leaving live in droves right now. So many of us came from there for various reasons looking for something more like the game we used to love. Thank you for your post!
 
I agree, very well put. It's a challenge for an aged game, no question about it. We're kicking around some ideas, because we really like new players. :) It's a tricky balancing act, though, but anyone who has input like this and realistic ideas, by all means let's discuss.
 
I agree, very well put. It's a challenge for an aged game, no question about it. We're kicking around some ideas, because we really like new players. :) It's a tricky balancing act, though, but anyone who has input like this and realistic ideas, by all means let's discuss.

My three pronged realistic idea trident for reducing the grind, making the game more appealing to new players, fixing the low level desert, and other things:

1. Change 'group experience' to reward filling groups

What is happening:
from the wiki "Group experience bonuses are 50% for 3, 100% for 4, 150% for 5, 200% for 6 meaning that you always get the same amount exp in a group of 2-6 people."

What could by happening:
Exact numbers are entirely up for debate, but something along the lines of a 5% boost per member and an extra 5% for full. That would change the wiki to "Group experience bonuses are 65% for 3, 140% for 4, 225% for 5, 350% for 6 meaning that you get more experience for being social and even dragging a newb to work." Thought of the other way around players would receive:
Solo = 100%
Duo = 50%
Trio = 55%
Foursome = 60%
Fivesome = 65%
Full = 75%

Why?
This creates a strong incentive to invite people to group and be social. SoD can be a very lonely place if you don't know people or if the people you know aren't around. Now each new group member is something to be celebrated by all regardless of who they are. That poor [insert class] who has been saying "LFG" in ooc for the last 3 hours now becomes that awesome dude who doesn't really do much for us but damn I love this xp boost he brings and maybe he says funny things.

2. Make shrouds, or some shroud like system, the official #1 goal once 2.5 hits or a part of 2.5 depending on how much delay that would involve.

Why?
It is just a good idea. Then all content is worth exploring and life is awesome.

A nice bonus would be having some quest tied to shrouding that is run out of Erimal/Erudin (lore: the researchers need to do research and you are their lab monkey so here's a banana) that would encourage people to shroud. Basically shroud for X time/xp in this zone for xp and plat reward, repeat many times, and eventually get an Odus gate neck.

3. Create a permanent server wide experience bonus based on server funds

What is happening:
Experience rate on SoD is what many would consider pretty damn slow which makes the slogfest of leveling and the mountain of tomes that much more unappealing to new people.

What could be happening:
A scaled server wide experience bonus based on server funds- each little light on the mainpage. Scale is to something like 0, 5, 10, 25, 50 bonus xp. This has the added bonus of creating a generalized incentive to donate.

Each of these suggestions and the number associated is given under the assumption that anywhere between zero and one of these suggestions will be given any consideration whatsoever. More importantly, these are just numbers for the sake of example and ballpark. I guess what I am trying to say is that for once I would really like to make a post and not have the only responses be completely fixated on some small detail. This is probably asking a lot, sorry.
 
There are no plans for shrouds, but I would love to do that, or something substantially similar. There are some pretty big technical challenges to overcome, though.
 
There are no plans for shrouds, but I would love to do that, or something substantially similar. There are some pretty big technical challenges to overcome, though.

I know comparing SoD to other EQ emulated server is generally frowned upon, but I do think some of them have really good ideas.
One being Storm Haven. There is an NPC that will delevel you to whatever level you want, and give you a potion containing the experience you lost.

Example: You are 65. You delevel to 50. Say that it exactly 1,000,000,000 experience. You can now gain experience with a friend or so something with them that was previously unavailable. Once you finish, you are at level 55 or something, you drink the potion of experience you received from the NPC, and now you instantly regain that 1,000,000,000 experience. You will get back to 65 + some AA or tome experience (from what was gained while being 50).

Something like that could be looked at or adapted if shrouding were to hard or far back on the list of things that need attention.
 
Suggestion: Dalaya Mentorship program

I remember in my elementary school, they had something, I forget the the name where the K/1st graders (I forget which one) were matched up with a 5th grader. Someone they got to know, someone who has been at the school a while.

I think something similar could work with newer Dalaya players. Advertise in DB motd, have some kind of signup where newer characters fill out a short survey (what time they play in general, what they're looking for, if they want to box etc) and a character that has been around Dalaya a while could volunteer to "mentor" the newer player. Being a mentor could be some of the following and more:
-Help them leveling up either with a low level character of their own or a higher level toon.
-Explain the stuff that's weird for newer players (MoP, picking a deity, specialization points) and be able via game or forums PM.
-Be available to answer questions.

It seems that we have a lot of senior characters are around that want to help newer people. This is just a way of organizing it to make sure newer characters can get help. Also, I know the guild tag DB exists for part of this, but individual mentorship puts more weight on the senior members of dalaya to assure that if people need help they will get it.
 
Nod, and I think we're open to those ideas. I've worked with a couple of the eqemu folks, and they are genuinely great people who are VERY smart and really committed to the EQ franchise. I don't think we'd discount something just because "that's not SoD" - rather I think it's good to think outside our own world a bit.

Obviously, nothing will change pre 2.5, but with that being so painfully close (I can't tell you how much I want this finished), but then we can open up some serious areas of discussion. I like the respectful and thoughtful comments on this thread - just really good to see.
 
I know comparing SoD to other EQ emulated server is generally frowned upon, but I do think some of them have really good ideas.
One being Storm Haven. There is an NPC that will delevel you to whatever level you want, and give you a potion containing the experience you lost.

Example: You are 65. You delevel to 50. Say that it exactly 1,000,000,000 experience. You can now gain experience with a friend or so something with them that was previously unavailable. Once you finish, you are at level 55 or something, you drink the potion of experience you received from the NPC, and now you instantly regain that 1,000,000,000 experience. You will get back to 65 + some AA or tome experience (from what was gained while being 50).

Something like that could be looked at or adapted if shrouding were to hard or far back on the list of things that need attention.

Honestly, I think that this is an amazing idea. All raid gear could be even be made so that it is rec lvl 65 (if it isnt already) and in the delevel process it would reduce its stats automagically. Normal level changes apply to gear so I don't think overtier gear would be that "crazy" to worry about. Sure your T13 toon will still be one of the better lvl 50 toons or w/e but I suppose that is to be expected.
 
Even if the system were to be made in set incre
Honestly, I think that this is an amazing idea. All raid gear could be even be made so that it is rec lvl 65 (if it isnt already) and in the delevel process it would reduce its stats automagically. Normal level changes apply to gear so I don't think overtier gear would be that "crazy" to worry about. Sure your T13 toon will still be one of the better lvl 50 toons or w/e but I suppose that is to be expected.

Well I feel like that is good tbh. You are T13, put in a lot of time for your character. You shouldn't really be just an average lvl 50 character. Not to mention your CoP exp % Bonus + other tomes completed would be in effect. You would be a super lvl 50, but still lvl 50. Able to help friends in need/ new players of all levels .

Need a healer for Blackburrow? Take Vitali, delevel to 15~. My gear would scale down to almost useless, but with tomes and AAs I would still be an amazing lvl 15 healer. The trade off being, the total exp gained personally from this would be maybe 1-5k? Roughly one or two monsters worth of exp at my own level/ exp content. The time invested wouldn't directly benefit me, but the server a whole. It also alleviates the necessity to make and gear brand new throw away characters just to help friends out. I already have several lvl 30-50 warriors/paladins/SKs from past experiences trying to get friends into this game,

I'm sure some/most would want some better compensation for time invested at a lower level. Maybe as the idea fleshes itself out some sort of scaled exp gain could be done, but it's outside my area of expertise. Some sort of character flag for additional exp similar to a zone exp bonus or group bonus

+45% experience (Zone Modifier)
+25% experience (New Area Bonus)
+200% experience (Group Bonus)
+15% experience (Player In Need)

[Edit] It seems to be the general feeling that in order to help someone lower level than yourself you need to also experience some massive penalty too. I don't really understand this sentiment at all.
I reduce my level to 15 or so, gear is scaled down already. However, I get the sense that some/ most don't agree that is enough. I should also lose all my FT, AA bonuses, tome/ codex bonuses, and more? It seems silly that basically everything I (or others) have worked towards end up not translating to anything when trying to aid new or lower level character.
Correct me if I am wrong, just seems really backwards. If anything players should be incredibly incentivized towards the thought process of helping.
 
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