Gaheris and EC issues. A review...
After taking the required break from DAoC in order to try running Endless Conquest I decided to write a review. This is after a couple weeks just trying EC on Gaheris. This is what I ran into.
Endless Conquest Issues in General:
The amount of unusable items on EC accounts is exhorbitant. When you log in and try to use a potion, or summon a vender, or a million other things and go "why isn't this working" it gets extremely frustrating. I almost didn't complete my solo 1-50 run because of it. I almost rage quit several times.
The amount of time (or any at all) after subscribing before EC is available is a bad idea. Sometimes I would like to play DAoC quite a bit, and some months I don't have the time to play at all. Because of the EC timer, I will not be subscribing for the forseeable... well ever. If my account immediately became EC once my subscription ended, then I would on-and-off subscribe constantly. You would probably see me subscribed about half the months of the year.
Endless Conquest Issues on Gaheris:
The reduced leveling rate makes solo leveling extremely painful from around level 38 until 45 when CV become available. I believe this is likely due to the fact that battlegrounds are unavailable.
Dreaded seals can not be combined on EC accounts because seal transmutation is in the spellcrafting tree. I recommend adding dreaded seal transmutation to bountycrafting on Gaheris as a quick fix.
60 realm skill points is nothing on Gaheris. This means Gaheris characters, due to getting 30 by leveling to 50, would max realm skill points at RR4. This contrasts with RR7 on Ywain. I recommend raising the EC realm skill point cap to 90 on Gaheris.
Gaheris NON-EC Issues:
Lack of inclusion in new content and removal of old content is plaguing Gaheris. The removal of access to all of the % PVE bonus item from catacombs is hard to accept. Certain instanced dungeon items and catacombs items were used in a lot of templates. Acceptable work around? Add the most used items to traveling merchants. Best answer? Bring the content back.
The new content that really needs to be made use of on Gaheris are the solo areas in NF such as Moydruim Castle. Obviously these areas need to have mobs that drops seals, but theres an opportunity to adjust the balance on the server where casters are favored in 99% of situations. I would like to see these areas get filled with mobs or some type of encounter that heavily favors the use of melee damage.
Endless Conquest Issues in General:
The amount of unusable items on EC accounts is exhorbitant. When you log in and try to use a potion, or summon a vender, or a million other things and go "why isn't this working" it gets extremely frustrating. I almost didn't complete my solo 1-50 run because of it. I almost rage quit several times.
The amount of time (or any at all) after subscribing before EC is available is a bad idea. Sometimes I would like to play DAoC quite a bit, and some months I don't have the time to play at all. Because of the EC timer, I will not be subscribing for the forseeable... well ever. If my account immediately became EC once my subscription ended, then I would on-and-off subscribe constantly. You would probably see me subscribed about half the months of the year.
Endless Conquest Issues on Gaheris:
The reduced leveling rate makes solo leveling extremely painful from around level 38 until 45 when CV become available. I believe this is likely due to the fact that battlegrounds are unavailable.
Dreaded seals can not be combined on EC accounts because seal transmutation is in the spellcrafting tree. I recommend adding dreaded seal transmutation to bountycrafting on Gaheris as a quick fix.
60 realm skill points is nothing on Gaheris. This means Gaheris characters, due to getting 30 by leveling to 50, would max realm skill points at RR4. This contrasts with RR7 on Ywain. I recommend raising the EC realm skill point cap to 90 on Gaheris.
Gaheris NON-EC Issues:
Lack of inclusion in new content and removal of old content is plaguing Gaheris. The removal of access to all of the % PVE bonus item from catacombs is hard to accept. Certain instanced dungeon items and catacombs items were used in a lot of templates. Acceptable work around? Add the most used items to traveling merchants. Best answer? Bring the content back.
The new content that really needs to be made use of on Gaheris are the solo areas in NF such as Moydruim Castle. Obviously these areas need to have mobs that drops seals, but theres an opportunity to adjust the balance on the server where casters are favored in 99% of situations. I would like to see these areas get filled with mobs or some type of encounter that heavily favors the use of melee damage.
Comments
I have to agree. I subscribed on a whim to try out the game that got me into MMOs and now I cant even play my account? Im never likely to subscribe again now. The restriction needs to go.
Agree here as well - levelling from Meso bounty quests is mind numbingly boring on an EC account
agree again
Yeah I was unaware that Cata was closed seems a really bad Idea to get rid of content we specifically paid for. I understand the RvR community probably dont care but the PvE community do.
What I don't understand is why task dungeons had to go on the PvE server? It doesn't make any sense at all. To funnel everyone to the battlegrounds that aren't even open on that server?
The bounty quests in Atlantis are also much buggier on Gaheris than Ywain. The level 30 quests aren't repeatable (you can do them twice, and then never again), and you can no longer double up on the level 40 quests after you have done them a few times. Meanwhile on Ywain, PvP server that doesn't need them as much, you can repeat both sets of quests as often as you like for XP and coin.
Literally all there is to do for some levels now is grind mobs in dungeons or out on the landscape. Heaven forbid that you are trying to level up a class that can't handle multiple mobs in melee range, because that cuts your options even more.
The dungeon quests would help with this in theory, save that 1. many classes can't reliably fight their way to the bosses solo and 2. depending on the realm and quest there may be no red dots on the dungeon map showing you where to go. Some of those bosses spawn in really random spots (e.g., in a random hallway, but only after you kill the right placeholder mobs...how is anyone going to figure that out if they have no idea where to look?).
Another problem on EC account on Gaheris is that because of the XP penalty the new player experience quests don't keep up any more. About once per quest hub you have to stop and grind random mobs to level and open up more quests. The only way to avoid it is to travel between NPE hubs doing quests for more than one realm, and new players sure as heck are not going to know how to do that.
And of course catacombs. Half th solo PvE content in the game just gone. Most of an expansion we paid for set on fire, to use the zones for some raids that almost never get run on Gaheris.
Couldn't they have just reused the art assets? Did they really have no choice but to strip out all that content? That's not even to mention all the old aurulite dungeons they closed.
Do you know what the one thing that live has that the unauthorized servers don't? PvE quests. And yet Broadsword seems intent on slowly pruning that back, every few months removing more options altogether. It's insane. Will they close SI next, so players don't get lost?
BS could have put the game in maintenance mode back in 2017, made zero changes and the game would be doing a lot better than it is currently from my perspective. Years of development spent actively making the PvE game smaller than it was to begin with. The mind boggles.
At least I got to see Catacombs the last few months it was still live.
I really think the EC was a splendid idea, but I think the 120 days lock is too long, it should be 30 days only.
#Shalindra : You think DDO and LOTRO are great ftp options? I whole heartedly disagre. In those games you can only play for a week before they start to ask for your money, and that thing where you grind points is terrible! It is a sado masochistic way to play and is far worse than EC.
In lotr you buy quest packs and expansions after expansions, totalling atleast 60 euros if you wanna hit cap. I know they have some bargains going on once a year, but normally it is even more expensive that WoW, that let's you get most expansions for free, except latest.
I think the EC should stop at 4L9, Master level 10 and Champion LvL 15. Also there needs to be one or two more classes and one more race for free. And even if there'd be more for free the whole things stop at 4L9 which is just before rr5. That way or the way it is now, most ought to see this EC as along trial and hopefully support the game one day as a subscriber.
The worst thing as I see it would see this game go down with tons of microtransactions like DDO and LOTRO that enhances your character and unlocks the world meter for meter.
Anyone who thinks Lotro has a bad FTP set-up needs to go learn.
I have played for years there for free, and have never been asked for a dime. I never had to ay to get extra-special gear, or to get extra content, or to get extra classes. EVERYTHING needed is available, for free.
Subscribers get some perks, for sure, but nothing necessary to succeed in and enjoy the game. As a FTP player I can hang with my subscribed friends, do all the same content, earn all the same gear, do the same raids .... I have to buy expansions that they get free, but I have the option of buying those expansions ... and the terrain and basic mobs are free, just quests and stuff mostly are extra.
Lotro has the best FTP model I have ever seen,. They keep the population high and happy and attract enough people who decide paying to subscribe is worth it .... whereas DAoC cannot keep its zones filled, so it keeps shutting down zones.
Someone at Broadsword needs to open his or her eyes and figure it out .... not many people are going to play for free when they only get half the game and cannot really compete, or even complete a lot of the content. If DAoC FTP was any good, the Frontiers would be full of FTP players who might want to sub up in order to get perks. Now it is empty.
Well done, broadsword, for even offering FTP. Now go back and fix it please, for everyone's benefit. Otherwise I fear DAoC will just limp along and dwindle.
And really there is too much fun to be had here ... and for Broadsword, some money to be made ... if they do it right.