lithiumbat
Dalayan Beginner
funky3 has articulated in a fantastic way what several of the posts (that seem to have been lost in the wash throughout this thread) were attempting to make.
On Point 1:
It is hard to believe that the mechanics would be restructured to make achieving level 65 + 100 or so AA's in a matter of a few weeks, but the point is a perfectly valid one. Even more recent versions of EQ live made this possible, and from what it sounds like it is the way many other games function (I can only speak for single player RPGs like TES where the pace is set by the player not by the game, but indeed it is quite possible to achieve end game content in a few weeks).
What is really important to think about in these scenarios is that even though end game content is accessible within a short time, the game doesn't lose its appeal because of it. Moreover, recent SoD improvements have been focused on the end game, so why wouldn't one want to make it so that that content is accessible to more people? This doesn't mean that it should be trivial to achieve Tier 11 in a few weeks by any means, but it should be possible to actually form a group of Tier 1 character without waiting 2-3 hours for the chance that 5-6 such players happen to be online.
On Point 2:
This is in fact a huge problem on SoD, and it isn't really clear why. Having been on the short end of this situation before, I personally do as much as I can to answer questions in ooc or that are PMed to me which I know the answer to. I have also on more than one occasion used my own plat to have old gear in my bank unbound so that I can give it to a lower level character who is really trying to get things moving. Sure I could transfer the gear to an alt or try to sell it to someone else who wants to twink their alt, but why not give it to someone new in hopes that when they achieve 65 they will be someone you can group with?
There really is no argument what so ever as to why you shouldn't be friendly/helpful to new players. The only reason current players wouldn't want new people on the server is because they want to maintain their hold over top tier content... one of the great things about SoD is the ability to basically own part of and/or an entire zone once you reach a particular level of gameplay because the chances that the people passing through the zone aren't already in your guild is pretty low. This 'feature' of SoD is however also it's greatest weakness. If your guild isn't online at the time you want to grind, the only other option you have is to either try to solo or box... since most of the other players of lower tier aren't equipped to handle those zones. Since I am not an active raider due to RL constraints on time, getting even relic spells is almost futile since any pickup raids are going to be with players in higher tier guilds and they are generally already claiming relics for their own or for their alts (as is their right of course, I do not dispute that). However, this leads to is situations where characters are turned down for a group because without those relics they are seen as ineffective in the zones that many of the regular players are interested in attacking. Again the issue being a lack of diversity across these tiers.
When I still played live and was in Fire and Fury (top guild on FV at the time... probably still is), we gave away gear (FV was a non no-drop server) and tips constantly to newer guilds that were breaking into difficult content so that they could get up to speed with newer stuff quicker and we could recruit good players who were experienced when we needed.
I am glad to see there are a number of new guilds on SoD popping up that are recruiting newer players (i.e. don't require 65+500AA's and 10 Tomes). Though the lifetime of many of them is doomed to be short since breaking into new tiers (not necessarily raid tiers, but just higher level characters with lots of AA's) is such a daunting process.
On Point 3:
It is inevitable that the wiki will be lacking a great deal of content when the majority of the knowledge is held only by a small group of people. Mostly because filling out a wiki page in detail is a job in on itself, and expecting a small group of people to fill out every page is unreasonable. At the same time, there is also a profitable aspect to owning that knowledge. Knowing where nice high ticket items drop lets you set the price and availability of that item. I have seen the same item appear on the same seller for increasingly higher and higher prices over the course of just a few days. Yet the item source (and sometimes the item itself) isn't listed in the wiki and an ooc inquiry doesn't generate any responses as to the origin of the item. Again it is the right of the discoverer to keep what knowledge they gain.
For sure it makes sense not to share raid strategies on a target that you are actively raiding. However, arguably the best guild of it's time on EQ live, Afterlife shared so much of it's knowledge about raid targets/tradeskill combines/quests within the first few weeks of breaking them (and they were often the first ones to do so) that not only did it help progress other guilds, but gave afterlife the status and respect that when they wanted to raid something regardless of what it was, everyone was willing to let them have it even if it was someone else's target the same day. The availability of this information, from simple quests to end game raid targets made it much more appealing for newer players who could get up to speed and play with the regulars.
On Point 1:
It is hard to believe that the mechanics would be restructured to make achieving level 65 + 100 or so AA's in a matter of a few weeks, but the point is a perfectly valid one. Even more recent versions of EQ live made this possible, and from what it sounds like it is the way many other games function (I can only speak for single player RPGs like TES where the pace is set by the player not by the game, but indeed it is quite possible to achieve end game content in a few weeks).
What is really important to think about in these scenarios is that even though end game content is accessible within a short time, the game doesn't lose its appeal because of it. Moreover, recent SoD improvements have been focused on the end game, so why wouldn't one want to make it so that that content is accessible to more people? This doesn't mean that it should be trivial to achieve Tier 11 in a few weeks by any means, but it should be possible to actually form a group of Tier 1 character without waiting 2-3 hours for the chance that 5-6 such players happen to be online.
On Point 2:
This is in fact a huge problem on SoD, and it isn't really clear why. Having been on the short end of this situation before, I personally do as much as I can to answer questions in ooc or that are PMed to me which I know the answer to. I have also on more than one occasion used my own plat to have old gear in my bank unbound so that I can give it to a lower level character who is really trying to get things moving. Sure I could transfer the gear to an alt or try to sell it to someone else who wants to twink their alt, but why not give it to someone new in hopes that when they achieve 65 they will be someone you can group with?
There really is no argument what so ever as to why you shouldn't be friendly/helpful to new players. The only reason current players wouldn't want new people on the server is because they want to maintain their hold over top tier content... one of the great things about SoD is the ability to basically own part of and/or an entire zone once you reach a particular level of gameplay because the chances that the people passing through the zone aren't already in your guild is pretty low. This 'feature' of SoD is however also it's greatest weakness. If your guild isn't online at the time you want to grind, the only other option you have is to either try to solo or box... since most of the other players of lower tier aren't equipped to handle those zones. Since I am not an active raider due to RL constraints on time, getting even relic spells is almost futile since any pickup raids are going to be with players in higher tier guilds and they are generally already claiming relics for their own or for their alts (as is their right of course, I do not dispute that). However, this leads to is situations where characters are turned down for a group because without those relics they are seen as ineffective in the zones that many of the regular players are interested in attacking. Again the issue being a lack of diversity across these tiers.
When I still played live and was in Fire and Fury (top guild on FV at the time... probably still is), we gave away gear (FV was a non no-drop server) and tips constantly to newer guilds that were breaking into difficult content so that they could get up to speed with newer stuff quicker and we could recruit good players who were experienced when we needed.
I am glad to see there are a number of new guilds on SoD popping up that are recruiting newer players (i.e. don't require 65+500AA's and 10 Tomes). Though the lifetime of many of them is doomed to be short since breaking into new tiers (not necessarily raid tiers, but just higher level characters with lots of AA's) is such a daunting process.
On Point 3:
It is inevitable that the wiki will be lacking a great deal of content when the majority of the knowledge is held only by a small group of people. Mostly because filling out a wiki page in detail is a job in on itself, and expecting a small group of people to fill out every page is unreasonable. At the same time, there is also a profitable aspect to owning that knowledge. Knowing where nice high ticket items drop lets you set the price and availability of that item. I have seen the same item appear on the same seller for increasingly higher and higher prices over the course of just a few days. Yet the item source (and sometimes the item itself) isn't listed in the wiki and an ooc inquiry doesn't generate any responses as to the origin of the item. Again it is the right of the discoverer to keep what knowledge they gain.
For sure it makes sense not to share raid strategies on a target that you are actively raiding. However, arguably the best guild of it's time on EQ live, Afterlife shared so much of it's knowledge about raid targets/tradeskill combines/quests within the first few weeks of breaking them (and they were often the first ones to do so) that not only did it help progress other guilds, but gave afterlife the status and respect that when they wanted to raid something regardless of what it was, everyone was willing to let them have it even if it was someone else's target the same day. The availability of this information, from simple quests to end game raid targets made it much more appealing for newer players who could get up to speed and play with the regulars.
