Brainstorming

The actual usefulness of having 60-70 tomes is way exaggerated though. I think I could drop myself to 25-30 tomes and be equally effective. Still, 30 tomes is a lot.

[true words about xp deleted]

The problem with tomes that I was trying to put out there isn't that there are so many - you're right that after probably 30 you've done everything significant and the added benefit of the last 40 tomes is comparatively minor.

The problem with tomes and the problem with much of Ikisith is that it represents a patchwork quilt of developer work that was never checked over or compared to itself for relative difficulty or rewards. There were/are zones that give "Monty Haul" DM type rewards, to co-opt a term from Dungeons and Dragons, and zones that present unbelievable austerity in terms of their loot or difficulty or loot:difficulty ratio.

Plenty of nerfs and rebalancings have happened over the age of the expansion, but player power is out of control and item power is out of control. What this leads to is a haves and have-nots situation where there isn't the requisite amount of character mobility to get to the end, so long as players at the end keep progressing in terms of xp and tomes. Someone with a 30 tome lead on you who is doing content that requires not only maxed out characters but an excellent handle on how to play isn't going to be caught up with at all, short of them powerleveling you up to that point (see FWF alts).

Naturally there are some exceptions to this where people who were logged in 24/7 for the past 3 years got recognized for their presence in the virtual world and were recruited to exo/fwf, but for the most part this is the case.
 
well fwf had farmed out a few 4.3 weapons b4 hitting up those targets no?
def remember seeing Juff with a sword b4 sharn`ree loot posted on ur website ^^
exodus got 4.3 2nd phase to 2% a bunch and 0% a couple times,

but fight seems crazy nerfed now and we struggle to get first phase below 13%

Nothing was really changed on this fight except for the first phase, and the reason that was changed is because it was so trivial to the point where there was no reason for it to even exist. Especially since you got mana back after finishing it. Other then that though pretty much the same exact fight, and tbh this fight was a lot rougher pre vah back change. Just a fyi.
 
It has been awhile since I played 'actively' and I have just started getting back into the game in a casual manner, but as far as some things that could assist in gaining/keeping new players:

Someone stated before about UI problems.
-- Perhaps adding a new default UI setting (defaults.ini) via the patcher and have an npc in the tutorial explain how to copy/ paste others into their current character UI file? Perhaps even add in some of the more popular UI themes (with UI_creator's name.ini as the copy/ paste file) created by folks on here with examples of each. *one more contest for folks to win fame with?*

Things explained earlier in-game.
Have an npc/ multiple npcs in the Tutorial that:
-- gives hints that there might be foes you wish to try that are protected from higher players. (Adepts, of course)
-- talks to you about adventure bands and their limits/ advantages.
-- details specializations and how they relate to different classes. (perhaps allow players to advance to level 2 within tutorial for the first 10 points to practice)

Things on the path of adventures:
--Expand town criers to check player's levels and recommend zones to hunt in accordingly. ("You look like you would be of great assistance to Soandso in Somezone!")
--Yeah, MoP makes it super easy to get to places. It's also just damned annoying to most everyone. It lost it's fun flavor after the second or third time you run through it. I know it shouldn't be super easy to get everywhere, but honestly it shouldn't be so dang annoying. One good way to lose newer players is to get them frustrated, especially on corpse runs.
--Remove the tradeskill checks (the /cm passcolor ones: not even sure if you still use them, because I just came back) until the levels you start making very useful items. At least then you are so addicted, you will force yourself to keep going.
--Increase the factions gained for city quests (factions for neck gates) at/below certain levels for each quest line. (Rewards those who do it when they should, and not go back and mass farm when it is trivial). Of course, no reward bonus for 65s.
--Create quest lines that assist newer players with obtaining gear (both through quest reward and areas/ npcs hunted) based upon class type (plate, chain etc..) or even specific for classes or roles. This could be tied in with the Town Crier above; as an early version of the Thurg bounty hunter quest lines.
--Provide a way (npc in each town, perhaps) that will allow you to teleport to the entrance of an area *non-raid* provided one member of the group is already inside, for a fee similar to the Healer debt removal fee.

Things later on:
-- Create an npc (perhaps a Seeker in Erimal) that has discovered a new way to retrieve older memories we have have forgotten. This would allow a player to be set back to certain levels previous (to play with 'younger' players). Require the player to unequip all items/current tomes and have exp set to 100% non-AA to have these memories recalled.(To prevent using items before their allowed level). This npc can be spoken to again to regain previous level.

*This may even be used as a quest line itself. You need to do 'this new quest' at 'this level' to advance to next part of quest. One good example would be a 'Kill all the Adepts' quest. It also can help refresh the playing field with older players meeting newer in zones besides the cities, if experience gained could be kept and modified based upon level differences to provide a true gain when you return to real level (perhaps by /cm expgain)*
 
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Someone stated before about UI problems.
-- Perhaps adding a new default UI setting (defaults.ini) via the patcher and have an npc in the tutorial explain how to copy/ paste others into their current character UI file? Perhaps even add in some of the more popular UI themes (with UI_creator's name.ini as the copy/ paste file) created by folks on here with examples of each. *one more contest for folks to win fame with?*

I am sorry, but having an NPC in the game explain how to copy/paste UI files is a horrible idea. I understand the need for a tutorial but that should belong in a ReadMe file or something out of the game itself.


Things explained earlier in-game.
Have an npc/ multiple npcs in the Tutorial that:
-- gives hints that there might be foes you wish to try that are protected from higher players. (Adepts, of course)
-- talks to you about adventure bands and their limits/ advantages.
-- details specializations and how they relate to different classes. (perhaps allow players to advance to level 2 within tutorial for the first 10 points to practice)

Definitely a good idea to have some explanation of these features in game. The challenge is that you don't want the Dream to be long and filled with an overwhelming amount of information for a new player. I mean this is the first thing a player sees when they log in, the last thing we want is for a new player is to be bored walking through the Dream.

--Expand town criers to check player's levels and recommend zones to hunt in accordingly. ("You look like you would be of great assistance to Soandso in Somezone!")

Not a bad idea and probably an easy thing to implement. May want to restrict the zones that a Town Crier recommends by zones that are near or semi-near the town.

--Yeah, MoP makes it super easy to get to places. It's also just damned annoying to most everyone. It lost it's fun flavor after the second or third time you run through it. I know it shouldn't be super easy to get everywhere, but honestly it shouldn't be so dang annoying. One good way to lose newer players is to get them frustrated, especially on corpse runs.

I am not a fan of the new MoP but I understand the intent is to not make travel a trivial aspect of the game. I would honestly prefer it if the MoP had NPC's at each of the "zone ins" that charge a certain amount of money to travel that is based on your level (much like clearing exp debt as a healer). This would be similar to your other idea about translocator npc's in each town. This makes travel fairly easy for newer characters since they won't be charged much, and it would also provide a small plat sink for the level 65 characters.


--Remove the tradeskill checks (the /cm passcolor ones: not even sure if you still use them, because I just came back) until the levels you start making very useful items. At least then you are so addicted, you will force yourself to keep going.

I think this would just encourage unattended macroing while levelling up your skill. Unfortunately, it is a necessary precaution.

--Increase the factions gained for city quests (factions for neck gates) at/below certain levels for each quest line. (Rewards those who do it when they should, and not go back and mass farm when it is trivial). Of course, no reward bonus for 65s.

100% agree. The faction boost for the lower level Athica and Newport faction quests are so trivial that they might as well not exist. Why not just restrict the level that the quest can be done at and restrict the maximum you can raise your faction through that quest? Even if someone wanted to stay at a certain level to farm faction, they could only increase it so much. They would still be required to farm some Athica amulets at 60+ but then the time spent factioning at lower levels would not be meaningless.

--Create quest lines that assist newer players with obtaining gear (both through quest reward and areas/ npcs hunted) based upon class type (plate, chain etc..) or even specific for classes or roles. This could be tied in with the Town Crier above; as an early version of the Thurg bounty hunter quest lines.

I posted about the need for a LOT more low to mid-level quests. The current challenge is the lack of resources to write and implement these quests.

-- Create an npc (perhaps a Seeker in Erimal) that has discovered a new way to retrieve older memories we have have forgotten. This would allow a player to be set back to certain levels previous (to play with 'younger' players). Require the player to unequip all items/current tomes and have exp set to 100% non-AA to have these memories recalled.(To prevent using items before their allowed level). This npc can be spoken to again to regain previous level.

I think this idea is a little too game-changing. If you want to play with newer characters, just roll a new toon. It just does not make sense from a lore-perspective to allow players to "de-level".
 
It seems that getting truly new players (as in those who hadn't played live) to SoD may be a tall order. I think that because of how steep the learning curve is to get started. I suspect that most people who stuck with SoD had played live or something similar.

I tried to set my dad up to play SoD. He had played several MMOs prior and was quite good at TS. However, there are a number of obstacles which were only overcome with my help.
1. He didn't know about it.
2. He didn't have the client.
3. He was initially perma keybugged due to AV software.
4. The starting UI is a disaster (as has been mentioned earlier).
5. The dream was sufficient to get me started, but I basically already knew how to play. There were so very many more questions from him.

I the end, he did not end up playing.

A lot of the suggestions earlier were aimed at how to make the raid-level game smoother (a.k.a. less boring). However, if the goal is to recruit truly new players, put yourself in their shoes. There are a number of steps between hearing about SoD, and being able to effectively start playing; steps which may seem trivial from our perspective.

At some point the stream of post-live EQ players in search of nostalgic fun will dry up.
 
--Remove the tradeskill checks (the /cm passcolor ones: not even sure if you still use them, because I just came back) until the levels you start making very useful items. At least then you are so addicted, you will force yourself to keep going.

Just chiming in on one little piece -- these only exist for Fishing and Mining, and given their ability to create wealth out of nothing at reasonably low levels (I'm looking at you, Pile of Cuprosil Arrowheads), this is not something I support. It's already narrowed down to the pure gathering skills that can be easily macroed.
 
Just chiming in on one little piece -- these only exist for Fishing and Mining, and given their ability to create wealth out of nothing at reasonably low levels (I'm looking at you, Pile of Cuprosil Arrowheads), this is not something I support. It's already narrowed down to the pure gathering skills that can be easily macroed.

Ahh, my bad. I had supposed that they ran across the board, as the only tradeskill I was still activly following when they went in was Fishing on my rogue.
 
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