CA's, Spells and Class Combining

There are some decent spells in the game and some with unique enough talent trees they are relegated to a single class. Some say it's because it's two sides of the same coin and SOE did it just to split up the subclass. Much like the Shaman at 52 they split in some areas, the Mystic gets Torpor and the Defiler gets Canny; if your from EQ1 you knew both these spells were Shaman spells shared by no other classes. I didn't feel left out because I didn't get Canny but hey I don't stress about the small stuff. I heard latly that since they split the Classes in two it makes your job easier. My chief complaint with that is there is no basis to compare it to other then EQ1. While I was my Conj on EQ2 I can say the more I had to deal with Spell wise the more the game would be easier. If I had say the Necro line as well I would be unstoppable and if I messed up I could just FD, I guess I don't see where more ability's makes it harder. It just seems to me most that want classes to be combined altogether just want their EQ1 experience back all I have to say to them is go back to EQ1.

Even EQ1 wasn't without problems on raids, if they were good and decent players you would only need one of a few given classes. A few good examples are Mage and Shaman, both of these didn't stack well with like classes and when it came to DPS the Conj was easily replaced by melee which seemed better in duration fights. I have played a few different classes and never really felt left out or pushed aside because of the split in EQ2 but it doesn't mean there isn't an innate problem overall in the system dynamics. I just prefer the split because it's more friendly and easier for others to invite to a raid if you want certain abilities. Mystic's Bolster, Brigands Dispatch to name a few and the best part about it these are short duration long recast so you can stack with other like classes. The Holy trinity doesn't exsist anymore as a needed setup which makes this a much more playable game for all.

As a Brigand I'm wanted on raids but in the end it was for a different reason then an Assassin or Ranger. I had no clue that Brigands were a debuff class and has some of the coolest abilities like Dispatch and Amazing Reflexes. Some say they are to overpowering but I say they aren't any more powering then Rain of Arrows, Ice Nova, or Decap. Those defining abilities do massive damage and they complain about debuffs and avoidances to counter their abilities. I don't want to get into a fight over who is the best class for raids or pvp because everyone has a place. Yes tweaking is in order of some abilities it doesn't mean they are nerf or combining classes worthy just because their bread is buttered on the upside and yours is on the downside. It only means that if you complain about another class to nerf; remeber Karma is a bitch.

Links

I just recently updated my links to the right and added a few while deleting others that are dead for now. Enjoy!

GM work

Disclaimer " I've never been a GM nor have I wanted to be and as far as EQ2 goes I have no real knowledge that they exist today except in concept"

I've met a few in game GM's over a year ago as stated in previous post. I've read on boards about GM's in EQ2 and have a notion that their are some they are just not around much. To me it seems that if EQ2 does have GM's there must only be a handful and not enough to be doing the job they should be doing. Better yet the job I think they should be doing.

Some of you from EQ1 know the glory days of GM's there was some almost always on and they even had a /who all GM button. I knew not to bug them or send direct tells unless there was special occasions like Halloween and events. These events were special because they were rare but you knew they happened on a basis more so then EQ2. Hell some of you probly remember some good loot that was GM given only for one event, if your like me you remember the Can O' woopass *sp. However, in Norath the GM's seem few and far between with little to no interaction with them except over Super rare occasions usually them telling you "Banned" then again that is probly used only for Farm/bots or Cheat/hackers and still to a lesser degree then expected.

Some of you like me ask where is the pizaz in EQ2's world of Norath short of the live events which have been dwarfed down to semi fun quests... Some may not agree but I could go for the virus live event again because at least it effected the world. The Frogloc as screwed in it's conception was fun because we got to see who would unlock them worldwide first... Firsts is where it's at mainly but even then it seems to fall short. This is where I believe GM's should be able to step in and have fun real LIVE events, not just Live update events like this lame excuse for Halloween cut and pasted from last year.

Most would agree that loot tables are screwed and I believe that is because EQ2 has no loot table manager. They just throw something in that looks a tad bit better stat wise then the last tier or lower raid mob and say it's good without ever looking at the total options. "Legendary" is a joke since it's not really Legendary if everyone and their mother owns it. "Mastercrafted" was a great change since it was notably something more difficult then norm to obtain that is tradeskill made. Hell even treasured is better then legendary sometimes it's that bad. "Fabled" is way to often in the high end game and if you go a day without seeing one master weather raided or grouped then your not raiding or grouping ie Master spells and/or Gear. This all leads me to the one thing I've seen SOE hold true on Mythical, if you have it your 100% sure no one else does or ever will on your server that's great. But? Is that to say their shouldn't be some more Mythical in the game through LIVE events from GM? My answer is no, they need to get creative Game Masters in there at odd hours at least Bi-annually throwing some shit in the fan where one lucky winner gets a very nice item.

I also believe they should have Game Masters under a different heading then the customer service reps... They should be called CS for customer service that is unless SOE feels we shouldn't get any and we should all just STFU and live in their game. CS should be around one per server at all time to take a queue of people complaint and ruff through them like GM Dave does on FFXI. Take out the botters on normal servers and squash all idiots with impunity but with a smile.. Thanks for coming to Norath-mart have a nice life.. "Banned" for all those who don't go by the rules. The CS should be volunteering and I'm sure you can find a lot that would who can go around change EULA breaking names and attitudes this would be a good self policing system that should also have checks and balances ran through a top dog that SOE can pay.

As far as Game Masters go they should be those that are apart of the community much like Blackguard and Moorguard were. To the extent were they are more noticeable in the game by a great many people. At the present all we have is a hack in slash game with some PVP to top it off if you choose and the same mix of mobs with bad pathing, poorly thought out AI in some cases and the bane of it all, Fast leveling with a shity looting table.

The good thing is the one way they can go is up... That is if they even care what their Customer service satisfaction is.

EQ2 /petition sucks

/Petition has to be one of the best implements into a good gaming environment. I've used this from EQ1 days all the way up until recently. If you have noticed it now takes you to an ever expansive web page that is in all seriousness is worthless. In a way its more of a /help then any real get of your ass with customer service help. I understand GM's can be busy, maybe less so if the money was spent on what GM's should be doing. However, that's another post all together.

I've used /petition in EQ2 and to my surprise in the past it has worked. Example: At the start of my EQ2 gaming career I was working on the Ghoulbane quest and just received the Busted up one.( still better then the 1h I had at the time) I was playing around all day and then gave my wife the controls, she went to a vendor and accidentally sold it. Don't ask me how all I know is she ran away and Hid because she knew I wouldn't be to happy. I was, but hey before I blew up I /petitioned and it worked. In about 1hour or less a GM came back told me to give him the cash I paid and he will summon a new one in my inventory, guess what it worked. Lovely they did more then I really expected them to and to this day I figured Support can't be that bad.

Next... Dumbgoldbot tells you " come to Ilikeballztosellgold.com and you will get good customer support blah blah blah" Now I'm grateful that SOE helped stem this from the island newbie zone sellers sadly, I still get tells. Ok.... Let me just /petition.... wtf? Where's the box Oh what's this? Go to the websight or get help later? WTF I'm in the middle of my game I really don't want to minimize my game to /petition on Gold bots.... I hate Gold sellers but I hate what SOE did more.
Really what was so wrong about the old /petition system? The new one is ever expansive and can be updated easier yeah. Though, we customers don't care how easy it is for you.... SOE do you want customers to have good customer service and valuable gaming experience? Or do you want it to be self policed? If so let me just target a gold bot... Type a /PVP command it flags them for Gold bot, GM's come in and sees if the command is valid and TaDa!.... The Gold bot can't zone or evac or use anything but sitting there and die by my blade. Then the GM ban's him! That the best overall customer service the average player would be happy with.

Back on topic ~ Soe change the /petition back to an in-game menu or your service system will see no reaping rewards. Seriously and to everyone that reads this leave a message if you agree..

Uber? nah!

Ok, I've spent my time in Eq2 slower then average and when I spent my alt time which is now my main I chased AAXP more then Normal xp. Since PVP came out I played a paly to 15 and then crossed over to my Brigand who is now 70. I maxed him a week back and just this weekend I maxed his AAXP, even paying a few silver to respect as a Merc/Fencer which thus far has proven to rock. I guess my point is I'm not working on maxing my Tradeskills and then I'm super maxed but I had my sights set on one other thing.

The new guild I just joined, Dark Omen. These guys seem to know just what's up and for me and the friends that followed we got lucky. Everyone knows everyone and somehow or another we have just enough to kick in some relic raids and the like. There is no greed and tons of fun so I guess finally after starting EQ2, I found the guild I've been looking for. Oh and this weekend we hit guild level 40 now it's time for me to farm so I can get my Nightmare.... Sweet another thing for me to do.

I can hardly wait for the expansion next month.

Beta?

Edit... not gonna break NDA anymore

As far as EQ2 is conserned well.... for the first time in any MMO I'm max level. Got lvl 70 on both my Mystic and Brigand in the same week which I was pretty happy about. Now I'm 3AA's from maxing from my Brigand and still a shit ton's of quests and gear for me to upgrade untill November's Faydark expansion.