Daybreak please fix the XP grind....

[Sixgauge]

Question I just thought about.. Why is there even a Mentor Penalty?. What problem does it server? Is it an artificial XP reduction that actually servers no purpose in game play?

The mentor penalty makes sense when there is a healthy low level population. It incentives players to join groups at their own level instead of levelling up by doing trivial content. Which means low level groups are more likely to invite other low level characters because high level characters are in high level groups. And everything is balanced and happy.

But when the population balance shifts to high level characters and getting low level groups is hard, the mentor penalty is counter productive. When there are no other low level characters to invite to low level groups, you want high level characters to join and mentor so you can fill the group and do content and get rewards.

Other MMOs incentivize "mentoring" with bonus coins/tokens and unique appearance loot, because they want new characters to be able to do the content. So they find ways to make it rewarding for high level characters to group with them and do old content. The server will even form the groups for them. This is something SOE/DBG/Darkpaw has never been able to get right.

 

[Rijacki]

The mentor penalty makes sense when there is a healthy low level population. It incentives players to join groups at their own level instead of levelling up by doing trivial content. Which means low level groups are more likely to invite other low level characters because high level characters are in high level groups. And everything is balanced and happy.

But when the population balance shifts to high level characters and getting low level groups is hard, the mentor penalty is counter productive. When there are no other low level characters to invite to low level groups, you want high level characters to join and mentor so you can fill the group and do content and get rewards.

Other MMOs incentivize "mentoring" with bonus coins/tokens and unique appearance loot, because they want new characters to be able to do the content. So they find ways to make it rewarding for high level characters to group with them and do old content. The server will even form the groups for them. This is something SOE/DBG/Darkpaw has never been able to get right.

On current servers there are Chrono mages that will 'mentor' you down to a specific level range and give you rewards for doing so.

One of the TLE (sorry I forget the name) has an 'auto mentor' system to 'mentor' your level to the zone your in if it is below your actual level. The drops you get while mentored in that zone are applicable for your actual level. I tried it not long after its launch. Most players weren't using the auto mentor feature to play in lower zones. You start at level 90 and most were using that as their starting point. I don't remember if the XP is throttled in the lower levels there.

 

[Maergoth]

No it's not.

If less people are able to level to 50 now than they were in the beginning, or if the amount of time and effort it takes to level to 50 becomes exponentially harder the more time that passes, then it doesn't matter whether you think the potential to get to 50 is better than it was at launch. In practice, it's worse.

Also, it's going to be more difficult to get to 50 the more time that passes, not less. Why do you think EQ2 evolved into the game it is on live? Group oriented games like this can't work if there aren't enough people around to level with, which is already happening less than 3 months in.

If nothing gets done about it, then the server will just turn into Boomerville where all of the people who were lucky enough to hit 50 or 60 early on can play together, while all of the new players are SOL. Again, how do you expect people to hit 50 or 60 a year from now?

Sorry, we have some people who have pugged their way to their second and third level 50's already. I don't know what to tell you other than: you don't need a full group. You need a tank and a healer and you need to kill stuff. There's also no content that you can't do at 48, and collections help a ton for speeding up the high levels. Those level 45 collections are worth an entire level or two. Plus vitality and mentor bonuses are very good as-is.

 

[Maergoth]

I agree. The slow pace is perfect the way it is. I don't think the rate of leveling needs to change, because people learn how to play their classes in groups. That's the main problem with most MMOs now is the quick solo grind to endgame, and then no one knowing how to play their class in a group or raid setting.

All that needs to change is the mentor penalty. Don't change the pace of experience gained, just give more people the ability to group together. The more that people drop off Origins, the less new people that join Origins, the harder it's going to be to level up.

The problem with that is then there is no reason to kill high level mobs. The mentor penalty isn't a penalty for helping a friend, it's a penalty because low level content is inherently easier, and you're still far more powerful than you should be, even scaled down.

It's already beneficial to mentor and explode monsters with your friends. We tested this in beta. If you have an Aoe group it can already outperform at-level killing at 75 percent reduction. A whole group mentoring a level 29 and mass killing skeletons outside RoV will level faster than every killing level 50 content without the penalty.

 

[Falridun]

Sorry, we have some people who have pugged their way to their second and third level 50's already. I don't know what to tell you other than: you don't need a full group. You need a tank and a healer and you need to kill stuff. There's also no content that you can't do at 48, and collections help a ton for speeding up the high levels. Those level 45 collections are worth an entire level or two. Plus vitality and mentor bonuses are very good as-is.

Maergoth definitely has it right...and you dont even need a tank, you just need a healer and dps. There is a bit of a tank shortage 40+ but i have had no problems getting groups to fire with unusual comps and having a necro pet or even a wizard tank. With low numbers even if it is suboptimal you can definitely kill things. notice it says, this heroic encounter is tuned for a group of 3 or more.

I just completed an Eye for Power with the following group comp wizard, warlock, conj, conj, necro. I recruited a fury for the final instance because i was unsure how hard it was but it was definitely doable even without. We couldnt find anyone who was not a mage willing to sit through the long camp since it mostly is a caster item. I had a great time racing to kill the mobs before they killed us, and it was way better than the normal tank, healer +4 mage dps that every PUG is on the server. So if the people complaining in this thread are willing to explore unusual group comps instead of just sitting at the zoneline LFM 5/6 with no tank, they would probably play the game and even have a better time doing so. I have really had no problems finding a group and getting xp, starting from about lvl 10 onwards.

 

[rubiks-dude]

Sorry, we have some people who have pugged their way to their second and third level 50's already.

The veracity of your claim is dubious at best.

Why would they pug if they're in a guild with multiple people getting multiple characters to level 50? If this is one of those "active" guilds that everyone is being encouraged to guild hop to just so they can level, then why rely on pugs instead of utilizing the guild?

Unless they didn't entirely rely on pugs, only partially, or not at all. That would make more sense. And if they're relying on their guild, then their ability to level becomes tied to what guild they're in, which is a problem. I shouldn't have to guild hop to level.

The problem with that is then there is no reason to kill high level mobs.

It's a bigger problem if there aren't enough people to form groups to level with.

 

[Rijacki]

The veracity of your claim is dubious at best.

Why would they pug if they're in a guild with multiple people getting multiple characters to level 50? If this is one of those "active" guilds that everyone is being encouraged to guild hop to just so they can level, then why rely on pugs instead of utilizing the guild?

Unless they didn't entirely rely on pugs, only partially, or not at all. That would make more sense. And if they're relying on their guild, then their ability to level becomes tied to what guild they're in, which is a problem. I shouldn't have to guild hop to level.


It's a bigger problem if there aren't enough people to form groups to level with.

Even the most active guild does not have players on 24/7.

 

[rubiks-dude]

Even the most active guild does not have players on 24/7.

Then according to some people in this thread, "even the most active guild" wouldn't qualify as an "active" guild if you can't rely on them to get a group.

And if that's the case, if these purported "active" guilds only exist in concept, not in practice, and if people struggle to level regardless of what guild they're in, that just reaffirms adjusting the mentor penalty is the right way to go.

No one suffers, everyone benefits, and the leveling pace of Origins stays the same.

 

[Dude]

Then according to some people in this thread, "even the most active guild" wouldn't qualify as an "active" guild if you can't rely on them to get a group.

And if that's the case, if these purported "active" guilds only exist in concept, not in practice, and if people struggle to level regardless of what guild they're in, that just reaffirms adjusting the mentor penalty is the right way to go.

No one suffers, everyone benefits, and the leveling pace of Origins stays the same.

If your standard for an active guild is that they are on 24/7 in enough force to make groups, then you're playing the wrong game.

 

[VeloEQ2]

People were 50 2.5 weeks after launch and now the game is flooded with them. We are getting even more leveling content with the upcoming adventure packs. Is it slow? Absolutely. It's supposed to be. If they changed the rates the new complain would simply be "not enough content".
It's good where it is at. The population has levels spread out really nicely at this point and their seems to always be groups going on in every tier.

 

[Odinn]

There is nothing broken about exp rates.

 

[Madigan]

Sorry, we have some people who have pugged their way to their second and third level 50's already. I don't know what to tell you other than: you don't need a full group. You need a tank and a healer and you need to kill stuff. There's also no content that you can't do at 48, and collections help a ton for speeding up the high levels. Those level 45 collections are worth an entire level or two. Plus vitality and mentor bonuses are very good as-is.

Agree. Had a 50 for a while now, working alchemy on him and harvesting for my army of crafters. Decided to level a wiz for... reasons.. and I find the leveling is pretty fast on him, in the 30s, I have had 2 level days over 4 hours. PUGs all day every day, in fact my 50 went to 37 on PUGs then got a guild daily group to work with.

 

[Atmozz]

Now you can level fast and drain you credit card.

I'm all for supporting the devs mate, not sure what your thoughts are on that.
If I like the game, I support it, simple.

 

[Maergoth]

I'm all for supporting the devs mate, not sure what your thoughts are on that.
If I like the game, I support it, simple.

Is it actually about supporting the devs? If so, their corporate HQ can be found on google and I'm sure they'd love some unsolicited pizzas and beer. There are ways to "support the game" that don't involve buying into the kind of pay2win that have sent it up a creek in the first place

 

[Zenji]

I'm all for supporting the devs mate, not sure what your thoughts are on that.
If I like the game, I support it, simple.

Some people like paying to skip content and buying player power, and nothing wrong with sending your money upstream to a holding company. I'm sure trickle down works.