> Have you tried this? Even L30 mobs take enough out of you
> that soloing you can probably only keep 5-15 mobs clear before
> they start to respawn. (Unless you're a necro, then you can
> keep all the seafury cyclopses in OOT clear solo. :) A L50
> in a L15 dungeon like Befallen I can see killing everything
> that moves, but there's really not much there to attract a
> L50. There's the paw quest, but that's easily solved by
> moving that quest item to a higher level dungeon.
Yes, but think of the overcrowding. I almost never group with less then 6.
Look at Sol A today. A single level 50 can single handedly take out the
Predator, Foreman and camp the Efreeti all at the same time. Why would they
do this? Well, Kobold Hide Boots, Platinum Arm Bracer and an Obsidian
Shard. Think of the number of high level druids that come to Sol A for
these things... Imp Skin gloves, Molten Cloak, Drake hide belt, Drake hide
sleeves and pants all are sought after by level 50's as well often. I've
seen level 50's do a lot more then that in Sol A as well. I've also seen up
to 7 level 50's, all solo, in Sol A at the same time in the past. Think of
how many groups of high 20's and low 30's that displaces. Trust me, 7 level
50's can control practically all of Sol A leaving not much for anyone else
to hunt. Where do they go to hunt? Now throw in perpatual overcrowding,
thanks to Verant's poor planning, and suddenly the game is broke.
Now turn this same scenario into a dungeon crawl. You end up with mabye 5
to 10 level 50's crawling through a place like Sol A killing everything that
moves and all playing solo so that they can get their shot at the named
spawn. Suddenly the overcrowding situation has just gotten 10 times worse.
As for loot, there is a heck of a lot of level 30 loot that level 50's still
wear (especially druids) and let's not even bring into this Item Farming for
e-bay, Item Farming for platinum and Twinking...
> You do have to share the mobs with other groups. It's just
> not obvious because it gets mixed into the time it takes your
> puller to find something. If there are 20 people in a dungeon
> with 100 mobs that respawn every 30 minutes, then that's 5
> mobs per person per 30 minutes. Doesn't matter if you're
> camping one spot or sweeping through.
Where do you pull to? If the spawns are random, then suddenly there aren't
any safe rooms to fight in or pull to. Also, have you ever pulled Kobolds
in Sol B? There isn't ever enough to go around and there is no clear
distinction of where one camp ends and another starts. What happens is that
it is common for it to degenerate into the puller trying to out damage,
nuke, charm, etc. another puller so he can get the mob back to his group.
> It will be the same - the rate at which mobs respawn has not
> changed. Better sweepers would have an advantage, but better
> pullers have an advantage now. The overall rate of mob killer
> per person per hour cannot change.
Giants in Rathe Mountains are another example of this... They seem to spawn
randomly around one of the central areas there. If you get a two or three
groups and maybe a level 40+ hunting them, then suddenly you end up playing
"pull wars". In addition, to make matters even worse, with the way Verant
has designed the game, you often can't tell if a mob is engaged or not. Now
put this degenerate situation in a dungeon setting where valuable loot is
the reward and you end up with hell part 2.
>
> Aren't most of the magical items in AC randomly generic, like
> in Diablo?
Yes, but they also have EQ similar "unique" items that are available only by
quests. I've not played a lot, but I do know of a quest for a powerful
sword that requires 7 keys from beginner dungeons. It's not uncommon for a
high level player to "higher" newbie players with equipment or money to go
into the dungeons that he cannot to collect the keys so the quest can be
completed. The newbies get to hunt without competing against a higher level
player, get great experience at the same time and if they want to, they can
grab 2 keys in each dungeon and get the sword for themselves as well.
Suddenly you have a different twist on a player based economy :-). I'm not
saying its better, I'm just saying that EQ as is is broken.
Taneran Dreamweaver
<Clan Jax>
Bard of the 40th Song
Prexus