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Game update 49 to bring dramatic leveling speed increase for 20-70
Nadia
Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
www.massively.com/2008/09/17/everquest-2-leveling-from-20-70-to-become-drastically-faster/
Whereas it currently takes on average around 164 hours for a player to advance from 20 to 70,
it will soon only take around 100.
To compensate for this change, Adept I spell drops will increase.
Experience Changes
forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m
With GU 49, we're changing the level curve. Traditionally, we've only quietly lowered it a little bit with expansions. This will be the first time we've significantly changed it. With that in mind, I'd like to give a little insight into the changes, and some of the additional related things that will be going in to support and enhance them.
Why are we making this change?
Quite simply, we want people to have a better play experience. When you think about levelling through a 10 level spread when we do a level cap raise, there are a lot of other players around. The game feels really alive, and vibrant, because you've got people around you making your experience different every time you log in. Now look at levelling alts, especially in the 20-70 range. It's a completely different experience, especially if you don't have a few friends doing the same thing with you. What we want to do is to get new players into the game faster, give them a better experience while they're levelling up, and at the same time, give some of you folks who've been with us for a long time a chance to level up new characters without spending forever doing it. More on this later. This change to the level curve should also help veteran players choose which content they want to play through rather than always playing the same levelling path every time you create a new character.
We'll also be slightly increasing the drop rate of Adept I spells while solo to compensate for the increased pace of levelling. I'm sure this will also help out all those folks trying to level up transmuting too. The 1-59 item changes that went in recently should also help lower level gear drops be more useful to newer players.
To also try and get people interested in going back and maybe helping new folks a bit, we're increasing the amount of achievement xp earned by the the person mentoring the lower level player. This amount increases as the level difference increases, from 50% at 6-10 levels difference to 300% at a 50% level difference. Now, this achievement xp increase only applies to combat & loot achievement xp, not quest & exploration achievement xp. We don't want to encourage people to find someone to mentor only for a few seconds, we want to encourage mentoring during an adventuring play session. Between 1-5 levels difference, there is no bonus. This is going to be a delicate balance here, because we also want to keep level-appropriate adventuring being the primary source of achievement xp.
So about the curve!
We track a lot of data about how much xp is gained while actively out adventuring (questing, grinding, etc.), which gives us a pretty clear idea of how long the average person takes to get to level 80. That amount of time is 260 hours on average. I'm sure many people can do it faster. I'm sure many people are slower. But that is the average time it's taken over the last 35 days. A large part of that time is the 70-80 period of time. I'm not particularly eager to change that - there are a lot of players in that level range, and there's a lot of content for people to play through. The big sticking point is actually from 20-70, and that's where people will see the most change in time to level. To give you an idea, the old average from 1-70 was ~164 hours. The new time sits at ~100 hours. What we didn't change much were the bookmarks, which is to say, we didn't change the 1-20 experience much, nor did we change the 70-80 a whole lot either.
The last thing I want to talk about is unlocked xp bonuses. This won't be coming in 49 at this point, but they will be in 50. The process is simple - for every character that you have at the current level cap (80 for right now), you will unlock an account-wide +10% xp bonus for your other characters. This bonus will stack for each character you get to the level cap, up to a maximum of 50% bonus.
If you log onto Test to check these changes out, please also keep in mind that Test has an increased rate of experience gain, so Test will always be faster than the real level scheme. Also please try and keep in mind that players more experienced in EQ2's content already level at a vastly increased rate - not just through knowledge of where to go to xp, but also through friends to power level new characters and money for collections. Right now, this change to the curve will result in lower level characters receiving an xp bump based on where they were in the curve. We'll have to see how this shakes out and whether we want to look into changing how it works before 49 hits live.
This is not about making the game "easier", I think very few people find themselves challenged by levelling a character. It's about making it more approachable, getting a better player experience through the mid-levels, and getting newer players to interact with veteran players. 
Have a good evening, and hope the new stuff on Test treats everyone well!
Comments
On the one hand, it makes it seem alot like WoW. On the other hand, it will be quite a relief to get an increase since its been taking forever to gain xp starting level 50 and its been kind of annoying.
I'm not sure if this change is good or bad.
Since they have raised the level cap a lot since the release they will be forced to do this to get new players. most players do get a bit turned off to spend that long time to get to the level cap, that's why wow did the same before.
If it's a good thing or not? It is a good thing if they trying to get new players.
But the game still needs more work, the graphical revamp, they need to make all the items in all areas equally good (Look on an item lvl 15 from antonica and one of the same level from Kunark), and they need to use effects like lightnings, shadows and fog better. EQ2 is still a quite good looking game but it could look a lot better with some work.
Interesting changes ahead, and good news for all my alts. I just wish they'd do something about the kill xp for the level 70+ content in Kunark too. Being forced to quest-grind through all those faction lines seriously turns me off. I don't mind soloing and small grouping through it occasionally, but the option to go on large group killing sprees would make the process a lot more bearable. With only one dungeon designed for low 70s (Karnor's Castle), and the rest designed for later 70s, it can get a little boring. A couple more instances and some decent kill xp in these areas would benefit imo. Being forced to quest grind to get to 80 sucks, and I've only done it the once, with a second character about halfway through the Kunzar Jungle stuff. Everytime I log that character in I'm just put off by the amount of questing I still have ahead of me.
Here's hoping the next expansion doesn't go down the same route as far as xp gain goes. I do not like being forced to quest all the time.
Currently returned to Norrath after disliking Hyboria.
Smart move by SoE! I just wish they changed it to 20-60, since 60 can start raiding and I'd think you would reach 70 much before having the right Fabled gear. Another thing they should change is not apply this change to Live Gamer servers, because character prices will go down for sure.
Other than that, great change.
Well I guess it will help them with most players today.
However the reason I quit EQ2 was because of the changes they made early on like no real death penalty, getting rid of the strong mobs not in dungeons, and dumbing down the crafting.
I am not a hard core player. I played only a few hours a week, but I was never in a hurry to reach the highest level. I was just looking for a long term game and thought I had found one. Oh well.
I guess the needs of the many really do outweigh the needs of the few.
Support Bacteria, its the only culture some people have.
See, thats the difference between you and most of the other people that play EQ2. WE realize that the game is called EVERQUEST for a reason. The game is ABOUT questing.
I'm a chronic EQII quitter over the time it took to find groups, get stuff rolling, quest and level. So I'd get stuck solo'ing or duoing levels. On top of that, ALMOST everytime I left the game (bought the game before DoF was released. Never played more than 2 months at a time) I left with two or three late 20's or early 30's and got frustrated at the curve to level.
My zerker's in his 40's and seeing an update like this stuff massively posted... makes me think about rejoining norrath after I have my fun with Lich King, or have the 100 play hours needed.
They did hit the nail on the head by saying it's not fun for 164 hours, so... will it become fun for 100 hours?
Time will tell I guess.
Very tempting, now if they can add a few character slots per account so we can benifit from this I'll rejoin.
I'm not so sure this increased leveling speed is a good thing.
Seems more and more people just want to get to end game and for what? I have been on EQ2 for over 3 years now and don't have a single alt at max level 80. I'm getting close but not there yet.
What is so great about rushing to the end, there is so much content that if the leveling was slower, there could be more people around to group and enjoy the adventure. When you get to max level you get what? Grouping/raiding the same content day after day? Wow how boring is that? Then you get the complainers that say there is nothing to do.
I see a lot of posts in the forums on this site for people wanting "Sandbox" games with no levels. So for them there would be no end game. Well that can happen here if you take your time and enjoy the game for what it is.... A Fantasy MMORPG.
EQ2 has been great with all the free updates for all levels, and a new expansion every year. If you took your time and enjoyed the adventure, think how long you could play this game before getting burnt out because you have nothing to do.
Well my guild mates and I will figure a way to enjoy all the content at our pace like we have done since we started playing..... That is slowly.
So enjoy that faster leveling. In my opinion it is not the correct way to go.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
More dummying down.
Dam shame EQ2 is heading more and more to catering to the whiny Gimme Bear...
they are slowing removing the challenge..
Why not just make everyone lvl 80 and be done with it thats what the lil cry babys want
I really want to know what the fuck the developers are smocking.
The reason why the server are so deserted is because they watered down the game so much that loyal subscribers just got fed up.
On the other hand watering down the game won't bring any more customers, since players who like easy games already play WoW happily.
What a bunch of wankers.........
/agree
This is so obvious why don't developers get it?
Copying WoW will not attract players away from WoW, offering something different will.
My wish would of been that the redo the quest progression and make the 20-70 experience as fluid as the 1-20 experience is in Timorous Deep, but that would be expensive, so this is a cheap way of doing the same thing.
In my experience other games who have simplified their games do not lose very many players because of it, they will gripe for a few days when the patch goes in and post about the old days, but rarely leave the game. And I do believe that it will bring in some new blood. I know a few people who will be giving EQ2 anpother go when this goes live.
Personally, my biggest gripe with the game is the lack of character slots, and am not quite decided to rejoin the game since I cannot start any new toons....
They are complaining because its SOE and they have a gripe to moan about and have never forgiven because of SWG. I'm getting quite sick of hearing it honestly.
See, thats the difference between you and most of the other people that play EQ2. WE realize that the game is called EVERQUEST for a reason. The game is ABOUT questing.
Don't get me wrong Moirae, I do like EQ2. I love the lore, and the whole setting. I love the huge quests, the HQs, epic quests, tradeskills etc. I just wish they had added more ways to level. The sudden change they made for RoK was a little disappointing for me. Despite falling in love with the actual zones, I found myself being forced to purely do quests to get to max level and take part in the raidzones. It was okay doing that once, but when it came to alts I had very little interest in doing it ALL again. And the zones are laid out in such a way that you have to do the quests to gain faction and progress further. Sure the majority of the quests are brilliantly realised, and add plenty of depth into the world around you. But sometimes you just want to kick back and do a few instances and suchlike, but you gain virtually no xp for doing them, it's purely for the loot and (for the first time in a zone) the AAs.
They didn't do this with DoF, KoS or EoF. I never understood why they felt the need to do it with RoK.
I still love the game though. It hasn't been dumbed down too much for my liking. And I'm avidly waiting for GU49 with baited breath!
Currently returned to Norrath after disliking Hyboria.
Everquest 1, you know the original, was designed so most experience was earned from combat with quests as a sideline. So much for the name theory.
Agreed on the style of EQ, but back then even part of the experience by quests was something pretty new, hence the name. Compared to todays MMO's there are very few quests, but todays games built on what the older generations did and they noticed that people are not all ver good at making there own fun and quests are a great way to keep them playing and paying.