[EQ2:] XP Debt: Effective or Ineffective? A debate.

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I am coming to view it as both.

Ineffective cause everyone has it and (from what I can tell) less and
less people are starting to care about it. It has become the 'norm' to
have debt and a short-lived treat to not have it (I have come to view
time without debt as soe giving me a fleeting 50% XP bonus). When you
are out of XP debt, said condition is usually persistent for less than
an hour.

Surprisingly (to me anyhow), this has translated into a significant
amount of additionaly ingame enjoyment for me and quite a few others I
have talked/grouped with. We tend to venture further into the world;
see new places, fight new mobs and get some pretty good loot.
Additional debt doesn't have any present affect on our advancement (we
will still level relatively soon and won't lose our level if we die
afterwards).

Don't get me wrong, I have not one to die unnecessarily and will run
everytime I know a fight is fruitless; I just find myself laughing
instead of stressing out if I don't make it to the zone... Which leads
me to the conclusion that it has been effective in making the game even
more enjoyable. I don't know if soe intended to make char death less
tramatic; if they did, IMO they succeeded.

Opposing viewpoints?

 

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<rwooden@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>I am coming to view it as both. [effective and ineffective]

You need to define your expectations a bit more. (In)effective at WHAT? It's
effective at making me try to avoid unnecessary deaths. The shared nature of
it is effective at causing MASSIVE frustration when a pickup group member is
stupid. It's effective at making me not want to log in for a few days if I
have lots of it.

>Ineffective cause everyone has it and (from what I can tell) less and
>less people are starting to care about it.

I haven't noticed this. Most people I've grouped with really try to avoid it,
and tend to stay until it's gone if a small amount accrues. If a large amount
of debt is taken (say, a raid with multiple wipeouts), some just plow through,
some spend a few days doing tradeskills or not playing until it goes away.

People that I've met universally try to avoid it, and it seems quite effective
at punishing death.

>It has become the 'norm' to have debt and a short-lived treat to not have it
>(I have come to view time without debt as soe giving me a fleeting 50% XP
>bonus).

You play differently than I. I usually have no debt, and when I get some, it
works off pretty quickly.

>We tend to venture further into the world; see new places, fight new mobs
>and get some pretty good loot.

Here, we're the same. I guess I just don't die as much when doing it. I'm
only L18, though, so it may get harder to avoid or make up debt as I advance.

>Which leads me to the conclusion that it has been effective in making
>the game even more enjoyable. I don't know if soe intended to make char
>death less tramatic; if they did, IMO they succeeded.

I think they did intend this, and I agree it's something of a success. For
different reasons than you do, but it's all good. Personally, I'm glad death
has enough consequence to be something most try to avoid, it makes the
challenges more fun to overcome. So far the balance of that against the
fun-killing frustration of xp loss (which this really is - it's loss of future
xp rather than past xp) is about right for me and my friends.

The big win, though, is in just enjoyment of adventuring. This was true in
much of EQ1 as well - if you're just out to see things and have fun, rather
than grinding out in-game rewards, a little extra time to do so before the
next level is not much harm. If you're only playing to advance the character
to uberness, any slowdown is a failure.
--
Mark Rafn dagon@dagon.net <http://www.dagon.net/>

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

I dont have a problem at all with the system. It's just debt and can be made
back easily enough.

Saying that though i'm not the type of player who simply power levels
through the game. I like to take my time and explore, do quests etc.

I came across one group yesterday who had been killing scarecrows for 10
hours straight! I asked why and they simply said it was great exp. To each
their own but for me thats not playing the game it's just watching numbers
go up.

 

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On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 23:36:18 -0000, "Cheddar" <me@there.net> wrote:

>I dont have a problem at all with the system. It's just debt and can be made
>back easily enough.
>
>Saying that though i'm not the type of player who simply power levels
>through the game. I like to take my time and explore, do quests etc.
>
>I came across one group yesterday who had been killing scarecrows for 10
>hours straight! I asked why and they simply said it was great exp. To each
>their own but for me thats not playing the game it's just watching numbers
>go up.
>
>
I spent a few hours yesterday killing giants, which is great fun (good
xp, lots of loot drops, and lots of quests that involve killing them).

10 hours would get a bit dull, though. Still, you have to admire
their stamina, if nothing else.

--

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

"Mark Morrison" <drdpikeuk@aol.com> wrote in message
news:maiqs0dg82pbn8ai269r7oqnllptii5nd2@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 23:36:18 -0000, "Cheddar" <me@there.net> wrote:
>
>>I dont have a problem at all with the system. It's just debt and can be
>>made
>>back easily enough.
>>
>>Saying that though i'm not the type of player who simply power levels
>>through the game. I like to take my time and explore, do quests etc.
>>
>>I came across one group yesterday who had been killing scarecrows for 10
>>hours straight! I asked why and they simply said it was great exp. To each
>>their own but for me thats not playing the game it's just watching numbers
>>go up.
>>
>>
> I spent a few hours yesterday killing giants, which is great fun (good
> xp, lots of loot drops, and lots of quests that involve killing them).
>
> 10 hours would get a bit dull, though. Still, you have to admire
> their stamina, if nothing else.

Was this on your own or with a group? I am finding it very difficult to find
mob groups that I can solo for my lvl 18 pred.

I'd love to find some that I can solo and who dropped loot now and again.