Beyond Frustrated...

I think the issue is not that nerf needs to happen but rather they need to take what they learned and apply it to many locations so that one single spot goes not become the game.

I also think that rather then nerf these scenes that a better solution would be to throw a curve ball or Random factor of a change. Like that of road encounters have chances for spawns to change... a greater danger approaches.
Having this type of things in all instances does not nerf them but rather makes them more interesting. May old games since the beginning of MMO's have has such things like rare spawns and the likes which have other rewards in its own. Looking at what some other games did, example Horizons had smart Ai's that would assess battles and build armies to send to location it wanted to take over. Perhaps using this example you have a UT group camping the portals the Cab bosses or obsidian order see that all the troops being sent to stop their plans see that everyone that is going through the portals is being slaughtered thus the strategy changes and they send different reinforcements0 to capture back that spot from the players invading their plans. Another game Rift had similar idea where the different enemies would take over various points / hubs. similar to the Cabalist in the game who attack towns. I think that should be expanded further and perhaps if the cabs are not wiped out they enter the town itself causing chaos killing off NPC's including perhaps temporary killing store vendors until they are destroyed and the instance returns to normal. These are just some ideas to perhaps change the way we play to make it more Dynamix vs Static.

 

I don't think the entire community of shroud is like the person I mentioned, and I am not the strongest fighter, hence going to UT to load up on XP. I do think there is a certain etiquette for that room. Such as, figuring out the best area to fight from, being able to help heal, or at the very least being able to heal yourself, contributing to the fight to help speed things along, and not going afk many times, or if you go afk leave the room so people don't have to watch your health. It doesn't have to be a bad thing to keep those in mind. You live and learn and improve. I told that guy he was being a jerk and kept fighing until I was attenuated. I still achieved my goal and moved on to the rise with a friend who treated me a hell of a lot better than that.

 

Let's become friends then, as you have a solid position going on there.

 

Bro, I am so sorry that you had to put up with this!

I have done UT four times. Once with guildies and friends, another with friends and then twice through the group finder. It is definitely hit or miss when you do it randomly through the group finder. First time with group finder I died twice, but we did eventually beat it (@Arianna thanks for the rezzes). The second the party was all over the place with people blaming each other for not doing this or that. I dropped from the group shortly after that.

What I have learned from UT is that it is totally an xp grind that can definitely be rewarding when done with the right group, otherwise it is just misery.

 

That's probably the best description of UT runs. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. As a rule, I normally join PUGs that I already have guildies in and/or a guildie is starting. I like to chat on voicecomms. Even if it's bad, it's not as bad.

 

Lol, when I told him to stop calling me bro he called me sis and I was like, that's better. Seemed to diffuse the situation.

 

TBH seems like SotA is torn between being an MMO / sandbox and a single player game and one fix damns one side of the coin dependent on how it spins. SotA's state of limbo balancing the needs of both single and multiplayer requirements has brought this unwanted problem to a head.

Single players amongst us all really need a different game server that doesn't get affected by changes so their worlds equilibrium isn't jeopardized as a result of multi player changes required - a big ask both in development and cash I know but needed if these type of issues can be overcome in a swift measures and to successful conclusion for all.

For the multiplayer's amongst us the game needs far more options than just Upper Tears for this to be defused and tbh making it far more defined based on collective skill points or level dependent too. That way you potentially may not have the deluge of lower level players looking to be carried / leech their way through content their not capable to handle. The current format leads to potentially said players being unable to play their character correctly to master other content having skipped the learning curve getting a free ride to level X or Y and then quitting due to their frustration at dying / failing so often. Personally I prefer to group with friends and complete content together feeling we've been challenged and winning wasn't necessarily the expected outcome on first, tenth or even fifty attempts as nailing it properly is far more satisfying and leads to longer sustained life of any game.

From raiding in easier games like WoW through to some insanely tough ones such as early EQ I'm sure many of the MMO players amongst us have cleared content they consider has given them the right to remonstrate on how old they are and how much better it was in their day; however its worth repeating there needs to be some kind of carrot on a stick approach to get people new to this type of game to group more often in content suitable to their level otherwise as when they then venture out into a tier XX+ area thinking their now invincible, it may end badly and lead to them leaving the game early. Therefore in short giving someone a leg up with a few 'free levels' isn't always the best approach even if you're thinking you're doing your good deed for the day you could be killing the longevity of the game and hence why i think in part Port scrapped the way CP's worked especially with the charging for leveling while stood at the entrance that happened for a very long time before being nerfed.

 

Can always try Offline mode.

 

@Elrond I apologise that's what I meant from the way folks commented on how it was affecting their experience, as I was under the impression it was impacting on that too. if not then I thoroughly agree as online mode should be built toward the masses playing and not single player style game. For those that cry out that limits their ability to do stuff then surely that's the case in any MMO style game as majority have group only content.

 

And some of those games failed.... I played a lot of mmorpgs, and they balanced the solo and group and PVP content very well... I play solo, mostly, group with my friends sometimes, and even now and then will group with a newbie to help them out, but prefer playing in online mode, because I like seeing other people, makes the game feel alive, not to mention hanging out with friends .... there are a lot of players like myself, I don't mind the group content they are adding, it is well needed, but golly, geesh gosh, don't take away our hunting spots for group play, add that in a separate zone, like what they did with UT, they need more like that for grouping, and some nice dungeons for both grouping and SOLO play. .... the end, fini JMHO of course ….

 

The issue Isnt the making it harder, right now its great where its at, im concerned about rumours of other changes you were supposedly making to UT..

 

@Chris I agree 100%. When I first did UT and hit the half way point of the wave encounter I thought to myself, "wow that Liche wave was way easier than the Skeleton wave I did just before it.". I think you are spot on here with this fix.

 

What we need are other areas comparable to upper tears. Instead of nerfing the only good spot why not create more of them? Dont they want more people to play the game and make money? If they nerf the ONLY spot people xp in then what is that to say about the development team? They are trying to ruin the game or make it better? Or are they trying to shut up the whiners? They nerfed control points now no one goes there, they nerfed upper tears and the newbies can no longer xp there. These devs think a nerf is going to fix all their problems and all it is doing is making the 400 people that play this game rage quit. I think I am being generous with that number.

Look at the history of nerfs in MMOs, a really bad one can ruin the game. SWG never came back from the combat upgrade nerf. These devs need to realize the problem isnt upper tears, its the LACK of comparable leveling areas. Lets say they nerf upper tears and the very few of the originals that actually give a damn about this game quit.

They are playing with fire and a nerf is FAR from the answer.

However a nerf fixes the problem fast and easy(lazy).

 

Any timetable on that, @Chris ??

 

We have player dungeons coming soon!! FINGERS CROSSED BABY!!!

 

Any more thought given to cap per zone vrs 1 cap for everything?

Would be nice to find a cool area were a quality and planned group could do better than the current cap but also risk much death. A true end game dungeon with all that entails risk vrs reward etc.

 

How are people killing themselves in UT?! That just seems bizarre and something I have never seen. Unless he means people are going full throttle down the rocky hill before running towards the waterfall. Otherwise, if people are falling and dying inside the cave, then they are new players who have not worked up their safe fall and are taking that risk to be there at a lower level.
I never thought the liches were underpowered, it was commom knowledge that you could use the protection of the rocks to fight the liches and that the last wave was always harder than the previous waves. Nowadays all you need is a high level meteor shower skill to kill EVERYTHING even eachother.

 

Oh I see what he was saying about the liches, he was talking about ALL liches im the game. So I take that back.

But I still think if people are dying from falling down that hill, maybe make it harder to get there. Rocky hills are part of the challenge, no need to make things harder because people are choosing to take greater risks. Assuming that's what chris means by death by fall or self kill.