PowerLeveling is ruining the game.

[mac173]

BTW - someone mentioned getting to lvl 22 in 1.5 hours?!? I know I am slow and not a good player, but I've put in at least 8 hours (I would estimate in the past two weeks), and I am only just now about to hit lvl 9 with my BL. Am I really that bad of a player? (Just curiosity - as I do not care, I am having fun either way.)

Thats doing pretty well. I usually think a level an hour is doing well. The comment about level 20 in 1.5 hours referres to a Twinked toon being PowerLeveled.

[TheOriginalGronker]

The problem is that people think that to have the most fun is to be level 65 and be raiding PoP and GoD getting +200hp items.  Everything else is just wasted time ... egads there is so much fun stuff from 1 to 65 I wonder why everyone is in such a rush to skip it all.  I was one of those "level a toon to 25-30 and then reroll" people for ~3 years before Luclin came out and I got hooked on my BST.  My favorite thing to do was still to wander around and see what I could do, check out the zones, really test myself every chance I got, and try it with different classes.  Its both surprising and somewhat frustrating that so many 'new' EQ players (less than 3 years played) that are on now dont know squat and have been limited to the PC-HHK-whatever-PoP levelling treadmill.  Yet they'll argue with me to no end that their pets regen quicker if sitting, that 2hb is useless without double attack, and "how do I get to Gunthak".  All you PL guys have missed out on the absolute blast that all sorts of zones have to offer.  Nothing wrong with spending time in some of the old zones having a blast .. just that groupage is harder to come by when "exp grinding" is more important than fun.  I guess thats the fate of every level-based MMORPG though.

[DontPetBear]

Gronker wrote:
Yet they'll argue with me to no end that their pets regen quicker if sitting

Rofl, you know how long i had my pet /sit because i thought he needed it like I did.  Man, so funny now, but what a pain back then when i'd forget to /follow before i went and pulled again.

[Mindlet]

Just out of curiosity last night I checked levels 1-20 that were not anon. I found about 5 that were not bazaar mules.

[Noxdowne Draggout]

Died twice and had to zone twice during a hard EF LDoN due to the 65 cleric with 115 AA's having such a small mana pool that she was /oom every 5 CH's.

This was with SD, C5 and paragon every 15 mins.

I told her I had 7100hp's and she was CH'ing me when I was down to 70% AFTER I lost agro.

We lost our adventure (my first loss ever) and she was more concerned with getting the loot from the named in the zone than winning.

Added another high level nitwit to my do not group with list.

I would never powerlevel someone unless I was sure that they had 100% comprehension of the games mechanics.

/RUDE to Sony for making so easy to get people to 65.

Nox

[Kitvear]

Think we've all seen it all at one time or the other but my favorite is...

Friendly lil Warrior, 65, mob comes in and I try my hardest to get behind the mob, she pulls the mob back so her back is against the wall then TURNS around so the mob has it's back to the wall and the pets happily smash it into the wall or up the wall and she keeps saying "I don't know why this keeps happening.

I notice that I tend to get resentment if I try and tell somebody else how to play thier class but how does a warr get to 65 without knowing how to keep the mob in the open?

Sigh, just ranting but that's what this Forum is for..

[Skanda]

I had a guildie for a while that was convinced he needed to buy a second EB item for his pet. In addition to the fact that he didn't know the first thing about  how to play beastlords (was asking other people for invis, no control over pet, etc). He was the worst player I have seen to date.

[Lacerate]

Had a 65 BST come by me one day in DPS where I was hunting hoppers outside their cave (was 52 at the time). Someone trained 3 of them on me while I was fighting one. Left Kitkat on the initial hopper and FoL'd the other three and kept rotating them till warder knocked off 2 then finished off the other two  together.

65 BST just watched and when I had finished asked how I was Fearing MOBs. Imagine his shock when I told him with a level 9 spell  :roll:

[Oneiromancer]

To be fair, FoL is one of the few Beastlord spells that can't be bought at a Beastlord or Shaman spell vendor.  If you're not one of the kind of people who checks out spell lists on whatever random website, you'll probably never know that you can cast that spell.  I think it's only sold at Paladin and Cleric spell vendors...oh, wait, the only exception I can see on Allakhazam is one of the Shaman spell vendors in Cabilis, which makes sense since they're KoS to any Paladin or Cleric spell vendor except in PoK.  Still, not exactly obvious that we get that spell.

Game on,

[sharszaik]

I started playing EQ about 2 - 3 months before RoK came out. Back then my first toon was a half-elf warrior homed in kelethin. Man was it easy to get groups , tons of friendly people around - I still remember 2 , unfortunatelly not their char names , but one gave me an Avenger's BattleAxe which I thought was amazing. And the other gave me a Bronze BreastPlate (after about 2 days of trying to figure out why all the small armour pieces wouldnt fit - go figure HLF meant Halfling not HalfElf :) )

Anyway back then ton's of people would come to greaterfay and do their own little quests to give out what they considered 'garbage' but myself at the time and others considered 'great' .... Now though , 5 years later , as others have said newbie areas are empty , and you have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding a true newbie. Sony's made it so simple to level now - with the tutorial that gives a +5 to all main stats +10hp/mana , 2 backpacks , and like 3 -5 gold depening on cha ... not to mention the 'find' command - but then again theres no real newbies so why bother.

But I agree that PL'ing has ruined the game some ... although its at a point now that if you are a true newbie you have 2 options , stay around lvl 20 for ever trying to solo your next lvl - or get PL'd. Its pretty much impossible to find a group at lower levels.... but then again my mains a 54 Ranger (yes after 5years main is only 54 , was one of those get to ~20 and remake a new char) and Ive got just as hard of a time finding a group with him.

But on another note Im having a blast with my new Ikky BST.

[Talissia]

It is sad when the only enjoyment you get out of a game these days is when you go into a NEWBIE area and help the legit new ones. I have spent hours upon hours talking to, passing out very minor buffs or cast a heal here and there when the group cleric is OOM or just slow on the cast. I have not logged on in a year and a half due too IRAQ mission, but now after reading the boards I am afraid of what I might find when I get there. I will truly feel like a newbie myself again, but that is ok, I have many quests that I am currently in the middle of that I plan on finishing. I really miss the old school days, and most understand what I am saying.

[Liga]

When I was new someone gifted upon me riches aplenty.  They only asked that I return the favor to fellow new players like myself.  So I have, but ONLY to new players or those in need.  I gave away my Golden wraps to a 52 beast when I got my cudgel.  Why?  Because it made her day EQ-wise.  All told, Ive likely given away over 100k in plat and items.  Yet some players dont deserve even an answer to a simple question.  If I get a tell from someone using "leet speak" then I will put them on ignore or just ignore them completely, regardless of what their question or situation is.  When I played a cleric I was the same way.  Want virtue?  Not if youre saying d00d or plz or the like.  If someone cannot take the time to speak to me as an intelligent human, then they do not get anything from me.  I deserve that much.  Yes, I know that there are language barriers, but if that is the case, then precede your request by saying such.  Im not here to get you to 65, Im here for me.  You dont pay my subscription so dont expect me to make your levelling easier just because I can.

[Zashir Swiftpaw]

When I was new someone gifted upon me riches aplenty.  They only asked that I return the favor to fellow new players like myself.

Back before Kunark came out, I had a 50th level magician that I'd leveled up.  When I (finally!) got my SMR, I put together a little "care package" for an int caster -- nothing much: oracle robe, int wrists, earrings, dragoon dirk, etc., and handed it out to a newbie magician in WC, telling her to pass them on to another caster when she was done with them.  She was thrilled, and I was happy.  I went on my way and didn't think about it again.

Flash forward 3 years.  I'd sold that original account, played DAoC for a year, come back and started another mage and my beastlord from scratch.  Around 15th level for my mage, a wizard came up to me and offered me a care package, saying that this had been passed down through many characters and I was to add something to it, and pass it on to another newbie after I was done with it.  I thanked him and opened it up, and saw: oracle robe, int wrists, earrings, dragoon dirk and quite a few other things.

And at that point, I remembered my little care package from 3 years previous.  I would love to know whether or not this was the same one, and whether that magician had started a tradition.  It certainly was the same stuff, with more things added in... my original was a single backpack, but the care package was up to 3 10-slot backpacks now.

I used it until I was around 35th level... added in a better bracer and passed it on to a young enchanter.  I truly hope the tradition continued past that point.

That kind of thing keeps me playing this game.  It's not the raids or content or loot or levels.  It's the people.

[Liga]

Heh, well, by riches aplenty I mean 7 tink bags, hiero cloak, SMR, OOIV, and other smaller things.  This was near the start of Velious.  They also got me from 4-11 in about 10mins by doing the turn ins with the dorf in Kaladim.  Been so long I forget what it was now  :oops: .

[Valsuvious]

I don't personally see PLing as that big of a problem.. assuming two things first though

first.. the person being PLed should have a character that's he's already played to the higher levels.  I'd personally think that 65 should be the minimum, but I'd go with 60 I guess. I say this cause it still is far too easy now a days to hit 65, however, at least once someone is 60 they should know how to get around a little bit.  

I Pled my beastlord up to 65 using one of my guildees shaman.  I think that overall it took 6 playing days to get him to 65 with elemental access (minus fire).  However, in PLing my beastlord, I realize myself right now that even though I'm one of the best equipped shaman around, I don't know shit about how to play a beastlord effectively.  I think that you can learn how to play the game overall with your main, but you cannot play that next class to the fullest extent until you have spent a considerable amount of time on them.  I also have a ranger that was given to me by a friend, and I know offhand that I can't play him either like I would like to play.

So, overall, I think that maybe PLing has hurt the player base alot by making some people 65 without knowing to how to play their class.  I will tell you straight up that I cannot play my beastlord or ranger up to the standards of some other people that I play with.  However, because of my background, I do have a good knowledge of what is and can be expected of me.  This is what I think though might be missing from the people that have been PLed.  I got to 65 on my shaman by refusing to be Pled by my real life friends and by soloing/grouping my way and traveling from location to location peddling my sow potions.  This got me around in the game and allowed me to properly learn my class.