New Difficulty Feedback: Casual

[quickgrif]

The percentage of people who started playing after MOD 9 dropped and have NOT spent money is very low. Most have bought at least one point bundle. As these people joined only after the game was made "free" they would not have been here if Turbine kept up its old sub only game, which means this is money made on top of the already paid sub clients, for the win. There is no product being "given away". People are paying for it in one way shape or form. Sure there will be a few who try it out and dont pay for it, but they will get nowhere unless they farm for points in order to unlock higher level content. Most are paying for it if not already a sub. People who try the point farming path will be passed up by their point bundle purchasing friends / guildies. This is ALREADY a low percentage of the people who joined after MOD 9.



Its only a loss leader if its a loss, and its only a loss if they have to crank out another server to support the population without having made enough money to do so, which isnt the case. There is no physical product being given out here. The current servers are more populated, and so is Turbines pocketbook due to the new promotional strat.

You have numbers to back these assumptions? Or are you just basing it off your limited knowledge? I know many players who are ftp since the beginning of the game and do not intend to spend money for one reason or another. However I will not make a statement like most ftp will not buy points either.

My one and only point was that casual was something I did not think was needed with scaling already implemented.

[MadFloyd]

Perhaps... or perhaps it the fact that I'm asking *what on earth has this got to do with casual play*.

In related news I hear that Hall and Oates are contracted to do the soundtrack for Update 4 (for f2p only though - premium and VIP will get the much less awesome but still inspiring REO Speedwagon).

LOL. I was hoping for U2 but it didn't pan out.

[MadFloyd]

.

This is by no means an easy button. With ~50% less xp than normal, it is going to be a looooooooooooong process getting anyone up past level 10 on casual play alone. Anyone putting any kind of effort into leveling is going to have to run quite a few quests on harder difficulties. Very few people will stick to casual play, as they will quickly tire of the slow progression, and those who do will probably never run into the veteran players who worry that these guys are gonna riun all of their raids.

btw - how is this any different than vets zerging newbs thru low level quests? That is probably a much worse for them than casual play. The vets do all the work. The newbs learn nothing, except how to run fast, and they get full xp. Can any of you vets who oppose this easy button say that you never allow newbs to glom on to your zerg-fest, power leveling runs?

This is easily my favorite post on these forums.

[krud]

Why do we need casual? If a group of newbies cant get through ww on normal, then they just need to rethink what game they want to play.

This isn't only about the harbor. What about all the refuge quests? How about amrath? You guys went nuts over the ease of the DD quests. If not for those what else is there to run for the non-twinked, non-uber, social group once they get up in levels? There is a much greater disparity among characters at higher levels than at low levels. With more diffculties available it may be possible to design higher level content that can actually cover the wide range of abilities at the higher levels.

[uncus2]

This isn't only about the harbor. What about all the refuge quests? How about amrath? You guys went nuts over the ease of the DD quests. If not for those what else is there to run for the non-twinked, non-uber, social group once they get up in levels? There is a much greater disparity among characters at higher levels than at low levels. With more diffculties available it may be possible to design higher level content that can actually cover the wide range of abilities at the higher levels.

Well said! Rep to you, Krud!

[Chai]

You have numbers to back these assumptions? Or are you just basing it off your limited knowledge? I know many players who are ftp since the beginning of the game and do not intend to spend money for one reason or another. However I will not make a statement like most ftp will not buy points either.

My one and only point was that casual was something I did not think was needed with scaling already implemented.

Dpt. of Repetition Dpt.

Again, this information is searchable on the internet <teh gewgler roolz>

I have made this statement enough times, yet people take more time to type up a paragraph disagreeing with me and telling me I cant back it up, than it would have taken them to search up the information. Congrats on self contradiction regarding the limited knowledge comment. I_actually_did_the _research. Did you?

Most non subs are buying the 50 dollar 5k point bundle once per paycheck or once per month until everything they want unlocked is unlocked. Thats why Turbine just made it a PERMINENT FIXTURE in their store.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=227280

[Chai]

Originally Posted by krud
.

This is by no means an easy button. With ~50% less xp than normal, it is going to be a looooooooooooong process getting anyone up past level 10 on casual play alone. Anyone putting any kind of effort into leveling is going to have to run quite a few quests on harder difficulties. Very few people will stick to casual play, as they will quickly tire of the slow progression, and those who do will probably never run into the veteran players who worry that these guys are gonna riun all of their raids.

btw - how is this any different than vets zerging newbs thru low level quests? That is probably a much worse for them than casual play. The vets do all the work. The newbs learn nothing, except how to run fast, and they get full xp. Can any of you vets who oppose this easy button say that you never allow newbs to glom on to your zerg-fest, power leveling runs?

This is easily my favorite post on these forums.

I have to second the motion.

I see it all too often where someone doesnt know the quest yet enough to metagame through it and the people who have been around for a while tell them to wait there while they finish the quest. I have also seen guilds recruiting people and have them stand in the "lobby" area of the quest right at the beginning while their "Vet" members crush the quest over and over again, farming xp. Deleras part 2, Shadow King, parts of TR etc....This results in moving more people into the higher end game that dont know their character's capabilities and draw backs than casual difficulty would ever deliver.

I still dont believe anyone will be using casual only to level to 16+ and get in on raid content. The base xp for level 4 casual quests is like ~484. Someone would have to run every single quest on casual in that range just to get to level 5, and they still might not make it on casual alone. The paranoia is unjustified. At some point a few of these newer players will get together and crush a quest with good teamwork and playing their roles correctly, then say "man we could have done that on normal or hard, lets try it out." "Lets try the next one on hard too."

- and the learning curve takes off from there.

[quickgrif]

Dpt. of Repetition Dpt.

Again, this information is searchable on the internet <teh gewgler roolz>

I have made this statement enough times, yet people take more time to type up a paragraph disagreeing with me and telling me I cant back it up, than it would have taken them to search up the information. Congrats on self contradiction regarding the limited knowledge comment. I_actually_did_the _research. Did you?

Most non subs are buying the 50 dollar 5k point bundle once per paycheck or once per month until everything they want unlocked is unlocked. Thats why Turbine just made it a PERMINENT FIXTURE in their store.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=227280

Just because you keep repeating it over and over again does not make it a fact. And why should I look up facts for you who made the claim, foolishness. I asked if you have facts and showing point bundles does not prove your point.

FTP helped the game I agree loved the change loved the new blood. But to state most people have bought point bundles from the store is backed by what? And why are we going on ftp when this was casual discussion? We will see how it works out in the end...

[Natashaelle]

I did some testing of lowby casual with my level 4 (before she decided to go on a looooong cruise aboard an airship lol), and I find it to be a positive and useful addition.

K I'm used to soloing and many Qs I will never *touch* in casual, but some of the more annoying ones in the game will become easier to get some xp and favour out of thanks to this.

The new diff. might require some new balancing, but : NEW stuff is GOOD !!!

[Nyvn]

Edit: wrong post