Runes of Magic US / AU

I've been reading a lot of posts about the decline of players and nobody wanting to run content.
So I would like to help people realize that the game has changed many times and how these changes
have affected the game.

Before the "memento revolution" lol, the game was rather small but it took a very long time to
progress. It took me months just to get to lvl 35!!! Each zone took maybe a week to explore,
learn and clear because all we had was crap green stats at that time. First I did howling
mountains, then varanas, and aslan, and I ran FA then NoM in pugs, then doing sacilla steps and
dragonfang ridge, for my 2nd class, then on to Ystra, taking hours to get the stupid elder
reindeer lol. Eventually Ystra was done and I moved on to OS, then ravenfell, then weeping coast
and savage lands then AV. Point is it took ages.

BUT NOW I can power level a toon to thirty in under 5 mins!!! Seriously 5 tiny minutes bam, lvl
30. That's a big big change. And we can power level to 50/50 in no time really. And even if you
can't find someone or pay someone to get that many quick levels, we NOW have Coast of Opportunity
to get people leveled in days versus what used to take months to do.

NOW we have butterfly dailies, shell gear, mem gear and eoj gear!!!! OMG That's all solo stuff
except GG which is almost the only thing many of our guildies do together besides siege. But with
all that, who has time for pugs and clearing end game content? People do their mini-games, they
do their dailies, they do some events, they solo/duo DoD or GCE for mems and they progress at
their own pace.

It boils down to the path of least resistance. If you don't require people to group to get stuff,
like they did when everyone ran HoTo day in and day out, or ZS & DL, and it's easy to get stuff
on your own NOW, chances are most people will pick the easy way.

Some people go through this new long solo process and wonder why they can't find people to do end
game content or any content, well it's pretty simple, they're all working on their toons!!!
They're just not ready like you are, or, it's not worth it as some have said in other threads,
and they choose the path of least resistance.

A lot of low levels complain about not getting runs in HoS, DL, ZS, RT, etc. But they don't
realize that things have changed so much that those instances are not REQUIRED to progress NOW.
You can buy great IX and X stats cheap and make dirty gear better then any clean statted HoS gear
that was ever made because the stats are double what they used to be. Basically, you can have
clean statted HoS for pennies by making dirty gear with the NEWer stats.

What these low levels need to understand is the high levels are doing the solo stuff because
that's what they've been given to do and nearly required to do in order to progress their toons.
But they should also realize or be educated in the fact that they can progress without running
all of the old content if they choose. They can get powerleveled or do CoO, farm 15 stacks of dog
meat, and make 10 wicked pieces of dirty statted gear that will get them to lvl 65+ where they
get wicked blue gear better then the old HoS crap.

The other thing people should realize is that everyone is different. Some will help more then
others. I try to educate people on how to progress quickly and help them with quest information.
Partly for selfish reasons, because I want lvl 75+ people next to me in siege, who even if not
yet geared can at least hit a target. But I also think it's much more valuable then running them
through HoS, wasting time waiting on 12 people to do something they can solo naked at level 75+
lol
There's always the set skill argument. And it's a good one. But I'm not saying don't run stuff.
I'm saying understand why it's hard to get runs for that stuff, and understand you can solo stuff
later if you progress quick, and gear up using all the solo gearing options we NOW have. But it's
a choice, you can go slow, spam LFG for groups all day and form groups, you may find like minded
people and all the power to you if you do! Just have fun either way.

All that said, the occasional run for fun, why not, but again I don't advise players to search
endlessly for people to run that content when it's not needed. And I certainly don't run that
everyday because it's what we did BEFORE. I've changed with times, I've accepted the changes.
If you do really want to run that stuff badly that's great, but I advise my new guildies to wait
for a run to start and join in on occasion and dirty up a purple they grabbed quickly. Heck I run
people on occasion through it and they're so happy to have a purple. But I do it fast, don't wait
around for 12 people if you can avoid it.

But even better suggest a run once, if it's dead (no replies), keep questing, do your mini games,
farm some dog meat. It's all solo and it all sucks but that's the game now. But it was also the
game when I farmed Moxa in aslan for a week straight, ok maybe it was a few days, but you get the
point.

Also, realize that healers and tanks are going to have a hard time because they can't solo mem
farm like many others can. It's gona be tougher, but it was your choice. On the flip side, when
you're geared you'll be hounded by every person to tank or heal for their party. So take the good
with the bad. But I also recommend having a somewhat dps option, you do have 3 classes NOW after
all.

Anyways, that's my rant, hope I've helped some people understand the game more honestly. I'm sure some will not like what I've said but I don't care I only read forum when server is down. LOL So to those, go ahead, flame away, I honestly don't care and doubt I'll even see it. But have your fun.

Well many thanks for the mostly positive replies.

As for the spamming I can understand how that may annoy some people, just like any ignorance annoys some people, but I also understand the many good points Gilderoi has made. He basically reminds us that everyone is different.

BUT, what annoys who is not really the issue. The point is that the game has changed bigtime and the best thing we can probably do is try to educate new players and stuck players, especially those who want to progress quickly but are frustrated.

I can only imagine what a new player experiences when going into this game that was originally designed one way but now has so much added stuff it's confusing.

So I think the best thing we can do is try to educate new players or frustrated players about these changes. If you see someone asking for a run for HoS, it would be really nice of you to ask them if they are aware of things like dirty statting and mem gear, and let them know they can progress without HoS. But it's not always easy, they often think they know better or just not open to people's advice.

Still, it would be nice of you to inform new players about things like CoO, dog meat dailies, honor parties and how to make gold farming blend runes, music mats etc, to buy some cheap X stats etc, or just ask them what they are having throuble doing. If they say they are having trouble getting groups for HoS and DL, etc, you can inform them that it's not required and why so many don't run those like they did before, because they're doing events etc, and that they can do them too if they dirty up some gear, get their questing done, and start really building their toons with endgame gear.

Again, it's all a choice, and if they say ya I know I just wana HoS anyways for fun, or they don't have time, or don't like repetitive stuff, that's their choice. I wish them the best of luck finding like minded people and hope they enjoy the game.

As I said, I have no problem with people running for fun as long as they have no problem with me not running for fun. Besides needing to do events and farm mems most of the time, a big reason I don't run those old instances is because I ran them hundreds of times when they were new instances, not a few dozen times, hundreds and hundreds of time. I never wana see DoD again but yet I still find myself there some days. But even I like to feel nostalgic (can't spell) sometimes. Again everyone is different, but I would like to focus on the issue of educating new players. I think that will help us keep more players and get more players who can actually contribute, if we can pull them away from their events or minigames for a few minutes. Seems like everyday I hear, yep right after i finish GG. UGH

And before someone brings up the issue of mechanics and class skill/knowledge, that's a different issue, something that comes with time and experience. All the skill and knowledge won't help if you don't have statting and progression knowledge.

But it comes back to helping others and sharing knowledge versus burning bosses for them. Tell them about codex pots, housemaids, holy pets, hero pots, cards, titles, runes, plussing, crit rate, crit dmg, clean tiering, dirty tiering, strong stims, caviar, mems, eojs, shells, poms, elites, buff rotations, skill rotations, addons, macros, events, and whatever else you know that I don't.

I don't want to discourage people from running old content but I really want them to understand they don't need it to progress. I don't want them to get frustrated thinking they absolutely need to run it, but can't find people to go with them. Then they may just think the game is dead and quit instead of understanding how the game has changed.

If they can get quick runs, or find like minded people to run for fun, then all the power to them.

Most people have their own agendas in this game, but in my experience guild leaders try to control things way too much. Many are self-appointed with something to prove I guess. I've been frustrated with guild leaders agendas for a long time and their unfair loot rule practices but that's a whole other topic!!! I shouldn't even bring it up!

But my point is that guild leaders MIGHT do things they feel will keep players happy even though it may not be what's best for them to progress. They MIGHT feel that as long as they're running something they're keeping players entertained. Or, they MIGHT just get stuck in their habbits and they may not even realize themselves how they may be slowing down people's progress. Even Trav who brought it up realizes that being a guild leader may affect his perspective.

I don't claim to know all guild leaders and all their agendas. But I know my agenda is to educate people and help them understand all of these things. Obviously my agenda, other then actually just feeling good about helping people, is to have more people in the market for stuff I sell. If even half of all new players get stuck at level 50 or 60, and can't use the event or dailies I farm to sell, then I'm not helping myself by not educating them.

So even I have an agenda. But I hope that it won't distract people and I hope they'll realize I'm honest and I'm trying to help them for mostly unselfish reasons, if that's possible. But I will completely understand if someone says they want to take it slow and experience the old content, it's their choice. But maybe at some point, if they're educated, when the time comes, they'll be able to progress when they have had their fill of the older content.

Anyways, I hope I don't get ripped a new one by all the guild leaders. lol I guess if they feel the need to respond to that part of my message then they prolly really identify with it eh?