For any devs of gw looking in here.

[wboss]

Yeah I know that a dp level of -60% and health penalties for runes are ok for some but personally it is not for me and I am sure other folks as well.

These 'handicaps', though needed, are set way too high and utterly destroys the fun of the game. Most folks want to play and not struggle.

Yes, i know the answer is dont use high level runes and dont get killed, but when you have no choice but to use henchmen and go into places with rediculously high numbers of .... for example... ice imps, who always manages to cast devistating attacks first which imedietly thrashes your health, stops your skill casting and slows you to a crawl until your a sitting duck unable to hit back or retreat, it kinda takes the choice of not dying out of your hands.

I have also noticed the increasing stupidity of the hench, in particular the healer and protector. When they are needed most I have repeatedly observed them doing absolutely nothing without fail. The hech are basically reduced to extra targets, nothing more. Trying to get any group that is any good and wanting to do the quest or mission you need is also a daunting task and often does not happen so using hench is an unfortunate common practice.

I have also noticed of late that the strong creatures seem to see you way before they are within range and launch devistating and crippling attacks before you can get a good shot in. They cast much faster and have much stronger attacks especially when your max level is, for some bizzaar reason, set to 20 and the strong creatures can be way higher which utterly destroys any chance of improving over them. Why is it set to 20?? seems such limiting and unneccessary cap.

As you, the dev team has refused to answer my questions and asked to post in forums which you say you read, here are a few suggestions:

Set death penalty to -30% not -60% if you feel there is any need or a point to keeping it

Improve the henchmen so that they actually do their jobs and become useful

Get rid of the level 20 cap as this spoils the leveling aspect of the game.

If there has to be health penalties for runes then set major runes to -25 health and superior runes to -50. Also to make it more fair, make the vigor runes stackable.

Thank you for reading this. I look forward to your reply.

[Reverend Loki]

As you, the dev team has refused to answer my questions and asked to post in forums which you say you read, here are a few suggestions:

Actually, a great deal of the philosophy behind their decision making during development has already been answered in numerous interviews and press releases. Don't feel like they have any obligation to answer random questions from any old user who managed to figure out how to use e-mail.

Set death penalty to -30% not -60% if you feel there is any need or a point to keeping it

The DP in this game is remarkable benign. Optional ways the cold have handled death in game: You become a ghost at a distant graveyard and have to make your way back to your corpse; You resurrect at a distant point without equipment, and have to rush back to your corpse to recover your equpiment before someone else loots it (and remember, that big mean nasty that killed you in the first place still lurks about); You lose a huge chunk of experience points, equal to several hours of grind time; Or, your character dies. Roll a new one.

If there was no penalty to dying, then what's the point in staying alive?

Improve the henchmen so that they actually do their jobs and become useful

This is something they are continually working on. They do their job as is, just not as well as a human player. And if you are expecting a bot player to perform as well as a human, you've been watching way to much sci-fi

Get rid of the level 20 cap as this spoils the leveling aspect of the game.

And welcome to Everquest, or WoW, or any other number of ORPGs that require you to plug away at boring tasks for hour upon hour.

The vast majority view this not as "spoiling" the leveling aspect, but rather "saving us from the worst tedium of" the leveling aspect.

If there has to be health penalties for runes then set major runes to -25 health and superior runes to -50. Also to make it more fair, make the vigor runes stackable.

A lot of time and effort has been spent in making sure the game is balanced, and the rune penalties are part of it. Just like there is no such thing as a free lunch, you can't keep getting attribute bonusses without a HP cut. And how does making Vigor runes stackable have anything to do with "fair"?

[wboss]

Well oddly enough I learned to use email way back in the day and quite frankly do not expect free lunches either. However, seeing as the suggestions were just that.... suggestions, and was directed at the dev team. As for fair and balanced game... yes that is what i have suggested. I mean.... a maximum of 8 against hordes of enemies is not what I would call fair... especially when they enemy levels are way higher than yours without any hope of attaining those levels. As for watching too much sci-fi... where did that come from???!???! I have played plenty of games in the past where bots have been used and having used and programmed some on various games, I have a bit of experience in such things. There is a hieracal tree that must be followed with bot descision making , one which can be fine tuned and even set to pre-determined levels. There is nothing so mysterious or hard to make a bot support a key player. It's pretty straight forward. My problem is that they do not perform to even minimal standards I have become accustomed to over the years and on a scale of 10, the performance I would rate at a lowely 2.

I would go on but it is as I originally suspected, this was a waste of time and effort just to suggest a few improvements I feel is needed. I would also point out that I was under no illusion that this post would be taken seriously by anybody who mattered and I have been proven right.

[SteveLord]

dumb thread. they wont change an entire game cuz of a single post from you.

you obviously know nothing about why the game is designed the way it is.

use your head, stop whining.

[wboss]

Yeah I really appreciate the positive input fellas. Makes for good discussion.

Your right of course, they wont change the game because of this post. However, as I have already stated... they are just suggestions for consideration and you need to remember as I have to, that every persons opinion is different. I have said my piece and I'll leave it at that. What happens next will happen. I realise I am in the minority but it helps at times to suggest change to help avoid the game becoming stagnent.

[Zero Tolerance]

*snip* few suggestions:

Set death penalty to -30% not -60% if you feel there is any need or a point to keeping it

Improve the henchmen so that they actually do their jobs and become useful

Get rid of the level 20 cap as this spoils the leveling aspect of the game.

If there has to be health penalties for runes then set major runes to -25 health and superior runes to -50. Also to make it more fair, make the vigor runes stackable.

Thank you for reading this. I look forward to your reply.

If you keep reaching -60DP, go to outpost and re-think your build. Every situation in this game can be impossible to do/flawlessed with the same character. The difference is in skills you put on your skillbar, the way you use them, equipment you take, and your attribute points. Getting 60DP time after time is a sign of 2 thing: bad build [skillset], or bad tactics [read more below]

Henchmen are there to help, not to do everything for you. The game is supposed to be cooperative. Idea is good, reality of course sucks [I know myself, being exclusively PUG player]. Anyway, there are also tactics to use with henchmen. And there are people who completed the game using only henchmen. Some builds for your character will work better with bots, some will work worse.

Level cap is one of the basic ideas of this game. Skill over time. Setting level cap higher does not change anything apart from adding experience grind factor. Id advise not to think that increasing player's level cap would happen without increasing the same for monsters. It is also quite fundamental in rpg games that monsters achieve higher levels than players. Quite often.

The only good thing from changing health penalties on runes would be some minor disturbance for I-anything builds. Minor anyway I suppose. Rune penalties are set for a long time and seem to be working out well for tens of thousands of players, so it is safe to assume there will be no changes here.

Getting swarmed by monsters usually is a sign of poor tactics, esp. so called pulling. I advise reading more on the subject.
In general, PvE in this game is considered too easy, and many players have to try hard to make it hard for themselves. Just do a search on 'solo' subjects and builds. Plenty of them around.

I understand your frustration. I felt it some time ago, shortly after I started playing this game [got to Beacon's Perch and left through Lornar's exit, on lvl13 IIRC ele. You can imagine the rest, haha]. Truth is, once you get to level 20, and start learning areas, monsters, their habits and skills you will start to learn how to fight them. And after a short time, you will be doing solo trips, killing multitudes of monsters on higher level than you. Without breaking a sweat. Cos it is an easy game. Just play more.