Quote Originally Posted by Afania View Post

Also I'm not sure why I'm suddenly the synonyms of terrible group of player unwilling to change and bash against every noob. Only opinion I ever disagree in entire discussion is killing the long term goal(which doesn't affect new players at all) and pop-up window + !(which doesn't exist in every RPG title, it's not needed in RPG games). Rest are against flaws and holes in opinion that's irrelevant to the topic too.
I apologize for singling you out. Having re-read your posts, at least you chose the high road versus some of the more cruel comments like "go play WoW" that seem to be cropping up in these threads.

And while I totally agree that you have the right to come here and voice your opinion, I think the context of this discussion has become far too focused on specific "solutions" that really don't solve the core problem.

If I may elaborate:

I'm asking the question "what would it take for me to approach my old friends who quit and ask them to re-join without laughing in my face?"

Well...

Travel times have always been a problem for most friends who quit. The few times we could both get on to play together would be absorbed by the meaningless minutae of getting to the same place at the same time with the right jobs.

Home point warps are an example of something the dev team has implemented to show that they empathize with this concern.

But this is merely an example.

It is one solution to a myriad of problems.

There are still overarching issues with the design of the game.

Let me give you one example. "New", "Fun", AND "Rewarding" content is added on a regular basis currently. But it is all designed for level 99 players in iLvL gear.

I'm not necessarily opposed to that, but consider these hypothetical friends I want to invite to the game.

They hear about some of this great content like what a Wildkeeper Reive is and can't wait to try it.

There's just one problem.

They need to do LB 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9; build fame for various quests; max gobbie bag to carry gear; level up to 99 along this process; simultaneously advance through missions to meet various requirements; unlock all sorts of access through wild means; level things up such as automatons and skills...

Ahhh just eff it...I'm not interested in coming back.

A lot of those things are just part of the game and need to be accepted, don't get me wrong. Skilling up has always been a core component of the game, and should continue to be. The same goes for automaton skills and the like.

But adding a key item to resolve needing 3 people to open a door in Garliage, and failing to do the same for the Necropolis is just one of many examples where the dev team for this game just don't get it.

See the bug report I posted yesterday for another example.

You admit in version update notes that you know a simple animation is broken and needs to be fixed, and then you just never do anything about it.

Now

If you don't believe SE is partially attuned to these facts, hmmm...

I mean Trust and RoE are perfect examples of them generating new content that scales well across a multitude of levels.

Moblin Maze Mongers was never a terribly popular event, and had flaws due to congestion, but it was a GREAT event in terms of scalability. With MMM and level sync, I could have my level 30 friend who rejoined the game play with my existing level 75 party.

In that regard it was a huge success. But more importantly proves my point that it is very possible to develop content that encourages cooperation between the many different strata of players in this game.

But it requires those 3 magical components: "Novelty", "Fun", and "Rewards."

So no, I'm not saying that I think adding map markers or reducing bloodpact timers will solve my major grievances.

But the measurably declining server populations should be a wake up call for everyone that the ship needs to be righted.