NO MORE ALEXANDER(NM)!

[Taei]

Incorrect. Anything is better than playing with randoms you don't know, and doing challenging content with friends is the best thing this game has to offer.

Sorry to ruin your perception, but most statics are not groups of friends, you should pay attention to your PF more often. Getting rid of statics and unlocking content actually would allow you to play with more than 7 other friends

[Kosmos992k]

This is a bit wrong, CT dropped i100 gear and WoD dropped i120 gear, true.

However, they later added in items that upgraded soldiery to i110 and poetics to 130 (the same items that dropped in scob and fcob) void ark is doing the exact same but i believe they are putting in the items on launch rather than waiting

A pity that they are not holding back those upgrade items, or initially adding them as extra drops in Alex savage, and then later adding them as drops in Void Ark.

Oh I just remembered the hunt fiasco when Oils and Sands became trivially easy to get through hunts and suddenly every server was awash in Zerg armies...they can definitely avoid that this time as well please.

[TheUltimate3]

I dont see how removing NM would make Savage more rewarding. If anything they need to give Savage unique mechanics and the like. But fully removing it? No, nothing would be gained in doing so.

[LeeraSorlan]

A pity that they are not holding back those upgrade items, or initially adding them as extra drops in Alex savage, and then later adding them as drops in Void Ark.

Deleted my post because i forgot to quote you but you found it anyway lol.

nd yea idk, not really a big issue, it will have been 4+ months since savage has been out, which is usually when they let everyone play catchup

Also they currently ARE drops in savage.
Gobtwine, gobcoat etc, these are the things that make eso gear i210. These are currently drops in alex savage and they will be the items that drop in void ark

[Averax]

I have 4 points to make

1. Not everyone is driven to work harder by their "mighty need" to complete the content at its hardest. Some people play to have fun and to absorb the story, because this is a final fantasy game.

2. Not everyone can devote the time required to be in a hardcore progression group.

3. Lore should never be gated by hardcore content.

4. Honestly, there's already a content drought, and your suggesting limiting a portion of content to a handful of players. Ahaahaha.

[Kosmos992k]

Deleted my post because i forgot to quote you but you found it anyway lol.

nd yea idk, not really a big issue, it will have been 4+ months since savage has been out, which is usually when they let everyone play catchup

Making Savage mode more unique and delaying the upgrade items in Void Ark, but putting them in Savage would appear to be a way of rewarding raiders for running Savage though. Don't get me wrong, I still think people grinding gear in Normal and getting tired of it are making a choice, but at the same time I think it is only fair to make the savage version more rewarding in future to give raiders more of an incentive to play. changing up mechanics, adding Bosses and maybe even a bonus level - without altering the story elements would seem to help that, as would not prematurely allowing other gear to be upgrade to match the raid gear.

[Fevelle]

Get over it.

You can already dye your Savage Equips (not forgetting that they're 20 levels superior than the Prototype version), that's more than enough. And you get an exclusive mount. Savage is just hard content, it's just there for the sake of the challenge, and it's WAY more balanced to have a normal mode so everyone can experiement the content than having only savage because a handful (just see the numbers of who cleared the Savage) of the players want all-exclusive content.

"new 24 man raid will drop upgradable items to make our ESO 210 + new gear set from the 24 man raid and the new relic will drop so no point on doing savage at all imo..."

Wasn't it like this since the beginning? Zetas on par with Dreadwyrm. And I really don't get these equipment LV complains, since the explorations will bring iLV210 that everyone can have with some grinding. I'd sit down and play, because by what we have seen and read until now, raiders won't have an exclusive tier of higher iLV equips anymore and that's GREAT to know.

[WingsOfAzrael]

if you dont like savage dont do it, simple as that

[zosia]

As it stands now, savage alex is slowly killing the raiding community. I have seen several statics implode over the last month. This was not happening in BCoB, SCoB, or FCoB. I think our server has lost about a third of the statics, if not more, that were around in ARR. SE really threw the baby out with the bath water. Alex NM destroyed the mystery and and intrigue that usually accompanies very difficult raids.

There is a serious problem with the current model of alex NM, alex savage, and the soon to come void ark. There is little to no incentive at this point to actually do savage alex, just like SCoB SCoB savage. I know what people are going to say "but you get access to bis gear earlier than other people." Yeah, except the beefy left side pieces are locked behind a3s and a4s and if we are going to be honest with ourselves, not many groups are going to get those two fights down. Also, Coils were easier so people had access to the raid gear for more time before the freebies came along. With 3.1 5-6 weeks off, a majority of raiders are losing motivation to keep progressing because why do it? They know the story. In six weeks, they will get the freebie items from void ark. There is only the intrinsic value of overcoming a challenge. That's it, that's the only reward for clearing savage alex at this point.

Our group is really pushing for an a4s clear before 3.1, but it scares me to see the raiding community falling apart. I feel like if we ever lose one or two of our critical roles, our static would be in danger since the talent pool playing at this level has shrunk.

Raiders have no story reward.
Raiders have no time to appreciate the gear gap between savage gear and antiquated gear with void ark coming in 3.1
Recruitment has become an absolute nightmare because this content is not designed for midcore raiders.
In six weeks, alex will lose it's appeal of gear rewards.

Other than the date of the clear achievement, there is currently little incentives to do this content. The e-peen clear date reward is good enough for some, such as myself; yet, we know that all sorts of people raid for all sorts of reasons. Gear and story have been taken out of the savage equation.

I feel like Yoshida went full captain Ahab from Moby Dick this expansion. It's like he took it as a personal goal to make the only real raid in this game a challenge for groups like lucrezia and blue gartr. His 'white whale' was stopping any group, lucrezia and the sort, from clearing the main end game raid in a few weeks... Well, he accomplished that with great devastating effects to the entire raiding community, he threw the baby out with the bath water. "Raider" and "non-raider" are such polarizing terms that people forget that there is a stratum of skill level in each category and that most raiders don't play at the same level as people who will get a4s clears.

Alex normal should have come out one month after savage just like wow does it's LFR and Normal. Also, it should have been designed with the general raiding population in mind.

[StrejdaTom]

Snip

Thanks for this reply OP. I hope you don't mind if I save it and quote it in future in threads like this.
You managed to express my opinion really well.