The emphasis has always been on power, but it does not have to be that way.
There are other ways to give a sense of progression.To me it does not always have to be combat related either.
Progression could provide options too,rather than an increase in power.
A buff could be related to how well an alignment took care of a unicorn for a week or two
That way you are in it together to earn a buff and we won't get segregated,on the contrary;we have to work together to earn the boon(Guess a unicorn would provide a purifying boon of some kind)
Buffs can encourage socialization.The realization is the deciding factor
One of the many problems is the emphasis on power
We are supposed to be into it together, yet we are segregated by things like power.
Overall I think the mayor problem is the realization with most MMO's.The design direction always following well-known recipes for these MMO's
While in reality,many of these well-known recipes do not encourage teamplay at all
and actually achieve the opposite; segregating players
>We will be segregated by level range, as people are in WoW. No high level friends or low level friends, because you don't need each other and literally don't even have reasons to interact. Very unhappy with that scenario.<
I assume what you mean by this is that inability to give high powered buffs to lower levels reduces the opportunities to build friendships across level ranges. I could point out the many things that people can do together while widely separated in level but that would be unfairly taking advantage of the literal meaning of what you said - obviously you didn't mean for it to be taken literally.
Two questions - and these are genuine questions not means of expressing an opinion.
(1) If a cap was put on how much benefit a low level could get from a higher level's buff would this bother you IF the buff was still significantly more powerful than the buff would have been at the low level's own level.? In other words, if the buff was reduced to prevent trivializing content totally but left powerful enough that it would make a noticable and beneficial difference as compared with a low level buff. So the low level might jump two feet in the air and yell in joy but not jump THREE feet in the air and SCREAM in joy.
(2) Is this a nostalgia issue - we did it in EQ and it would really be fun to do it here - or in EQ did it actually make a difference and get more people to be social, join the community and stay with the game? Above and beyond other level-agnostic ways to interact such as twinks, advice and guild invitations.
((please no one take my conscious use of the term level-agnostic as a favorable reference to the EQ2 dungeons of that name which did more to ruin that game than any other change I can think of with the possible exception of mercenaries))
I think they are a gateway to socialization, a step toward direct interaction. But I also believe that socialization takes time and the propensity to both give and recieve. In that case, buffs are not required for socialization.
Sometimes I think socialization is the farthest thing from people's minds when they're out LF buffs to make content easier for the duration of the buff. They want to maximize their experience gain and not necessarily socialize. And that's cool. They're goal is leveling or getting through some specific content, not socialization. Though that may take place later for sure.
So socialization really is dependent on what an individual wishes to pursue, or invest their time in. Buffs certainly encourage socialization, but does not compel it.
edit: spelling
@Amris
I don’t get some of the points you’re talking about
Amris said:I suspect it will be the same for buffs. I'm already discouraged by there being mounts, so that people won't be bothered to stop and buff each other because they are mounted.
Why would people not buff each other when mounted? Because they have to unmount? Unmounting is the same as stopping your run, so I don’t see this as a problem. If you mean people won’t cast speed buffs because of mounts, that’s another situation, and easily fixable, make mount speed stack with movement speed buffs. And keep in mind that getting the mount will only happen at max level and it will be a rare achievement (I hope), I don’t expect to see lvl 30’s mounted.
Amris said:VR has made it loud and clear plain that they fully intend to outright discourage players from giving newbies weapons and gear.
….only level appropriate weapons….
They never said anything about level appropriate weapons. They did say you can use any item at any level but you won’t unlock its full potential until you reach the appropriate level.
Amris said:…Only level appropriate rezes …
…Lvl 50 monk can't drag corpse for a lvl 8 person who fell in the well in BB…
I imagine there’s nothing wrong with higher level players rezing or corpse dragging to help low levels, so VR won’t limit anyone on this.
Amris said:We will be segregated by level range, as people are in WoW. No high level friends or low level friends…
They will have a mentoring system, where you’re scaled down to your friend’s level so you can help him, you won’t be OP but you’ll be a major help.
Amris said:…because you don't need each other and literally don't even have reasons to interact…
The main reason I interact with other players is to help them in whatever they need, the impact of my actions doesn’t need to make the lower level player OP, it needs to help him in some way.
OakKnower said:I think they are a gateway to socialization, a step toward direct interaction. But I also believe that socialization takes time and the propensity to both give and recieve. In that case, buffs are not required for socialization.
Sometimes I think socialization is the farthest thing from people's minds when they're out LF buffs to make content easier for the duration of the buff. They want to maximize their experience gain and not necessarily socialize. And that's cool. They're goal is leveling or getting through some specific content, not socialization. Though that may take place later for sure.
So socialization really is dependent on what an individual wishes to pursue, or invest their time in. Buffs certainly encourage socialization, but does not compel it.
edit: spelling
Yes many want to maximize their experience gain
could be seen as emphasis on power too ?
The goal of getting through content first is of a competitive nature most of the time "the game starts at endgame" comes to mind
Beating other players to a fictive finish line in order to stop playing completely after a few weeks and move on to the next release,realizing the fictive goal of getting to the finish line ment nothing.Been there.Maybe players pursue the wrong things and then they never find what they are looking for because all the MMO's have the same design directions because it is what players have come to ask for. Falling in a neverending cycle of hopping MMO's ,nobody really realizing what we're looking for anymore
And then we are back at the mayor problem with the realization of design direction in MMO's talked about previously.
Players need to be free to have goals,yet self-sustenance is a destructive component for MMO's I have come to believe
We have to be needed to each other, or there is no strong reason to stay in touch nor interact with other players
And the contacts we have ,have no true value if we can achieve all our goals by ourselves
Indeed buffs can be a gateway to socialization,but does not compel socialization by itself
thing is the design direction for most game aspects need to be such socializing gateways if we ever are going to have an MMO worthy of the multiplayer tag
jpedrote said:@Amris
I don’t get some of the points you’re talking about
Amris said:I suspect it will be the same for buffs. I'm already discouraged by there being mounts, so that people won't be bothered to stop and buff each other because they are mounted.
Why would people not buff each other when mounted? Because they have to unmount? Unmounting is the same as stopping your run, so I don’t see this as a problem. If you mean people won’t cast speed buffs because of mounts, that’s another situation, and easily fixable, make mount speed stack with movement speed buffs. And keep in mind that getting the mount will only happen at max level and it will be a rare achievement (I hope), I don’t expect to see lvl 30’s mounted.
Amris said:VR has made it loud and clear plain that they fully intend to outright discourage players from giving newbies weapons and gear.
….only level appropriate weapons….
They never said anything about level appropriate weapons. They did say you can use any item at any level but you won’t unlock its full potential until you reach the appropriate level.
Amris said:…Only level appropriate rezes …
…Lvl 50 monk can't drag corpse for a lvl 8 person who fell in the well in BB…
I imagine there’s nothing wrong with higher level players rezing or corpse dragging to help low levels, so VR won’t limit anyone on this.
Amris said:We will be segregated by level range, as people are in WoW. No high level friends or low level friends…
They will have a mentoring system, where you’re scaled down to your friend’s level so you can help him, you won’t be OP but you’ll be a major help.
Amris said:…because you don't need each other and literally don't even have reasons to interact…
The main reason I interact with other players is to help them in whatever they need, the impact of my actions doesn’t need to make the lower level player OP, it needs to help him in some way.
I agree jp... there seems to be a little too much doom and gloom in those points. There's actually a good amount of evidence to the contrary. If VR wanted to outright prevent higher level players from giving items to low level players, they would make them untradeable or put hard min lvl requirements on them. So in fact, they are encouraging that sort of thing. It's not unreasonable to make it so that a level 1 character can't wield an OP flaming sword and 1-hit everything for the next 20 levels. The scaling will be such that it is still an upgrade for items someone of that level would be able to get on their own.
And players will absolutely not be segregated by level. Exactly the opposite. For example, we know for sure that zones will have wide level ranges so that high level groups will pass right by low level groups on the way to content of their own level. There may be a level 30 camp not too far from a level 5 camp. Not only does this make exploration more challenging and exciting, but also people of all different levels will literally cross paths quite frequently. This encourages socialization, cooperation, and inspiration.
I'm sorry you are getting discouraged, Amris. The wait is long. But I think if you remain objective when assessing things, you will see that VR has not actually specifically said anything that supports your concerns.
dorotea said:I assume what you mean by this is that inability to give high powered buffs to lower levels reduces the opportunities to build friendships across level ranges. I could point out the many things that people can do together while widely separated in level but that would be unfairly taking advantage of the literal meaning of what you said - obviously you didn't mean for it to be taken literally.
That is what I mean, but it goes past that. There are actually very few things that players do together across level ranges. Once in a while, a low level person needs help in some games (like EQ, but not in a game like wow, as example). The opportunity to buff is an opportunity to, AT WILL, choose to make a big difference in a person's game experience. In that case, unlike almost all others, it is the higher lvl person seeking out the lower level person, not the other way around. There is a change in relationship dynamic there that is present in no cases where it is a petitioner seeking assistance.
I've not see, for example, a high level warrior sitting around with newbies. I haven't seen a rogue sitting around doing stuff with newbies. It's people who can help them who spend time with them, because those who can't be of clear-cut assistance have no reason to be there. What does a warrior do for a newbie? Maybe give them items they've looted--but we will be strongly discouraged from even that.
Outside of corpse runs or buffing or selling (usually to twinks), I see very little interaction between high lvls and low. I'd be quite interested in all these many ways (no sarcasm) that high levels interact with low lvls. Across a goodly number of games, I just haven't seen it except as one person outlevels the other and they try to stay in touch (and often fail).
dorotea said:Two questions - and these are genuine questions not means of expressing an opinion.(1) If a cap was put on how much benefit a low level could get from a higher level's buff would this bother you IF the buff was still significantly more powerful than the buff would have been at the low level's own level.? In other words, if the buff was reduced to prevent trivializing content totally but left powerful enough that it would make a noticable and beneficial difference as compared with a low level buff. So the low level might jump two feet in the air and yell in joy but not jump THREE feet in the air and SCREAM in joy.
If it actually mattered, and really made a difference in their experience. In my opinion, it's not worth doing otherwise. And the problem is, if you make it so that players will jump up at all to have it, PLers will utilize it. They are absolutley, beyond all doubt, intending to make it undesirable to give newbies stuff. They'd made that plain and clear. If I cannot make someone's day, if I cannot help, then frankly, the gameplay had better be so incredible that it blows my skirt up. Helping others has been my MAJOR motivation. In WoW, I only leveled up to heal for raids for my friend. Then he quit the guild and I was stuck feeling "needed but not wanted". Same in several other games.
That's what I love so much about being a healer or a CC. I can really make a difference. But that alone is not enough for me. I enjoy seeing the people around me happy.
dorotea said:(2) Is this a nostalgia issue - we did it in EQ and it would really be fun to do it here - or in EQ did it actually make a difference and get more people to be social, join the community and stay with the game? Above and beyond other level-agnostic ways to interact such as twinks, advice and guild invitations.((please no one take my conscious use of the term level-agnostic as a favorable reference to the EQ2 dungeons of that name which did more to ruin that game than any other change I can think of with the possible exception of mercenaries))
It really does make a difference. It's not a nostalgia issue. I've played a LOT of MMOs, and I see high lvl people hanging out and spending time with newbies due to buffs, far more than any other factor, even all the others combined, excluding only sales areas... but then there won't be many high lvls selling to low levels either, because... dun dun dun... they are discouraged from doing so by scaling items and by other factors intended to actively discourage gifting newbies. Yes, it absolutely makes a huge difference over advice and guild invites. And twinks won't be allowed in this game. As well as the fact that I rarely spoke with twinks in other games that (to any degree) allowed for them. They were generally grinding to high lvl within a week and everyone they met along the way long since forgotten. Groups, in most games, are commodities for twinks.
jpedrote said:Why would people not buff each other when mounted? Because they have to unmount? Unmounting is the same as stopping your run, so I don’t see this as a problem. If you mean people won’t cast speed buffs because of mounts, that’s another situation, and easily fixable, make mount speed stack with movement speed buffs. And keep in mind that getting the mount will only happen at max level and it will be a rare achievement (I hope), I don’t expect to see lvl 30’s mounted.
Combination of things. Yes, because you have to unmount, and unless mounts are instant, it's not just the same as stopping. People are inherently lazy, having to resummon a mount just because you buffed someone is enough of a deterrent to a lot of people. Couple the 5 ticks to mount with buffs being scaled, thus rendering them (at best) "nice, but who really cares", all motivation to bother is instantly gone.
Most lvl 30s aren't the ones buffing unless it's sow or clarity. It's usually high levels buffing. Which is another reason why I don't think "well, that's nice" buffs have the same "omg, that felt great!" value.
jpedrote said:They never said anything about level appropriate weapons. They did say you can use any item at any level but you won’t unlock its full potential until you reach the appropriate level.
Weapons will scale, in other words, and will be merely comparable to what they can already get. Ergo... intentionally making it undesirable to give items to people. They are working on avoiding twinking and powerleveling. In so doing, to prevent "what I don't like," they are crippling everything good that comes out of the thing that is misused by some people. Baby with the bathwater.
jpedrote said:I imagine there’s nothing wrong with higher level players rezing or corpse dragging to help low levels, so VR won’t limit anyone on this.
I will wait and see. We must ensure that people not rely on high levels for anything... it could be abused. Meh.
jpedrote said:They will have a mentoring system, where you’re scaled down to your friend’s level so you can help him, you won’t be OP but you’ll be a major help.
I'm skeptical. With their obsession with preventing powerleveling, you're not going to be "a major help," you're going to just be able to group with them on your "progeny", for whom you have to retire your main. Nope, sorry. Nobody I'm going to do that for.
jpedrote said:The main reason I interact with other players is to help them in whatever they need, the impact of my actions doesn’t need to make the lower level player OP, it needs to help him in some way.
So when your buffs don't help them, and giving them stuff doesn't help them, and you can't help them kill anything, and they aren't on CR, and there's little to nothing you CAN do for them... what are you going to do then?
That's the rub. There's nothing you can do for lowbies/ newbies in, say, WoW, or Neverwinter Nights, or multitudes of other games. They don't need you, and there's nothing you can give them that's any better than what they've got. Besides which, you drop in, give them something, and then what?
I'm eager to hear the many, many ways in which high levels interact with newbies. Everyone keeps saying they exist, but I've played so many games and the answer is that they kill them in PVP games and they mostly ignore them in other games. I'm not being sarcastic or facetious, I'm honestly saying that I just don't see it happening. Sure, here and there it's "can I ask you for advice," but that's on the unusual side by far.
How do you help newbies that isn't buffs, giving them stuff, or them needing you for a CR or to kill something so they can loot it? Genuine question to all.
EDIT: Quotefail
>How do you help newbies that isn't buffs, giving them stuff, or them needing you for a CR or to kill something so they can loot it? Genuine question to all.<
1. If you can mentor down to their level or they can mentor up to your level you do things together.
2. You do crafting or harvesting things that can be done more effectively together than alone. If such things exist, of course, as they did in Vanguard.
3. You talk to them and, if it seems to be a good fit, get them to try out your guild if you have one. I am heartily sick of the "if you don't group you might as well play a single player game" attitude. Grouping is important - if I didn't agree with that why would I be HERE? But chatting, crafting, harvesting, giving advice, getting advice, giving gear or materials, getting gear or materials, roleplaying all are MMO activities that don't require killing a single mob together.
That heartily sick comment did not refer to anything anyone said in this thread - it was a general comment on what I see too often in chat in MMOs and on the forums of other games and I can't overstate how wrong I think it is.
4. You roleplay together (most of us may not be roleplayers but some are).
5. You talk with them. Just having friends is really important even if you never actually group together. Someone to talk to is often much more important than someone to group with. I can group with any low-life douche that has the same target I do.
6. You give advice - you take advice. The former is obvious but old maxim "No one is so old that he cannot learn or so young that he cannot teach". You may have more to teach the level one than she has to teach you but the road goes in both directions.
dorotea said:>How do you help newbies that isn't buffs, giving them stuff, or them needing you for a CR or to kill something so they can loot it? Genuine question to all.<
1. If you can mentor down to their level or they can mentor up to your level you do things together.
2. You do crafting or harvesting things that can be done more effectively together than alone. If such things exist, of course, as they did in Vanguard.
3. You talk to them and, if it seems to be a good fit, get them to try out your guild if you have one. I am heartily sick of the "if you don't group you might as well play a single player game" attitude. Grouping is important - if I didn't agree with that why would I be HERE? But chatting, crafting, harvesting, giving advice, getting advice, giving gear or materials, getting gear or materials, roleplaying all are MMO activities that don't require killing a single mob together.
That heartily sick comment did not refer to anything anyone said in this thread - it was a general comment on what I see too often in chat in MMOs and on the forums of other games and I can't overstate how wrong I think it is.
4. You roleplay together (most of us may not be roleplayers but some are).
5. You talk with them. Just having friends is really important even if you never actually group together. Someone to talk to is often much more important than someone to group with. I can group with any low-life douche that has the same target I do.
6. You give advice - you take advice. The former is obvious but old maxim "No one is so old that he cannot learn or so young that he cannot teach". You may have more to teach the level one than she has to teach you but the road goes in both directions.
But how many people do that?
1. Okay, with your friends if they start the game, but how many people would bother to do this, just to hang out with newbies? I've not seen that be a regular thing, even with people who like alts.
2. I didn't see this happening with unequally leveled people very often. I saw people do it with friends, with very little interest in branching out to others. Indeed, from everything I saw of this, it was rather cliquish. Stick to your guild because PUGs might suck at timing it.
3. Recruiters may well do this. But outside of "it's time to grow the ranks," there's very little motivation to just go to random people and start pushing them to join your guild. For what? Do you get bonuses for more guildies? Indeed, most of what I've seen isn't people deciding, "today I will go in search of low lvl people to invite to guild," it's been people stop to buff low lvl people and a convo gets started. Or they give them an item and convo starts. Then eventually the guild invite happens. Or someone's on a twink or alt and a person does well in a group.
4. RPers will RP. We're sort of a unique bunch. :p
5. Realistically, how often do high lvls stop to "just talk" with low level characters without any motivation to do so? Just stopping to chit-chat is not typical in any game I've seen. Not saying it doesn't happen, but is it really common? I see people COMMONLY buffing newbies and end up talking... but I see high lvl players sitting in zones waiting for a rez and they don't strike up random conversations. People keep their conversations to guild, sometimes OOC, but not generally just stop to talk to each other. I appreciate that very social people do this, but they are the minority. Most people need an ice breaker
6. Again, how many people ask for advice outside of their guild? Very, very few. It's rare that people ask for advice at all, most just look on the friendly old internet.
These are all great ideas, but they are all extremely less common than buffing, CR related help, or quest assistance by good friends or guildmates.
You agree that buffs that make a difference to new players are good. I agree that buffs that make a difference to new players are good. You agree that as long as the buffs are good enough to make a difference they don't need to be so powerful as to turn the new player into a temporary God. I agree that as long as the buffs are good enough to make a difference they don't need to be so powerful as to turn the new player into a temporary God.
Woot ((cheers)). Our job here is done let's go off and infest ... ((cough)) ((blush)) I mean contribute to some other debate.
We don't agree, but we can agree to disagree. :p
I don't think a "uh, thanks, I guess" buff is good enough. I just never will. If it doesn't make the newbie happy and feel like something special just happened, I bluntly don't see a reason to take my time out of my day for "uh, thanks". Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.
>I don't think a "uh, thanks, I guess" buff is good enough. I just never will. If it doesn't make the newbie happy and feel like something special just happened, I bluntly don't see a reason to take my time out of my day for "uh, thanks<
We agree - this is what I just said.
However, we can disagree about whether we agree ((laughs)).
@Amris
You're in the mindset of "If it's not OP then it's useless", it's a valid mindset, but i don't find it correct in this situation.
If you're giving a player a buff or a weapon/gear that's 10-20% stronger than anything else they can get at that level they'll be more than happy, just because it's not OP doens't mean it's not helpful or that they won't apreciate it, if you're giving them the best thing they can have at a lowish level they'll be happy trust me.
jpedrote said:@Amris
You're in the mindset of "If it's not OP then it's useless", it's a valid mindset, but i don't find it correct in this situation.
If you're giving a player a buff or a weapon/gear that's 10-20% stronger than anything else they can get at that level they'll be more than happy, just because it's not OP doens't mean it's not helpful or that they won't apreciate it, if you're giving them the best thing they can have at a lowish level they'll be happy trust me.
They also mentioned it being "special" though. And there's a difference between being useful and being special. If the buffs are 20% stronger than what they'd normal be able to get, they'd certainly be useful and I'm sure the recipient would be genuinely grateful. But would that be special? Not really. It probably wouldn't be especially memorable. So really the bottomline is, which is more important:
1. OP and memorable
2. Balanced and not memorable
@Bazgrim
Never look at it that way, thanks :)
@Amris
I understand you viewpoint better now, thanks to Bazgrims Memorable VS not Memorable post, I was only considering the gameplay aspect (sorry), but you're indeed right if it's really OP then it will be alot more memorable.
It's up to the devs now.
@Amris can help newbies with gaming advice, answers to their questions on how to find this or that, explain the perception system to them if they aren't aware of it, offer to mentor down and group with them. Offer to guild invite. Or rescue them from an area where the mobs are red to them (have done this as a wizzie in EQ...newb was plunked down near Karnor's and I just happened across them by accident) gave them a port home. There are all kinds of ways to help newbies, just have to be aware of the particular situation and opportunity. :)
Cana
Zikkar said:Rint said:I believe buffs do help encourage socialization and community building; I’ve met and still maintain great friendships with people all over the world due to either them assisting me with buffs or vice versa. The way EQ’s buffs were able to be cast on any level player really felt right, and IMO is a small part of what made EQ special for many people. Here’s hoping Pantheon follows this path…
This a thousand times
A thousand times your thousand times!
vjek said:2) In group, each role specific and/or class specific buff is a permanent aura, when grouped. You simply always have that benefit if they're alive and in a group and within LoS of you (or within say 100m or something huge). None of this rebuffing every 6 minutes nonsense. That is, if you should get a unique benefit from having me in the group, that unique benefit is always there, whatever it is.
Mobs should be able to debuff you too, that's important.
Favor long time ailments. Like a rat could causes a disease
basilisk stoned,harpy weak,spectre cursed,minotaur insane ,dragon incinerated ,goblin poison.
With long time ailments ,you'll know the true friends from the good weather friends ;when they stick around during the difficult times
jpedrote said:@Bazgrim
Never look at it that way, thanks :)
@Amris
I understand you viewpoint better now, thanks to Bazgrims Memorable VS not Memorable post, I was only considering the gameplay aspect (sorry), but you're indeed right if it's really OP then it will be alot more memorable.
It's up to the devs now.
He did explain it remarkably well! :)
Bazgrim said:
The answer is yes.
Rint said:
I believe buffs do help encourage socialization and community building; I’ve met and still maintain great friendships with people all over the world due to either them assisting me with buffs or vice versa. The way EQ’s buffs were able to be cast on any level player really felt right, and IMO is a small part of what made EQ special for many people. Here’s hoping Pantheon follows this path…
Bazgrim said:They also mentioned it being "special" though. And there's a difference between being useful and being special. If the buffs are 20% stronger than what they'd normal be able to get, they'd certainly be useful and I'm sure the recipient would be genuinely grateful. But would that be special? Not really. It probably wouldn't be especially memorable. So really the bottomline is, which is more important:
1. OP and memorable
2. Balanced and not memorable
I agree with all of this stuff above. Let lowbies feel powerful for a few minutes. I was buffed by a high level druid while running up the ramp from East Karana to High Pass when I was fairly new to EverQuest. I still talk to her today, almost 18 years later.
Bazgrim said:jpedrote said:@Amris
You're in the mindset of "If it's not OP then it's useless", it's a valid mindset, but i don't find it correct in this situation.
If you're giving a player a buff or a weapon/gear that's 10-20% stronger than anything else they can get at that level they'll be more than happy, just because it's not OP doens't mean it's not helpful or that they won't apreciate it, if you're giving them the best thing they can have at a lowish level they'll be happy trust me.
They also mentioned it being "special" though. And there's a difference between being useful and being special. If the buffs are 20% stronger than what they'd normal be able to get, they'd certainly be useful and I'm sure the recipient would be genuinely grateful. But would that be special? Not really. It probably wouldn't be especially memorable. So really the bottomline is, which is more important:
1. OP and memorable
2. Balanced and not memorable
Make them memorable! :)
-sorte.
I would also like to have them be memorable, but to have a distinct disadvantage. I would like speed, invisibility, and other non-combat buffs to be given without reduction to lowbies. However, have some mechanic (e.g. 80% exp reduction) to prevent abuse of combat related buffs from the power-leveling perspective. Combat buffs would still enable a lowbie to complete that tough quest that has been plaguing them or to run god mode through the fields collecting all the bat wings, but not significantly increase the speed of overall progression if repeated ad nauseam.
I remember getting buffs from high level players and honestly feeling like there were good people to be found in the end game. I also remember tagging along with a friend for a "super awesome damage-shield farm session" back when I was clueless as to what powerleveling was. It was an absolutely terrible experience that ruined the immersion of a whole zone for me, kind of like finding yourself in a backroom of a party where people are snorting coke.
Just last night, someone sent me a tell in P99, "Do you remember that bard you buffed and helped in oasis the other day? I put my bare away and I made a druid. I'm going to level him up and help people the way you helped me!"
This doesn't happen in any other game because in every other game, power levelers are more important. No price is too high to prevent it...
Giving advise, stopping in to say hello, inviting to guild.... not one has the impact so deep, so intense, that a person will re roll a character because of it and remember you 14 years later EVEN IF you didn't become friends as a result of it.
I can't put the bad guys first in this situation. I just can't see them as more important.
Shucklighter said:Let lowbies feel powerful for a few minutes. I was buffed by a high level druid while running up the ramp from East Karana to High Pass when I was fairly new to EverQuest. I still talk to her today, almost 18 years later.
And that's a perfect example. Those eternal friendships are far more important than maintaining balance for an hour. Buffing a newbie is not totally gamebreaking. It usually does more good than harm. It doesn't last long in the grand scheme of things and there's been plenty of times I've still died while uber-buffed cause I got cocky. It's not like you're truly invincible.