I knew it!!!!!!!!! (ups, necra was faster) Btw, it is just a hunch, but I have a feeling, conversation may be drifting away from where OP intended it.
So after reading this whole thread and thinking about it, I think a good happy medium would be to implement the level based zone in mechanic, which it sounds like is in the works. This would alleviate almost all of the pre-requisite flags and allow them to be done out of order, which would really help. One of the biggest road blocks is getting into Torment and missing Saryrn. It would still mean that fire access is hard since IIRC Sol Ro (and Tactics) were never able to access solely via level, but that is what it is.
This was an AK special. Tactics level access didn’t exist on live until they redid level access across many expansions around 2007. But yes on AK level access got you into everything but ToSR, Elemental and Time. Also PoNB and HoHB I guess.
Saying this however I personally do not care either way on this specific issue but why isn’t it that way here? I always hear the term akkurate thrown around for other things
Well on AK early on, it started without level access. Infact most (all?) of the bypass quests didn't provide the flags they should've. So if you were trying to sort of emulate the life of AK, it started without level access then we got it. Which it sounds like we are following that here. I think more practically it allowed for those of us who were around when PoP launched here to experience a more in-era PoP experience. Most everyone who was around then leveled in a zone or camp that they likely wouldn't have touched if level access was a thing. Instead of everyone just rushing into PoValor/Storms/CoD at level 61 the day of launch people got to explore a bit more of the T1 zones to find experience and when guilds unlocked specific zones they got to have the experience of only their guild having access for a few days and only having guild groups available within that zone. I think it was a nice thing to get to experience.
All guilds are very generous with allowing non members to get the flags. As new to this flagging system, I have a question/comment. Two raids have limits, one has 18 slots, another 36 slots. This could be an obstacle for guildless players. Or members of some small guild, which we have a few. Or is this solved some other way? Just curious.
Well... I like to aggro-kite with my bst-mag-dru. You can aggro-kite in PoFire I was told, and I'm looking forward to it. So you don't need more than trio for PoFire, right? (or whichever elemental zone you can aggro-kite in it) Also, sometimes I see such a nice items rooting in (also PoFire I think?) that I get jealous tears in my eyes You would think, guildless player (or player from small guild) would probably like some of those as well, before they root away. Not asking for myself, I will get the flags. I'm just curious how can certain players get those limited flags. It may be someones goal, even if that player don't plan to play there.
PoP was really designed for raiders and large groups of them. Things that people can get in the EP's are rewards for the countless hours of effort of all of those people. What's stopping you from joining a guild that already has these zones on farm? You do realize that virtually all guilds are totally cool with casuals just raiding when they can? Or working out some type of alliance type deal? The Horde did this in the past.
Some folks are vastly overestimating what AK was like, until some massive custom patching by Hobart / support by GMs. Flagging was fundamentally broken, you couldn't even get credit for a justice trial to access valor / storms. Ergo, the only dark blue mobs in game at that time were the two Ponb guards. People leveled to 65 there. And similar horrors that are now irrelevant. Things AK got as Hobart Specials(tm) are just that, Hobart Specials. With open raids and a 6 guild rotation it's extremely easy to get EP flagged here. And if you want more, join a guild in the rotation. I'll support wherever the dev team lands, though I'd prefer minimal level based access.
PoP was not designed for raiders really at all. Unless you mean in the sense that they very carefully put that content behind firewalls other than the flagging/alt access? Nearly every god is actually in a separate area with some kind of key needed (Bert, AD, Saryn, Grummus, etc...) or a second zone adjacent to it (PoNb and HoHb). The heart of all those zones is groupable content. By groupable I mean without some insane amount of raid gear first. Even an undergeared group can xp and get upgrades in the tier 2-3s well. That is what I love about it. There is so much to do and so many upgrade paths created at a time before the drops would become obsolete before able to farm it. That's probably why SOE came to their senses so early on in the life of AK and then later other servers and realized, why deprive players of the richness of all that content. Yes, thankfully, flags have been possible to help players along. We also keep a guild bank of the alt access key parts where we can to help players along. That said, its still a hindrance to how people played the game through most of its existence. Only a small minority of us AKers actually trace back to the time before levels access.
I'm in a guild, I wasn't asking for me. I'm new in EQ world and I was wondering, what options, some players have. As I said before, I also said I'm not for any shortcuts. I was just trying to learn with my question . You are making good points and now I understand how things are. Fair enough p.s. I switched from a small guild. The only comment I would add, this way, for smaller guilds my guess is, they don't have lots of chances becoming much bigger.
