[combination of frustrations]

I'm not so sure the issue is accessing VP, it's just poor drop rates as a whole for the "Key" items top-end players are seeking.

There is a combination of frustrations right now among the veteran playerbase (And likely some of the more advanced newer players)

• Tier10 takes absolutely FOREVER to complete, even with triple loot and zone pulls, and feels like an artificially gnarly triple-faction grind intended to be EZ's final zone - This is a soul-crush for folks without these perks, and very frustrating for those of us realizing we need more rogues to clear VP in a timely fashion.
• UCv4 farming sucks, it's not even fun at all, and the drop rates are so random that some folks have seen half dozen, while others have seen zero
• Halloween no longer allows zone pulls, which means those of us that missed that don't have the 20million+ surplus AA's that the guys who were able to ZP currently have, on many characters (Maybe all). This also affected the ability to refresh stock of ZP spears, triples, doubles, augs, and the awesome gear from the event
• New players can't easily find EZ, which means upcoming folks aren't gathering GSoA drops and selling to the end-game players for essences, etc.
• GSoA have now become the prime currency, as we need 52 for the earring (Required or you do no damage), and another 50 for the Legendary Ring of the Ages (Completely game changing, folks will view this as a tank requirement). They also drop less frequently than GSS, at least in my experience.

I'm probably missing more of this, but as a whole, the top-end of EZ is extremely stagnant. For what it's worth, I don't think removing the UA requirements from VP is necessarily a good idea, either. People will enter with faction armor, as you stated, and get completely wrecked - plus realize they don't have the DPS or survival to really perform well in the zone.

Most of the grumbling is due to lack of key drops that we need to have "FUN" here, which is the main point of playing the game. While a good RPG grind is rewarding, I feel things may be reaching a breaking point for many players here.

Hopefully this doesn't come off as too much of a bitch-fest, but it's a compilation of thoughts that are absolutely not exclusively my own, but a general feeling among everyone I talk with "Except maybe Sarthin".

So finally, I shouldn't just complain without also proposing an imperfect solution, right?

Well, we need more options / paths to obtain items that players don't want to sell (GSoA, AA crystals, GSS) - I outlined this in another thread but didn't really see many responses http://ezserver.online/forums/index.php?topic=6198.msg74201;topicseen#new

Hopefully these much-needed adjustments don't arrive too late!

I quit twice during the T10 farm, after finally completing it I dread making more characters just due to the faction farming required - It's numbingly boring

It's a much more enjoyable experience now. You should be OK with 9

Since we need GSoA for multiple items, and nobody is selling any - Could we discuss alternate methods for obtaining them?

Perhaps an NPC that allows a player to hand 1 GSS to receive 5 GSoA? (This was 1 for 10 recently)
Maybe 100 essences (The item received in Crafter Guild) traded in?
Example, 100 QVIC = 1 GSoA, 100 CT = 2, 100 Sunderock = 10

At this point, it's the only item players seem interested in, and there are none for sale / trade. Hoping for some sort of alternate path!

Thanks!

Is there a new spell file for the cleric VP spell?

Any UCv4 sightings after the adjustment?

I still feel that scaling the mobs in the zone based on the number of players in zone would help fix this. You bring 30 toons and it should be (Insert math here) times more difficult than if you were there with 6

So Sarthin and Kendiian farmed it a ton (Probably a full raid), who else has grabbed enough loot for this to be "out of control"? 12 boxing in there takes me an hour to clear up to Silverwing's area...... What the heck?

Hopefully nothing serious, thanks for doing this on your weekend!

Feels bad for newer players trying to farm GSS, too. No ZP, no Triples, just absolutely dreadful drop rates would be tough to face.

I burned 2 7-hour triples this week, got ZERO GSS, and 4 total GSoA during both farm sessions

If something needs tuned, that's a great place to start

When I was directly farming Sarnak, I made several instances and just chain cleared the Sarnak camp (Especially at dark)

I realize this isn't a solution to someone using 1 instance, but folks are more than willing to stand up instances for anyone that asks

Great QOL updates, Draca - Thanks for these!

[unavailable to loot]

I would like to add my "wasn't on the survey" as well:

I feel that raid content should be scaled based on the number of participants, and corpses be unavailable to loot for those that weren't present.

A player running 6 characters could have a mostly-equal chance at success to someone running 32. There's plenty of possible discussion around this, I'm sure.

Lingering Sloth is great if we needed to use slows here. I LOVE shaman, just wish they were -more- here.

[Classes we need in order to progress]

I mostly agree with your responses, Draca - And this certainly isn't intended to say you are wrong, or doing something wrong, but rather observations and personal opinion. I feel this is important for me to state.

What I probably failed to express is that I personally (opinion) feel that we finally have a class that stands out from the pack. This is absolutely due to the dramatic difference in performance, which is the issue here.

Class and role identity is pretty washed out, but that's sorta the EZ that has existed since 2011 or 2012. (Back when T1 and T2 were Anguish, folks really just 1 or 2 boxed here)

Here's another curious component to why rogues being huge damage dealers is significant - Because it finally places them in the "Has a use other than hide/sneak and group CotH"

Classes we need in order to progress
Warrior
Paladin

Classes we don't need, but sorta do cool stuff
Necromancer (Good AoE, cool to see Death proc)
Rogue (Single target damage)
Berserker (AoE i guess. This is less relevant in the end-game.)

Classes we don't need at all, but might have a gimmick we convince ourselves we need
Shaman (Grudge)
Bard (Group DA. Can replace this need with donation items)

Classes that suck, and get dragged around so we can give them loot
Ranger
Monk (Does OK damage, but whatever. I love monks, don't hate me)
Enchanter
Cleric
Druid
Mage
Wizard
Beastlord
Shadowknight

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So what am I trying to say here?... Basically, as stated above, it would be most excellent if there was some balance. I don't have all the answers, and won't pretend to have a fix-all remedy, but most of us would love to have a tough time deciding on what to use in a 6-man group.

Looking above, it's obvious what I would NOT pick, and it's obvious now why some folks 6-man group is War / War / Rog / Rog / Rog / Pal

Maybe nerfs are the way, but puts us back into the same position as before where everyone runs War / Pal - and just drags the rest along to loot items.

Ok I'm done for now, so I can stop rambling on.... lol