EZ Server

Anyone who wants the old exp back say so here for a petition, old roa ranked players had the advantage so why can't we have the same as them

I'm Trogdorr Failinator and i support this message.

Going from level 1 to 3 in 1 even con kill was kinda funny.

Even worse was out leveling a zone before getting full suit of armor from that zone.

RoA will be more bragging rights now, something of value.

Just enjoy playing.

The only full suits of armor worth getting are at level 70... and damned if I outlevel any lvl 70 zone.


UC was for bragging rights, and those got tossed around like Skittles to all the veterans of the server anyways.


For something REQUIRED to do end-game content, I think making it harder is just expanding the exclusivity of T5 to veteran players.


No fair.

well the thing with requiring item X for content is a natural step in tier establishment.
Making all content require the same thing to do it is essentially making all content the same tier. What separates the casual players and the hardcore/ veterans/ server loyalists is how much you invest yourself in the server. Tier 1 consists of having a group (not even raid) of tacvi geared toons with epic 3.0s. T2 same thing, with T1 gear. T3 and T4 are same.
T5 is the only tier thus far that requires more than just fighting the RNG for gear and such. It requires a little time investment in charms (more than a few levels), RoA, maybe scepter X.
Without something to always work towards, even if slowly, people will quit.
Top end players with everything will quit, every time.
So this may seem like a slam to new players, but really its just Hunter adjusting what has been wrong for quite some time. This same kinda argument arose when LDoN points were removed for killing mobs in LDoN. Everyone saw it as a slam to new players, and saying how unfair it was for veteran players to have reaped the benefits of it for so long. Content changes and adjustments take time, so someone will always find out just to late to benefit from it, and some will always have used it for massive personal gains.

Even I am kicking myself for so many things I should have taken advantage of long ago. Now Im chilling in T2 with an army of toons needing stuff still.

Yup.
Been playin here since August, so I had plenty of time to get one or two RoA done. I kick myself now for not doing it, but in no way do I blame anyone but myself for constantly putting it off.

Some ppl have done roa 100 in a week, some ppl don't have Druid,sham, maybe bard for fast roaing, all I'm saying is the exp rate shouldbethe same since to even get  lvl 70 takes about 5 times longer not to mention AA, clear disadvantage to us considering those ppl got theirs quickly when 1 week may turn to 10 weeks for some of us that actually go to school and have a job besides this server all day

You should quit EQ before you get fired from work or fail out of school.

Grats to everyone that took advantage of fast exp. Some players probably had to quit already due to nothing left to achieve, until T5 came out.

The challenge is fun, and phat loots are bragging rights. If you don't have enough gear to survive a tier, then invite more players into your group or raid. It's a great opportunity to meet new and exciting people and talk about world events! If you want a single player then try some of the Final Fantasy games. FF VII was my favorite.

Enjoy!

I have to agree on this point ( as far as FF games goes that is). Or FF10 and Tactics. Tactics Ogre is good as well.

final fantasy tactics was by far the best one.

Get the robot! Get the "mysterious warrior" from the future!

Wow, little harsh? You can't expect to advertise this server as 4x exp, and suddenly change it without a word spoken to the people who play here and not get some kind of reaction.

I understand you don't feel like you have to answer to anyone, and in fact you don't.  Just cause you call a thornbush a lovemuffin doesn't mean it won't hurt when you are forced to use it in place of normal tissue.  Can tell me I'm wrong all day long, but that just sounds like a nice big (but polite) FU.

Hunter says

"If you want a single player then try some of the Final Fantasy games. FF VII was my favorite. "

This is actaully a great quote.  Now if the zones could handle a lot of players, it would make sense.  However, when you try to bring more than 6-10 into the zones where you actually need it (t3/t4/t5) the zone takes a crap and you not only lose the time it takes to gather your friends, but also the time it took to farm the stuff needed to spawn the bosses.

The zones crash cause of the MQ2 plugins you guys are using, and possible other programs. I've seen raids that never crash cause the people don't use MQ2 or use only map/stick and have no other plugins loaded.

By this point, its obviously not the NPC AoE spells, and its not the number of players, that crashes the zones. Of course the more people in the zone, then the more chance that someone is using a MQ2 plugin that crashes the zone.

You guys are trying to automate everything, healing, targetting, attacking, looting, combining, and those things are what is crashing the zone.

FYI I haven't advertised 4x exp in a while. That was about 3 1/2 years ago when we had no content, so the fast exp and 1.0 epic vendor was the coolest thing ever. Now we have more content, and over powered gear, so the exp rate is now 'fixed'.

But it's only certian zones that these MQ2 plugins crash?  I've never crashed Plane of Dragons and have spent many hours there 4-5-6 boxing.   If I go up to PoAir with the exact same setup, the same characters, the same MQ - the zone will crash, repeatedly, I just don't see the correlation...

I've just been watching the slow implosion of drama from afar. I don't think I've even logged in in over a month.

It's been very entertaining. What I see this netting, is the same 5-10 people botting 6+ toons at the highest tier, and the majority of players just saying screw it. Any influx of new players will be non-existent  as soon as they realize the grind they're getting in to.

lawl i just started a new box on Live servers to go with my main toon....come to live start new on there and then come back here and you'll soon realize how spoiled EMU server people are(in most cases of course)....only one i can really imagine being worse is classic servers IE. P99...

I started on p99 but after dying 50 times on my shaman outside Hala and only gaining 2 levels I came here. What can I say? I suck.

I usually refrain from these threads because they go no where, and nothing we say changes anything at all.
Today, im in rare form.... and ill put in a cent....but not two.... and i know this can not lead to anything but more hurt feelings. By people who cant mind there buisness or accept others have opinions too.

Hunter has changed the whole server around to cater to the handful of people actually at the top of the tiers. From what i have seen, 6-12 people, botting groups. They are the hardcore gamers of EZ. He has widened the gap between the casual gamer and the hardcore players, and probably so on purpose... That you wont be in there way wile they bring in there automated group.      New players? Forget about that... a few hours on ez with lowered xp rates and they went away. The lot of people in the middle, who are still leveling toons are doing there best to shrug off the changes. But soon most of them will be on other emu servers, because they came to emu's to enjoy all the things they didnt have access to on live. But now they wont.
 Now i know what your thinking....oh Trog your just mad because you cant do 10 RoA's a day or that my lack of having a botted group makes me want things to be easier....your only half right. I have no t2 group of my own to enter raid zones with. I have little to no chance of finding a group there either, as pretty much anyone not dying in PoG is thoes few who have there own botted groups, and they dont really want an extra tank taking plate loots.
Well, i guess i will level up a group and gear them... no wait that now will take far longer than i have to spend playing EQ. Cant do that.
 Theres no real pleasure in leveling 1-70. Its just something you do so you can get to the good content, starting with epic quests. You might quote hunter at this point where he said "its silly that people are outleveling zones before they have a full set of armor from said zone."
Show me a piece of armor from dulak that benifits in any way wile traversing into qvic and i would be amazed. The gear in the lower zones are good for wearing during RoA and nothing more. I coulden't tank qvic with a full group till i was already wearing all the qvic armor...

 OK....well thats my 1 cent.
I'm not going to deep into this. Everyone here needs to take a breath now and remember its hunters server, that he can hook his buddies up all he wants. Even if it changes for everyone else, and they may not like it.    Everyone with a character on EZ should know that your playing on someone elses hobby machiene.  It can go poof at any time, any day.
So, accept it, move on, or quit. But know for sure that your not in control here, nor does public opinion matter at the days end.
It's His server to do so on.
 Everyone with a character on EZ should know that your playing on someone elses hobby machiene.

bragging rights brah, the bragging rights.

There is no bragging when you did your RoA on 4x exp. Remove the RoA from everyone, and make them do it over..... now brag. 

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/barrettd04/vengeance-dad-fnord-meme-awkward-family-photos.jpg)

Dude thats my Uncle Tom... lmfao looks jsut like him i even stole the pic and emailed him lol :)

Haha.  google "Vengeance Dad" in google image search for some real gems.

I will be on tonight, and a good part of the day tomorrow.  Send me a tell, and I will come kill as many t1 / t2 mobs as you can find crystals for.  The only thing I would ask for is that we alternate on essence drops (if any).  I usually watch the console on Gimpwar, but most of the Gimp** toons are mine. 

And Hunter said "Let them eat Cake"

I really enjoy this server just really bummed I now have to work twice as hard to obtain RoA.

Does anyone have concrete data on how long an ROA takes now?

Before I was doing one rank per hour, about, with a druid to do 1-47 and
a warrior to do the rest..

That's exactly how long it took me, with the same setup.  Maybe I'll do a rank tonight.

All I have left to say is soon a lot of players are either going to quit because of changes or start to use more hacks/bots to make up for the difference....he's right hunter you don't need the gear dropped for leveling when those roa players have a 10k sham buff, same with potime, dulak armor won't help at all there you have a better chance at having a ds and sham buff there then armor....just hope there's some heals

For those of you who are regulars on EZ or plan to be here a while, do you remember what it's like on EZ after school gets out for the year and during the summer? very crowded! every pot head, burn out, slacker, 5th and 6th grader as well as too many college students who think they know everything about life will be here until late Sept. I think EZ's pop was in the 500 range on average before they all went back to school.

Exp reduction might be a good thing.



 

Hunter I understand your position.  I also appreciate you providing a free server for the general public and all the cruft that endeavor entails.  I respect your right to set whatever rules that please you for your sandbox.

That being said, I think you should have hobbled players who have filled their AA and are working RoA and left things as they were for the rest of us.  I understand you have not advertised fast exp for a long time, but the server logon screen sure does (did).  It was a primary reason for me coming here originally.

I started playing more actively here when my son began and asked me to join with his toon.  I built a shaman up to 3.0 and started gearing him then realized just how serious you are about shared accounts.  As my son's toon is on my original login server account (Created so my two sons and I could play together.) I opened a new LS account and gave him the old one.

I had just started my new guy when your change hit.  I do appreciate a challenge in a game.  In EQ I get that with my level 65 shaman on live and my baby druid on P99.  Here on EZ I was kinda looking for laid back, work a couple months and be able to party up with my son.  You know... like the name says... EZ.  ;)

I'll certainly continue to play here off and on because my son does.  For the EZ part, I think I need to look elsewhere.  :(

I do hope the changes bring about the server you are seeking.  Thank you again for the play time.  :)

EZ never stood for Easy...
It stands for Extended Zones
- taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EQEmu

That's funny, cause I found that same exert like 2 days ago by accident. I never knew what EZ stood for, just that it wasn't Easy. When i found that, I felt like I was finally in the know haha

*raises hand* in favor of old exp.

All my toons are leveled to 70 with MAX AA so not too worried about exp. This  *Nerf* took everyone by surprise and has people up in arms, because there was no pre-emptive warning too it. This is a fun server to play on and the exp is one of the KEY ingredients that made it that way(it is still fun). If folks wanted to Grind they would go to any old Server. Honestly I did not know that EZ stood for Extended Zones, i was attracted to the EZ in regards to it being easier exp wise then the Live Server Grind.

I am not leaving or up in arms over this but maybe a hey you have 2 weeks to finish ROA get those AA and then EZ server will be reducing exp would have been nice.

*Raises hand for old exp btw*

I've slowly reduced exp by 0.1x every so often over a long period of time actually.  Finally did a bigger decrease from 2.5x exp which nobody yet realized to 1.1x exp which finally got noticed I guess. We have no death penalty (corpse recovery or exp loss) so it's not really bad. The better custom gear and spells and augs make up for it anyways.

Comment: The only time xp is relevant is from lvl 1-70. The most overpowering gear you can find in the game (including spells and augs) are only usable at lvl 70. Otherwise it's either crafted armor (lol, like anyone has that, it's too expensive even for the rich buggers to get something better than Dulak armour), or Dulak dropped gear (which really isn't *that* overpowering).

I don't get then that that is a valid train of thought, saying that those make up for the reduced xp. Of course there are high hp buffs that can be cast on lower levels, and regen, etc, but those have been around for a long time already. Coming from 4x xp, I think if you want it really lower, stop at 2x xp, but 1.1xp is almost p99 level


-Clev

I don't know why you guys continue to complain.  Hunter has made it clear in several posts that he doesn't care what you think.  This is his server, his hobby and he is going to do whatever he wants.  While I agree with him, I still think it stinks that he doesn't care about the general population.

I do it cause I care :)

I always thought it stood for Enhanced Zone Server. /shrug

1.1x exp rate just means you gotta make bigger trains to compensate... I mean what?

I can also say that the increased exp above normal levels was one of the biggest things that attracted me to this server. I would not have joined if the exp rate was like live or even anywhere close to it. Just throwing my opinion into the ring.

how about a potion purchasable from a vendor for 100k that gives 2x the amount of exp for an hour :)

I know in live there was an anniversary event with this potion ad a reward. So the item is already in the DB, would just require Hunter to A.) Wanna make it available to begin with, and B.) Put it in the noobie vendor (most logical sense) or potion vendor.

Idk if i'd pay for the potion though. I haven't seen a huge diff in my exp gains to be completely honest. But I don't hawk eye my exp bar either.

There's also a veteran AA that increases exp 2x for half an hour every 20 hours, but it is missing on here.

Well, since roa is gonna be a pain. Hunter, why not make 2 new zones that are group or guild instanced only. have the zones with the old bonus xp and charge the 100k to get in. or why not charge more.

or just make CoM/PoF guild instanced,, its getting crowded in there now that everyone's there thrice as long.

i know pof is already instanced, but i would prefer guild instanced

Wow... wow... wow....
PoFire is instanced??

Yes, public instances just like LDON.

Signed.

As a new player, I do not see the point of the XP reduction other than increasing the already blaring gap between new and hardcore players.  

Grinding AA's for my mains has become like molasses, and I do not even see the point of trying to RoA (or making a druid/war combo for the PL).  

Responses to Arguments made in favor of the change:

1.  "Old players will quit because there is nothing difficult."

The timing of this change does not support this argument.  T5 is brand-spanking-new and no one has yet gained a 5.0 or farm status of T5 gear.  Considering how new T5 is, this argument does not make any sense: T5 will keep vets going for a long time.  Those of us wanting to reach T5 one day, however, now face a much longer and rougher road ahead of us than the path previously trekked.

2. "RoA needs to have more bragging rights!"

This argument would make sense if Hunter made a 'new' RoA with higher stats to reflect the massive increase in difficulty that goes into obtaining a RoA.  Veteran players already have RoA on several toons and had to do approximately 1/2 the work to obtain the item.  

In reality, the only thing about the RoA that has changed is how difficult it is for a new player to acquire the item.  No one cares or is going to respect a person simply because they have a RoA -- it's not like a drooling epic sword; it's a ring slot item.  Again, there is no increase in prestige or scarcity of the item - those who already have RoA have devalued its importance already.

3. "Well, just add instanced CoM/PoF zones."

This argument ignores the problems the exp nerf has caused for new players without PLing toons and combos.

--------------------------------------------------------

Hunter, please consider reverting exp back.  The current change poses major obstacles for new players and defies any equitable principle.

Thanks Sowilorune. As someone with hardly any need for RoA (All-caster group), I still feel annoyed by the entire situation. If ever RoA becomes useful for casters, I probably still wouldn't do it, simply because of the same issue I have with the Assassin's quest: It takes too long, and the benefits would be circumstancial at best.

The only one of my team that could benefit from RoA and the ranged item anyway would be my enchanter, who with a full set of t4 and both items could possibly live long enough getting wacked on to get a mez off. Maybe.

-Clev

This is getting ridiculous. Seriously, the way you have worded this post makes it seem like exp rate went from 10x to 0.5x
The gap between new players and veterans will always be large, you know why? BECAUSE THEY ARE NEW! The server has been up and running for years.... I say again, years. How can you honestly expect someone who just fires up EQ, finds EZ on the Emu server, and starts to play be anywhere close to someone who's invested time here? That is a laughable statement at best.

Grinding AA's is like molasses... Again, seriously? Have you never played live? Ever? Take this exp rate with the same weapons you'd get from places Dulak and remove the regen from epics. Tell me how slow AA's come buddy. The gear alone here allow you to pull sizable amounts of mobs at once, and burn them down with the quickness. Can't do that? Maybe it's because you are new. Maybe you haven't invested that week or two of casual playing to get up to PoDragons or higher.

You know, you are right. No one respects an RoA 100, or the person behind it. Whether its a purchased item or earned through grinding the hell outta EZ, it's just an item. Just a plain old 25k ring, with 100% stun resist, 300ac, 100 to all stats and resists, and much much more... Nothing special. Oh and as you mentioned, JUST A RING. You are high off your rocker my friend, if you think a RoA is just something to shrug off. That is one of THE BEST items in the game, and you know what makes it better? Do ya? The fact that it is "Just a Ring". An accessory that is good is rare, and accessory of that caliber is not even heard of.

The current changes pose a major obstacle. You have to play for a whole five days now to get to 70, instead of a single afternoon or so. Heavens no! Instead of "wasting time" on gearing whatever char you are now, because it seems pretty apparent it's not a generally good early class (war, cleric, monk, etc..) create a new character. Make a warrior, box a cleric, and play through to level 70. From there I have seen on nearly occassion entering PoTime, someone killing the 1.5 mobs. BAM! Gear for 70 handed to you with no work done on your part.

At this point you can either do LDoN, for armor cards and such, make some PLing toons, work on 1.5 epic, MAKE SOME FRIENDS that are also new, work together to accomplish tasks. Last night alone, just doing some 1.5's for my toons in PoTime, I made over 100AA for 6 toon group. Yes I have a little better gear, yes I have boxes.... but it's because when I was having trouble with something, I took a step back to content that was a bit easier and ran it into the dirt until I was ready for the next step.

Back to the 'Making friends thing". It is very very hard to come to EZ alone, and not able to box, and with no friends, and expect to get really anywhere. I got where I am now because I came to EZ with 3 or 4 friends, made a whole guild full upon playing for a bit, and geared up with all of them. Even though Ezry, Aaralynn, Gencat, Balthor, and I don't talk anymore doesn't mean I don't appreciate the work they did for/ with me. We had a falling out, but during our time together we just what I said. Played together to accomplish tasks.

/rant off

P.S. Seriously, make a War. Send me a tell in game. I will get you to 70.

Also, sorry If i offended anyone. But seriously.... seriously

Dammit Reed. Stop making me go back and forth.

I suggest putting xp at x1.75 or x2, which is more than what it is now, but which is still a lot less than the 4x it was, and the 2.5x it came from.

Still a step in the direction Hunter sees the server, not as big of a nerf (2.5 -> 1.1), and then Hunter can still tweak it down later bit per bit if he thinks it's necessary.

-Clev

RoA is now fixed with the exp "fix" and new players can now get full suits of gear before out leveling their zone which will help them to survive the next zone.

Look at P99, I swear their exp was like 0.1x back when I checked them out when they started, and they are the highest population server ever.

I'm sure there are servers out there that will give ya instance level 70, or some crazy 4x or more exp with summon gear, #zone teleport, etc. Challenge is a good thing, else there is no more reason to play.

Enjoy!

Akkadius's Server is actually really fun in that regard. Akkadius' Fun House i think it's called. Pretty quick leveling and Diablo like loots. I was pretty hooked for a good month a while back. Just couldn't /target my chars after lvl 100, so I couldn't box very effectively =(

I played live and this is true for pre tss exspansion (maybe sof, i forgot when the first xp increase came) and certainly not true now. See sony has realized the gap between new players and the veterans. They see the true progression in gear and flags. They have made it EASIER :) to get experience for levels and aa. It scales from the aa's you have. 0-250 gives best experience for aa and it decreases after every 250 or so untill you get to 2500 aa. once you are at 2500 aa you are at normal experience. but it is still extremely easy to get aa. i can load up friends accounts, knock out a 20-30minute mission and get a reward of 3aa per mission. it does have 6 hour lockouts. Sony offers hot zones with increased xp. If all the accounts were up, i could easily have a level 70 character with 500 aa easy in a day on live. the characters would have more aa's but at 70 there are not many important ones and no point in wasting.

The xp rate is ok to be nerfed. however i think it should be for the initial grind to 70 and aa's. But for roa, i dont think it should feel this nerf of xp. A quest line that gets people flagged for bonus xp zones to do roa's in wouldn't be a bad idea. Or having quests that drop double xp items. Maybe even have those items drop.

The new crafted armor really only helps the casters in roa if they are soloing. it gives them a big mana pool and can chain casts spells. Melee would need nicer weapons. Only sk's have the solo advantage for roa's since their epic procs lifetap at level 1. Hunter, can you introduce crafted weapons too? or why not make a item with a clicky version of the old necro pet. The one that used to heal both pet and owner if im not mistaken. It doesn't have to be insanely good. I dont know, i would just like to see roa's be made fun instead of trivializing it with the bard/shaman/druid combo.

OK folks...
 Being that i was one of the biggest advocator's of bringing XP rates back up for everyones sake.... It's time to see the light here. And to put this to rest.

 One thing, Hunter as he has said is burdened by his hobby. Demanding players that play for free are not gonna have a place to play much longer if we keep humping his leg for changes. I know if it were me and i had to deal with people non stop bitching about any changes I make, i would pull the plug on the damn box and go have a beer. At the end of the day, hunter only has this server, all the content, and letting us log into HIS server, and spends countless hours creating, implementing, testing, re testing, Brainstorming over balance, and finally giving all this great stuff to us....ONLY because he enjoys it. nothing more.

 Got an opinion? Awsome. Air it here on the board. Don't get mad thou if he ignores your request, thinks its nonsense, or just dosen't think it's worth acting on.
 You get the chance to say how you feel and what you think and believe me, I take advantage of that rout more than I should. When I see a topic i feel needs addressing, I jump right in there and say what needs saying. But i also know that once it's said, it's said. There's no point in repeating the topic over and over creating stress not only to (and don't take this wrong) some of the players who aren't so bright and feel there owed something somehow because someone's hobby took a different direction. Or players that just don't want to have to grind for a week or two to get to 70. I know I'm one of them, i just dont feel like it but Hey if I want to box, im gonna do it right? Right. And I am.
Creating all new dps team, and doing over all the things i thought i would never have to again such as spending countless hours in ldon searching for charms and dragging my new players around for pages. But at the end of that game session i know i had fun, that all i did was enjoyable. I woulden't do it if it wasen't fun.

So accept this all please, and enjoy the game. Before there is no more EZ. There's just too much stress on the boards over this. Let's let him do what he loves, and take our fingers out of his ass.


Edit~  Apologies in advance if my post comes off a bit harsh. I'm Not the most tactful person when im still having morning coffee. But my Point rings true all the same.

Well said Trog.

Damn Trog thats harsh !!! But i fully agree with you, as for tact the "Take our fingers out of his ass" remark is about the most tactful thing ive seen on these forums.

Sorry for puking it all over the floor folks, But this is a very stressful time for hunter trying to fix crashing hoh, finish coding t5, and a million other bug fixes he's got going on, and its just time to shut up and let him work. before he decides not to anymore.

.....just let this thread die.

So true. I just started a new SK, Rogue, Wizard, Beast, Chanter, Necro, and Zerker. I have burned through 3 instances of Qvic and not got everything I need yet. Still going for Silk Legs ugh...

I know its frustrating, however I like the challenge of RNG and sense of accomplishment after I'm done in Qvic. "I just fully geared, tokened, gemmed out 7 toons!" I can think to myself, and feel pretty awesome about it. In the process I spent 30k, and got a return of over 500k in gems I sold. Got a million AAs it seems, and lots of SS for my wiki (yeah I'm still working on it, very very slowly now though).

Im dreading the FG and CG kits I need. I still have a Shaman, Monk, and Druid I never got kits for that are already t2 geared... LGuk here I come for the rest of my life!

That is an awesome comment Hunter. I still see people here spending time in dulak and Potimea to get full gear. I think alot of us, myself included, forget how hard it was when you didn't have 10+ toons avail to massacre stuff. For alot of people it is hard to jump from time gear to handling qvic alone, Qvic owned me the first time i tried to 2box it. That is just an awesome, put everything into perspective, comment!!

Right on!

Reed,

Regarding your previous post addressed to me:

Please consider the average level of difficulty that the server should be based around.  Most players do not have the time or system specs to box 6+ toons in various squads.  I'm sure a large number of players simply play for fun. 

I played EQ live through Kunark, so please dispense with the "lulz, did you play real EQ?" argument.  I enjoy playing EZ precisely because it doesn't have the same dreadfully painful pacing that EQlive has.

And I stand by the statement that RoA should not be gawked at as some mystical artifact that confers automatic respect.  Again, it's a ring-clickie that was once relatively simply to get with a set of PLing toons. 

Before you dismiss my post as newbie whining, I would suggest making one or two level 1 toons, stripping them of all equipment, plat, and gear.  Take those toons (without any help from other boxes) and pretend that you know no one on the server.  Rely solely on charity and luck.

Also, pretend that you know no plat farming or leveling tricks.  Just go off forum posts and in-game NPC help. 

Now, grind your way up to 70 in any "solo" manner (again, no PLing or boxing).  Do not ask any of your friends, or people you know to help in any way (or use a boxed character) -- pretend you know no one and nothing about the server.

Then, once you do this, consider whether the content of my post had any merit.

Playing on EZ should not force new players to walk the lines between constant begging for help or boxing ridiculous amounts of characters (contrary to myth - most people box 2-3 toons that I've seen). 

The EXP change does nothing more than increase an observable gap between two different classes of players.  Hunter does a great job running this server for us, but this is one change that he should strongly consider revising.

Personal opinion? Being one of these new players trying to level characters in this without boxing a whole group? This doesn't make me group. This just means I spend MORE time leveling by myself, because the REAL group content is in the end.

I came here with friends, and met friends. I can honestly tell you I met all the friends I group with now, I met AFTER the grind to 70.  I just don't think these methods will encourage people to group with each other if that is in fact your ultimate goal here. I feel that you are just adding more solo content by doing this, and putting a larger gap between new players, and the fun content from 70+.