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My Lineage "classic" experience / rant


BlitzBlade

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I played this game for the first time in 2004 and was highly addicted leveling a gladiator to 71 before retiring. The experience was unlike any other game I have played to this day, you actually had to work for your items, levels, PvP was intense as the consequences could be intense else you find extreme satisfaction in killing players. 

Finding solid groups, finding a clan was absolutely necessary to get anywhere in this game. It was hard to upgrade gear, you were usually one grade rank behind the actual rank of gear you could wear unless you utilized other lucrative methods to obtain adena. (Dwarf, working the market, selling buffs, PLing etc) 

on Aden I recently leveled a PP box and SK to ~41. I got lucky with halloween event so I had access to a top D grade weapons very early. I bought VIP4 very early on with xp/sp runes lasting until as of recent. The game has honestly felt fine up to this point. And even though the game has now slightly turned me off with the demands that I grind my life away to obtain spell books, that still wasn't quite enough to keep me from playing.

Everything was great until I realized how poorly things were going for my friends and family trying to catch up to the same point I'm at (mind you I've been playing the game casually on the week days (1 - 2.5hrs and then afk fishing for xp/sp + stews) and then ~3-4hrs a day on weekends. 

With out VIP4 their drop rates and leveling experience have seem to been pretty horrific, so I convinced a few of them to buy VIP, to think of it like a subscription and so most of them did. But things only became worse from there.

My brother ended up quitting around lvl 34, he told me that spending a large some of money to obtain VIP4 and then constantly feeling the urge to buy soul shots and runes with more Ncoin, to then have an experience at an enjoyable pace was making him feel like the game was simply designed for an unhealthy gamer who is okay with making poor choices. 

My friends who bought VIP4 became upset because they felt like with the amount they were spending to obtain and maintain VIP4 was not providing nearly enough return.(Mainly when it came to drop rates) They grew bored of the pace of the game and left. 

Now I am left to play the game with no one I personally know,on Aden the servers don't seem nearly as lively as they were a few weeks ago as well. And now I'm left wondering what the state of the game is going to be like if I continue to play. How long will it be before more people come to these same conclusions as my brother and friends? Those PK scrolls coming to the game already seem to have even more people up in arms than there already were.

I'm okay with the game taking a fair amount of time to reach end game levels, but it looks like the majority of the community judging by how many people have already left the Aden server, are not okay with it.

So now I wonder... Is this game really worth investing more of my time into? I'm okay with supporting NCsoft servers via buying Ncoin for VIP, but its certainly not going to feel worth it if I put in all this work and real money only to have the game feel rather empty in the next 4-6months.

Please consider bringing up the xp/sp values and drop rates for F2P players and make the game feel more like genuine classic server rates. I can't imagine that would make less players buy xp/sp scrolls/ VIP4. Tons of people want to rush the end game as fast as possible to get to the real fun. 

After all there are so many different classes for people to reroll, there would still be soo much potential time to invest. But most of these F2P players will probably never want to actually put time into leveling into late end game on another character with the current rates that are well below original classic.

The hardcore aspect of original lineage 2 was not as much the leveling pace or the time it took to obtain gear. That was more knowledge based and encouraged finding friends/ clan to then level and obtain currency/items at a tolerable rate.

The real hardcore aspects of this game IMO were end game PvP/ Clan wars / Castle sieges/ Raid Bosses/ PKing. I believe a lot of players aren't going to even want to try and enjoy these aspect as they will never be able to or want to put in the time into getting to a point where they feel like their character is ready for these things. They will die to stronger players due to levels and gear and realize they aren't ready to make the time investment to finally get to the most fun aspects of L2.

Please don't let your game die, if the masses leave the genuine most hard core players who more than likely also support your servers will have little to do and will also eventually leave. Its not too late to save the game but you're running out of time.

Please show us that you're not another company controlled by greed, don't hinder free to play players soo much that they almost feel obligated to spend money to play to prevent losing their sanity. Your current model of classic may work well for early game but once many of these unsuspecting F2P players realize just how insane the grind is going to get their opinions of this game will change. 

I think there are much healthier alternatives to entice players into buying Ncoin. Why not simply add a genuine subscription model that is not required to play with a reasonable price which the longer you stay subscribed the better the perks? (obviously no P2W PvP aspects as that is the biggest turn off to most people).

I love this game, I want to spend at least a few years on this server. But I wont if the general population decides that your current model is unplayable for them, the game will be no fun with out them.

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That is really well written. However, I feel like there has been already a couple of weeks now that the community figured out that there was a problem with all monster rates.

I also just like you happened to play in the good old days. This is a whole different lineage2 experience than I remember. I do remember not using shots all the time, full drops were extremly rare. However, now there are monsters that gives 0 adena and 0 loot 100% of the time. We have no real database to refer to, so its extremly hard to know what would be the best possible hunting ground for us.

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I met a lot of wonderful people so far by playing on Gludio. However most of them quit or are on the edge of quitting. Finding a group in the 45s level is impossible.

When you happen to find a group first thing they ask is are you VIP. I don't know if the VIP as a whole was a good idea.

I'll prob stick around some more to see what will be happening in the upcoming updates.

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+1 

The best decision would be to make the server rates 1x as they were back then, and for those who want to buy VIP, change them to 1.5x for example. And also keep the l2 store. I'm not against that. I know NCSoft needs to make money from a f2p server.

I have nothing against VIP players leveling a bit faster than non vip players. Honestly, this is a very old game. 90% of us already saw everything there is to see and enjoyed all the content. We are just trying to relive it, so why not make it slightly bit faster instead of even slower?

I just think they are making bad decisions, which is sad since it's killing the game.

Bad decisions are making hundreds of people leave the game. In a few months, all that will be left are bots, no lifers that play 8+ hours a day and Adena Buyers that buy currency to be able to afford the grind. 

 

 

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+1 

The best decision would be to make the server rates 1x as they were back then, and for those who want to buy VIP, change them to 1.5x for example. And also keep the l2 store. I'm not against that. I know NCSoft needs to make money from a f2p server.

I have nothing against VIP players leveling faster than non vip players. Honestly, this is a very old game. 90% of us already saw everything there is to see and enjoyed all the content. We are just trying to relive it, so why not make it slightly bit faster instead of even slower?

I just think they are making bad decisions, which is sad since it's killing the game.

Bad decisions are making hundreds of people leave the game. In a few months, all that will be left are bots, no lifers that play 8+ hours a day and Adena Buyers that buy currency to be able to afford the grind. 

 

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9 minutes ago, Skyes said:

+1 

The best decision would be to make the server rates 1x as they were back then, and for those who want to buy VIP, change them to 1.5x for example. And also keep the l2 store. I'm not against that. I know NCSoft needs to make money from a f2p server.

I have nothing against VIP players leveling faster than non vip players. Honestly, this is a very old game. 90% of us already saw everything there is to see and enjoyed all the content. We are just trying to relive it, so why not make it slightly bit faster instead of even slower?

I just think they are making bad decisions, which is sad since it's killing the game.

Bad decisions are making hundreds of people leave the game. In a few months, all that will be left are bots, no lifers that play 8+ hours a day and Adena Buyers that buy currency to be able to afford the grind. 

 

I Agree!

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2 hours ago, Skyes said:

The best decision would be to make the server rates 1x as they were back then, and for those who want to buy VIP, change them to 1.5x for example. And also keep the l2 store. I'm not against that. I know NCSoft needs to make money from a f2p server.

The hardest thing to understand for the players is that the rates are just one of many things in Classic that is completely disconnected to how things were "back then". There is no obvious way to convert Classic to Chronicle. The suggestion regarding rates is just putting out one fire. After you put it out, you'll see another one, then another one, then another one, then people will just say nvm, we're done.

Not to mention many people think it is a good idea for a brand new server to start with new player boosts coming from as far as Kamael (e.g. newbie buffs up to level 6x), even though they were only added to make sure new players can skip the deserted hunting zones quickly to catch up with the majority.

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4 hours ago, mixa said:

That wall of text.....

Anyway, read some of it and to me it seems that you've missed a hugeeeeeeee part how l2 had evolved in the post 7 years.

Having such expectations results in a heavy crash with reality.

I most definitely did miss some of the Chronicles, didn't you feel like you got your monies worth with that monthly subscription every time a new expansion dropped that didn't cost anything extra? Man this game was a blast back in the day, every time a new log in screen appeared with amazing music when a new expansion dropped. So nostalgic.

I'll sum it up for you in a nut shell Mixa,

I enjoy a hard core game, I enjoyed old school lineage 2 back in the day, and I'm most certainly enjoying a lot of the experience to be had here, once again. But because of the general audience playing and their complaints about the game and therefore leaving the game I'm a bit worried about these servers maintaining a healthy community months down the road. The current business model seems like it tries to eventually taunt a F2P player with the idea that they may need VIP to make progression at an enjoyable rate for them.

I want these servers to be long lasting probably as much as you along with everyone else who wants to dedicate them selves here on classic.

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The actual problem right now is the player-base ... However we gonna look at it ... Unfortunately, we grew tired of everything as a whole ... We are not satisfied ... The problem is ours, and it won't change no matter what changes may come to the game ... That's it ... 10+ years ago we were enjoying the journey ... Now, all we're looking for is the destination ... So, unless our mindset changes, then this game is gonna be like it is now ... We are at fault for that ..

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14 hours ago, BlitzBlade said:

 

I played this game for the first time in 2004 and was highly addicted leveling a gladiator to 71 before retiring. The experience was unlike any other game I have played to this day, you actually had to work for your items, levels, PvP was intense as the consequences could be intense else you find extreme satisfaction in killing players. 

Finding solid groups, finding a clan was absolutely necessary to get anywhere in this game. It was hard to upgrade gear, you were usually one grade rank behind the actual rank of gear you could wear unless you utilized other lucrative methods to obtain adena. (Dwarf, working the market, selling buffs, PLing etc) 

on Aden I recently leveled a PP box and SK to ~41. I got lucky with halloween event so I had access to a top D grade weapons very early. I bought VIP4 very early on with xp/sp runes lasting until as of recent. The game has honestly felt fine up to this point. And even though the game has now slightly turned me off with the demands that I grind my life away to obtain spell books, that still wasn't quite enough to keep me from playing.

Everything was great until I realized how poorly things were going for my friends and family trying to catch up to the same point I'm at (mind you I've been playing the game casually on the week days (1 - 2.5hrs and then afk fishing for xp/sp + stews) and then ~3-4hrs a day on weekends. 

With out VIP4 their drop rates and leveling experience have seem to been pretty horrific, so I convinced a few of them to buy VIP, to think of it like a subscription and so most of them did. But things only became worse from there.

My brother ended up quitting around lvl 34, he told me that spending a large some of money to obtain VIP4 and then constantly feeling the urge to buy soul shots and runes with more Ncoin, to then have an experience at an enjoyable pace was making him feel like the game was simply designed for an unhealthy gamer who is okay with making poor choices. 

My friends who bought VIP4 became upset because they felt like with the amount they were spending to obtain and maintain VIP4 was not providing nearly enough return.(Mainly when it came to drop rates) They grew bored of the pace of the game and left. 

Now I am left to play the game with no one I personally know,on Aden the servers don't seem nearly as lively as they were a few weeks ago as well. And now I'm left wondering what the state of the game is going to be like if I continue to play. How long will it be before more people come to these same conclusions as my brother and friends? Those PK scrolls coming to the game already seem to have even more people up in arms than there already were.

I'm okay with the game taking a fair amount of time to reach end game levels, but it looks like the majority of the community judging by how many people have already left the Aden server, are not okay with it.

So now I wonder... Is this game really worth investing more of my time into? I'm okay with supporting NCsoft servers via buying Ncoin for VIP, but its certainly not going to feel worth it if I put in all this work and real money only to have the game feel rather empty in the next 4-6months.

Please consider bringing up the xp/sp values and drop rates for F2P players and make the game feel more like genuine classic server rates. I can't imagine that would make less players buy xp/sp scrolls/ VIP4. Tons of people want to rush the end game as fast as possible to get to the real fun. 

After all there are so many different classes for people to reroll, there would still be soo much potential time to invest. But most of these F2P players will probably never want to actually put time into leveling into late end game on another character with the current rates that are well below original classic.

The hardcore aspect of original lineage 2 was not as much the leveling pace or the time it took to obtain gear. That was more knowledge based and encouraged finding friends/ clan to then level and obtain currency/items at a tolerable rate.

The real hardcore aspects of this game IMO were end game PvP/ Clan wars / Castle sieges/ Raid Bosses/ PKing. I believe a lot of players aren't going to even want to try and enjoy these aspect as they will never be able to or want to put in the time into getting to a point where they feel like their character is ready for these things. They will die to stronger players due to levels and gear and realize they aren't ready to make the time investment to finally get to the most fun aspects of L2.

Please don't let your game die, if the masses leave the genuine most hard core players who more than likely also support your servers will have little to do and will also eventually leave. Its not too late to save the game but you're running out of time.

Please show us that you're not another company controlled by greed, don't hinder free to play players soo much that they almost feel obligated to spend money to play to prevent losing their sanity. Your current model of classic may work well for early game but once many of these unsuspecting F2P players realize just how insane the grind is going to get their opinions of this game will change. 

I think there are much healthier alternatives to entice players into buying Ncoin. Why not simply add a genuine subscription model that is not required to play with a reasonable price which the longer you stay subscribed the better the perks? (obviously no P2W PvP aspects as that is the biggest turn off to most people).

I love this game, I want to spend at least a few years on this server. But I wont if the general population decides that your current model is unplayable for them, the game will be no fun with out them.

+1

 

But some of the Devs thought: We are not discouraging people well enough.

Then an intern walks in and says: We could start banning random people and this will also help the queue problems.

 

At the bottom of the meeting room the phrase - Someone has to promote this guy! - was heard

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