High Level Balance - 29MAR06

[Khammar]

I am interested in this subject so I will be updating the balance every so often. (The eq2census.com site does not update each day so I tend to take a look at when it registers my level and go from there.)


First I'll look at the 50-70 range sorted by level.

50 - 21 (9FP / 11QEY)
51 - 9 (8FP / 1QEY)
52 - 3 (2FP / 1QEY)
53 - 3 (2FP / 1QEY)
54 - 6 (6FP / 0QEY)
55 - 6 (2FP / 4QEY)
56 - 6 (4FP / 2QEY)
57 - 1 (1FP / 0QEY)
58 - 6 (4FP / 2QEY)
59 - 2 (2FP / 0QEY)
60 - 1 (0FP / 1QEY)
61 - 3 (2FP / 1QEY)
63 - 1 (1FP / 0QEY)

Analysis: 68 Total Players. 44 Freeport to 24 Qeynos. Ratio is 1.83:1 against. This is a slight improvement over the numbers from 40-70 I posted last time, but is not that useful without the look at the 40+ numbers again.


Now sorted by guild from 50-70.

Angst Awakening - 13
Ascension - 14
Dark Torment - 4
Geostigma - 3
Hammerfest - 5
Infernational - 1
Midnight Cult - 1
Mor do Kuli - 2
Nightblades - 1
Omen - 1
Ordine della Fenice - 5
Purity - 1
Renegade Legion - 3
The Mutineers - 1
The Prophecy - 1
Vortex - 3
(Unguilded) - 9 (5 of these are known Qeynosian farmers.)

Analysis: Ascension is the most populated guild 50+ but only barely. RL has done well here but with a limited number of people coming closer to 50 we will likely not make a large impact in this area in the forseeable future. *At present we do not have enough members in this level range to make a secure foothold for ourselves in DoF before other guilds arrive in force.*


Now for the 40-49 basic breakdown.

40 - 34 (32FP / 2QEY)
41 - 23 (18FP / 5QEY)
42 - 14 (11FP / 3QEY)
43 - 15 (10FP / 5QEY)
44 - 13 (12FP / 1QEY)
45 - 21 (15FP / 6QEY)
46 - 14 (9FP / 5QEY)
47 - 16 (8FP / 8QEY)
48 - 10 (9FP / 1QEY)
49 - 8 (8FP / 0QEY)

Analysis: 168 Total Players. 132 Freeport to 36 Qeynos. Ratio is 3.66:1 against. This is far worse than last time.

To add perspective we then evaluate 40-70 just as last time: 236 Total Players. 176 Freeport to 60 Qeynos. 2.93:1 against. Freeporters now outnumber Qeynosians 40+ at pretty much a 3 to 1 ratio.


Further "impressions" at this point:

1) It would appear that many Qeynosians have ceased progression while Freeporters have continued. This shows in the 40+ ratio certainly. In addition it shows in the limited activity of specific higher level Qeynosians in my personal experience.

2) We appear to be approaching a critical level for PvP on Darathar. At this ratio (3 to 1) it means that for every Qeynosian group adventuring there are three groups (nearly a full raid) of Freeporters around.

3) The imbalance in tradeskills is making itself known. Holding onto t5 resources because I can't find a craftsman of the right level is painful when I know that the melee Freeporters I'm fighting are hitting me with imbued weapons and healing themselves with imbued armor. From the damage numbers they are posting I can only assume they have crafted adepts as well.


Thoughts:

PvP on Darathar (and perhaps in EQ2) is failing in my opinion. This is *not* a reason for more Qeynosians to quit playing. But it is a reason for people to take a look at ways in which we can improve the situation. We as players have a GREAT DEAL of power.

I actually started playing on a PvP server because I enjoy new servers and wanted to see how the system was balanced, knowing that in many cases the mix of classes was balanced towards Freeport.

I chose Qeynos because I figured they'd be the underdogs. I did not join Qeynos to be relegated to the back burner. (I'm not, either. I'm a Destroyer with a ton of kills for a Berserker and I'm ranked in the top 5 highest for that class in both level as well as PvP stats.)

I *AM* afraid that this course will lead to an abandoned Qeynos. Not because *I* am going to give up, but because people who are not as tough I am have . . . and will likely continue to do so.

Solutions:

There's a lot of them. The best one is to log in, work hard, and get more friends to come play for Qeynos. An equally good solution is for Sony to force balance. There's a lot of strongarm tactics one can use in the game code to do this. Is it realistic? Maybe not. Will it allow Qeynosians to feel as if they are anything other than 3rd-class citizens? Yes.

Play hard.

[Dodgerius]

Thaks alot Kham !

very nicely summed up and i do agree with all your points.
I did start to spread the word with all my old MMORPG friends . but its tough to make them come over and play with us ... but im working on it.
Furthermore i *tried* with a pissed off post yesterday to get some feedback via the SOE forums .. i know i could have just aswell went for a walk in the forest ... this forum sucks and the peeps on there are just blind.

anyways i will continue to try to locate some good open minded players maybe we can organise some cooperation in Qeynos again.
It seems that there are more fights dayli on our side of the Game wich is sad.

Giving up? hell no .. work harder AYE DAMMIT!!

Play Hard; die in honor!

D.

[Bagpuss]

It may not be a very good one... but its a start for discussion...

As i see it, at the moment, Queynos has a serious communication problem.
Guilds are not doing "Joint ops" to further their progress, sharing resources (either manpower, items, or harvestables), or even co-ordinating defense.

A very old Chinese gentleman wrote several words on the Art of War ...

__________________________________________________ ______________
II. WAGING WAR

1. Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.

2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.

4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.

5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.

6. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

7. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

8. The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.

9. Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy. Thus the army will have food enough for its needs.

10. Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.

11. On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people's substance to be drained away.

12. When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions.

13,14. With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.

15. Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store.

16. Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards.

17. Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.

18. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one's own strength.

19. In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

20. Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril.

__________________________________________________ ______________

Now some of you may have read this and thought "Shit, The bagster is off on one again", but honestly read it again and have a think about each point. Yes they can all be applied to the situation Queynos now finds itself in, out numbered, out gunned, and rapidly running out of time.

Now onto the good bits about how we could try to fix this.

__________________________________________________ ______________

Currently we have an "Alliance" with Purity. This alliance was set up to try and benefit both guilds. At this point in time i honestly dont think its working as such and probably needs re-evaluationg in the near future. Renegade Legion is good at Firepower. When we charge into battle Freeporters get worried and die...fast. We are seeing an increasing number of encounters where the Freeporters see us coming and evac away in about 2-3 seconds. This is a good thing, word is getting out that we will fight hard and we will hunt you down.

Where we seem to be lacking is in the support department. Our Chinese friend above mentions that without support any army is doomed to failure in a protracted campaign. Campaign's dont get much more protracted than EQ2 PvP. The alliance with Purity could, possibly, be reworked to a point where either:

a) There is a set aggreement in place between Renegade Legion and Purity for Purity to supply 100% of the Renegade Legion's supplies, and that Renegade legion will supply 100% of the resources required to complete this. There should be a Token charge for the crafters time in making the item, but this is a fixed price regardless of the level of the item etc. This aggreement would be in place for the sole purpose of Purity being able to level their trade-skillers faster, safer, and at an accelerated rate.

b) Renegade Legion and Purity merge, retaining the Renegade Legion name. They would bring their trade-skilling lovelyness to the guild and we would be supplying the raw materials, Forums, Hi cap TS server, Firepower etc. The idea being that the Total is greater than the sum of all the parts.

Another option is to semi restrict recruitment for the time being to only Trade-skillers. These people are needed IMHO more than any other class we have. The caveat on this recruitment being .. you WILL tradeskill and we WILL provide you with more than enough components to be able to do it.

__________________________________________________ ______________

Communications is the next bit i'm going to hit. Yes, we use teamspeak, most of us use teamspeak, but the big question would be:

How many of you actually have the Queynos Defence channel visible all the time?

Now i'll be the first to hold my hand up and say "Almost never". The reason being that all i've ever seen on that channel is crap about who did something to piss someone else off, or my monk Chuck Norriss'd player xyz into the next zone etc, Christ Barrens chat in WoW was a seething pool of Knowledge compared to the Queynos Defence channels...nothing of any use to me whatsoever.

Would it be a better idea to contack the GM's of the 3-4 largest English speaking guilds and arrange for us to all use one common Defence channel, only to be used in emegencies.

I say english because seeing :

[7]Hulp. Freeporters in Stormhold. Allen rood aan tonen me. Zij zijn Ganking mijn groep.
[7]Que nível é eles e que classes?
[7]ich weiß nicht. Sie töteten gerade meine Gruppe auch. Lose von ihnen hier jetzt.

Scrolling up one of my windows is not going to help me much, other than me thinking ..."hmmm freeport ...stormhold ...ganking"

__________________________________________________ ______________

Posting here before trying to actually plan or implement any of this ..... Thoughts?

[Dodgerius]

ahh lovely .. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" one of my favourite ;)

and yes Bags you are right .... i'll have to go over it again and make up my mind; after i was a tad productive here in the office...

i'll Edit my post to bring in my toughts.


Great start tough!
:cool:

FIRST EDIT:

Ok my 3c's Post:



Communication:

we need to create a chat channel for the interested Qeynos Guilds and there officers/guild leaders not a public access one but one to coordinate lenghty fights or get clear fast details on ongoing gankage or organise some can o whoopass openining...

then the Qeynos Defence channel .. i never have it up but i think we can raise the awareness on our sde of the server ot actually use it and what detials to include in a emergency call this might work. If we get the renegades
to use it regularely so will others start using it

in guild communication is working nicely, maybe a tad more to get to know each other is needed but mybe thats me and im wrong since i was mostly busy in game the last few days either telling, socialising or fighting.....


Cooperation:

the in guild cooperation starts to realy pick up and i like that .. keep going like that .. if you log off and can say to yourself you did more for other guildies than for yourself then the guild had a great day!

the outguild cooperation is slacking to a bigger part i have the feeling ... i'm not acusing anyone in guild or out the guild (no fail in guild that i konw of) but if you get pissed off by someone in guild do seek the talk and try to jump over your own shadow and think at the big picture and the one and only need we have: to win this war, togheter. this goes also towards non guildies .. i dont ask you to be nice to assholes . nono but think also there for the greater good...

The "alliance" with purity is at it is utterly useless .. the chat channel doesnt get used; some players from them already show an attitude on the server that does not belong to a PvP environment. a Re-assessement is very much needed. (at this place: we need to place one of our players as "Foreign Minister" who will organise get togethers / chats with other guild leaders and helps forming those ties we need with the other guilds)

crafting:

aye we realised yesterday that the crafter need the priority right now and for the coming weeks ... we are not only outnubered on the battlefield.. no also concerning our equippement we are min. 15 levels behind....

and bags mentions those two points concerning purity and crafting .... (or so ..)

and i would much heavely disagree to point b) since im just not willing to share a guild tag with a (very) few WANKERS .... i had my runing into some players showing off a purity flag .... oh boy!

point a) sounds much more reasonable .. but i do miss the aspect of our own crafters in guild ? shouldnt we just plainly support our own crafters first? im sure there are some very tough ones with us now who would love to spend whole nights in the crafting cellar only to support our guild with the needed stuff (but this needs some more organising and maybe we need to call for a "crafting officer position" who will lead the "administration" of it (here on the forums?)

gag ... meeting incoming ... how i wish i could just up in the middle of a speak and gank the whole bunch of customers .. grmbl ... more to come

[Ludicrouse]

Unstickied due to it being out of date now.