How's that saying go? "You can please some of the DDO community none of the time and some of them none of the time but you can't please any of them any of the time"?
What do you mean?
It's not going far enough. I think the xp for the first few lives should be really, really easy to get. Those first few lives make a big difference for newer players as they;
Teach players the basic core loop of the game and the content
Make the most difference in terms of character power
Help players in understanding reincarnation strategy
Encourage access to higher level play that further bridges the power gap by giving access to better kit and more reaper points.
Spend more. Players that don't engage don't spend money on the game. We want more players to spend money on the game.
Players should fly through their first life. Maybe 1m xp. Maybe even less. If players are leveling every few quests that's great. If they want to buy an xp potion to make it ridiculously fast even better - SS makes some money and the player stays engaged.
Maybe this is only the first life, maybe it's the first few then scale it to what it is now, maybe after 30 lives. Get people used to the process, get them trying higher level content, show them the rewards.
New people get into the game and go... "Ill never get there. I'll never be able to play that content or with those groups, or those raids". We need to show them they can, that it's worth it.
There are lots of other things that could help of course (reaper should be much much easier to get the first 50 points as well) but I think making the first few lives much easier would help on a number of levels.
Hap
The problem is that we are in an era where most people do not want to learn or understand certain mechanics of a game, many have work, family or school... the modern player just wants to get attached to the console or PC, turn off his brain and have fun... then as I will have already said a few posts above I have learned that there are different types of targets, each one has a different need... SSG must find a way to please everyone, and making the first lives easier to do... it is not enough.
2. 100% agree and will add my name to wishing they would do this.
3. As one of the 'old timers', I have to say that the people who are screaming and up in arms are the loud minority. Most of the other old timers I talk to (sadly, not all) agree that something needs to be done because we love this game and want to see it stick around and for that we need new people to stay. (maybe that's just the case on 'snobby' khyber, but I believe that if I hear that there, then its the same on most other servers).
Exactly! The real players, unfortunately, are often the ones who stay in the shadows. They are the ones who help new players the most, patiently explaining the mechanics and how the game works. And, as has been said many times before, I completely agree: a rework of the hireling system is necessary. The current system is outdated and practically useless… At legendary levels, hirelings are almost worthless.
I have suggested multiple times a system similar to Guild Wars' Mercenary Heroes, where you can recruit different heroes throughout the game world or even create your own custom heroes. There are many things SSG could improve to enhance the overall experience, and I’ve already seen some positive changes since I returned. For example, the way named items are obtained has been improved. The system is already in place—just look at the items acquired through tokens in the Wild Zones.
What I’d love to see is an improvement in the game's quality of life without turning DDO into a full-time job. But so far, none of these things have been implemented. I’ve almost lost hope… but we’ll see.
Back to the XP issue—there is a simple solution:
remove the XP penalty entirely. And it's not true that SSG doesn’t sell potions, Otto Boxes, and other boosts. The point is something else:
these things should be a choice, not a necessity. We are in an era where cosmetics and vanity items are more accepted than pay-to-win mechanics. Let’s stop living in the Stone Age and face reality: the XP penalty needs to go!
Players who want to reincarnate multiple times would still have a reason to do so.
