The Level-Locking Debate Rages On

Over at the Official Everquest II Forums and EQ2 Flames, a fierce debate has been started over my recent post concerning level-locking in Everquest 2. I believe that the following post provides a very good summary of the other side of the argument. At the end of this post, I provide my response.

Paikis@Venekor wrote:

In reply to the article posted here.

1. Accessibility of PvP - Rubbish, level-locking BLOCKS casual players from PvP because they dont have the time to dedicate to getting the gear and masters to compete with the twinks. If there was no level-locking people would still level slower than on PvE servers because they understand that AA=good. This then means that there would still be PvP in all tiers. The only difference is that there wont be twinks there to completely destroy the non-twinks. Watched a level 12 templar kill 3 level 15 toons in darklight wood a couple days ago. 1 level 12 killed those 3 level 15s 3 times (they zerged him) Twinks are OPed and are BLOCKING your average joe from being able to participate in low-level PvP.

2. Tradeskilling - Again, garbage! The markets for T2 through T6 mastercrafted will still exist, because PvPers realise the importance of having good gear. Without that gear your toon is only sub-par, even with full masters. As for people not spending because they aren’t staying in those tiers for long… see my last point about slower levelling.

3. Use of more content - Again, would still happen even if there were no level-lockers. Like you said, people are encouraged to hunt in every zone to get more AA. How does not locking your level mean you suddenly don’t care about AA? Also, you know those other 50-odd levels you aren’t using? Guess what, there’s extra spells and abilities that YOU DONT HAVE in those levels. That is CONTENT THAT YOU AREN’T USING. Let’s put some thought into your arguements before you post this drivel please.

4. Equipment strategy - The lockers aren’t experiencing more of the game, they’re experiencing more of THAT mob, you know, the one which drops that uber-1337 wrist piece that is so covetted by the lockers? Even if you said that the lockers experience more of the loot, I’d have to shoot that arguement down in flames as well. Lockers do not experience ANY of the game at all, beyond level 30-40. Solely because they ARE lockers, they dont experience the end-game, so they dont see most of the loot, they dont see most of the mobs, they dont do most of the quests.

5. Proliferation of Alts. Again, having twinks DOES NOT create the need or want for alts. People create alts for a variety of reasons, and I’m willing to bet your life that the biggest reason is NOT so that they can twink out at level X and experience easy-mode 2-shot kills on n00bies. Me personally? I create alts so I can see how other classes are played, so I can experience more of the game content (cos you know, all those abilities the other classes have? All the ones your class has, but you never see cos you wont unlock? That’s content.)

Overall, i rate this fan-site post as an F-. Absolute [I cannot control my vocabulary]. This post isn’t even good enough to be used as toilet-paper in an out-back toilet that gets used once every 3 months. You are DEVALUING any piece of paper you print this trash on. Not a single relevant point about why level-lockers should be allowed to continue to play in easy mode. Not a single benefit to the economy that wouldn’t be there anyways just from being players wanting good gear while they level. All-in-all this is a post designed to justify your want to be a play-ground bully in Norrath.

You sir suck.

Rating: 0/100 (If I could give you a negative, I would)

Here is my response to Packis.

Dear Paikis,

I am glad that you are such a great fan.  There is nothing that keeps me motivated to keep posting on this blog than engaging in debate.  I understand your points here, however, I believe that they are irrational. The way I see it people who pvp in T7 are angry at the level lockers because it means less pvp at T7. I absolutely agree with you that healthy lower tier pvp does reduce the number of players at T7. However, most of the problems the are raised about lower tier pvp and level-locking also exist in T7. For example,

1. Accessibility of PVP - Casual players are also blocked from being effective at T7 pvp. For one, casual players have a hard time leveling a character to level 70. Unlike people who play for several hours a day, the casual player might only play for 30 minutes to 2 hours a day. Therefore, if the critical mass of players who are pvping are in T6 or T7, it will take the casual player forever to get to pvp consistently. In fact, many casual players never get to level 70. Should these players not get to experience great pvp action? I think that T7 pvpers are just diappointed with the number of people pvping at T7 and they are irrationally blaming the level-lockers.

Secondly, you mention that the twink level-lockers hurt the accessibility of pvp for casual players. I strongly disagree with this. Casual players have the ability to twink T2 and T3 characters very easily. However, gaining awesome gear at T7 is harder. Most casual players never experience a raid. This means that they will not be as well geared as the “hardcore” T7 pvpers. Therefore, the “twink” problem exists both in T2 and the T7 pvp.

2. Tradeskilling - I absolutely agree that there will still be a market for lower tier tradeskill items, but I guarantee that the market will be smaller. I know that I would never buy MC crafted T2 or T3 gear. I would just out level it too quickly.

3. Use of more content - You raise a good point about levels 30 - 70 having great content. But I think that a lot of level lockers are also experiencing this content with other characters. For instance, I have a toon for T2 pvp, T3 pvp and one for leveling up to 70. Most level-lockers are doing the same as I am. And guess what, as soon as I get to T7, I will pvp up there too. This is not an all or nothing thing. Instead the game experience is just more diverse.

4. Equipment strategy - As noted above, your argument assumes that level-lockers do not have other toons at higher levels. Additionally, many level-lockers would not ever experience raid content because of lack of time.

5. Easy Mode - One thing that I have noticed in a lot of the responses here against level-locking is that this is “easy mode.” Or another often used comment is that people should level to level 70 to “play with the big boys.” While I must admit that I do not have a level 70 character, my experience with EQ2 suggest that everything is “easy mode.” Let’s face it, this game is not that hard. I am glad that you are a “big boy,” but I will have to face the reality of being a casual player due to my responsibilities of being a “grown man.”

 

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