North America play time

[Lancez]

I play NA evenings EST and I'm about ready to give it up.

The populations is fairly dismal, usually order can barely muster 1 WB and after running around trying to rank up a keep and the zone we spend 15-20 minutes beating on the Lord only to watch all the BO's flip back to Destro because we don't have enough players to watch both. Then we spend another hour getting them back and waiting for the zone to flip only too see no real reward for the effort. This eats up my playtime every night and is boring and not rewarding.

Would love to run in a 6 man but might as well sit in aldorf for an hour and afk, same result

SC's? If order is getting rolled they pop often until everyone wises up and stops q'ing, if the reverse then same thing happens eventually.

[deathiron]

NA Primetime took a big hit when the Keep Lords were buffed. Not many destro wanna spend 10-15 mins beating on a lord. I personally dislike it as well and hope the devs will tone down the damage resist buff on the Lords. Maybe a scaling on the buff based on the number of stars the enemy keep currently is. Otherwise, this game was basically transformed from Doorhammer to Lordhammer. I play though because I have hope the Devs will make some fair adjustments to resolve the problems people are having with the current META.

So that is what happened. This sheds the light on to certain extend low pop. Killing destro/order and trying to kill Lord for 15 min is just ........ not happening most of the times.

[th3gatekeeper]

Ok, so let me get this straight. NA prime isn't really good, sadly. 6 month ago it was quite ok.

Also what i see in forums is that order doesn't have enough healer/tanks and yet there are some overgeared warbands (obv with healers and tanks) that destroy everything ?

So for casual playing there aren't enough order's heals/tanks compared to destro ?

Unfortunately for me personally weekends' afternoons isn't an option, too much activity in RL. So i only have eastern time evenings. (I still remember first 6 months of warhammer live, huge warbands left and right on both sides on all tiers, eh...)

I guess one thing is also true for NA is ping issues and some NA players don't want to deal with it.

Destro has "tank/healer" problems too. Most PUG groups are filled with "DPS Tanks" and "DPS Healers". I created an entire thread about this and how the "core" of this issue is the Guard mechanic... But I wont repeat here... At the end of the day, players want to play self sufficient classes, which is why you see so many DPS DOK, DPS AM, 2H Tank, etc.. They want to log in, and not feel forced to group, but can group if they want. This (IMO) I KNOW for a fact has contributed to more people quitting than any other reason I know o.

Most people I talk to that have quit, usually talk about "glory days" both on LIVE and ROR, and have a big fondness for the game.... PART of the issue is how un-friendly this game is for solo play. The other, is how the "focus" doesnt seem to be on "FUN" but rather "Gear".

What happens when players get the gear? They stop playing. I see this ALL THE TIME. Players will grind SCs till their eyes bleed. They get what they want, and BAM. Stop doing SCs.

Too much "focus" is put on the gear. If the game were fun, for fun's sake, people wouldnt need much incentive to play. RVR Debolster is a classic example of this. Nobody did it, until we offer gear. Now people WILL do it for the gear, once they get it, itll dry up.

Why does EU not feel this but NA does?
Well, it becomes more apparent in NA times because there are less people on. EU isnt as big an issue because of healthy player base. Its very easy to get on, see hundreds on people in T4, post a "Who wants to RVR?" message in LFG or most likely, their guild mates are already doing it, and they join. When you have a 2-2-2 party, many of these issues go away because people generally play their "Archtype" in those groups... So if you are a DPS, you have heals and guard. If you are a tank, youll have heals to keep you up. If you are heals, youll have a frontline to heal who is "good" and has damage - so you dont need to try and deal damage.... Where as when you solo play, as a tank, and get put in a party with all RDPS and "DPS Healers"... There isnt really much you can do. If you guard and stay in range they get mad you arent "pushing the frontlines" if you do that, they get mad you arent guarding... and many times wont get heals.... If your MDPS, without guard = GG... If your a Sorc without heals, thats a rough time due to baclash etc. I wont go on

However when you log in early in the morning, none of your guild is on, none of your friends list is on... Your going to have a rough time waiting for que pops and even if you do, itll be rough not having the "coordination" of a group.

Overall though, the "FUN" is what is often missing in many areas of the game. Thats the major issue and I were Torq, thats what I would be spending my time looking at - how to make the game more FUN for people which will draw people to the game. Sure you want "balance" but FUN should be the primary goal. There are many "unfun" things kept in this game for the sake of "LIVE" or "Balance"...