As a new player that fell in love with the game and wants it to succeed, please reconsider Bolster/Grouping of t2-3-4.

[Sinisterror]

No one is asking lvl 16 to have sovereign. Easiest solution is to drop Red-Eye/Conq/Dominator to lvl 35 and Vanquisher/Oppressor to 40/45. That leaves room for new set and i would recommend rr 50-55. And pls make that set actually different, not upgraded version of alreadyt existing set bonuses.

Anni/Merce/Ruin to lvl 30/30. Devastator to lvl 20/20. If you are against dropping lvl requirements for the early sets why? there really is not much reasons other than you are afraid that 40/45rr people will kill your rr70-80 chars, and that is pathetic=)

[leondre25]

What would you prefer? Starting the game and walking around in endgame gear at lvl 16? Work for it, every veteran has done the same

Love how everything must be all or nothing on this forum.

This month i managed to get around 12-15 discord associate from another server to hop on the game. some older players but the majority new players.

as we explain the game its all fun and miracles. but i have to hit them with reality.

Spoiler:

This is the common consensus in our group around where the game is. (we all disagree whether or not the game is fun around rr50 or 60 but i think that's the bare minimum personally).
T1 is just mindless fun. buttons being thrown out. damage being done. healers being overpowered but no one really cares about it because its just constant action.

at level 16+ is where things change..... If its hanging out in warbands absolute terrible. just zerging, mount being too slow to catch up to others (GL if your running away you get mobbed by faster mounts and get a free trip back to warcamp. better hope you know how to get back to the warband without getting ganked by a roaming WH/WE. then waiting by a keep door doing much of nothing unless you're a rdps farming damage, or a healer farming heals. the only fun happens when warbands collide or when keep doors are busted open. 3 hours of nothing for 10 minutes of fun (this changes if you are in a coordinated warband but you wont be if your below 40/40)

on the other hand SCs are some of the most fun you will have. you have actual buttons to press. skill to express. everyone is somewhat equal in gear (some people can twink out but eh). just an absolute blast overall.

but every level you get closer to 40 is a reminder the fun will stop soon, and you got a at minimum month long grind before some of it comes back. you basically become weaker then you were prebolster. nothing you do feels very impactful. you take much more damage, you deal/heal much less.
thankfully over the years RoR team has managed to make that awful period less awful with PVE sets but its pretty much a bandage.

to stop my rambling i agree with an earlier poster. RR required for gear should come down a little bit. and as compensation new sidegrade gearsets should be released for the active veterans. we already have this somewhat. but even more options couldnt hurt. once you hit RR60 (or even 50). the game should branch wide open with multitudes of sidegrade gearing options.
Tank Set, Crit set, Str set, Sustain Set. etc (this already exist to an extent but lets push it even further)

but thats just my experience. either way me and my friends will be here for the good times until around 39ish where it goes from fun to chore.

EDIT: forgot what the main topic of the post was. t2-t3 was fun back then when it wasnt mixed with t4. but the population was so low it would constantly be 2-3 parties fighting it out. with the winner ultimately being whoever wins the first 2 battles before half of your faction xrealms over for the free xp. bolster isnt perfect but its the only way to get proper RVR at current levels.

[warlover]

Well i agree on how hard it is to get where you need to be in this game, keep on grinding, remember lv 40/high rr level players paid their dues

[shoelessHN]

No one is asking lvl 16 to have sovereign. Easiest solution is to drop Red-Eye/Conq/Dominator to lvl 35 and Vanquisher/Oppressor to 40/45. That leaves room for new set and i would recommend rr 50-55. And pls make that set actually different, not upgraded version of alreadyt existing set bonuses.

Anni/Merce/Ruin to lvl 30/30. Devastator to lvl 20/20. If you are against dropping lvl requirements for the early sets why? there really is not much reasons other than you are afraid that 40/45rr people will kill your rr70-80 chars, and that is pathetic=)

I dont think theyd just lower the set levels without adjusting all the stats which would defeat the point. They could drop rr req of dev and anni by 5 so you can equip the chest at 36/36. T3 and t4 sets need more wounds, or the bolster needs to change so that wounds is extra buffed. Either cut the cost of conq by 50% or put an upgrade path where you can turn conq into vanq for reduced cost. Those sets are ignored by 99% of players now.

They've done some good work on the t1 and t2 itemization with (hidden) quest sets, etc. While a fun idea maybe don't hide that content from new players behind a guide that only Unreal has managed to put together. And the chapter rewards are underpowered despite rarity increases so any new player using that stuff is going to be gimping their characters unknowingly.

The city sets (specifically holdfast) is good for a lot of melee classes and no one even knows the set exists. And the bolster affects the armor debuff on the set -- as it used to on mayhem -- so lvl26 with full holdfast can AOE armor debuff for -1100ish making low level aoe spam from WL, mara, sw, choppa, slayer, all pretty nice.

Itemization alone wouldn't fix the issue but it's right in front of them and most of the items are already in the game.

All the career 30s skills (esp the skills you get at 40) need to be dropped 10ish levels so people get them sooner.