Feeling Discouraged

[shoelessHN]

Hi folks, just to chime in and extend another new players experience.

Past level 20 the game starts to feel like a mindless slog vs the earlier levels and it has the potential to be a much better experience.

I'm sure that for some at endgame, they would like to keep things as they are, which is understandable given they have worked hard to get where they are but there seems to be some truth to this being the drop off point for the majority of new players and if the community wants to increase player retention I feel that somethings got to change.

I am currently 26/30 and trying to progress renown levels is starting become a chore and I'm sure it only gets tougher from here out. Don't get me wrong, I understand the relevance of pacing in an MMO but it's hard to shake the feeling that time may be better placed elsewhere in terms of gaming.

I've been given some great tips in relation to keeping on top of gear, slotting talismans and getting into groups for locking zones but the progression feels very slow for the effort you need to invest.

I have had a better experience than the OP with oRvR warbands and I do think that class selection plays an import role here as well as group play.

Scenarios are my biggest gripe. I really enjoy this type of gameplay but at renown rank 30, it's taking over ten scenario wins for one renown level and lets just say that time to get ten scenarios to pop, never mind the fact that ill likely need 15-20 games per level is just not a pleasant experience.

If the pace of progression in mid tier was a bit faster I think people could handle the longer que times but as it stands it feels like much pain and little gain.

I rolled a new char like 10 days ago. By day 7 I was like 25/42 with 1500ish crests and 50 genesis crests. Zero scenarios.

Progression is just fine.

If you want scenarios you need to play EU times as there will be enough in queue to get pops even with active sieges. During NA times scenarios completely die when a siege is going on.

Farming crests on an alt as an experienced player only concerned with optimal gearing once they hit max level is obviously not the same thing as the new player experience for someone learning as they go along.

Anyone that joins a decent guild (as advised in this thread) can have the exact same experience.

[Easysteps2]

I tried queueing for SCs and the queue took 30 minutes. I can try again at a different time but I really don't want to wait for 30 minute queues so I just decided to try joining warbands again.

You don't have to sit in Altdorf waiting for a scenario to pop. Go run some boxes in rvr. Do some PVE (read the quests, they are good). Get your pocket items. Explore the world. Do all of the quests in Altdorf or Karak. There are lots of things to do while waiting for scenario pops.

Things didn't go well for order yesterday, lol. I had pretty much the same experience; warband leaders didn't communicate much, either ignored or brushed off my questions and abandoned objectives and boxes to go hunt for kills.

It rarely goes well in EU time, there are too many destro. A Order, you often know you will lose, because you are vastly outnumbered, and need to be satisfied getting some kills. But there are always hours of the day where you can win, if you try.

Before you can ram, you often need to do some back and forth until the other faction more or less gives up. Trying to ram a keep with equal numbers just doesn't work 99% of the time. During this time, you can form a small group of 6 and run some boxes, but it's very dangerous and you will probably be run over by a WB. IMO, go to another less populated zones and run boxes there, you will find small scale RVR.

Open RVR by definition isn't fair, the other faction always wants to run a train over you, 24v1. You need to pick your battles, be evasive, scout, or if you take risks just know if they catch you, you're nailed. Oh well.

Some open WB leaders go for kills and the back and forth only, even when there is an opportunity to ram. Or they just want to gank smaller groups. After awhile you will know which leaders you will want to follow. Leave WBs that don't suite your tastes. Or start your own group, you're a healer, at least you can do that.

There was one moment where after we took an objective, there were two boxes waiting to be capped, no one took them and the whole warband ran off without saying anything.

Leave the WB, grab the box and return it. Follow the WB but don't join. The WB wants solo/small group box runners to run the boxes. Some people don't want to run boxes, but it gives you incredible contribution, good bag rolls, and it's easy to do while doing scenarios.

Also, if a WB sits at a BO too long they also leave themselves open to be ambushed (by 1-2 WB), in my experience. You don't really want to linger, clear the area out and move. So that WB was not wrong.

Look, there is a lot to unpackage here. If you played more you can figure it out for yourself.

I stayed behind to try and take boxes. Then not one minute after they left 3 destro showed up, killed me, destroyed the two boxes and took the objective.

The life of a solo box runner. You die a lot in this game, especially solo, but the rewards are high.

Something good did come out of it though. I got a few compliments on my healing ability and a guild took notice of me when I said in chat "Is there a way to coordinate melee staying together and not getting too far away from healers? I'm tired of seeing TOO FAR AWAY and CAN'T SEE TARGET!".

Healers have to stay close to melee, not the other way around. Well, it's a two way street, because you can't leave your healer to die either. Healers especially want to be close to your tanks, unless you want to hide and heal. This is just something you will figure out with time and experience. It's not just gear that separates veteran players, veteran players know how to move, where to stand, lots of subtle tricks that aren't just about healing.

There are addons to make this easier as a healer. You should get Enemy and get some advice on addons, they make a huge difference.

They invited me to their Discord and I joined a voice call and did some roaming with them (there were only 3 of us so we couldn't really do objectives). They were kind and patient and offered me help. I'm hoping that things go well with this guild because I'd rather play like this than in PUGs and that they enjoy playing the game as it was designed and not just ganking.

Cool you found a guild, you will have more fun.

[Easysteps2]

I was having so much fun. Yet it seems that I was just lucky in the beginning because those experiences became less frequent and I was kicked from several warbands for "being too low level", got into warbands where all people cared about was getting kills,

Find a guild with members/leaders you like and learn which open WB leaders you like. You are a healer, you can start your own group too, get experience leading small groups.

I could no longer win 1v1s because competing with people in RR45+ gear is simply not possible when you're a bolstered rank 20-something. I remember in tier 1 I had a reasonable chance of surviving an attempted gank by a with elf, and even managed to win a few 1v1s with witch elves by the skin of my teeth and it felt good. Now when a witch elf ganks me I get CC'd immediately and often killed before the CC wears off. I can handle a loss and still have fun, but It's no fun when you can't even fight back...

If your gear and talismans are good enough, you actually can win 1v1 against RR 40-55. Sometimes, thanks to bolster, you might even technically be better than them. Their gear makes a difference, but they also have a lot more experience than you. You can only get experience through playing. Also, you don't have your rank 40 abilities/tactics yet, which do make a big difference.

If you don't like to be (unfairly) killed, don't go solo. The rewards are high but the risk is also high. Go in small groups of 2-3 at least, you can advertise your roaming group in LFG.

Honestly, skilled, high RR witch elves can gank almost any class, even at RR 80. High level archmages can beat them however, in time. And they say WE and WH are useless, which isn't true.

Does the game get better at rank 40?

I'll be honest, it can get harder at rank 40, because you don't have bolster. But you're more experienced now, so it will be better in some ways. By the time you get to RR 55, it will be more even.

that people do generally care about the objectives and that when I get RR45+ gear I can reasonably survive 1v1s again. :/

As I told someone else, when there is a high population of players, WBs can't stay at any one BO, they rely on small groups or solo box runners to run boxes. If you want to run boxes, run boxes, you'll get huge amounts of contribution.

Yes at RR 55+ you can reasonably survive 1v1s again. The fact is you're not going to win all matchups and most of the time when you are solo, you're against 2+ players, so you're toast anyway. At least AM is one of the better solo classes.

[Sulorie]

donty play, wait till they release a fresh server with proper T1, T2, T3 and T4,

dont feed the 10 years old characters, they are luring you into playing using nice words

they will prey on you relentlessly, they are in need of easy and fast renown from new players

they dont want you with them, they feed on you

Since when playing 10 years is any indication on how well someone plays? Sounds like some sorry excuse.

[Easysteps2]

donty play, wait till they release a fresh server with proper T1, T2, T3 and T4,

dont feed the 10 years old characters, they are luring you into playing using nice words

they will prey on you relentlessly, they are in need of easy and fast renown from new players

they dont want you with them, they feed on you

That's not true at all. I only started 4 months ago and from ranks 16-39 I could contribute to rvr, and actually did great in scenarios. RR40-55 was tough, but you learn. After RR 55, you're basically the same as even RR 80, especially in RVR, you're more or less even.

They will most likely never release a new server. It costs money you know. That would only happen if they could monetize it. Also, they'll never go back to having T2-T4 separated. It's great that they're combined, it's so much better than live. Why would you want T2-T3 to be empty or only 2-10 characters in it? Makes no sense.

[Avernus]

donty play, wait till they release a fresh server with proper T1, T2, T3 and T4,

dont feed the 10 years old characters, they are luring you into playing using nice words

they will prey on you relentlessly, they are in need of easy and fast renown from new players

they dont want you with them, they feed on you

Since when playing 10 years is any indication on how well someone plays? Sounds like some sorry excuse.

It's more like "some people never learn" sometimes

[Fey]

You will only keep playing if you have people who you enjoy playing with.