Visions of Grandeur

I just wanted to give a big thank you to Control for this server. By cutting mob strength in half and allowing four-boxing, you have given players what I think is a perfect balance between challenge and convenience. Epics are still relevant for a decent part of your character's lifespan, and they are doable by a box group while still feeling, well, epic based on the time put in. I was able to complete my SK's epic by lvl 55, but I didn't feel like it was "handed" to me, as I still had to work for it (but dammit I am never going back to The Hole. Ever. I HATE that place now.), as opposed to other servers where you are basically handed your epic before lvl 10. But a 40/45 2hs at 55 is STILL VERY GOOD on this server, so the quest felt very much worth the trouble. Some quests feel like more work than they are worth (I still don't know whether or not I'm gonna finish Greenmist. Might depend on how useful the Shissar Bane is in SSRA) but that's the nature of the game anyways.

Also, the no-placeholders rule (except Lord Begurgle apparently lol) means there's lots of loot to go around, which equated to things like me getting handed a Seblisian Berserker Cloak by a random player while I was in my 30's, and me passing my Atramentous Shield and MoSS to a newbie SK I saw. This means the server is very newbie-friendly and the community is very positive overall. Fableds being rare spawns still gives you an optional reason to "camp" something if you want, as I heard someone celebrate in OOC when they finished camping their Fabled JBB, and I was pretty stoked to get fabled GEB's on my cleric. Tradeskills are also still relevant if you want your Ornate/Elemental armor at the endgame, which is a bit annoying, but at the same time, provides an outlet for all the excess cash you accumulate and don't have any other use for.

My only complaint(?) is that Veksar gear seems to render a lot of other 40-60 gear obsolete, such as Thurgadin quest armor, but that's more an issue with Veksar than the server itself, and truth be told Veksar is a pretty fun zone to hunt in- mob strength is fine and it's easy enough to move around in to find your camp without having clear trash to get there.

So again, I just wanted to thank Control for creating this server experience. It's proving itself to be a blast and It's a blast I wouldn't have without your hard work :)

Great post! Only thing I wanted to mention was you don't need tradeskills for ornate and elemental armor, the ethereal mats are for sale on the Quest Supplies vendor at the PoK hub. Outfitting a whole box isn't cheap, but it's much better without the tradeskill requirement.

EDIT: You also don't need bane weapons for Emperor or Lord Seru, so don't worry about Greenmist!

Ah, didn't know that about the Quest vendor, that makes things much easier!

And I wasn't necessarily concerned about NEEDING Shissar Bane weapons, just that the difference between a 14/22 1hs and a 20/22 1hs is a big difference :P Though I'd imagine I can find comparable ratios on Luclin/PoP knight 1-handers if I bothered to look.

Thanks! I'm always happy to see people enjoying the server :D