Meursault wrote on Feb 22
nd, 2016 at 7:47pm:
LOL, I promise I won't - I want a serious discussion, not a flame war. I may not agree with you. Actually, I completely don't agree with you, but if I can't make my point without resorting to insulting your intelligence, then I can't make my point.
Too late, that ship has sailed.
These raids are no longer run enough for any but the most dedicated (and bored) player to get them. Giving out raid loot didn't kill them, new better loot and terrible drop rates killed them. As long as the current approach has already failed, we might as well try a different approach.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that giving out one piece from one raid to each person will diminish even
one good raid, never mind
all of them. These raids have multiple items, and there are multiple raids. If the raid isn't a total pain in the ass, people will still run it for the other items, and for the fun of it. If it
is a total pain in the ass and has only
one worthwhile item, well, then maybe it will kill it, but good riddance - why would you want to subject others to it, are you sadistic

Nor should they cater to serious players at the expense of casuals. Neither style is superior to the other, they are just different. This really helps casuals, and doesn't hurt serious players at all.
It's a great idea and they should do it more often. Have longevity rewards, give casuals a few nice trinkets just for sticking around, even if they aren't as good as "serious" players. They are never going to beat the serious gamers in kill count or achievements,
but maybe they'll be well enough geared to at least join you in a raid and survive, and that's what you claim you want. You make a very fair point. As someone who's both dedicated and bored, I don't like the cake. Most of the people who play this game aren't in that category, and although I stand by my opinion that giving out store items again would've been the better idea, after hearing what you had to say about this I'm much more okay with it than I was initially.
I'm glad that we discussed this.
Sailias wrote on Feb 23
rd, 2016 at 9:42am:
Sadly, there's no way to do that in DDO. There are two very different groups of people, with no deviation between them - new players, first lifers, players still learning... and those of us who have past lives, gear for our level, raid loot, and the tactical instincts that comes from years of play.
If they make it too difficult for group 1, group 1 will complain. If they make it too easy for group 2, group 2 will complain.
Creeping Death and To Curse the Sky are examples of a quest too hard for group 1 of that. Fighting broken DR abishai on-level with no gear? Impossible. Casters that if you fail a save you die? Just as un-fun.
It's probably impossible to balance a quest power-wise, the players are all across the band of mastery. The power discrepancy between legacy players and new players is huge...
This is why difficulty levels are a thing. The folks at Turbine need to figure out how to change the expectation that everyone is running everything with EBB. Part of that solution might have to be removing bravery streaks and distributing the experience through the difficulty levels.