I've searched. Please direct me if there's a thread. :)
One of my most favorite things in EQ was high level buffs landing on newbies. On my lvl 60 druid, tossing a PotG at lower level people literally made my day. There were times I logged on to do this genuinely because I was having a bad day and it was such a pick-me-up.
Conversely, when I first started EQ, I was in Everfrost. I was lost in the darkness, in that terrifying maze. I had finally gotten ONE WHOLE PLATINUM PIECE and omg, I felt RICH. But now... all my hopes and dreams were on the brink... I was dying with my plat on me and I knew there was no way I was going to get back to my corpse. It was heart-stopping, when suddenly, out of the darkness, a high level cleric appeared. I had no idea what she was, besides oh-so-shiny! Woosh! In a hail of sparks and dancing light that lit up my screen like the worst neighbor at Christmas on steroids, my health went from 2% to full! She then sat down beside me, and as I slowly pecked out, "Oh my god, thank you!" she stood back up. With another profusion of light, color, and sound, she turned me into a goddess for the next however long. She stuck a hammer in trade and the next thing I knew, I was hitting things so hard they were actually dying ahead of me! Wow! I rolled a cleric. I didn't just appreciate that, I had to BE that. It literally defined the rest of my gaming career because I LOVED being a cleric even though at the time I had no idea what it really meant to be one.
I rolled an enchanter so I could buff people. By the time I had played it to level 20, I was almost as hooked on that as cleric. I had motivation, I loved buffs, I wanted to do that for others, but that motivation turned into the thrill of locking down multiple mobs and ruling the roost in places like KC. Where trains were a welcome sight instead of terror invoking only because I was there.
I really, really want to buff people and for it to be welcome, desired, and even sought. I want to seek out buffs on my warrior (another class I enjoy, though less so than the others, because I don't enjoy melee). I want getting my cleric to max level to mean I can go completely make someone else's day and by doing so, my own. Buffing people has pulled me out of the doldrums many a time, and sudden buffs out of nowhere have totally changed my day when I wanted solitude and unexpected kindness brought me a smile.
It's something that most other games have rendered moot. It's considered a bad thing, and even heals often don't land for more than what that level would be able to heal for. It becomes a "why bother". All because, "well, we don't want people powerleveling". I don't like powerleveling, necessarily, but it happening is better than rendering buffs "nice and not much more except on raids".
I loved buffing low level chars. I remembered the first time someone helped me that way. My Necro had like 300hp. Its not a big deal as for a short time you are god like but its not long you are down to 50hp and you spend forever sitting and medding or using band aids. Its not unbalanced its just a fun 30 min and should be part of the game.
Here is the thread you are looking for: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/4360/do-buffs-encourage-socialization
I agree with Amris totally. I have spend many hours buffing newbies with my high level druid. It was awesome to see them come back in 15 mins or soo and ask "can I get those buffs again"
I do not look at it as powerleveling but as assisting a newbie at finding his potential. As a druid I never got into porting for cash or items. If I was offered money from a high level I took it but never asked for it. And many times a low level would offer me a few plat or gold for my service and I would not accept it just because he was new and would need the cash some place else. Many times I would be soloing in skyfire or other higher zones and would get a tell asking if I was porting. Many times I would leave and go pick up a person and port him/her just to break up the monotany of fighting alone. That was the fun of being a druid and I would not change my style of playing for anything. So yes Buff those low levels and help in any way you can. It is a big part of the social aspect of gameing
Yep I think a lot of us have memories of this when we played EQ. I would not mind seeing this again in Pantheon, but it opens up a huge concern for power-leveling. An power-leveling is something I hope they limit in Pantheon. So with that said, as some have mentioned, it needs to be implemented in a way where it is not absusive... I will leave that up to the devs. :)
I agree with snrub.
My backround includes Asheron's Call which I left because of the excessive buffbotting. Go to a buffbot, get buffed, be powerful for a while, come back and get rebuffed.
I know that isn't at all the same as a friendly high level tossing buffs at low levels but I am still a bit nervous at the thought of buffs making anyone too powerful for their level. And I speak as one likely to play buffing classes and who has tossed many buffs at strangers over the years.
Currently, my day in EQ1 TLP starts like this:
Get VOQ or KEI.
Get Spiritual Dominion.
Get POT9.
Get group.
Other buffs like Temperance, Virtue, Shaman stat buffs, etc. Those are great, and more valuable for melee, but optional for WIS/INT casters. Without all the mana regen buffs, my role in a group is pretty diminished. It's not that I can't contribute, I just can't contribute on every mob without going OOM in under 5 minutes.
So, with that context in mind...
IMHO, Buffs should scale to level caps. Everything should have a cap, including HP/mana pools, hp/mana regen, and stats. Buff all you like, heck, even use the highest level buff you want, but at best, it will just cap out so the player isn't overpowered at their existing level. Level 50 casts a HP buff on a level 1, it gives them as much HP as the buff cap allows for their level.
Also, as previously discussed, it's my opinion that buffs should only count down while in combat or 'consumed'. Since 2003 in EQ1, while a player is in the Plane of Knowledge, The Bazaar, The Nexus, or The Plane of Tranquility, all buff timers are halted (they do not count down), so after you get buffs, you can get a group at your leisure, rather than losing all your buff durations while you prepare and/or travel to your XP zone.
Optionally, if a group is together (or travelling together?) in Pantheon, perhaps buff timers are halted unless in combat, to promote this behavior. Another option are zone-wide permanent buffs while grouped, simply for having a class present. This could tie in with auras or personal environments.
Like Amris, I remember all that as a newbie.
I remember the first time someone gave my ruid KEI. I was sitting at the gnoll spires in SK, root-rotting and running out of mana. I had a clarity and it ran out. I remember contemplating whether I should travel back, find a buff and return or if I would waste so much of it traveling. Somone buffed me right there with a buff that laster 2h42m O M G !!!! a buff that lasted almost three hours instead of 8 or 14 minutes ?!?!?! I couldn't believe that and didn't want to waste a second of this precious stuff. I stayed there killing as fast as I could for the next three hours. After it was over, I tried telling my friends about it. They were skpetical and I couldn't even remember the name of the buff.
I still carry that memory of that experience over fifteen years ago.
Idrial said:But here shouldn't the lowbies just remove the buffs because they don't want them? After all, they don't want maps or mounts or auction houses because they're well hardcore like the rest of us - aren't buffs just another care bear mechanic? ;)
The fact that it's so hard is what makes buffs so great. It's a study in opposites. If the game was easy, as I pointed out, nobody would give two hecks about getting buffs!
I'm sorry, but I think it's too important a thing to let fear of powerleveling render it meaningless. The only way you'll prevent powerleveling is to prevent all assistance from higher levels to lower. Or to render that assistance nearly pointless. In so doing, you will remove one of, if not the most, important and valuable social contributions.
If I'd seen that cleric run past, I would have been too distracted to notice. Even if I hadn't been, I would have had a passing interest in her "ooo, shiny!" armor and that would have been it. It was her buffs that created the profound, intense, overwhelming emotional reaction. She saved me, she didn't fly past on her mount... she didn't cast a heal that barely at best kept me ahead of the mob... which would have been appreciated, but NOT impressive... she saved me AND she gave me a momentary, admittedlly fleeting, taste of power.
If buffs scale, then you have lost something FAR, FAR more valuable than powerleveling is a detriment. In this case, it is a choice between a powerful good or an unwanted annoyance in degrees... I want the powerful good to be chosen and another way found to deal with the annoyance if it can be done.