Launch player returning for Brimstone Sands. Never bothered with the expertise/gear score grind. Not sure if this is a server problem or a problem with the game itself but I’ve been playing MMORPGs for 25 years now and I have never encountered a community or video game this uninviting to new/returning players.
Overwhelming majority of the time when I try to join a regular expedition for something like Lazarus or Garden to get a gypsum and increase several slots in a single day, it’s gated off to something like GS580-590+ and I’m only 563. Problem is without the expeditions I can’t progress. Technically I can, but at a snail’s pace.
Complained about these groups in game and I got some snarky comments along the lines of “that’s their choice for their group, make your own group” (which I did and no one was joining at peak time on a Saturday evening).
Newsflash for anyone that needs to hear it, you don’t need 580+ gear score requirements for a regular level 60 expedition. These expeditions are the path of least resistance for increasing gear score and expertise and by denying players such as myself the ability to even run through that content, I’m unable to hit the gear scores you want me to be at. I blame AGS for having such an obtuse progression system and the community for gate keeping players from being able to progress in the game. Everything about this sucks.
People gatekeep them because they want to speedrun, but yeah expertise grind should really just be removed. No one ever asked for it and no one likes it.
It’s so poorly made since 1-60 is done at your own pace. Always awkward when a friend says “I hit 60, what do I do now?” and you have to explain that they need to do the same daily tasks for the next 2 weeks before they can actually start playing.
Time gated progression in the middle of the leveling experience just isn’t enjoyable for anyone.
They don’t gate you.
I went through what you do 3-4weeks ago.
If you have a lower GS just open up your own lobby. Maybe even write “returner, help appreciated” and you likely will get a good run.
Now if you think “oh I’ve to wait so long for a group”
We all have to. Cause no cross server queues just means hella waiting times for tank/healer. Also NW doesn’t provide any good incentive to play tank/healer in addition
People who already have higher gs are tired of the dungeons and often just run for a basic piece of gear or gypsum. With 5people above 600 a tank is not needed, so the last requirement left is a healer of any gs. The runs are fast and convenient and it cuts the waiting time by half aswell.
Genesis and lazarus ya should start searching groups after like 530. Maybe 550.
Tempest and the rest, rather be around 580+.
But you should hit 580 really fast if u just join 1-2places of chestruns a day and do your gypsums, hit some trees, maybe 1opr. I think I hit greatsword to 540 on day1 and was like 560 on day2 without even trying lol
And it might look like people only search for higher gs, cause just like you today are a bit behind. If you play daily for 1h you will be trying next week to find a run. And just as likely open up a lobby with your gearscore as minimum requirement. Which will be higher by 30-50points than it is today, so the person who came back 2-3days ago will also say “oh that guy is gating me, not letting me in”.
So first up, you don’t need 590+ to run normal expeditions so you’re probably dodging a bullet if you’re not getting invited to groups who think you do. Second, building up GS to 600 is not “snails pace”. My friends returned with me and they were sub 550 and using the various (many) ways of getting gypsum every day for a week or two, they’re well over 600 now.
There’s not actually much of a grind if you do lots of different things. If all you do is do those horrendous chest zergs then sure, it might feel grindy. I barely ran more than 5 of those in my entire time in the game and I got to 625 rapidly once I returned to the game and used all the gypsum casts I could on a daily basis. You can hammer down at least 7 a day barely doing anything at all (2 from faction vendor, emerald, diamond, topaz x2 and obsidian). All of that can be done 100% solo in 550 gear.
That’s a bump every day for all gear but jewelry and can be achieved in about an hour. If you have friends, go do Mangled. You’ll get plenty bumps from the 6-10 elite chests there, depending how far you can push it. Some decent corrupted ward gear drops there so you can even gear up in that and try other areas in a small group, like the mines (although you’ll need to dodge the trains, but if a train passes you then just go grab all the elite chests anyway - free bumps - and if not, just enjoy the content)
If you don’t mind PVP, you can get 3 right there every day easily (although the garnet one can be hit and miss if I’m honest - the ruby ones are more reliable)
All that said… besides the heavily overtuned Ennead, and maybe Tempest, you don’t need 580+ for basic expeditions so whoever is setting that limit is a bit weird; they’re intended for level 60 players and that is basically 500+, so it’s extremely paranoid to expect 580+. What I’d do is try to make some friends and form your own lobby.
It is way faster to run expeditions, I know. But the current methods of gaining expertise have never been so fast as they are now. You get 4 by tripping up over them first thing when you log in. Almost zero effort.