Originally Posted by
Esssch
According to your 220 thread, you started in 2005. You're misinformed. Hecklers have been kited since long before you started playing. Go look up some 2004-2005 threads in the NT forums about ely hecklers.
This "initiative" is doomed to fail. MMO (and most other video game) players will 99% of the time take the path of least resistance. There will always be those people who are sadomasochists and will torture themselves with needless "challenges". The reason there used to be normal heckler teams was because there were too many people for kite hill to support. Now, there are too many people for kite hill to support, but not enough to support regular groups. Ado/Pen used to be used for leveling, when there weren't inf mishes and leveling in inf was entirely grinding mobs with a crat for XP perks near incarnator. People still used Ado/Pen for leveling once inf mishes came out, though Pen dropped in popularity rapidly, because the grind from 200-220 took so long already that you'd want all 205+ players to make the missions faster. Now, a single 220 and random 210-219s can tear through a mission faster than most groups could back then, due to powercreep, so they don't mind bringing a low level or 2 if they can't fill with 205+.
The difference between your nostalgia-laden view of the past and today is primarily powercreep and dropping population levels. When I leveled an alt through Ado in 2005/2006ish, it was expected that you'd find someone to replace you if you left a heck team, and it wasn't remotely difficult to find a replacement unless it was the middle of the night for everyone except Australia. Every heckler spot used to be taken, both Clan and Omni side. You'd get a team together, check all the spots, and end up having to kill whirling rocks.
But none of this was fun. It's not fun running back and forth killing rocks over the same 100m stretch for 20 hours of gametime so that you can do the same thing, but in a new 100m stretch. People use kiting and OSTs as a way to level efficiently while only having 2 people stare at the same 100m stretch, instead of an entire team. If you truly want to "recover" the AO leveling experience, then recommend ways for FC to change things. The RK dungeon XP change has been a definite step in the right direction, now go suggest new dungeons for higher levels, since IS was only "active" for less than a year after release.
As for thinking back to when I was new, you definitely don't want to go there. Back when you'd grind mobs on RK (bulls near bridge in Galway, shadows near pipes/cave in Pleasant Meadows, etc), then "team" mishes at higher levels, except they weren't implemented. Sitting around Tir south gate or Home pyramid waiting for groups to form and show up, copying mission keys to everyone, everyone having AC holes in their armor, dedicated healers being required to level up.
TL;DR: Nostalgia was better back in the day.