Are FB19 and FB29 Obsolete?

BabaORiley - Dreamweaver · April 2011

A little background first, I started about 3 weeks ago, and I don't see many world chat requests to form squads for FB 19 or FB29. I do see a steady stream of BH and other activity squad requests. There also seems to be many forum posts like this one:

"One Message I actually miss Seeing on world chat"

The post highlights that FB19 & FB29 used to be very popular 'de rigor' activities that have been superseded by newer things like BH. That thread also mentions a private chat channel that had been specifically for getting FB19 and FB29 squads but is no longer serving that function and is now just there for entertainment.

I also have not seen players gathering outside FB19 looking for squads.

So am I wondering if no-one (at the levels they were intended for) bothers to do these and wonder if you miss nothing important if you skip them?

Is there anything that these two dungeons are unique for, in that they are the only place a new player can get certain items or rewards?

It would be interesting to know what players who HAVE started a new toon in the last year think about this as it seems that the good old days (when everyone did these) are long gone.

_Perses_ - Lost City · April 2011

fb19 and fb29....Neither are really worth it unless you need rep or feel bored and want to try for a mold drop at a higher lvl.

Bosk - Sanctuary · April 2011

Even after the BH feature was added, FB 19 and 29 still held some draw for higher level players because the reward included a few points of Reputation, and up until a few months ago, a rep badge on Sanctuary was selling for 250k or more (or about 10k per point of rep).

Today, those same badges sell for as little as 8k ... or about 320 coins per point.

[Note: as I am writing this, I see a WC request for 7,200 rep badges at 6,410 each or about 256 coins each rep point.]

I still do FB 19 and 29 whenever I can because I think they are fun. And even as recently as a week ago I got a mold drop from Qingzi, which was a nice bonus. But as for them being of strategic play value, the answer is "No". FCC with Hypers and Esoterica scrolls offers hundreds of times the EXP for the same period of time and buying one rep badge per day (8k coins or so) would be more than enough to compensate for the total Rep earned in a day of waiting next to FB 19 hoping to be added to an FB squad.

Furthermore, with so many players using Alt FCC runs to level up their secondary characters, there really is no reason to do any quests other than those required for SC, and even then, you will likely be high enough level after a few days to solo your own FBs. I heard of one player who had a level 100 Seeker only 3 days after the expansion.

Good Luck!

_blood_rain - Sanctuary · April 2011

Omg D,:
I remember doing my baby FBs and how happy my fac members were to help on them, kind of saddens me to see this part of the game dieing away, am I the only one?

Unfortunately, I don't see many new players, new chars tend to alt fcc and otherwise speed level up and out of their baby levels as fast as they can, and FB 19s and 29s are generally likely to go undone, considering that culti and fbs dont really mesh till 59s( I think).
People would argue that they aren't worth it, but hell if you're starting out with nothing the rewards and exp from baby FBs are pretty nice. ( tho some could argue that level 30 rank gear and level 20 supply stash rewards nullify the fb19-29 rewards)
Since alt fccing became a popular thing to do , many will be up and out of any baby levels, faster than you can say "FB 19". I feel this trend discourages new players and it has undoubtedly killed a part of the game that holds good memories for me.

But you did give me the idea to extend my hand out in wc to help out in low FB's. I guess those offers disappeared when rep became cheap(in every sense of the word). The rep is nice yes, but I still like to do those FB's because I think they are fun, thats what the game is about isn't it? I guess people forget sometimes >.>

flamingahole · April 2011

_blood_rain - Sanctuary wrote: »

Omg D,:
I remember doing my baby FBs and how happy my fac members were to help on them, kind of saddens me to see this part of the game dieing away, am I the only one?

I wasn't here from the very beginning but I joined a small faction when I started playing. Highest person in my FB19 was in his low 30s, I believe. We wiped several times and it took the better part of an hour to finish but we still had fun just learning as we went. We got lost a couple times, got turned around once or twice, and the last room with Poisontail was a huge cluster**** where no one knew what the hell was going on.

My FB29, we had a veno who kept bragging about how she knows how to pull. At the room with Qingzi she tried to pull the boss and we ended up with the whole room coming after us. In that one we were all in our late 30s and thought we knew everything there was to know about the game. After all, we had shiny blue weapons so that had to count for something, right?

Oh man this brings me back.

_blood_rain - Sanctuary · April 2011

I wasnt here from the very beginning either, but I remember my very first FB,

It was just me on an old, long deleted cleric of mine and a level 40 barb who had randomly approached me in village of the brutes. we took on the entire FB 1-2 mobs at a time. My internet spazzed out and I ended up DC'ing several times throughout. When we got to the boss, he says "get ready to heal..." and in the most amazing stretch of luck I managed not to DC throughout the entire boss fight. I think this FB took about an hour and I was so noob I didn't even know how to change the camera angle yet, so I pretty much did the entire thing in a very limited side view b:laugh
By the end of the FB, he had convinced me to join his small faction, where I was the second highest cleric.
b:sadoh the memories
I soon decided arcane wasn't for me and made a BM, also old and long deleted.
But my BM's FB19? oh that was a different story. I had joined a larger faction, and when i breathed the word "FB" in chat, I immediately got a full squad of 5x-6xs. As a level 20 BM, I thought these level 50s and 60s were just straight up badasses, coming in this FB and tearing it up.
I miss those days QQ

flamingahole · April 2011

_blood_rain - Sanctuary wrote: »

I wasnt here from the very beginning either, but I remember my very first FB,

It was just me on an old, long deleted cleric of mine and a level 40 barb who had randomly approached me in village of the brutes. we took on the entire FB 1-2 mobs at a time. My internet spazzed out and I ended up DC'ing several times throughout. When we got to the boss, he says "get ready to heal..." and in the most amazing stretch of luck I managed not to DC throughout the entire boss fight. I think this FB took about an hour and I was so noob I didn't even know how to change the camera angle yet, so I pretty much did the entire thing in a very limited side view b:laugh
By the end of the FB, he had convinced me to join his small faction, where I was the second highest cleric.
b:sadoh the memories
I soon decided arcane wasn't for me and made a BM, also old and long deleted.
But my BM's FB19? oh that was a different story. I had joined a larger faction, and when i breathed the word "FB" in chat, I immediately got a full squad of 5x-6xs. As a level 20 BM, I thought these level 50s and 60s were just straight up badasses, coming in this FB and tearing it up.
I miss those days QQ

I miss my old faction. I was in there from levels 19 all the way up to 90. The most people we ever had was a little over 80 so we weren't some huge faction of nameless, faceless strangers who happened to have the same word hanging over our heads. We were never 'factors' either; in fact, I recall a time when a handful of CQ rolled our entire faction (or at least the ones who were online at the time) over and over so we definitely couldn't be considered a factor. But you know what? We had fun in there.

Sad thing is, I stopped playing some time in mid 2009 so I wasn't here for the first pack sale. I still kept in contact with a few friends from the faction (those of us who lived closer together even met for coffee a few times) but after repeated pack sales most of them just quit. I tried getting some to start again when I was feeling nostalgic and installed PWI on my new computer but they just said the game changed/it's not the same.

Sereneai - Dreamweaver · April 2011

yes, people still do FB19/29. i love tehm to death.

also, since OP is on DW, there is often a chatroom running called FBurDrops, if the members arent busy, they'll help ya!

JohnnyTank - Sanctuary · April 2011

FB19 & 29 are low level content. Not much in demand these days.

I teleported into City of the Lost this afternoon and was saddened by what I saw. If I don't count the three catshops next to the Pet NPC, the remaining Cat Shops I could count on one hand. There use to be 2 solid rows of cat shops on the ground, with a few more in the background. And there was also another row on the platform with the Teleport Manager.

No one needs to buy or sell the low level mats anymore. Now, no one needs to sell low level DQ either.

More low level content that has become irrelevant.

Rather than talk about price of rep badges or the lack of DQ sales, maybe we should be asking where the low level player has gone?

jonjonz · April 2011

I keep hearing the terms 'alt FCC' and just FCC as a preferred method of leveling.
I know where Frostcovered City is but, how exactly does one 'do' it?
Do you just grind mobs there, or are there quests from specific mobs etc.?

b:question

Okeano - Harshlands · April 2011

Sereneai - Dreamweaver wrote: »

yes, people still do FB19/29. i love tehm to death.

also, since OP is on DW, there is often a chatroom running called FBurDrops, if the members arent busy, they'll help ya!

Lol that chatroom really brings me back. I remember taking turn holding the chatroom and we'd go FB hunting by FB19 entrances.

Brahmina - Raging Tide · April 2011

jonjonz wrote: »

I keep hearing the terms 'alt FCC' and just FCC as a preferred method of leveling.
I know where Frostcovered City is but, how exactly does one 'do' it?
Do you just grind mobs there, or are there quests from specific mobs etc.?

b:question

When players say FC or FCC, I believe they're referring to the instance right close to there.

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear · April 2011

jonjonz wrote: »

I keep hearing the terms 'alt FCC' and just FCC as a preferred method of leveling.
I know where Frostcovered City is but, how exactly does one 'do' it?
Do you just grind mobs there, or are there quests from specific mobs etc.?

no, actually, you may not know where FCC is, especially if you're a low-level player like me. this early on in the game, some of us end up thinking of FB/BH51 --- the city-like maze dungeon by dragon's end southeast of lost city --- as being "frostcovered", because that's what the game calls it. (although, why? no part of the textures or maps of that instance includes anything remotely cold-looking. if anything, it's got a desert theme... maybe we should start calling it dustcovered.)

but when higher-level folk speak of "frost" or "FC" or "FF", they mean a whole other instance entirely. you start getting quests in there in your 7x levels, i believe, and it's most productive to fight in starting in your 8x levels and up. unless i'm mistaken, it's accessed through a gate in the harshlands, way up in the far northweest corner of the game map.

and no, i'm not entirely sure how one "does" it either. i guess i'll get a chance to find out in another ten, fifteen levels or so...

_blood_rain - Sanctuary · April 2011

LMAO I guess it's not just 19s and 29s
today, while getting a squad together for a 20x3 for 69, it was suggested to us to skip it if it wasn't necessary for culti.
and while it was a well meaning suggestion, it was indicative that FBs in general are dying. If the tabs don't come easy or don't come from a quest directly related to culti, people will gladly skip their FBs because rep tags are so cheap now.
Maybe my feelings are unfounded but I don't like this. FBs were always something fun I liked to do and help people with, hell i even like to help with 20x3s. Im sad to see FBs go

grimreaperhc · April 2011

Sereneai - Dreamweaver wrote: »

yes, people still do FB19/29. i love tehm to death.

also, since OP is on DW, there is often a chatroom running called FBurDrops, if the members arent busy, they'll help ya!

^This ^^

Always up for doing your FB for you b:cute

Are FB19 and FB29 Obsolete?

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