Prophecy of Ro: In-Depth Preview
by Loral on February 05, 2006
In two weeks, Sony Online Entertainment will release the eleventh expansion for Everquest: Prophecy of Ro. Three days ago I had the opportunity to walk across the new lands offered in this expansion and discuss its new features with Everquest's lead designer, Travis McGeathy, also known as Rashere.
The release of Prophecy of Ro includes the largest single release of rebuilt old-world zones. All of Freeport and the entire Desert of Ro will be redone in the style of later expansions using newer graphical techniques. Previously seamed polygonal landscapes now become rolling dunes of sand and rock.
The rebuild of Freeport not only updates the appearance and layout but also shows how the city has grown over the years. The factions that split the city have become even more aggravated. The alleys of East Freeport grow darker while high walls and armed guards protect the sanctity of the Temple of Marr in the west. The Tower of the Arcane rises high above the wooden buildings around it. SOE paid attention to both the vast scope of the city and the intricate details found in every corner.
The content available in Freeport and Ro is still the same. The level ranges of the zones have not changed. New quests have been added, including a new faction quest in Freeport that, when earned, lets players walk freely through both sides of Freeport without harassment. While the difficulty of this quest is not yet known, it will not be as severe as a "collect 10,000 cloth caps" quest.
SOE will release these four zones, replacing six old-world zones, to all players regardless of whether they purchase the expansion or not. While the new missions in these zones are only available to purchasers of Prophecy of Ro, some new quests in these zones will be available to everyone.
The new zones of Prophecy of Ro are split into three sets: Takish Hiz, Plane of Magic, and Plane of Rage. Each of these sets includes two large static zones as well as individual missions. This does not include a final unique zone, the Theater of Blood, discussed later.
An overarching storyline connects the players through these new zones. Mayong Mistmoore has become a demi-god and now threatens the pantheon. Druzzil Ro, goddess of Magic, is unable to directly interfere with these plans but is able to call upon the adventurers of Norrath to help thwart Mistmoore's plans. She opens gateways to the Plane of Magic, the Plane of Rage, and with the help of Tunare and Karana, sends adventurers back into the glory days of the elven cities of Tunaria.
The winds of Karana have uncovered the ruins of Takish Hiz. Players will remember exploring some of this city in Lost Dungeons of Norrath, but that prepares them little for what they face now. In the first of the three zone sets, adventurers will explore the ruins of Takish Hiz and transport back to the time before the fall of Elddar Forest.
The ruined city of Takish Hiz is a large static hunting zone tuned for level 50 to level 65 characters. Players will face creatures lost under the sands for centuries. Deeper within the zone, adventurers will find access through Druzzil's magic to the forest of Elddar.
The second zone in each zone-set is tuned for higher levels than the first. Elddar Forest is tuned for level 70s at roughly the same difficulty as the Hive. Powerful treants, huge intelligent forest giants, and other great beasts roam the massive trees of the elven city. The city layout of Takish Hiz remains consistent across both the Elddar and Ruins of Takish Hiz zone, showing adventurers how the city has changed.
The Plane of Magic is home to the creations of Druzzil Ro. It consists of two zones, Arcstone and Relic. Arcstone represents the more chaotic and natural aspects of Druzzil's magic. Powerful spirits rule over the land and the landscape itself changes drastically depending on which spirit controls the area. A camp of lost travelers gives new adventurers a place to ground themselves as they explore the strange land. Arcstone is tuned for level 60 to level 70 at around the same difficulty as the Muramite Proving Grounds.
Relic represents the antithesis of Arcstone. Relic is itself a vast artifact of great power, huge both physically and in planar strength. A great spire, the Skylance, pins Arcstone and Relic together like a spindle between two platforms. Looking up the spire in either of the two zones shows you the surface of the other. Gravity pulls outward in both zones like a sphere instead of down as we are used to, so the surfaces of the two lands face each other instead of being stacked on top of one another, with the Skylance holding them together.
Relic is much more orderly than Arcstone. Druzzil Ro's minions wander the strange metallic platforms and walkways in strange, twisted, and sometimes horrifying shapes. Walkways lead far up into the higher platforms where large bowls of elemental magic fuel the great artifact. Huge dragons of fire, storm, and water act as guardians of these sources for the vast engine of magic.
The Plane of Rage makes up the final set of base zones for Prophecy of Ro, with Devastation and the Stronghold of Rage. Devastation is a land in constant conflict. Nine armies endlessly war against one another in an attempt to control the Stronghold of Rage in the center of the land. A wall of twisted and agonized creatures rings the battlefield. Those who commit murder out of anger find themselves trapped in the wall after their death. Only after centuries fighting through the other murderous beings on the wall do they earn the right to fight for Sullon Zek and possession of the Stronghold.
Devastation is tuned for levels 60 to 70 and includes much of the destructible terrain mentioned in the Prophecy press release. Players can crush walls, catapults, doors, and ballistae down to rubble. The armies continually war with one another and the results of these wars lead to that army controlling the Stronghold. During our tour, powerful drachnids held the center of this chaotic world while roving bands of orcs, kobolds, armored skeletal knights, and werewolves prowled the landscape.
Death in Devastation is different than death anywhere else. Death results in a respawn in Devastation with equipment intact and an unequipped body at the site of the death. There is no way out of Devastation save those of magical means. Even death does not allow escape from this world.
The Stronghold of Rage is a fortress built by the Bolvirk, the oldest natives of the Plane of Rage who appear as strange runed giants. The zone is tuned for high-end level 70 players and consists of the wartorn inner sanctum of the Stronghold.
Upon achieving greater power, Mayong Mistmoore captured his own world and twisted it towards his own evil will. This resulted in the Theater of Blood, the dark world of the vampire demi-god. This plane is designed for the highest power single group adventurers. There is no zone connection to this world. Only by following the path throughout the other lands will players find themselves here. This zone was modeled after the Plane of Fear back in the old days of Norrath. It is very dangerous and very difficult but with powerful rewards. Non-raiders will find themselves hunting in groups of two or three against the denizens of this world while high-end raiders will find challenges deeper in. Mistmoore's Tower, Deathknell, spears up from the center of this dark land.
These descriptions do not include the wide array of missions, monster missions, quests, and raids available in Prophecy of Ro. Prophecy of Ro includes over thirty missions with a dozen monster missions, the first ever monster raid, many single-group overland quests such as the spirit hunter missions in Arcstone, and six missions for level 45+ in the new Freeport.
Within the focus on level 50 and above, Prophecy of Ro has a lot to offer players of almost any play style. Level 50 to 60 players receive six new missions in Freeport and can hunt in the Takish Hiz overland zone. 60 to 70 players receive more missions and at least three huntable static zones. High-end level 70 players will find hunting in all six of the primary zones and, given enough effort, should find it possible to hunt in the Theater of Blood. The new monster missions in Prophecy of Ro are available to all players of all levels assuming they can reach the mission itself.
Prophecy includes a lot of raid content across all of the new zones. Each of the zones includes at least one Anguish level raid with two raid-instances similar to the Demiplane of Blood. Prophecy also includes events for 18 to 36 Time-level raiders as well.
Prophecy of Ro takes a different path than Depths of Darkhollow or Dragons of Norrath. Prophecy focuses more on static content than instanced dynamic content. Competition will return, for good or for ill, on some of this content. The return to a large static Plane of Fear style zone might show us how accurate our nostalgia really is for the days of old. We will know in a few months how well this works.
Prophecy of Ro also includes an array of new features. Players can now block certain buffs from ever landing on them, freeing up slots for the buff they desire most. Some classes will receive traps that let them blast attacking creatures with a variety of effects. Areas of influence, including player auras and zone-specific storms of magic, alter how battles are fought. Every class will receive either a trap or an aura. Some will receive both.
Prophecy of Ro looks to be a large expansion mixing elements of many previous expansions. The planar focus of the zones and the storyline follow much of the same lines as Planes of Power. The focus of static hunting zones follows much of the success of Omens of War. Prophecy adds new missions and monster missions in the manner of Dragons of Norrath and Depths of Darkhollow.
How good will this expansion be? It often takes a month or two after release to say for sure. All of the right pieces are here, although we will have to see how players respond to more static content after the previous two heavily-instanced expansions. Much of the success also depends on the rewards. Players always follow the greatest reward for their time spent.
With some excellent visuals, nice features, and a lot of strong static huntable content, Prophecy of Ro has all of the requirements for a very strong expansion. In a short three weeks, the adventurers of Norrath will, once again, find themselves in strange and exciting new worlds.
Loral Ciriclight
6 February 2006
loral@loralciriclight.com
Comment Posted by: Kaelon on February 6, 2006 01:00 PM
A superbly written in-depth preview, Loral! Well done!
Personally, I hope that this re-design of EverQuest's old world zones is the beginning of a grander trend, so that we might see a re-envisioned Erudin and Qeynos, for example. The rich backstory and lore, which felt so neglected and marginalized during the alien (literally, at times!) plot and major protagonists and antagonists behind Gates of Discord and Omens of War, has come back alive since Dragons of Norrath, Depths of Darkhollow, and now, wonderfully so, the Prophecy of Ro.
I would love to hear from devs if they're hoping to release many more expansions that are re-envisionments and redesigns of pre-existing zones, which I feel is both welcome (because they're doing a great job - these zones obviously, from what the screenshots and reports show thus far, retain the original soul and character) and necessary (to keep EverQuest technologically competitive, as well as introduce/borrow successful gameplay concepts (such as the City of Heroes side-kicking, branded onto EverQuest in its own style as Spirit Shrouds and Monster Missions).
I'm incredibly excited to see what the future holds, especially since this future is what brought this old player back from a two and a half year hiatus!
Comment Posted by: Redhenna on February 6, 2006 01:08 PM
Just some thoughts on reading:
1: "Looking up the spire in either of the two zones shows you the surface of the other. Gravity pulls outward in both zones like a sphere instead of down as we are used to, so the surfaces of the two lands face each other instead of being stacked on top of one another, with the Skylance holding them together."--is this as laggy as it sounds?
2: "Devastation is tuned for levels 60 to 70 and includes much of the destructible terrain mentioned in the Prophecy press release. Players can crush walls, catapults, doors, and ballistae down to rubble."--does this actually affect gameplay in any significant way, or is it mostly just cosmetic?
3: "The armies continually war with one another and the results of these wars lead to that army controlling the Stronghold. "--if this is happening continuously while people adventure inzone, and we can effect the outcome, this sounds really cool.
4: "Death in Devastation is different than death anywhere else. Death results in a respawn in Devastation with equipment intact and an unequipped body at the site of the death. There is no way out of Devastation save those of magical means. Even death does not allow escape from this world."--interesting, but I wonder on those "magical means".
5: "the first ever monster raid"--words do not even begin to summarize just how incrdibly lame this sounds. Of all the things I do not want to see in EQ, a monster raid is probably the top 10 items on that list. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
6: "Competition will return, for good or for ill, on some of this content."--Competition for raid content is something almost no one longs for. It was bad in the past, it will be bad in PoR if the noninstinced raids are worth doing, and it will be bad if SoE adds more in the future.
Overall, the zones sound interesting, and the revamped zones are a good thing. I with there was more content than it sounds like it contains(and I wish there was AA's added in PoR so I had more reason to spend time in that content), and the raid content(the primary reason I buy expansions now) is being mentioned in such little detail, I have no idea if there will be enough, or if there is any real sense of progression to it. I find myself looking forward to PoR, but nothing really stands out as actually something I am excited about, other than the bank space, buff blockers.
Comment Posted by: Brumms on February 6, 2006 02:35 PM
I'd buy this expansion, if I hadn't already been burned with a similar expansion pack called LoY. Shame me once.." and all that.
Just not seeing any hook with this one, particularly as the re-designed zones are available to all anwyway. Wonder what happens to the wayfarer camps and dungeon entrences - have the LDoN instances been finally written off with this expansion?
Comment Posted by: Loral on February 6, 2006 03:49 PM
"--is this as laggy as it sounds?"
They're still tuning but Relic wasn't that laggy. Some of the other zones were a little slow but I wouldn't judge it until it's released.
"does [breaking objects ]actually affect gameplay in any significant way, or is it mostly just cosmetic?"
I believe it does in some cases but I haven't seen it yet.
"if this is happening continuously while people adventure inzone, and we can effect the outcome, this sounds really cool."
I believe people can affect the outcome of the winning army.
"I'd buy this expansion, if I hadn't already been burned with a similar expansion pack called LoY."
Can you explain your comparison of this to LoY? I'm not sure I see any resemblence at all.
Comment Posted by: Crumpkin on February 6, 2006 05:40 PM
Well, thanks to your article I'm more excited about this expansion then I have been about any expansion since PoP. I love the fact that Sony has gotten back to the roots of everquest's lore for the expansions.
Devastion sounds like it could be an amazing zone. It kinda reminds me of the zone next to Shar Vahl(or whatever the kitty city's name is) where the grimlings, sonic bats, and owlbears would fight it out. Although, hopefully it is more complex and exciting then that is.
Now I know a lot of people are going to hate me for this, but I miss having competition for mobs/zones. I don't want an entire expansion that way, but a few mobs here and there that guilds will race/compete for is healthy in my opinion. However, it in no way should be progression stopping though. I liked it in OoW. There were a few mobs in WoS and RCoD that some guilds would race for and compete for, but they really didn't hamper a guilds progression through content.
I can't wait to see the new Freeport, even if I probably won't do much of anything there.
And, yes, buff blockers and bank space are nice, but I don't get excited by that stuff.
Comment Posted by: Jammer on February 7, 2006 12:52 AM
QUOTE:
Comment Posted by: Loral on December 30, 2005 03:51 PM
I will surely discuss the closing of the Stormhammer community as we get closer to the closing date. I can't promise an entire article, I simply don't know enough of what truly happened on that server but I will do my best to gather what information I can.
Glad to see where your priorities are that we're not even worth a single mention since the Legends Server shutdown last week.
Just keep reporting what SOE wants you to report. We see who the puppetmaster here...../sigh!
Comment Posted by: Brumms on February 7, 2006 03:25 AM
"Can you explain your comparison of this to LoY? I'm not sure I see any resemblence at all"
The LoY comparison is that the marketing message for this expansion for someone with my playstyle is that it will offer an additional 8 bank slots at the cost of 30 bucks or so. There is no sizzle with this one. I am indifferent to the additional zones being added, and I can only hope that the revamped zones are not similar to the amputated sand pit that Nek was made into. Breakable walls does not thrill me, traps and aura's I just simply cannot get exceited about.
I'd love living, breathing zones, a new playable class, additions to the guild hall, the ability to use skills not normally used by a class ( or potions to that effect), the list goes on and on.
I want an expansion that makes the game something better and more than it is, this one has some small number additional zone's, missions (/sigh), some collect n kill quests, and absolutly no reasons for grouping, social interaction, meeting new people, encouraging new players, or bringing back old players.
The thing is, the 'sword of absolute pain and domination' just loses its excitment factor after the 5th or 6th rendition in a 'new' expansion - new itemisation just doesn't thrill me as much as it did in the days of NToV drops.
What a negative post, sorry all. Time for me to move on.
Comment Posted by: Loral on February 7, 2006 11:08 AM
"The LoY comparison is that the marketing message for this expansion for someone with my playstyle is that it will offer an additional 8 bank slots at the cost of 30 bucks or so."
What playstyle is that?
"I want an expansion that makes the game something better and more than it is, this one has some small number additional zone's, missions (/sigh), some collect n kill quests, and absolutly no reasons for grouping, social interaction, meeting new people, encouraging new players, or bringing back old players."
While it seemed so on the surface, Prophecy of Ro is far from a small expansion. I would put it on the order of the same size as Omens of War. Even when you take out the four revamped zones for the old world we still see seven new hunting zones, six open and one locked behind a single-group quest. The zones are very large, much bigger than anything in Ykesha in both scope and physical size.
Players below level 60 probably have a good right to complain, but this is contrary to the Ykesha comparison which focused on levels 30 to 60. Even still, there are a dozen new monster missions for players of all levels so no one is left completely outside.
It seems, when we narrow it down, that the comparison to Ykesha is strictly based on the extra bank space - a feature I didn't even bother mentioning in the review, though I should have.
Player interaction is an interesting thought, though. What does SOE need to add to help players meet eachother, group with one another, bring in new players, and bring old players back? What features help with this that SOE has yet to implement? Discuss.
Comment Posted by: Crumpkin on February 7, 2006 01:14 PM
"absolutly no reasons for grouping, social interaction, meeting new people, encouraging new players, or bringing back old players."
What better reason to get together and go adventuring then new content, new items, new missions, etc?
"The LoY comparison is that the marketing message for this expansion for someone with my playstyle is that it will offer an additional 8 bank slots at the cost of 30 bucks or so. There is no sizzle with this one. I am indifferent to the additional zones being added, and I can only hope that the revamped zones are not similar to the amputated sand pit that Nek was made into. Breakable walls does not thrill me, traps and aura's I just simply cannot get exceited about."
I have to agree with Loral on this, the only reasonable comparison between this expansion and LoY is the bank space. The main reason why SoE brought LoY out was for players level 30-60 who got almost no content added in PoP. They added the extra bank space, drogmeres(sp?), spells and charm slot so that high end players would buy the expansion as well because it didn't offer us much in the way of zone content.
PoR on the other hand looks very promising not only to raiders and all players 50+ as far as zone content, it is also adding new monster missions in Freeport (which you do not get without the expansion) for players of all levels.
"I'd love living, breathing zones, a new playable class, additions to the guild hall, the ability to use skills not normally used by a class ( or potions to that effect), the list goes on and on."
How many people do you know that play berserker? How many berserkers are there on your server? There is still a very small popluation of the last class that they added, why complicate things even more by adding a new one?
How much more living and breating can a zone be where you can break down walls and help one faction of the war win? I don't know if SoE will have all the bugs worked out before release and have it working properly, but that zone sounds like a lot of fun to me.
What skills do you want that you don't get through potions or shrouds already? We get heals and clarity from them. There are gate potions. What else do you need? Mage pets for clerics? Complete heal for warriors? You say you want more interaction and yet you want potions that make it so you don't have to interact at all?
"The thing is, the 'sword of absolute pain and domination' just loses its excitment factor after the 5th or 6th rendition in a 'new' expansion - new itemisation just doesn't thrill me as much as it did in the days of NToV drops."
I mostly agree with this. You don't see people gawking at the uber players running by with their uber equipment. But the game has changed and evolved because the players have changed and evolved. It isn't a bad thing that you don't get excited about it anymore. How many times can you get excited about getting a new piece of equipment? I know after 6 years of playing that I don't get that feeling of excitement when I get a new item, that doesn't mean that I don't try and get new equipment. I'm still out there raiding trying to better my character, but it is for different reasons then it was 5 or 6 years ago.
Comment Posted by: Simkin on February 7, 2006 02:02 PM
LoY was a great expansion, I really don't understand the animosity towards it. It had the bank space upgrade, tradeskill additions, lots of quests, drogmars mounts, Guktan playable race, armor dyes. The zones Dulak's Harbor, Nadox and Hate's Fury, are some of the best designed with some nice scripted events.
Anyone 25-65 when it came out had plenty to do, and lots of item upgrades to get. Sadly, like other expansions, mudflation made most of it obsolete.
If PoR was a LoY clone with 60-70 level focus, I'd say it would be a hit.
What could get people to come back to EQ? That's had to say. Why would someone want to play EQ vs EQ 2? That's a bigger question to ruminate on.
EQ requires a massive change to experince 1-60. All exp zones should have large exp rewards and they should all be equal. It's stupid to have zones empty or people not wanting to go because zone X gives better exp.
They should also re-itemize all items in the game. Time consuming, yes but if for example Dalnir dropped items that were useful to players, it would get them out exploring the lands once again and not grinding monster missions as a level 20 orc.
Comment Posted by: Loral on February 7, 2006 02:58 PM
"it is also adding new monster missions in Freeport (which you do not get without the expansion) for players of all levels."
Point of correction. It will have missions for 45+ in Freeport and it will have monster missions for all levels, but they are not the same thing. I don't think Freeport has any monster missions but it has them elsewhere.
Comment Posted by: Hemdell on February 7, 2006 06:13 PM
I have to say, I will probably not buy this expasion for a long while just nothing in it for me at this time. I dont tradeskill so I have more than enough bank space. As for the new zones, LOL, I haven't been to all OOW yet! Let alone the expansions after that.
I would have liked to see a lvl increase, new classes/races, being able to solo more. I do play a Zerker as one of my alts and love him.
The UBERS amoung us dont want lvl increases or solo content or new classes and races. It is for the reason that it threatens them to the core. They want to maintain the status quo and have the content geared totally to them. If there are new thing like classes and races then some of the people they raid with may want to ( imagine this ) try something different. There by not grouping with them and furthering their agenda. Its is just whats the game has become.
I would like to be able to solo at 60 like i was able to solo at 40. I mean I was killing dk blues then! Why cant I kill a dk blue now at 60?
Its is simple they are trying to force the little guy to join bigger guilds to get anywhere. I dont want any part of a guild of 300+ peeps. THere is a reason WOW is doing so well, you can solo when yer freinds or guildmates are not on.
Im not saying dont give raid content nor am I asking for all solo content. What im am saying is dont force your way of playing a game on the ones dont want to play your way and who you probably dont want to group with anyway.
Comment Posted by: xsi on February 7, 2006 07:03 PM
Nice writeup, albeit very much a fluff piece, (which is to be expected since it's a preview, and much of the content is still being implemented).
I'm interested to see how people react when the expansion is actually released. I think that the non-uber contingent will be fairly dissatisfied, but I could be wrong.
My wife and I have decided not to buy PoR and in fact cancelled our accounts as of this past weekend, so my opinion may be irrelevant or unwanted at this point.
Comment Posted by: Sunshadow on February 7, 2006 07:40 PM
Hmm monster raids. Now there is a feature that the game really needs. I look around at all the hundreds of small guilds. Most of these guild in order to try and survive have a core of players and then maybe 30 or so other members ranging in level from 1 to about 65 (after 65 peeps usually move to a bigger guild) what these raids will do is allow these guilds to have a proper guild raid without it being trivial. In my current guild if some defines a raid it is usually a weak target aimed at around the mid 50's level. So what happens anyone less than 40 is excluded and those over 60 can't be bothered.
If the rewards could scale similar to the mask quest in the halloween event then the rewards could still have meaning at every level while making the raid have some replay value. As members in the guild progress in level they of course will want the next level of the reward.
Comment Posted by: Kodia on February 7, 2006 10:17 PM
Hmmm....No mention of the Legends Server closing? Just like SOE, not respect here either.
/goodbye
Comment Posted by: Armarant on February 7, 2006 11:10 PM
Hemdell wrote:The UBERS amoung us dont want lvl increases or solo content or new classes and races. It is for the reason that it threatens them to the core. They want to maintain the status quo and have the content geared totally to them.
I am in a guild that just broke into Demiplane and nothing would please me more then solo content or new races. for obvious reasons new classes wouldnt be good because they have not finished balancing the current classes. *Cough* Missing Druid stances *Cough*
I beleive its not the raiders that dont want solo content rather its the hard-core grouping players. they figure that if solo content were available people who would have no choice other then to group with them would be able to go elsewhere and actually have fun. so.. no solo content anytime soon .. :)
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 8, 2006 12:55 AM
Monster raids will be awesome for my guild. We want to raid together, but when you have mains ranging from level 20 to level 70 with 1100 AAs, there just aren't a lot of targets everyone can do together.
Comment Posted by: Redhenna on February 8, 2006 01:50 AM
"The UBERS amoung us dont want lvl increases or solo content or new classes and races. It is for the reason that it threatens them to the core. They want to maintain the status quo and have the content geared totally to them. If there are new thing like classes and races then some of the people they raid with may want to ( imagine this ) try something different. There by not grouping with them and furthering their agenda. Its is just whats the game has become. "
As a high end raider, I thought I might comment on some of the ideas attributed to me. First, I, and a large number of other high end players, do want a level cap increase(not to mention more AA's). In fact, the single biggest disapointment with PoR for me is that it will not give me any reason to exp my main.
I don't oppose solo content, and am thankfull that so far, every expansion has had solo content. Anyone complaining about a lack of solo content is just not looking for it. I do however oppose solo instince content, for a variety of reasons, the biggest one being the drag on resources it would be.
A new class has already been shot down by SoE(not the players) for the simple reason that balancing 16 classes is bad enough, without adding a whole new factor to balance.
A new race is something I support wholeheartedly. Playable Kyv would be my personal favorite, but there are lots of good ideas for playable races out there.
The last thing I want, and most high end players want, is the status quo. The same thing gets boring fast, and we love new ideas, new content, new abilities, new everything.
Blaming high end players for all EQ's ills is a common thing, and is patently false. It's simply finding a convienient scapegoat for SoE not giving you your pet wish.
Comment Posted by: Redhenna on February 8, 2006 01:52 AM
OOps, since I can't edit, I do want to correct one thing, before people throw it at me: Every expansion, with the exception of LDoN, has had solo content. I forgot to mention LDoN in my post above.
Comment Posted by: nda-ness on February 8, 2006 02:10 AM
Was nda been lifted btw? some of the information here seems a little over the edge.
Comment Posted by: Bubba on February 8, 2006 06:30 AM
PoR...another expansion I won't buy. Starting to wonder how well the game will run with only7 of 11 expansions?
On another note, what happened to the Legends Closing article that you promised Loral?
Comment Posted by: Loral on February 8, 2006 08:09 AM
SOE doesn't want to make a new class for the class-balance issues mentioned above. 16 classes are enough. A new race would be nice but I don't know how that fits in with the whole player-model spiral debate, would one new race with entirely new graphics just aggrivate the player-model problem? I don't know.
I hope we don't spin down into a solo argument. I think Redhenna makes a point but I'm not sure its available to everyone. I've seen a lot of high-end raiders in high-end raid gear who have a much easier time soloing than single-group-equipped folks. That warrants further thought and research.
However, I think one thing that separates Everquest from Warcraft is the focus on group play. Missions and Monster Missions give everyone an option to group. Monster missions let anyone group for a 30 minute period, earn some experience, and in some cases get a nice item (I upgraded an earring just a week ago to the Naggy monster mission earring).
I think adding more solo content would hurt pickup-grouping, the area I think needs the most reinforcement. SOE should continually look for further ways to improve grouping, especially between levels 10 and 60. I would rather see more work in that than any work towards better solo content.
"On another note, what happened to the Legends Closing article that you promised Loral?"
Thank you, Bubba, for being the one reasonable person to ask. Between the Prophecy news and the Rollback, the Stormhammer closure slipped my mind. I'll write about it in my news update next week.
For the other Stormhammer posters, take a lesson in communication from Bubba. Insulting me, calling me a puppet, or saying I don't respect my readers is not the way to get me to talk about something. If you want me to talk about something, just ask. Saying I am just a puppet of SOE is a sure way to get me to ignore your agenda topic.
The NDA has not been lifted but SOE gave some of us writers a bit of freedom to write in more detail based on the the press-tours given by SOE.
This included the screenshots I posted over at Caster's Realm:
http://applets.crgaming.com/gallery/view_gallery.php?id=3
Comment Posted by: Skuz on February 8, 2006 08:54 AM
Cheers for the write up Loral, some nice tidbits there.
The size of the expansion & exactly how many missions are in it was my gravest concern as I saw 30 missions as being a very low amount of content, if however as you say the static content has made something of a comeback in this expansion then that widens the scope & if the zones are as large as you indicate & are adequately populated with things to do & kill there should be plenty to do, my biggest criticism of DoN was the amount of wasted static space that needed better useage, there was little to no reason to do anything outside of the instanced zones, so this expansion looks to be trying to hit a better balance.
I am a bit worried that static content, if it forms part of the progression to the end-zone will see a return of "cock-blocking" if the progression to end zone is in the same vein as DoD via group instances then that should not cause major strife, but if static mobs with progression tied into them on days long timers is part of progression i think thats not just a backward step it's a mistake, will be interesting to see how that pans out.
If the static targets are just there for phat loot then a bit of competition for them will add some fun, i liked the OoW style where you had a bunch of targets in static zones worth racing for.
No way do I want to see new classes until they have done a LOT more work on the class re-envisionment, It's not broke by a long way, but there are a whole Plethora of changes that are needed, opening up more classes to the current races & adding further races would be good to offer some variety & maybe get some of the older players into the lower end of the game, but before that I think the 10-60 game needs a total overhaul, not in the content, but in how it's presented through xp, missions, quest & loot to give a life-injection to it. I noted in the recent HoC stratics dev chat one of the devs did make a passing reference to them needing to do something with the "gap" in the 20-50 game so it is something they would like to look at revamping, sooner the better if they want to continue marketing the game as something today's players can get into.
Comment Posted by: wormy on February 8, 2006 10:35 AM
The best thing about this new expansion is...
added bank space.
In this context, it's valid to compare PooR to LoY.
Traps, totems and auras are a copy from WoW.
"Monster Raids" are a cheap way out from class defining/balancing decisions - we'll never see this issue resolved. At least they don't add another class (yet).
Comment Posted by: concerned1 on February 8, 2006 11:43 AM
well i quit eq not long ago. had played for about 3 years. i have been playing wow in that time. i must say now i get it. i understand why so many turn to wow. eq is like a grinding job were you almost feel like you have a vested emotional interest in it. see....i never wanted to feel stress like that. all i wanted was to play a video game and have fun.and wow lets you do that.eq will always be uberquest. and just like the ubers will tell ya if you cant handle that maybe eq isnt for you. you know what; they were right and i have a blast on wow. oh, sounds like a nice expansion btw. =p
Comment Posted by: Hemdell on February 8, 2006 10:32 PM
I did not mean that I wanted all of the things I talked about. I simply ment that they should look at lots of different ways ( gimicks ) to get people to buy the expansion. I dont need bank space as a casual or a slowazz horse.
And I am sure that most of you who post on here can solo quite well as said by Loral. However I am pretty much all Bazaar geared and can solo light blues ( wow thats fun and progressing ). At 60 with my alt zerker I really cant solo anything unless I kite and if any of u played a Zerker you know how long that would take.
By status quo I meant the gearing of NEW content to the raiders and hardcore. Not the same boring thing.
I dont want to do pickup groups and most in our guild dont either. Jerks and know-it-alls dominate that sceen. All we want is stuff we can do as a very small guild or solo content when none are on. We pay what the hardcore pay we have earned a bone or two tossed our way too.
Comment Posted by: Phrank on February 9, 2006 11:03 AM
"However, I think one thing that separates Everquest from Warcraft is the focus on group play."
Translation the thing that seperates 150K users from 5.6M users is fun and enjoyment. You fawnbois still don't get it anymore then Sony does.
Comment Posted by: Crumpkin on February 9, 2006 12:14 PM
"You fawnbois still don't get it anymore then Sony does."
We get it and so does Sony. Everquest is no longer the leader in the MMO community. I am glad that somebody finally came around and knocked them down. That doesn't mean that EQ is a bad game and it doesn't mean that there aren't still those of us out there that prefer to play it over Warcraft. I tried playing Warcraft. I think it is a great game, but I don't enjoy it as much as I do EQ.
"Translation the thing that seperates 150K users from 5.6M users is fun and enjoyment."
Let's take a look at those numbers. First, Warcraft's American playerbase is still just about 1 million subscribers. Which is only twice as much as Everquest's player base when it was top dog. Blizzard has done an excellent job of not only penetrating the American and European markets, but also a great job of getting into the Asian market. That is the main reason that Warcraft has 5.6 million subscribers.
Not to mention that when Diablo 2 came out 2 million were purchased in the first month it was out. How many Blizzard fanboys do think are out there?
Comment Posted by: Dendory on February 9, 2006 02:34 PM
The comparison with LoY came around when the press release was released, because it did a poor job of explaining what PoR would have. It really is nothing like LoY, more like a mix of DoD and OoW.
Comment Posted by: NDA non on February 9, 2006 07:57 PM
DoD part II
A few years ago, we'd of seen DoD and PoR released as one expansion, once a year. This is just the logical extension of the path that DoD started us on.
Comment Posted by: Richard Hinson on February 10, 2006 05:40 AM
Pretty much as a non-AA junkie, non-raider, and now no longer a trade skiller this expansions only reason for me to buy it is the added bank space.
But as I have stopped playing most of my characters I'm actually somewhat flush on bank space at the moment....
So, while Loral has yet again done a great job pitching yet another EQ expansion, there's been no word from Loral, or *gasp* anyone at SOE that SOE isn't rushing this one out just like they've rushed out the last 8 expansions.
In short, is there any reason for anyone not in a bleeding edge raid guild with a lust to be the "first" through to the end, to buy this thing??
Comment Posted by: Vamirez on February 10, 2006 06:09 AM
"In short, is there any reason for anyone not in a bleeding edge raid guild with a lust to be the "first" through to the end, to buy this thing??"
Errm ... yes? :-) Like, lots of new content for the non-uber-raider? New zones to explore, new missions to do? I mean, if you say you don't want to grind XP, you don't want to raid and you don't want to tradeskill - that's fine. What about exploring new zones with friends or solo and doing group missions, like, for entertainment? To beat the missions, find out the lore, get an upgrade or two? What are you doing now?
Comment Posted by: Keisa on February 10, 2006 12:36 PM
"In short, is there any reason for anyone not in a bleeding edge raid guild with a lust to be the "first" through to the end, to buy this thing?"
I plan to buy, and I'm not in a bleeding edge raiding guild. I have very much enjoyed DODh, and shortly hope to complete the five linked quests to get the mask. The expansion has provided lots of new and interesting challenges for our guild (note; non-raiding, primarily working on single group content, primarily OOW-DOD equipped). We very much enjoy the new single group missions.
I'm looking forward to the extension of these missions in PoR. I want to see what they do with the variety and what new challenges SOE puts into the game. This is what keeps me coming back.
I am an avid tradeskiller, and look forward to new tradeskills. The 8 bank slots will be awesome for me.
As to breakable items in game, traps, etc., I really don't know. I look at that as fluff. Until I actually see it in action, I'll continue to consider it as fluff, just like shrouds, evolving items, and other stuff. Unless it is tuned right, then it will make no impact on my game. Does it discourage me that they put in new features? No. Time will tell if I take advantage of those features, but I won't Foopoo the game just because I cannot see a use for the features they put in.
I am currently having as much fun in the game as I have had in 7 years of play. I see no reason not to see what they have in store for me in the new expansion.
Keisa
Comment Posted by: Loral on February 10, 2006 08:29 PM
Think how much better the question would have been without the Loral and SOE bashing:
"Hey Loral, what does Prophecy offer non-high-end raiders?"
I'm glad you asked, friend Richard. Here is a quote from my review:
"Level 50 to 60 players receive six new missions in Freeport and can hunt in the Takish Hiz overland zone. 60 to 70 players receive more missions and at least three huntable static zones. High-end level 70 players will find hunting in all six of the primary zones and, given enough effort, should find it possible to hunt in the Theater of Blood. The new monster missions in Prophecy of Ro are available to all players of all levels assuming they can reach the mission itself."
Comment Posted by: Belgrath on February 11, 2006 04:03 AM
Gonna nerf more missions... every mm they 'adjusted' before is now worthless and noone does anymore like the fairie ones or ww one. Why buy another expansion with more missions and quests that are gonna be nerfed again? SSo many present quests are broken or not worth doing.
This expansion looks like its 55+ with at least 100+ aa's and high ac gear. 50- 65 mobs are hitting so much harder with every expansion, used to be 100-200 hitting quadders now 1000-2000+ quadders that absolutly destroy a non raiding guild tanks, or healers without alot of spell haste, mana gear are too weak now.
From the Test Update Notes, Feb. 8th:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kytherea
We expect the following items, along with the items listed under the December 20th message, will be going to Live Servers in Upcoming Live Updates, but can not guarantee they will be in the next Live Update. The next Live Update is scheduled for February 21, 2006.
....
- Adjusted the rewards on monster missions so they scale better based on how long it’s actually taking to complete the mission.
Comment Posted by: Armarant on February 12, 2006 03:29 AM
Belgrath Wrote:every mm they 'adjusted' before is now worthless and noone does anymore like the fairie ones or ww one.
I know plenty of people who still do the Nektulos Fairie MM. especially when they are looking for the sword to drop.
and not every MM they adjusted has been abandoned. there are plenty of MMs people still do every day. of course without having he data like sony does I could not dare to say what is the popular one at the moment that is not Highpass.
Comment Posted by: Wolfkinder on February 12, 2006 04:31 AM
Funny how there were no in game events signalling this expansion (besides the death and resurrection of Mayong as a god that was the end of last expansion). But, you know, no wars, none of those things that came right before DoDH. Kinda miss all that excitement of watching something unfolding as you waited for the expansion:)
-Wolfkinder
Comment Posted by: Aeoneane on February 13, 2006 02:25 AM
So I'm wondering when in the world are rangers going to get a better deal. Like an epic bow. So many aa's spent on archery and we get swords for epics that takes aggro from tanks, but we don't get the tank HP/endurance so we keep dying still at level 70. C'mon, already. Haven't we been punished enough!!!!!
Comment Posted by: Armarant on February 13, 2006 03:02 AM
Wolfkinder wrote:Funny how there were no in game events signalling this expansion (besides the death and resurrection of Mayong as a god that was the end of last expansion).
I suspect that there will be events. but they will take place after the fact, I would imagine they would involve the gods and their reactions to how Mayong has become a god.
Comment Posted by: Richard Hinson on February 13, 2006 04:32 AM
Loral,
Okay, do you have confirmation from SOE that this expansion really will be held off on release until it code complete? Or will we see the content get kick, "tuned" and nerfed adhoc after release? Will we see odd bugs that prevent players from getting to the end zones, only to get a strong feeling the end zones aren't even done yet?
Will the "six new mission" be good to go on day one, or will they be like the previous batch of monster mission that have been beaten to death with a nerf stick?
I mean, come on Loral, dig back to the roots of mobhunter.com, we want honest un-biased feedback, no rose tinted glasses.
Comment Posted by: Loral on February 13, 2006 08:03 AM
I am sure that this expansion will get tuned a couple of months after release just like every other previous expansion has. If this bothers you, wait until May to buy it.
Comment Posted by: Kaelon on February 13, 2006 09:13 AM
Quick follow-up question, Loral: Is it true that SOE intends to release an expansion every two months this year, (so we can expect around 5-6 expansions for EverQuest alone this year)? Thanks!
Comment Posted by: Skuz on February 13, 2006 10:34 AM
"Quick follow-up question, Loral: Is it true that SOE intends to release an expansion every two months this year, (so we can expect around 5-6 expansions for EverQuest alone this year)? Thanks!"
Lol, that's either a poor attempt at sarcasm in the "oh noes another expansion already, can't we go back to 1 each 12month" vein, or you have been very poorly informed/legpulled.
I don't think we'll ever see 2-monthly expansion releases unless as a business they try out some kind of episodic-content small updates for small amounts of money, which i think would dilute the "looking forward to it" of the current release cycle, and create a constant bug-griping far worse than currently exists.
Comment Posted by: Armarant on February 14, 2006 05:40 AM
Skuz wrote:I don't think we'll ever see 2-monthly expansion releases unless as a business they try out some kind of episodic-content small updates for small amounts of money
Yeah, I would doubt that they would release a expansion every 2 months as well, as far as I know EQ2 does mini-expansions between big ones.. and those arent even every 2 months, dont know how long between expansions EQ2 is though.
Comment Posted by: Dendory on February 14, 2006 09:11 AM
I really wish people would stop confusing nerf and fix. It's widely known a MM should take around 40-45mins to do. It's also widely known that some MMs take 5mins to do by bypassing some content, and it's creating huge problems as witnessed by the many threads about it on veteran board. Hence it should be no surprise when they "fix" those missions. Not really trying to defend SOE but you have to be naive not to see this.
As for casuals whining, there's been casual people whining ever since Velious, and it won't ever change. DoD, just like DoN and Omens, were insanely more casual friendly than the "big" expansions like GoD, PoP and Luclin. Hardcore players like me, now we're the ones who actually wish these expansions were more PoP, with a progression going accross the whole expansion, and several tiers, instead of the nowadays all open zones with just 1 raid zone, and progression being basically do a bunch of things that brings no upgrade for anyone in the guild, then spend 6 months in that 1 "for raiders" zone and that's it, while casuals get upgrades in all those missions and open zones.
But go ahead and keep whining, I realize it will never stop.
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 14, 2006 01:28 PM
They have yet to nerf a single monster mission. Fixes, sure, there have been a few of those. But none have been nerfed.
Comment Posted by: xsi on February 14, 2006 03:41 PM
They dropped the xp for the nagafen monster mission, a mission which, by its very nature, cannot be completed faster than planned.
That's not a fix, it's a nerf. The fact that you may or may not think it's justified is your bias and doesn't change the fact that the mission was falling within the expected parameters, and the xp was nevertheless changed.
Comment Posted by: EranaDragonfire on February 14, 2006 03:51 PM
Nice review Loral!
Thank you for your time and effort!
Comment Posted by: Sunshadow on February 14, 2006 08:17 PM
Would an XP modifer based on time played be of any use in this game. I am thinking in terms of the less you play the Higher the bonus/modifier.
The reason I ask is I often see players who group together for a few levels but due to amout of time they play they often get out of sync after a couple of levels. Would it affect the game mechanices if a person who plays once a week got 5x the amount of xp as a person who plays everyday?
Comment Posted by: skuz on February 15, 2006 05:01 AM
"Would an XP modifer based on time played be of any use in this game. I am thinking in terms of the less you play the Higher the bonus/modifier.
The reason I ask is I often see players who group together for a few levels but due to amout of time they play they often get out of sync after a couple of levels. Would it affect the game mechanices if a person who plays once a week got 5x the amount of xp as a person who plays everyday?"
I cannot see how that system could be judged fair to the players who spend more time in the game, I know that WoW uses a "xp booster" system but it's nowhere near the order of 5x xp, it just allows double xp for a period of time, the period of double xp is earnt whilst you are offline but it's rate decreases the longer you offline till it hits a maximum amount.
as soon as you log in your xp is doubled but the double xp is used up on a per kill basis, or that was how it worked last time i saw it, something like that put in for the 20-65 levels i could see being a good addition to the game, past that i doubt it.
Preferential treatment for those who play the least is not really ever going to be a good idea, but something like wow system does encourage you to log in each day, or every other day, as much more than 48hrs away the benefit becomes negligible.
Comment Posted by: Loral on February 15, 2006 08:13 AM
Everquest has the first year veteran reward, a 2x experience bonus for 30 minutes a day.
Comment Posted by: Glormane on February 15, 2006 08:39 AM
I wanted to bullet back some points made in the above points.
New Races. Race matters little to the game these days.
New Class. Sony said recently that its been hard enough to balance the current classes never mind a new one. I am inclined to agree with them. Matterless to what I think however, it doesn’t look like it will happen for a while.
Level Increase. I really think this is a bad idea, I cant but my finger on why, I just don’t want to grind levels on my main any more. I’d like to see a new type of progression along the lines of AA’s but not new levels. I wonder whether a new sub category of AA’s should be introduced that if you went down a path it blocked an alternative route. So for instance Druids could enhance their heals but would not then be able to enhance their nukes etc. That’s probably not going to happen as it would cause more problems with balancing.
Monster Missions. Were never supposed to be the 15 mins for 3 aa win they turned out to be. As per SoE they were supposed to be for those who found themselves without a group because of level, class, time of day etc, and get 6 other people regardless of class or level and get modest increases in xp or aa. Now either by accident or design (Hey look boss, look at the success of our MM’s give us our bonus) they have given too much xp plus have not been play tested sufficient prior to release because players have found so many short cuts. Now many people want expansions every 6 months, the content cannot come fast enough for them. It seems it will come at the cost of adequate testing of content. I have always been one to want longer times between expansions but to those who don’t, I’d like to know what you’d prefer, 6 monthly expansions with poor bug/play testing, or 1 expansion a year with adequately tested content? There seems to be no other options SoE will spend resources on.
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 15, 2006 03:48 PM
I prefer adequately tested expansions every 6 months. Oh wait, that's what we have now.
As for exploits in Monster missions, hopefully after what a big issue it was with Depths missions they'll spend some time looking for exploits in Prophecy missions before beta is over. I guess we'll see how well it all works in a week or so, though.
Comment Posted by: sunshadow on February 15, 2006 05:31 PM
The thoughts behind my sugestion is not to reward or encourage players that log in more freqently but rather create an offset for those who play less often.
An example would be, say 2x XP after 2days, 3x after a week and maybe 5x after a month. The modifyer would perhaps be active for 6 hours after logging in.
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 15, 2006 09:22 PM
And, as Loral said, we already have an experience modifier that helps people with lower playtime "catch up" in the form of Lesson of the Devoted.
Comment Posted by: Simkine on February 16, 2006 05:47 AM
Since everyone gets that AA, no you don't have a solution to have people catch up. I don't really agree with the idea but LoD was not put in for that reason.
Comment Posted by: Glormane on February 16, 2006 08:00 AM
I disagree with you Maitreya, about adequate bug and play testing. I in fact think the team in charge of EQ are rushed and under resoursed. Here are a few examples of why.
DoD went live without the Cronal Stone used for tradeskilling. This was an intregal part of the augments of DoD.
DoD’s itemisation was way off the mark with group drops and rewards being inferior to previous expansions whilst the risk was harder.
An EQ dev stated he had on his list to do, looking at the drop rates of caster tradeskill drops in DoN as they were far less frequent than the Leather, Chain and Plate drops but he had no time due to the new expansion.
Several DoD spells were changed on the eve of the new expansion, this is still to be explained by the Devs. At least one of these spells hasn’t even had its description amended from the beta version.
As for exploiting MM’s I’ve been in a couple of them, that took less time than SoE had advised they should take, and I didn’t see any exploitation. Players thought of ways around the obstacles of the mission, but within the parameters of the game. In fact the Werewolf mission in Stoneroot and the Griffin mission in West Commons required little strategy, they were just too easy.
Its hard to say ,from just 2 or 3 lines, why you have the opinions you do, but I’d go out on a limb to say you are an experienced high end gamer that’s gotten all they need out of DoD, possibly best the Demiplane, and you are looking for new challenges. What about the life blood of the game, the Newbies, theres, gaps, admitted even by the dev team themselves. I hope that SoE starts to emphasise less on the end game and more on the mid game. The end gamers can and do look after themselves very well.
Comment Posted by: Loral on February 16, 2006 04:58 PM
Glormane, I agree with a lot of the things you said. I don't think anyone, including the dev team, would argue that they already have enough resources and time to do everything right. However, I don't think I've talked to many IT teams anywhere that have enough time and money to do things. Over the past six years we've gotten ten expansions and all of them needed some tweaking to get everything straghtened out.
However, for my $30 for the expansions that I've purchased, I've been happy with that purchase. Even the ones I liked the least; Gates of Discord, Planes of Power, Legacy of Ykesha; gave me far more than $30 worth of content.
I don't expect PoR to be perfect when it comes out. I expect it to be good.
I think you missed the mark on friend Maitreya. He's not a high-end Demiplane raider like you make him out to be. He has a very good and wide view of the game. He spent a lot of time working with SOE to help tune the monster missions in POR - a clear piece of content for the groups you mention.
Comment Posted by: Redhenna on February 16, 2006 05:39 PM
"Since everyone gets that AA, no you don't have a solution to have people catch up. I don't really agree with the idea but LoD was not put in for that reason"
I see two problems with what you are saying. First...why the need to 'catch up'? There are content aimed at people level 1 to level 70 no AA's, to level 70 max AA's, and everywhere in between. Any need to rush to 'catch up' is a personal desire, not a neccessity.
Second, LoD may not have been put in to allow people to catch up, but with a finite number of AA's, and more and more people capping those AA's, the end result is that it does allow people to catch up. As an example, I hit 1100 AA's early December, and since then, rarely EXP my main. As a result, every time you exp, you gain on your goal of 'catching up'(at least catching up to me), with LoD speeding that process.
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 16, 2006 09:50 PM
I probably should have been clearer. What I meant was this:
If you play for 30 minutes per day, LOTD doubles your xp gain.
If you play for 2 hours per day, LOTD only increases your xp gain by 25%
The less you play, the greater the theoretical benefit of LOTD, is what I meant. Or something along those lines.
As for expansion tuning, I can't aruge that expansion releases are always perfect. I can, however, argue that it's silly to expect them to be. I think so far they have been adequately tested and have had no more bugs or tuning problems than I'd expect from a game of this size.
Comment Posted by: Jyve on February 17, 2006 04:27 AM
I have to agree with Maitreya here. I think SoE, considering the size of this game and the deviousness of the players, has done everything they can to reduce bugs. Of course,there'll always be problem's, and an issue affecting someone personally will be viewed with more need than something else, but they try and within human failings do a good job.
Now nda's been lifted, I hope I'm ok in saying that there's been a HUGE effort to stop MM's being abused as much as they have in the past. The devs have run many a devious player through them, and even if something was a bit off, it's been closely examined to see if it could be abused. There will most likely be a mission that slips through the net, but it'll be fixed, and they've shown a willingness to re-balance the RvR of MM's (that appears to be the major complaint of them).
Comment Posted by: Glormane on February 17, 2006 04:42 AM
Firstly apologies to Maitreya, as I said its hard to pick up someone from just a few lines.
I don’t expect an expansion to come out and not have a few teething troubles. The post expansion patch is normally the same day or the day after a new release. Some problems don’t manifest themselves until they hit live and sometimes all the testing in the world cant stop that. The problems I mentioned I don’t think fall into this category. Whole items missed from an expansion, spells amended on the eve of an expansion, and missions being so obviously easy as to seem not to be tested, does not strike as minor problems.
But then I am an advocate of having longer gaps between expansions. I think that 6 months flys bye, maybe many are ready for a new expansion, but maybe if the developers were given longer the content would have more depth. It also occurs to me that setting such a short time between expansions can stifle the creators. Lets say you are a storyline developer, you are told, we need a storyline from you in 6 months, we need good raid events, the clock is ticking and the pressure is on. You or I could all come up with ideas, but they have to do it constantly. I think this is starting to show in the game, I’ve only tried one raid in DoD so far, and we had come up with the strat, and knew what we had to do, but implementing the plan was just too hit and miss.
I think a year would allow more depth to storylines, more beta testing, better development of classes and spells. I’d settle for 9 months. Or is it that SoE are pushing through expansions for now because they wont release any more when the population dips to a certain level? They are milking the cash cow now while they can?
Would expansions going back to a year signal to some that EQ was waning?
Comment Posted by: wormy on February 17, 2006 12:23 PM
SOE is rushing out expansions every 6 month to milk the cash-cow. The timer on EQ is running down, not fast but it is.
The new expansion PooR is not finished on release, there's major content missing, there are classes with half assed/non working spells/abilities, and on and on.
It's just another nail in the coffin for a once great game.
Sony has lost the touch with reality, with the customers - they are losing on other fronts too.
Everquests biggest enemy is Sony.
Too bad, not one single game out there comes close to EQ...
Comment Posted by: sunshadow on February 19, 2006 06:26 PM
Where anyone gets the idea the LoD helps close the XP gap bewilders me. A regular player gets 5-7 LoDs per week. The casual players gets 1-2 per week or less. Please remind me how this would allow to similar characters to keep in touch?
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 19, 2006 08:37 PM
"Would an XP modifer based on time played be of any use in this game. I am thinking in terms of the less you play the Higher the bonus/modifier."
You wanted a system that would provide bonus xp, but offer diminishing returns the more you play, correct? This is EXACTLY what LoD does.
Comment Posted by: sunshadow on February 20, 2006 12:35 AM
No, I want an XP modifier that lets a person who plays infrequently to earn similar xp as those who play every day. LoD does not allow this because 5 times double xp for half an hour is much more than 1 times double xp for half an hour.
Instead if it was 1 lot of ten times xp for half and hour then it would be more reasonable.
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 20, 2006 04:13 PM
If you play infrequently, why should you earn as much xp as those who play every day?
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 20, 2006 04:16 PM
P.S.: Before you label me as some arrogant high end raider who's level 70 with max AAs and simply wants to keep the poor "casual" players down, let me tell you something: I have been playing for four and a half years and my highest character is 56 with 8AAs. I play less than that guy with 1200AAs, so I get less xp. I have no trouble accepting that I am going to get xp much slower than those who play a lot more. Why is it such a problem for you?
Comment Posted by: Sunshadow on February 21, 2006 09:55 PM
I would not dream of labeling you that way. What I am trying to do is think "outside the square". Like why must 2 people play for the same amount of hours the reach the same goal? There is none I can think of. So what is wrong with a hardcore player taking a year to get to 70 and max AA and a casual player also taking a year to reach the same goal, nothing as far as I am concerned. They will both enjoy the game just as much. The only difference is a casual player would feel like the goal was still achievable. Really player don't start comparing characters until they get into the "end-game" anyway if they bother comparing at all.
Comment Posted by: Maitreya on February 22, 2006 01:35 AM
Maybe I'm just a minority here, but I don't want to reach level 70 and max AAs in a year playing a few times a week. If I progressed at that speed, I'd be missing out on a ton of content. Also, if I gained xp that fast, it would be harder to keep my gear up to par with what I should have at a given level, so my gear would constantly lag far behind that of a higher playtime character of the same level.
Comment Posted by: Sunshadow on February 22, 2006 05:00 PM
Not sure how that would happen most equipment these days is Bazaar bought up to about level 50 odd and then MM's can kit you out. However you would need to think about upgrading more often but most people can usually fit that into their play schedule.
The real benifit to this is that a new person to the game is not looking at years to reach a level where they are on par with the majority of the player base.
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