Future Content: A Letter from Director of Development Dave Georgeson

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Piestro, Jan 31, 2014.

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  1. Sinhika Lorekeeper

    I agree that any low-level zones that get revamped into high-level ones should be instanced or an alternate version of the zone like the RoF zones. I like playing my toons up, and don't want to find all the interesting classic zones turned into high-level nightmare zones. "Hardcore Heritage" in the summer is bad enough--I have to avoid all the classic lowbie dungeons while that is going on.

    What I'd really like to see is the low-level zones and quests re-itemized to current standards--named drop weapons should be at least comparable to the same level Defiant weapons, quest armor and shields should be comparable to Defiant Armor, etc. It's really sad that the current situtation is "just wear Defiant armor until 75 or so, then start caring about expansion armor quests". There's absolutely no reason to do any armor quests before that--they're all worse. "Special" drops from classic nameds are junk to be sold, tributed or destroyed, and that's just sad. I'd like to see that change.
  2. McDougal Augur

    Or at least explain why such obvious and easily rectified exploits are allowed.
  3. iniari-TR Augur

    I am very leery of this idea.

    will this model of adding features / content require server downtime on a weakly basis ?

    what if any will be the benefit for premium subscribtions be for content if all is realeased as updates ?

    and most importantly seems that dev time spend pushing out content on a weakly basis just makes things worse as far as time / support for large expansion development.

    players were initially supportive of SoE releasing content twice a year rather then just once a year, thinking that while content might be slightly less. the devs would be able to focus on better designs.
    instead we have seen that design has generally been worse. - lots of cut / paste zones ( rof ) or very few zones ( cof / cotf) that players blew through in a week.
    seems this will make it even worse.

    this change has the feeling that soe has dropped all support of EQ and will let it weither away with just fluff additions.
    Genadine likes this.
  4. Edrick Augur

    David Georgeson, in your letter, you wrote

    You now have ten pages of comments and replies. You have asked us for our opinion, we have replied in various manners. Do you plan on responding, and engaging with us, your customers? If so, when? Where?

    Piestro, do you have any information on this?

    Thanks.
  5. complexication Kassina

    I sure hope y'all know what the ever-loving hell you're doing.

    How about instead of releasing new stuff every week, you fix what's broken first? I'd rather have a functional game than something that's most likely going to dig the inevitable grave.
  6. Leerah Augur

    Isolating our servers from the Planetside2 and EQN servers would be welcome! A DDOS attack on Vanguard shouldn't be able to take us all out.
  7. Tallanor-emarr Journeyman

    Its my opinion that if were getting new expansion content piecemeal as we go forward, consumers should have to pay piecemeal. Paying a smaller price per quarterly update, will most likely see more subscriptions taking advantage of it, rather then less. The average individual gets to chose what and when to buy it that way.
  8. Tarrin Augur

    I don't think we will have to worry about that anymore eh. :\
  9. Leerah Augur

    PS2 servers are still linked. The crash this weekend was related to EQN servers being swamped.
  10. Rettx New Member

    These couple of points, should be outside an expansion, because it involves existing content. Throwing it down anyways.

    I know most people want expansion effort put into the top end content. My highest level is 93. I level slowly, probably because I spread my time playing alts.

    I like exploring old zones and content with alts. Heroes Journey has been a good addition and is a good quest guide for content TSS and after, except that, prior to level 51, its not even worth the effort because you level past the quests so quickly. Heroes Journey rewards after level 51 are better because you can choose the AA/Exp split and the pace at which you level.

    IMO, gear rewards prior to Secrets of Faydwer is near irrelevant with the availability of defiant gear.
    I would like older zones and content made relevant, by adding some new loot, gear & augs or bump up the stats in current loot that's drops, so its worth using/wearing. I'd like to see an alternative to defiant gear. How about an expansion specific, non lore, slot 7 augment that gives a stat multiplier of 2x, 3x or 4x etc.

    Adventuring in older content its near pointless, because you level through it so quickly now. A solution would be to allow AA collection at level 20 - 50 from the General tab, so you can slow down experience leveling. So, if you don't want to power level to 85, there would be plenty of relevant content

    Summary:
    1. Allow AA/Exp collection at level 20-50 from the General tab,
    2. Revamp loot in older zones; pre-SoF
    3. Add some new collection, kill and exploration quests in older zones. BONUS
  11. Mozzarella Elder

    On the bright side: thumbs up for the new heroic adventures, they're pretty sweet compared to the previous batch. I especially enjoyed the cliknar-related ones!
    I'm already done with T1B group content though, we need more!
  12. Nalisa Lorekeeper

    I would agree with this. I'd rather see some focus on fixing current issues and bugs, on a weekly basis, than minor updates. Pick a few issues each week, and try to fix them. I wouldn't mind a patch with minor updates and a message this and that has been fixed / changed each week. Would make me happy, in fact.
  13. Randragon Augur

    I like the idea of a big cataclysmic event that changes the face of Norrath. Just like the movie 2012. Give us all new zones with slight flavors from the old ones and let us rediscover this great land of Norrath.

    That way they can take what they have learned over the years in the game design of EQ, and give us a new game. Not saying EQ Next type. Same old EQ but with all new or altered zones.
    Some areas and content will never be accessed again. While others are fresh and brand new.

    Restart epics but making them evolving based on storyline content. Create epic armor that evolves on storyline. But make it so that it evolves on the same lines as group and raid content.

    We've forgotten that the original game really started out as grouping not raiding. It just really took alot of folks to kill the first dragons. That dynamic took off from there to divide the content from grouping to raiding.

    There aremany fine suggestions here. I for one would like a whole new dynamic when it comes to the face of Norrath.
  14. Langya Augur

    Raiding needs to remain a big part of EQ. Running off raiders will do nothing for the game financially. Also. WoW has done the big cataclysm already. A more natural aging might be better than turning the game on its ear.

    What is needed is more content, and more variety of difficulty. Bug fixes should also be under taken, but some of the calls for other adjustments are subjective or have the roots of their fault in what players perpetrate as opposed to the game itself. Some of the bugs are let to go for years, and at that point, they need to be considered just a part of the natural evolution of the game. Some "bugs" have been fixed and the fixes caused anger due to them taking so long and having such a deep impact after the fact.

    It might be nice to have more reinforcement of the rules as well too or a bit more commonsense/common courtesy on the part of players, but ultimately we have to take or leave what we are offered and learn to live with some of the negative outcomes.
  15. Samatman Augur


    I completely agree on all of these points. It's extremely annoying to head to dungeon "x" only to find the mobs replaced with insta-death. The only redeeming feature of hardcore heritage is that it eventually ends. This also ties in with revamping zones for other reasons: updating graphics, changing mobs, even combining existing classic zones. I think Freeport taught everyone never, ever, do this again. If you want to change a classic zone, copy it and make a new version to put into a timestream somewhere else. Oceangreen Hills is an absolutely beautiful remake of Qeynos Hills! Thank you for leaving Qeynos Hills alone - it still brings back memories. Blackburrow, new and old both have a place and one should never replace the other. In my opinion, hardcore heritage zones should be hung off "Plane of Time: Heritage Void" permanently and the classic zones should be left alone.

    I also agree that adjusting classic drops to at least have the stat progression you started with Gloomingdeep should at least be considered. If you could apply the right transform to existing gear we never would have needed defiant. But again, if you ever do something like this, just remember not to replace the old gear files... you need those on progression servers ;)
  16. Loratex The Ridiculous Necro

    im just thinking about all those times we have had "emergency down time" or really broken things after patches... and now its going to be patched weekly? I think its a great effort and idea but lets see how it really plays out. When you say "monthly updates" being "bigger"... does that mean parts of the expansion will pretty much be released as these "MONTHLY" patches go in, or we will find a BIGGER "MONTHLY" patch every 3-4 months with that "extra content" What are the plans for such things like COTF T2 and the AA's we were promised? Will these monthly patches really stack up to the hype in which you are trying to instill?
  17. Kalipto Augur


    Yay! This is a very positive change in my opinion. I'm one of the many people who have felt let down a bit by recent expansions because they just seem so small. This is a great direction to be back on and I'm glad to hear about it!
  18. Piestro Augur

    Patch times are fairly specific because they need to be. On the other hand we won't have to have downtime every week necessarily, we can patch out the portions that need to have downtime monthly and use hotfixes (no downtime patches) for the portions that we can. We'll do our best to limit any downtime, that's a big part of our internal planning for this.
    Gyurika Godofwar and Leerah like this.
  19. Piestro Augur

    The descriptions above aren't exactly accurate. GM events for example would not be considered a weekly release. As to the duration of added content (either limited or permanent), that would be up to the Dev team. I would expect that most content be permanent (since that makes the most sense). Additionally we know how you all feel about us removing old versions of zones and do everything we can to avoid this kind of thing.

    I'd also expect all LAA to be more a monthly item, rather than releasing one each week.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  20. Smallpox Augur

    Question.

    Why "remove old versions of zones"? Just create a clickie object or NPC (that ports you) next to the entrance of the "old zone" that takes you to the new (higher level) version of it. Both could be up and running at the same time satisfying new and old players alike. :)
    Leerah and Gyurika Godofwar like this.
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