New hot zones - Plane of Air?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Thesteus, Jun 19, 2013.

  1. Sinestra Augur

    Holy Necrothread!

    Faction has been a problem with a few hotzones including the Overthere and Charasis.

    There have also been hotzones that were just as bad in other ways as Plane of Air.
    Malachi likes this.
  2. Malachi Augur

    Those zones are awesome grinding zones. I find people still grinding in charasis and over there even today!
    I always thought the hot zones should encourage people to explore older content whilst still having a place to group up or whatever and gain some exp relevant to their level. Kind of sony's chance to show off some older WELL designed and fun zones to new players and nostalgia to vets.
    Although there are some faction bumbles in the past with some hot zones and I agree with you there; atleast those were worth being in for more than the few moments it takes to complete your daily quests.

    And I swear the one who necro'd this is not an alt account of mine even though my despise for plane of air runs deep into my pixelated eq bones. :)
    Sinestra likes this.
  3. Sheex Goodnight, Springton. There will be no encores.

    I loved Plane of Water, but it'd be a horrible hot zone because of the extremely long respawn time (40 minutes for majority of mobs).

    Seems to me like most of PoAir is decent, it's just tough because of the poor isle 1 and everyone's favorite spider area.
  4. junglenights Augur

    BOT/COD are good zones for 65 leveling. I tried PoAir and had no luck.

    I've been leveling some 60-70 chars and I also have to say the mobs in TSS are harder. While they drop better gear than POP mobs, it's useless because I'm wearing defiant. They have more hp and hit harder, generally. I haven't been doing the Hero's Journey because I was turned off by the mini-raids some of the tasks required. Moreso, the rewards for completing Hero's Journey quests are meager. I already have defiant gear. The plat is too small. The rewards don't mean much to me.

    I will eventually do TSS zones for aug quests and aug drops and hotzone augs or whatnot. Just pointing out the POP zones are good places to level because things don't seem to hit as hard. I also think the Undershore is a more confusing zone. The POP zones are accessed right outside POK too.

    I know some of the instances are good too. I've been doing LDONs. I know there're some good monster missions. And around 80+ you can do some of the Old Man Mckenzie missions.

    Of course, DSH and the dailies.

    I prefer open world adventure, but I mix it up and I tend to go where it makes sense to me.

    I say all that because PoAir seemed terrible by comparison. I've always wondered if there's some trick to it to make it good. Is there? By all accounts, it looks like it was a mini-raid zone.
  5. EQTrixy Elder

    I would say PoAir is good for the hot zone aug and that's it. Once you get it, move on.

    The hole is still pretty good exp at 65. I like PoFire or Wall of Slaughter from 65 to 75ish. They are easier than PoAir.

    PoAir is just a bad hot zone. I would have liked to see PoFire or PoEarth as a hot zone instead.
  6. EQTrixy Elder

    PoAir is not a mini raid zone. It's a full raid zone. It is one of the final end zones for Planes of Power (level 65).

    With defiant that drops now it's not too bad. But there are better, easier zones to go to in this level range.
  7. BoomWalker Augur

    Wait....Plane of Air was made a hotzone last Summer? It has been a hotzone for seven months?

    Maybe the new improved weekly and monthly SOE plan will change the hotzones more than once a year...
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  8. Sando New Member

    i think the hot zones need a little revamp
    old zones that were Hz should remain as Hz, so people have more zones to choose and spread out
    and please add Lv95 Hz
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  9. Malachi Augur

    I think they just cycle thru PoP zones every Hotzone cycle and don't like to repeat often. That's probably the reason why Earth, Fire, Bastion of Thunder, etc...are out for awhile. Even though those forementioned zones offer much more efficient grinding even when they aren't hotzones.
  10. EQTrixy Elder

    I think they make zones that don't get a lot of foot traffic for hot zones. They want people out exping and grouping seeing parts of the game that were forgotten. There is a lot of this game that is never touched.

    I also think this is the same reason they make you run around in a lot of old zones for the "an epic request" quest. And the the same reason why you have to "attune" yourself to the new high end zones by running through old zones.

    PoFire is still a very popular zone. It's never been a hot zone. And I don't think it will ever be a hot zone.
  11. Malachi Augur

    Its true PoFire hasn't been a hotzone yet.

    Some zones are ingenious creations that deserve more foot traffic this is very true. PoAir is NOT one of those zones.
  12. Dabrixmgp Augur

    Corathus Creep @ level 50 says hi.

    I dont even remember people using the zone when DoDH was current. Not to mention in the time it takes to kill a single mob in CC you could have killed 3-4 somewhere with old world mobs like the Hole or Howling Stones which are a lot weaker.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  13. Malachi Augur

    I stand corrected. I think I just blocked cc out of my mind because honestly...wtf? PoP bosses have less hp.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  14. Ultrazen Augur

    I run into this problem every time one of my characters hits about level 70, I hate pretty much all of the zones. PoA is ...horrible, in many ways. The zone in alone is just a mess, it's buggy as all hell, not to mention one of the hardest places in the zone. You're more than likely to get killed trying to do that zone in, even in a group much less trying to molo it etc...horrible zone.

    EQ is such a great game the first 60 levels or so, when you can spend time in places like City Of Mist, The Hole, Sebilis, Kael, ...but then you end up in all of these just pain in the butt zones.... Places like Ocean Hills.....terrible line of sight problems due to the terrain, that freaking wandering Den Mother that has one shot more of my box characters than I've made..., I'm so sick of content that has wandering 'gotcha' mobs. I don't mind it as much when they are more static....

    There is also a big trend post Kunark for these big, lackluster outdoor areas with mobs sort of tossed around the landscape with no really purpose or thought, I really despise every single one of those zones.

    I think it's one of the main reasons I have so many alts and different box teams, I really enjoy the lower level game in EQ, and it just turns into a soulless outdoor bags of experience sort of thing post 65 or so.
    Mackinaw likes this.
  15. Mackinaw Lorekeeper

    70 shaman in defiant gear with an A5 tank merc. I died fast the first time in but on my second try It was cake. New gear makes the zone much better than in the old days. Biggest prob for me was the phoenixes dispelling the crap outta me, my pet and my tank. Still going there at 73 to grind aa's. I like the place.

    Mack
  16. dundada3100 Elder

    this zone is for raids only. The dead giveaway is the No CotH flag. Everything sees invis which again proves only for raids because you will be clearing all the trash with 50 people anyways. This is further shown by the horrible pathing. It makes pulling over distance pretty much impossible so unless you are in a raid moving forward all the time you cant set up camp somewhere and pull. Oh and then theres the flying things that root you. Been trying to farm the Crow footed Lance for my Zerker and even at 100 with max resists it lands every single time for the full duration.
  17. Malachi Augur

    Its a great zone......for a challenge. But if we were being honest with ourselves, Bastion of Thunder, Plane of Fire, Tactics...even Decay is going to offer you much better potential aa grind then PoAir. Heck, I'd even go to Saryrns God forsaken zone (forget the name...Plane of Sorrow) to grind aa's before I go to air. That's without those zones having the Hotzone exp modifier. And those are just a few PoP zones around that level. I can think of a few velious and even kunark mobs that will drop in 7 seconds and offer much safer/faster (and to me more enjoyable) aa grind at that level.
  18. Malachi Augur

    I second your playstyle ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. If you aren't in the raiding scene (or even if you are, raiding nowadays is meh...) the most enjoyable part of the game it seems is level 1-70ish.
    Some of those zones in the later expansions are HUGE expanses of land with a few dozen mobs roaming around. Its almost like all of them are designed to be swarmed. I suppose they got real tired of trying to find more creative ways to deal with pathing issues in tighter spaces.

    Making alt characters is all I do lately. My friends ask if I need a power level and I laugh...I'd rather not hasten my character's eminent demise from ill designed content.
    Mackinaw likes this.
  19. Mackinaw Lorekeeper

    Yeah, there are better places to go but I just like PoA for some reason although BoT is still among my all time favorite places and I visit there often. If there's no one swarming in there it's still a lot of fun.