So I hear TDS is a poor expansion...

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Meto, Jan 3, 2015.

  1. Meto New Member

    I was thinking of re-subbing but all I hear about TDS is that it is a very weak expansion, lacking in content. £30 each for my 3 accounts to get them up to date seems rough for what apparently amounts to a level cap increase and some AA.

    Is this a fair summary of TDS? Is it worth buying?

    Or does anyone know of any plans for server mergers/free transfers?

    Thanks!
  2. Orbital101 Augur

    well it is a very small expansion with barelly (if any?) long quest to keep you busy but then you have lvl 105, new gears and spells... I spend 80% of the time in CotF for HA xp for alts
  3. Riou EQResource

    Well if you enjoy EQ, then it is worth it alone for more content to play in
  4. Brohg Augur

    Haters gonna hate. TDS is pretty cool.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  5. Nudia Augur

    I, too, avoided bringing my alts up for a bit, following some of these assumptions. In truth, the content is pretty cool, the lore (minus the repeated hails) is the best its been in years, and overall things are actually decent. There is not enough content, that's fair and not really disputable in my mind, but otherwise, it's actually not a bad expansion at all.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  6. Borek-VS Augur

    The biggest problems with TDS are:
    • it's small
    • the exp nerf when you hit 101 (but you can still do CotF HAs)
    • very poor claim rewards for the Collector's Edition
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare and Lisandra like this.
  7. Edrick Augur

    It is, in my opinion, the 21st best expansion.
    Mintalie and Fenudir like this.
  8. Fogbust Journeyman

    When comparing the value to what other games can offer for that price, it's obviously not worth it.
    But we all know that doesn't matter, everyone picks his own stuff for these amounts.

    The biggest problem with sells like TDS is that laziness should not be rewarded, because it leads to more laziness in the form of confirmation of getting away with it, rinse and repeat.
    I believe the only way to turn Eq1 around would have been if most people stop paying for silly things.
    But when i read that ppl buy a Collector's Edition for 1 mount and similar, i know it's hopeless.
    No need for the seller to change anything, done deal.
  9. jiri_ Augur

    Huh. I guess I haven't explored it at all, but I'm more or less lumping it in with most of the expansions that are to me faceless mediocrity (which is all of them bar PoP, Luclin, RoK, Velious, LDoN, TSS, RoF, HoT, OoW and GoD for various reasons).
  10. Stumphobbler Elder

    Borek-VS said:
    "The biggest problems with TDS are:
    • it's small
    • the exp nerf when you hit 101 (but you can still do CotF HAs)
    • very poor claim rewards for the Collector's Edition"
    Don't forget the merc nerfs when you hit 101+ your merc (regardless of what kind) is the most powerful at lvl 100. as you progress to lvl 101 your mercs AC is greatly reduced. it becomes more powerful at lvl 105 but still not as powerful as it was at level 100.

    in short. a level 100 merc has more AC then a merc at level 105. As well as the increased damage your merc may do at 105 is not even nearly enough to be considering the mobs have millions of hps.

    Personally myself, I am just working on maxing my AA's until the next expansion comes out. then I will buy that one and get this one for free. so even if that next expansion is junk, then I paid $40 for 2 expansions and will seem like I got a regular sized expac ( you know, as large as they used to be)instead of the crummy Tedious TDS.

    the collectors edish is just a waste of money inho. if you REALLY want the collectors edish, buy the regular edition ($40) then buy the heroic character ($35) for a grand total of $75 instead of the $90. all the other crap that comes with the collectors edish really isn't worth the extra $15
  11. Brohg Augur

    You really loved the depth and involvement and rewards of Legacy of Ykesha, eh?

    Hyperbole like that doesn't bolster an opinion's credibility
  12. Edrick Augur

    It cost less than what was the norm for expansion packs at the time. It also was not advertised as an expansion pack, but an "extension" (I think that was the word they used) that was download only. The expectations were less and laid down in front of us very transparently by Verant or SOE. I forgot if SOE had taken over at that time.

    For an entire expansion cycle's worth of development, The Darkened Sea leaves much to be desired. Especially after the CEO promised a big expansion when asked about it in context of Call of the Forsaken and the poor state it was in at the time.

    Finally, I will point out that the fact you had to cite, of all things, Legacy of Ykesha, as a sort of counter to my argument, bolsters my opinion's credibility greatly. Even so, that might move it from 21st place to 20th? That's great, I guess.
    Borek-VS and Baeddon like this.
  13. Baeddon Elder


    If you compare and contrast the in game map versus mount ring... I think LoY wins, especially considering it was inexpensive. That's pretty sad.

    And Varrent was long gone by the time LoY was around. Sony was always with EQ, but Varrent name was removed after Velious, I believe. (After all, Qeynos backwards, etc)
  14. moogs Augur

    Are you speaking in absolute or relative terms? e.g. does the displayed AC number actually go down?
  15. Battleaxe Augur

    • It's big.
    The Raid Guild Progression Chart shows the majority of guilds haven't even begun to exhaust beating the expansion and gearing up.

    Posts on this forum show non-raiders complaining about having to unlock zones and those zones SOE allows players to enter without doing progression to be crowded. When non-raiders are progression adverse to the point of lingering in early content (not feeling compelled to progress) the game is too big for them.

    • The experience is great.
    The experience in new content that's consistant with the new level cap is very good. Somewhat like Old Man MacKensie mission no longer granting exp once a newer expansion was released players have been encouraged to enjoy new content (and abandon old content). Great news for people buying and playing a multiplayer progression game. Not so good for those wanting a single player non-progression shooter.

    • The Collectors Edition provides souvenirs and doesn't sell advantage
    People expecting a game built on acquiring great items by effectively playing the game to heavily reward flashing their wallet are disappoint.

    Should you return? How could I know? I'm interested in playing EQ at the highest level I can manage. I have plenty to do (I don't speed through content by boxing and then complain about the amount of content) and I'm having fun doing it. Six months from now I may complain about the amount of content but for now, like 99% of the players in the game, I've barely scratched the surface.

    You may (?) prefer hanging out in LDoNs chatting about how you killed the Froglok Supplier 14 years ago (rather than getting sweet upgrades in PoWar without raiding months ago). IF that's the case you may be disappoint. Then again if that's how you play the game (HA's) you are never in danger of having too little content.

    For little more than the price of two visits to Mickey D's I'm getting a month's entertainment. I'm happy.
    code-zero likes this.
  16. Numiko Augur

    Don't forget LoY was not marketed as an expansion, it was considered a mini expansion, or extention at the time and was a sort of experiment in smaller more frequent updates, though no one liked the model and it was not repeated again.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  17. Alundis New Member

    I would definitely say that TDS is worth it if you plan on boxing. I bought it upon release for my main and debated before buying it on my alt accounts, but I've been quite pleased with my purchase. I was able to box through the group progression all the way to Arx Mentis. The TDS group missions are easier than some of the CoTF missions such as ToR2 and Burn Out.

    In addition to the levels, AAs, and the progression quest line, you can also work on getting Rank 2 spells from Briny Essences. They seem considerably rarer and more expensive than the Rank 2 spells from recent expansions, and acquiring them actually feels like an accomplishment. While you're doing all of this, there's a small chance of picking up an ultra-rare chase items (e.g. Freebooters, Marauders, etc.) from trash mobs.

    If you manage to finish all the Hunter achievements, you are rewarded with a 30-slot bag, a 32-slot bag, a 34-slot bag, and a 40-slot bag. These are really nice rewards especially when considering how much SC large bags cost.

    The down side, as you mention, is that the expansion is on the small side.
  18. Triconix Augur


    The expansion is big? No, it's not and there is no disputing that. Just because people are adverse to progressing, it doesn't make an expansion large. Since the dawn of EQ, there have been people who linger behind and don't progression much or at a quick speed. That is no way to judge an expansion. Locking zones/quests behind arbitrary and artifical methods only gives the illusion of size. It doesn't actually make it bigger.

    The expansion's exp is "good," but comparative to the previous expansion, no it's not. There are still hordes of people opting to go back into CoTF for exp than TDS. NPC hp is considerably higher so any casual people will most likely choose to stay in CoTF. The time v reward is a lot better in CoTF. You need to get into the final tier of TDS to see any decent exp and by that time you need a pretty good group (especially a decent tank) to kill efficiently enough to make the zones viable options.

    I took off, for all intents and purposes, the entire month of December and I'm still only missing hunter in 4 zones to be completed with the expansion. Even before the month of december, I didn't play nearly as much as I used to. This expansion was a joke in terms of length and size. CoTF was definitely a larger expansion when it was fully completed.

    As far as ranking this expansion, I'm having a hard time finding an expansion lower than this on the list. Ykesha gave us maps and frogs (WOOT!) which automatically makes it a better expansion. LDoN was a weak expansion, but it gave us augs and a new instance system which was revolutionary for the time. TDS may be better than PoR and that's about it. The 16th-21st ranks of EQ (PoR, LDoN, LoY, VoA, CoTF, TDS in no particular order) are pretty much equally bad that it's easier just merging them all into one and saying they were all weak.
  19. Battleaxe Augur

    Are you suggesting that your progress is the same as that of a typical poster in The Newbie Zone? Really?

    TDS > LoY, GoD, UF, LDoN, DoN, DoDH, ... in either quality or quantity or both. I would see it as average without many of the flaws that plagued most of the middle expansions.

    Lessee - Mercenary quests, Partisans, open zone named mobs, collections, some zones not just open so people can walk right in, Hunter, random raid quality rares, currency/HA's, ornamentations, ... So how far along is the average non-raider? So far along SOE decided to drop flagging requirements to get to Brother's Island. Progression adverse players who hang out in CoTF HA's are not suffering from too little content.

    And then there is raiding. I think the Raid Guild Progression Chart and how geared up raiders are as shown in Magelo rankings shows people are not even close to done.

    And lets not leave out the other things to do which may have been introduced since OP went on a break. I wonder if OP likes near raid quality rings, neck, belt, Dodge +10% skill mod, Circle of Power IV clicky, .... These might not be TDS, but they sure are things to do in EQ if you've not done them.

    IF OP has been gone for a year, OP is going to be asking people to help them out for months. That's not a sign of someone with nothing to do. I realize that its crazy talk, but if OP is one of the less than 5% of the player base that roars though an expansion in a month there's always helping out guildmates. Do that and the next time there's content like PoWar perhaps OP will tear it to shreds rather than looking hungerly at the loot that's out of their reach and didn't have to be.

    I'll start a thread entitled "Nothing to do" when that becomes the case. Don't expect to see it until the game closes. Anyone who reaches that milestone is much more likely to be an outlier than a typical player.
  20. Nickster86 Elder

    I have maybe 10 quests left that I will probably finish today then I will get T Rex clicky for completing the expansion. What do I do then? Go farm mobs for collects? I hate how the rewards are housing items. I bought a plot of land to plop down an anchor and trophies. I suppose I go work on the bunny clicky from house of Thule. I am pretty sure that they are not releasing anything else for this expansion so what you see is what you get. As for the merc nerf yeah it's pretty bad their is just not much of a point to run a tank merc they seem to drop a lot faster. Kinda picked a lousy time to return tbh