Quick update for EQ!

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Windstalker, Feb 13, 2015.

  1. dashaa New Member

    I been playing EQ for a very long time, and as I read in some prior posts about bugs and whatnot, I agree that there's been many bugs over the years. currently instances have horrible lag not to mention the huge memory leaks that hog up memory and ultimately crash (after many zonings) and yes I have played with the memory usage settings in options and its still an issue. my system isn't a slouch. I have tried other games and always wound back up here, to me WOW is Alice in wonderland and quite frankly all the time and years I have played EQ I don't want to start all over (1 acct is over 900 days played). Since EQ is or close to one of the first online MMO games It has set the model that took off into other things with time. However the quality of care this game seems to have gotten is crap over time, I'll log in to find some stupid item has had the graphics changed / improved (while it does look good) but to me that's udder BS when there's so much mechanics of the game that's fubar. I recently had an issue that I petitioned on and while it did get resolved, it was a huge hassle and the correspondence back and forth would make your jaw hit the floor and back up again cause of the amazing recoil from the fall, the ineptitude of the whole thing makes me (and probably a lot of the player base) just shake my head. I do also want to say though that I do understand its a tough job with having a game that started off with DX8 and migrating to DX9 (a-b-c) and so on. I do also commend the hard work that is put into EQ also. Personally I think that cause EQ is the model that set the MMO trend going it should get top notch care since it is the flagship of games in the day. Other games have attracted players and leave EQ but other have also left cause there tired of broke broke and more broke. Sony (SOE) is a HUGE company and they would only cut the cord on something like this cause its dragging the margin down. Lets face it the customer pays YOUR wages and therefore if a product and / or service blows people leave it and move on. Since there's "new blood" here do what's right and get this back to the number 1 spot, it's a challenge I'm sure but it can be done.
  2. Xanathol Augur

    Good to see dialog from the team.

    With a game of this age, I believe game direction that promotes options more than anything else is the best thing going forward. For years people bicker over this class should do this better than that, etc, while EQ really started with options to do the same things, differently, but pretty much equal - we need to get back to that.

    The most important part is probably the oldest - class adjustments. I know no one in EQ whom doesn't have a 'main' that they care about more than any other. If that class isn't fun to play, they don't play much if at all. I recall an EQ where rangers regularly were group tanks - that should be more prevalent again. Pet classes have it pretty good right now - let them - it gives people play options. Let Pally stuns stick in the group game all day long - its what they do. Shammies need some damage love. SKs need serious dps adjustments that are SK related to be the DPS knights they were always suppose to be (up 2her only dps 2-3 fold, grant necro dot crit rate, pet dps up to half of normal pet class vs 1/16th). The theme continues - less "this class has to be X" and more "this class does X this way".

    Bring back interesting armors sets and rare drops. Did a pre-nerf CoS really hurt the game? Does having every focus on ever armor piece make the game interesting? Again - it is about choices. People need to feel this is THEIR character, it has value, and is their unique decisions and investments.

    Perhaps pay for play only merc options too, for other classes. For instance, what if a Zerker player could run with a Pally merc that stun locks aggro and heals himself?

    As I've posted in the TS section, how about formulas to take old interesting clicks or procs and convert that gear to an aug with that click or proc? Fun things to bring people into old content - using it, versus losing it.

    Perhaps it is time to visit AA branches as many other games have, where you can purchase this AA or that one (with an option to 'retool' at a cost). Allow players to make characters more unique to them. Maybe one warrior decides to add utility via skills or more dps while another adds standard mitigation? Maybe a druid decides to be more DPS focus versus healing or the other way around.

    And of course, the XP nerfs have to go. Giving folks an option to 'jump back in' to the game then cutting them off from playing with others because those others are forced into the newest content is cutting your nose to spite your face. The content will get consumed and the longer it does, the longer the players play. Keeping it viable is a good thing.

    Just ideas - ideas I'd love to see that I think make the game more enjoyable and long term viable.
    Lisandra and Zujilli like this.
  3. Silv Augur

    Wow... you guys made some really long lists :eek: At least most people know how to use some type of formatting.

    1. There's already a "ton" of EQ out there. Just re-hash and improve like ROF. That worked really well and people got over the whole recycled zone thing pretty quick. That would allow more time for actual creativity.

    2. Make "Divine Fetters of Ro" a /claim item for anyone who pays All Access and let us skip Deathknell #2. I can't box that one so it's kindof annoying. A Ro was one of my favorite events :( While you're at it, delete Solteris #3 and just have a chest spawn if anyone Lv 90+ comes into the area.

    3. Send a virus to whatever computer holds the itemization excel spreadsheet. Also, can we just stop with the idea that certain things in EQ aren't supposed to be "powerful". BP clicks got nerfed to hell and back because itemization decided they weren't supposed to be that important. Um... why did you bother in the first place then? My Lv. 105 BP click gives my group 3k mana every 10 minutes. Guess I gave them half a nuke.:rolleyes: It's just an example of the constant flawed logic I see in EQ.

    4. Fix Druids? Idunno... deleting them and giving a free class change might be the easiest option at this point. Or just consolidate their debuffs, unlink timers, and put their heals on par with Shamans. I'm gonna go with the former though.

    5. Decrease spawn timers (again) on old world non-instanced mobs and decrease DZ lockouts on old instanced content. I can flip the same old raid instance a million times by jumping through hoops so I don't have to wait 5 days if I really wanted... you know players are doing these things. Just make the stuff less tedious already.

    People keep worrying about new content and if we're getting more more more... which is natural, and we should get some stuff. But there is already sooooooooo much EQ that some of it deserves a second look. I mean... there must be some reason why all of POP is always down, the Tacvi key dude is permadead, people continue to farm Frostcrypt, etc.

    Why do people always want to reinvent the wheel?
    Lisandra, Iila and Sancus like this.
  4. Benzarden Augur

    Woah! But then who will give me Black Wolf?!
  5. Kundow New Member

    Lots of interesting ideas here. Lots of bad ones too.

    I've called Heroic Adventures "LDoN minus the fun" for a while now. How about more of an assortment of Heroic Adventures, rather than four stages of "Kill X dudes"? Four stages of Kill X dudes isn't my idea of "a different mission every time" or however it was phrased. LDoN is one of the expansions I have liked the most. While there was repetitiveness, as there will be with any MMO, there was enough variety to not get bored so easily.

    Sweet baby Tunare, please fix Headshot. Having Headshot work on a sliding scale would be a better option. The higher the level of the mob, the lower the frequency of Headshot. Having it fire often on 104's would be ridiculous. It would be a really cool bonus though. That said, I should be mowing through greys or greens, maybe less so on light blues, etc. Also, a "fatal bow shot" should actually be fatal, rather than a mild inconvenience.

    Dump that god awful Dragons of Norrath goblin model. It's atrocious. The LDoN goblins were super awesome. They were a great update while keeping some of the charm of the original models. Looking at that ugly crosseyed jerk really rustles my jimmies.

    Bring back the old orcs too. :mad:

    I REALLY liked the ideas people had about revamping old zones. I know it would be a lot of work, but being able to zone into a 105 appropriate Unrest, or Crushbone, or Kael, or whatever would be awesome. It would be even more awesome to then be able to log out of that character, and be able to zone into a level 65 appropriate version of that same zone. Maybe like a public instance so it doesn't fracture the player base so much. City zones could be left static, but dungeons could have options for higher level characters. Design new missions and raids for these public instances, and you could have one heck of a cool expansion. Don't hit it and forget it either, like so many other mechanics. Keep up with level cap increases.

    At any rate, I hope the future bodes well for EQ.
    Sita and Lisandra like this.
  6. Mayfaire Augur

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  7. Velnarin Lorekeeper

    Ermegerd she's like Jeezus or somethin'! The great upholder of the Code of Kithicor, returned from the dead! I'll try not to hold a grudge for the Venerable Holly Windstalker turning me into a blueberry wizzy-waffle.
  8. Kundow New Member

    Um...Rangers have had that AA for like a million years now.
  9. Tyraxor Augur

    Raids are super important, many raiders are hardcore players and those also like having several accounts with toons...
    To increase the amount of raids you can offer i would suggest looking at something like MPG trials.
    Very low effort in zone design needed as it can be always the same rooms, but everyone still loved those trials. Timed events are good to add to the excitement.
    I would also like seeing less emotes that punish the whole raid for the failure of 1 guy, instead they should just kill that 1 person (kinda like a Kyv arrow to the head back then).
    Collective punishment and finger pointing is bad.

    Actually the whole Omens expansions was a shining example of how it could be done...
    Anguish was a real endzone (mini bosses with Augs was a good idea too), some open world bosses that increase communication between guilds which is imo good to add some social interaction again.
    And an unique endboss in OMM.

    For other content, i would look into connecting old with new.
    If creating a whole new continent for an expansion takes too much time, you could just bring out updated versions of popular old zones.
    I never liked the new new new direction Eq took, there's really no point in spending all resources on creating something completely new if you have huge amounts of partly brilliant old content that can serve as inspiration. I would say RoF was a success, and it partly used Velious.
    Maybe it was much bigger than what came afterwards, because you didn't have to reinvent the wheel?
  10. Ratbo Peep Augur

    I'll go as far as to say that I agree that "uphill" may be too optimistic.
    I just hope that as opposed to "the beginning of the end" ; that recent events are just "the end of the beginning".
    -R
    I'm amused at how many people are treating this thread as a "Christmas Wish List".
    Holly isn't Santa....
    The best we can do here it TRY to stop the bleeding - it's triage time.
    Mayfaire likes this.
  11. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    NO!
    Not a whole expansion, maybe a few, but on double exp days the servers just do not handle the instant zones well, I'd rather see bigger open zones.

    I don't mind seeing some of the older zones revamped, but I play EQ to explore places I haven't seen before! If I want nostalgia I create an alt and run them through old content.

    I'd love to see RoF finished, that portal which goes no where still bugs me everytime I go to Shards Landing, really want to know if the tease of where it goes to is Plane of Mischief or Morells Castle!

    We saw the zone file for Gnome Mountain in CotF beta, another tease we would like to see, dare I also mention the clockwork Heros Forge.
    Lisandra likes this.
  12. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    While on the thoughts of what we may like to happen in the future of EQ,

    I would like to see a God expansion, not Gates of Discord but EQ Gods, there are still gods we haven't seen, and I'd love to see Sayrn again (just without her pain in the bum bird Sorrowsong).

    I'd also love to see more dragons! Just not from another dimension which we cannot kill, still want the option to kill the dragon which came from EQ2. :p

    My biggest request though is to remember that this is not EQ2, please do not try to change us to be the same.
    Iila and Silv like this.
  13. Tvex New Member

    Servers have come a long way over the years I'm sure they can handle Ldon instancing.

    1. Remove the exp nerf. My box group would be active right now if it wasn't for that.

    2. Take a look at Rof and understand what level of content we expect from an expansion.

    3. Again look at RoF they took existing zones and revamped them for lvl 100 and they were fantastic. New zones tied to loved old conent like plane of shadow or chelsith reborn were great. These actually got me excited to play the game again. Then we had horrible expac after horrible expac. I'm sure we would all love to see an expac that pulls from early expansions that people loved. No when we ask for this we DONT mean the buried sea... Since you guys need it spells out( kunark velious pop hell even luclin was pretty good no not the keying part please don't get confused)Talk about easy content to create. It already exists u just need to retool it for lvl 105. U could have boosted current cotf to a decent expac If you had taken a few good zones from these expaca and retooled them instead we got the amazing copy and paste tower of rot. If you do revamp a zone for max level please make it a separate new zone.

    3. Cycle the hotzones once a year.

    4. Group gear should be enough to get me through the group content. In cotf as a max aa SK I could not tank the t2 named in t2 armor. These mobs drops are the t2 armor... See the problem?

    5. Give people a reason to run old raids ( current expac raid tokens or somethin) or perhaps make them more accessible to casual players. That's alot of good content going to waste that us casuals would love to see.

    6. It seems like you guys seem to only comprehend part of what we are saying. If you are confused take a poll before doing something stupid like limiting people to play in 2 of the worst smallest expansions in the game. Or building an expansion on an expansion no one cared about. If u took a poll that said new expac based in buried sea luclin kunark or pop I can tell you that it wouldn't have been the one you choose.

    7. If your going to keep doing these half the content(playable zones with a zone quest line and places to camp SEE ROF NOT COTF) then lower the price by half. I still feel ripped off from buying cotf and being promised the second half was coming and what we got was 2 smallish zones one being copy and paste.

    8. Please DO make a hub zone like shards landing not like COTF.
    Lisandra likes this.
  14. Warpeace Augur

    Warpeace said:
    “Didn't they do that before they opened Fippy Darkpaw (TLP) and Vulak`Aerr (TLP) yet here we are again? Honestly its becoming a pattern and with the launch of these latest progression servers my other post already pointed out what happened. Its the competitive nature and people will form guilds to be the server firsts. If it can happen best of luck and hope it works but from what I have seen people will come and have fun their way.”
    Well best of luck with that then, but I'm not the only one seeing a pattern with progression servers, denial is a beautiful thing.
  15. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    Actually I prefer the cotf ha be let alone.
  16. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    I don't think the population is out there for more progression servers. Daybreak cant keep making servers so people can play old eq over and over and over. If you missed playing on the existing progression servers you missed out and its time to move on. Just my opinion.
    Mayfaire likes this.
  17. YellowBelly Augur


    A good first step would be to undo the exp penalty nerf introduced in the newest expansion.This means mobs will give exp like they used to in expansions below Rain of Fear. If Daybreak is going over the numbers and is wondering why the newest expansion sold so poorly this is why.
    Lisandra, Finen, Zujilli and 2 others like this.
  18. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart


    People keep trying to go back to what Everquest used to be and you can't. Exp grinding was always a part of the game. Back in the old days Everquest was one of the only games of its type out there. The game population was different because of that.

    The game population is dropping because EQ is an old game with old graphics. People get drawn to a game that is pretty.. they stick with it if they like the gameplay. It has nothing to do with EQ being different now then it was back then. Its all about the graphics.

    I have been playing EQ since a few months after beta ended. I didn't leave and come back I stayed. And I like the current EQ the way it is. People who left the game come back and then go on and on about why EQ should be like it was in the old days. EQ has changed.... people need to accept that and learn to love it for what it is now not what it used to be.
    Mayfaire likes this.
  19. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    Recycling art ie monster models helps keep the cost of new expansions down. I am fine with them doing this as it leaves more resources for expansion development. And having gone through some older zones recently I got to see some cool monsters that I haven't seen in a long time.
    Mayfaire and Axem the Great like this.
  20. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    Like others have stated I hope we hear from Holly more then once.
    Lisandra likes this.