ZEM values listed

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by LessPlay, May 1, 2020.

  1. Kobra Augur

    LOL. Really, in 1997-1998? Who, pray tell, was doing it so much better that you can describe SOE as doing it POORLY (all caps?)[/quote]


    I think what he is trying to say is they put all the high end group loot mostly into lower guk and sol b.
  2. Creedmonk Augur


    I think what he is trying to say is they put all the high end group loot mostly into lower guk and sol b.[/quote]

    I think there's a lot of people who would abandon the "high end group loot" as long as the experience was equivalent. The problem is they jam the loot + the good experience in the couple of good places and that's it, deal with the 10-15 pics and stealing camps etc.
  3. Alakshak Journeyman


    Mistmoore would like to have a word with you sir. Valid point but lets not gloss over some of the best in slot (pre-Planer) items that drop in Mistmoore.
  4. Kobra Augur


    I know of hooded black cloak, but can't think of any other items? Maybe those shoulders? I don't play a melee usually so I don't ever camp those items.
  5. SunDrake Augur

    Hooded Black Cloak, Diamondine Earring, Crested Spaulders. To a lesser extent Crested Helm, Sacrificial Dagger, Gem-Encrusted Sceptre, Mistmoore Battle Drums. There is also the Fang quest for the Electrum Bladed-Wakizashi. It's not as full as say Lower Guk, but you'd be wearing most of those items to 50 during your first play through.
    Alakshak likes this.
  6. Alakshak Journeyman


    Also required components for Warrior and Bard quest BP which will not be replaced until Planes drops.
  7. Machen New Member


    Obviously. And yet the game was tremendously successful, and in 1999 having all the high end group loot mostly in lower guk and solb worked out very well. That it's not ideal 20 years later on the TLP's with vastly increased character power doesn't make it poor design.
  8. Alakshak Journeyman


    Read above. Not to mention there are two other zones. The Hole, which has better caster/healer drops via Loam/Withered Leather than many of the Planes armor pieces themselves. Also Kedge Keep is a thing people like to forget about cause water bad. More BIS items drop there.
  9. Kobra Augur

    When focus items were in the game I had my own BiS list and it never included any of that stuff.

    Haven't played on a server without the focus items so I am sure that stuff is considered good now.
  10. Hadesborne Augur

    It was poor design. Even back then a ton of people were all wondering why they crammed the vast majority of good loot into Lower Guk/SolB AND THEN made the xp so great. IMO the xp for most outdoor zones should have had a higher ZEM due to the sparce number of mobs. Especially back then when almost every room/camp was laden with people everywhere. They also did a piss poor job of placing high level mobs in only THOSE SAME ZONES, so we were all either forced to goto Guk and SolB to fight it out or do pretty much the only other thing to get xp + plat: kill guards. And we slaughterd those guards relentlessly.

    They designed their game for about half of the response, or less, than they received. They had a hit, but weren't expecting it and weren't designed for it. The fact that they doubled down on their xp/loot balancing mistakes in Kunark boggles the mind (though they did a better job of placing higher level xp mobs in outdoor zones).
  11. Machen New Member


    This just wasn't the case. The very few people that realized that both the loot and xp were crammed into two zones were exploiting the hell out of it and profiting.
  12. Hadesborne Augur

    I was there and so were my guildmates. We constantly wondered why they crammed so much into guk/solB. So don't tell me what we did and didn't do back then. Maybe you were too young back then to see it.
  13. Creedmonk Augur

    There's really no argument.. It's simple... Fix the ZEM to be equal across the board. Can anyone give me a valid reason why this would be bad?
  14. Alakshak Journeyman


    I wouldn't say it would be a "bad thing" but we would still have the same issue. Now, instead of ZEM and loot determining where people go it would be based off Mob Density and loot. Effectively changing only what is apart of the "Golden Path" permanently. To my knowledge ZEMs were originally used to break that up a bit. In the end ZEMs are not a problem themselves but how they are implemented on modern TLPs.
  15. TLP Addict Augur

  16. Protocol Dragon Defender

    Because some areas are inherently more dangerous than others. ZEM is part of balancing risk vs reward. Hence why increased zem is generally associated with dungeons.
  17. Creedmonk Augur

    I mean I suppose? There's not a place I can think of that someone can't go with a few invis pots or invis vs undead pots...
  18. Protocol Dragon Defender

    I don't know if it's strictly travel related, but mob density, mobs fleeing, mobs being social etc. Some environmental factors like lava/water were probably also considered.

    One example that jumps out to me is Lguk dead side where average mobs have a fair chance to proc root on a melee attack, they tend to be in dense camps, and to go beyond the entrance you need to swim under a river which means fleeing (esp from any camp below /sup) to the zoneline is a serious ordeal.

    I can agree the need dungeon ZEMs is reduced these days because of changes like being able to SoW / Jboot indoors meaning you can basically always have a run speed advantage on mobs. That said I think areas like Solb, Lguk, Kedge etc are inherently more dangerous than equivalent outdoor camps like Seafuries, OOT Goblins, Specs etc.
  19. Ultrazen Augur


    Because it would lead to the same problem, probably only worse. Not all zones are created equal. Pathing issues, mob type and density, ease of navigation, ease of access, mob hit points...there are so many factors that go into what makes a place "good" to camp in EQ. Befallen is a perfect example, you'd have to make the ZEM there at least 300% before I'd even consider going into that hell hole.

    People will always seek the path of least resistance, and especially in EQ where you are very often having to plop yourself down somewhere for days at a time. Places that are a pain in the butt will just never get used without some kind of bonus.
  20. Tucoh Augur