If You Were a Dev, What Would You Have Done Differently?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Lockdown, Sep 27, 2020.

  1. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    I have to admite that TDS not having any Dinosaur-hunting type raid content was a big disappointment.

    "If I were a dev" isn't an easy question though, they are in a very difficult situation of managing an old clunky game with limited time & a only a few people, tough gig albeit most enjoy their work a great deal.

    I'd love to be some billionaire investor type with 100 million just to chuck around on some fun personal pet project though, and imagining what the devs could pull off with a big injection of capital for EQ is a nice daydream.
  2. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    - Tradeskill Commission system. It's time.
    - Figure out a way to display any in-game armor graphic regardless of what's actually equipped.
    - Bring back Best of the Best tournaments.
    - Devise a purpose for Charisma.
    - Introduce an achievement for number of deaths since character creation.
    - Likewise number of times rezzed.
    - Convince JChan to hire actual Game Masters who roam the live game looking for CToO (Cookie Targets of Opportunity) and evidence of Ranger mistreatment. But seriously, actual Game Masters. In game. Like it was in the beginning. Norrathian Fairness Tribe or some such. Oversight provided by the same system currently scouring logs for cheaters and hackers.
    - Give the community a chance to make our mark in game. I don't know. Let us name a zone or approve a graphic of some iconic NPC. Something.
  3. Cicelee Augur

    1. Make resists matter. It feels like everyone is max, and they don't mean nothing.

    2. Make heroic WIS and INT mean something to WIS and INT casters. When the majority of those who play those classes are going heroic STA just to have more HP, that tells you that they don't care about their primary stat because it does nothing.

    3. Make spell damage matter.

    I am sure there is more, but that is a starting point...
    Cadira likes this.
  4. Accipiter Old Timer

    1. Allow hotkeys to trigger other hotkeys.

    /invoke {hotbar} {hotkey}
  5. Sobmre Augur

    " apply to blizzard sooner "
    Kaenneth and Metanis like this.
  6. Lilura Augur

    I just want:

    -Direct connection from GL to Bazaar
    -Disabling of mounts in bazaar and GL
    -Auto suspension of mercs in GL after 15-30 minutes
    -Ignore for mercs and jesters. We have an a-hole on Povar who leaves his familiar out while afking in the GL and that stupid thing spews endless spam quoting Marvin the Martian
    -The advloot revision Windstalker promised us
    -Zone revamps as good as PoHate 2.0. It's still the best revamp ever
    -Removal of the flagging in TDS.
    -Faster named spawning and HH Sebilis made permanent
  7. Bigstomp Augur

    If I was a dev and was given 'free time' to work on a project I thought mattered.
    I would consolidate dz/tasks into 1 system.
    As someone who has lead raids under both systems, I think I would settle on /dz for everything.
    So I'd change a bunch of 'task' missions and raids into dz's.
  8. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    I might have gone a different direction for breakfast instead of breakfast burritos.
  9. Metanis Bad Company

    Taken a different career path. Like truck driver.
  10. Nennius Curmudgeon

    If they do, here's a possible t-shirt they could wear.

    [IMG]
    Sissruukk and Metanis like this.
  11. IblisTheMage Augur

    Not developed EQ2, but invested the money in EQ.

    Ditto EQ next.

    Invest in internal tooling.

    Invest in code refactoring continually.

    Invest in a text-to-speech platform, so that the community could use it to retrofit old content with spoken quests, selectable andupvotable in-game. As this technology matures over the years, and the comunity competes to make the best speech configurations for the NPC’s, the 50.000 old quests would get anew life, and EQ would be revolutionizing the gaming industry again.
    Bullsnooze likes this.
  12. ikarinokamii Elder

    I've always though the biggest error in EQ, what that each expansion obliterated the gear from the previous expansion the game kept expanding vertically instead of horizontally.
    Tarvas likes this.
  13. kizant Augur

    If I were a dev I'd listen more to Kizant.
    Szilent, Jennre, Sancus and 1 other person like this.
  14. Svann2 The Magnificent

    That address has its own zip code.
    har!
    Cadira likes this.
  15. Kaenneth [You require Gold access to view this title]


    I would make 'epic armor' with the BIS from each expansion being a combine of the current best armor+ the pervious expansions link in the chain.

    like OS 'Crafted' BP + Kunark Scaled Trooper BP makes BIS Kunark BP

    then BIS Kunark + Velious Myrmidon BP make BIS Velious BP

    then BIS Velious + Luclin Warlords BP makes Luclin BP

    and so on.
  16. OlavSkullcrusher Augur

    If I was a dev, I would have made sure that Overseer worked reasonably well before releasing it. :p

    As opposed to it still, several months later: losing quests, having many errors in what agents can be used for quests and give bonuses (especially the elite quests - nothing like realizing that you have to already have Ambassador D'Vinn in order to Recruit Ambassador D'Vinn), and then reach level 4 or 5 in quest types only to recognize that you'll need more rare and elite agents, that will then have higher chances of being incapacitated and for longer periods of time, all while not getting any more collection fragments or ornament dispensers than you got for lvl 1 quests.
  17. OlavSkullcrusher Augur

    This would have been a decision to make very early, like by the time they started working on Luclin. I think that if they had started from the beginning like that or near to it thinking of updating the game engine at least once, reworking all of the old content to match the new code, then I agree that EQ could have been something to continuously build on and remain relevant, rather than become mostly a niche for nostalgia.
  18. OlavSkullcrusher Augur

    I agree with this. Way too much mudflation. Especially when it came to expansions that reached backwards in levels. There is no reason for lvl 75 heroic adventures to allow gear that is way better than group gear from TSS, for instance, or for defiant to be so much better than anything that existed before it for levels below 70.
    Tarvas likes this.
  19. OlavSkullcrusher Augur

    Now for my own contribution: Tradeskills!

    I'd have developed systematic methods of creating new items and recipes much sooner, rather than the haphazard way that EQ has jumped from one model to another.

    I'd have also never would have done cultural armor and weapons the way that they did. It's not an inherently bad idea, in terms of lore or realism, but it makes for massive amounts of time required to create all of the different items and recipes for each race, class, and deity combination.
  20. Iven Antonius Bayle

    There was alot decisions and concepts in the past that did lead to a disaffection from original EQ and its first two expansions (RoK, SoV). Beginning with Shadows of Luclin the game did change alot in several aspects:
    • Most but not all new mob NPC models no longer had the "cute and funny" factor like the original models (i.E. goblins, bixies, animals, insects,..), instead there now was horrible creatures like we know them from horror movies. Alot players and I think especially girls and women did dislike that and cancelled their accounts. So I would had released more cute and funny comical styles for mob NPC models.
    • I would not had released the Shadows Of Luclin player character models and hired a few good 3D model artists and animators for new PC models that could show SoV armor textures. I would also had added way more face(s) and hair style options. The new PC models would had be animated pretty much like the original models just more detailed and smooth which would also had meant a return to the cross-legged sit position.
    • Following expansions lost more and more the connection to the original EQ which was a pseudo medieval world mixed with "high fantasy" elements. Instead of an ongoing evolution that is based on the original world (Antonica, Faydwer, Odus) expansions like Gates of Discord got released which are closed worlds and themes on their own. The Shadows of Luclin expansion had at least some roots to the origin and was well embedded into the world of Norrath. Instead of releasing expansions like GoD I would had released expansions in an evolved original world style and either that they would be embedded well into the old continents like the Lost Dungeons of Norrath. I would had released more LDoN expansions for RoK, SoV and SoL with about five additional static (non instanced) zones.
    • With Planes of Power the music style changed alot as Jay Barbeau was no longer the composer. While Paul Romero is a great composer and did amazing work in games like Heroes of Might and Magic, I never liked his EQ music titles much. I definetly would had hired Jay Barbeau again as I connect his music so much with EQ and the original atmosphere.
    • In the very past (Original to SoV) indoor zones was very narrow and had undersized dimensions so that big races even got stuck there without a shrink spell. Ak´Anon, Kaladim, Sol B to name a few. Beginning with Planes of Power narrow zone dimensions (tunnels, passageways, doors, buildings) was very oversized. I think that SoL had about the right dimensions and was just a little bit undersized sometimes so I would had released further expansions in more balanced zone dimensions.
    • I never would had released oversized weapons and Pixel Shader 2.0 in its current bad state with inflated weapon and armor reflections as I want to see items like they appeared to me in about the years 2000-2005 where surrounding light sources didnt had any effect on their appearance.
    • I never would had revamped original zones like Freeport, East and West Commonlands, Misty Thicket, North Ro, South Ro, Oasis of Marr, Nektulos Forrest, etc.
    Sirene_Fippy likes this.