Then leave the zones as they are. Add a NPC to them that spawns an instance with the mobs and lockouts as people want. That way those who wish to do it the old fashioned way can...and those who want to just get their chance at it and do that, can do it. Really, I don't get why you're even complaining when as someone else said you aren't even playing the game atm anyway. Also...as that same person said... This. ^
Lets be honest the only challenge in getting this gear is the wait you use the word chance. Its not really so much a chance as a chance for a handout to get something that should be still pretty tricky to get your hands on. Im not playing at the moment but thats not to say I wont play again. A few berserker mechanics get reviewed and I will have my axe out again with my legitimately attained epic 1 or 2 aug equipped
Let the older players decide what they want to keep. You can't speak for them You are the first person I have met in years that still believes the epic 1.0 is still.......epic.
I am an older player and fairly sure I don't qualify as a casual and I would have loved to have kept some things the way they were, but the game's changed. Take off the goggles and see those quests for what they are, the MODERN game for what it is, and see if they fit.
None of these items from these longer older spawns are must have items, SOE want EQ to have chase items. I don't see any real reason to change these, other than the epic dropping mobs which are camped for other items, to be on a shorter timer where the earlier spawns only drop epic pieces. To be honest I'd rather SOE got on with CotF content and didn't mess with this kind of stuff. I want what i paid for!
The devs just devoted an entire patch to overhauling an expansion (SOD) from many many years ago... there is absolutely no reason why they couldn't revisit a lot of these epic mobs/drops and other long-respawn, contested mobs. All these people supporting the current situation- do you also disagree with the changes to merc quest lines? Should everyone have to do it exactly the same way you did? Apparently, the devs have a different vision (tm)- content should be more accessible. I did both the Enchanter and Druid epic 1.0 and 2.0 when they were current content. I had Lv. 1 bots camped at almost all of the long-respawn mobs I needed and would log them in constantly to check for them. It was exciting, a rush, and what the spirit of EQ embodied at the time. Non-instanced, racing, highly-contested content was what EQ used to be and everyone accepted it for what it was. People didn't think it was crazy raiding 7 days a week, staying up till 3 AM on a work day to clear PoH/PoF/NToV/VT etc. However, that whole playstyle and mentality died many years ago. The slow integration of instanced content and direction of the Epic 2.0 quests should have been a sign that times were changing. I recently (within the past year) did the Mage Epic 1.0 quest. It wasn't bad- some really frustrating spawns but they were all either a simple named with a PH cycle, relatively non-contested mob, or quick respawn (<24h). As long as I was willing to keep killing PHs, eventually I would get my mob. If it was something like Phinny, I'd afk at the spawn if I had to so I'd catch it on my logs and then I would know when to log in tomorrow. So, that all sounds fine right... like nothing should change? Well, let's gander at the Paladin Epic 1.0 for example- I've recently been helping with this and let me tell ya, it's pretty ridiculous. Two integral *quest* drops come from Kunark-era dragons on a 3 day respawn; even then, the quest items are not guaranteed to drop (considered a regular item on a loot table with ~10+ items). I've been able to catch many of the spawns (Gore/Faydedar/Tal/Sev) but still no quest drops. There is nothing challenging or rewarding about that. The only reason I've been able to get most of those is because I don't have to go to work right now so I can sit idly by on patch days. That's just a single example of many that have this issue. Should not having to go to a 9 - 5 job make me more entitled than someone else? I'm sure if people had to camp a mob from 6 PM to 6 AM (non-working hours for most) to get an item they REALLY wanted, they would, provided it was an instance or non-contested. Those people are still willing to work hard and invest time but the current system does not accommodate that. If you have any type of real life responsibility that requires you to not be at the keyboard on a patch day, well, you're pretty much SOL on getting spawns like Kunark dragons. Unless you plan to take every 3rd day off work and create 4 track-bots, you're fighting a losing battle. There is nothing challenging or epic about these camps. Sure, people had jobs back in 2001+, but the mobs also weren't soloable; you had to rely on your guild/community to help, so you'd have to wait regardless of spawn time. Not the case now. The system is flawed. The items/quests should be more accessible, otherwise, take them off the achievement list and get rid of epic ornaments (if they 'aren't important').
There is a huge range between 'easy' and 'easier', some of the old epics are just ridiculous time sinks that could be eased, without making them spawn on demand. like 100% drop rate on the items when you do find the mob up.
Just put in a mechanic for epic 1.0s without loot. It's already been done with VSR, Undead Bard, and Echo of Nortlav/dragon scale conversion. Don't waste the time changing any other spawns. Keep the rares rare.
Your second to last paragraph sums it all up, back then you did rely on your guild or friends to help track stuff, in todays Merc bot team age you do not have to rely on the EQ community like you did back then. There is nothing challenging about killing these mobs, its all about "give me now, and the less I actually have to interact with others in game the better". In a week or two after this thread dies(just like the same one from the summer), then we will be back in May when this crying starts up all over again. For the record you can see that I have my epic and the ornament, I sat at spawns for others in my guild and waited my turn. Had my last epic mob moved to an open zone prenerf manaburn, waited even longer because FCFS was in full effect with Zordy being moved to an open zone. At the time it was worth it to me and my guild to get the mob, had I been then were im at IRL now I would not get it, but I sure as hell would not cry about it every 6 months.
This would solve a lot of the issues especially since a ton of the quest items for Epic 1.0 are 'able. I'd be more than happy to pay for some of the ridiculous drops if that was my only option. Unfortunately, a lot of servers don't even have community boards anymore, so there is nowhere appropriate to post about "WTB for whatever Epic 1.0"... This topic may come up every X months but we've now been conditioned to the point that if we post relentlessly, eventually, there may be a chance to get change (as evidenced by the past two patches where a ton of changes were undone due to community feedback). ps. wtb pally 1.0 torn book(s) on Drinal
An epic 1.0 or Abashi rod is certainly more epic to me than a bunny illusion for completing a bunch of tasks or whatever crap they are handing out for todays expansion for doing all the tasks I don't give a crap about!
Ther merc Quests lines were insanely easy when they were current and did not need to be made easier. Having said that I would be the first to cheer if mercs were removed from the game. Paladin epic can be worked around make an alt SK get to 55 get some aa delevel and solo vox and naggy when they pop.
The issue of no community boards is a direct result of overinstancing content. When people dont have to interact with anyone outside their own guild or in some cases fellowship and can pop a merc every time there is a space in a group missing guess what?! Community disappears. There is no need to interact anymore, no need to befriend the traveling stranger or battle it out with another guild. I do have to say I miss server politics. We had heroes villains and ubers! Now everyone is the same and its pretty boring
My point was that it is not just Kunark dragons that drop them! If you use your initiative you can hunt far less contested dragons for the drops. The epic drops are rare from rare mobs its part of what makes Fiery Defender an iconic and special item in EQ.
My girlfriend (and our guild) spent over 2 years trying to get drops from Kunark dragons for her paladin. When we did kill them, they dropped the wrong pieces. The whole thing sucked. Seriously, just lower the respawn timer on any quest mob that is >8 hours, give the epic drops 100% chance to drop, and produce 6 of each drop on every corpse. That way, people with different schedules can log in and plan to be at a certain place at a certain time and get their drops without a whole lot of bickering. General chat might actually become useful.
Any time I raided Talendor and Gorenaire they always dropped the wrong pieces too back when I was a paladin. It was not till years later that I finished the quest as despite all my PoTime items and early GoD drops the thing I wanted most was my Fiery Defender, just to say that I had it. You make these drops easier to attain then there are no chase or real rare items left in the game. Welcome to EverWow!
Or just put in an epic no-loot workaround like they did in the past with other epics (VSR) and leave the regular mobs alone.
It's an iconic and special item due to the fact that it wasn't in the game for an extended period of time, even though the player base was told it was. Also, you didn't mention other mobs to farm... Awesome work around...Play a character I don't want to play in the first place to possibly get a drop I may or may not have the time to get. You may not like accessibility but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any. As well as not all of these mobs should spawn every 30 mins. A happy medium would be nice to go back and do these quests. As it stands now, I won't be doing the Paladin 1.0 epic b/c frankly I don't have the time.
