Dev's Please Read! "Going back to the ROOTS of Game Development"

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Pwetti Durn'Stwung, Oct 18, 2020.

  1. The real Sandaormo Augur

    I'd like to see an expansion where Disease is running rampant, fire is burning half the zones, weather plays a big part like Hurricanes ripping through areas, faction comes back and no one gets along, rioting in the city streets, people are killed just because of their race and there are new Monsters named Karen running around spitting evil.

    Oh wait never mind that's real life. I just wanna relax and play EQ, whatever form that takes in the new expansion
    Qelil and Elyssanda like this.
  2. Vumad Cape Wearer

    There is nothing particularly challenging about preventing people from accessing groups. Add time sinks to play, such as collections, XP curves, progression, etc, but do NOT add anything that blocks play, such as bottlenecks preventing people from reaching groups (RoS SFM as T1? wtf?) or over aggressive progression arcs (TBL, for example, was a great expansion that was terrible for casual players).

    In the current life cycle of EQ...

    No T1 zone should prevent a person with invis/IVU from moving around it freely with 1 type of invis.

    T2 zones should allow you to move around freely with the right type of invis, but rarely if ever should you need to do anything more than stop at a safe spot and switch invis to get by a choke point. Failure in travel should be from making a mistake, not the inability to succeed.

    No zones should be locked, except one final zone in the progression arc. ToV/RoS=Good, TBL=Bad.

    No zone except this last zone should prevent players from getting to their group in the absence of dual invis / SoS except this last locked meta zone (IE ROS VP) but even then, getting to you group should be possible with a single invis, watching pathing, etc.

    Dual invis/SOS barriers should be primarily saved for dead ends (such as the Laima Ratgur camp in TOV GD, which has live dirvishes and dead dwarves, but the only thing at the end of the tunnel is a hunter camp. But even then, I think this should be reserved for T2 zones).

    I base all of the above on my experiences as a casual player and one who plays a lot/boxes/raid geared. EQ should cater to people who have 6 hours to play, and people who just have a hour for LOTD. Supporting both is good game design and is good for the community. I will gladly suspend a merc for PC company for LOTD if they can get to me.
  3. Knifen Augur

    Id like to see 1 or 2 of the old style zone styles.

    1. PoFear - With a real raid force break in required. No idea whats on the other side just go in pure chaos and get it broke in.

    2. VP, like none of the versions that are active now. Like the original hands off zone. You work to get in there. You want out, you clear through and exit. No Ports, no evacs, no GM help. At least you have GL summon now and not stuck losing all your stuff or using a second set of armor to break in.... just in case. To make the final zone of an expansion the pinnacle of it.
    Xerzist likes this.
  4. The real Sandaormo Augur

    Hard Core mode ala Diablo: you die you start over from scratch.
  5. Allayna Augur

    The OP hasn’t seen a new zone in 7 expansions but asks for improvements they have no idea whether they’ve been implemented.

    How about a real QoL improvement...like requiring Gold All Access to post in Veterans Lounge.
    code-zero, Flatchy, Yinla and 3 others like this.
  6. Andarriel Everquest player since 2000

    OMG i would love that! Two thumbs up!

    Andarriel
    Duder and Flatchy like this.
  7. Flatchy Court Jester

    If that were to happen the ground would parch from lack of tears!
    Duder likes this.
  8. code-zero Augur

    Good point, they don't let free accounts access all the chat channels in game so why not here?
    Duder likes this.
  9. Xerzist Augur


    Geez. We really are in the age of instant gratification :cool:
  10. Xerzist Augur

  11. Hayzeus Augur

    Or, or... maybe there are just enough developers on the team to copy/paste expansions for the next 4 to 5 years. The very idea of having the team develop anything that is significantly outside the box makes me giggle a little.

    They just don't have the resources to do anything more than stop the ship from sinking.

    EQ is like one of those Covid Cruise ships stranded out in the middle of the ocean. Yes there are supplies. Yes there are people. Yes the ship is still floating. But... it ain't gonna end well.
  12. Zunnoab Augur

    The game is better now than it used to be in my opinion. I don't mind parts of zones being like this, but the whole thing? That's just irritating when a random group member makes a mistake or whatever.

    I really hated the Great Regression that happened some time last decade. All kinds of fun abilities were added to the game, and probably due to nostalgia sentiment like this topic is about many of those abilities were absolutely gutted. Immunity to mob movement abilities is outrageously overused, but at least it's not 100% of the time anymore.

    I hated the Great Regression so much it helped soften the blow of my need to primarily raid on my cleric at the time. I never thought I'd get to primarily raid on my bard again, but a guild merge changed that. It was specifically those fun abilities being blanket nerfed that made it easier for me at the time, though. The nerfs made the game less fun to me, by quite a margin. Not more challenging, but less fun.

    I think around GoD is when things got really bad with the "old school" design, with practically nothing being vulnerable to pacify and overdone immunities everywhere.

    As I said, I think the game has gotten better. There are progression servers for people who want the old game back, is my opinion. The game doesn't need to go back to its "ROOTS," because it has transcended them in my opinion. I enjoyed playing on Quarm a few years ago, but things like lack of out of combat regen weren't on the list of why. At least they got rid of the awful failure lockout on the MPG trials.

    I think House of Thule is probably my favorite expansion. I have great nostalgia for Planes of Power and I still love it, but I don't think the game needs to regress.
    Syylke_EMarr likes this.