I hadn’t been to this zone in years, but I got a couple real life friends to try the game and it was actually really good. It does a good job introducing the game and has a nice pacing. I do have a couple suggestions regarding the quest mobs and quest item drops. For kill and retrieve tasks like Spider Tanner Gugan the drop needs to be upped to 6 or match it to the number in group with the quest. The same applies to the rest of the same nature. Also, the drops from the spider nests could be upped as well as the number of cocoons and vermin nests. The zone flows really well, but it doesn’t feel designed for group play. Waiting 20 minutes to complete a group of 3’s individual quests just doesn’t feel good. I know, we could move on and come back later but the zone is actually pretty busy on FV. Plus, skipping quests in the quest log doesn’t feel great. Modern content definitely has a better feel for group play and it would make the tutorial zone experience. Just my thoughts and thoughts from a couple new players. Side note, the default UI layout was not well received.
With regard to the Default UI, most people coming to EQ today are likely coming from newer games with fancier and flashier UIs. EQ's UI does what it needs. There are some specific windows that are lacking (looking at you Item Display Windows), but most are ok.
They just revamped the graphics in the tutorial a few years ago. They also brought out the continuation tutorial "Out of Gloomingdeep" before that. I feel it would be different if it were a zone you could continue to use after level 15. But its not. And the next zones, Cresent Reach and others do have set ups like you want. Its just an intro zone. I don't think it needs another revamp for drop rate. It's not like folks have to camp drops for 3 days on something like they do on other stuff they complain about on the forums I run many groups thru there and seldom have problems with repop rates. In fact it is less than 5 minutes for Spider Tamer. I have had some in my group die cause he popped so fast back on us. The barrels and nests repop a little slower but after all its not a race to finish. I mean what? 7 minutes? The default UI has never been well received. Even with people who make new heroic characters. From day 1. Ever. Never. So my vote is that it is fine how it is and to just leave it and have the dev/tech guys spend time and money on something else that impacts the game more.
The comments weren’t the UI design just the default layout applied to new characters. It’s a very messy setup.
It’s the most important zone in the game. The dropped number of quest items should absolutely be upped in quantity. It’s the first segment of the game, and it’s not adequate for group play compared to how modern quest drops are handled. Grouping makes the introductory experience of the game worse rather than better. It’s a plain and simple fact.
It was designed for folks to solo and most do it that way so it doesn't make sense to design any of it towards group play.
I think they should remove the level requirement from that zone, If you have been inactive in many years, it can still work as a "refresher-course". Completing it should be an option even if you don't feel like making a new char.
It doesn't feel like it's designed for group play because it isn't designed for group play. The only named in the zone which might possibly be a challenge to a solo under level 10 are Overlord Gnikan and Krenshin. The vast majority of players, both new and old, don't worry about those two until they've dinged 10. Yes, Spider Tamer Gugan drops a unique item (the violet) which can't be pre-looted, so he has to be killed once for each player in your party. His respawn timer is five minutes, so a party of three can do it in 10 minutes, not 20. The Overlord and the Slavemaster each have respawn timers in the 10-12 minute range, so that's pretty consistent already. The dragon eggs for Flutterwing's quest have to be turned in individually, but the Slavemaster usually drops three eggs per kill, so that already works the way you asked for. There isn't much loot in the zone that matters. Crude Defiant pieces will drop at random from any mob; the non-visibles will only drop off the higher-level kobolds, you're expected to work for those if you care. Since they're global drops, you don't really need to linger in the zone to farm them. The Gloomsteel weapons have better ratios than you'll see for a little while, and those also only drop from the higher-level kobolds in the jail and fort areas. The 8-slot backpacks are helpful short-term for brand-new toons, but you can buy dirt-cheap 10-slot toolboxes as soon as you get to PoK. Barrel respawns are all five minutes, and there are several dozen barrel spawn points scattered around the zone. There is a Slayer cheeve for killing 5000 barrels, if you want to be particularly OCD about such things. The only useful things you can craft without leaving the zone are a trivial stat food, throwing knives, six-slot backpacks (which can no longer be vendored) and bandages. Moral: The zone does what it is intended to do, give a brand new player a good sense of how the game works. The storyline is simple but effective. If you have it memorized, you can take an alt from 1-15 there in a couple of hours. The only reason for an experienced player to do it is that it has a couple of cheeves you can't get anywhere else. If there was a way to shroud down and re-enter the zone later, I'd skip it to start and run alts through CR from level 1.
