Where does it say you won't? You seriously think the devs aren't going to ease up a 6 level difference for classic? There's being obtuse then there is being you.
Vaniki looks mostly great. Here's the problem... We're going to artificially level cap you, but at the same time increase your ability to land spells, allow you to equip otherwise unequippable gear, and alter level requirements on zones. And it will be perfectly tuned and balanced... right. I don't understand why they'd mess with all of this stuff. Is this to give beastlords and berserkers a "classic" experience? Or is this to increase difficulty? If they wanted to gate content, why not just leave mechanics alone and introduce unlock criteria like Combine had? That is, everything up to GoD is accessible starting from launch. To access higher level raids, previous tiers need to be cleared up through GoD. After GoD is beaten, start a 8 week timer to unlock the next tier of level 70. The biggest thing making me question playing on this server is always being 10 levels behind. That just doesn't sound fun in the long run. I haven't seen anything on live past level 85, and that's not because of an aversion to the number 86. Why would I want to see it 10 levels lower than originally intended?
People who will choose to play on this server are those looking for a challenge, not just people who want to see the content. It isn't about gating content, it's about gating player power. They want what is normally a faceroll to be somewhat difficult. That is, apparently, not your cup of tea. More power to you.
Well.. they mentioned dropping the level restrictions on some zones AND the resists on mobs. "To make these goals more attainable, many level restrictions will be relaxed on this server, allowing players to use items they normally could not and land spells on NPCs far above your level. Zone level restrictions will also be relaxed, but not removed." Enchanter/Cleric box won't even need gear. With Resists lowered + Charm along with being able to hit certain zones earlier - this combo will be an absolute killing machine.
In its current form I agree, those are the players that this server would appeal to. I also haven't ruled it out yet as there are some benefits to this server that appeal to me. If the goal is to increase challenge, this feels like a very convoluted way of doing it. The combination of the level cap with the changes to spell and gear mechanics feels like a klunky way of increasing difficulty, and ultimately feels like we won't get something that's tuned specifically to be more difficult by x%, instead we'll be getting some unknown/untested quantity. The actual effects of these changes are effectively a beefed up MotM (more melee mitigation, more spell mitigation), with a debuff to player MaxHP (something they could just as easily implement with an aura effect on raid mobs). But then negating part of that challenge with the increased chance to hit with spells? It just feels different based on how they're implementing it. It feels like it would be easier to tune through a spell effect than this convoluted mix of changes to mechanics. It doesn't feel well thought out. I'd also welcome a more challenging progression server. The early expansions feel pretty toothless. I just feel like it could be done in a more interesting way, adding spells or mechanics to the earlier bosses, things along those lines, without the artificial level caps and weird mechanics/gear changes.
Level difference is about as "cheap" a way of increasing real difficulty as can be expected I think, the changes this far cited are more about mechanical necessity than klunkiness. Loads of players have asked for a more difficult server but had asked not for things which would increase real difficulty but rather timesinks & tedium - some theorised that this was because it meant players with a lot more free time than most could then have a far larger advantage over them through time spent in game. Making content harder was something EQ did through complexity, more tools for both mobs & players meant there were more options open for both mistakes and successes, I feel that enrichment of the gameplay is missed by players who never go beyond PoP or is actively avoided by them because they do not enjoy that complexity & feel happiest in the tank & spank saloon of early EQ. This may be accurate, an over-simplification or completely off the mark, until we get to see for ourselves I am reserving judgement, what I know is this approach has not been tried before so it may throw up some surprises. What that does is radically alter what early EQ is like, not saying it isn't an interesting idea - I've suggested that same thing myself in the context of teh discussion about what "difficulty" versus "tedium" in EQ actually boils down to, but changing early EQ to make it far more like modern EQ does run the risk of changing what people like about that early-era too much - for many players the simplicity of early eq is very strongly connected to the favoritism it has. There is certainly room for class development to be improved, take Warriors as one good example, in early EQ their aggro tools are almost non-existant and inadequate for their job role, back-filling of their skill-set with lower level versions of some of the aggro tools they get later on would make the class actually capable of it's core function, doing that as one example does not alter EQ a whole lot but does improve Warriors being able to do what is expected of them as a tank, that's something which doesn't exacerbate power creep, it does however take a little away from Knight's having unassailable group tank superiority in early EQ, and that's probably not a bad thing.
They should take away level restrictions in raid zones or any zones. Be interesting to see if people can beat the raids while lvl 40.
They stated in the producers letter that they are going to be relaxing level restrictions across several aspects of the game including levels required for zones. While we don't know what level will be needed to zone into the planes it should be a safe assumption that a level 40 can do it because of the achievements they mentioned.
Classic start is on any TLP. Its nice to go experience the other low level zones while everyone else is low level too. Also, berserker is available while everyone else is low level as well! Seems like starting with making Drakkin available, TSS start, is too much, TSS was really giving for low levels as well. So I think GoD is a good start, opens up a lot more zones than the usual for very low levels which is awesome. To me for classics and time periods of EQ up to DoD is classic (EQ Titanium pack) PoR to VoA is some kind of period too RoF to now is in some period. When they start changing old zones up like PoR did to Freeport, its not classic anymore. Or when they make stories about time periods like SoD, it aint classic anymore. Or instances using older zones, it aint classic anymore. VoA had some vibe to it, like the same vibe with the other expansions its in period. RoF I felt a different approach to what they doing, still feel it all through to ToL. Same with DoD and before, it felt a way, then PoR came and started a different vibe.
Yeah I think Drakkin, doesn't feel like classic race too. So there is still classic vibe with this server. I wouldn't mind drakkins being available, not really excited if they are or not. But being able to play berserker, HECK YA. Especially when everyone is low level too. I don't care if they are terrible. At least I can play. More things open, so I can my real classic feel, the classic feel I felt. I can go to paludal caverns go do bandit camps! and other low levels probably going to be there too because that zone is classic. On the other TLPs time you get to that expansion, aint no low levels around, it doesn't have that vibe anymore. So I'm happy we starting with expansions up to GoD open. This is classic expansions open from what I remember. Sure wont be the same because the ruleset is not exactly like how it was back then though. If I die I'm pretty sure I spawn back with my gear and don't have to make corpse runs. If they turned off gear stays upon death/respawn AND if they turned off maps that would be classic. Anyone seen my corpse in PC? died somewhere in the lake. I didn't /loc before I died. If no gear stays with you upon death, it makes it pretty scary especially, ex. I died in kobolt pit in Velks, offering 100 plat if someone can bring it to safe spot and rez. "sorry to hear bro, the kobolds are lvl 50, tough, maybe for a krono I'll try" "I can summon your corpse I'm a necro!"
Thanks for the well thought out response. I agree with a lot of what you say. I don't really see how this server will be increasing difficulty any more than MotM does, but as you said we'll see what that ends up looking like. I think we see what constitutes actual difficulty in this game in a similar way. I'd argue that this server isn't really aimed at the tank & spank saloon players anyway with it starting with GoD unlocked, and that the level cap similarly alters the early eq experience as added mechanics would. I also don't think that cheap should be the goal when talking about how to deliver increased difficulty. EQ isn't running on fumes the way that some people think it is. Sure, it doesn't have WoW's budget, but it gets by enough to invest in a more engaging early expansion experience for those that want it. And with dual server releases every year, you don't have to force everyone into it. Are people really looking forward to running around Omens at 60? That just doesn't sound fun to me, while the challenge of OMM without the help of charm pets does actually sound fun. That's the disconnect for me on this server, and why the level cap just feels weird.
So the sleeper SHOULD be up for a long time right? Maybe if someone wakes it up, very interesting, I don't think people will be able to kill it. Looking forward to the server. Going to be fun seeing serious/hardcore raiders getting frustrated by sleeper. Think this server will frustrate a lot of hardcore/raiders. I'm liking this haha! Love seeing hardcore serious raiders get frustrated. I can already sense the drama, which makes the game fun!
as always the devil will be in the details. We will see as they talk more about it. xp rates, free trade <lets hope> true box <lets hope not> . What does relaxation of item/zone requirements mean exactly etc.
Be nice if they made Kerafyrm special. When you awake Kerafyrm it can goto any zone, highly common in PoK. If you die by Kerafyrm you lose your corpse no chance at summon/rez. All your gear gone and inventory gone. Camping is disallowed in zones with Kerafyrm Linkdeads remain until Kerafyrm leaves Cannot be killed while in buildings with door closed or under cover out of line of sight. So situation such as, "Kerafyrm is in PoK, everyone take cover!!!" "Please make room in the Main Bank, I don't wanna die!!!" "sorry can't fit anymore in here, go find somewhere else to hide" "10 weeks from now its going down"
A fun thing about Vaniki is that it will as challenging as players and their guilds want to make it. The death touch island bosses in PoS for example will be hard on level 40s, but maybe doable.
Really looking forward to playing on Vaniki. Sounds like an interesting change of pace and very happy to see a non-classic start. See y'all there!
