What would your suggestion to make EQ greet again!

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Burdi, May 15, 2022.

  1. Benito EQ player since 2001.


    1. JChan purportedly plays on a live server. Some know the name of the server (based on Azaliil's Twitch) but I won't name it to respect her privacy.

    2. Niente has streamed for charity and has said she was an EQ player.

    3. Many veteran devs profiled and interviewed by the community managers have stated that they started as Guides or GMs on EQ and are EQ players. Azaliil's Twitch interviews also confirm this (player to dev) career path.

    4. We have seen all devs display fairly deep knowledge of the game. How do you write this, for instance, by not knowing and playing the game? https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/ac-vs-acv2.210028/#post-3078126
    Chikkin and Skuz like this.
  2. Iven Antonius Bayle

    While I think that stroking digital animals will get boring pretty fast it could help the inspiration if the EQ devs would play some old Amiga and DOS RPGs like Ultima VI, VII, IX, Bard's Tale I-III, Pools of Radiance, Might and Magic 3-5, Wizardry 6-8, Menzoberranzan, Ishar I-III, Realms of Arkania I, II, III, Eye of the Beholder, Dungeon Hack, Magic Candle, Amberstar and Ambermoon. Those games have very bad graphics for today but their devs were often able to create intense fantasy atmospheres also with the help of great midi tracks, environment sounds, UI elements and cutscences, which I do miss in about all EQ expansions. Early EQ was inspired by those games but it somehow lost its track and headed into a completely different direction.

    Especially Ultima IX Ascension is interesting as it has a similar graphic quality as original EQ and was released just a half year later. Feel free to take a look on those retro games at YouTube and mobygames.com.

    Make Norrath green again !
  3. Coardan Elder

    Recently started playing again

    UI overhaul will be great, nice to see it on the roadmap, better interactions, would be nice to click to cast on mobs in the extended target window etc

    mouse wheel scrolled out camera, change the focus point to look more forward rather that at the character.

    Engine performance issues, going past a big pile of players feels the same as it does back in 2005

    Reduce the number of buttons, a way to filter AA to find activatable, consolidate all the dungeon / adventure systems into one framework

    Spells up to the current expansions should be auto learned

    for returning players
    look at the balance of mobs damage / kill rate through the Hero's Journey and quest xp, also wish all the quest text was in the quest dialog, would let me accept then read it, especially with branching text chains

    Be able to get Franklin Teek missions without going to PoK

    Some updated animations on models would a nice to have.
    Chikkin likes this.
  4. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    First off you have no evidence that they don't play and your examples don't make sense at all. Trying to compare playing a game which can require a significant amount of time to ordering a meal through a delivery service? Or playing a game to the common act of eating a meal?

    Expecting a employee to put a significant amount of time into your product in their off hours is going keep the best talent from wanting to work for you. And even if they play that doesn't mean they are going to experience all of the game or the areas that you want them to. Remember the industry has changed since the 2000's and what is expected of developers is different. I personally hope more of the respect the developers enough to not require them to do work related things outside of work hours.
    Chikkin likes this.
  5. Wyre Wintermute I'm just a butterly dreaming I'm a man

    I don't see it as contradicting.

    I didn't impose anything affecting raids and dwish didn't impose anything affecting grouping/casual play.

    I like long drawn out quests like the shawl/ring/epics, etc..

    I specifically was pointing out locking zones (not raid content, just base zones) behind progression walls. It divides the community. Player A doesn't want to keep completing the same tasks/missions so that player's B,C,D,E,F,G,etc.. can get access to the T3 zone that Player A wants to log in to play in. It burns people out.

    If they want to lock a zone, keep it more simple, like Old Seb or Howling Stones. MOST expansions are not locked behind progression, but some are (UF, HoT, TDS to name a few). The base zones should be accessible to not drive an additional wedge between players.

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    I didn't mention raids, because I felt that's more of a given. My only contention with raids is when you have to fight events sequentially. It would be much more friendly to have them unlock in processional order, but allow the raid to select the event they wish to engage (after it has been been unlocked).

    So instead of only being able to raid event 1, because event 2 requires specific class/group make-ups and those guild members are away for the week. I could pick event 1, then event 3,4,5 and 7 individually, skipping the events that aren't feasible with the available payers.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I also didn't mention raids, because I was thinking much more along the lines of gaining and retaining new players. Thus, much of my post is QoL changes and reducing non-raid instancing (so players actually have to interact in the game world).

    When pick zones were added, I just remember how enthused TLP's were.. Then, as expansions progressed, the complaints started rolling in about box/bot groups monopolizing multiple picks. Come to the TLP forums and players screaming about different changes, various QoL ideas, how this or that patch ruins immersion/nostalgia. But... no one seems to want the nostalgia of sitting in que in HHK for the next spot to open in a goblin ears group. People clamoring for instant gratification.. and forgetting that those stupid downtimes were what built the friendships and relationships that help EQ's magic for so long.
  6. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore


    What evidence do you have that someone without a red name is not a Dev? ;) After all EQ is a game about alternate reality and while I doubt the Devs have time to play on the forums you really don't know for sure.

    You have never played on Beta? The Devs are always on there interacting with other players.

    Many of the devs have mentioned which servers they play on, guess you missed it
    Chikkin and Nennius like this.
  7. Wyre Wintermute I'm just a butterly dreaming I'm a man

    Oh lawd no:



  8. Barraind Grumpy Old Bastage

    They were all (almost all, maybe) active on live through the gates era, and Sony itself had a number of execs with oversight on the franchise playing well beyond that.



    What to do to make things feel better?

    A return to earlier design philosophies. TBM/RoS era if not more wayback. I think that marks more or less the end of the previous significant era in EQ design philosophy, with the current era starting in TBL.

    Its a bit jarring when people in charge of design are on the record saying they have no idea where the concept of tradable items existing in large scale has a place in MMO's. I do. It was the over-arching design philosophy of this game I played once called Everquest, where only a very small number of items couldnt be traded. .
  9. Juzam_Djinn Elder

    Game def could use some UI updating. Trying to read some windows like the AA window is absolutely painful at 1440p, I couldn't imagine playing on a 4k monitor that wasn't also TV sized.
    Chikkin and Stymie like this.
  10. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    I utterly despise level scaling in WoW, it's a perma grind. It robs the improvement of character feel from players. This level 60 boss took the same time to kill as a level 1 Iron dwarf.

    My >favorite< part of Everquest is creeping into a zone, barely getting away with killing, and hours, even days or weeks later, utterly OWNING the content.

    If EQ loses that, I'm gone.

    Everquest would suck if every mob was a blue con all day every day.
    Chikkin and Stymie like this.
  11. MacDubh TABLES!!!

    There would be nothing lost, there is still 23 years of content. This is just a suggestion for a low effort catchup mechanic for returning players.
  12. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Corwyhn Lionheart and Metanis like this.
  13. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    this is also dev work intensive as they's have to produce 9 different versions of each item and test the stat scaling of all those items.

    and 23 years of content all vs blue cons would suck.

    Scaling ruins the feeling of gained power vs once feared adversaries. Scaling means the mobs just keep getting more difficult as you become stronger so it's alllllways the sammmme.

    I rather like that I can take an 85 SK and a level 56 guildie some place and catch them up. This doesn't work in scaled content either as the once light blue con mobs are all now just as hard as they were at level 70.

    Scroll back and see what headaches there have been with Heroic Adventure tuning and retuning and cries for retuning to happen properly in new TLPs.

    Scaling sucks and sucks the life out of the game and dev time.


    Low effort? More effort than developing new content to devlop 9 scaled version of the same content.
  14. Wyre Wintermute I'm just a butterly dreaming I'm a man

    The problem is not with the difficulty/scaling of those missions.

    The problem is the missions themselves.

    This push where most/best XP comes from repeating missions has just progressively destroyed the essence of EQ.
    Metanis and Joules_Bianchi like this.
  15. MacDubh TABLES!!!

    The beauty of EQ is it is big and old and there are lots of ways to enjoy. We all have opinions on how to enjoy it and one thing I have learned from these forums is almost no one can agree. You don't like my suggestion and that is fine. No good speculating on what is and isn't a good use of dev time however.
  16. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    FTFY ;P

    1 is 1, 9 versions of 1 is 9.
  17. nazgull2k1 Elder

  18. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    How long it takes to kill something is not a good way to judge how fun something is, and in fact a bunch of EQ raids would be more enjoyable if they didn't take so long to complete.
    Barraind likes this.
  19. MacDubh TABLES!!!

    I just need to point this out to you before I leave this pointless back and fourth.

    My original post:
    You:
    No where did I state or imply that 9 is equal to or less than 1. I have no idea where you pulled that from but kudos on insulting my intelligence because you didn't like my idea.
  20. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    No, you insist the devloping scaled content is the easy way out.

    it is mathematically harder.