EverQuest Producer’s Letter April 2023

Test is like 95 : 5 :: Seeing if the server dies when things get changed : actual testing.

Test has roughly a week between getting a patch and it going live, and due to when they patch test and how active the population is for a day or two, theres usually very little testing. The anniversary testing is one of the few times we have a lead time of longer than a week on test, and, to the shock of nobody, we tend to get a lot more good testing done.

Yep, so that way I can just leave my cleric outside the group once he’s leveled up and set up targets on extended target window.

It will be nice not having to worry about getting aggro anymore on the cleric and if the group wipes I’m guessing as long as you’re not fighting at the spawn spot you’d be safe and sound.

You could actually keep a monk FD flopping to hold the lock too so even if you wiped you could res them back and have them keep it on lockdown to try again.

Plus it sounds like depending on how locks are triggered there’s going to be some serious exploits to the existing pull mechanics.

Also no more faction tagging mobs.

And if it doesn’t work where the people outside of the lock can get aggro, then I expect situations where you can even unintentionally drop a mob on people that’s unkillable and not CCable to them.

There’s not many mechanics they can do without breaking something unless they let you cast and damage mobs per normal and just loot lock it to the first to deal damage which seems a better implementation.

Something that also needs to be asked is

why? oh gods, why?

I thought we learned the lesson of pacing same-level content better (read: not waiting 3 months) 4 or 5 tlp's ago.

So people will just be using instant spells or instant click wands from Fear/Hate to tag mobs now instead of Ebolt Necros I guess? Also, for mobs like Quillimane shooting a bow while racing to it from over 300 meters away =P.

And then let's not forget making invincible mobs rampage around zones from FD classes since its invulnerability for a time after aggro drop. So a FD class can aggro a nasty NPC then FD to have it wander around and aggro random nearby players and then just stand back up to still be on its aggro table and be locked to them. However, since the player likely healed or played bard song it will be stuck on them/group vs the FD player who stood up. Now those players can't damage the mob beating on them and have no choice, but to die or zone.

Can imagine someone training a giant or other high level npc to EC tunnel, FD to let mob aggro someone near by then stand up and watch as it attacks people who cant attack it back. lol

Extremely well said. Having played with Velzira I know he not only speaks from his heart but also speaks from a place of experience. Please hear this, and work with your player base. We're not your enemies, no you ours. We all want a better Norrath which is why people are so passionate.

I love this rule set. It seems like a new fun way to play and I like the idea of getting bonuses to play more characters on my account. I also support the FTE idea. I think it will have some issues, but some tweaking it and enforcement against griefers will quickly make it a great system.

Won't matter since the server will be dead on launch. Have you seen the community response. This server will not succeed unless the Devs stop and take time to listen to all of us here.

I guess I'll have lots of zones to xp in, then, without having to worry as much about overpopulation. And after a year if I don't like it, I can look to see if I like the new TLP better. Or if I don't like it after a month or two, I can play on Mischief of a live server. I'm feeling good about it.

Seems like making more loot nodrop and heirloom would be in line with the new server ideas.

FTE appears to bring out the worst in the current EQ Community - perhaps it was there in early EQ, but these forum responses already makes it seem like this will be a nightmare.

Safe to assume there is plenty of (unknown) context regarding FTE aside from it being the last minute add on, 2 mins prior to the posting. Looking forward to the implementation of it.

Great rule set. Looking forward to see how it works out with the mature EQ TLP player base!

You have got to be joking right? This is the rule set you decided on? You absolutely cant have anyone in your focus groups/dev tables/think tank that has ever played a TLP or even EQ if you think this is what people wanted!!
Like these are a worthless combination of bad ideas...
1) all these new things combined in one server... 15 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag is what it feels like. As if you realized it was time to come out with a rule set and just throw darts at the "meh ideas board"
2) The rotating and compounding bonus thing seems jumbled and weird... so you have to always keep a character at max level to constantly feel the fruits of your labor? What about the casual players... you are penalizing them in this weird "neckbeard to win" server? why not have them be random bonus for everyone once a week or month? or do a daily quest to change the bonus? hell i dunno anything but this!
3) tagging mobs LOL come on dudes... this could not have been the idea that got the most yes votes... come the heck on... GG epic fights GG getting mobs stolen by bots GG pandering to training be 100% on now.

Can you guys even fathom what server rule sets LOST to this garbage? Got i cant even imagine how bad they must have been for this to be the outcome of their discussions.

Maybe Blizzard bought out DBG so the rules would be so bad so everyone would play Diablo 4 lol

Then enjoy it, but the rest are already with reality here.

The thing that you are missing is this is something they are testing to put into live on the TLP aka that means it will be there on every TLP moving forward.... so if people hate it now. They are going to lose their TLP player base. Probably wont have many TLPs after this is a permanent feature.

Exactly. A ruleset is pointless if it doesn't drive the consumer base, and this rule set alienates the majority

Warning, this may be a TLDR, but I implore you please consider the following implications to the new TLP server rules announced by DPG.

The XP bonuses for having a max level character on the same account and the "evolving" server changes for each expansion is neat and all and shows that DPG is looking out for the players who are looking for a more long term experience on the server, and I think that is fine and all. But the real game changer with Oakwynd will be this new Encounter Locking rule, or as its being called First to Engage "FTE" system.

There seams to be two sides of the fence on this. Some people who are excited to see something new, and others who see the change as a train wreck waiting to happen.


Regardless of what side of the fence you sit on, here are a few of the things that we can expect to see.

• Zone Line trains will no longer exists. furthermore NPCs that are lead to zone lines should no longer cluster up together waiting to aggro onto any new player entering the zone.
• Training another player/group should in theory no longer be possible.
• Many methods previously used for large scale power leveling will no longer be possible.
• Helping random players about to die will be restricted to mainly priest type classes.

However there are many things that will not change, some methods may change but the over all goal of the task will not.

• DPS races will change to FTE races. Remember that KS'ing may be a social taboo, but is not a rule or action that DPG recognizes, so the new encounter locking is not going to change this. The only real changes here will be who is faster to react, instead of who can deal out to most damage. In the current rules if you can't out DPS someone, you can always bring stronger friends. But in the new rule, you bring FASTER friends, or get you some insta cast clickies.
• Krono farmers will still camp spawns of valuable items, we will just see different methods on how its done.
• Power Leveling will still be possible (but slower), the next point bellow explains why.
• Out of group healing/buffing will still be possible because these beneficial spells lands on the player not the NPC. Lowbies can still be helped, but only by use of healing/buffs
• Mesmerize/charm type spells will cause the NPC to be engaged to the player/group that cast the spell.

The real questions we should be asking are.

What is considered FTE?
Does this mean it has to be tagged using a negative spell/attack? Or can proxy aggro also cause an NPC to be engaged? What about non damaging/negative effect spells like lull or Harmony will they flag the NPC to be engaged?

What happens to negative buffs/DoT's affecting an NPC after aggro is dropped from either zoning/wiping.

What is a NPC's "Home"
This may sound simple but is actually ambiguous. Is the Home the location the NPC was at when engagement was initiated? Or is it the NPC's spawn location? Or is it where the NPC would have been had it not be engaged? Depending on the answer this could be used to exploit spawn mechanics and grief other players.

How will feign death affect an NPC that is not aggroed on to any other group members?
Will the NPC drop aggro and run back to its "home" and reset? Will the NPC's aggro be directed to a different group member upon the skill/spell success? Will the mob remain engaged to the caster, and if so for how long? Either way this can potentially be a huge dynamic change for monks inparticular

How will this affect NPCs that are in social pulls.

Now lets talk about how this could change the the dark side of player social behavior in MMORPGS, because trolls are going to troll, cheaters are going to cheat, and toxic game play will always be toxic.
Here are the Red Flags. (please note that most of these are regarding Open World targets, and should not impact AoC locked zones)

Locking down important named/rare NPC's and or their place holders. Where this is already an issue, its now going to be a lot easier for toxic players to pull it off. This goes for both loot mobs, as well as quest mobs.

Selling "Kill rights" Just as we see players selling loot rights, we are going to start seeing Kill rights as well. We already have an issue with this toxic play style when it comes to mobs like the Ancient Cyclops (Ring of the Ancients) Pained soul (VP Key) Lord Gimblox and Lord Bergurgle (Cleric Epic 1.0) The list goes on.

Entire Zone lock downs. (mainly bards) running around the zone aggroing every NPC and running in circles forever. Again this is already possible, but the encounter lock rules can make this even worse. Yes this is act violates the rules and if caught the offender may get a slap on the wrist along with a short suspension but this does nothing for the players who simply wanting to progress. I believe we will see an increase of this behavior due to the new encounter lock rules

Cheaters using ESP and teleporting software. Ask any EQ veteran player and they know exactly what I'm talking about. Where most of us know what cheat software I'm referring to, the one that must not be named, The new encounter locking will bring all new uses for this software and I believe it will increase the amount of times we see it showing its ugly little head. The cheater will zone in, ESP a named mob, teleport to it, and lock it down. Even though everyone knows using this software is breaking the rules, and can result in a week long ban, the potential gains one can get by using this cheat will only make cheating even more beguiling, and easier to pull off.

What about "cheesing" the game? I'm talking about exploits that are not toxic to other players, but instead make some content or encounters a lot easier by using the new encounter locking mechanic. I know many of these already happen, but the changes will make it a lot easier "Cheese". I'm going to call this Yellow Flags. Some may argue that these are just quality of life perks that come with the new rules, others may say that these challenges and are what give EQ its charm. Up to you what side of the fence you sit on these. Again that these are regarding Open World, and should not impact AoC locked zones)

Bypassing trash clears. Zoning in to a dungeon and having a monk/bard aggroing every NPC on the way to a specific "camp" then zoning or FD and resetting the mobs allowing the rest of the party get to the camp spot with little to no issue. Where this one isn't anything new, toxic or game breaking, the new rule set could potentially make this easier for groups/raids to pull off depending on how the engagement lock works. You may say something like, can't we already do this with Invisibility/IVU? Yes but with invis and IVU you run the risk of having the spell drop and getting stuck between two npc groups or worse, in the middle of a NPC group and pulling aggro.

Out of group healers and summoned mechanics. Out of Group or "OOG" healing is already possible but with the new rules, this potentially can be easier for healers if they can not be summoned for not being part of the locked group/raid. And what If the raid is going to wipe, no worries about camping a cleric anymore if the cleric is OOG? again is this QoL or a fun challenge? either way it sounds like this may be going away now.

Free trade poops all over Mischief. Where do you think all the guildleaders who are NOT posting their guilds in the TLP recruitment threads ARE playing??

That would have them competing against their own interests half way through a TLPs progression.

You mean if it doesn’t work then they won’t implement it.

I will. Thanks for the warm wishes. And if I don’t enjoy it, I’ll play on TLP ‘24 or on Mischief. I’m looking forward to it all.

The devs have never had an issue releasing a server even if they knew it would take most of the population before, why would they now?

It sounds like the poster you quoted (and I) hope they don't implement it, whether or not it does work. Because it is bad and unwanted.