I've been playing EQ on and off since Kunark and I have been very critical of the direction of EQ over the past several years. I've hated how grinding mobs was murdered and replaced by questing and how the barrier to entry for new expansions has been less then friendly. However, I have to give credit where credit is do. I decided to give EQ one last chance over Christmas break. I purchased two expansions and subscriptions and I was pleasantly surprised. Here is what I liked. Approachability, grouping and experience. I give this an A+. LI as an example is full of players and starting a group hasn't been this good in over ten years. Every day, with a lvl 115 Beastlord, i was able to put together a group in minutes. Not only are there groups a plenty, but the level ranges are much larger then any expansion in several years. I went from 115 to nearly 118 just grouping and doing the repeatable quest in LI. Has a classic EQ feel ( this is huge, but i have one easy suggestion). Because the incentive and enjoyment of grouping, gaining normal grinding exp in this expansion is so high, there is a classic feel to it which hasn't been captured again in well over 10 years. Thank-you! Additionally the zones themselves have a classic immersive feel. I'll give a simple example that might be easily overlooked. One huge component that Classic EQ nailed was environmental sounds and music. As an example, there wasn't just endless looping music in the zones. That's not only annoying but murders any feel of being immersed. Music should be reserved for cities and to reveal something. LI nails this (almost). When your in the open world fighting, your just fighting, no music. However, when you move to the Inn, the music starts and its great because its appropriate for that setting. Go back outside and music ends. This is very important. WELL DONE. However, you missed the opportunity fully. Consider misty thicket or any classic outdoor zones. What do you hear? You hear the animals, insects, hooting owls. This creates immersion. When you go inside Rivervalle, the music starts. Perfectly appropriate. I would love the environmental sounds to be added to these outdoor areas to increase immersion.This is the only thing missing from that full immersion. BUT THANK YOU for not looping music over an outdoor zone. In closing, thank you. This feels like EQ again. It's enjoyable again. I feel like I make progress when I play, even if its only for 30 minutes. I want to group again. You nailed it. Please continue on this path.
So far I like LS. Getting tired of doing missions trying for the neck/weapon drops. Wish there were 4x missions instead of 2x but ... So far I like LS more than I hate it. Nice post Hein.
Except for the utter lack of missions. Dont take positive feedback as an excuse to drop from 4 missions to 2 missions.
LS is overall very well done. It could be one of my favorite expacs I've played through since House of Thule. (Some Ranger bias there, as the class was fire in HoT, SoD & SoF.) Were it not for the randomness and inability to farm trade skill gear pieces, it would jump the queue. This is the worst itemization choice since original type 18/19 augs in TBL. No one liked slot specific drops and random named drops last year and you decided to repeat it again and I will crush EQ on it every chance I get. It's terrible everything, please move of from it. The acquisition of the evolving item is pretty awful, too - ironically similar to TBL nonsense.
Change the zone names...it's NoS. Change them again...it's ToL. They are literally putting out the same expansion year after year...they just change the names. There's nothing new...nothing different...nothing innovative. It's the next expansion off the assembly line.
It's a chocolate chip cookie. It doesn't have to be innovative or new. It's got its niche, and just keep delivering that same familiar experience.
What I like: - The lore is new. - The zones are new. - Feels nice to have new areas that aren't all "dark" or "ice" - Mission currency is high enough to knock out type 5's fairly quickly. What I dislike: - Low drop rate on slot specific best in slot gear. - Very low drop rate on the best in slot chase neck. - Only having two missions. What I would love to see added: - Add TS slot specific drops to the group coin vendor for a reasonable price. - Increase neck drop rate and/or add to vendor, or make it a reward for doing a quest. - Mid year content like GMM.
The expansion is refreshing. I bought it on 6 accounts. There can be improvements (i.e. mid-year expansion update) but I like the variety and change. They may have drawn lots of ideas from the pinned lore feedback thread.
I feel it's the first expansion in awhile that respects my time as a player. I remember logging in to play with friends during Terror of Luclin and doing a lesson burn and walking away with 30-50 aa. It felt really bad, because I had aa focus that cost over 100 aa. Now, I log in, grab a quest and get 30-40 aa in like 15 minutes without lesson; don't even really need a group, I can just kite if I want to. With a group, it's even faster and more fun. After a few lesson burns in ToL, I just logged off and only logged on when I raided and just went without buying a lot of aa because it was just so grindy. With Laurion's Song, I went ahead and bought the expac for my box character and have been having fun leveling up that character as well.
I'll add to this - Like - Exp added back to mercenry tasks Dislike - Ores per slot rather than 1 universal ore Other - Jury is still out on 2 missions. IF we have as it looks more missions and HAs through the year for the anniversary I can forgive only 2 missions for LS.
This is the first expansion that launched without a dungeon zone? As a raging alcoholic my memory gets fuzzy. I guess it's fitting for expansion that has been entirely dedicated to casuals and boxers. What I find puzzling with these "recent" releases is that majority of people in the zones have raid guild tags, yet 7 out of 7 zones are not designed for them. Groupers, the smallest of the three demographics (raiders/groupers/casuals) have monopoly on the game. Result? Yet another expansion that three months after launch will be a ghost town with barely any people in the zones.
its ok, but my god do i hate Heros are Forged. its not hard, its just bad. from start to finish the entire mission is more built to be irritating then difficult. it 100% works agenst the mechanics of EQ. its like 10 levels of bad. very unfun. just built bad. pathing, the mechanics of it, the mobs you fight. not a single second of Heros are forged is enjoyable.
Seconded. Play a Warrior? Ugh, ok... ... with 1 melee DPS? Annoying ... more than one melee DPS? Very annoying ... while boxing the group yourself? EXTREMELY annoying ... in < level 125 group gear? Borderline impossible Literally E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G about this mission is awful if you play melee. I can't think of a single aspect of this mission that makes being a melee a good idea. I'm honestly surprised each mob doesn't have a 10,000pt undispellable DS. It's like the designers task was design the worst mission in the world in 5 minutes. Controversial opinion maybe, but I don't think missions should be hard. I think the achievements should be. Especially if they're a core component of XP.
I really like the expansion so far. There is one glaring stinkhole that I hate. Everyone who leaves their characters logged in now sits in LI and the minute you log in your mercs go poof. They sit in the hallways directly in front of doors and block the way. Fires in front of every door. Instead of poofing the mercs get rid of the homeless bums. There has been one SK fd at the zone in on BB the whole Christmas break. I expect to see gnomes wandering around doing the Methadone shuffle soon enough! Other than that great job (well except for all the scenery in Pal that hides nasty suprises and those bug swarms.
Hollowshade War. Granted, it's triggered as opposed to timed, but it's literally the same thing. You have to "flip" the zone to get certain named.
Your comment made me realize something. I always have my merc up. I log in/out in PoK, and make the occasional run through the GL. In all those times in PoK and GL, my merc never goes poof. So, obviously, they can handle lots of players AND THEIR MERCS in a zone. Just get rid of the stupid merc suspension mechanic, it's not needed.
I agree that only two missions is not good. However, it appears the upcoming Anniversary Tower arriving on January 17, 2024 may make up for this. We will see how it works out. We also don't know if the Anniversary Tower is for a limited time only or, hopefully, will always be around. Most of the posts in this thread are spot on. For me, the terrible framerate in Laurion Inn when facing the Inn (or in the Inn) really makes me not want to play in that zone.
not controversial. The only people who disagree are raiders who waltz through it cause even broken group content is easy in raid gear.
