Changes with the February Update: Developer Updates

My biggest question is about how you intend to entice new people to play if you don't advertise.

As it stands, pretty much the only way people find out about EQ is from word-of-mouth from existing players.

It doesn't matter how many AA's you grant, or heroic characters offered for sale... without advertisement no one other than your LOYAL players will be the ones to spread the word.

Without looking back though 100+ pages on this thread alone.

Is Headshot still getting changed to totally destroy the ability to pull/tag lvl 99 summoning mobs on raids with archery.

Thanks, would like to know before the patch, and next billing date.

Just ran through Unveiling the Mystery, and spent probably 3/4 of the time in there being beat on by 5 mobs at a time... It's not uncommon at all for a solid tank to pull multiples, and not start to pop "oh crap" abilities until there are 6 mobs in camp. The proposed hit limits on these abilities is simply too low to not be a nerf for grouping or raiding, and is WAY out of scale for simply crushing swarming as a thing. (Also, it's utterly ridiculous to bother even adding hit counters to things like the Anguish breastplate clicky, which only heals about 10% of melee damage as I recall... that's just insulting)

i am good whit the nerf but free aa where we going realy that will kill eq big time

If Sony wants to sell lvl 85 characters with 4-5k AA, than there is nothing anyone can do to stop them.

OMG are u kiding me! dam that will be worse buy lv 85 take aa grind 100 i am born yesterday got 5k aa but dunno how to play my toon to funny

Headshot is being retuned so that each rank will allow headshots on NPCs 1 level below you. The restriction of humanoid is staying. For example a level 65 rank of the AA will allow headshots on 64 and under. Elidroth is adding three brand new ranks to the line. If you choose to not buy these three new ranks, you will be able to headshot on NPCs up to level 94 (the last rank we got was from Veil of Alaris and required level 95) and you will be able to pull level 95+ NPCs with your bow, to your heart's content.

So you can very well choose to not buy those three new ranks. Or you could choose to buy one or two of the new ranks (assumedly they will be level 96, 98 and 100 to purchase, and allow headshots on 95, 97 and 99 respectively). Them's the facts.

You don't have to do anything...no one is forcing you to do anything lol. Also there are many players that would disagree with you about level 85 toons being "high end" (be it a future Heroic Character, or any other player that gets to 85 and opts in to the grant). At best, 85 is mid-level these days...low end on the Heroic Adventure spectrum.
Players still ask questions if they earn AAs themselves. I do, and I've played EQ since early 2000. Lastly, if taking the time to ask a question is too "time consuming" for someone - whether its here on the forums, or general chat, or to ask a guildmate etc, this probably is not the game for that person. EQ is and always will be a timesink - that's sort of the point (EVERquest).

Thank you Piestro, Elidroth, Phrathun, Phathom, Langya, Ssixa & the other voices of reason who have posted here. The sky isn't falling & the world isn't going to end like so many of the people posting here seem to think. In fact I think that while a few people may nerd rage & quit most will come back & others are just saying it as a form of temper tantrum.

I think this will bring more players back to EQ & breathe new life into the game. With all the attention SOE is getting & all the people waxing nostalgic over EQ Next & Landmark, I think several of those players will come check out EQ & a percentage of those will stay, learn their class & the game mechanics & be an asset to the community of the server they are on & the guild they wind up joining.


We'll see in the upcoming weeks & months if I am guessing right or completely off but either way, most of these changes are good overall & will not kill the game any more than the last 15 years worth of changes has.

I do agree they need to focus a bit more on advertising & The Year Of EverQuest is a step in the right direction, please just be sure to emphasize EQ as well.

I'm starting to change my mind on the AA since you won't give ppl a non-box and non-merc server.

In theory giving people heroic char and AA would increase grouping......my guess is that is not what is going to happen

*boxers will abuse this...there will be many more boxers after this patch...get all AA, and buy a lvl 85 char....and you have your box after 2 seconds

*I don't believe this will increase newbee players, those same ppl returning to the game will not find groups because of mercs and boxed characters, in fact I think it will be worse after this patch, since many many ppl will box now

Bottom line is this... you all need more cash flow. We understand that. Why not target the crowd that is now outgrowing WoW? Those kids that loved WOW so much are getting older and less childish. I always viewed WoW as a dumbed down version of Everquest.

"You've played the kiddie games (WoWish background scene)...
"Are you mature enough to handle a real challenge?

***Everquest***

Give me longer and I'll think of more angles for you.

The death penalty of WoW is actually harsher than what is in EQ right now.

Most games also don't allow you to use mercenaries or campfires or box characters.

Half of EQ is running around in maxed out raid gear. What challenge?

Now we'll get lvl 85 decked our characters with all AA.

Yea it's funny, most discussions these days are about "what classes box together well" or "how many days/week does your super hardcore raid guild still actually spend on raids"...
but the same people still love to describe Eq as original, hard, not for n00b...lols.

The map pack I googled and downloaded was player made maps - And none of them as far as I could see had a copyright symbol on them

Out of curiosity, will Finishing Blow also be upgraded to Work on level 99 mobs ?

Last ranks came at VoA expansion.

Yes there is an AA (chaotic stab) that does make backstabs from the front possible. Usually pressing backstab from the front does result in a regular hit, with the AA you have a tiny chance to actually achieve a backstab. I don't know the exact probability for chaotic stab to trigger (it is very low) but it takes minutes to achieve a single backstab - which then is calculated against the chance to fire an assassination. If the chance to assassinate would be like 1 in 5 backstabs (based on the idea to get ~ 2 per minutes from the rear arc) we are talking about achieving an assassination once in like 20 minutes. Now one of those does not kill a mob, atm we need like 3 assassinations to kill a lvl88 mob. So after about an hour we have killed the mob with mighty assassination (of course only if it is a test dummy that does not hit back and not counting our low front arc damage.)

Mitsune, Vazaelle

See, now you are twisting my words. Ssixa

I support these changes.

PLing has really damaged the spirit of Everquest and I'm glad to see it go away or at least be greatly hindered.

As a guy that has 11k AA, I welcome more toons with higher AA and thus more capability to group and contribute with me. I don't feel that it takes anything away from me. People become too attached to their toons. They need to realize that fresh blood, more grouping and more people sticking around is in the best interests of everybody.

Devs, stand fast. Don't be bullied. Don't be swayed by threats. Do what your internal data and what feedback tells you is the right thing to do. There are a lot of silent players that support your actions.

My post was not suppose to rant against rangers. I just wanted to point out the possibilities the upgrad to lvl-1 will give to the different classes. What I wrote will also apply to mobs lvl-5 and even lower. With my T5 healer I can probably tank a single mob lvl-8 but no higher (which I might do if my assassination would trigger in a useful way in the front arc, which it won't). So for rogues the skill is useless in a solo setting, we have no choice here. Rangers still can use HS in some way to solo after the change, if they want or not is their choice.

Mitsune, Vazaelle

I could not have said it better myself. Though, there is not real way to give a No boxing server. Short of paying a GM to monitor the server, and oh I don't know BE a GM, and ban people for boxing.

I have sat reading both threads now on the forums, before choosing to speak. But Oranges, ya made me say something.
You must admit, that yes this AA grant is a giant slap in the face to old veteran players that worked for their AA's the hard way, as the will most likely be receiving no sort of "reward" for them.
New players and returning players will see this as a huge bonus, as they can be relatively close to a "End gamer" with in a very short amount of time. Yes, there will be lots of "Suzy 7 year old's" that want to try to raid with mommy or daddy, but, if they handle themselves, we should never really even know what there age is in the first place. Will we be able to tell how old they are? Probably not. Will you be able to tell if they know what they are doing with their toons. Most likely. That is where being in a guild comes into play. Most of the time it happens like this..

Soandso tells the guild: Hey guys, Suzyseven is REALLY bad.
Jonnydog tells the guild: Thanks for the info.

Now Suzyseven has been blacklisted, from that guild, and word of mouth will spread that they are bad. They will do 1 of 2 things. 1) Change, learn their class, learn to play, learn to be part of a team, learn co-operation, learn tactics, and prove worth in front of others. Or 2) They quit. Either way, it is win win. So short of not getting a reward, I don't see a reason to quit over SoE giving away some AA's. The difficulty and challenge are both their in high end game content. Not to say it isn't there in the low game (It is), but it is not for everybody. I think it is great if a guild get together, and says hey guys, lets go back a re roll toons and go do a old raid, maybe we can use it as a recruitment thing. If anything the AA grant will make that more possible. Times are changing, and new Era's are coming in, look, Dubstep ain't for everyone, but it doesn't appear to be going anywhere. Suzyseven is here, and she is not going anywhere. I don't see what all the fuss is about, I am sure some end game raiders threatened to quit when they introduced defiant gear and it gave a level 10 stats like that of a raided out max level (Ya'll done forgat 'baut 'dat now didn't ya), if anything it will bring some fresh new faces into the game, they might be pretty faces. xD

The real problem here, IS boxing and Mercenary's. Ok I get it
"Mercenaries saved the game.. They were some one to group with.."
"There has always been boxing Manr ever since '99.. Stop trolling Manr"

Let me break this down for ya. Ok yeah there might have been boxing back in the day, but, do you know how complicated that was to set up? Most of the time it accualy ment useing 2 or 3 DIFFERENT Pc's to box with. Not to mention, but you payed for it. Specially in '99, like 2 or 3 phone lines, membership to the game, Pc's, it was expensive, again something that was not the "normal" thing to do. So, later, the population dropped, and they added mercenaries. Great! A solution for the person, that dosen't have a crap load of money to spend on boxing. No they have some help in the low levels, and sure, if they want to stand somewhere and let it rack up kills for them they can, they might die, it might die, Run out of plat and it walks off, there are a lot of variables there. That was not the problem. Don't get me wrong the merc's are great. A little low on the AI some times, but still ok none the less.
The game went Free2Play. THIS was the problem. At this point, 1 of 2 things should have happened, to reinforce the idea of community helpping one another out. 1) Mercenaries should have been removed entirely, anticipating and influx of new people to the game, thus fresh face, people grouping at low levels, or high levels coming back and doing what they should to teach the new players how to be better at what they do. Or 2) Mercenaries should be limited in such a way that you couldn't have them out for more then say 15m in 1, 24h period, OR you likely wouldn't WANT to have them out for more then 15m unless you were really rich, like would have been able to 3 box in '99.
It is not hard for a new player to come to this game now, and get to high level and get 1,000's of AA's pretty fast. It IS rather intimidating when they feel like they have to do it all on their own. Because no one will give them the opportunity, to prove their worth and make a name for themselves, because, everyone relies on the mercenaries to get things done as fast and as efficiently as possible.

I heard some one mention about coming to the forums to get answers on AA's once you have been granted them. That is an good idea. Because things move slower here, then in Game. People have lost the way of this game, being there to make bonds, and friendships, about interacting with other people, having to depend on some one being there.
You can tell me all day long, "Manr, I only have 2-3 hours a day to play I can't sit there LFGing for 1-2 of it." You wouldn't have to if people were dependent on other people to make up the roles in a group. You can say "But Manr I have a wife and a job, and a life, and kids, and a car, and six buckets of hobknob cheery toe.." Maybe, just maybe, if you have all that craziness going on for you, maybe MMO's are not for you. Maybe you should look elsewhere for a quick fix of a hobby. "Oh but I am a returning player and I loved this game! Don't ruin it for me Manr!" So am I, so why are you ruining it for me, pushing boxing on everyone, just so they can get on "your level" so you can not group with them anyway?
Let me make a suggestion. Mention to your son or daughter, about this game. Tell them about the fun you had, in "the old days", tell them that it is a hard game, and not to get discouraged, that one day they will make it to greatness, help them along the way, it could even be a bonding thing for you as a parent. Then you continue in the game vicariously threw them. Or maybe they aren't into games, that is fine, in that case, play yourself, but know your own life, know how to budget your time, know that you will be a "casual" at the game, that it will take you significantly longer to achieve greatness. But with some friends you will make it. You do not NEED to box.
Face it, the longer the mercenaries stay around allowing people to box easily and AFK level the faster the game will die for sure, and even more so after this "Grant"

I'll just leave that there for you all to mull over. Have a good night!


~The Limitless Manr Machinia the Wolf~
Vox Server.

I have an issue with the changes, from a "player" perspective.

I play this game to level with my friends, join a guild make friends do group stuff and have fun. One of the "fun" things I like to do is have a sense of achievement about being level 80 (last month) getting my first 500 aa's (about 6 months ago) and now I'm somewhere around 1600aa's and looking to take myself to 85.

All of a sudden I can click a button and be 85 with 4000aa's... so what is the point in the game?

The game USED to be a "sandbox" if you will, an open-ended game where you were free to do what you wanted. Players grouped together because some things were harder than others. Now, even the tutorial DISCOURAGES grouping by having one of the tasks to hire a mercenary!

Noone in the tutorial even considers that the killing of 5 grunts would be faster for everyone if 6 people at a time "grouped up".

Why bother having the mid-low levels at all if you are going to give gold accounts all the aas? Just start everybody at 85.... tell you what! why not completely delete all content below level 80, save server space recode 85 to be 1 and start the whole sequence of expansions again?

This has completely discouraged me, more than the nerf to swarming (which was needed) more than content that is broken or inefficiently written, the executives at Sony have basically taken the stance that all that matters is the almighty dollar.

A very famous philosopher once said "It is not the destination which is important but the journey" (I paraphrase) what SoE have managed to do here is completely delete the journey. I know I'm in the minority here but I think that this is sad and probably a sad end for the game.

Personally I signed up for EQN beta... it looked interesting, now I'm not fussed in the slightest about Everquest.