Epic 3.0

I am still waiting for someone to tell me why everything has to be so balanced in the game. So what if one class can do something your class can't or can do something better or can do more damage in x time then you can. I can still remember a time when for casters after bout a 4 or 5 min boss fight on a raid mag/wiz would be getting close to oom and have to watch there mana while necros would still be going strong. Now with mana regen levels/mod rods/etc they can go for about as long. when you can take a type of class (tank/healer/dps) and be able to switch any of the class in those types in and out and have little change thats not right. If you change out one dps caster for another there should be a major change to the way a group fights. The same with changing out your healer or tank.

As for epics. while i would love to see some quest like the old epics. I can understand the undertaking that it take to make a new epic quest for each class.

Dont hold your breath when asking for epic 3.0 or any new class specific item you will get same results as many of us get every year.They will say they dont have the man power to invest into such quest or items for certain classes.

I've asked for last 2 years for them to Put the Rogue components like Privit,Delphinium,Muscimol,Nigriventer Venom,Gormar Venom on the poison vendors like they started to when they started the new poison system in SoD instead of having them as a globe drop.Every year the stuff is getting harder and harder to find or doesnt drop as much or it just straight annoying to anyone non Rogue to see as loot table.But they havent done it yet.

Because too many classes whined and complained about it not being fair.

Would you rather have that or a generic T4 weapon you loot from a mob with a 300dd proc? Because what the devs are saying "no" to isn't the items...

They are saying "no" to the thousands of man hours to build 16 in-depth lore heavy class unique quests and NPC's that most players won't use because they only apply to one class.

And they are saying "no" to the overpowered/multiplicative/infinitely scaling effects.

UF shawls and Gold token weapons or prismatics in EQ2 are great examples of unique/powerful class specific items that could be on the radar. While I'd prefer some sort of quest to grinding MM's or tradeskills, they shouldn't show up on the 'epic' achievement tab.

The EQ officers do not understand that the players keep asking for epic upgrades because it is a very important part of creating that feeling of greatness you get from the uber toon. You put in the hours (if your new) or the weeks/months (if you got them when the tasks were hard) and you got the title, the feeling of great accomplishment and the focus effects are unbeatable for many, even in today's game. We just want to keep the graphic, the titles, the focus effects but have the weapon upgraded for today's use. Please rethink the plan to do away with them.

If enough people ask for it and ask and ask then it will be delivered. They said they are listening. With the way the game is going I dont see why 3.0 cant be granted if your willing to pay for it. I would much much more be willing to spend money then station cash on an epic 3.0 instead of hero forge. Thats just me but i know there are a lot that like hero forge but I think if the option to sell quest lines that lead you to an epic 3.0 was available it would be a mega hit.
Enough ask and IT will be delivered.

Pretty much. what Spinstun said. With the new incremental roll out scheme taking shape as opposed to themed expansion packs, they don't have to leverage features against each other anymore. If they can offer an epic 3.0 in the context of the existing game world, than it stands a much better chance of happening as opposed to having to roll out a whole new batch of zones, lore etc to support the quest arc. So pretty much they can sell only the gimmick of an expac, such as an Epic, that lures people into buying it without the overhead of everything else that makes what we are all accustomed to being the way the game expanded in the past.

You are still framing everything with the business as usual model of how they add to the game. That there always has to be completely new zones with new NPC models, mob scripting etc put in to throw all that came before into the abyss of obsolescence for the tumbleweeds to blow across . Current events with the game seem to show that they are trying to move away from always putting out entirely new areas while letting 90% of what is in the game lie fallow. If they want to re-tread old zones, especially ones that have good memories associated with them in the past than that is a good route to be pursued to free up resources to provide what people have been asking for. If I can pay 15 dollars to get an epic 3.0 quest set in revamped content in the game than I would be all over that like a fat kid on a cupcake. As long as it is a well designed quest, fun and keeps me engaged for months, than its money well spent.

Even your guild would be content with that, and everyone knows your ability to tear up content in a hurry while demanding more. Still, there is probably more than enough real estate in the game just doing nothing at all to even keep your guild happy if reuse of it was well implemented and that seems to be the route they want to take with the game's design. It would be better to get behind something like adaptive reuse of what we have than setting yourself up for disappointment by always wanting a new continent or altered plane of reality every release....with all the artwork, coding and the like that goes with it to devour manhours and dollars that could be used to make an Epic 3.0.

Suit yourself, Voodooman. If the game provides you with enough to keep you logging in and paying without anything past raid progression nor the expectation of anything past that than more power to you. Its my opinion that Epic 3.0 is still within possibility. It would be pretty sad if a game with the name of EverQUEST could no longer muster the wherewithall to make a decent and compelling quest arc that would endure past the life cycle of one expansion.

Killing 1 million Alarans to evolve an item to give a 2% boost to a stat should not be considered the capstone of an expansion but unfortunately I can't think of anything else that would not be immediately replaced by a scaled up version of the same slot item in RoF. Granted, the progression is supposed to be the "epic quest" these days but it was definitely cool when you got to kill the last boss of the progression and finish up your epic, Coldain ring or shawl etc. The expansions where there was something like that seemed to have more relevance. VoA, once it is cleared there is NO reason to revisit it unless you really want to kill those 1 million Alarans to evolve the Tear. Finishing HoT at least gave you an illusion click and some bags but even then, it is a disposable expansion, just like everything else being pushed on the consumer. /shrug. It is what it is but no reason we can't do better.

New epic might break up the monotony a bit of which you certainly made a good point of placing some emphasis on. I still like EQ a bunch, but to spend 40 dollars on more of the same might require some thought on whether I should buy it or get 1/4 of a tank of gas in my truck. Sometimes there needs to be something that actually distinguishes one expansion from the next and maybe even carries over past. Wishes to come true in one hand and poop in the other probably. We all know what gets filled up first.

Also, it is a bit of a reach to say everyone has the shawl. Maybe everyone in your circle but in the grand scheme of things, not that many people killed the First Creation, let alone got the head. You are unfairly watering that quest down. I get what you are saying on the rest, but the majority of the game's player base is not Realm of Insanity caliber players (thankfully) and thus might get a lot more mileage out of things that would be just a mere speed bump for you all. The shawl, for all of its ease perceived by you, was still a good quest. My cleric still wears his. As far as I know, the effect still works just fine even if the return is not what it was.

I actualy had a chance to talk to Dzarn one on one at fanfaire this year, these are deffinatly still planned to happen, they havent been ditched. I am sure we will know more soon

that does not sound that epic to me.... epic quests should be EPIC. not... cut and paste bleh tasks

and why not tradeskills? Dont wanna have to do more work then exp to get your EPIC wepon? That sound like you want EPIC rewards for lackluster effort.

its not going to happen.

the devs have stated it it would require the development of quests , mobs , raids , scripting , etc for each class. - as stated taking dev time away from other projects.
also they also dont like making tasks / quests that would only be done once.
and that any such epic would either become obsolete again with the next expansion or be too overpowered if they designed it to last several expansions.

although with the plan that RoF may be the last full expansion in favor of free "mini-expansions" during the year as patches , perhaps one might be - Epic 3.0 ? with very generalized tasks.

Unfortunately, I don't see Epic 3.0 ever coming into existence..

I can see them putting epic Ornaments in the SCbank for people to buy.... but thats about it

Man are they even hiring? There's a BUNCH of IT/Programmers/Developers/Graphic Designers out there looking for jobs. So SoE just plain doesn't have the money anymore to even think about expanding and taking on a few more on the payroll? Yikes!

They prefer to sink money into new ventures instead of nurturing their flagship products.

it was stated it would take like a year and wouldnt be any expansion which was some thing they didnt want to do.

Thank all those from the Entitlement Generation/Generation Me who came to the boards over the years and complained/demanded that whatever class A had they also had to have because their parse said what the other guy has is OP and thus their fragile ego demands they be given some kind of reparations. So yah, whatever we get if we do get an Epic 3.0 will be some generic vanilla that will offend no one and be completely irrelevant overnight so why bother is probably the position the devs take. They bust their hump and get hassled for it.

And that is why we can't have nice things.

the issue has nothing to do with entitlement folks wanting what other classes have , etc
though we as players are at fault.
the problem is part of the issues with mudflation. the devs must continually make items with increasing stats, hp , mana to keep players interested and then tune new content to be increasingly more difficult..
in the beginning of everquest 100 hp / mana items were godly. now we have items with 5000 hp / mana and mobs that have a billion hp. and one mistake will wipe a raid.

Since Epic 1.0 was added to the game, they caused serious issue with camping, friendships, guild drama, server drama, etc etc you name it, and Epics probably caused it. Guilds have broken up over Epic drama. I am certain SOE does not want to deal with all those headaches again, hence the Epic N.O comment years ago.