Erm...the drop rate wasn't decreased...it was actually increased. Before the last change to the tear's exp rates, the Fragments of Legendary Alaran History were only available from the quests in Pillars (and completing their optional elements), I believe. Now they drop from alaran model mobs, albeit they aren't nearly common enough (1% drop rate from VoA Alarans and 2% from RoF Alarans is *ERGH*, heh). On the subject of your talking about the stats being crap. One way around that...which is an idea I actually like myself...is letting the aug be right clicked, if you want, to turn it into an AA that grants a set amount of defense (of course, assuming the % cap of defense it grants won't go up with new levels, heh), plus the other stats to the character permanently. That way it won't take up an aug slot, for those who already use all their type 3 slots for focus augs and other augs. Given it's 'special' nature it could easily fit under the Special tab for AAs. ^^ That being said...having it add some to each heroic or something would be nice, especially for all the work to max it. Maybe even some AC/HEM (though I'd much rather see heroics than this ), as well. One other thing that I realized after my previous post was that alaran ghosts apparently do not count towards leveling the tear! They really should, though...so...please make this happen, as well! ^^
Completed my tear after working in Pillars for a month. Never did Word of Erion much because I didn't feel like fighting an epic struggle and using everything I had to kill the optional mob while my caster merc would herp a derp and look on without contributing anything (had to be close to nuke and merc would always stay out of range). Started it around mid-level 10ish and saved up 158 fragments and worked up the tear to level 12 and 10% (exactly working out to level 20). You people want easymode with frags Only took me a month! Also consider doing Rebel Assault in Sarith and run ahead of your alien allies, because the army of enemies you fight are very easy and not only give experience to the tear, they can also drop fragments (found up to 3 in one go). Drop rate in Shard's Landing is pointless, because no task in RoF grants a fragment. I was getting so efficient doing the tasks, I could finish the four in just over an hour. If others joined me it took longer because I had to explain things and wait for them... but Word of Erion was doable and if they were around later I could do it again, so that'd be 10 fragments in a day. If time is a crunch sometimes, just do Crisis of Faith as it increases factions to all towers and eventually it maxes them and repairs future round of tasks you do. Really helps when you can get a task and run into the opposing tower without everything jumping on you. EDIT: Yeah Caudyr, I learned undead alarans don't count, nor have I ever seen one drop a fragment. Really blows considering undead is my class' strength. But to have it as a reward for sepulcher tasks is WAY too easy - I can do Battle, Splendor, and Oratory time trials (all three) in less than five minutes tops.
MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE AUGMENTATION Augmentation type: 3 Slot: CHARM FACE EAR NECK SHOULDERS BACK RANGE PRIMARY SECONDARY FINGER WAIST Skill Mod: Defense +5% (10 Max) Attack: +20 HP Regen +10 Mana Regeneration: +10 Clairvoyance: +20 Spell Damage: +20 Heal Amount: +20 Endurance Regeneration +2 Recommended level of 95. WT: 0.0 Size: TINY Class: ALL Race: ALL Those are the Current stats, lets keep in mind that the attack, hp regen, and mana regen arent going to benefit anyone who has the gear to achieve this because of caps. so with that being said why not have this item increase the cap for the amount this item is added in all stats to make it an item moreso worth chasing. i mean in reality Items in EQ are basicly just a drop in the bucket add ons to stats. No reason there cant be ones that make that drop in the bucket feel like it larger then usual. Lets try this: MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE AUGMENTATION Augmentation type: 3 Slot: CHARM FACE EAR NECK SHOULDERS BACK RANGE PRIMARY SECONDARY FINGER WAIST Skill Mod: Defense +5% (10 Max) Attack: +50 HP Regen +30 Mana Regeneration: +15 Clairvoyance: +25 Spell Damage: +50 Heal Amount: +50 Endurance Regeneration +2 Recommended level of 95. WT: 0.0 Size: TINY Class: ALL Race: ALL upon evolving this item players achieve an achievement called "Tears of Alaris" This Grants a reward of a Progression AA called "Strength of Tears" Strength of Tears This Passive ability grants the player the benefit of: HP: 1000 Mana: 1000 Endurance: 1000 Increases Attack cap by 50 Increases HP Regen cap by 30 Increases Mana Regen cap by 15 That right there would be a much more in line reward for the difficulty of completing this task. Also can particle effects by added to the achievement AA that are permanent kinda like a nimbus of tears? Also why on earth haven't the Devs gone back and taken the 30 seconds to Change the BiC augment and its last few lines of progression to SLOT 3? A Gates of Discord augment cant be that game changing about 10 years later... This would be greatly appreciated and cause more players to go back and do older content for the small increase in stats it would yield, its certainly not game breaking and would bring a smile on players faces.
Um Wraith of Alaris mobs in Valley which im pretty sure are undead since they see through normal invis gives experience. Gained 15% there over the last 2 days camping a named for hunter
I like your idea, which I didn't quote, in general...except that last bit I did quote, heh. The ONLY way I would even want to consider seeing this is if the nimbus is activateable. Having it be permanent would get real annoying, real fast, tbh. On the subject of the BiC aug you mentioned. Only if they add type 3 to the BiC and leave the other types as they are. Just open up the option to put it in a type 3 slot, but let people put 'em in the others too, if they want.
Ok, exclude those then...those types of quests...or just those specific time trial ones in general. They have an hour redo anyway, don't they? It'd still take quite a bit of time to finish them if that's the case. Maybe have the reward for these battle/splendor/oratory/etc quests have a chance (if it's possible to do this, heh) to grant the fragment as a separate reward when you complete it. Say...a 25-50% chance or so? Somewhere in there? ^^ Another option could be to have it so that when you complete the 500 collection of the Alsa Thel Droplets, the quest rewards you with like...20 fragments (or more)...and have the Alsa Thel of -Type- collection quest(s) do something similar, as well. I think I like my high(ish) % chance of them being given as a secondary reward upon completing one of the quests better, though. ^^
Yes, a chance for a fragment as a reward would actually harken back to the old, OLD days of EQ where finishing a quest turn-in didn't always result in the good reward (Fabian's Strings, anyone?). It's taking me just as much time to get the alsa thel potions than doing tasks for fragments. Sepulcher itself is a pretty unforgiving zone so finishing these long-committal tasks would really be encouraging with fragments as a bonus. Heck, when someone asked for help killing those statues for the partisan, I was like "lol this will be" and then I tanked one. Man, not easy.
I had a different experience, I'd do Crisis of Faith and all the Words except Fal'Kaa, because it requires way too much running around, plus its the only optional that you can potentially fail. Also, unless it was changed recently, I can absolutely verify that undead alarans in Valley give the Tear exp. This was on a double exp weekend a few months ago when Valley was recently changed to a hotzone, but I can state beyond a doubt that my Tear gained exp by killing those wraiths.
BiC in type 3 would be awesome... maybe add a extra quest step(s) for it ( that doesnt involve farming for 4 months! ) BiC fit well in my type 4 bows but not to any other class that cant use bows beside maybe Necro epic?
How about making Alaran Remnants useful by adding a quest to hand in 10-20 in order to receive 1 fragment? I'm sure there can be an NPC somewhere that would find them useful.
