DBG's resources are limited now, their is no getting around that fact for the rest of the life of this game. Prioritizing becomes essential. Because of this I thought it would be interesting to throw out this subject for discussion. While, obviously, a game strong in all of those areas is ideal(impossible as it is for even the best funded Dev teams)...if you had to choose ONE for the main focus for the rest of the life of EQ what would you pick? I think this is the GCF(greatest common factor) that almost all of the debates boils down to for game balance nowadays, whether it is DOT revamps, progression(item or spells), or whatever...what makes sense for Moloing doesn't always make sense from a Grouping point of view, and so on...it's unreasonable to expect to please eveveryone, so let's focus on what makes the most sense and design things forward aimed towards the highest priority. Discuss.... PS. Sorry if this has been covered and please redirect if this thread already exists. The search function for the forums seems to show me what it wants to, not what I am looking for all the time.
IMO: Better to do an ok job in all the current areas than to neglect major areas (boxing, molo, group, raid). EoK did a good job of balancing all of this. There was something for everyone. And I think it's the natural order of things. If you ignored group-type composition and just create a swathe of content that starts out easy (Lceanium), gets a little harder (FM,BW), becomes much harder (Droga,Chardok,lab) and then require a raid force (misc raids), you then have a great base to start from, and it's just a matter of tuning to ensure there's content suitable for different group types.
don't create new progression servers that requires additional work every expac. The devs are now supporing 2 different games. Phinny has taken SOO much dev time the last year making everything instanced.
You have it right there will likely always be a graded level of content starting easy and going to harder. but if the amount of content drops much that gap may become much small at near the end of content production. I suspect Daybreak is trying to close the gap between the easy and hard end of thing some by reducing the gear gap between raider and casual. Not sure if the EoK chase drops being raid quality were part of that or just to boost krono sales even more. Side note overall I found EoK FM was easier then Lcea. And probably why the premium port device for guildhalls would send you there. I always tell folks to start in FM if they are going into EoK.
Yeah I also found FM easier. Especially the quests in the drachnid areas. I don't know if that was intentional or not.
drachnid areas. what you did not like that mulit groups working together for a goal, loved that part on my server. But I can see it a block for peeps who like to solo , you need friends willing to help to get it done now.
IMO, this is a road block for a lot of players, and should be redesigned. Maybe move the ground spawn outside the drachnic cavern in the surrounding area where drachnic are, and the encounter there as well. Or maybe reduce the number of mobs thats in there in the final room to 2 max. Either way would do the job
What about spells balancing? This goes much deeper than simple zone design, or mob placement. Take the DOT revamp, for example, I can understand how raiders may have issues with debuff slots on mobs since everyone with a DOT spell is going to want to use them on large mob fights....then you have people than mainly BOX and have issues with agro management with the increased damage...then you also have people that mainly Molo that could have issues with the mana cost to damage ratio... This is an example of one thing you simply can't please everyone on, so you need to pick...Raiders? Boxers? Groupers? Moloers?....what dictates the balance direction?
The drachnid area was difficult because of fast respawns compared to the mob density. It's also a rough introduction to how much larger the social assist ranges are for this expansion. Any other camps or quests in Lceanium are in open areas where you're unlikely to have to fight five at a time. Droga was tougher than most zones for the same reasons, but also add goblin spin-stuns on top of that (with the exact duration that leaves your back open to the mob).
Easier for casual players who aren't doing progression and just camping names. First state of entering the new expansion for most non raid players would be getting gear. Much easier in FM then Lcea.
my guess is you don't box ,, anyway . I know if they neglect the boxing environment , they would loose a lot of $$$$ , my 4 boxing would become only a one sub account ,and many are boxers , and I don't think everquest after so many years and limited resources could handle the $$$$$ loss.. they did great with EOK imo, I helped a lot with my boxing crew at the spider cave for that task ( having a chanter helped a lot ) . a road blocker should not be at the 1st zone after a few task into an expansion imo.
LOL, no I don't box...good guess;> I am an older player that really would LOVE to play on P99 actually, but I simply can't buy into the system they have because their is no accountability for the P99 Devs, only what the Devs for P99 do to hold the players there accountable. While it might work, mostly, up til now a system like that is asking for trouble. But I DO like what they did to the game of EQ keeping it limited to Velious on their server. Along with other game decision things....I just don't trust the method of installation, nor do I trust the "one way" direction the Dev's there choose to have, so I "choose" to not play P99....but I watch the videos quite often on Youtube;> I am not asking for my personal style of play to get attention, but I do like the idea of knowing where the game is headed so I can make a decision on how much I am willing to commit to playing EQ. I keep things simple, personally, but I thought this might be a nice discussion. I came back to EQ a little bit when SOD came out because I was curious about the idea of mercs, but I really started to open my account on a regular basis when Ragefire was announced. That didn't turn out like I thought it was advertised, to the general public not currently active in EQ, so I participated a bit in the forums and then closed my account. In the end, I really didn't have the time to "play like it was 1999" anyways;> hehehe I am still coming back to EQ a couple times a year to Molo a bit, try and get a little bit of the fancy newer gear if able, then I'll disappear again for another 4-5 months, then rince and repeat;> I do recognized that not everyone is "me" and thought a good discussion about this subject would bring out into the light what everyone knows, a minority voice with reckless abandon, and new/returning players usually end up discovering just before they cancel their account;> EQ is developed, and balanced, nowadays with Boxing the primary concern of support. That is the short of it. How long can they keep going developing for 2 game styles? Phinny(the "truebox server") is NOT supposed to be designed with that kind of focus...this has been voiced by others in other threads I have read. You can't continue to support Boxing centric gameplay without breaking Phinny at some point without creating a HUGE extra workload for the small Dev team the game has(for BOTH EQ and EQ2 btw). At some point you really do have to choose, I think. It doesn't matter what I personally would choose thought....this is the point of the discussion.
