Over the past year, I don't know how many times I and my fellow guildmates run into problems trying to get the Avatar of Change to response to our hails when the problem is that we happen to be invisible and they don't see invis. This problem got me to thinking about the dutiful that DBG has graciously provided to us on all major docks to teleport players due to issues with buggy boats. Our tiny gnomish friends the Translocators will happily teleport anyone who is visible and invisible. Why then can't the esteemed Avatars of Change do the same thing? Is there any way that the devs can simple give AoC's the ability to see invis so they can properly respond to hails and player responses? Thanks for listening!
I don't know if this is by design or not but I always assumed that they didn't want you zoning into an instance while invisible for whatever reason.
The only AoC that I can think of that doesn't port you to a safe spot is plane of fear where most mobs see invis anyway. And if you can zone into open world invis why not a dz?
Start casting invis on yourself and say ready right before it goes off. Boom invis zone in. Same applies to instant clicky invis immediately after saying ready.
1) Agent of Change 2) Its pretty obvious this is an intentional design decision (well as much as anything else they do is). The ability for a NPC to see through invis is simply a flag on them. For whatever reasons, they want you to have to break invis to be ported into an instance. I'd guess its due to some of the AoC's being in slightly hostile areas, thus adding a tiny bit of danger to just hanging out by them. 3) I'd guess the translocators work thusly due to your being able to step on a boat and get off of it while being invis. So it was more replicating existing functionality with them. The AoC's are a new toy.
I respectfully disagree with you regarding your explanation that AoC's are in places of danger and that the devs intended that access to them present a challenge to the player and then finding them is a reward for traversing a perilous journey and that allowing players to reach them while invisible would negate that. Almost every single AoC in EverQuest is placed at relatively safe location in a zone. These locations are often just outside an entrance to a zone or just inside the zone as is the case with all of the AoC's in Plane of Tranquility, Freeport, Butcherblock docs, Dagnor's Cauldron, North Ro and more. Look at the AoC for Ragrax, Stronghold of the Twelve (Plane of Earth B). It is located just inside Vegarlson (Plane of Earth) zone and far away from any patrolling mobs. If you theory is correct, then this AoC should have been placed deep inside Plane of Earth A. It is not. The AoC in NRO is on the shores of the lake with no immediately danger is another good example where your theory doesn't hold water. If the devs wanted to present some danger to the people wanting to enter the Plane of Hate, the devs would have put this AoC directly in the tower with the spectres. I grant you there exceptions but they are rare. The AoC's for Vex Thall, Veeshan's Peek are located in dangerous areas. To a lesser degree this is true of the AoC for Western Wastes and Necropolis. My own theory is that the devs didn't consider this or they simply forgot to give AoC's the ability to see invis. From a lore and role-playing perspective, since Avatars of Change usually represent a deity it seems rather incongruous that they would not have such a basic ability to see invis. I am not opposed to having AoC's be located in dangerous locations, but it would have to be across the board for all of them and not just a few. It's an interesting idea but at this point to do so would create a lot of extra work for players to get to them and of course for the devs to justify the time to implement this. I think there would be plenty of complaints from players if this were to be changed. In recent years, EQ devs have been introducing a lot of quality of life improvements to their MMORPG that have eliminated a lot of the needless tedium present in EQ back in 1999. The addition of the Translocators is good evidence of this and I was just wondering why that similar neutral faction NPCs that's sole purpose is to provide a functional benefit to players (AoC to start an expedition instance, Soulbinders, etc.) also don't see invis.
You should pay closer attention to what I said. Would have saved you writing a book. To be clear I said SOME of the agents of change are in SLIGHTLY HOSTILE areas. not all. Not deadly. Not deathtraps. Not every design decision has to be to kill you, some can just be to make things slightly annoying (like leaving a bunch of alts AFK outside to pop in and loot rotting gear). I'm by no means clairvoyant but I can almost assure you that this won't change. Also.. Agent of Change is what your looking for. No such thing in EQ as an Avatar of change.
I agree fully. and I think the fact that they do not see invis is a design choice for this. Beyond just the AoC there are also other instance giver's and quest NPC's whom don't respond while your invisible (both in safe and not safe locations). its part of the game.
