Because they're expensive? And difficult to obtain? And it's not the same? It hurts nobody to allow someone to change their race to the new one.
The only thing Id like to see added for Frogloks is the alteration of all Innoruuk worshipping toads into Undead Frogloks. A few variations with the color scheme on existing models will be more than sufficient. Set bind point to Innothule, throw in a 3-4 generic trainers, a banker, general vendor and a couple lines of reused dialogue and voila.
You list here clearly shows you do not know much at all about the druid class. I would say you should roll one and level it up, but then again it would take you 80 levels before you could actually appreciate what a Druid does and what their tools are to do this. You list many abilities that get phased out or become borderline useless. You list abilities that are nothing like the ability you are trying to compare them to (seriously..feral pack and wolf form aas?!? ). You list basic abilities ( healing/doting/nuking ) which change drastically in how a druid will do them at the higher levels. You are not helping your case.
Ogres and trolls eat dwarves and halflings, as indicated by lore and hometown butcher shops. As they have countless food options, I doubt they consider their warders as food first and pets second. Q. Hey, dude, where's your warder? A. In mah belly. Working class animals serve a multitude of purposes, including becoming livestock for harvest and consumption. Insects are food; nothing more in that regard. Insects willfully serve no masters. The only thing preventing Vah Shir from eating tigers is the absence of a recipe implies tigers are not food. Oddly enough, eating lions is commonplace. Seems cats make great sammiches. Tiger meat is probably better suited for Sloppy Joes.
I'd much rather have a new vah shir class combination. maybe ranger or druid. those seem viable choices for a cat race. If we really must have a froglok beastlord lets give it a tiny little frog to follow it around. Something about the same size of Riggbit
While you are getting rid of windows like Leadership ... how about getting rid of "Walk" mode as well ... I hate when I box my trailer constantly flips from run to walk and back to the point if not mounted the trailer gets "lost". This has been fixed in the past, then broken again, and fixed and now for years you have not even bothered to pretend to try to fix it ... Get rid of walk mode, no one uses it ... or make it functionally equivalent to run mode so that dropping into walk is meaningless ...
I cancelled my EQ sub because I couldn't get to a point where someone I wanted to play with could actually do so. It was frustratingly impossible for me. We started on EQ2 and it was a lot of fun. New game, new experience, but my love for EQ and the Norrath Lore could continue and expand. I still keep tabs on the EQ1 of course to see whats new and what not. A few weeks ago, Heroic characters announced when we were probably in our 50s and I was excited. Because what I love about EQ is the Guild and Group interactions, so I knew great we'll get up to their level sooner. This was a total win. Plus, we switched our classes to something more enjoyable. We've just recently gotten into a great guild, Knight of Valhalla, and finally getting to a point where we can comfortably get together and help out where people want. Now hearing this is coming to EQ1 I think it is pretty fantastic and I'd imagine we have plenty of people who have friends they wish could join up. I've never been that max level character, despite over 12 years /played and that I've been with EQ since Kunark. Whether I am a complete newb and suck I should have at least earned your respect and definitely have as an SOE customer. I'm having a ton of fun on EQ2 now, but this would have probably never happened if this came about a year or two earlier. Heroic Characters are a win.
Type of spell: Snare at level 1 used at level 100 - Yes Healing at level 1 used at level 100 - Yes Most of your healing spells you use at 100 are not in the game until Level 85+. Therefor, this point does not matter. Direct Damage at level 1 used at level 100 - Yes Most of your nuke lines you will learn to use are not in the game until 80+, so once again..strike this from the list. Damage over time at level 1 used at level 100 - Yes The 2 dots worth using are not in the game until higher levels. Root at level 2 used at level 100 - Yes Cure at level 4 used at level 100 - Yes Pacify at level 5 used at level 100 - Yes lolwhat druid still pacifies at 100? A great skill that because of its outdoor only restriction and lvl 100 cap restriction, rarely gets used. Might as well be phased out. Succor at level 18 used at level 100 - Yes Regeneration at level 34 used at level 100 - Yes People still care about a hp regen that hasn't scaled to level in years? Shared Wolf Form at level 35 used at level 100 - Yes The shared wolf worm you mention at 35 is NOTHING like the white wolf/black wolf AAs you get. Attempting to compare them is showing a complete lack in knowing what you are talking about. Group Regeneration at level 39 used at level 100 - Yes See previous statement about hp regen. Feral Pack at level 52 used at level 100 - Yes lol...see previous mention about wolf form. Group Heal at level 70 used at level 100 - Yes You got me here. A druid must go through 69 levels of learning how to heal with no group heal, before they get their first one. This does not help your case. Apparently the point was missed. Let me clarify. Every type of spell available to a druid is available to that class at LOW Level. The druid who hasn't learned how to heal, when to use a DoT, the ins and outs of the Pacify line, etc by actually playing the character at low level is certainly going to be at a huge disadvantage as a newly hatched level 85. As for the variations on Shared Wolf form, they are exactly that! Variations. The basic attributes remain. Dismissing the Regenerations spell line merely shows ignorance of its usefulness. As for leveling up a druid, I have. Since any protestations to the Development Team or Thom or Smedley regarding the introduction of so-called "Heroic Characters" and more "pay for power" into EverQuest will fall on deaf ears it is a complete waste of time and energy on the part of those opposed to turning this game into a pale phantom of a once great gaming experience to voice their concerns. Welcome to EverQuest on its fifteenth anniversary, the new instant gratification, no time, no effort needed game. Brought to you by the "I want it all right NOW!" gaming population with the enthusiastic assistance of the SoE EQ team.
You pick spells that are used in no way like they are at the high end. You are calling people instant gratification wanters..when that is not the point at all. If it was plausible to regularly group with people in 5+ year old content, I would back you all the way. Saying no effort is needed with these new characters is such a rash over statement it completely makes any other point you may make fall on deaf ears..because its obvious you are ignoring so many aspects of this.
I have to agree with you. I've spent nearly 15 years working on my main character, fighting my way to those top zones and the great power you get from them. If you insist on doing this, do it as a shroud with a time limitation, or only allow these characters a two week life span. That seems like a fair amount of time for a person to try out a class and determine if that's what they would like to play.
Heroic Characters is a good idea. I'm happy to see them bring it to EverQuest considering its success in EverQuest II. Quite frankly, I think it'd do better here than it did there, and here's why. EverQuest, before the Seeds of Destruction expansion is... well... easy. Very easy. And i'm not talking about gear, and I don't equate difficulty with timesinks. It's simply a fact that characters before that expansion lack the complexity and mechanical improvements that were implemented from that expansion, and forward. Combine that with the fact that, before that expansion, most of the game lacks a meaningful progression through a tangible storyline or anything related with exception of the Heroes Journey, which is simply a guided hand through some of the better quest lines that existed back at the time. Those quests, while good, still lack the polish and integrity of what was seen in the mission/quest design in Seeds, Underfoot, House, etc. It's an uphill journey that takes a long time through an experience that isn't as nicely done as what we're getting now. The devs don't have time to go back and polish that stuff over again. It makes no sense for them to, considering how top heavy the game is. New players, though, are faced with the decision of meeting that uphill battle through character building that honestly isn't that meaningful, nor is it challenging, or playing something else. They could be power leveled, but for those who have no friends here? It's honestly a daunting proposal. What's the solution? Bring them up to the point that they can group with their friends, experience the good content, and start getting into the more complex mechanics that make the game at that level. And it makes sense. Considering how good the game is at that tier, and how much more fun the characters are to play at that level, players have a higher chance of sticking around, especially being they can play with their higher level friends with ease. Now, I know what's going to be said by the naysayers: But Zjeven, they won't know how to play the character! They won't have spent the time needed to learn it! To that, I say... this is already going to happen. Note what i mentioned above. The game changes radically at level 80, meaning that no matter what happens, a level 85 character is going to face a slew of mechanics additions and shifts in playstyle at that level. It doesn't matter if they did it the hard way, or the Heroic Character way. At that level, they're going to be learning a lot of new things. Honestly, at that level, they're going to be learning the meat of the game, because before that level, characters mostly auto attack with maybe an ability or two and a spell or two, and that's not hard to wrap your head around. I welcome this change, and I know that several of my friends who couldn't get into it simply because the early game didn't have the same mechanical flair as the higher levels will be taking advantage of this promotion.
I would point out that this change, like the last time it was tried, was intended to bring more players into the game. Hopefully some will stay. What happens in todays game has the same result, it just takes longer. You invite your friend, he says he can't play at your level... you say no sweat I will Power Level you up ... one two three days later and presto-change-ooh and he is level 85 ... and the pair of you go off and he starts to learn his character ... The nub of most of the other comments boils down to the same reason that to get a Ham Radio license required learning morse code for so long... because even when it is no longer needed as a practical matter, the old timers were like "Well I had to learn it" ... and kept a lot of people out. When My monk was level 51, AAs cost as much as leveling up to 52, do I resent that now you can earn those same 10 AAs I bled over in an hour or so? No, the game changed for the better... maybe because the developers saw my blood on the hill ... So, when I came back and made level 52 and a slew of AAs in a day I was pleased that the developers made the game more enjoyable and less of a slog. Does anyone really want hell levels back? I sure don't ...
On another topic raised in the letter. The J5 merc quest. I grant I have only done it twice now ... but I agree that it is not well thought out. I know I need more practice, but the tail end part of the series does (IMO) need work. I went there and the first half went well as expected. Tedious, ok Fine... the last three tasks though ... well lets start with a level 90 Monk (5,044AC, ~4,900AAs) with J5 Merc (merc has 2 AAs hosting HP and MP, Vestments of the Forsaken); Beastlord was 85 (~2,000 AAs), J1 (No AA but with Vestment) and we teamed with an 83 SK. So, party was 90 Monk, J5 healer, 85 BL, J1 Rogue and the 83 Sk ... On the second and third to last tasks we were party wiped at least 3 times ... I lost track to be honest. These tasks are supposed to be doable by a group of 75s? When my monk got his J5 it was the same. I was with a raid equipped Warrior level 90 and he had to call in a couple of his friends and we still party wiped several times. But this is not the only task set that needs to be looked at ... the J3 series has a task that also is poorly done (IMO) ... yes there seems to be a cheat to make it work, but you should be able to escort the refugees ... not have to cheat to get the task to work. But the refugees make such a gaggle that they are not fully out of the cave yet when some of them are at the corner of the zone ... and it is not a small zone ... The J2 is annoying, but seems to be doable. Have not started on the J4 so I cannot comment on that ... but, some of us like to do quests, some of us actually like to do them as intended, but getting perfect groups, or waiting until you can get sufficient level 90s into a group to get a necessity that should be doable by a party of 4 of 85 or above ... well ... I agree a fix is needed... I mean, packing 8-12 mobs in that small of a space? I am a lousy puller as a monk because I don't do that roll in my play style if I can help it ... not that it seems to matter I have not seen those mobs split. And many teams do not have CC to allow you to beat down one mob at a time. I guess I am just saying that you could not fix it soon enough to suit me ...
To Pauldbuck - the monk and the SK both should be able to split the shocktroopers away from the goblins (I'm assuming this is one of the tasks that is tripping you up). It definitely is doable, but placement of where your group is, ability to quickly invis and knowing the angles and timing are things that I found required. As a cleric, I've split that area multiple times (more than 10 for various folks) and yes, sometimes things will go bad. Usually handling a couple of mobs at a time shouldn't be an issue - and if having 2 mobs come on a pull is an issue for you, there may be some other things that group can do to maximize itself before doing this. What server are you on - I ask because there are many people like myself willing to help folks get those final tasks done.
The spot I know of is the wall to the west of the pit ... facing out you look at the one catapult and to the left is the other catapult. The problem with boxing, and being old, is speed is not necessarily your forte ... again, I have only done this twice and repetitive dying does not help my anxiety disorder much ... I don't mind much for a mistake, or a bad add ... but repetitively doing that to learn angles is not something that I am likely to be able to do ... I am going to try to do the first part of the task list with my 85 Ranger and 90 monk though the ranger is lighter than I would like with AAs (only about 700 or so) though he does have J2 mercs (trying to find out if that helps doing the swarm if/when it happens - mage at 85 is most of the way through the J3 quest series, though the escort mission is causing problems there as I noted)... I am on The Rathe, and I am going to try, once I get the precursors done to see if I can get help... if past is prolog, I expect crickets ... but, I could be surprised ...
