Maybe instead of telling us 'what we want to hear,' they want to make sure that they don't immediately lose credibility by telling us something that isn't true? If the 'next expansion' and other content being reviewed was, let's say, another small expansion like TDS with plans for more nerfs to entice people to buy it . . . would you think a review might have a positive impact? I know that I haven't been happy with the direction over the last year, and I sense a lot of other players aren't as well . . . maybe the review is to look at changing direction? They need time to do due diligence.
I'm glad to see that you made it through the layoffs and landed firmly in Norrath Holly. I would love to see a resurgence of massive expansions again like the old days. Also, I prefer my loot dropping off mobs rather than collecting tickets off dead monsters and turning them in at the prize booth back in town aka Chucke Cheese for armor. I'd love the option to control my boxes from a single game client with out alt-tabbing between screens. And, I'd kill for a shaman-like merc that can slow, debuff, heal and buff.
I'm reading...I'm here! Let me say a few things. I think I'd be freaked out if there wasn't healthy debate and a mix of cynicism, support, and suggestions. Expansions are a priority. That, and given the massive collective intelligence here and on the team, lots...or most...of the ideas I've seen here are being discussed. By expansion, I believe we all mean new areas to explore, characters to discover, character growth and progression, monsters, fun, fear, awesome encounters, loot, and new toys. The team is freeing their minds (and I'm asking you too) to talk about what we want for our beloved characters, community, and the world. Expansions as you know them are likely, of course. I want us to really explore the possibilities of what is best to do for the game and you. What I won't do is lie to you. When we have details, we will share them. We can't gain your faith and support by simply calming the waters. You are also too intelligent to buy a "line" so I won't insult the brainpower here or the cynics. I'm a gamer too. I get it. Brass tacks are that we are on a new amazing journey together that includes you. This is a game of epic proportions, traditions, and passionate players and the first step is to breathe, let the air in, and give this crazy, passionate team a tick to regen and cast some nukes. I'm here, we are listening. We are in this for Norrath. I hope you can all bear with me as I grow my whiskers and tail back. It's a kick to see familiar folks from design days. (I remember killing Tharkis.) Wow. Much respect to all of you. The passion and care here is evident. We share it. P.S. I can't believe you already called out Holly Longtail and Strat! Lyndro made them when we were guildies. So long ago...when Innoruuk was a boy elf. Sincerely, as always, Holly "Windstalker" Longdale (formerly Vahlar...or maybe Vahlstalker?)
Whatever happens - please keep that attitude. Bad news delivered honestly is always preferable to a 'line.' Thanks
"Expansions as you know them" is an odd phrase to use for EQ1. Our last expansions have been.... not like others, and not very well received. TDS has some serious issues in almost all areas except the art (it does look great!), COTF's staggered release model also caused a lot of problems. But ROF I'd say was damn close to being a model expansion, the major issues there were that T3 was small, and T4 looked like crap and obsoleted T3. If T3 and T4 had been released as one tier, RoF would have been excellent in its content spread for different levels of play and interests. For new expansions, I know we're around 4-5 months away from the time you'd even be announcing the next expansion. So I'm not expecting much there. PPS: You're not showing up on the dev tracker.
Weird how NO ONE mentions >NEW CLASS< All this GREAT STUFF in EQ land.. Yet no new CLASS or RACE... I mean. That's the one thing EQ gots over EVERY OTHER MMO. This word right here. > CHOICE< Plz do some work on that and MAYBE... I wouldn't mind seeing some cloaks or even Quivers ETC ETC... ohh and for GODS SAKE.. plz fix the dam horse shield crap. Turn the shield more so its not IN THE DANG HORSE. Geesh. Not to mention drakkin missing the shield and weapons on a horse also, when moving. Why not fix some old things that "just aren't right" Sometimes improving little things add up to big smiles. I know not dollars but GEESH.. How long have we had mounts? And ranger needs more headshots.. The % its at is currently CRAP. Why not just give full refund if you take it down to almost 0? I know zero would of been RAGE QUIT EVERYWHERE. I would of been one also.
I have been playing since 1999 and I have yet to see the end game. There is still a lot of old content I haven't even seen and some day I will. I mainly solo or group on occasion. I don't box and don't have the equipment to box. I just enjoy soloing, taking my time and enjoying the game after a long day of work. IMO the game has catered to guilds and raiding and those rushing to be the first to reach the top levels way too long and I feel has ruined what used to be an addictive game for me. So why not create a server for those that like to raid an want to be at the top all the time. Encourage large raiding guilds and give them the equipment and drops to do it. Anyone that starts a new character on a raid server will automatically start with a level 85 heroic character so they can start raiding the top zones fairly quick. There are a lot of people that enjoy grinding and raiding so let them have it. Then how about a server that has no raid content, with a single party of six group max. Make it geared more for those that solo or box but still have the ability to group with friends. I used to love to get twink gear like the Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate with an ac: 19 and +5 HP regen that dropped in Trakanon's Teeth. Or going into runnyeye and get loads of blackened iron gear and give it out to the lowbies in the starter zones. Now everyone starts in Crescent Reach and gets defiant and quest gear that is far better than anything runnyeye has to offer so there is no reason to go to the old zones anymore. I am not saying to create a progression server, I am saying a server geared towards a single group or less that is player friendly. I also play EQ2 and enjoy both games for different reasons. So I truly hope they will last for many more years to come because honestly there is still nothing out there any better. But I am an old lady so what do I know. *winks*
Reverse the xp nerf Change hot zones Enable gifting More communication An improvement to the guild management-information window, a place to put your guild charter. Recruits shouldn't have to go to an external web page to read the guild rules.(unless there's already a way to do this that I don't know about?) Cross-zone guild invites, I can't tell you how much this simple thing would improve my life.
/agree Tobin /agree Garshok One other note I'll make. If you're a new player, it does take quite a while to get up to speed, even with heroic characters. New players, even if they only come in and spend a few bucks on some fluff, are still revenue and add to the social experience. MMOs are built around being social, and with any social game, the quickest way to learn is to talk with other players. It might be worth giving all players, and especially new ones, two ports - a port to PoK and a port to their home/starting city. Give them a short 15 minute refresh and emphasize these spells/abilities when the new player comes into game. This will allow new players to easily get to PoK where they can start to socialize right away, and have the player base guide them and *retain* them. Let us help you sell the game. That's how we can help you.
I disagree. Providing this situation some definition, however vague, is better than radio silence. If you don't say anything, people can and will assume anything. Granted, we're all going to parse your words with our own particular slant. Regarding expansions, what I took from that statement is that they are not a sure thing. That worries people, as well it should. But I'd rather know about that than not know anything.
Heroic characters get such a janky start. None of the spell or hotbar loadouts make sense. Then the actual game doesn't tell you any details about what anything does. I remember trying to do a heroic druid intro video, and at 15 minutes I had only gone over why most of the spells were garbage and what should be on the spell bar. Actually trying to put enough info into a video to play the class was going to take longer than anyone would want to watch. The newbie experience in EQ is so F'd. The game lies to you so much and you need to be checking 2-5 3rd party sites to figure out what's going on.
You really think they start content work only 3-4 months before release ? I got a bridge to sell you. Also what is TDS-2 ? There is no more TDS content being released. Unless they add a new zone Hardcore heritage is the same as the last few years.
Have you seen how much was done when beta started and the progress of getting content done? Basepop and rough quest outlines don't take a year.
i been playin this game for a long time and ill say 1 thing, I enjoyed this game the most when it was HARD, when wasnt just handed to you on a silver platter....Im pretty sure im not the only one who feels this way but the game has gone EASY mode and imo the way of dare i say it....WoW.......underfoot was great why, it was hard, GoD and below was fun why? because it was hard somewhere along the line you guys forgot this i think.....just go back to the roots when making our next expansion and dig deep
when i heard about this thing that happend with SOE and CN being daybreak.. i paused.. i am a player who has played since 99 and my main was born oct 10th 2000 when i found out what class i liked to play.. havent looked back.. my fear is if i buy TDS in a month or so eq gets sunset.. so i thought maybe i can buy 30 days.. but then my fear is EQ gets sunset.. i didnt want to buy TDS cause at 100 i just finished SoD progression and i had a blast.. finished off TIMESHEAR and got flagged for PoTime.. because of the exp nerf at 101, why am i forced into that content.. i am still having fun with my next expansion HOT.. and yea it might be easy but EQ has allways been risk vs reward, just because the reward isnt as much as new content.. i am willing to pay for that time and if i have an advantage in that expansion, i kinda earned it.. i may not do the raids.. but i am enjoying the content.. i should get exp if i pay for the TDS expansion but the nerf to exp ruined my experiance of the whole EQ world.. take away the exp nerf and i will gladly buy TDS and subscribe ..Icemagi Vizax 100 mage
/agree Smokn I also have the most fun when something is hard but I also like it to be challenging. I don't mean hard as in a mob has a billion hit points and you have to spend 30 mins beat it down. I mean the mob is tougher or several levels higher than I am and I may die several times trying to take it out because it may drain my mana or bounce me around a bit. But after strategizing and testing my ideas I can finally kill it. That to me is a Woo Hoo moment. I want to see more of those Woo Hoo I finally did it moments back in the game. As a ranger I actually don't mind the HeadShot nerf. Although I don't see the point in putting aa's into it anymore. You might as well just put 1 point in just to have the ability and that is it. I find having a train of mobs on me and trying to hold them back and picking them off one at a time more challenging and requires more skill than a rain of arrows taking them all out at once. There were many times I thought I was a goner but I kept my head, did my job and when I finally kill that last mob I had another one of those Woo Hoo I didn't ranger FD moments. I on occasion like to be over powered and enjoy taking my revenge out on lower level mobs like the brownies in Lesser Faydark for killing me when I was a wee babe. Is it wrong to enjoy a little revenge now and then? Bring the hard back, bring the challenge back, bring the strategizing back.
Things EQ wants.. We want open world bosses as qsoonpyjr (was that his name) would say "BIG BAD BOSSES" We want a velious esq style quest series with faction locking you out from one path or another (giants, dragons, dwarfs.. yea you remember). really big quest chains that casual players are going to 100% skip n call anyone who finishes them crazy. oh and bypass the quest window please as well, no hand holding text only.. get out those dusty binders! We want to be able to get exp from any mob that cons green or higher, anywhere.. We want a new 1-100 leveling path, all new zones all new content.. (reused mobs are ok) We liked Ldon but soe didn't? maybe daybrake liked Ldon.. We like [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software], daybrake work with them? integrate it into the client.. more boxes more $$$.. EQ is really so much more then any game out there when it comes to boxing. SoE never once used its marketability We like dual wielding warriors... (battleaxe don't u dare say anything)
You don't remember the mass exodus during Underfoot? I lost almost half my friend list because of that expansion! Not everyone wants it to be so hard you can't bloody do anything. Difficult sure but not like that. Some content being that hard is fine but not all of it or once again we will lose a buttload of people from an already dwindling number of players.
