Re-entry expansion

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by EQGenericName, Jun 24, 2022.

  1. EQGenericName theychangedmyname

    September 17, 2006- This is when The Serpent's Spine released (16YEARS AGO). The last time a new race was introduced to EQ, the last time welcoming new and old players back. Many of us have made a multitude of memories over the years since then. There was a significant influx of new and returning players.
    House of Thule brought about heroic characters as a way for new and returning to jump into the fight a little sooner than the long grind. Currently there is a plan to move those heroic characters to lvl 100 in the upcoming months and that is nice and all, but When are we going to see actual NEW ORIGINAL CONTENT not rehashed & drawn out messes.
    With digital marketing what it is today a media blitz hyping a world rediscovered of lore lost long ago with fresh eyes and completely new content, (were 64 bit, now so at least Skyrim ps4 level graphics) Completely new zones designed for taking players from level 10(post tutorial Which could really use an update as well) through end game content level 120 maybe 125.
    TSS was released back when we had two expansions per year release cycles (September and February) I get it you have lower staff numbers these days, you also have twice the amount of time as previous staff and yet the best we get are rehashes of old zones and limited at that. it seems your more interested in recreating the same generic time locked progression servers typically 2 a year at least which get a little boost then die back off with majority of the same crews rinsing and repeating each time.

    I think a majority of current players would like a new race or three a new class or two (remember when the most truly desired was a DE ranger and instead we got something no one truly wanted beyond the devs.
    How about a race of Primates, Rats, kobolds, Netherbians, heck even Mermen or Alarians. and not Shrouds (look how well those lasted)


    for example:
    Zones in The Serpent's Spine

    Hobitses likes this.
  2. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    If they make an expansion that can take you from level 1 to 120, then that means most of the zones will be dedicated to low-level content. In other words, players who are not interested in starting a new char will have very few zones to play in.
    I think that is the main concern.

    Of course if DBG suddenly doubled the expansion size and could give both high-levels and newbies a satisfying experience, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. Especially if it could attract a lot of new players in the long term.

    However, I think such an ambitious expansion would be more successful if they waited till AFTER they have upgraded the UI and the 3d-engine. It also needs a complete overhaul of its sound-design imho. Currently we only get useful sound effects if we provide them ourselves, which is unacceptable in most games.

    EQ1 as it is now, is embarrassingly old fashioned, and will have difficulty with satisfying a new generation of players.
    Skuz, Hobitses and Waring_McMarrin like this.
  3. KermittheFroglok Augur

    Not sure I follow or understand, so I can't say I fully disagree. Can you clarify why we need more races/classes? The developer time it would take to rebalance over 100 levels of a new race with our historical content through new content seems like it might be prohibitive.

    With the heroic boost going to 100, I'm not sure I'll see as much of a barrier to entry on Live anymore or the need for new zones. A lot of people I know that left did so well before Rain of Fear, generally around Gates & Darkhollow. So that content will be new to them.

    My main critique on starting/restarting on Live is less about content and more about server culture eroding away. I see a lot of casuals are coming back but underestimating the importance of guilds and socializing to find groups. Then they get frustrated and then decide to box rather than socialize. We really need more incentives for guild play. I use to oppose this idea, but I'm starting to see other's arguments for splicing together the Guild & Fellowship systems somehow, maybe splice in some elements of the retired referral programs. That'll help lowbies catchup quicker and encourage more guild community development.

    My suggestion is to prompt people to find a guilds early (and incentivize guilds to recruit/train lowbies more), have lowbies run the Rain of Fear progression onward to Live (skip Broken Mirror if you can...).
  4. EQGenericName theychangedmyname

    New challenges for players we have a few classes that are hybrids of 2 but there are possibilities that could be explored like monk w/ mage or wiz or how about a rog with a mage more utility than anything. When it comes to races I think it comes down to building/discovering more lore like what was done in TSS and older expansions (im just really tired of Mayong being the main driving force at this point something that was such a threat to him it capitulates into his final stand and this new force from a newly discovered land sends him packing for a decade. VoA and RoF gave significant opportunities to introduce his destroyer.

    This comes back to new starting zone with a new class and or races, when these happen (bst and zerkers, drakkins) people wanted to check them out they wanted to see what the low zones were about and the lore. TSS was nearly impossible to find camps but you could find groups out there with openings with drakkin you did the questing and unlocked specific racial abilities (breath AA). Im not saying 100% we need a new class but there are options (or just stop limiting classes based on race) you wanna play a HE SK great or a dwarf necro how about an Iskar paladin.



    Finding new players and guilds depending on servers can be difficult, between oldskool mentalities and gear chases, boxers (guilty as charged), more and more relying on verbal communication instead of chat leaves a lot of players feeling left out. I know my old grouping friends seen us meet up when logging in, start skype up or team speak and we would communicate that way for the most part. Even during raids even during raids with differing guilds. Then as life pulled a member away we just took over their toons essentially gifted access. That's how I ended up with a sk, clr, enc, mag, shm, & ber group.
    we have way too many servers for the diminished population the game has. The progression servers are like ghost towns by the time the new ones open. they combine 2 make 1 as a static server and add 2 more. as shown below the last time main servers seen a merge it was in 2010.

    Antonius Bayle / Kane Bayle 22-Mar-05
    Antonius Bayle / Kael Drakkel 30-Jun-05
    Antonius Bayle / Sebilis 30-Jun-05
    Antonius Bayle / Venril Sathir 30-Jun-05
    Bertoxxulous / Tholuxe Paells 28-Apr-05
    Bristlebane / Solusek Ro 23-Mar-05
    Cazic Thule / Brell Serilis 7-Apr-05
    Drinal / Tarew Marr 14-Apr-05
    Druzzil Ro / Xev 19-May-05
    Erollisi Marr / Morell Thule 16-May-05
    Fennin Ro / Torvonnilous 23-May-05
    Luclin / Veeshan 25-Apr-05
    Maelin Starpyre / Vazaelle 9-May-05
    Player Choice / Stormhammer 1-Feb-06
    Povar Morden Rasp 11-Apr-05
    Prexus Terris Thule 26-May-05
    Quellious Rodcet Nife 12-May-05
    Saryrn Mithaniel Marr 18-Apr-05
    The Combine / The Sleeper 21-Mar-07
    The Nameless / Innoruuk 2-May-05
    The Rathe / Karana 18-Apr-05
    The Seventh Hammer / Lanys T'Vyl 11-Apr-05
    The Tribunal / Ayonae Ro 21-Apr-05
    Tunare / E'ci 31-May-05
    Xegony / Zebuxoruk 5-May-05
    Zek Rallos Zek 8-Feb-05
    Zek Tallon Zek 8-Feb-05
    Zek Sullon Zek 8-Feb-05
    Zek Vallon Zek 8-Feb-05
    The Combine / Druzzil Ro 4-Mar-09
    Bertoxxulous / Saryrn 22-Jun-10
    Bristlebane /The Tribunal 22-Jun-10
    Cazic-Thule / Fennin Ro 22-Jun-10
    Drinal / Maelin Starpyre 22-Jun-10
    Erollisi Marr / The Nameless 22-Jun-10
    Luclin / Stromm 22-Jun-10
    Povar / Quellious 22-Jun-10
    The Rathe / Prexus 22-Jun-10
    Tunare / The Seventh Hammer 22-Jun-10
    Xegony / Druzzil Ro 22-Jun-10

    Progression servers
    Tunare / Mayong 9-Sep-10
    Fippy Darkpaw / Vulak`Aerr 18-Oct-17
    Ragefire / Lockjaw 20-May-20
    Vox / Trakanon 20-May-20
    Vox / Fippy Darkpaw 20-May-20
    Firiona Vie / Brekt 20-May-20
    Povar / Selo 21-July-21
  5. Vumad Cape Wearer

    I'm all about new and returning players, but I think that investing in new zone development is probably a waste of time. I would much rather see them invest resources in a cross-server gameplay.

    EQ does not have a content problem. It has a congregation (or lack of) problem. It's not that people don't want to play in the old zones. It's that they want see other people to play with while they are in those old zones.

    I think what that would look like is that when you zone into the currently empty zones, like Neriak, or even later zones, you would be migrated onto a shared server. Players who are not on your server would be unable to make trades with you. Items you drop on the ground would not be able to be picked up by other server players and items sold to merchants would be listed on the original server tables, etc.

    But as you run through these zones, anyone in that zone, no matter which live server (excluding TLP servers) they are on, you see the other players, can group, talk to, etc. Other games do it, and it keeps the newbie zones feeling alive and bustling, so the technology is available (although it may not be compatible with our servers), but I believe it would be a good investment if there is a workable solution.
    Dre., Metanis and Waring_McMarrin like this.
  6. MyShadower All-natural Intelligence

    Allowing players to more easily revisit past content might be more worthwhile than brand new expansions for lower levels.

    Go to the Plane of Time and warp to shift your character to a specific era. Upon your first visit, you load in a minimally viable state so you can immediately begin playing in that era, upon future visits, you load with your current progress in that era.

    The time shift can go in any direction, allowing new players to load into any era of EQ in a minimally viable state. At any time, you can reset to a minimally viable state or overwrite the era you are in with character state from a past era. You have one universal inventory but your level/AA/worn gear/skill/etc align to an era.

    There are a lot of potential conflicts to sort but they already make a lot of money from those that enjoy past content and continue providing new ways to do it.

    Create rewards that are balanced for higher level players to want to explore past content "in era". Of course, this would be an additional charge to enable for an account/character.
    Arkanny likes this.
  7. Skrab East Cabilis #1 Realtor

    Every other expansion should introduce a Dragonscale Hills type zone, very large and outdoors that creates distinct leveling pockets. Start it from 85+ to congregate players.
    Riou likes this.
  8. Riou EQResource


    They did make Shard's Landing in RoF with the intention it is a higher level Dragonscale Hills, then they could move on to Gribbles in CotF, then Frontier Mountains in EoK was another similar enough one, but don't think there has really been one beyond this so far
    Skrab likes this.
  9. Skrab East Cabilis #1 Realtor

    Good points, those zones always hold over their popularity. I would like to see it release every other year to encourage more expansion sales, and interest in Live EQ.
  10. Arkanny Augur

    i don't get the bashing of rehashing content, Eok is "rehashed" kunark and was one of the best expansions in a long time for me. Coming back now, so i can't give a solid opinion on the latter ones.
    Hobitses likes this.
  11. Shakara Augur

    Where I disagree is EQ does not need more zones. EQ has an overabundance of zones which has left the world bloated. I actually enjoy them using the old zones and building on the stories made long ago. This is also a good way to try engage people who left EQ long ago and those stories were their last memories.

    I do agree that EQ needs some original content. What I would like to see is something that promotes grinding not at max level. Some sort of system that where you create characters to level them up and then retire them for some sort of reward that you would want to use on your main. EQ feels so much better to play when you are traveling around the world seeing people doing things. Right now everyone is in an instance whether that is the guild lobby or a mission/raid. EQ really needs something to push people back into the open world. I especially like this idea because it has replayablity. One of the biggest issues with the current design is it put so much pressure on the devs to create something new quickly. They need to design some systems with replayability so their not having to make so much new content every year. In addition it would give new players more options to meet and play with the veteran community.
    Vumad and Brontus like this.
  12. Nolrog Augur

  13. Xatt Journeyman

    I hate to mention WoW but they did it right when they added Deathknights as a new class. They all started at high level so I am sure the devs cut out a lot of low level item allocation.
  14. Timmyboi Dunning Kruger Award Winner

    What they need to do is make a sort-of shroud mission that players of all levels can do together, that would have either an AA, exp, or currency reward that would be tasty and enticing enough to draw max level characters in.
    Yinla likes this.
  15. Skrab East Cabilis #1 Realtor

    They did with OMM. It was incredibly popular and accessible, but it was cumbersome to set-up. Plus, the old crowd here complained about not playing their character actual character.

    There was a lot of positivity leading into Underfoot that quickly became squashed.
  16. Timmyboi Dunning Kruger Award Winner

    Yeah I was thinking something like OMM. I mean people are gonna whine. Its what they do. Don't wanna do the missions and get the juicy rewards? Then don't.
    Skrab likes this.
  17. Brontus EQ Player Activist

    Good point! There are many existing zones in classic EQ that by today's standards are sub-standard. The ugly and uninspired Karanas are a good example of this. The mob populations are far too sparse and far too low in level to make them viable NK and WK in particular. There are precious few real stationary camps like Orc Hill in Greater Faydark in the Karanas. Roaming mobs are great as they present danger and unpredictability but players gravitate to stationary camps or predictable patrol routes like the old orc highway and caiman highway in the old Oasis. The itemization in the Karanas is almost non-existent too.

    The devs routinely make changes to the core functionally of EverQuest that impact everyone. I don't see why they can't go back and fix some of these old zones and bring them up to par. They could even keep the old graphics. If I was an EQ dev, striving to constantly improving the quality of the MMO and improving existing content would be a matter of personal pride for me.
  18. EQGenericName theychangedmyname

    I'm part of that old crowd you refer to sir. before OMM we had shroud missions that were fun occasionally but everyone was living in them as they were granting 20% lvl xp going to 75 and nearly 50AA a pop so people were creating bots, boxes and alts and leveling them up and they were fizzle factories and majority didn't know how to play their toons. you might still even be able to find the npcs to experience them but eventually SOE beat them senseless in which xp was set to a decent first run then move on and the more you did the less xp you got.

    Essentially the purpose of this thread is to create healthy dialogue that perhaps they will take note of and help generate something to increase the potential in interest of for new players or returning players, as well take into consideration that the sparseness of servers has grown significantly since the last time we seen a merge. populations are low recruiting is more difficult boxers are up but essentially they will leave or get banned.
    I miss the grouping and randomness of PUGs I made some damn good friends over the years but you dont find the social interaction that once was because most know the others and or of that toons rep. I'm not asking for a return to glory old days just to see some new or renewed interest and a little digital advertising somewhere!
  19. Vumad Cape Wearer


    I really like this suggestion. I think something would have to be done to prevent power leveling. Perhaps they could implement something like this on instanced zones, like a pick zone, where the instance is level capped. Players under the level cap would zone into one zone, where players over the level cap would zone into another version. Players who are not level capped could /pick into the uncapped version, but players over the cap could not go to the capped version. Players grinding to feed their main could only earn whatever those points are in the capped zones, so no power leveling can occur.

    To use something like Planes of Power, for example, you wouldn't be able to get in above level 65 or 70. You can still go to PoP, but you wouldn't be able to play in those PL locked zones, meanwhile, PL could still occur in the unlocked zones.

    In any case, I really like the idea of feeding mains from alts, just how to implement it without abuse would be an issue.
  20. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    I think a reentry expansion only makes sense if they are also going to do a big push for brand new players on Live. Basically every TLP is a reentry server when it starts up so unless they are going to market the heck and try to drum up real new folks I am not sure it would make sense for them.
    Stymie likes this.