So when is this invis issue going to get fixed?

Yes, They were asked for. As MasterMagnus stated in the post you quoted: "The body type changes were made for coding and performance benefit..."

It's an ongoing effort to try and clean up a ton of stuff to help reduce the lag and overall gameplay experience. I mean, now that Bristlebane finally caught a glimpse of what other servers have been dealing with for the past 3-4 expansions, it's high time things were done about it!

They tried to fix something in the game. It messed up some aspects outside of their intentions (i.e. making Shades in ToL Undead) This changed their See invis/IVU properties, which broke both of those NPC flags making them see through both and SoS... They emergency patched it yesterday to make it more uniform and in line with what they wanted, that shades are undead. So now you have zones that have both live and undead mobs in it. Heavens to Betsy!

Outside of breaking the SoS/See through both error, in the end, for all these changes, the biggest complaints I've seen are:
1. They can't 'move freely and easily' in a current expansion T2+ zone; as well as are no longer able to do a some repeatable quests so easily for free AA.
2. We can't Headshot/Assasinate mob X/Y/Z anymore.
These aren't game breaking huge QoLife issues IMHO. Have some patience while it all gets sorted out.

So you can't move around and reap the benefits of a repeatable quest for fast easy AAs? Oh well, you had 6 months of it, you enjoyed it, now you can still do it, but it takes a little more effort. Now you're just like all those other pleb classes that didn't have a fixed duration invis or ivu and have to find someone who does to cast it on you, or actually take some effort to move around mobs. So you have to be cautious and tread carefully through higher level content? Oh well, welcome to original EQ where it was exciting, fun, and sometimes 'scary' to move around in the world... anyone remember Kithicor?

As for the HS/Assassinate mobs. I like the concept of it, as well as decap for zerkers (monks should get boot to the head). But to base your entire gameplay and strategy for fighting mobs on 1 mechanic of the game, seems like that mechanic may be either broken, or you rely too heavily on it. There are other ways to do dps. This isn't game breaking or something to get sooo upset about.

And it's PRONE!

Clearly you're a fan of Dordness Rising.



Skip manually to 1:13:53 since I can't link into the middle of a video here.

Ever since my last few comments, (against recent patches) I am in a crash to desktop loop.
good times.

There was clearly thought put into the placement of see invis mobs in a large number of zones when they were being designed, creating intentional safe routes. Just throwing that away really feels like these zones are losing some of their character (on top of the massive inconvenience it imposes).

All it messed up was every single AA, spell, and skill that have flags based on bodytypes or interact with things depending on bodytype restrictions. Just literally all of them. Nothing major.

Couldnt wait to push that to live until theres, you know, secondary flag systems in place that those things could use instead, so that giant undead thing could actually be recognized as both a giant and undead, and not whichever bodytype wins the priority shuffle this update(which may be different than it used to and will almost certainly never change again until the next time it does). Nah, whats the worst that could happen.

The emergency patch was a half-hearted panic attempt to try and somewhat appease the playerbase. Bunch of stuff still broke.

Yep, for those cannot get dual invis/ivu, the run to Shadow Valley is undoable. Did a raid in Basilical last night and I zoned to SV with 15% healtn after something saw IVU, don't know if a joker shade was there or a tegri.

If only there was a way for a raid to zone straight into Shadow Valley and then cast another spell to take you directly to the raid npc. I mean, in an MMORPG, I don't think it should be required that you work with other people and classes for a common objective and should be able to solely rely on your own class to do everything with no effort whatsoever!

They must fix this atrocity of making it so you can travel anywhere without any worry; so we don't have to use in-game assets, potions, other clickies, or <shudder> other players! While they're at it, they're going to start giving necros the ability to port, CoH, and invis other players; making it so everyone is able to fade as quickly as bards; clerics will get headshot; wizards will have pets than can tank as well as a mage pet; and by the power of Grey Skull every class should be able to swarm mobs like an SK...

My monk cannot innately do any invis and can make this run with 0 problems, my cleric cannot invis and makes this run with 0 problems, as well as the many other classes I play... I won't be a meanie poo and say something like 'get gud' or 'push buttons more goodlier'.... because even if I was feeling lazy on any of my toons, it's not hard to send a tell to anyone online and ask for an invis or double invis. Maybe be social, work together and maybe make a new friend in the process.

Seriously, it is much less annoying to move around in a T2 zone in a current expansion, than to hear people complain about not being able to run to a zone that you can straight up port to with the aide of another player; or the fact they can't do their precious 'intel' quest with the greatest of ease anymore. Trival things in game are now taking a little bit of an effort after a patch in which the devs are actively trying to reduce/clean up data to help with an issue that's much more important than movement or headshot/assassinate woes.

Prove it. Make a video and show us your uberness.

I was in a hurry to get back to helping an exp group while I did this, so at the end I accidentally moved 0.1s before Perfected IVU took hold... so had to use leap/fade at end. But still not too difficult. I didn't even use the all the tools available to the cleric class.. even though I had Pacify loaded. And I was even in such a hurry that I hardly waited for any mobs to 'path properly' for true safety.




In the end, every class has abilities and things to do to make this run without a ton of problems, I didn't even use all the extra farmable clickies I have to make the run easier. Only used Cloudy potions and Perfected IVU on cleric..

So, you lied...or at least seriously misled.

Your original post implied that without access to invis ("my cleric cannot invis" - direct quote), you made it all the way through the zone. You DID have access to invis...clicky potions.

Secondly, where are the live alien dudes in that first corridor? Do you have those mobs hidden somehow? There's like 4 or 5 weak con mobs lined up on either side, with the shade patrolling back and forth. Where were they?

I didn't bother watching the rest because you already showed me what I needed to see. You didn't make the run as a toon without access to invis (which you implied)...you had plenty of clickies to help you get there. And that's the point a lot of others have been making...you now need help or some sort of support to get through there, and not everyone has that. And since the devs now seem focused on forcing people to do progression to get anywhere, this change makes no sense...at all.

Why make it harder for players to get to where you want them to go to do the things you obviously want them doing? That's why I think this change (body types) was made as a knee-jerk reaction to something and they gave ZERO thought to how it impacted the rest of the game.

Just because somethings change that they might not have expected doesn't make the change a knee-jerk reaction to something. What I got out of the patch notes is that the change was designed to help them with development going forward and it just had impacts that they did not expect.

I'll address your second point first; about the 4 live aliens in the first corridor. I don't know where they moved off to on our server. My guess is, as is prevalent in the ToL expansion, the mobs in certain zones have issues pathing back to their spawn after being trained off by people. I'm guessing that is the case here. Someone trained them off and they had an issue pathing back to their spawn. There are also shades crammed in a wall along the way too, but you missed that. But the strategy is still the same... just deal with the 1 IVU shade in the center. You can hug the wall and avoid it with regular invis and all the extra live mobs aren't an issue.

As to your first point: Clerics do not have innate invis. I didn't say anything about not using things available to everyone. And I surely didn't mean I wouldn't use ANY tools at all. So I'll give you miscommunication on that, I see how it could be understood in the way you took it. That being said: If you want to watch a video where I pacify/root/atone mobs all the way through, I can do that special just for you. But that's not the real point.

As you say, the point is to get through the zone quickly and easily with tools available to everyone. The way I did it, took barely any effort, and took a minimal bit of knowledge about my class/game items. Every class can use a multitude of tools available.

My point is that people are complaining that they HAVE to have a bard with double invis now in order to get anywhere in the expansion. And that is just asinine. Everyone can use Invis potions, as well as IVU items. These things are available to EVERYONE.

This attitude of "everything should be easy and I shouldn't have to put any effort into anything" isn't a valid excuse for complaining excessively about things. It's the current expansion, It's the high end of the game (at group level). Where does it say, that in any game, that High level content is supposed to be trivial for traveling and moving around? This 'dumbing down of everything in the game' is not conducive for players knowing their class or abilities. And I don't see how that is good for anyone. That zone is a gateway from the T1 zones to the T2/3 zones beyond. It's high level game play, if someone can't take the time to learn their class, or get a group, or use a porter, should they really be in that area?

Even to your point about it progression being the focus, moving from zone to zone is progressing your character in skill and abilities as well. The game isn't just about get X exp to attain X level and that makes you able to play X class. Learning to play your class is a huge part of it; as well as learning the tools/skills available to everyone (potions/clickies/drops).

I don't see the devs changing body types as a knee-jerk reaction. The biggest knee-jerk reactions I see are those up in arms about moving through zones isn't easy anymore. Even one person going as far as saying something along the lines of "I can't do my Intel quest anymore"... like somehow it's blasphemous and the game is broken because now they can't get 19AA's every 30mins running around picking up ground spawns.

The devs are trying to address a much larger issue, they changed something and there were a lot of side effects. It was brought it to their attention about how the change affected so many mobs in ToL in the bug forums, and it was acknowledged. From there, they're aware and they'll change things if they want to. If they don't, oh well! I don't understand this culture of people who don't want to take the time to learn the game, their characters, or the mechanics involved, and figure out how to move from place to place in High End content.

/snark on:

I'm happy for you

/snark off
i zone to Ka Vethan and am able to FD past the first shade I encounter. Reg invis takes me to where the shades are. Then I use an IVU potion and go the rest of the way, I have an audio trigger for invis failing, and am able to get close to the SV zone. There I get hit by something that saw me and there wre no tegri around, so figure it was a shade that saw through both.

Update: It was a Tegri mob standing in the doorway to the last room on the right. Well within aggro range. I don't know if it wanders further in or not.

One of my favorite EQ memories is when I left the relative safety of Greater Faydark for the first time and made my way to The Estate of Unrest.

Another is when I safely navigated to Garanel Rucksif's room for the first time.

Another when I took the boat and crossed the Timorous Deep to dock in FV then run to Lake of Ill Omen all the way to the Sarnak fort for a new adventure.

Oh to be young again!

My apologies, I am going to go lay my printed maps out on the floor and reminisce. Carry on.