Producer's Letter: Spring 2021 Edition

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by JChan, Mar 23, 2021.

  1. JChan Developer

    To the most excellent adventurers of Norrath, by the grace of The Faceless Ones, defenders of the land, suzerains of Freeport, Qeynos, and Oggok, JChan sends greetings and hopes of greatness found on Norrath and glory on Luclin.

    Game Update 117: Whispers of Tyranny is almost here, we’ll be releasing it on March 30th with the patch! It’s time to confront Emperor Ssraeshza and his hordes. Will the magic you’ve empowered yourself with from the Vah Shir finally be enough to take him down? We’re about to find out! With the launch of GU 117 be on the lookout for new signature quests leading into the Plane of Shadows and an Overseer update as well!

    Overseer Season 3 includes:
    • Five new traits!
    • New achievements!
    • New adventures!
    • New agents!
    • New rewards!

    If you’re a Raider, you may have noticed a significant improvement in lag with some changes made over the last month. While we’re happy with the decrease in issues, there are still areas of Norrath that continue to suffer from this pernicious problem. Work is still ongoing on solving the overall lag. While I want to be clear it’s still a ways off: we’re continuing the process of a major hardware upgrade to significantly address a number of lag issues. It is currently slated later this year and as we can talk about it more, we will.

    For those of you ready for events, Bristlebane Day and Beast’r Eggstravaganza are already on Test and getting ready and all gussied up for everyone on live servers.

    Now, it is time to cover some highlights about our TLEs, we know PVP fans are rabidly anticipating Tarinax and it’s impending beta launch (April 6th, by the way, mark your calendars). Take heart it’s going to progress through the expansions and be locked at The Shadow Odyssey.

    On Kaladim, we’re about to reach Destiny of Velious for the first time ever on a TLE server and we’re planning a beta to go along with it. We’ll have more info as we get closer but hold a spot in May for that.

    More than anything I want to thank you for continuing to express and share your love for your corners of Norrath. The passion and excitement you all exhibit on a regular basis is humbling and a great reminder of the dedication we all share for this world that we have built together.


    Ere a misty morn comes again,
    Jenn Chan

    Head of Studio, Darkpaw Games
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  2. LastActionJackson Member

    Please increase the celestial drop rates in PQ and weeklies. I believe the odds of getting a celestial in PQ is about 1 in 350 crates and weekly is at least 1 in 100 weekly missions. It could take a year to get them. PQ used to be bustling with multiple zones open at once. Now they are not so popular anymore.
  3. Siren Well-Known Member

    1. Is Taranax launching with DoF and KoS already open, or is it launching with Vanilla?

    2. And will Frostfang and Neriak be in at launch, with Kelethin not open til EoF?

    3 Will all races be in at launch?

    4. I'm assuming no Channeler or Beastlord will be available on the PvP TL due to balance issues...but that would be cool and extra fun if Darkpaw wants to prove me wrong! :p
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  4. Garry827 New Member

    no new familiars?
    Cassta likes this.
  5. Will Turner New Member

    Anything on Rivervale closure/merge? Thank you!
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  6. Flatline Well-Known Member

    underwhelming, any word on the changes to mechanics and such expressed by the players in multiple threads on the forums ?
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  7. dreamweaver Well-Known Member


    That is still a ways off, we'll talk about it more once we're closer.
  8. Hechada New Member

    This is more of a note than a lettter. I’m also underwhelmed. Whilst lag is slightly bettter, client crashes are worse than ever. I cross my fingers every time I call to my Guild Hall.

    No acknowledgement of the many complaints regarding no reason to run heroics or the general loot box dullness of using raid coins to hope the gods of RNG give something nice from the piñata. PQs remain a skill less, joyless time sink.

    Dreamweaver remains a lone voice in answering players (and deserves a raise) - though it seems he’s the mouthpiece for other employees whose main message to players who raise constructive points to try and improve he game and encourage people to recruit players is “we’ve read the comments but won’t respond - probably”.

    It’s great to hear new players are joining. Out of interest how long are they staying? Unless they want to solo they can’t really be viable in end game without a supreme effort.

    Whilst I’m moaning, why were Mercs ruined this expansion. As a paid for feature it’s beyond annoying that I can’t solo zones as Chaotic Leech means my merc can’t heal me. They are simply Pay To Win buffbots now.
  9. Errrorr An Actual EQ2 Player

    How about some info on the actual content?

    You've given more info about Overseers than you have about the whole GU....

    Solo zones? Heroic zones? Raid zones? How many?

    Could have saved yourself time and summed up your letter in;
    • GU Next Tuesday
    • Overseers Update
    • PVP Server Beta April 6th
    • Still working on Lag
    • Kaladim not switching off yet.
  10. Benito Ancient EQ2 Player: Lavastorm Server 2004.

    I think JChan's style of leadership and communication is not to overpromise. She would rather pleasantly surprise people with content (action).

    People laughed when I basically said "actions speak louder than words" for RoS marketing and beta. But there was fairly good reviews/feedback when the expansion eventually dropped. (The backlash mainly started after PQ drop rates were nerfed).

    The update drops on March 30 so I say hold back the criticism until then. :)

    Edit: I do think a video edit of new zones, etc. would be helpful once the content is finalized and/or released. I think new, returning, and inactive players are keen on seeing new content or zones in order to be engaged. If it remains in the view of active players only, the aforementioned groups won't have their appetite whet.
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  11. TechUp Active Member



    Fallen Gate had DoV unlocked on or about 02/26/19 (prior to this date we were all in Sentinel's Fate). There was no official announcement but the the server had to be taken down the same day the expac unlocked:

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq2/index.php?threads/fallen-gate-downtime-february-26-2019.588656/

    Less than a month later on 03/16/19, Kaladim was announced and Fallen Gate became a ghost town. Here's to hoping this launch of DoV goes better this time around.
  12. Raeven Well-Known Member

    This really confuses me. I manage to solo zones with my merc ( or molo them, as it is called). My merc seems to heal, cure and rez me just fine. What merc are you using, and is it fully leveled and geared?
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  13. AvenElonis Well-Known Member

    1 solo zone, 1 heroic (2 levels), and 2 raid zones. but the updated to several classes - if my memory serves. I think all of these is in the beta forums for the GU.
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  14. Smashey Well-Known Member

    I want to be positive but there is not much positive to say.

    Stop selling overseers and overseer logins as player activity and actual content. It really is not.

    Go play on any server for 14 days and notice how dead most servers are. Please do it and then tell us again how the game is growing.
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  15. AvenElonis Well-Known Member

    True story - my wife wanted to play the game, started her at 1 and helped her to 65 or so - and then she lost interest. She saw what I am doing for my toon and said - that looks like too much work :) . She might pick up the game again or not. Will see what she decides.

    This was in the past year btw.
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  16. Ingerimm Well-Known Member

    It would be really nice if the client crash and client stability problems that have existed for years could finally be fixed.

    For example, by offering a 64bit eq2 game client in order to be able to address more RAM than just 3Gb to the EQ2 client.

    In my opinion, these client crashes and client instabilities are even more exasperating and annoying than the lags that occur every now and then.

    A lot of positive things have happened in the lag issure problematic. In terms of client stability and client crashes, unfortunately, nothing at all since november 2011.
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  17. Beee Well-Known Member

    Sorry it's hard to write - because i really love eq2 - lag in raid ist still sometimes just anoying
    Depending on lag we still loose 50% of our fun .. not always and i have no idea if you can solve this
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  18. Beee Well-Known Member

    so starting overseers whith 3 accounts i have still a chance getting any unsefull item ot of them ?
    still had no luck of getting some items like merc :(
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  19. Xzoomer New Member

    One thing I rarely read about in forums is crafting. I know many people who love crafting and others who have left because crafting never gets any love / innovation. I know I'm not alone in realizing that tradeskill classes have been pretty much irrelevant for quite a few xpacs now. I'm sure if Darkpaw invested some time into innovating and making tradeskilling professions relevant again would be a highly welcomed addition and even draw some who have left back to the game...
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  20. Ichoris Well-Known Member

    I agree that Overseers are not really content. I also never get anything useful. The other thing is that there are no item drops for anyone under level 120 (at least I can see). I mostly get useless trade skill mats or way too many potions that I can't use. I also would love to see Trade Skill content. Maybe those days are past.
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