Chains of Eternity: Avatars

Not to mention contested spawns skew guildprogress for those who actually care to track guilds kills as they aren't hard. They simple added first 9 kills to Skyrshine and now 6 kills to further muck it up. I don't mind contested content imo it add exhilaration to kill an Avatar in front of your competing guild the issue more lies in the players to log in and try. A guild that doesn't try to contest is not going to get kills. Even my own guild lacks a bit on the commitment to pull Avatars yet we can still contest and kill them when we focus on it.

The moving on failed pull is a bad idea it lets the guilds fight even more for who gets pulls when. At least with 1 repop location guilds usually take turns on pulls. Multiple spawn locs I can maybe see as valid because they just will be noted by the guilds with chars and people will use F2P accounts to camp all spawns.

Disagree, the moving of the Avatar is fine.

They should make Avatars known to the server when they spawn, kinda like Mayong in EOF in castle.

It should read Norrath is still for a moment while the God of X steps foot upon Norrathian soil.

The moving of the avatar would be fine if there was a message. That's the point. I'm fine with it moving around, it's neat. It makes it even more of a pain when you wipe.. which is deserved. Don't wipe! It also shuffles the spawn point so there's not just a bot sitting there. Also good.

It just means no one would be able to find it without hunting it. Constantly.

What's the point of an avatar of a god that's hiding from everyone?

And yes, lag is always an issue. But it's an issue even in instances. It's combat related more than population related at this point. It might be a little worse, it might be a lot worse.. but again, that's not our problem. They should make their system work.

You're wrong on two counts: First, it's actually those that put most in that get most out. Second it's always been the case that it's much easier to whine about other people's ability to kill mobs like avatars that it is to kill them yourself!

Has my guild killed an avatar? No.

Am I bothered? Not particularly. I get a good return for the time and effort I expend.

Can I respect those that put as much into the game as guilds like Equilibrium and Validus do? Absolutely.

The only thing stopping anyone killing avatars is the amount that they want to kill avatars.

Everything in this game is just a matter of effort. I used to be in a roleplaying guild. One day I decided I wanted to raid (EoF Avatars / contested mobs in general seemed like the coolest thing ever.) So I did. And Now I'm in Equilibrium.

Even if your guild can't kill avatars or get the best gear, that gear being out there and that style of gameplay is a carrot for you to chase. Something to aspire to. There is so little incentive to raid at this point that people just don't do it.This latest expansion is the worst it's been.

Upgrades are incredibly small, if any at all (0.2% more potency and crit bonus. Thanks.. I get aroused just thinking about that.)
All content can be done in solo versions (Nothing like saving the world by yourself!)
Small amount of imbalanced or recycled raid content (Plane of War.. it's just not funny anymore)

The current state of avatars just follows suit. Yes, we're back on topic!

It's just boring. It's not innovative. It's not a spectacle or accomplishment. It's simply a demonstration of dedication.

I just want to skip to the day when avatars spawn in the middle of the Ganak battleground and open up cross-server contested dungeons.

I actually dislike that I don't get a chance at these mobs. Don't get me wrong I'm all for contested mobs, and I'm all for rewarding people that want to make the sacrifices to be on call lists to lock them down.

I just don't like having content around that I do not and will not have the opportunity to play. I recognize that currently I don't have that opportunity cause I've not surrounded myself with 24 players able to be on a call list and run a bot to check for spawns. I guess what I'd like to see is the ability to do an instanced version with generic instance loot rewards. Like taking the avatars, putting them in a 1 week timer zone with the exact scripts and having their loot table just be any random instanced raid drop.

In the end, I just want to have the ability to enjoy the content, I'm fine in sacrificing the avatar level gear for the opportunity to do the content in instance form.

Now all that aside, I do also support the idea of server wide triggers when they spawn, and a little variation in their spawn locations. It doesn't need to be a huge hunt, just something that makes the obvious spawn botting a little more challenging.

a zone notification would be nice, not a server one tho, that would cause some very unneccessary lag,

ill personally never kill an avatar, ill admit im just not good enough, i have alot of learning to do, but i would love to, i watched my brother while he was in tyrrany kill Marr, coolest thing ever, thats what got me into EQ2 i wanted to raid, and still do, so going and watching a avatar be pulled, always fun

anyway... i disagree with taking avatars back out, it adds a part of the game that was missed when they took them out in TSO, i was watching my brother, look at all his avatar gear and he looked at me and said "this is ****** Bull" i asked what and he expalined the game to me and how loot works. i was very surprise (altho at the time only retaining about half of what i heard ) but seeingthem back in the time that i start playing or so is interesnting and i would like to see them stay

I was not aware the simple text when a guild gains a significant level mark caused any lag. I'm not sure why this notification would either.

A quarter of the world doesn't become intrigued and rush to your guild hall upon levelling generally. 70 people in an avatar overland zone makes it unplayable. TSO saw 7+ second spell lag on some fights.

Don't remind me. I wasn't raiding in TSO but when an Avatar was up in the zone I was questing in... god I lagged hardcore and that was only from 1 to 3 Guilds being at the Avatar with zone limitations Spectators could actually lock-raids out of being able to get their whole force in the zone to even pull it since Avatar's only spawn in the 1st instance. (So no Vallon in Withering Lands 2)

There have been some changes to the platform to make this not as bad.

They could squelch more combat from those not engaged with it and likely remove the majority of that lag issue.

Lately I've seen 2-3 guilds at an avatar spawn point with little issue.

The point of the new Avatars spawning in random locations is to make it difficult for any one guild to sit in one spot watching for them. If there is a zonewide message for them spawning, this defeats their purpose in moving them around so they as well continue having them spawn in the same spot. I don't really understand the decision to move them in various locations around the zone though, they may as well have them spawning in any zone in game, or again like I said earlier, put them inside of instances as a rare spawn or something.

We've had more than 2 guilds at nearly every spawn so far this expansion, so there is definately competition for them at least on our server, I can't speak for others though. The lag is hit or miss however with more than 2 guilds in the same zone, sometimes it can be fine, other times it can be pretty rough. I definately would not want to see what it would be like with 3 full guilds or more at these though, as I'm sure it would be pretty brutal trying to cast a simple spell and making killing them nearly impossible for most guilds.

Highest I've seen on an avatar is about 2 second spell lag. Have had worse in instances (harrow's/sleeper's).

Also we have no contest on AB. None of the other guilds are willing to call list.



Also, Atan, if you don't like not having the opportunity to pull avatars, find a new guild with people who do want to pull avatars.

Umm, you quoted me, said I was wrong then said the exact same thing??

Me: those that play the most get out the most

You: You're wrong on two accounts... First it's actually those that put the most in that get the most out.

How's that different?

Secondly, I'm not whining. I appreciate the dedication these guilds put in. I did the same on eq1 when I played it. Then I got married and by the time I started playing eq2 I could not dedicate enough time to a raid schedule.

Maergoth's suggestion sounds really fun, but yeah, I'd worry about the lag too. I just remember the DoV pq's and people yelling at each other to put their flying mounts away to try and make lag tolerable enough to kill the mob. This would work in GW2, but afraid Eq2 would melt.

You could give a server message when they're killed. Would help more casual guilds a little as far as timers and would make the slaying of an avatar a server event.

Yeah, thats what I said is required to do so. However realisticaly, I couldn't be on a call list for more than a couple weeks before I jeopardized my job, so its not really in the cards.

I'd just like to do the content, doesn't need to be by reward. Back in the previous avatar era I buddied with someone who ran another guild on another server and got on his call list, and I played one of their alts/box accounts as I could when they needed it, so in those days I got to do the content.

Realistically, if they aren't instanced, I'd have to find that same situation again where I 'pitch hit' on other peoples toons in other guilds raids.