I'm honestly curious how much time was put in by the dev team for DoF. Seriously, break it down. 1 hour by 1 person? This is disastrous. If someone wants to give specific feedback on how to make the population not desert the server a few percent everyday, feel free. I am just waiting for better content next xpac, you know, months from now since this had 0 challenge and the loot made even less sense than shattered lands.
Well, let us see,... the release of Desert of Flames was September 13, 2005. So. Maybe what might be helpful to start with is answering the question of whom all are able to recall subtle events that occurred nearly fourteen(14) years in the past.
I remember this as if it were yesterday: this was GU 13 - the day our hearts were broken. They'd done a combat revamp, which meant also an itemization and abilities/spells revamp. Even with the good team back then, it was really bad. When we first logged in to go to the Sinking Sands, we were all (except SKs if I remember correctly) one-shotted by the first beetle we ran into. It took 5 mins to kill a solo mob...etc, etc. Here's the Update Notes for that: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...13-september-13-2005-desert-of-flames.263002/ There was revamp, then there was ridiculous. It took a LONG time to get this fixed with lots of arguing back and forth between player base and devs - well, it was arguement when the devs responded, which was pretty much never.
Well, according to fyreflyte when we spoke back on fallen gate; basically every item in the database is just in one folder. There isn't really any indication of where it comes from in terms of zone/mob. So it's incredibly hard unless you find each item in the database, and then modify it. As someone who made a spreadsheet to get every raid piece and it's current stats/desired on FG. That took around 14 hours. I'm not a LUA genius but I have seen some of the emulator guys using it and it doesn't look too difficult but I don't know what could be linked by changing certain things as they are making spells not changing/re-itemizing things. To be fair to really balance DoF you only have a few options, A. Make things hit incredibly hard you are pigeon holed into running guardian, mystic, templar, warden. Or buff HP up so high every fight takes so long that people would have to raid 3-4 nights a week to actually clear everything. Which most players don't want. The expansion just isn't really designed around how the current abilities work and also the access to stats we have. I mean you could strip people down naked and clear this content as it was originally designed more than likely. I know people complain about the blue stats, and while I think our access to some stats is too high. It's hard to really say because of how the old green stats used to act as the blue stats we have now. Of course it's all simplified now and we parse more, but they have to add something to gear otherwise it just feels bland. I already have a myriad of posts prior to launch discussing when stats should come into play and why, but it wasn't even looked at clearly. At least on this TLE you don't have things like entire zone's not dropping loot, contested barakah/siyamak not popping for weeks at a time because of a bug. The tree mob is actually killable. It's better than SH for sure, about on par with fallen gate. I guess unless you really played through all three tle's and saw how you could actually clear entire instances and not get a single chest, or your best in slot gear coming from the feerrot; you really don't know how much better it is. Not to say it's perfect~
Ask yourself this instead. Would a company with any self respect or any employer release a product like Kaladim if they had any respects towards their work or their customers who is paying for it. Or are they trying to make a quick buck with minimal effort.
I think it's a misunderstanding of what most of the player base wants, if you look at the bulk of this server who is fairly casual/ presses the lowest efficiency buttons on repeat, they probably love this content because they can clear it.~
Kaladim isn't terrible, the content given to us on the current game engine is. Unless they go back and significantly rework all of t5/DoF/KoS, which btw is more work than a live expansion right now; on a team of like five developers. You're never gonna b happy because of how the game is now compared to back then.
But what is it going to take to get more attention to Kaladim pre-launch of content? There's no reason to come back for the next xpac, if it too is just going to be rolled out like this one. Yes, thanks for buffing up the 5 raid mobs weeks later. You know, after many motivated guilds already cleared it and packed up for the next xpac. Do the devs need a petition or wait until the server is empty? I wish they'd just sell the game, already. In the hands of a few dedicated fans with the skills to improve it, it'd make far more money and the player base would be much happier. The smallest, simplest changes would go a long, long way in a timely manner.
You're preaching to someone who has made 15-20 threads, send numerous emails pre xpac, and PM'd with developers on basically buffing things before it launches/fixes prior. You're not gonna get good results unfortunately.
You have to view DBG as what it is: an "investment" company rather than a game studio with passionate developers. Not to say that there aren't devs who do care and would make good changes if possible, but the direction leadership is taking the company is preventing that from happening. The goal is to maximize profits with the most bare minimum effort put into this IP as possible. And, you know what? It's working. We've all still given DBG our money, up until now at least (as I won't be spending any more money on this game, even for a subscription). DoF has revealed enough for me to know that any hopes of KoS being decent are as fantastical as the magic in Norrath. The final nail in the coffin for me was the "buffing" of some raid mobs. Basically just doubling health and a few other stats, maybe? The fights are not more difficult by any means, they just take a little more time now. If you want this IP to be sold in hopes that it'll land in more capable, caring hands, the best thing you can do is to immediately stop giving any more money. It's that simple. Stop supporting DBG. Stop supporting TLEs. Stop supporting EQ2 at all. Maybe then it'll be sold off to a company that can do something great for it. Until then, though, there's no more room to complain about the content. We know exactly how it'll all turn out, expac after expac. The cycle will continue as long as we give them money.
I doubt anybody would buy an IP that didn't have an income. It wouldn't make financial sense. I do see that for the vast majority of guilds (using the TLE progression site) this expansion is going to be clearable. This is good. I don't think it'll take them 4 months though maybe 2 max (including a few alts). If we had the expansions rolling a little faster I think it would be a good TLE with nostalgia and seeing content you may have missed the first time around.
At this point I think the plan was just to get people to sink into the server as much as possible in t5/dof because the content is just not there in general for many players to find the game enjoyable. So, by making it accessible you retain a server life longer because people don't quit within the first six months because of how difficult things are, instead you make it harder when AA's and what not can make things less of a setup requirement on raids, and a little bit more on a few key players being able to hold things together. Imagine if they made people do tank swaps, require multiple tank groups etc. People wouldn't want to raid. Regarding the developers, I really don't feel as if the blame should be entirely shifted onto them. These guys already put in a insane amount of time for this game, do I agree with all their ideas/changes? No. But I don't think it's a vindictive undertone towards TLE from them, I just think it's not a priority because live draws in more income, and this companies russian overlords only want money.
That is probably one of the more stupid comments I have heard. If and I do say If Daybreak were failing and not making money, then no one is going to buy a liability that does not make sense. So the only thing you would do by not giving Daybreak money is end the game entirely. It would END the game, NOT get it sold to someone else.
That's not true at all. There is a difference between a successful IP that's been mismanaged vs an IP that has failed completely (and just so you know, companies actually still do buy "failed" IPs, even though EQ/EQ2 is not a failed IP). The idea that no one would buy the EQ IP if DBG stops making money is pretty flawed. I'm not saying it's guaranteed, but the possibility of that to me is worth the risk given the current state of things. People are just playing based off nostalgia fumes. It'll run out. I have a hard time believing there is anyone who would say that the current game is a genuinely enjoyable experience innately, and not something that's being driven off nostalgia and connections with others who also play.
You say something is wrong with balance of Kaladim-DoF, but what exactly is wrong? I am level 56 atm and everything looks well balanced for me. I can kill a couple of desert lunatics. 7 desert lunatics can kill me unless I run away before they finish me. Or is it about easy runs of top raid parties?
"7 desert lunatics can kill me unless I run away before they finish me" Yeah, it shouldn't take seven mobs to force you to run. But that's solo content. Heroic and epic content are equally faceroll.
I can solo Silent City heroic on a ranger without kiting. It's pretty faceroll once you have level appropriate gear and a few expert spells. I'm on the fence whether I like it or not, considering the type of content is mostly solo in DoF. Personally, I would like a TLE that starts with SL-EoF open (all 1-70 content) with a four month timer. Then we have choices where to go and how to level, more quests available for the soloers, more group dungeons, more raid content that raiders tend to like, and AAs. Unless they remove all blue stats from all gear, itemization will always be a craps throw.
