Time to start feedback for the next expac (2009). Ideas needed!

1. The ability to reset adventure class. I have four level 80 tradeskillers that I will never adventure with. I was forced to pick their adventure class before I truly understood the game, and I would love a "do-over".
2. More crafting missions, faction, and difficulty.
3. Agreed on instances scaling to group size. Due to the age of the game and the time spent playing... most of the people I usually grouped with have either left the game, joined recently (and are much lower), or have left for raid guilds... to almost never be heard from again... I've experienced some crazy pick-up groups... and would enjoy the option to run heroic instances with less that a raid geared, full group. *shrug*

Raise the cap to 85 so I can someday hope for a Mythical pickup raid
Stop nerfing the player base by adding things like crits to mobs then forcing players to get all new gear just so they can be right back where they were before the expansion.

Odus. It HAS to be Odus. I want Odus, plain and simple, and 2009 will be high time it was here.

We need another race and it NEEDS to be a neutral one. The races are currently unbalanced with good and evil outnumbering neutral by one.

We need another starting city to balance the rest out. It NEEDS to be good aligned since evil is currently outnumbering good by one in this respect. Of course, how we're going to get a new neutral race and a good city in the same expansion, I haven't a clue. lol Maybe we can get a new good city and actually get a truly neutral city along with it.

Prexus is well over due to be introduced as well as Erollisi Marr. Prexus is a neutral deity, and EMarr is good, so just give us an evil one to balance that out and we've got a triad of new deities to worship. While EMarr is missing and needs to be put in, She wouldn't be a central deity of the expansion I'd propose for Odus whereas Prexus would.

Ilucide wrote:

That's from a dev chat awhile back concerning Odus. That leaves Odus open to SOO many possibilities for content that, while the name could be the same, it could look and feel nothing like the Odus we remember.
Keeping that in mind, I'd love for Odus to be an underwater expansion. The Erudite's displaced Odus to the point that it is now miles and miles underwater sustained by having a magical bubble around the entire continent (which would have been the protective bubble the Erudites put around it to save themselves from the spire malfunction) which keeps the water out from flooding the entire place. Or there could be bubble pockets for important, inhabited areas and the rest could be in the water since sustaining a bubble around the whole continent would have been a huge strain on them so they kept the initial bubble up while they activated small hub bubbles then dropped the big one.
Due to their forced living underwater, Erudites may have reformed themselves into yet another, entirely different race (they seem very fond of reshaping themselves afterall). Or maybe their new harsh environment just forced them to learn to live with eachother and eachothers differences, good and evil (no more Erudin or Paineel and living separately), making a city of neutrality (but still some hostilities).
A new race could be introduced that can live on both land and in the water (racial abilities would include water breathing, fish vision, improved swimming speed [possibly a form changing ability when activated that gives them tails] or just walking under water) and is mermish in origin. This new race could either be the Odus Erudites reformed, one they created, or just a new race that befriended these new inhabitants of their sea and took up living with them.
This would make a perfect environment for introducing Prexus as well since he wouldn't just be introduced simply because the Erudites worship him but because they now live in his realm. Living in the deep would strengthen their belief.
We'd still have the pockets of kobolds and Kerrans and such because they were sufficiently intelligent to erect their own breathing bubbles around their habitations. Mixed in with the various habitats would be vast underwater areas to hunt in and explore. Old dungeons such as the Hole may be completely submerged now.
We'd get a quest series that would grant us an "until cancelled" underwater breathing ability for those classes who do not get a spell to do so.
We've had the "air" expansion, twice now with KoS actually being in the air and TSO using the air as its major mode of transport. Time for some water, and LOTS of it.

kuraan wrote:

Sorry, but Anashti Sul never existed until EQII made her exist. So I don't see how you can mark a point against Odus for a supposed lack of a major antagonist when Norrath never had a major antagonist named Anashti Sul until they made her up and put her in. Yes, she's been in the background of EQII since DoF (who knows, maybe even before that) with the Peacock Club and all but she is NO WHERE in EQ1 which is where all of your other listed major antagonists have come from and where you're pulling support for your mark against Odus from.
So, I can't see why they can't make one up just like they did with Anashti Sul.
kuraan wrote:

There were elemental based gods in the primary pantheon that we were able to worship in EQ1. Prexus (ocean), Solusek Ro (fire), Karana (storm), Brell (earth)... Sweeping generalizations just don't work here. We never had Anashti Sul in EQ1 (can't say that enough) for worship or otherwise but we have her now. Heck, they HAD to make her up as a new god because the evil side of the primary pantheon is so lacking and always has been. No doubt we'll be seeing more made up gods or demi-gods allowed for worship in later expansions.


Anyhow, yes I have thought a lot of about Odus and how I'd envision it to be. What can I say, it's the one place I want to see put in above all others.

Snowdonia@Runnyeye wrote:

On races:
By my count, we have 5 neutral, 6 good, and 7 evil, so I think the priority is going to be on another good. Considering we're overdue for another good city, it becomes more likely. If this city is the last one (which it really should be) then any new races after that would have to be added on to already-existing city, making that an excellent place to start doing neutral races, IMO.
Now what I'd like to see as a race, if it's added with Odus here's what I've thought of: basically a centaur, but half-lion (or other big cat) instead of horse. Lorewise, it could be that we have some evil erudite mage who was researching Mayong's creation of the drachnids, and Venril's (or was it Rile's?) creation of the skorpikis, and decided to try his own hand at it, kidnapped some kerra, and merged them with lions. The new race breaks away from him, and flees out into the wild with their kerra cousins.
On gods:
Well, right now we have 5 neutral, 4 good, and 5 evil, so skipping an evil god with this expansion would be fine, I think.
As for the elemental gods, the ones you listed technically aren't the Elemental Gods, the Elementals are Fennin Ro (fire), the Rathe Council (earth), Xegony (air), and Tarrew Marr, E'ci, and Povar (water). And nope, we could never follow them, and they evidently don't care if people worship them.

I would pay for moving the rendering to the GPU. I would definately pay for DX10 support.

more end game content would be cool (more levels, AA, zones....)

The game is huge already so I'm not all that excited about an expansion that does not create new game dynamics of some kind. more zones is always cool, but dude I haven't even seen all the zones yet.
I don't know. more is always good

making quenos and freeport into one zone would be a nice change. all the zoning sucks.

With regards TSO, I feel that it is primarily a group and tradeskilling expansion designed to address the shortcoming of RoK (with regards grouping) and virtually all expansions with regards to lack of a proper tradeskill element.

With regards to the next expansion, I suspect we will get a new class, new lowbie zone, a smattering of mid-tier zones (most likely scalable around 30-60), but the rest devoted to extending the cap to 90. Existing TSO zones would be allowed to scale up to 90 to ensure that they still remain relevant and there is still plenty of top tier instances.

We have 20 races, 24 classes, by my reckoning we'll be getting closer to 'end game' for EQ2 when we have 24 races and 24 classes (i.e. you could create one of each class, each with a unique race).

As for what would be nice... how about an open seas expansion? Some sort of ship-type "mount" that allows you to explore the seas, a lot of which already exist in existing zones so a few "seas/islands" zones can be added and allow zoning from any part of a map edge to the adjoining zone.

Being a huge fan of the Dark Elf Trilogy, I'd love to see an expansion focusing on the Underfoot. It would be something we haven't seen yet. I'd like to see a break from the "let's bring back a continent and see what happened to it".
I'm not suggesting copying the UnderDark, (if you've read the books, you can imagine) but there would be limitless possibilities. Make it a trek, a linear story line. Make a crawl to a particular city or zone to unlock the next region.
There would be underground cities/outposts along the way that you would earn faction to enter and build faction too and use as a base of operations for your next trek. You might have to earn trust of trackers/guides to lead you in your adventures. Cities and outposts would be allies or enemies of each other...etc. Treacherous travels with traps, and hazzards...etc. Instances and raid zones would be placed along the way. Have one or more major cities (think Menzoberranzan or Maj'Dul but underground.)
Phases of the expansion would lead to connections to existing dungeons or cities above ground. Possibly have something of a opposite image of Norrath but underground, Dark Elf City, Gnome City, Dwarf City, etc. but they have evolved differently due to living underground

Make it a real sojourn individually, group-wise, and guild wise.

I've seen comments from devs that they will not explore the option of an underworld expansion.They kind of tried one in eq1 with the expac located off of Neriak but it was kind of limited.
They also tried a somewhat open seas expac in eq1 and that also fell mostly flat.
Still, if you combine odus and velious into one expansion, it could have enough ocean in it to warrent seafaring craft owned by adventurers.

Snowdonia@Runnyeye wrote:

Odus has never had a major antagonist, plain and simple. There's never even been setup for one. That's where I'm pulling the support from. The other two names I mentioned have been well-established over the years. Anashti's setup may have been more recent, but she was still established before she was introduced as a major villain.
And again you misquote me when we get to the deities point. I said the elemental gods, as in "the gods of the elemental planes." Storms are not a primal element; one could even make the case that storms are derived from two elemental planes: air and water. Solusek Ro's plane pulls its power from Fennin Ro's. Brell is the god of Underfoot, not the Earth itself. You have zero valid examples in your counterpoint.
I'll say it again... The true elemental gods have never been options for worship because they have no need to be worshipped like the gods of influence; the world simply could not continue to exist without them. There is no sweeping generalization, only you trying to change the subject to Anashti Sul again, as if she has anything to do with my point about elemental deities.
Getting back on topic...
Odus has always had the problem of being a collection of loosely related content that provides no real reason to explore it. I like the idea of going back there post-Shifting, but I just don't see where they're going to pull a compelling villain from. Velious could suffer from the same problem unless they're careful about how they approach it. Tserrina strikes me as the best choice, but what's become of her is a bit of a mystery.

Jovie@Guk wrote:

Oh noes.... dems a seeeecrets!!! Ohhh Shiny!! ~scampers off, chasing after the shiny object in the distance~

GinjiGunso wrote:

I'd like to see those things happen too. I'd just gotten used to dealing with the frustration that I'd forgotten about the possible fixes, I guess.

I would like to see something similar to a 'dimensional shift' someone mentioned above, but maybe more of a time travel type thing.
I'd like to see certain cities such as Kaladim be restored back to the dwarves, but have a quest, or quest series inside kaladim that would take you back to the zone as it is now with the bugbears and kobolds running the place. Maybe the quest line could link events together that actually allowed the dwarves back into Kaladim in the first place. New Tunaria, Everfrost, and Rivervale are other zones that could go through a similar process. What's the point of going through all of the history that has transpired with the shattering if there is no rebuilding to be done?

Velious!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scars_of_Velious
General information

The expansion takes place on the continent of Velious, an icy continent towards the south of Norrath. The title refers to three chasms in Velious that are said to be the place where the great dragon Veeshan struck the continent with her claws. One of these claw marks is believed to be in a zone known as The Great Divide, an area where the Coldain have established their home in the mountain side.
The expansion introduced both frost giants and Coldain dwarves to the EverQuest universe, as well as a sect of dragons known as the Claws of Veeshan. These three groups are perpetually at war with one another.
The expansion is also notable for introducing the Sleeper's Tomb zone, a locked zone that players could unlock with a key from a quest, and vanquish the four dragons that guarded The Sleeper, a very powerful beast that should never be unleashed. The first players completing this zone led to the first world changing event, where The Sleeper would awaken and rampage his way through Norrath. This however also led to some controversies as the zone itself would change and some items that used to be available before the awakening would no longer be present.
Scars of Velious also reintroduced Ethereal Planes such as the Plane of Growth, home of Tunare (goddess of nature) and the Plane of Mischief. Those planes, just like the original Planes (Hate, Fear and Sky) required players to have reached the level of 46 in order to enter. Plane of Growth also reintroduced the notion of Planar armor, providing a full set for each class.
Zones

• Cobalt Scar
• Crystal Caverns
• Dragon Necropolis
• Eastern Wastes
• Great Divide
• Iceclad Ocean
• Icewell Keep
• Kael Drakkal (Home of the Frost Giants)
• Plane of Growth
• Plane of Mischief
• Siren's Grotto
• Skyshrine (Home of the Dragons)
• Sleeper's Tomb
• Temple of Veeshan
• The Wakening Lands
• Thurgadine (Home of the Coldains)
• Tower of Frozen Shadows
• Velketor's Labyrinth
• Western Wastes

I would like solo instances. TSO does have solo content, but it's content that will be consumed and then there will be nothing to do for those times when the guild isn't raiding and I don't have the time or inclination to group. I play all sort of content from solo to raiding, but sometimes I just want to solo.
RoK and TSO have a decent amount of solo content, but it's primarily fed ex and hunting missions, some having the new gimmicks like "use the item I give you on mobs." Not bad content, but I think the Haunted House instance from the Nights of the Dead are a good model for meaningful solo content.

About 10-20 instances like that only two-three times the length and I would be happy.
And for goodness sakes, no level increase.

kuraan wrote:

The Odus of old was indeed a hodgepodge, just as you say...but there's no reason it has to remain that way. With the fact that it went off in it's own little 'odyssey', who knows what happened to it in the intervening years?
Also, the argument to 'not explore old EQ1 zones in favor of fresh content' doesn't hold any water, either. Almost all the old EQ1 zones have been given a new look in EQ2. Everfrost, Nektulos, Lavastorm, and at a stretch, the Desert of Ro, are similar to the pre-Shattering models, and even they are not identical. Commonlands, Thundering Steppes (formerly the Plains of Karana), Zek (Jaggedpine), Overrealm (Plane of Sky), and others are completely new envisionings of things that were already there. Odus could bear the name 'Odus', have only a very few things to connect it with the Odus of yesteryear, and would still be 'new content'. Old-world nostalgists like Snowie (and myself) would have the continent we want back, and all the 'new stuff' aficionados could have their cake and eat it, too.
To the subject of the Underfoot (which is an excellent idea)...where was THE biggest opening into the Underfoot?
ODUS!!
'Nuff said.

WeatherMan wrote:

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. I just have trouble seeing where they're going to get a villain on the order of a Trakanon, Venril Sathir, Anashti Sul, etc. from. I'd love to see what's happened to Odus in the past 500 years, as long as we're not getting into contrived explanations.
The new zones vs. EQlive zones argument's been had a million times before, and what it always comes down to for me is that the last time they tried to introduce a brand new continent, it wasn't exactly a hit. Lots of people didn't find it to be at all in keeping with the feel of Everquest, and as unfortunate as it is, that's a very real problem that faces EQ2's developers as well.
There are already zones, like Steamfont and both of the two original cities, that look nothing like their EQlive counterparts, and it's damaging to the experience. It's just not believable that our Steamfont is Steamfont, and the zone designers need to be wary of that in the future.
And something else that just dawned on me...
Who else would want to see the Dead Hills?

Snowdonia@Runnyeye wrote:

Those were not elemental gods, they were nature gods. Solusek Ro was not THE god of Fire, he was the sun god, related to the elemental fire god, but not one himself. Brell wasn't the god of earth, he was the god of the Underfoot.

• Fennin Ro is the god of Fire.
• Xegony is the goddess of Air.
• The Triumverate rules Water.
• The Rathe rules Earth.

They could give a rats *** about mortal worshipers.

- New race, an aviak should be cool with all the customization of beaks and feathers.
- Ability to turn your toon a vampire of werewolf. Being bit by one of the two in a ritual (quest) Give the char bonus and penalties while in vampire or werewolf intance. To remove that ability another quest (ritual of purification) is needed.
- Cat type mount.
- Make the lowbie dungeons like BB, CW, SH etc instances that scale to high level cap, make the drops scale as well, there is a lot of content wasted.
- Revamp splitpaw and make its spells scale to level cap remove its shared recast time with regular equivalent class spells.
- Make all the raid instances scales to high level cap. Scales and revamp the loot as well.
- Make the Lord Nagafen throne roon a instance raid zone.
- Make heroics avatar kind mobs (is not always that we can put up a raid together to kill the big guys) call these heroics avatars messenger of gods, like mensenger of Innoruk, mensenger of Tunare etc. Let them drop hornate.
- Make Conjurers be able to mount some of his not humanoids pets, let them fight mounted on them. While mounted in mountable pets conjurers should share some of his pets abilities like if he is mounted in a pet spider he would be able to crawl up walls etc... SOE dont have to bring back beast lord, just revamp the conjuror class to be more like the beastlord and more different than a necromancer.
- Adds more solo content, we are asking solo questlines that wnds up in a ornate chest. When soloers cry about content they are after a good reward for doing solo quests lines. Make then quests longer but reward them. No everybody has 3 hours to play daily, some play just an hour a day but they still paying costumers the SOE cant afford to lose.
- Give Clerigs the ability to realize marriage ceremonies, let toons marry online. Allows invitations being send by mail. Let them share same house content after cerimony and give them rent status redution. Give them a quest to divorce as well. Give crafters recipes for church furnitures. Give tailors recipe for bride dress etc. Give the new couple some bonus xp or a buff when they are grouped together after married. Make cerimonies a live event being anounced (spammed online) like you guys do when someone loots mithical items. (ratongas have to shave themselves before honeymoon)
- Make the game fun, introduce new dance to each race.
That is it for now.

hmmm lets see, all off the top of my head......

- race AA, give me a reason to pick a gnome rather than an ogre when playing a mage
- new good starting city with good questlines like neriak or gorowynn
- more info on us ratongas (^__^)
- nother good diety
- maybe some solo (or duo) dungeons that have fun scripts. im kinda thinking like splitpaw or bloodlines with moveables and clickies. and solo/duo progressive dungeons.
- add in some more armor quests. as of now there is an armor quest for every class at level 20. with this set give us 6 endgame quest to "upgrade" this armor. each quest should be comparable in difficulty as the mythy quests and doable in any order as to allow quick swap-outs of your lesser gear.
- always thought it would be cool and easy to implement, winged mounts... i know what you are thinking and i don't mean flying mounts. give them glide (not just faefall - glide fae arsai tradition) and wings that spread when you jump offa cliff. griffons, maybe drakota something cool you know. and give carpets glide too (^__^)
- and this one is for killerbee WISKERS IN '09!!!!

velious ...with return of lots of contested raid content much like the original game.