Do we need to login to the test server to help with this or the normal EZ server?

Event will be on the production server not the test server.

[Story:]

Welcome to...
Thule Dream, Event Zone

Fear Itself

Story:

In the vast, mysterious realm of Norrath, where legends and nightmares intertwine, there exists a place shrouded in darkness and fear. It is a realm beyond the waking world, where the fabric of reality frays, and the nightmares of mortals come to life. This realm is known by many names, but most commonly as "Fear Itself" or "Thule Dream."

Legend has it that Thule Dream is a plane of existence created by the dark deity Cazic Thule, the God of Fear. Deep within the darkest corners of Norrath, where the shadows whisper and the night is eternal, lies the entrance to this twisted realm. It is said that those who dare to venture into Thule Dream find themselves lost in a dream of terror, where their deepest fears manifest into horrifying realities.

The origins of Fear Itself are steeped in ancient lore. It is said that Cazic Thule forged this realm from the nightmares of mortals, drawing upon their darkest fears to create a domain where he reigns supreme. Within Thule Dream, the boundaries between dreams and reality blur, and the denizens of Norrath find themselves at the mercy of their deepest anxieties.

The creatures that inhabit Thule Dream are as varied as the fears of those who tread its twisted pathways. From grotesque monsters born of nightmares to malevolent spirits that haunt the shadows, Thule Dream is home to some of the most dangerous and terrifying beings in all of Norrath. Here, the laws of nature bend to the will of Cazic Thule, and chaos reigns supreme.

At the heart of Thule Dream, amidst the swirling mists of fear and despair, lies the throne of Cazic Thule himself. It is here that the dark deity plots and schemes, weaving the nightmares of mortals into his grand tapestry of terror. Those who dare to challenge Cazic Thule must first navigate the treacherous depths of Thule Dream, facing their innermost fears along the way.

Now, as the veil between worlds grows thin and the shadows lengthen, the gates to Thule Dream creak open once more. The air is thick with dread, and whispers of ancient evils echo through the land. Adventurers brave enough to venture into the depths of Thule Dream will face trials unlike any they have encountered before, for in the realm of fear itself, only the strongest will survive.

And so, the stage is set for an epic battle of courage and determination, as heroes from across Norrath unite to confront the darkness that lurks within the Thule Dream. But beware, for in the realm of fear, even the bravest souls may find themselves succumbing to the darkness that lies within.

Zone information:

• Fear Itself will have a level 79 level requirement.
• The mobs in the zone are tuned similarly to the present Kael difficulty.
• New mechanics we've not seen on EZServer before.
• Various quests for powerful items, some which are class specific.
• A new currency, and a vendor where you can spend it.
• Some nostalgic bosses may appear if you're lucky.
• ....and much more.

I've made a short teaser on YouTube that you can watch while waiting for the event to start if you don't mind SPOILERS. Click on the picture below to watch the teaser.

Zone Files:

Remember to download the new zone files for Thule Dream. You NEED to update spells_us.txt, dbstr_us.txt, thuledream_chr.txt and thuledream_EnvironmentEmitters.txt to play in the zone.
 

Event information:

Draca and I wanted to give this zone a test run for you all, and we figured that doing it on the day after the Norwegian Constitution Day was perfect The event will run for a day or two, so we can collect some data on how you're all doing in there and make adjustments if necessary. Some values may be set higher than intended on purpose for this first run, just so you know not to expect everything to be set as final in this first round.

Assuming that things go smooth with some transfers and setups, we'll start the event on coming Saturday around 12pm GMT +2, but delays may occur.

Hope you all enjoy!


For Akkadius & Draca,

-Sarthin
EZ Admin Team

I would like to request a guild creation.

Guild Leader: ( Cinwar )
Guild Name: ( Jade Dragon )

Thanks!

Done

[T11 Feedback Thread]

T11 Feedback Thread

A month has gone by since we released Kael Drakkel, our latest progression zone, and it's been a month filled with some adjustments and enhancements based on your initial reactions. Yet, we realize we haven't formally opened the floor to gather your comprehensive feedback.

Before we dive into the details, it's important to address a topic that not only pertains to T11 but also holds significance on a broader scale.

We're all different and while some players choose to just play quietly on the server, we all got our thoughts on the experience. Not everyone may choose to voice their thoughts through OOC discussions or Discord banter—and that’s perfectly okay—we hope that many of you will share your thoughts here on the forums when you find time for it.

Our forums offer a dedicated space for meaningful conversations about your experiences, suggestions, and insights. While OOC chatter and Discord are fantastic for spontaneous interaction, they don't always provide the conducive environment needed for in-depth discussions with us, the developers. Draca and I find it challenging to engage fully in those platforms due to their ephemeral and mixed-content nature. Hence, we want you to bring your constructive feedback into this forum, where it can be thoroughly reviewed and considered. This not only ensures your voice is heard but also helps us compile and understand the community's feedback comprehensively.

I often find myself in tells or DMs with many of you and while I enjoy the interaction, I've sometimes thought that much of what we're talking about is probably topics that would benefit all our players to read about and respond to with their own thoughts and ideas. I've personally read bits and pieces here and there, both on Discord and in-game. I still have no idea what's representative, if anything, related to our content.

So with this thread we're inviting you to bring forth your feedback on T11, so we get a clearer picture of what goes and what doesn't, so we can make the most informed decisions for future updates.While we're particularly interested in the points listed below, feel free to share any additional feedback:

Characters: The number of characters you're managing and their classes.
Equipment: Details about your characters' gear level, for example, if you're outfitting 18 characters with top-tier items such as EoBAs, UC4s, UW12s, etc.
Combat Efficiency: The time it takes for you to defeat a standard NPC in Kael.
Time Investment: The total hours you've dedicated to exploring Kael.
Quest Progression: Your progress through quests within Kael.
Loot Accumulation: The quantity of armor and item pieces you've collected.
Favorite Features: The aspects of Kael you find most enjoyable.
Areas for Improvement: Suggestions for changes or enhancements to T11.

Just remember it's not limited to these point suggestions. We're interested in anything you may find relevant to T11.

Thanks in advance!

Draca/Sarthin




 

Since some of you newer players don't really know what to expect, I'll write about my experience with it all. I have been on both sides of the Guardian Charm.

When I first entered T10 with my initial 30 characters, I had never used Guardian Charm. Once I was strong enough, as in full Ultimate Armor and UC3, I could zone pull T10 with some finesse. Safest way was to kill Goops first, then use ZP. Obviously we don't all play the same way, just saying it can be done. In most cases, manually pulling T10 camps is much faster than doing a ZP, it's just more mindless to ZP.

After T10, Guardian Charm is not usable and it will not be usable in future tiers either. Also want to note that GC was never usable in VP, not even back when it was released. There is a debuff that will leave you pretty much insta-dead if you use GC when in VP. Kael has the same feature.

When it comes to essences, I found the quickest way to get them was not from Sleepers or VP, but rather combine ZP with a double or triple instance, targetting the various progression zones one by one.

Just my 2cp. I know it sucks when something gets removed or altered that you have relied on for quite some time, but I have no doubt you will all get by fine without it.

Guardian Charm gives a false pretense of how our content is meant to be fought. It's a pre-UC 1 item, that was never meant to be one of the most powerful items in the game even 15 years later.

A small update on Fear Itself, aka Thuledream, the new Halloween/Holiday zone we're working on.

- The zone has been populated with trash, semi-bosses, bosses and Uber(s?)
- The zone mechanisms have been added.
- Background story has been added.

... and we're currently looking at itemization, which is always a fun, yet creative challenge.

So we wanted to throw the ball to you all and see if you have any good ideas for what would be cool items and effects for the new zone. We got to be realistic of course, but if any of you are sitting on good ideas, we would love to hear them. That does not mean it's going to be added of course. We have many considerations to follow, but we'd love to hear what you all think.

An event zone is of course limited in availability and like previous Halloween zones, there will be some items that will take time to get, but will be worth the effort. We've gone through quite a few ideas already and have some cool stuff in mind, but we'd like to hear more of what you all think.

We will probably not comment each idea with a :thumbsup:  or :thumbsdown:, but will read everything and make note of your discussion regarding all this.

PS: There is also a thread on our Discord channel to discuss this.

Guild Leader: Asta
Guild Name: Propaganda

Thank you!

Done

Hope to see you in-game soon 

Issue fixed.

There is an ongoing issue with EQEmu affecting the loot drops from NPCs in our world zones, custom zones notwithstanding. This problem has several implications for EZ, including, but may not be limited to:

- The Terrorantula in South Ro will not dropping the Incomplete Epic Book 1.5.
- The inability to complete the FG/CG quests, unless you are level 70 and still got access to Misty Thicket.
- Players will be unable to farm ores for Essence of Norrath.
- Players will be unable collect lightstones from wisps in Jaggedpine.

There is no ETA on a fix, but we hope it gets resolved soon.

Thanks for the help, Orkiho!

It's that time again, when we could really use a concerted effort for everyone log on to the Test server and give a new code update a good run through. While there is nothing specific we need to test, we also could stand to test everything. Quests, Expeditions, zone pull some zones, check boss spawns, check general zone stability (just play in it, as you normally would), check teleporter, clickies, reward items, reward vendor, pretty much anything you can think of, try it and see what happens. If you have anything unusual to report, please post here.

Until we've given the new update a spin to make sure things are not broken, we won't be able to push new updates to live server.

If you don't, I'm turning off EZ, and making you talk to your wives....  

We did some adjustments yesterday. Also with the addition of the new Translocate quest, I have made four new safe spots around the zone. Once the quest is complete, it's a quick way to get to a safe spot or close to a boss you have spawned.

Spent several hours in there yesterday.  Granted, this was my first time, however, I see a challenge ahead for folks like myself.

It doesn't have to do with mob difficulty, that seems fine.  I'm more concerned with how much time it takes to enter the zone then fight to a boss and achieve a win.  Meaning, how long should that take from a design perspective?  Obviously breaking in to the zone should be hard, that's not what I'm asking.

How long should it take, let's say once you have a few UW13s to enter the zone and then kill whatever the hardest to get to boss mob is?

The reason I ask is selfish, as I personally can't string together 3-5 hours of concentrated play more than a couple of times a year.  Now, if it takes that long and there is a safe spot or two where you can go AFK every so often, that would be great.  But if you're forced to keep plugging away due to repop, or even fear of a wipe after the zone starts repopping behind you once you finally get to the boss mob hence only giving you one shot, that's a tough one.

But hey, it's all good.  I think the zone is pretty fun so far regardless of the potential issues for me and others with similar play styles.

Thanks again for working on this.  Very cool and fun!

Thanks for the feedback. We talked in game. Let me know how it feels in the next days regarding AFK spots.

Updates 24.02.24 (Remember to update your spells_us.txt)

- Increased spawn chances of some of the NPCs in Kael Drakkel.

- Increased drop rates on certain items in Kael Drakkel.

- Added a new quest NPC, Morgana. She is found close to the entrance of KD. She will offer a task. Complete the task to get access to a menu where you can translocate to a few coordinates in the zone. This was made to make it faster for players to go from A to Boss(es).

- Experience has increased significantly in Kael.

- The item, Fenrisulven's Veil has had it's click effect changed. Instead of the Mass Group Buff, it will now cast a spell that significantly increases the casters aggro towards the target. This item has a long recast delay and is meant to be a "last resort" effect should you lose aggro, or to be saved for important boss fights.



Updates 07.03.24


- Increased spawn chances of some of the NPCs in Kael Drakkel.

- Increased drop rates on certain items in Kael Drakkel.

- T11 chest pieces have had some of their worn and focus effects changed to their original intent.

- Gemstone of the Ages have been added to the loot table of Kael Drakkel.

- Ragnar Fjordason has been adjusted. Expect him to be slightly less challenging now.