EZ Server

Hey all!

First, life couldn't have been more busy for me in the past few months so giving proper time to things has been limited. I've had many life changes to work through.

There are a handful of things that I have had planned for projects, many of them EQEmu/EZ related.

Rent has been graciously cooking awesome things behind the scenes and he has been very helpful over the past few months. He's done amazing work, and I've been impressed with how much he has helped the server.

This community has always been strong in expressing views and ideas, and I would like to make an open invitation to everyone reading this to express what they would really like to see on the server content wise.

I realize there are some things in other threads that need attention but I still have the following questions for you all.

Get into these thoughts and express what excites you about playing, but please refrain from getting too carried away and derailing this thread.

Ask yourself what small things could be done, that could better the quality of life of an everyday player.

What things have been broken for a long time that could use some TLC.

If a new tier were to be built, what would you want it to look like? What style of content? Would you want it to be T5 style, or even mimic the content structure of live's mission grinding for credits, doing dungeon crawls. What did you like about previous tiers?

What are things that are absolutely dreadfully annoying about existing content that is beyond reason (not talking about grinds, but feature creep)

Would you like to see an alternative entirely to T10? What would that challenge look like to you (Again, a previous tier style? Dungeon crawl?)

What do you like about gear progression upgrades and what would you like to see more of.

Some of you long standing veterans with tons of ideas and have played this server forever should have a fresh idea of what has really motivated them and what they have had FUN with.

I'm interested to hear your guys' thoughts.

Go!

I would like to see items of the same being able to be commendable for a +1, which will add maybe 1 to all current stats item has and heroic. Combining two +1 = +2, and so on maybe cap at 100. Every +5 would increase focus effects, by one, every 25 would add random effects, possible neg. This would not just be limited to gear, but more limitless. Augs, weapons, spells, uw, charm, RoA, and more. Of course augs would gain 1k damage etc. If combining for Aug IV, the + would be reset or dropped by 10 or whatever seems best. Some items wouldn't be able to combine until highest level is reach. Example sorc charms, zerk, etc.. until maxed. I believe this would change and improve the style of grind, give the server many more directions for character progression even at an early stage. We would see more rerolls on items to obtain the perfect weapons that suit us best. All combines at level 100 would be tradeable. Stimulate economy. All collectively we would boost server numbers, top tier would battle lower tiers for faster combines,

Let me know what you think? How well it fits in? I know I'd love uw 100 and strike Aug 100 with pet spell 100.

I would also like to see more titles not sure if anyone else agrees. you in jagged pine destroying wisp after wisp after the 1000 wisp, title the collector.
If you are a lowbie murdering orcs, after you've hit the 400 mark, title Orc camp 1.. silly things perhaps, just a thought.
 Thank you good luck and welcome back Akka.

I like the idea of gearing in t10 BUT I would like to have it setup so that you could do all 3 faction types ( I thought that was a new and exciting idea Hate put in for gearing up)...for example: Orc armor is nice for the hp factor but it limits you on offensive/defensive mods (caster vs. healer mods)...so a paladin would want the orc faction for the hp's but make it so he/she could (after completing a full set of orc gear) continue on with the gnoll or sarnak faction for that mod...would take twice as long to finish content but with nice gains for those individuals willing to put in the time....I think having that kind of gear setup in the future would extend the life of each new zone as well. Instead of steam roll "x" content now wait for new content to come out.

I would like to see some of the old items get some love (Scepter of Time for example)

How about something new in the line of waist/shoulders/etc (thinking along lines of EoBA/SoA.....

As far as new tiers: Some of the newer content in EQ was kinda cool (think Brell's Rest and whatever zone had those ant-men in it)

How about custom items for each class?  Some kind of awesome bard mask with clicky illussion that gives some kind of awesome buff (just as a thought for each class...kinda like mage is good for "xyz" so give him/her "abc" item that is mage'ish type item...etc etc...I think warriors have been shown a lot of love but some of the other classes have been pushed aside)

See if anything can be done to make rangers/beastlords a viable class...I know I deleted my ranger because he was just a waste of a toon (IMO! So don't all you ranja lovers start hating on me...well more than you already do lol)

I like dungeon crawls as well....like first time in HHK when a goblin jumped out at me and scared the crap out of me lol...Miss those feelings.

Please whatever you do, don't make traps that spawn more mobs! I have said it before but that is a cheap way to make content "challenging" and takes ZERO thought.

What do you like about gear progression upgrades and what would you like to see more of.


I would also like to see UW augs for slots 3 type 28 and slot 5 type 30(on a warrior) and slot 2 type 27 slot 5 type 30 (on a bard) slot 3 type 28 and slot 5 type 30 (on a pally)...those are some examples...but you cant fill every slot currently on any toon with an UW for some reason.

I also REALLY like the story line that Rent wrote for the T10 expedition! I think it would be awesome (cause we have some really creative minds on this server) to come up with story lines for new content....kinda immerse you into the environment. That was the first time since live their was a backstory to what you were doing in ANY zone on this server.  ;D

I haven't played in quite awhile due to RL but always like to check the boards just in case I ever return. One thing I always loved was the server mobs like when Hunter made that spider guy and everyone showed up (A continually wiped for hours). That was fun. Now if a different mob a month that used different tactics to kill it that might be enjoyable to some instead of having to wait till Halloween to fight one.

Off the top of my head:

Dreadfully annoying things in existing content:

1. Obscure unclear boss triggers -> Basically every boss in t10, and to a lesser extent t9. Prior tiers had very clear do X to cause Y.

2. The essentially mandatory nature of halloween pets, specifically IG.  I can run 2 paladins, a druid, a shaman, and 2 clerics all spamming my warrior at around 5mil hp or so with max SoA and still get 1 rounded rather often by 3-5 pulls in T10 due to lacking IG pet.

3. How difficult it is to see what bard songs are even doing except for the AE debuff and tempest blade, I have no idea how much mana/hp chorus is giving, I just know the bard instantly dies if I forget to turn it off on a pull. It'd be nice to have the bard buff songs not cause threat.

4. The first boss of dranik expediition's ability to insta-kill any character if you hit him for more than 50% of his health and he decides to fire the backstabs (sometimes you can 1 shot him without getting hurt, sometimes you die between double attack swings) - and as an extension the frequency that the dranik expedition bugs out when you try to chain run it, causing you to have to #e destroy multiple broken instances between each good one.

5. NPCs fighting each other -  This is a terribly obnoxious mechanic that is extremely prevalent in T10 and seems like a massive waste of resources that just
confuses the zone even more than it already is. It also obscures boss trigger mechanics in T9.

6. Gnoll archers in T10 - I had one shoot me 2 weeks or so ago for 5.5 million in a single shot on my warrior.

7. The random spawn locations for bosses in T7. You can spend 3x the time chasing the boss triggers than you actually spent killing every other npc in this zone.

Quality of life suggestions:


1. I don't think an alternative to T10 needs to be created, just a clean up of the current one, a removal of traps, a much more clear do x to cause y boss triggers and

2. it'd be nice if the base xp in the higher tiers was higher. It feels really awkward that the best xp seems to be farming HoH tokens and then spamming down t3/4 bosses.

3. Would it be possible to do an pass over of attack values of mobs in frozen shadow, they seem to have much higher attack (hit chance and average damage/max damage) than the roughly corresponding tier of mobs.

4. I also think the addition of xp crystals and gsoa would go a long way in making all of tofs much less of a headache for new and backfarming players. Resist stones already drop on tier now, so that niche is gone for ToFS. Plat bags replacing the weapons would be really nice. It made sense when plat bags didn't stack that it didn't matter if it was weapons or bags, but with stacking plat bags the tofs money loot is obnoxious.

5. Someone to go over and give actual correct descriptions of what spells/effects do would be nice. T10 Mask is a good example - It is completely unclear what second wind does - but i know it can't be cast in combat, I assume it's some kind of heal but i've never seen it actually do anything. Same with things like Scroll of the Matyr.

6. Proving grounds to be more often useable but lowering the hive shard rewards. It's nice not to have to decide "do i want to farm essences, or do i want hive shards or do I want SLS" MPG gives a great mix of things that everyone needs a billion of.

7. I'd like to see a new tier be a story driven anguish or ToV type zone.  Zones where you have a goal - and not a random trigger chasing festival.

8. Echoing what was said by others above about UW augs and other off slot items and class specific items.

9. Upping the % chance of each boss spawn in T5. This lowers the grind some what on what is a very out of place (IMO) zone.

10. Lowering Plagueborn requirement for T10 epic.


Other:

To me, the most fun parts of the experience playing is when you hit those power spikes that really let you feel stronger. Your first UC, the big jump from UW 2 to 3.

In this regard the idea of specific fun/powerful items for different slots/classes would be really cool.

More options for hive shards would be great. Also maybe look at getting abyss expedition back up and running, the above post is good also about spawn rate of bosses in t5. Tofs needs rainbows in it imo.

Dranik - the 1st boss? nah it's fine, takes some strategy, that's not a bad thing... (hint:  use a weak spell or a weak pet, anything that just knocks off 10-20% per hit..) or hell just go full blast and rez the 1 toon he kills.. not a big deal.

if anything needs fixing in Dranik it's the last boss, bugs out all the adds, invulnerable mobs, etc..

re: MPG, honestly if you made it give 150 shards and only doable once a month I would be more happy... because that place is BORR-RING. just a long long slog down the same monotonous corridors... absolutely no challenge obviously if you are backfarming dragons/gods essences zZZzz..

big fix needed in MPG is the named mobs there sometimes have massive HPs... well known bug I think.

I guess new content would be nice, T11? but maybe something you can do concurrently with T1-T10. I like how you can take a break from Tiers/Epics and do the expeditions, or ToFS, or work on EoN's etc... more stuff like that please! how about a Ammo slot item similar to UC/Shield of Ages/Sceptre of Time/etc?

One thing I would LOVE to see, but not sure how you could do it without it being abused.. is a shortcut method of Tier-ing up new toons. Right now if you have say a group+half of all Tier 8/9+ toons but want to start a new Necro or something you don't have, you have to start ALLL the way at the beginning, Plane of Time, Qvic etc...

I would love to have a quest where say you would go to some unused zone (and there are a TON of them) and kill the end boss, who would be buffed up, and he would drop a Token of Tier 7 (let's say). This token when you turned it in would level up that toon to Tier 7. Not the gear or the Epic, just the flag. So then you could take him to Tier 7 and start gearing him up there, rather than all the way from Qvic/etc.. Probably have to have a "dummy" epic aug - something that would take the place of the 6.0 which then you could hand in with the 7.0 book to get your 7.0 epic..

Heck you could do it for all tiers, or at least Tier 2, 4, 7, 9..? The boss that drops the token would be buffed up to 1-2 tiers above the token it gives - ie the Tier5 token boss would be Tier7 level difficulty, etc. This makes "backflagging" possible without it being TOO easy.

Like I said, not sure if you could do that without it being abused, but you could  make it keyed into some kind of reward item, that costs $5-10 per toon, to keep people from abusing it.

Don't(s) :
 1. No (large) water event (T-5).
 2. No Factions for armor.
 3. No Random traps.
 4. No Mini zones.
 5. No AOE Rampage on trash.
 6. No Co-op raid required.

Do(s) :
 1. Instanced T-11
 2. Safe spot for RL event AFK
 3. UW Upgrade possible during progression (not as the last thing achievable)
 4. Timed respawn like T-7, or zero respawn like T-5/8.
 5. Preview of task-based awards.  (Stats of item to determine 1st toon to receive).
 6. Ranged attack mobs reachable by spells and spell casters.

for Loping/T7 - the running around is annoying, but a simple change to make Vampire Bats spawn much more often from traps and trash mobs would make up for a lot of it..  right now I can clear trash and hit traps for 2+ hrs and not get 1 bat to spawn..

Honestly? I'd look for ways to slow things down, not speed them up, from T2 and on. Adding an express lane only leads to faster ennui and boredom. The exception? T10 needs some tweaking, as has been mentioned in detail by other players and myself.

That being said....I'd consider adding alternatives to current content for some "grinds". Perhaps something scaled similarly to the halloween zone.

Hmm so much on wish lists lol

but

Abyss would be cool if when u cleared it you didnt get a random mob but a choice of what boss spawns

ToV more scales and a Dragon class armor type so dont have to farm for ages.

T10 mini , im not a fan of getting plagueborns in it ild rather get a token so can trigger them in sunderock so a full raid can benifit.

T11 Tacvi or Vex Thal

RoA 1000 hand in for a super aug then start again

UW augs rank 5s

a propper monk usable 2Hander

Teleporter added to T10

just a couple lol

As far as T11.....lets see some newer zones, not older ones. Using the RoF2 client we should be able to access some newer zones, and we arent. The newest zone we actively use is....9 years old? (OC/T9) We could do with some newer fun IMO. Or, if you have to go old school, go OLD SCHOOL and use Kithicor (FUN flashbacks to Halloween 1999) or Howling Stones.

I think having an alternate T10 for INSTANCING, would be cool....maybe use a different zone or something would be cool. Allow the current version to stand (if you wish) for those few crazy guys who enjoy open raids.....or alllow guild instancing of the same zone (one guild instance per guild) so that fellow guildies could group up in a raid? The one thing i didnt like about T10 (other than traps and broken mechanics) was the way it was 100% different than the prior server culture for instancing and being self sufficient. As I don't play well with others.... :P

I undertsnad that the current T10 is VERY heavy on server resources....don't know what all could be done to cut down on that.  Heard mention of reducing mob movement or overall # of mobs in the zone. Keep the difficulty where it is though!

Ummmm no plz, thx....I use to HATE running that wall around kithcor at night time...undead.......the sound effects (back when I use to play with sound) use to scare the crap out of me back then (and i was in my twenties back then) lol

Would splitting T10 up help any? Maybe 3 separate zones?

Have always loved the game and this server allowed us folks to play in a completely self sufficient manner without having to rely on anyone else ever, unless we wanted to.   I was here before instancing and some zones really sucked but instancing was and is truly the bomb!


Liked everything up until t10 which doesn't fall in the line of the servers tier progression style.  Dungeon crawls are awesome if we can have wider doors so everyone on follow doesn't get stuck. :)   It would be cool to have a typical tier progression but toss in some non progression super tough fights so the 'we have everything maxed gear folks' also have fun while giving others something to work towards.


Water fights, super narrow doors/entry ways, no instancing in t10, sudden forced grouping with others, people suddenly needing maxed non tier progression items in order to minimally survive the next tier when those items should take a super long to achieve outside of tier progression,   crazy scripted events to the point of 'its just too much'.  Have some but the more there are, the more problems that are encountered.  When they supposedly get fixed, it broke others.


Not sure about this one.  If t10 can be tuned/scaled/instanced accordingly then it would fine.  If it's so messed up from spaghetti code then something needs to happen with something different.  It's a dead progression zone.   Scripted events are interesting except when they never work.  Heck, there are still things that can barely get spawned in t9 due to messed up scripts.


We started to play on this server long ago after playing on live for way to long.  This server gave us a way to play difficult content without the need of ever having to wonder if someone else will be on to group with.  Completely self sufficient raiding, looting and spreadsheet RPG fun in MMO style.  Play when and where we wanted.  instancing was the very best thing that ever happened to the server hands down.   

^  This!

T10 was all about pounding square pegs into round holes. 

Some dealt with it and moved on.  Some, like me, stopped logging in to avoid the (originally) horrible lag, desync and broken quest/spawn code.

I get that the code is better, the desync and lag issues are resolved for the most part, but what isn't fixed is the :
  1. Instancing of the zone... and probably never will be from what I read here.
  2. "Requiring" an IG pet/SOA on every toon to avoid ramp damage.
  3. "Requiring" a tier equal UW and near max ROA on the tank.

I normally only play consistently during the Winter months.  So, rather than complain, I will do Halloween and IG my casters and give it another shot.  Just please... lower that trash ramp damage in T10.

I currently play on Stormhave (boo if you want).

I realllly enjoy how the raiding is done there. Mechanics, separate zones, Quest lines (Separate zones)

I stopped here because of T10 - Leveling up alts with RoA (fine) but SoA was ridiculous and didn't guarantee AOE Rampage. I still point to the date Hunter removed it, and did so for a reason.

If T10 was broken into different Zones, it might entice me but that AOE rampage is for the super elite that have no kids with soccer practice year round.

You are an idiot. "AOE rampage is for the super elite that have no kids with soccer practice year round" I have 3 kids a wife and a full time job...I still completed T10....just chalk it up to you not using all the spells or abilities on your toons. Saying that people with no-life are the only ones who can handle it is an ignorant ass statement.

Coming from you that means nothing. I know how to play my toons and played them well.

So I will just "Chalk" up your comment to you being you... an ass. Chow.

Puppy or Raymond?

T10 complete rework.  Fall it in line with previous tiers as many have stated.  No AoE Rampage, Instanced! etc.  If resources need to be cut to achieve that goal, by all means, cut some stuff out.  SoT rework.

Some sort of expedition related new content sounds really fun.  Some of the work you have showed us, that you worked on could really open up stuff we have never done here before!

Thank you for being open to suggestions!

If t10 is to be reworked it should have the number of NPC's reduced so the load on the zone is not so extreme... leave the mobs alone as far as how hard they hit and the other effects in the zone.

Please dont reduce t10 to another zone pull and farm level we have plenty of those

Removing the rampage effects should put it more in line with tier progression but keep the difficulty up. If constant rezzing is what you need to consider it a challenge then I can't really help you.

Fun content is always a plus. Holidays like the goblins on christmas made a nice change but don't give out game breaking prizes. If you have to add a rare drop from bosses a lower level ring of the ages or shield of the ages to help people gearing up wouldn't unbalance things too badly, and if they are goblin items instead of the normal ones it would prevent them from just abusing it to gear.

A slight increase in T5 spawn rate wouldn't hurt, at least for the spawned trigger bosses.

Some way to even out the RNG for T8 scales would be nice. Something that lets you turn in scales you have a ton of extra ones for a chance at some of the color you need.

D-crawls are nice if we have the room to avoid boxes sticking, adding a few lower level ones that give level equivalent items would be nice.

T10 is fine just as it is at the moment, just the Boss spawn has to be fixed. All the time I have bee there I saw the Sarnakboss Best but very very seldom the second Boss who spawnns in the north of the Sarnak camp.
I have never seen the second Orcboss so I think that should be fixed
To make it a bit easier for players which have not so much time to play as I have, lower the plagues from 1000 maybe to 600
otherwise most of them would need years to get there epic.
For a new tier make a mix from the last 5 tiers. 8)

What about a zone similar to ToFS but for UC2 and UC3? An alternative in a dungeon crawl style, and something that scales to the people in the instance that would make it possible to get scales and/or upgrade orbs? Perhaps something that also has spiffy alternative loot? Keep it CoH free.

Zones that might work well for this: Dreadspire Keep, Deathknell, Skyshrine, Morell's Castle, etc.

For UCv3! YES PLEASE! But just for the scales.....obviously. GREAT idea, Chunka Chunka Burninglove!

before we start talking about a new zone with no COH make sure its not some thread the needle type dungeon where I am going to spend half my day trying to find lost bots.....aight? thanks

No coh is lame

I dont see the point when most of you can 1-4 pull all of tov. With the ability to repop your own instances. If this new zone makes it easier for someone in tov im all for it.. But backfarming is supposed to be a pita. A dragon type drop for armor upgrades would be much more helpful to keep newer players. Instead of farming 20+ aarys to get the last random piece needed. Waypoint required..

Im sure there are other more pressing issues. My enchanter pet still procs randomly for 250,000,000 damage.

I see mostly suggestions from people in t10 which a a small fraction of the player base (although important part). Being that t10 is the highest tier I would figure it would be the hardest grind. Now t5 is something else entirely, it is mid tier and a grind fest. I find myself dreading it and for the most part have been ignoring it. Not because my toons can't handle it, but rather because it takes hours (at least for me) to clear. Can there be some alternative? Also I noticed that the drops rates for essences is low in tofs levels 2 and 3. I've probably farmed level 2 for a combined 15 hours and had only one drop. CT drops are also a bit out of wack. Can we raise armor drops and lower spell drops? Killing 20 mobs only to get 8 spells drop and one armor drop bites.

I know fixes and new content usually caters to the elite, but it would be nice if mid tier players get some love too. I want to see t6 t7 etc...but as it goes its going to take me months solo to get past t5. I wouldn't mind so much if the zone itself wasn't a pain and the number of bosses tuned down.

T5 is supposed to be a wall, it stops players who think this server is easy dead in their tracks. If clear times are your goal, you might want to try grouping up with others who need it. Or if you lack the dps to clear it in a reasonable amount of time, you might want to look at getting your strikes. Higher tiers are not going to be easier, they will continue to get harder.

People are talking about T10 because its not the normal tier power inflation. Its more like double the normal power inflation, and thats a steep climb for anyone who can't throw numbers at it.

Yes I'm well aware of it purpose as a bottleneck, but its been years since t5 came out, I believe a re-tweeking is in order or maybe alternative route similar to how tofs is put in to help relieve Ldon farming. Don't get me wrong I don't want anything handed to me, just want to at least enjoy the experience. Grouping with others doesn't happen often, usually everyone wants to join their own instances, and I rather not ride on someone elses coat tails to get boss kills. I'm not saying to do away with t5, just either ease the boss count kills, increase the boss rate pops or have an alternate route. There are other players on this server besides people in t10, it would be nice to have new content for them.

Gutchecks are important. T5 purposely stops you and FORCES you to consider things like resists, DPS, max pull, etc. I can honestly say, looking back at the nightmarish amount of time it took me to get through T5 (and it was FAR FAR harder when many of us did it than it is now) that it was time well spent. It MADE me get my team prepped for T6 and beyond, and in ways beyond just the armor sets and epics. T5 needs to stay the way that it is IMO.

Alternatives to things like LDON or HoH for UC in ToFS and perhaps eventually T6 and T8 for further UC are a bit different, and we arent asking it to make things any faster or easier (in fact we'd be completely happy if backfarming alternatives to T6 and T8 were HARDER, just an alternative....as it is with ToFS). ToFS is definitely more difficult for the same charm upgrades than LDoN or HoH.

So with that in mind, sure, I'd be fine with a shortcut to T5....if it were as hard as T7.

And I know you may not have been around for it, but as I stated, T5 has BEEN retweaked numerous times...and in general its been made easier by far.

Yeah for sure, lots of things have gotten easier since I left a few years ago. Charm rates, gear, ROA just to name a few. ROA was a nightmare before lol and so was farming charms. I get the checkpoint, its not the difficulty thats the issue is 100 boss count. But I understand what you are saying. I just thought it would be nice to get new content mid tier.

Abyss absolutely needs boss spawn rates increased. 90% of it is fine, getting those last 10 bosses is not fun. I personally spent a couple million pp repopping instances...

yea hands off T5 .... it does its job....

no when Hunter originally designed Abyss he thought that would literally be the last and final custom tier. he wanted it to take basically forever... now T5 is only half way thru the custom content. let it go. the water stuff and corals is frustrating, but ok. what's not acceptable is basically requiring people to buy a $100 item to finish a mid-level tier in a reasonable time (or spend half their plat)

also Loping/T7 needs vampire bat spawn rates seriously increased. you can clear 3/4 of the zone (2-3 hours with level-appropriate toons) and get 0 bats. traps need to spawn bats about 30% of the time (up from ~5% now?) and trash needs to spawn bats 5-10% (up from probably 1% now)

if you nerf T5 you are going to have to nerf every zone after t5 because the players won't be ready... the entire 5 next tiers are based on someone tooling up to get past t5......so if you nerf it....you will fuck the rest of the content....its not that bad....if the free players don't want to pony up to play this FREE game....then I guess.... life is just hard....but if they value their time...like I do.....they will buy the few items they need...to make life easy... and then they won't cry about it being soooo hard...

I have run t5 start to finish a dozen times..... remaking toons....you may need some perspective.

T5 is fine, and can be done without the free waypoint. I wouldn't object to a tiny increase in spawn rates on the triggers but I am hardly talking about the nerf they want.

T7 is fine. A proper group with decent dps should have no problem spawning and killing bats. You have a limited understanding of how that zone works. You should take the time to work on your dps and come up with a strategy that works for you.

This isn't even remotely the case - there is currently not that big of a power gap between the content in those tiers (until t9/10) compared to the power increases you see from loot. UC2 and T7 BP on warrior are both huge upgrades.

And unlike t5, t7 doesn't punish you for failing to full clear the zone before respawns; yes i know the punish in t5 is indirect because you can target specific mob types but the randomness of those boss triggers is still an issue.

And it's entirely possible to full clear T7 seeing 0-3 bats, it's just not likely.

The only thing T5 FORCES you to learn, is how to be annoyed with perma rooted mobs under water.

A simple unroot of the corals would be sufficient to allow higher geared players to clear T5 quicker while an on par team won't be able to pull any additional mobs than their team allows.

didn't say "nerf" T5 mobs or toughness of bosses etc.. just increase spawn rates a little.

same with bats.  I fully understand how it "works" .... it's not complicated lol. kill trash to spawn bats. trigger traps to spawn bats but mostly trash, and sometimes that trash spawns bats. kill stonedroppers to sometimes spawn bats. anything I left out?  ::) I have plenty of dps, that's not the issue. doesn't matter how fast you kill things (or spawn traps) if RNG doesn't go your way. speaking of RNG, all my toons (8 have boots and seen at least 10 boots rot. same to a lesser degree with hats and feet, meanwhile 2 toons still missing bp and legs, and 1 missing arms. again drop rates need a tweak. that's not a "nerf" to the zone or any ones above it... ::)

he asked if there's simple things they can do to make things better, just my opinion. keep in mind a lot of the things people want are complete re-works of zones that will take dozens of man hours to do. adjusting spawn rates is literally tweaking a few numbers, a few minutes fix. /JMO

Simplify things and making it a cake walk are two different things...t5 and t7 are a pita when they are new "as they should be" hell EVERY zone should be HARD when you first break into it, but that's just my opinion.  8)

repopping instances is hard? lol

I think people are confusing difficulty with timesink. No one is arguing t5 is hard, just its design can use some tweeks, particularly boss spawn rates. If you are long past t5, why does it matter so much? Just sounds elitist if you ask me.

Wow! I'm glad someone else pointed this out  ;D ;D.

I have no problems with how T5 is now, I bet it is much harder back then (Started June 26, 2016). It does annoy the heck out of me especially with the last 4 bosses that I need.

Though I'm slowly taking my time to gear up my toons so I can take on the zone at a much faster rate.

I say, if you could just kindly increase the spawn rate of bosses of T5 (especially for the Triggers), that would be golden!

Thank you for being open to suggestions.

- Ectheldir / Thoruz

It always does if you look at it from the wrong side. Once you get passed it, you understand: making some of these zones/tiers easier/faster doesnt do anyone ANY favors, it trivializes gameplay, allows players to conquer content that much quicker, leads to ennui and discontent sooner and overall kills the quality of the4 player base. That effects EVERYONE.

So I'm confused, you got past t5 did that trivalize content for you? The server is on t10, tell me how does increasing boss spawn rate slightly on t5 (mid tier) trivialize all content? Who is asking for all content to be easier? Akk asked for ideas for new content and tweeks, and people responded. For every 9 requests for t10 content tweeks, there's maybe one request for mid tier tweeks. Wouldn't making t10 easier really trivialize content? Am I the only one on the server not on t10? I doubt it, how many players are actually in t10? I bet its a small portion (but seems the most vocal). What about everyone else, do they not count? Sounds very elitist to me, and saying that increasing t5 boss spawn rates (not HP, not DPS, not difficulty) will trivalize content doesn't make sense on a server that is up to t10 with talks t11. I can surely assure you this server will lose a lot of players solely because of t5 sinkhole.

Actually, the server is pretty top heavy. A pretty large number of active players (not folks like me who log in once or twice a week) are either in T10 now or knocking on the door.

And to correct you, I am not asking to see T10 made easier. If anything I am one of the few out there saying T10 is on the right track, just needs some tweaks and fixes (and FYI, tweaks do not mean make it easier.....unless your a WoW reject). And you gotta read before ya type....I stated rather openly that it took me a while to finish T5, but that it really taught me a lot of lessons that I needed to learn later....lessons a lot of todays players ARE NOT LEARNING as well as many older players, because T5 is already FAR easier than when we cleared it.

T5 aint broke. The sheer number of people who get through it all the time prove that. It just FEELS that way while you're in it. By the time you're in T8 you almost look back at T5 as the "good old days".

And Jarred....have you played T5? I missed it if you said you had. And sorry if I seemed to pick on you, but your statement made absolutely no sense unless you just assume you looked at what I typed and decided to only read every 5th word.

You can call me Soakked, jarrad was long ago retired. Yes I have played t5, I was just starting out t5 before I left a few years back (not on this character), and it was one of the reasons I left. Listen I dig your posts, and your value to this forum, I know I have benefited from it, but the reason you gave for not tweeking boss pop rates is that it would trivialize content. Did I mistaken your post? I know theres a learning curve and you can learn a lot from the experience but again it not a difficulty issue, its a too much of a grind issue. I have no problems with mobs, or bosses, im geared enough. How does increasing boss spawn rates (not difficulty) on t5 which is mid tier, trivialize content? Did increasing charm rate drops trivialize content, did ROA adjustment trivialize content? Did removing stones from HOH trivialize content? Did removing gems from pre-tier and tier trivialize content? No it didn't, it allowed things to run smoothly and removed unnecessary time sinks. No one is asking for ALL content to be made easier, so your statement doesnt make any sense. How can it be ok for players to ask for t10 adjustments (making things easier) and it be considered not trivializing content, but people asking for adjustments in t5 will? Seems like double standard dont you think? Wouldn't making the last tier on the server easier really trivialize content? Why is it that higher tier players have issues with t5 tweeking, but have no issues with when suggestions of adjustments being done on the tier that they are up to? Surprise surprise.


[q]just needs some tweaks and fixes (and FYI, tweaks do not mean make it easier[/q]

I agree and thats exactly the same thing im saying with t5, but somehow its different. If you read what I wrote, I stated this clearly a few times.

Im coming off sounding bitter and I am not. I enjoy the content that this server provides and appreciate the time that went into it. I also respect the older players that add their feedback. I was just adding my two cents, coming from a different perspective, one closer to what a new person would experience when joining the server. Obviously there are many players on this server with more experience than me, and maybe I am wrong. I just get annoyed when I feel like I am being singled out because I gave an opinion on something, when the whole point of the thread was to hear opinions. I might not be t7+ or whatever, but does that mean my game experience and observations are wrong? Ok people disagree and thats fine, my issue comes when I feel like people feel that unless you are of a certain tier, than you have to shut up and allow the adults to talk, its condescending. Maybe Im reading into things wrongly, and if I am, then I apologize. Like I said, I dig your posts you have helped me personally on a lot of stuff, so I respect the help you give and the time you spent making things easier for people to navigate. Maybe when I get passed t5 Ill know what you mean, but being a somewhat casual player with limited playing hours I doubt ill get past t5 any time soon to find out.

I'd like to see a completely new T10 or at least have it somewhat working better. The current one sucks and I got 15 chars right now in full T10 gear. I understand gut checks but 1000 plagueborns is basically 1 year of time for any hardcore player. Took Brunaa 10 months from the start to get 79. Then there are bosses that don't pop. The lag in there is still crazy compared to all other tiered zones.

I rarely even log on now because after getting all my T10 armor it's pointless to even go in there to kill mobs in hopes a plagueborn even pops within 2-3 hours of nonstop killing.

As for the T10 mini, can you get it changed to 18-24 for the group?

I dont want a nerf to t5 i just want an alternative, not that im thinking to make another new toon but hey who knows......

I was working on my seventh UW XI when i took my latest hiatus.

I've seen Moe 4 f*cking times.

Team l337 can calm the hell down and let the middle class suggest rare triggers in t5 could be looked at.

Once upon a time the hushed banquest (2.5 epic) was by far the worst thing on the server. People would park in the first safe room and kill those 4 barrels on side screen for days.  The rate eventually was increased considerably.

I suppose the most important thing to remember is we are talking about a math formula. Do they need to kill 100 War Boars for Widowmaker, or 100,000? The difficulty is certainly not in killing the mob, its in getting kicked in the nuts on the proverbial dice roll.

It was the reason the t5 mini was such a nice thing. Bring that thing back by any means, I dont care if its an IP Lock, a station name lock, whatfreakingever. Just any way those poor shmucks get 5 free swings a day to nab a rare. It would be great because that mini makes that tier worlds less frustrating by lessening the impact of some of the "chance" elements.

And yes, the amusing part about that is not a single one of the high and mighty will even PRETEND that the guy in t5 *cant* kill the bosses. We're simply saying they didn't deserve it without the 100,000 kills.  There's a place for people who think that way. It's called p99, get on a batphone list and deprive people of content to your heart's content.

 EZ wasnt built that way. It was built to be easy at times. It was built to be hard at times. And it had a perfect marriage of higher crews helping lower crews in a format where both the haves and the have nots benefited from teaming up. In fact, the only way not to help someone is here:

On these forums.

In this thread.

And to remind us why so many are on hiatus instead of in a non-instanced t10 next to people...

Who think like you.

Because of the nature of the zone. T5 the fight IS NOT about each boss....its about getting enough kills done within a time frame to force the spawn. Its probably unintentional at inception but its why this is such a GREAT bottleneck to later tiers: the spawn rates, forcing you to greater dps while pulling larger numbers of mobs at a time (and surviving those pulls!) to effectively get past the tier are what show you exactly WHERE you need work. Fiddling this is a very very bad idea. Its already been nerfed more than enough. That being said, I agree that alternatives with similar difficulty would be a great idea.....boredom and wanting to smash your monitor with a hunk of Australian coral from your aquarium in frustration can suck.



^Samples of "tweaks" :D And good ones, IMO. I am against making T10 much easier but there is some shit in there thats just plain broken. T9 had similar issues, and took dozens of players MANY months and burning out two devs to get it fixed....though some would argue T9 tweaks may have delved too deeply into Nerfland.

And Ponzi, I understand. I am on hiatus now for a variety of reasons, including sheer raw boredom (not to mention a series of rather embarassing medical issues). Sadly a lot of end tier players are there, because the thought of doing yet another UW XI or spending another minute in T10 (which, as I have admitted is broken) makes us shut down the PC and reach for the TV remote....

Anyway, many of us are trying to discourage making EZ easier not because we want to deny content to anyone.....thats pure bullshit and you KNOW it. You've watched MANY of us help people through said content more than once, or offer drops/spawns to complete strangers. Its about making sure LESS players hit that boredom point many of us have hit, or are approaching. Its about trying to keep this game we all have loved for years (some of us as long as Live, or longer) viable and alive when so many seem to want to send it down the hypercasual, immediate gratification primrose path thats killed so many other games out there.

Anyway, the hell with it. screw this. Do what you want, I'm absolutely sick of people spewing this type of "oh, you're an elitist that just wants to keep the little guy down" bullshit. I'll simply hope that Akkadius is smarter and more farseeing than some others.

Holy shit thank you bro....I love this post.

I am fully with Chunka, we all had to get trough t5 and our equipe wasnt better then yours after you finished t4.
I for myself could only run 8 toons at this time because I comp coudnz manage more. Blarr and Brokyn told me if you survive T5 (a lot gave up ) you will love EZ and they are right I love it like it is. A lot had been made more easy as the time we went trough all the tiers. Hunter started with it t6 7 and 8 are much easier now, Hate made t9 easier so please let t10 like it is except the broken stuff. I would only addmit to lower the Plagues to 600. By the way as we started we had no UW that came a long time later.

I did T5 twice (because I made more toons..) The first time was with 4 (four) toons, certainly not uber, though all had UC and my tank(s) have a halloween pet from years.... and years ago. Zero "UW" here. It took a while, and I got better at pulling larger groups. I certainly.... had NO problem clearing all the mobs I needed to before a repop.

The problem isn't the speed of clearing, it's when you get down to the last ~10 bosses or so you are strictly at the mercy of the random number gods.. So you kill X trigger and.. it doesn't trigger. Or it triggers, but it's the wrong boss. You kill all X (for the random boss) but it doesn't trigger. Then you repop and try again. That's the only bottleneck, repopping. The 2nd time I did T5, those 4 toons were 6.0/Anguish geared, so it went a bit faster, but not really that much, since again, the bottleneck was random triggers/bosses and the fact that if they don't spawn, they don't F'ing spawn.

Regarding T7/bats, again the numbers need looking at, case in point yesterday I got 4 bats, one chest (yay) and 3 boots... I literally have seen 2 boots rot for every piece of other gear. Something is "off"...

just my opinion... they asked so... feel free to disagree, that's fine. the GMs can decide.

You all need to stop using the LEET branding bullshit.... you are just trying to label opinions you don't like so they will be dismissed.


Just because its hard does not me its unfair.... ALL of the people who have made it past t5 MANY times are proof that it is not broken.

Its a filter...


If you remove the filter you will have people bitching about t6....how hard it is......then you "FIX" that and then T7 is so  unfair....


it is not an accident...

Damn, Hurty, you trying to give me a hard on?  :-*

Mygawd! I have the same problem, I have killed like what? A thousand War Boars and never seen one Widowmaker pop! and as for the triggers, as someone else pointed out, you kill the trigger it doesnt pop or if it does, its the wrong boss.


As Kiwis / Ponzi pointed out, if it was done with Hushed Banquet, why cant it be done in T5?

I have not seen anyone suggest to nerf the mobs or the bosses (make them weaker, hits dmg or hp), we are just suggesting if you could look at the 'Math, RNG, Probability" or whatever you would like to call it, that these boss pops. Coz' its sure a pain in the ass.

- Ectheldir / Thoruz

I could see raising spawn rate only IF trash was made substantially harder as well as boss mobs. T5 has been nerfed a lot from what it once was. The fact that you now have Heroic Resist makes the trash/bosses easier. i still think T5 needs to remain as it is (to give people a chance to gear up strike augs etc.). With SoA/UW being available to anyone, of level, it makes content easier.  So make that content more difficult.  If content in later tiers is making UW/SoA/RoA mandatory then make the lower levels require it as well.  Then you can make the content less (boring) and make it about the grind (just replace the grind of thebosses in zone into a grind for UW/SoA/RoA)....makes sense to me.  What do ya'll think?

The entire point of this zone aside from the location of mobs underwater that are rooted....that hit really hard ... is to mentally prepare you for how t7/t8 work... you think its frustrating waiting a few days or a week for a rare to spawn? wait until you are on your 12th UC3 or you have cleared the legs mob 100 times in t8 and are stilling looking for paladin legs....


In live it was not unusual to camp something for weeks....just sitting..camping....killing the same 5 or 20 mobs over and over... for a rare item....now its like...dude...i been here for like hours...where is my shit?  I am sorry if you have killed boars for hours or days with no luck... it will spawn...hundreds have done it...


And I dont want to be that asshat talking down to people....thats bullshit as well.... you probably know all of this and played live for years like nearly all of us have...

I strongly feel that changing t5 is a mistake... its a key part to the server...but I dont think you are a moron if you disagree with me...have fun!

Honestly, as far as T5 is concerned, leave the zone as it is and just re-enable the daily expedition with an enforced 20 hour lockout...that way you get a chance every day to get easy boss updates while having to grind them out if you don't want to rely on it.  I never really saw the point of disabling the zone personally...sure you could just sit there and do the daily without setting foot in T5, but it would take you a hell of a lot longer than just doing the zone itself.

Why don't we fix the economy while we are at it and let people purchase a specific boss for a given cost (500,000pp) and kill two birds with one stone.

If you want to do it without cost, fine.  if you want to spend plat fine.

Even if we were to disable essence drops to stop the sploits.  ^  This is a solid solution.

If people exploiting something are the problem, the solution should be to deal with those people. Let them start over as level 70's.

This is an extremely valid counter argument.

One of the more common issues in t5 is not being able to repop without spending a ton of plat. I empathize with that, but its pretty pointless to even address that when you truly can't do anything of value in t6 without either the FWP or joining a guild that has a couple. So like Balidet pointed out, fixing the cost/ability to repop in t5 would just shoe people into the complete brick wall that is t6.

Maybe look into bumping the t5 rares slightly?

What i would like to see is the Kill-All mobs/ bracer mobs removed from the Lotto Jackpot boss. Nothing is worse than clearing the zone entirely and seeing Corallium or Alkare as the lotto prize. Nothing... NOTHING. lol

And I really can't overstate how getting 5 random bosses a game day out of the mini was the perfect solution. Sadly, its a royal pain conceptually to stop exploitation and dev time better spent elsewhere, etc.

But that mini took 10-15 min tops, helped with progression in the hard to progress zone. Remember, the t7 mini does ZERO to help t7 progression. The Dranik does ZERO to help t1-t4 progression. The T5 mini was *huge* in helping t5 progression. Scoring a Bone Rot and a Aquamarine on a tuesday was a *great* tuesday. Scoring an extra White literally saved you two hours of corals as a youngling. It's the roughest thing for Akk and Co. to 'fix' (the t5 mini), but it has by far the greatest reward... It's the best solution to t5 help for the middle class, and I think everyone can agree on that. :)

+1

Actually t6 pays for itself so it's pretty easy to do up to t6 and then even t7 without FWP, but t5 can really suck without the ability to pop and repop as many instances as you want.

And T8 without a FWP is....ugly. Same with ToFS, really....especially since the money's gone from ToFS. But on the bright side....T9 without a FWP is a non issue, really....and T10....well, you know about that.

Now that I will grant you....kicking the cash up a bit in T5 would help newer players considerably. I can see not doing cash in ToFS (by the time you need to REALLY farm ToFS cash isnt as big of an issue, FWP or no) but for players trying to get through T5 it can get pricey.

I don't see a problem increasing the plat bag drop rate, but I never had a problem making instances for anyone without a FWP. Unless that attitude has changed in the months since, I would think most players could ask a friend or ask in OOC for a few extra instances. T5 respawn is not that long when you're at level.

For a someone, like me, who dont have a FWP. This is a big plus :)

I think I should clarify that t5 instance cost sucks once you are close to finishing. repopping instances over and over again just to get specific mobs/triggers. So based on that i'd say plat drops in t5 are fine where they are. As people have mentioned already, T5 is basically a gut check and sits at a perfect spot. If you are having plat issues while doing t5 then you aren't pulling enough mobs to make up for the cost of the instance and lets face, you probably need a lot more essences anyway so just go pull more.

An idea....the Amplify Vulnerability UW aug (have one on my bard) is slot 28...could make that war usable as well.....

Thinking about this (and I may have commented and said this already i don't remember).....I think this is a valid idea, as far as a new zone, if we can instance it...break it down so that you go to x zone for clothies...x zone for plate...x zone for leather....x zone for chain...but that sounds like a WHOLE lot of programming. Maybe a whole new zone that can be instanced w/o all the server hoisting deal that the current is and allows for the mob triggers to actually work...but mainly for instancing.

Could take the triggers out completely. Make current T10 a faction zone only. Once you reach an ally faction level you are flagged for a gear zone. That zone would be a dungeon crawl like Frostcrypt or soltaris style zone. The gear zone would be instanced allowable and drop the essences as well. Then after you are fully geared, you become flagged for an epic encounter similar to what 3.0 is. Single boss, various stage encounter resulting in epic material for your upgrade.

Would keep T10 an open non instanced zone with grouping if needed and allow those who have done the work enjoy a raid-able style zone. Not a tank / spank encounters. Off tanking, % balance mobs, etc. 

t10 is doeable as it is...lets either erase it and start over...pissing off all of us who have ground the shit out of it....or move on and do something cool for t11...nerfing the shit out of it is just going to be a long annoying thing that know one is ever going to be happy with.

I am nearing the end of the armor grind on my main toon having done it 95% solo.... I have to say that in the future we should all put our heads together and come up with something reasonable that will challenge us..and not be such a horrible grind fest... I need like less than 200 more orcs to finish my bP and I dont really feel anything but....well...frustration with how will all of the accessories....and all the armor and buffs...its just a grind... and my alt toons? they are thousands of kills behind just from the constant dieing/rezzing that is part of this zone....I really dont know if I will even bother to finsh them all or what ....I am less than 100 plaugborne into my quest so that looks like it going to suck...and to what point really?

not trying to be debbie downer but...burnout is real

It's pretty pointless to even play once you finish T10 armor and accessories. Going back in to just kill mindlessly in hopes to spawn a plagueborn is lame. The T10 mini kinda sucks because it only lets 6 in.

I have been finished with gear/accessories  for MONTHS now and only sitting at 230ish plagueborn kills....plagueborns suck!

when starting Helloween event this year any news about that ?

Anyway to bring out Tink Mask in Sleeper's Tomb?  8)

Or here's another idea!  Make class specific quests (like the SoA/EoBA/UW/etc) you could have a mask that can be auged with different types of questable illusions.....although adding Tink Mask in ST would still be awesome sauce!

I read through all of this thread a few times, there were quite a few decent suggestions.

But for a good half or majority of the thread it was about T5 and T10 which is not new content or ideas. I like the suggestions and conversation that was brought as a result of it though.

In my mind, T5 is fine, a mini wouldn't hurt to bring back for it and since the loopholes are gone in the expedition core code it since it was heavily brushed over in the past few months - wouldn't be terrible to bring it back.

My biggest next question is going to be, if you guys want to keep T10 in its current form, what would make it a desirable zone to play in? I see a lot of different things in the T10/BugsProblems/Questions thread, but since discussion is queued up in here I am asking here.

Some people have mentioned upping player count on the T10 mini, some people have mentioned T10 traps - if I were to make T10 viable in my mind I would have to continue and do a complete comb through since there is a lot going on and quite a few things that I have seen broke and not obvious to players.

A zone should be a challenge to players, but it shouldn't be such a far stretch with diminishing rewards that you experience burnout and dread playing, that kind of defeats the purpose of playing and will make people quit before they reach a T11. The trick is a the closest sane balance of both worlds. Regardless you're going to have a grind, that's part of the game. As much as people complain it is the reality of it - but how you break up that grind can at least keep things more entertaining instead of dreadful.

I've had some players provide lists of things in regards to T10. Maslow has been nice enough to compile this information:


What works:

-- The changes made to reduce lag seemed to have worked well, experiencing minimal lag issues as long as the map is adjusted accordingly.    Thank you for that.
-- The overall concept of T10 is great, the factions and grind are nice.    Definitely a challenge and it is nice that it is not spoonfed.
-- The quest dialog is solid and enjoyable and provides a nice level of immersion

Constructive Criticism  -  Issues

Boss Spawns:   There are several bosses that have not spawned since beta.   Also, bosses such as the Beast of Burden do not appear to be triggered.    Unfortunately, the Beast of Burden is required for armor progression.   That fact that it currently cannot be triggered means players must be online when the boss spawns (2x per day) and be able to get it to acquire armor.     

If possible, can you or another dev review the boss triggers and refactor them so that they can indeed be triggered?    It would be nice to be able to trigger the Sarnak bosses so we can acquire armor during a farming session vice 2x per day.    I think a code review (if not already performed would be value added)

-- Uses RNG as a huge crutch

-- Loot distribution via raid level RNG:  When you drop a boss that loot is distributed randomly to whatever toon in the raid that is eligible.   This pretty much goes against the concept of pretty much any mmorpg ever (to include EZ Potimea - T9).   Players need/want finite control of loot distribution, as we all know gearing up certain role players make the group stronger.   In addition, due to the "raiding" nature of the zone, the random loot distribution eliminates the use of any DKP type system, which again is typical in pretty much every mmo ever.   I mean my lazy bard gets phat loots and only shows up to raid 1/4 of the time.   The accessories are also distributed randomly.    My SK has 0 need for a healing shield, absolutely 0. 

-- Traps:   Meh, is this really needed?

-- PKs:    Meh, are they really needed?    We donated for fastest travel only to have it countered at every turn. 

-- Pathing:   Have seen mobs path underground or take odd paths back to camp (similar to T8)

-- Boss Loot:   I've seen bosses drop 0 loot except a plat bag or diamond.  Is this by design?  If so, it would be nice if it could be refactored so  we could get some type of loot that will enhance group members (spell, weapon, essence, anything).   If not, it may be a bug.    Players of mmos are like rats hitting levers for pellets,  we will hit the levers, just need the pellets.    We have seen numerous occasions where Orc Thundermaker does not drop any loot and or give armor.   This has occurred when we had multiple toons with armor quests in raid.    Can this be reviewed?

-- Accessories:   Accessories are currently given in a random order.   Can this be refactored so that we can select the accessories we want?   A warrior does not need/cannot use a healing shield, likewise a shaman does not need/cannot use a warrior shield.

-- Epic Quest:    1000 PBs seems just a tad bit too much.   I understand that we want to stretch content, but 1000 is a high number.    I've finished T10 armor on my main tank and other toons are close to being done and am at only 35/1000 complete.    3.5% complete after over a month of hardcore grinding seems a tad off. 

Potential Solution to RNG:   The RNG loot issue could be resolved by having loot dropped on the leaders,  1-X  no drop faction armor token per kill.    Those tokens could then be turned into the appropriate faction leader for eligible armor.    Seems to me that this would follow suit with the rest of EZ and allow us to use DKP and or have finite control over loot distribution. 

Raid loot is not random at all... it goes in order of how you have your raid set up.....t00n 1 gets loot ....if toon1 is not ready then toon2 gets armor token....ext ext... it just goes in order... its not random at all...   you want to gear up a certain toon you make him raid leader and he gets it...every time...


I would like to see the bosses spawn from killing other triggers as they do now but NOT in a fixed location....I want them to spawn where the trigger dies.... so you cant "camp" the orc armor boss by just sitting on the hill afk why someone else kills the triggers for you.

My biggest next question is going to be, if you guys want to keep T10 in its current form, what would make it a desirable zone to play in?

Well if it is going to stay a public zone then it would need camps for MULTIPLE groups....and that means several camps for orcs...several camps for sarnak....gnoll etc.

Kinda pointless to have the orc named spawn in a camp south of where you are fighting...and then someone else snags a named because noone knows who actually spawned it.

As much as Hate tried to make it a group-play zone people here don't play that way (as a whole) you do have a few people who will team up (brunna/Haudie/Blarr) and i raided up a few times with them...but I know them all since I used to be in Magister....but I don't like to group with people i don't know....I know that makes me a jerk but hey i have been playing that way for YEARS on this server...and now all of a sudden that changed.....


As far as future zones...I would like to see something in a newer style zone like a Brell's Rest or something like that and go back to instanced zones not public....



oh yeah and did i mention I hate traps?  ;)

1. Instancing
2. Trap re-work
3. player control of loot distribution
4. maybe look into adjustment of aoe rampage

it doesn't make you a jerk Orthanos.  a whole lot of people grew up playing live mmo's grouping/raiding.  this server gave us a place where we could create our own armies and play an mmo by ourselves.   never needing anyone else unless you ask for help.  

I was here before instancing but when instancing finally landed it was the most awesome thing anyone could have ever done for me. lol

 The description provided to Akkadius regarding boss loot was incorrect regarding RNG yes.  I wrote it hastily in between powergrinding sessions when I was running T10.  However the solution recommended solves many issues.

Potential Solution to RNG:   The RNG loot issue could be resolved by having loot dropped on the leaders,  1-X  no drop faction armor token per kill.    Those tokens could then be turned into the appropriate faction leader for eligible armor.    Seems to me that this would follow suit with the rest of EZ and allow us to use DKP and or have finite control over loot distribution.

While yes the loot is distributed to the top level raid members first, it is still quite annoying.  Multiple tokens are distributed per boss kill so you have to organize your raid different each time depending upon who you want to gear up.   If you are raiding with multiple players the annoyance is amplified.  

The recommended solution of having the boss drop loot tokens solves that problem.   In addition, if the zone is going to be kept a "raid zone", which I disagree with,  then raid tokens would also allow players to team up without having to continue to switch raid members.   I find dealing with changing raid members to be tedious, in addition I pull a ton and often and do not want to be bothered dealing with slowing down to switch raid members to accommodate a flawed design.

The accessories given in T10 are indeed random and include items that are not needed whatsoever by certain toons.   For example, my SK does not need an healing shield that it cannot use.

Personally, I cannot stomach T10, it is bile inducing, am sitting at 77/1000 PBs I think (on my MPG group), but have not played in quite some time.   That 77/1000 is after completing armor for 15 toons.   I've seen many players drop off the server, maybe due to T10, maybe due to burn out.  

Maslow/Peign

The handful of folks who think it's fine, think otherwise.  All of us who don't play anymore just want everything handed to us.

Interesting assertion, however it is false.   I have 15 toons finished with T10,  7 UWs,  15 UC3s, 28 toons flagged for T10 (24 actively in T10) and I do not play anymore.  Feel free to Magelo Red Horse if you are bored.  Never wanted anything handed to me.  Many who have quit have gear equivalent to that or more, Harthek for example has 24 UC3s.  

1 person has finished the epics in T10.    That one person happens to belong to Macroster a guild known for running advanced macros written by Blarr.   People will argue differently but we all know better.  Don't care either way as this is a 17 year old game so macro it all the way to kashmir, just illustrating the herculean effort required to get the epics completed.   I doubt very much that anyone not running advanced macros will finish the plagueborne quest before it is nerfed.    I think the highest count I saw, outside of Macroster, is 300 or so.  Fortunately when I did T10 the zone was rather empty so I didn't have to share with Macroster et al.  

For the handful that enjoy it, I'm sure they also enjoy sticking alcohol dipped qtips up their urethra.    There is nothing enjoyable about spending hours upon hours looking for plaguebornes in a bile inducing zone developed by a total douche of a wannabe developer.    

 Fortunately Akkadius was able to make some changes to reduce the lag and actually make the zone playable.    

Oh, shit! Its Thursday again already??

Maslow, shit slinging isnt going to fix the issue...just makes you sound like a dick...a dick with shit on it. Just chill out and try to be constructive...and wait. That's all you have to do. :-*

Sorry if my post wasn't clear, I was agreeing that T10 is not in line with the server and how people play here.  There are a clear vocal group that enjoy it and like to accuse people who speak out against of simply wanting things handed to them. 

Obviously, I failed in my sarcasm, I'll try harder next time.

Ahhh, I see, my bad read it wrong I guess.   Anyway, my statement stands  :)

I know its not new content, but it would be nice if we could get the bazaar back.

How about some lootfilter options for instances, that way we can turn off the types of loot we don't want. Just give us broad options so it's not specific items. something like armor, gems, plat bags, augs. less corpse clutter would be awesome.

whats about to update spell recipe list ;P

yeah, T8+ spell recipes would be nice

Updated spell list would be amazinggggg. Also fixing the ones that are wrong like pally avenger 2 recipe....wasted so much plat on buying Velium and the recipes not working.

Anyway, two things that I realllllyyy love, and get me excited to play are.
1 those items that give you that feeling of a big jump in power such as ultimate charms. 

2  having alternate places for farm for them.  Would love an alternate to farming v2 v3 UC upgrades. It really helps to keep grinding more interesting, the expeditions for instance are an amazing addition. Another place using more a recent zone in the similar style of ToFs with different "tiers" but for higher charms maybe picking up at t7 difficulty and beyond would not only fall perfectly in line with the servers style but help break up the monotony of farming the same zones day in and out.

tt11 in sleepers tomb or a t11 exp there with the sleeper as an insanely hard almost impossible to beat boss would be the tits also. Should have a quest to slay all these really hard dragons around the world to get flagged similar to the blacklist quest. Always dreamt of killing him on live.

If you find an incorrect recipe please report it so we can correct it. What was the correct recipe for avenger 2?

been there done that:)....twice really...if you count the silly gms despawning him ....was fun:)

I have so much respect for your right now..

How about sell UC2 upgrade for 100 berries & uc3 upgrade for 200? Give us a use for all those extra prism charms

umm...i am going to go out on a limb here and say...No..way..in hell..

maybe if you added an extra 0 onto those =P

That seems a pretty reasonable number to me. 1000/2000.

Might as well just give everyone max gear when they create a toon.

UC2/3 system aint broke, lets not screw with it. That being said, I think an alternative zone for em (even if its a much harder zone) would be outstanding.

Whatever the new content is we need to come up with a battle in it that we might lose.


this for me is what we are missing in t10... and even t9.... after a very short learning curve you will win whatever fight you get in vrs the bosses.... Its very little risk... the challenge is to get them to spawn .. not to kill them.


So how do we create and encounter that is going to be challenging but doable up front...and down the road some?   

One idea of the top of my head would be some kind of "king of the ring" event  where you have to fight an ever-increasing spawn of mobs ..wave after wave...the higher you go the better the reward....

does anyone else have an idea that would be a challenge to a team of 12 and 36?

Riwwi Colosseum....fun event live.

Design mechanics that your tank (or whoever has agro) has to follow to keep you from getting dted. Kind of like the older EQ raids where you had to duck or jump when the boss did certain emotes.

I was thinking it only took 100 to get a UC1, but it takes 200, so maybe UC2 = 500 and UC3 = 1000. yes that would be more reasonable.

or allow purchase of anguish augs and tov scales with hives, something like that.

how many times can i vote against this idea?:)

From an  EZ server standpoint, I think the last true hard boss was 2009/2010 MCP.   MCP would DT the main tank with aggro so teams that could do MCP would run 2 wars or 2 main tanks.     T5 and above has been pretty much uber grind with a mixture kill x mobs in y timeframe to spawn boss.   Definitely time consuming, not sure on the challenge.

Potential way to remedy this would be to have a boss DT (actually kill not just hit for 1m hp or w/e) all toons in a class.    For example,   Nub Pally Shouts:  Warriors suck, you shall die!!    -- all warriors within x range of the boss are dead.     Nub Pally Shouts:  Clerics are a worthless class, go FDAU!    -- All clerics within x range of the boss are dead.    This coupled with some additional twists and maybe some debuffs could present a challenge, if that is what you are looking for.

Me, I just want to zone out and have my gear emailed to me!   :P  lolololol

t6 boss was much harder than mcp. It DT and summoned adds that when you first broke in hit like a truck.

Perhaps when it first came out.  However,  resist augs were added shortly after and the DT is can be resisted.   I don't recall adds being summoned unless you did not clear bosses.

Each form summoned 3 or 4 sets of 3-4 adds and the final fight charmed MT as well. resist augs were not added for quite a while and not many people could farm t6 nearly as efficiently since a lot of the classes did not ae like they do now. once 2012 halloween event came out and goblin dropped the higher tier people started pulling the whole zone at once since they could get 99% stonewall on their warriors which led to stonewall nerfs a little later.

edit: 2012 halloween not 2013

It was the 1000% riposte on T7 war BP coupled with immortal skin of drake that allowed T6 to be pulled all at once back then.

That was just another point in time, before that you could get 99% stonewall with 65% warrior stonewall, 17% goblin and 17% cleric. riposte it down with black unicorn weapons. After that warrior stonewall was nerfed and tofs didnt come out for quite a while after t6. Maybe you didn't do mata when it was harder but it without a doubt was harder than mcp which isn't all that relevant to what was trying to be discussed in the post. I just wanted to remind people that t6 boss didn't used to be so easy.

Here are some ideas that could be added to bosses to make them feel more like bosses.

Emotes that require you to flip a mob to face a certain way, if not done in a timely fashion make the boss kill off the raid.

Boss mobs porting away while summoning adds which have to be delt with in a correct order or they nuke the raid, make them tanky enough they dont get killed by ae too easily.

Make the mob charm a person from the raid who needs to be killed off in a timely fashion or it charms 2 people who would then need killed and if failed to be killed it spreads to 2 addition per unsuccesful kill. Can make the charmed people get a buff so they are not easily killed and require you to focus them for like 10 seconds or what not. Prioritizes dps than healers than tanks so its not just rng and tank charm wipes group.

Have mobs fill a room up and if you are near them it kills off group members with ae, so you have to move the mob around a bit and be aware of your environment.

Adds that spawn and walk towards the boss that need killed off before they reach the boss or it explodes or buffs the boss.

Have bosses that need to be killed in pairs or they don't drop as much loot, rewards people who have put in more time and are able to kill them at the same time, but buff how much tank damage they do substantially enough that on current tier it has potential to kill the tank if cooldowns or offtanks arnt utilized.

Just some things I tried to think of that seem simple enough that people boxing can handle while making the game a bit more interesting. If more things like this are what people would want to make the game more interesting let me know and i can try to think of some more. For the most part I just thought about things that dont seem overly complicated to code as well as things people that might not have the best reactions would still be able to deal with.

I enjoy ez about a month or two at a time as im sure a lot of people do. But after a while bosses acting like glorified trash doesn't ignite the spark like a boss does when it has mechanics and you finally beat it the first time. Or when they are more rewarding when you purposefully make the fights harder like in my last suggestion.

Pretty much none of that will work unless you can scale based on equipment levels with levels assiciated to uw ranks, earrings, shields, ect.. When teams of people like rymo who have a full team of uw weapons and max earings uc3 shields ect do a set encounter they will either die to mechanics based on too much dps or demolish it within a few swings.

Maybe force a debuff on zonein that sets you at a certain stat level.
Even the tables between toons for t11. With the primary goal being completion of the tier.

And wouldnt that require people to complete t10?

And a uc1 takes 196 charm upgrades which cost 3 berries each.. Totaling 588.

The initial v1 charm is needed to start the charm.

one thing that I would kind of like I'm like 50/50 on is in some of the lower tiered zones on some of the epic mobs the epic books/pages drops 1 page upping the count to drop more then 1 possibly at least on the triggered bosses when running with friends or guildies when breaking content it would be nice to be able to split loot but understandable where this is a 1 book for 1 kill but just an idea.

I can't think of any reason to change anything t9 or below....


it all seems to function well.


faster is not better.



One thing that ...might...may ...make it better is to shrink all the really silly giant ass mobs down to 1/3 the current size in many zones...as much as we enjoy batteling a non stop cascade of various toes....might ...you know...just look better.... not sure how much work that would be...just a thought I have had ....

Not sure about that, it is pretty standard for games to adjust content of lower progression tiers as the game progresses.     EZ server is now a 7 yr old game at this point. 

It has been mentioned in this thread but I think the T5 boss rate is worth a review.    T5 is fun the first time you go through, but it is not that enjoyable when trying to back flag toons.     I back flagged 4 or 5 toons in June and July of this year and it was tedious to say the least.   

Another area for review I believe is T9.    Specifically Black Priest and spells.   At some point in time it appears that the number of undead spawning in the night time spawn was reduced.   It looks like only 30 spawn now.   Perhaps I am wrong but I believe this used to be a 50 spawn.    That reduction of undead spawn per game day equates to a reduced amount of BP spawns.  So, if you hunt just the undead you are looking at a BP spawn of maybe once every 70 min.   Now, once you have it spawned you have a plethora of spells with 0 value in todays dynamic sitting on the spell table.

It would be nice if the spell drop logic could be reviewed.    Here is a list (may be incomplete) of spells dropping in T9.   Word of Vification 2 is a T8 spell and should be removed immediately from T9.   

Spells categorized as Crap could be removed from the game with 0 negative effects.   

Spell: Word of Vivification 2  - T8 Spell dropping in T9  -  Should be removed from T9

Spell: Druid Regeneration V  Druid  - Good Spell
Spell: Baited Breath III Shaman  -  Crap
Spell: Call of the Void V   Shadow Knight  -  Good spell
Spell: Elemental Rage II   Magician  - I guess good
Spell: Essencesink IV    Wizard   - Crap
Spell: Harvest VII   Wizard   - Crap
Spell: Incisor of the Unholy III   Necromancer  -  Crap
Spell: Keep of Alendar III   Enchanter  Crap
Spell: Mark of Emperors IV    Cleric  -  Useful
Spell: Polarity Flux III   Enchanter  -   Dunno
Spell: Shy Crustaceans Rain of Frogs IV Druid  Could be useful I guess
Spell: Timeless: Vampiric Thunder II  Chanter   Good spell
Spell: Tower of Calrena III   Wizard:   Crap
Spell: Unholy Shackles IV   Necromancer   -  Good spell  (never drops)
Spell: Vicious Ice IV   Beast Lord    -   Good spell (do peeps play BL?)
Spell: Wail of Tashan IV   Enchanter  -   Useful
Spell: Yamakagis Fiery Passion Inferno IV Wizard   -  Good DD
Spell: Son of Sathir   Shadowknight   -   Seriously?   Crap
Spell: Virulence IV    Shadowknight   -   Good Spell
Spell: Theft of Toughness III   Shadow Knight   -  Good Spell
Spell: Acquittal of the Tribunal III   Shaman   -  Good Spell (never drops)
Spell: Gale Force III Ranger -  Useful

Spell: Baited Breath III Shaman  -  Crap

Will have to disagree with you on this one Mas. Tis usefull in some instances for that extra dps (when you have time to cast it).

most of this could be alleviated by simply updating the spell recipes to include T8/T9 spells

It is standard that spells are not available until they are 2 tiers from the top tier.   T9 spells would be available for research when and if T11 is implemented.   

The T9 cock block is for spells is real....all bosses should drop spells and the problem would be solved or make more undead...



I was wrong ok!

I think the whole spell research thing is fine for the 2 tiers behind method, but I always found it to be weird that just by being spell casters there are zero cost upgrades for casters as long as the spells drop.  Maybe a compromise would be to allow casters to purchase their spells with an on tier essence cost involved.  When breaking into a zone, most people use the first essences they get to upgrade strike augs for their melee...why not let them sacrifice a couple essences for the spells their casters need as well?

yea but to offset this some of the spells are really hard to get...more so when you are first in the zone... where as you will have your essence to do the strike upgrades in a few days...I am still hunting for spells in t9

Okay then what about T8.. I'm still looking for a couple spells, skin of Drake for example.. meanwhile I rotted 10001 pet illusions.. I think the drop table needs looking at

Ok, I do not believe T10 can be salvaged.   Between crashes, no instances and it's general state of fubar,  can we just scrap T10 and start over?    This is by far the worst implementation in the history of EZ.     


Actually, can we just scrap everything doucheborne implemented  (minus some spells maybe) and roll back to Hunters EZ?       

T10 does have major issues. I find it hard to log in since the zone is so poorly designed. The kill counts for all armors is whaaat (which btw is silly as it encourages folks to deck all toons in one set of gear), the kill count for epic is insane, constant rez for stacked toons, not sure if traps are gone but they sucked, lag is bad and worst of all I can't use my map without setting high and low to 150 even then it doesn't really work. Plus no instances and no spawn detector = poop. The zone is too big and the quests are flawed imo.

I have to agree, T10 really does suck and should be trashed. I created 3 new toons after I got all my armor for my first 15 toons. Now I can't change faction when I hail the gnome and give him plats because gnolls are lame. The pathing for the gnolls just suck, they run all over the place before they even come to you. Even bringing just my warrior in the zone it's always a 5-30 delay for when I use a clicky or hit the attack button.

So what do melee have to upgrade that costs other than strikes? Sure, UW...but a mage with a UW is every bit as gnarly dps as many other classes, and better than many. And as for strikes, caster mana neck is IMO every bit as much of a must have as strike augs to make their dps in any way viable compared to melee dps....and while the costs may not be AS heavy they are still heavy...and honestly caster dps takes longer fights to show in any way. I'd say its balanced well enough.

And HOLY SHIT!!! I am actually agreeing with Peign. Someone mark the date :D

(https://media.giphy.com/media/dIhUrMNokPIqs/giphy.gif)

A little off topic I know but the Freaking Gem collector in OT is in need of some attention...

things life span is less than 30 seconds now from spawn and people loot and scoot...

its on a fixed timer.. so people just wait for it to spawn and its just stupid ...random spawn? random time? ...10x the hps?


with DT clickys and scrolls this thing goes down almost instantly...

maybe it could have 2 forms..one immune to melee and one immune to spells...random spawn...just something to make this more that it is.

just some thoughts

Yes to all

Random timer would be great.  It is on an 8 hour timer now and it's announcement goes to Other chat.   I keep other chat hidden so poor Recluse hasn't seen the GC in quite some time.    Also, we should be able to use all of our items in OT.   There are a few items that cannot be used. 

I agree. I like the idea behind t10 but the zone is just too jacked up and quests are borked.....if we could fix the zone quests (although i hope it doesnt screw with the folks who have already killed a couple hundred PB's, like me, cause i would hate to have to start that all over again from square one)....or make it so boss spawns are proper and have a main named mob at end that drops a epic book.....I don't know how it can be un-borked....

Just allowing at least 12 if not more into the daily would make more sense....the 6 is a stupid cock block and i don't understand why they ever did that....

What is gem collector used for? And what does he drop besides ninja.

What am i missing by not killing him?

I first posted this idea on an entirely new thread. Let's start a new EZ server rolled back to T9 and without higher Halloween pets (no mitigation and limited hp/damage boost,) UWs, Shield of the Ages or EoA implemented. No exp boost items either, or gift options for xp boost. The donation items could be added as the server progresses, only to ease adoption for newer players and for things like group lev, shrink, pets etc. Free waypoints could require a minimum donation like $25 early adoption rate which would be an immediate boost to funds as 100 people would pay this gladly, and this could double after that. That's $2,500 right off the bat to pay infrastructure expenses (anymore than this would bring in diminished returns more than likely.)
 
This server could easily handle two instances of eqemu at once, and I bet that we would find the new server would outpace the old in terms of active players and would eventually replace it. Don't roll back this server, that's a fucked up thing to do to people that have toughed it out. Just start a concurrent one.

I feel that now is the right time to do this as the interest in this server is waning more and more. The weak Halloween event did not help matters. This would also give time to fix or redo T10.

Really if I were to do this also I would reduce all the stats. I feel this is a big hinderance in making new content as the numbers in ez are beyond ridiculous. A good start would be to divide damage and hp stats serverwide by 10. instead of rocking 10m hp, we should be at 1m. This would be an immediate improvement across the board and would be the easiest to carry out in order to avoid long term delays in starting the new server.

Overtime we could also adjust the screwy mitigation percentages and crazy ass haste boosts which render weapon delays irrelevant.

As far as additional content, I feel like more and more we have tried to reinvent the wheel instead of just using the quests and zone structures already in place in the game. There is nearly an unlimited amount of material in this game, tweak the zone and it is new content. We could be raiding Karanors or Kurns or Blackburrow or Dragon Necropolis or a million other zones at high level.

I once loved EZ server, it was my game of choice and really felt like I was accomplishing something here. I always helped others, just as I was helped from time to time by higher levels. I want to feel that again, and if that makes me, to paraphrase one person's blunt criticism, a washed up has been wishing to relive my former days of glory on EZserver, then so be it. Although that's a bit much, considering I never was and never wanted to be the best, I just wanted to be somewhere in the top 30% or so of players. I have always been the guy who was the first to congratulate others on their accomplishments and never bragged about my own, though it was always nice to say, "I finally made it!" as I finally reached a goal, and to see my fellow guildies woop.

I disagree that interest is fading in this server and ask what you base that on? i see 300-500+ on every night and it's been a constant since i started here.


Don't make shit up to prove your point


If you want to do that they have plenty of other servers you can play on ....no reason it has to be EZ...

Would warriors even be able to survive a pull in t9 with that?

(http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/c7/c7a9c074f631d34ddeca8870c863439b1228b8d1592f6e6b5a0dcf7f946f16b4.jpg)

I may get flamed a bit, but I would love to see the Ultimate charm become a bit more streamlined.  I think initially, and like other items they were made to be a reward for grinding and spending a lot of time.  Something only the most dedicated and bored would achieve.  Now they are mostly required to progress.

Maybe have one each tier, make the requirements for the existing ones lower, and scale out the stats.  In the end it may take longer since there would be a quest each tier, and current charms wouldn't change, just maybe the name of the charm.  This would also make future tiers easier to balance.

Just my 2cp

Actually not a half bad idea, tbh - Your idea synerigzes really well with the backfarming people have to go through when start doing those UW's - Who's to say you gotta UC every single toon on your first pass through a tier - Unless you're an old-timer who's already got everything x1000, you're going to have to go back eventually and get those essences.

Personally I am looking at 18x300 ToV scales - Not a task i find particularly exciting! - Would be great if UC could be worked on while at the same time doing backfarming that has to be done anyway.

This was done with ToFS....people have suggested something similar for UCv3 with ToV scales....so good idea...just gotta wait to see if this is eventually done.

i think if we just have a similar zone to ToFs for v2/v3 upgrade backfarming it would be the tits.

I can see v3....v2 is so frigging easy...and any alternate zone should be MUCH harder than the regular farm zone...just like how ToFS is harder than LDoN.

I disagree with this.     As others have stated V2 is already very easy. V3 is only 2 tiers behind max content and definitely should not be made easier.     Getting 300 scales is not that difficult.

Uc is not a requirement. Except for maybe t10 which from all the posts is a broken zone.. I havent been there yet.

I did just fine with uc1 on my single group up through starting t9.

Was it slower? Yes. Was it horrible no.
Now that im in t9 with all my toons it really isnt an issue. Progress your main group as far as you can take them before farming current tier stuff for upgrades on uc and uw. The next tiers armor and weapons makes the last tier almost trivial. 

Pull till you kill your group a few times.. It lets you know what you can and cant handle. The more mobs the merrier.

ToFS wasnt easier than the alternative for v1/2...in fact it was often much harder. It was just an alternative. Thats what I'd like to see.....alternatives to T6 and T8, harder than the normal content but still doable, that would allow someone to still work charms without going insane.

Really, i couldn't care less about easy, i wouldn't mind if everything hit twice as hard and had twice as many hps in every progression zone I've been to so far.(besides t10 obviously). ToFs is fun because you can't just ez mode through the whole thing, mobs hit you a lot more often and you actually have to be careful sometimes unless your close to end game geared.

I care about monotony. Every single person on this server gets sick of seeing the same zone at some point. Breaking that up with different area's to explore/progress makes it so much more enjoyable. Sorry if this comes off as bitchy, i love this server, i just feel like this is inevitable to happen, it fits perfectly in line with the servers overall progression and would only add to the fun imo.

no, nay, neva!

How much difficulty would be involved to do the following:

Move progression from Time to some other zone.  
Move the lvl grinding from Fire to somewhere else.

Then you have the entire original Planes of Power to go through.   Would need to make it all harder of course and swap in ez gear/spells.   This would then open up the trials and a massive amount of bosses and progression to go through already created.  

I know it isn't custom but it would open up a lot of content for which one could then take their time in creating a new custom zone that actually works.

and instance able :)

I have had this insane idea floating around in the back of my rather shallow mind.


What about the racial starting cities?

I dont know if it would be just one...or all of them but it would be a hoot to have to kill the DE town or freeport and qeynos for the next tier... we really dont use the cities for much other than the one quest for the SOT.

I have just been trying to think of interesting zones and frankly several of the starting cities are pretty cool..


The pop idea with POT is not a bad idea

So what's the deal with T10?

Ohh this is a question that been answered in such agonizing detail on this board...do some reading..

So what's the deal with T10

Akka will get to it when he can...he is only one person...and last i heard he had a death in his family...which kinda takes precedence over EZ....I know that is asking a lot but sometimes (and by that i mean rarely) RL trumps EZ.....other than that T10 has been up for almost a year now and Akka has worked on it to make it more playable....he is asking folks feedback on the zone....



you can find 12 pages worth of reading here:
http://ezserver.online/forums/index.php?topic=5253.0

...and easier than that all you have to do is click on PAGE 1 of this thread.......

So what's the deal with T10?

Dreadful stuff needing changes is like abyss bosses simply not popping from random mob kills for months on end or class specific armor in T4 that just won't drop at all.

I'd like to see rangers archery actually miss or get prevented by damage mitigation. Arrows shouldn't ever be smart missiles. Arrows should be dodgable.

I'd like to see classes never messed with again

Don't mess with classes, then. Just stop having arrows automatically hit regardless of damage mitigation and chasing down opponents even when they hide behind rocks or corners.
That is ridiculous.

standard EQ mechanics.   I'm quite sure you are not dying from white dmg, my guess is that it would be mitigated.    Quite sure dmg mitigation does apply to the white dmg from arrows.

Are you Aythena?

Peign brings nothing useful to this thread, except the peign.

No damage mitigation doesn't stop white damage of bows. Bows automatically hit. No this is not Athyena. It should.

Interesting.   Although, I doubt the white dmg is killing you.

Damnit where'd the brunna thread go? I was having fun reading that shit :(

Thread contribution:
Make shit hit less hard?

T10 needs to be fixed it's really bad. Seems the only person who beat it botted (plus others?). Plague quest is a joke. Juggernaught mass murder / traps suck. Three kinds of armor tripling the work makes no sense. Zone is almost unplayable due to lag. Map doesn't work. No instance sucks. Pathing sucks. Etc etc.

Can we get a do over or at least fix the outstanding issues?

If we fix the issues do the following:
- fix pathing
- allow armor selection but make it a zonewide kill count otherwise reduce the number of kills needed by 80%
- make plague quest 100 or 150, not 1000 for heavens sake
- optimize zone to reduce lag maybe reduce the number of npcs dramatically or make them spawn when you enter region (or replace zone entirely lol)
- fix map if possible
- destroy or reduce traps
- tweak jugger for less mass murder
- allow instancing
- let archers move
- other stuff

I agree with some of what you are saying but I dont see anything wrong with juggs...and the traps are great....

the archers should probably go they suck and are game breaking.

unless something is changed the plauges need to be a hell of a lot higher then 150 like maybe 500... 150 makes it trival..whats your rush?



complaining about juggs make me think you have spent very little time in the zone....

Agreed mob difficulty is good.   If fact,  juggs should hit harder and or port you around the zone.

I don't know about 150...maybe 200....heck I am at 360ish and have been finished with armors for a long while. 300 wouldnt be too far of a stretch...as far as juggs, that's just laughable, shoulda been in t10 before they were nerfed! I disagree with reducing kill counts for armor as well.  If you reduce the kill count by 80% you wont even be close to your PB count (if it were changed to 150) I had just over 100 PB kills after I finished armors on all 12 toons.....would just find people complaining about something else down the road.  :o

Haven't spent much time in zone recently bc I hate it honestly. If juggs were nerfed I haven't noticed they still seem to mass murder my toons in big pulls (even with the shaman thing) but I'll take your word.

Agree maybe plagues 200 or so. I don't actually think the armor kill counts are too high I just think its complete bs that you triple your kill counts if you want different armor for different toons. Makes zero sense to deck toons in other gear as is.

It does makes no sense to me either...I did all my toons in orc gear. With what the mobs hit for they need every ounce of hitpoints they can get....when the other armor sets have the same hitpoints or less than your previous tier set (t9) and you are not moving the hitpoint scale in a favorable position......it is stupid. That's why i brought up being able to do all armor sets to make a better armor type......if you wanna do it, you can. if you don't wanna do it, just wait for t11....

Pass on removing items.   I think you can reduce lag by turning labels off on map if you have not already.   Akkadius did fix lag issues awhile back and it did seem to help. 

Do not envy anyone inheriting that cluster code.

T10 will be getting adjusted soon heavily. As soon as I get settled moving here I will be going through it all.

For those wondering if there will be a T11, the answer is yes, and it won't take a year to make.

I've read through everything in this thread and I appreciate the feedback.

I shouldn't have to remind people to stop bashing previous developers, that goes along with doomsdaying and negativity, get over yourselves - it doesn't do anyone any good.

Outstanding botting issues will be dealt with seriously.

Please continue to use this thread to voice content ideas or things that you'd like to see.

Thanks everyone.

 ;D

 :o

Thanks for the update Akka :)

I think we could revisit spawn rates and ToFS essence drop rates as well. Been in ToFS for 2 days and havent seen Tserrina once....well i did see her today in pub, but someone else spawned her.

yep, hence the TOFS thread in Rants that was deleted  :(

Another way to reduce lag is to /bca //viewport 1 1 1 1

It was posted in another thread and seems to work well.

How about some new donation items, and or bring back retired donation items?     

I have viewport 1 1 1 1 doesn't work. On the toons running that their screen stays black after you select that character's EQ icon on the taskbar.

/viewport reset to clear it...either tie it to an alias or hockey on all toons.

Yes,  that is the expected result.  You can reset with /viewport reset

I thought it was suppose to have the screen un-blacken whenever you opened each individual client....

Blarr's post:

What it does:
-Issues the /viewport 1 1 1 1 command on background clients and issues /viewport reset on foreground client as necessary. This saves a lot of GPU work if you're running multiple clients and shouldn't effect your gameplay at all.

-Closes the raid, inventory, and map window on background clients if they are open, and reopens them if they return to the foreground client. This cuts down on CPU load tremendously if these windows are left open in the background (especially map).

/viewport 1 1 1 1   -  blackens

/viewport reset    -  unblackens

hmmm wonder if you could make a hotkey for /viewport reset and assign it to say key (=).....that way if you needed to see on that client you could just hit that hotkey...heck maybe put it on - for /viewport 1 1 1 1 and = for /viewport reset.......I thought it automatically took the blackened screen up if you brought that client to the forefront.

someone made a script that would automatically turn the viewport on/off when you swapped between characters but I never managed to get it to work and I don't remember where it was.

Blarr's post was specific to his custom plugin, if I understand what it does is just checks the windowstate of clients to see if it has changed like when you bring it to the forefront.  If it sees the current client is active, it resets the viewport and if it sees that it does not have the current focus (it's in the background) then it implements the viewport to 1.  It's a sweet plugin but it won't work with the latest compiles from mqemulator.net because that code checks the timestamp so that only plugins compiled having the matching timestamp will work.

What I meant by setting  hotkey to all your characters to /reset viewport is exactly as you said Ray, create a hotkey and bind it to it so any time you cycle to a character that needs to reset the viewport you can do so.  This is a good way to do it if you use different viewport settings on different toons. 

Otherwise, if all your toons share a common custom viewport setting or you don't use the viewport to trim your playscreen at all, I'd suggest looking into using /alias commands.  Alias commands are great for me because I hate mousing any more than I absolutely have to, I'm not a point and click aficionado so I keyboard as much as possible.  I constantly use my air illusion on my warrior when I play and even though I have it on a hotkey bank, I set an alias command so that all I need to do is target myself and type /air + [Enter] and it fires it off.  I use /back to click my shield, /frozenguild, /frozenraid, /frozensolo to jump around instances when farming for Masters, /pop to repop zone and a shitload of other shortcuts that I set and probably forgot.

To set up a new alias from in game you just type /alias [what you want to use as your alias command fire text] /COMMANDHERE and [Enter]. An example, if I want to boot click everyone to port to nexus with an alias:
/alias /nexus /bcaa //itemnotify feet rightmouseup
Yeah sue me, I know useitem works as well or better but old habits die hard...you should get the general idea though.  NOTE, I use a slash command in front of my alias trigger text so I don't inadvertently fire one of them off if I happen to say the text in chat...learned that the hard way.  You aren't required to use a slash preceding the fire text, but you'll want to make sure it's a trigger that won't randomly fire off during normal gameplay if you decide not to.

Another note, you can also write your alias commands directly into your MQ2.ini file...there is a section in the ini that is called [Aliases] and lists any that you currently have set up and allows you to add or remove ones from there.  If you edit your alias commands through the ini file though, you have to zone for it to reload the ini file and update.

I am sitting at my computer staring at a bag in my bank that is full of strike augs XI and XII and I am thinking to myself..what a waste...


1. Can a script be added to deconstruct strike augs?
2. Could one of the wonky aug slots on are UW be made a strike aug socket?


just thoughts......

Yeah kind of sad to have so many wasted essences in strike augs.
On a side note, why are so many weapons set to 50 delay? Less strike augs and weapons with 2-3x worse delay then old epics = meh

No clue what alias commands are...I just put the /viewport 1111 and /viewport reset commands on each toon to the (-) and (=) slots and turn them off that way....gonna try, once I get my necro into T7, to run all 18+ clients and see if they still bog down in T7....since I dont have the cash atm for the SSD drive and the i7-3770k processor upgrades.

/viewport 1 1 1 1 just tells the renderer to set the viewport to start at pixel 1,1 and be 1 pixel wide and 1 pixel high = effectively making it 1 pixel.
(you can also do /viewport 0 0 1 1)

it only affects the viewport (the 3D rendering of the game world) so you can still see the UI, chat windows etc.

/viewport reset resets it to the default (full screen/window)

Unless something has changed, weapon delay for players is set server side and is 35.   With the plus haste items in standard tier gear I believe toons are getting to 35 regardless of the base delay of the weapon.

Viewport commands only affect the stress on the GPU or the system overall? CPU/ram/etc?

Can you change ooc permissions to level 71 or 72?  

If anything I say has already been implemented in some way in later tiers, I apologize. I have just begun to get my crew T3 flagged. Most of these ideas are off the cuff.


I am new to EZ (a couple of months) and I believe I am the “target” player for a server like this. I am someone who enjoys the nostalgia and graphic simplicity of EQEmu. The idea of outfitting your characters, having fun, doing cool things. The ability to have as many toons as you want is nice. That is probably one of the best benefits of EZ.


These are some really rough ideas and thoughts I've had.


Positives
-Advancing from one tier to the other should come with a large increase in power. My T2 crew should be able to lay waste to QVIC. Pulling the zone and mass killing with AoE is fun.
-New players able to benefit from higher players farming. My first group is 95% geared in T2 armor because Noot needed essences and was kind and patient enough to let me loot all the armor I needed. It’s these acts of kindness that is the main draw for me here. Other games don’t provide an environment where some “twinking” can occur. Half my group now has Halloween pets because of the kind soul of another higher tiered player -- completely blanking on his name sorry!




Story


-From what I’ve seen so far, it’s just kill-kill-kill-loot your armor. Move on. I don’t feel like my characters are existing in a world where they actually affect things. This is a RPG, afterall. I think a lot of us would enjoy a storyline or some emotional investment into something, anything.


Could be as simple as needing to rescue a little girl’s father. You stumble upon a hut in the Misty Thicket. A little halfling girl tells you her story. Let’s go save her father! Boom, you’re invested already. Maybe the King of Neriak wants you to rescue his kidnapped prince. Something like this could quickly get you started down a storyline with rewards and items and emotional investment.




Random Ideas


-Timed elements, i.e. have to clear a zone in under 30 mins, hold off an onslaught of NPCs for 20 mins. I think adding the element of a countdown of some sort adds a feeling of tension, drama, etc.


-Escorting a NPC from attackers.


-Choice of difficulty
If past events/zones have been scalable, I think having an option to turn on a GOD-like mode level of difficulty could satiate the hardcore, uber-equipped veterans. Normal or “EZ” mode could be the usual increase in difficulty that the average, casual player can work through. But GOD mode will extend the life of new content with much harder fights. Rewards will be slightly better gear. GOD mode would be something you don’t have to complete to progress to the next tier, but it is something additional to do if ambitious and willing.


-References to pop culture. I know WoW did this to some degree and I always thought it was neat. They had to tip-toe around copyright. We do not. We’re on a pirated game for crying out loud. We can have NPCs named MICKEY MOUSE if we wanted to. This opens up WORLDS of possibilities. We could have themes in different tiers/portions of future content.


We meet a halfling named THE IMP. Wants you to help him become King of his city. Or a high elven woman named KHALEESI. She wants you retrieve her dragon eggs. Or avenge her father’s murder. A human named THE BASTARD … or SNOW. There’s so many possibilities to inject some creativity and fun into this server.


-Puzzles/riddles. It’s always fun to figure out the answer to something or have a revelation of some sorts instead of just being spoon fed info. Yeah, you only get that warm fuzzy once per puzzle, but maybe an entire Tier is a puzzle and completing the tier coincides having that revelation at the same time.


-Random Easter Egg Hunts
 
Have a chest pop randomly somewhere in some zone. A server wide message with a riddle/clue. Inside the chest is random item or a copper/silver/golden ticket that’s redeemable based on the type of ticket.


-Reward/Potion to temporarily make zones provide double loot or double/triple/etc experience
An added reward item for EZ credits?


-Lure-type player attractor. This is a rough idea but I'm intrigued with the idea of lures from Pokémon Go. Perhaps this could increase the socialization factor. (If so desired.)


-Global Loot table
I wouldn’t mind seeing some really, really, rare items drop globally and be TRADEABLE. Like super unique and powerful. Can just be a handful. Can you imagine if a newer player got a hold of one -- what would some of the super-veterans with very deep pockets be willing to pay for such an item? People would be known for having that item just like back in EQ ‘98.


-Item Uniqueness


While I like the idea of “ultimate” weapons/charms, the naming convention is so… blah. Imagine reading Lord of the Rings and Ilsidur uses the “Ultimate Sword.” It does nothing to imply the heritage and backstory of a weapon.
Now let’s make a NPC called Tariema. Oh, there’s a new NPC in Nexus. Let’s hail him. Find out he’s a master smith, banished or escaped from some troubled lands. We learn he can make weapons. Tells you about past kings/nobles/heroes he’s made weapons for. He’s the go to man/woman for quality weapons.


He says he can make you one. Just needs the raw goods. Same stuff as the UW.


Hand him the goods. You get “XXX’s Bane” or “Tariema’s Whatever.” There’s now a link from your weapon to the world in some way. It may be small, but in a RPG these little things add up. This contributes to the verisimilitude of a RPG.


-I know there is a limited number of people creating content for the server. So they want to maximize the time it takes to accomplish the new content.


So X = the time it takes to finish a Tier. From what I’ve seen so far, you must kill mobs 99% of the time to finish a tier. There is some time spent combining armor, but that is negligible.


If Y = killing mobs and X = time spent finishing a tier then:


Y = X from what I’ve seen. But so much more can go into X.


Let’s say:


A = travel time. I like the idea of “globe-trotting” like in the DG/CG quest.
B = talking to NPCs/learning their storyline.
C = obtaining an item to continue the story/quest.
D = Exploration. This doesn’t mean new zones. I actually like the old school Nektulos, Lavastorm, Faydark, Karanas, etc. This could mean simple things as needing to talk to a new NPC or pick up an item off the ground somewhere.


So, now, instead of X = Y:


X = Y + A + B + C + D


And of course you could weigh the proportions any way you want.






EZ Credits


Gaming has entered an age of supplementing yourself via in-game purchases. See iOS games. Need more Candy Crush lives? Plop down a dollar.


I don’t mind this and I think it could be improved for EZ. I think off the bat, the credit prices could be easily halved. Ideally, an even greater discount.


I’m fairly new and already some of the grind of T1/T2 and then needing all the correct armor pieces from Cazic can be a bit tedious. Sometimes you reach a plateau of interest and need a little something to give you a boost. How about pluck down $5 and get 75 water/ice crystals. Skip the grind for a evening and get some upgrades for your crew. I don’t see how this hurts anyone.


Had a bad week at work? Stressed out? Want a quick fix? Have $20 to blow? Go all out and get 300 tokens/crystals/whatever. Some of the credit items have a bit of a sticker shock to them. Some people want to advance in game, but not have the copious and disposable free time to feel like you’re making progress. Things like that could help. Again, no one is being forced to buy things. We are here to have fun and if plopping down 20 bucks for several hours of getting loot for your crew will do that, I see no issue.


This ties into the newbie reward. I want to start a second group for some variety, but the idea of playing catch up alone is exhausting. If I could plop down $5 a character to get them to T1 real quick, I’d do that in a heartbeat. But $30 each for a crew of 6? $180. Much harder to swallow than $30.


To the inevitable “You think T2 is bad, just wait…” -- should that really be the prevailing attitude? I think server growth should be the goal, and the barrier to entry is quite large. If plopping down $50 kickstarts your crew in a meaningful and FUN way, I say why not. I mean you start at level 100 now in WoW… When you start messing with 12-18 characters, that’s a lot of grinding. When you have 2-3 hours to play once, maybe TWICE a week… I’ll be done with current content in 5 years.

Some new rewards would be cool, too. These are little bonuses that add to the fun of the game. What if the pet selection was expanded? Different pets with different spells/buffs, etc.

Conclusion


I’ve combed through the forums looking at different topics and guides from years past. I’ve seen a lot of people giving out ideas and then other people squashing down their ideas because it would make things “too easy” or breaks the game or something. The fact is I don’t see those names around any longer. They’re gone. They've quit. What good being defensive did. There should be a focus on what makes the game FUN to play now -- not minimizing the hurt feelings of someone who sees a noob loot a UC after he’s grinded out the game for the past 4 years.


If the devs see some worth to my ideas, I can help. I want to help. I will really buckle down and brainstorm. I find this stuff fun. A hobby of mine is screenwriting. I’ve written 20 screenplays in the past 8 years. I am not a professional, but maybe one day. I think I have a knack for story, story structure, dialogue, emotional resonance, and “cool things.” I want to contribute and I think I could help make EZ an even more memorable game to play.


I’m also not afraid of crunching numbers. My bachelors is in Statistics. I could assist in data analysis and report out statistically significant findings, as well.


If there’s someone I can reach out to express further interest just let me know and I will do so.

Nice post, some interesting ideas.      Wanted to comment on the "-Puzzles/riddles. It’s always fun to figure out the answer to something or have a revelation of some sorts instead of just being spoon fed info. Yeah, you only get that warm fuzzy once per puzzle, but maybe an entire Tier is a puzzle and completing the tier coincides having that revelation at the same time."

Much of the content was a bit difficult to figure out.  For example T5 was hard for the people that figured it out,  the EoN mobs were challenging to figure out at first,  T9 boss spawning and T10 also presented some puzzles.    Unfortunately or fortunately (there are people in both camps) the content was all put on the Wiki and spoonfed to players.     I've argued against that for years.    Without the wiki much of this content would still be challenging for new players.   

Anyway, nice post.   Hope the grind doesnt break you and you stick around  :)

I have to admit, I read the whole post and had some really nice ideas.

I would really the idea of doing quests/story line like that of the EQ Live.

Though I have only been to this server for 6months, I really had fun and I'm looking forward to new contents and updates other than just kill mobs and grind grind grind.

Not going to quote that wall of text but some interesting ideas and would love to see more.

I love some of those ideas Cogg.

However...have to keep in mind that game companies that have HUGE teams to make ideas like this happen...and what you're suggesting in a typical game company would involve a team of story writers, developers and programmers. Here, we have one guy, and whomever he finds who he can trust who shows talent, desire to help, ability to work well with others and who can dedicate the time. Or, put more simply, we have one guy :D

But I like some of those ideas, and think maybe if Akk eventually gets some help here it'd be nice seeing some of em happen.

Dungeons and Dragon online has many raids based off of puzzles and it was loads of fun.....

I wanted to have a resource for people who needed the information. I might shout at everyone who asks questions in ooc to read the wiki, but its really up to the player if they want to use the wiki.

Every time my players would reset I would hold, "Jmar's Booty Bam Bust Reaver Raids"

No holds barred, your loot is your loot! Foul language, berating allowed, +3 cha tome on your fighter, whatever it dropped for you!

was loads of fun and I even had a prepared script after a while cause people would join my raid just to hear me banter on about stupidness and bash people all in good fun.

But, back to the point, that puzzle was so cool, I never got tired of doing that raid, and flying through the spike tunnels to pull the levers. loads of fun

lol I found one of my old posts about it
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/130548-After-no-thought-heres-quot-the-speech-quot?s=b7ca65c51ac94d031eec2ca415507dff (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/130548-After-no-thought-heres-quot-the-speech-quot?s=b7ca65c51ac94d031eec2ca415507dff)

I'm late to the party, but that was an entertaining read...makes me wish I had played D&D online. I used to lead vox/naggy raids on Mithaniel Marr and gave a speach of sorts in much the same manner, setting the rules up front and giving people a clear idea of their role in the raid, setting all groups up accordingly. Also Karanors, Mithaniel Marr and Potime raids were a blast.

Hmmm.....Wolf, were you a Grub? Or perhaps SBC?