EZ Server

Testers!!

I need as many people as possible to log in to Veeshan's Peak on the EZ Test server and just give it a go. I'm looking for any potential issues, glitches, exploitable mechanics...and just some hours spent in zone. There are a few known issues that I will work out, but overall it's nearing completion, and release. Depending on Akkadius' schedule, hoping to release it sometime Nov. 17-20th to Live. If you do log on to Test, be aware that the character data was brought over early-September, and does not update with anything gained on Live, so your gear may be different.

Instead of making this front page post really long, see the first response to this thread for more stuff.....

-Draca

Tier 10.67 Information

As I've mentioned ad nauseum, 10.67 is hard. Mobs hit hard, and mitigate heavily. This was a design decision to give the zone an old-school dungeon crawl feel, where you have to be mindful of what you pull, and many of the toys and clickies you're used too are either ineffective, or outright don't work. While there are only 2 bosses in this zone, they follow this same design philosophy just turned up to 11. Just to alleviate concerns, this isn't the only way I plan to design zones.

10.67 is also incredibly simple from a design point of view, as well as from an itemization standpoint. Shadowknights are getting some love here, as are Druids & Shamans with some powerful, and useful AE healing spells, along with a spell duplicate of the Group Cure Clickie reward item, which Clerics will also have access too. Ring of the Ages gets an upgrade, going from it's current rank 1000, into Legendary Ring of the Ages I-X (equivalent to 1100), range items for melee and casters (goodbye Jeweler's Candlelight), and a high damage bow for Rangers. I can't possibly cover every under-represented class with my first development, and I haven't tried. Even this limited development had a very steep learning curve, and several points where I really felt I was a lot closer to completion than I actually was, which was admittedly a little disheartening. That being said, I feel much more prepared to outline and develop future content. So let's talk about that...

Tier 11

This is fairly simple, what do you guys want out of Tier 11? Large, open zone? Dungeon? Really hard mobs? Really grindy quests? Something in between? I had originally outlined Everfrost as Tier 11, because it's zone type (snow/ice) that we haven't had as a Tier zone before. However, with my newfound development insights, it's likely I would do a full re-write anyway, so I'm open to suggestions. Just so everyone is aware when making suggestions, I plan on generally being in a continual development cycle of new content. So if you're thinking about suggesting a massive Tier 11 just because you think you might be stuck with it for a long time, that's not going to be the case, but I'm also open to what everyone wants to play. As I've said before, while I may be a GM now, and developing content, I am an EZ player through and through. I didn't give up my right to play the game with you all to let content stagnate, nor can I accomodate every request, but I will always be asking for people's help when I need it, like with 10.67 testing, as well as soliciting for ideas for what's next....so let's hear it!

Other things..

Few other things I want to clear up. First thing, is that I am a GM on the Live server, obviously. What I don't have (and shouldn't have) at this point is access to the Live server data. Perfect example of this was during 10.67 development, I needed spell and items created, so I created them...and eventually caused a critical enough problem that the Test server was inaccessible. This was due to something that I didn't know that I didn't know, which was that you can't create new spell or item id's on a running server. Akkadius quickly found and addressed the issue, but it highlighted my lack of knowledge causing problems, this type of problem should never affect the Live server. This ultimately means that changes are a little slow, but ultimately should be more accurate (yes, had a few issues with my first 'patch' I know).

I am here for the long haul folks. I won't be able to make everybody happy all the time, and some people happy none of the time, but I am here to listen, and do what I can to keep EZ Server a vibrant, live community. I'm not interested in leading from a pulpit, I'd rather take the direction the active playerbase wants to go, as long as that direction is in keeping with what we all know EZ Server to be.

-Draca

I'll try and get some stuff done on the test server this weekend, if anyone wants to join me, more heads are better than one...

One thing I have to say I find a bit out of order is the putting of reward item effects in to a spell or on an item, just seems like a middle finger to anyone that actually purchased one with credits...

Just my opinion though ;)

Tank

I'll try and log in to test some time this weekend.  Any way to update character data? A few of my toons have made incredible gains since that time in September and would surely be able to push further in with the added dps.

Before I answer, I want to clarify that I'm not arguing, or trying to state why I'm right, and you're wrong, I'll just be providing the rationale used for decisions made.

In this case, it has been brought up several times that there are various encounters for which the group cure clickie is pretty nearly mandatory, and that observation is pretty accurate in a few cases. By providing it to several under-represented classes, I hope to give them some newfound, and powerful utility. While there are several pieces of gear that have the same click effect, the recast times of those make them considerably less effective.

I did weigh your exact thoughts before committing to adding these spells, but I hope they will be generally well received for the targeted classes.

Miriya, not at this time, and likely not until after Veeshan launches on Live, at which point it wouldn't be done until I need testers for the next development.

-Draca

Yeah, I actually lay in bed thinking about what I'd put and thinking "What an idiot" I came to the same conclusion and then I thought about those that don't have the ability to actually purchase credits etc, I've never actually paid real money for my credits I've always managed to trade for them in game..

Tank

Been trying to get on the test server for the last ten or 15 minutes so far I've managed to get 5 toons logged in but that's after multiple attempts to get in, screen just sits black then goes back to server select or just hangs until I force close it..Someone suggested trying the free to play client the other day so I'm downloading that see if it makes any difference..

Tank

Awesome work Draca!

Can't wait to try out your VP when I gear up a bit :)

T11 Everfrost sounds awesome! lots of mob types to play around with and cool stuff like vengeful lyricist, tainted mammoth, snow orcs/goblins and Ice giants with lots of room to play around with! I think for your first full tier zone you should do a zone you love, you are a barbarian so everfrost is a good fit lol. Excited to see what you decide on. Would love some event type things in tier zones... like in T9 when the undead pop from befallen at 11pm. I think the vengeful skellies popped out night if i remember correctly, would be pretty cool! Whatever you decide I'm sure it will be awesome.

Also about the Group Cure spell being added- thank you... Seeing as how donations are only open sometimes I have not been able to purchase the group cure reward item and literally could not kill certain mob types with fully geared toons(ToV necro dragon/bloodmoon master necro).

-Hulkz

Few Extra Tidbits

I’ll also be working on some stuff that is not zone developments, but things like extensive world quests with fun or powerful (or both) rewards. Someone, I think Daughterwar, had mentioned a Tae Ew Hide Sack (not sure if that’s exact item name), as a fun potential quest, and while we are slot limited, it doesn’t mean I can’t fill those slots with something worthwhile! Also planning on some limited (as in I spawn them) world bosses, that will require a concerted effort of more than one person to defeat, with similarly excellent loot. I’d also talked about doing an EZ Server trivia night, where contestants would have to be allowed in, and would answer various trivia questions about EZ Server. Loot percentages, spawn chances amongst other fun, light-hearted things. More details to be announced, or, something might just shout one night that he’s ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and he’s all out of bubbl…wait, that’s the halloween shark huh?

Aside from that, I also want to point out that I plan on continuing to design encounters that punish players for ignoring mechanics, and trying to bull your way through. Things like mezzes, charms, slows, debuffs and lulls will become important, but will also be provided to a slightly wider variety of classes, so you don’t need to roll an enchanter tonight or anything. My feeling is you can make stuff a grind in 2 ways, relatively easy, but viciously repetitive quests and such, or viciously hard mobs you have to kill less of. Both will get their day in the sun.

Also, going forward, class buffs will be limited in the downward levels they will take hold on. This doesn’t apply to current spells, but don’t expect T11 buffs to be boosting that T8 toon to god levels, and I am pretty adamantly opposed to a new Wings of the Angel type item as well (unless it was truly incredibly difficult to obtain).

Ultimately, where I go depends on feedback. I’m not asking just to humor anyone, there’s no mandate from Akkadius that I must ask for the community opinion on anything, but I think it’s the right way to get the right content to people. So if you’re reading this, get involved here, even if it’s a small idea, it can become a lot bigger. I’m not dropping one or two things and quitting, and I’m not going away with updates and questions.

-Draca

I'm thinking Kael Drakkel would make for a nice T11 zone its huge and there is a lot of quests that can be changed to new items. I'm sure most of use have spent alot of time in this zone and would like to see it as a T11 or T12 just a thought.

Excellent idea, and has been floated in the past. Will add it to the list of considerations for sure.

-Draca

And Kael has snow too.. and ice.. and giants.. excellent zone for T11

Would be cool to have some chain boss mechanics similar to HW event. But not luck based or at least not that much. Just make the bosses harder to kill and more likely to spawn. One could combine Vindicator and King Tormax or Rallos Zek Statue and Avatar of War.

I like the idea of Kael but I like the idea of newer zones that I haven't seen before too...like from new expansions....I also love good story telling...so should have some story going on with new tier

Don't forget if you use Keal for T11 you will have to move part of Summoner's Pack Quest. :o

I like the idea of Kael for T11 also.  As for the instant group cure its a clicky on casters UA robe.

Maybe this is just me, but the incredible grind of T5 and T10 and really captured that "hell level" feeling for progression. I'd love to maintain that idea, even if it was just coincidental, and save the next mega-grindy tier to be T15 (if/when you get there). That doesn't mean I don't want a grindy T11, but I think you know what I mean. The challenge of T5 when you first get there just isn't the same as T1-4 at all. And T10 is like 10x T5s combined in grindyness.

Can we have the dates when each tier was released?

What’s the status of 10.67? How did the latest test go?

Latest testing has been good, as usual, there's always some last minute things that pop up, so I'm getting those taken care of. I don't want to release a buggy zone. Working on a final review, and list of everything I need transferred to Live, so Akkadius can sign off. Slightly behind, but being as it's my first content, I'm not surprised. Expecting release with the next 7-10.

As for Tier releases, I don't know dates of previous releases, although you could likely search forum posts for that, as they'd have been announced.

-Draca

It's been a few years since I was active on EZ now. Main reason being that the progress of the server took a serious halt and there was no person with time/motivation to move the server forward. That said, I do still read the forums occasionally and I suspect I will be back at some point.

Anyway, I wanted to drop in and give you a high five, Draca! I really like your work and dedication to EZ. It makes me really happy to see the server moving forward with new content :)

We did collect some ideas in this thread, it's outdated, but perhaps some ideas that are still interesting:
http://ezserver.online/forums/index.php?topic=5667.0

Personally I love chain spawning bosses. There's just something about the excitement of killing one and hoping for the next in line.
I would also add something extremely rare off the last boss in a chain. Nothing game changing, but I suspect most end game players on EZ have more or less the same items. Go old school EQ and dress up people with various loot that not everyone else has. Gives a sense of uniqueness to each character ;D

I'm with Sarthin on the chain bosses and extremely rare final boss items.

That's excellent information Sarthin, thank you. I have a list of resources and suggestions for future content, and I will add that to it.

I agree, incredibly rare and powerful items are always fun, especially on a grindy server like EZ. Since my life now revolves around specific numbers, how rare would you want it to be? Like UC4 dropping off Kerafyrm rare, or rarer than that?

Now, with chain bosses, spawn on top of the previous boss as in Hills of Shade, or chain spawn a boss in a different area that requires some clearing, or both?

-Draca

How rare exactly is Ucv4 off Kera, just out of interest...

Tank

I might be part of a minority but extremly rare and luck based loot is not really what excites me. It already drives me crazy to farm svartmane because he is a very rare spawn of an already rare spawn lol.

But if I understand you correctly this would be a 1 in 500 loot of a chain boss that spawn 1 in x of a boss that spawns 1 in y … and that would be toooooo much to be fun (for me at least).

Spawning of chain bosses could be in various ways but no timer please

Tank, exact drop rates aren't released, but being as I recently transitioned to the GM/Development role, I would tell you that I was really close with my drop rate guesses for almost everything of interest (yes, literally the first thing I looked at when I could.  ;D ).

Wachna, that's not an issue. If something like a super rare drop item doesn't appeal, the same item could be tied to an epic length quest that may require a similar amount of time, with more favorable scenery. I'm not a huge fan of quests like Wings of the Angel, where you're killing thousands of the same mob, but a combination of moderate kill quests, mid-rarity drops, and use of some other mechanics (forage, pickpocket etc.) would make for something different, with the same end result.

While I can't make everyone happy, this is the kind of input I need to get out the content people want. Veeshan's Peak will be the content I would have wanted, so we'll see how popular that is, and modify future developments from there. It's all about the input and feedback.

-Draca

1 in 200 - 1 in 400 … that is what I have heard. So yeah… definitely what people would call „extremly“ rare based on the fact that kera is a very rare spawn itself …

And this is also why I like things like PB quest or wings quest more. You know what you got and what you get and when u get it …

The more luck is involved the less I like it. In every situation and in every game. That is why I really hate games with dices or card games or lottery .. bit I really understand people who like that aspect and I know that this is the majority

Draca, I think a variation of both is quite interesting. Some bosses would surprise pop up in your face when previous boss is killed, while some pop up a different place entirely. Maybe even with a despawn timer to make it more interesting to reach and kill it  ;D

I only ask because I got ucv4 on my first Kera and then never see one again  ;D ;D

Understandable that actual drop rates aren't released :)

Tank

The rare items shouldn't be mandatory for progression like essences off Svartmane f.instance. Think of it like the old Pearl Kedge Totem. Not appealing for everyone to grind, yet rewarding for those that did.

Well and you wonder why u only get shit loot these days? Haha

There is some delay getting T10.67 out, so hang tight, it’s coming Soon®️

Nice update on the wiki chief. VP looks promising. I hope many of you can explore it soon :-)

Would love to see Ssraeshza Temple thrown into the mix of progression sometime in the future!

Trying to navigate tubes with a crap ton of alts would make this zone a HUGE headache. (ssrz Temple)

hello friends! finally made a forum account. I just wanted to publicly share a few ideas I had from my perspective as a player that started within the past year  that I personally thought might make EZ more enjoyable. I am clueless about coding and programming so I do not understand at all the process one has to go through to add content or change content. I really appreciate all of the time Draca and everyone else have invested in creating new content so I hope these suggestions do not come off as obnoxious or nagging. I Some of these have been discussed with draca in tells already but I just wanted to throw things out there publicly so others could give their thoughts on these suggestions too or tell me that I am a whining noob and should stfu  :) .

1. scepter of time
This quest could be reworked. It seems few players make the effort to advance the scepters after obtaining level 1 as the clicky effect remains the same throughout the ranks and by the time players are able to quickly dispose of the mobs required for the kill quest they can obtain the T7 range item and are using warrior epic 3.0 to pull. The addition of stones of impatience was a good idea to avoid players from having to do the quest 500+ times.
consider allowing stone of impatience to be used from rank 1+ of scepter and require 2x/rank
consider reducing dmg and HP of all mobs involved in the quest by 1/2 to allow players in earlier tiers to dispose of the mobs
consider changing the clicky to AE target or PBAE

2. T5
I heard there was a T5 expedition at one point with 3-4 random named mobs and a lock out timer? This sounds like it would be an excellent thing to bring back as I think the server loses a lot of players from the T5 grind. Certainly there still should be a grind but I think if there was an expedition players could do daily as an alternative or adjunct to grinding through the instance to help tackle the named they need that would also reward some hive shards for charm upgrades or w/e that it would give someone who is burned out from t5 the opportunity to at least log in daily and do the expedition until they find they're close enough to grind out the remaining named and progress.
consider bringing back the T5 instance if possible for daily 3-4 random named with 24h lock out

3. Bard mitigation
It looks like the Wee song fades after x amount of damage is absorbed.
consider removing the damage absorption component of the song and just making it flat % mitigation.

4. Druid skin like drake
If tanks need to use guardian charm or brawler's charm it seems this spell is not really that great if the healing is based off of the tanks healing.
Consider making this based off of the druid's healing like regen if possible.

5. Ultimate charm, brawler, guardian charms
Reading through the forums it looks like there have been multiple discussions on how brawler and guardian charms are broken and various recommendations to incorporate the brawler and guardian charms into ultimate charm. I would agree with these recommendations. I personally feel the guardian charm is over powered and its a little odd that it alone is better than the ultimate charm for certain classes. I would support extreme nerfs of the guardian and brawler charms and if this meant that people maybe had to think twice then about zone pulling certain zones then I believe it would be for the best.

6. T10
Rampage and wild rampage
So if I am right from what I have read on the forums this zone has been out for maybe 5 years? I am sorry if I am beating a dead horse then in talking about T10. Having alts who get one shot or two shot by ramp when they have full t10 gear or UA armor with insane goblin and SOA seems kind of silly. It sounds like rampage was put in place so players could utilize caster classes more and slow the grind but I think where the rampage stands now it's really just obnoxious and unnecessary.
consider removing rampage and wild rampage from T10 entirely or
allowing non tank classes to increase their mitigation further so they can take hits. This could be done by removing the absorption component of the bard melee mitigation song, reworking augs from stone hive like drop all defenses to allow for +mitigation/rank (5/10/15/20).

7. GSS
I have read through prior forum posts about how others have discussed the rarity of GSS and inquired as to whether the drop rate can be altered. I can appreciate but certainly cant fully comprehend as I am not a developer myself the frustration from the developer end about wanting an item that is ultra rare to obtain and trying to balance the time investment v. reward in a player base that invests A LOT of time into the game. I think given that there is now new content being developed that will require characters to have at least 3 GSS armor slots the server is maybe in a different place than it was a few years ago. UA armor will be UA by name but now part of the typical gear progression requirement. I would recommend the drop rate be re evaluated or there be made additional routes to obtain the GSS or the zone in requirements for these upcoming zones be adjusted.
-Consider making GSS no drop and allowing them to be obtained by killing 1000 plagueborn after players have already completed the 1000 plague born kill quest. If GSS remained droppable and they could be obtained from a quest, then players would make sure they're doing the quest on all 24 toons to quickly flag specific characters. Maybe this is okay but I think it might make the grind a little too easy and expedite the process faster than should be allowed in my opinion.

8. T11
I think Kael sounds like a great idea but am worried the zone would be too small. Maybe Kael could be utilized for events that could be triggered from items gathered else where?
Consider adding western waste/eastern wastes/great divide as adjunct to Kael for T11 like HOH and poSKY if limited by space.

Thanks so much

I have to agree t10 ramp is just obnoxious and serves no purpose other than to make you play a warrior full time and maybe dot with a necro and autofire with a ranger, whilst the other 17 toons just stand there waiting to loot, unfortunately I dont think t10 will get changed as it was developed by someone else...lets not talk about the incessant knockback from juggs which is just a joke to be honest, no way should they be able to spam the knockback as much as they do but they do so constantly, hell Zugg and Rokki can both cast their knockback when they are at 1% and walking away from you, that's fucked up....below 5% they shouldn't be able to cast it in my opinion.

Can't even change the succour point out of the tree so I doubt they'll change the rampage and gss drop rate ...

Tank

Good thing is that you get used to it .. it becomes a routine .. the knockback I mean .. the rampage just sucks. At least my other toons still can use ID so some of them can contribute to the fight and dont die from standing too close.

GSS drop rate is ultra bad but it should stay that way.
Abyss sucks but it should stay that way

Dragonscale Hills - Large outdoor zone

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zones.html?zstrat=539

This was one of the zones I checked out for future T11 back a few years ago. It fitted what many wanted to see at that time.

It's the ability to knockback whilst moving that is the most infuriating, if we tried to cast and move it's a "Your spell has been interrupted" moment..

Tank

The whole point behind GSS, was to add an additional time sink into T10 while new content was being developed...I klnow because I came up with the idea with that sole purpose....new content just never came around.  GSS is not necessary for T10.  I know because I was playing T10 before UA came out...YEARS before it came out. T10 is far easier today than it was when it first came out. You have no spawning trains anymore that would wipe your entire raid at whim. GSS was supposed to be rare.  Heck it took me YEARS to get all 3 of my groups fully UA'd....nothing worth anything comes easy or over night....nothing is saying that UA will continue past T10.

I agree that the Rampage is an issue that could use an adjustment for sure. Chain casting mass resurrection, or just not using alts because they die 100% of the time isn’t really a challenging mechanic, its just an overtuned frustration. Expect some tuning there.

GSS’s drop as they should. Rare for sure, but given the overpowered nature of a few items that allow nearly 100% success rate on zone pulls, I don’t feel an adjustment is needed.

<3.

In T11 I would personally like to see the focus shift away from mass pulls and lean more towards single/double mobs at the time when clearing content. That would be smaller packs of mobs with high hp and strong hits. Makes it viable to bring along your other toons for DPS as well. This comes from someone who hasn't seen VP or Sleepers yet though. I'm just comparing it with previous tiers post UA.

I like the idea of moving in this direction. Keep in mind I have also not seen VP or Sleepers.

I think it would be interesting to face an encounter where you had 2-3 mobs that each had an aura. Being in one aura would be manageable (or even not detrimental at all) but if you are in both or multiple auras it would be certain death. This would require a bit of coordination to off tank the mobs. Perhaps ramp it up one more degree and require that all of the mobs die within x seconds of each other or they CH/respawn. Obviously not everyone will have 2-3 fully geared warriors, nor do i think that should be a requirement for any of the content. I would recommend the "adds" to be tankable with other melee classes (PAL, DK, MNK, etc).

Veeshan's Peak is very much in that vein, in fact for all but the most highly geared groups, any more than 2 mobs is likely a wipe. They use tiered unstrippable self-buffs to allow for nearly unlimited damage output with fine tunability, along with reducing incoming damage to allow for longer fights (reducing incoming damage is necessary, as there is a 3 billion hitpoint limit, which goes really fast with EZ's player damage output). There is some rampage damage in VP, but it should be survivable given the UA requirements. I don't mind larger pulls to allow people to get use from their AE classes, but I would likely use that for specific camps within a zone, not the whole zone.

Loyal, I like that idea, and is certainly doable. One of the bosses in VP is buffed when adds are not killed before they reach him, but those are simply a quick DPS race, as they path directly and don't agro. Great idea of overlapping auras or buffs though, certainly a workable idea.

Another drop rate argument linked to zone pulling...Again, It's a perk not a given, the fact that you can "nearly 100% success rate" pull the zone shouldn't be an argument to not look at drop rates but it seems that way every time this subject gets spoken about, not everyone can or wants to zone pull, it's boring and I shouldn't have to do it to have a better chance of progressing.

Tank

After all the stuff we wrote today about GSS drop rate I was thinking and IMO there should be a fix regarding GSS drops when 10.67 or at least when T11 starts.

It would be wrong to let people farm T10 for months, many months, many many months just to be able to get into the next zones.

Maybe the PB 2.0 quest idea could help out. Or maybe increase the numbers: 1 GSS for another 1000, 2 GSS for another 2000, 5 GSS for 5000. something like that.

For now the drop rate is ok. Hard for some players, but you cannot male everyone happy. But for the future the current drop rate would not be good anymore ..

Mongo

    Tier 10.67 should result in GSS's more freely entering the server economy at reasonable trade values. Drop rate is substantial enough that people clearing through it should ultimately end up with too many to use for themselves. This isn't a change made as a result of recent comments, my plans always included this for 10.67, so that should help some.

    Here's where it gets tricky, and requires some understanding from players as to the difficulties I face when making changes. As a GM/Developer, and in particular on EZ Server, where the grind is the game, I feel an obligation to not water down, or make certain content easier for people doing it now, than it was for people doing it before. GSS's present a special problem, as they (and UA) was added seemingly as a bit of a stopgap measure to give people who'd finished T10 something to continue working towards, ostensibly while new content was being created. This didn't happen nearly as quickly as intended, and thus farming larger and larger groups into full UA has been a point of pride for many, as most people were aware of how difficult UA was to acquire.

    Instead of raising the drop rates in Sunderock, I've given the ability (I feel) for the server economy to provide more GSS's to people who have a hard time getting them in Sunderock, while still giving people a real understanding of how difficult it would have been to only gear up UA with only the drops in Sunderock, by leaving the drop there unchanged. If this doesn't end up being the case, than I have no problem revisiting this issue once 10.67 has a bit of time to affect the economy.

    Side note, I have no plans to require UA for T11. That being said, the next levels of the Ring of the Ages will only be available through questing in 10.67, so people will ultimately likely want to work through it, if they don't want to get into it before T11 releases.

-Draca

You have to keep in mind that there are many types of players.
Many will be ready for VP when it goes live. (6+ toons with min. 4/5 UA parts)
Some will be semi ready (1-6 toons)
And some will have no toons ready for VP

For group a and b it is good that GSS drop more often in VP because they can farm them there instead of T10. But for group c which will be a big group of players, they will still have to grind many months in T10.

Depending on play style and playtime this can take forever and will be frustrating as hell. Many will quit at that point for sure.

I dont have a problem with grinding the same zone or boss or camp over and over again. I am not in a hurry to get thru all the content in a few weeks but I think there are many players who are not like me. Many play in their free time and dont want to waste it in T10.

Dont get me wrong. I am against increasing the drop rate but I would like to see an additional way to get some GSS.

wachna's logic is sound. I hear what you are saying Draca, GSS will be more readily tradeable by players who have progressed through VP but I am unsure whether it will be enough to provide players who have 1 or 2 toons set for VP enough to flag other characters to allow for further progress into VP and people will quit due to the t10 gss grind frustration.

Now I think eventually ST and VP can be considered bonus zones rather than t10.5 and t10.67 kind of like TOFS where they give you some nice bonus loot that will certainly improve your characters but is not required to progress up the tiers. Then instead of having to spend a significant time grinding GSS for VP and ST entrance players can move on to t11 after having obtained epic 10 aug and full set of gear assuming those will be requirements for entrance into t11 and focus on t11 which I assume will drop GSS as well and allow players to zone into ST/VP when ready.

I think t10 grind will be a lot less painful when the ae ramps are addressed and players can use more than just warrior especially those who are just starting t10. I know this is something draca you are aware of and already noted will be addressed. In my opinion I still think having another method to obtain GSS would not be a bad idea like the 1k or 2k PB quest addition but thats just my opinion.

So forget where we currently are, and think a year from now. Player progresses through tiers as usual, gets the normal help from people, starts grinding through Tier 10. Reads wiki, sees stuff about Ultimate Armor, and starts to see hammer pieces drop, as well as possibly a few GSS's as they progress through Sunderock, and a few they've traded for. Once they've completed Tier 10, they realize they don't have enough GSS's to move a group into ST or VP, so they go into T11, and start working through that zone. It's slow going, as they aren't optimally geared for it, but it's doable. GSS's drop much more commonly in T11 than anywhere before it, so they can begin to back gear into UA, and eventually get into ST and VP, and get what they want from there, then continue T11. Players get uninterrupted progression, yet still get the feeling of how difficult full UA would have been, when ole' grandpa Raygan starts telling them tales of days gone by..

I realize that right now it seems like GSS's are holding people back, and they are, but I assure you they will get considerably more common quite soon.

My thoughts on the tier progression in terms of GSS requirement is that it should never have been a requirement at all. It was added as a bonus to keep people interested in playing in Sunderock when all else was done. The reward was obviously worth it, at least to equip a tank or three with it thus making tanking easier and zone pulls possible in T10 as well as other zones.

Originally UA was never meant to be a requirement for future zones. It was just unthinkable that people would have the time and dedication to equip all their toons with the armor. Then again, no one thought the players would be stuck with T10 for so many years.

I want to play with all my 27 toons, but I only have 5 toons in full UA.. all warriors  ;D I wouldn't dream to rot for another thousand hours in T10 trying to gear them for bridges between T10 and T11. I'd rather just wait until T11 is released as I hear it won't have a UA req.

Plagueborn quest + Epic should have been the flag req. in T10 if I was to decide what was resonable. If new tiers had been released earlier, this would most likely also be the req. flags needed imo.

However, the dilemma with that is that you basically piss on the players that stuck with T10 for all these years farming GSS's. I am pretty sure this GSS requirement will prevent me from wanting to come back until T11 is released. I kinda quit because I was tired of spending time in T10 with no new content on the horizon. How ironic that I need to continue there now if I want to return pre-T11 :D Even with all my triple instances and ZP sticks, this would take ages and more boring than counting sheeps.

Even though a selected few decided to stick with it for many years(Why??!! hehe), I don't think that makes it resonable with the GSS requirement given it's current drop rate percentage for the general population of players, both growing and returning players. Good thing I am biased and not making the decisions  ;)

The question some people should answer is this: Is it resonable for upcoming players and returning players to spend year(s) to complete just one tier because the development has been at a halt for a long time and some decided to stick with it still.. and so should YOU!? ;)

Just for clarity, when I say the GSS drop rate is pretty high in 10.67, and that there will be a reasonable economy for them in fairly short time, the average zonewide GSS drops for a full Veeshan's Peak repop is right around 14. Most of them are concentrated in the higher difficulty NPC's, but they will most certainly be available for trade.

Obviously people have spent hundreds or thousands of hours in Sunderock, a lot of that time being devoted to GSS farming, but T11 gear will make UA obsolete anyway, so at some point all the farming will have been for nothing either way. Sure, people coming up now, or barely into the Sunderock grind will never feel the pain, but as we're all agreeing, GSS's/UA was always pretty much about the pain anyway. Old timers will tell new players how lucky they are, new players will respond 'cool story grandpa', and everyone will keep grinding into new content.

My 5 UA requirement isn't so much a test of patience or determination,  it's a baseline player gearing level, that I can use for survivable, yet difficult encounter tuning. Making it rain GSS's for the people in VP will allow the economy to get more people involved in it.

Correct, Tier 11 has no UA requirement, although by then, UA will be fairly trivial to obtain anyway.

The plan was always in the past to make T10 less time consuming once new content was created. Making GSS more available in this zone and Sleepers makes more sense to me than relying on trades off VP people :)

I see it the same way as sarthin …

And another question: if t11 doesn’t require UA and people with little to no UA can survive/manage/kinda farm t11, what will players with many full UA do? A walk in the T11 park? :-)

Anyway now that I know how many GSS could drop in VP I will get a strong team ready for that and farm my GSS there and not in T10 anymore.. thx for the info draca

what about counting den mother's belt and vaxxol's ring as a UA piece like bracer from ST?

Why don't we see how it plays out after the first couple weeks of VP. I understand that previous developers had different ideas, and God knows mine won't all be winners, but I'm obviously pretty involved and active, so if something is a dud, changes can be made.

Which is simply the most important thing for the server no matter how things play out. It pleases me a great deal to see. Just don't burn out ;)

The fact that I spent almost 8 hours a day for 3 weeks pulling camps in SR to not get a single GSS to me is just fucked up no matter the drop rate %...

I have to ask why GSS are going to drop so frequently in 10.67 if UA isn't needed for T11, just caters again for the people at the very top that can handle 10.67 mobs and shits on everyone else that can't but it's always been like that I guess...

Tank

I don't know where you are at in your T10 progression, but it certainly matters. My guess is that you are still early in your T10 progression for you to spend that much time pulling in SR and not getting a single GSS...either that or you are having the worlds worst bad luck run.

GSS were introduced when I was halfway through getting my squad through T10. Even at that stage I was only pulling a camp at a time and wasn't killing super fast. During those days, GSS seemed like an impossible task.

Now that I am through T10, fully geared and can ZP, GSS's really aren't that bad when considering where I was at when I was still progressing in the zone. Take ZPing out of the equation, i had to do 1 and a half factions for toons I was never planning on UA until just recently returning because I figured it was something to do and better than doing nothing (I really really wanted to come back). Just rotating instances to do factions I had 3-4 GSS' drop. I have most of my GSS farm still ahead of me, so I'm certainly not saying this from the perspective of being done...but GSS really aren't that bad of a farm if you consider that they are really intended to be farmed at the end of T10 not while you are progressing through T10. The drop rate shouldn't be changed in T10.

As for the intended drop rate in 10.66666666667, I believe Draca mentioned somewhere that the intent was for it to provide those further advanced players to end up with a surplus of GSS in the hopes that it creates and economy for GSS. The people at the very top who get into 10.667 are going to be close to maxed out on GSS (if they arent already). So it shouldnt take long for GSS to be completely worthless for them (so not really catering to them to heavily). If anything a high drop rate in 10.6666667 is going to benefit lower players as GSS value is going to go down and hopefully you can see some GSS being traded for some EONs which anyone can farm (benefiting the everyone else rather than shitting on them).

I have 18 toons flagged for t10, I have 3 toons in Full UA, I have been in SR for over a year...

I will not zone pull it because I

A) Shouldn't have to(It's a perk not a required mechanic)
B) I and other people tend to go LD and were told it's a problem our end and nothing to do with EZ.

Every time I try to argue the point it just gets shit on..

This is more than a grind for an item, it's an intentional time sink to stop people progressing to the next tier that we don't even have yet..which makes no sense whatsoever, I understand the introduction of them 5 years ago or whenever it was but the fact that we still don't have new content should change that drop rate so people aren't still trying to get the gss to get to 10.5 five years from now.

Tank

Are you rotating zones or just waiting for respawn? Even without ZP, seems like your kill rate is low if those numbers you stated were correct. The 3-4 GSS I got while grinding faction, without ZP, I did in 3-4 days of solid playing (6-8 hours a day). All these are rough estimates because I dont typically track these things closely.

I agree that you shouldn't have to ZP...and you dont...but what you do have to do is consider the fact that it exists and everyone else on the server does use it. So the question becomes, should we tune to the drop rate for a couple people or the majority of the server? This is why your argument that gets shit on.

Honest question here. Have you done everything you can to trouble shoot the LD issue or are you not interested because you just don't want to ZP? I recall many years ago when I was zone pulling PoTime (manually running around the entire zone because the ZP item didnt exist at the time) I would go LD half the time. After optimizing my client (i think it was the filters that ultimately fixed it for me) it was resolved.


It is an intentional time sink.....but not to stop people progressing. It was something to progress with in the absence of a T11. Sooo many people have completed T10 then just quit. GSS gave those people the choice to stick around with something to work toward or quit, which they were going to do anyway. It was intentionally made to be a long time sink because it was clear that T11 was a far ways our (and likely even a real possibility that it would never come out).


I dont follow the logic here. We are pretty much in the same position we were in when GSS were introduced. There still is no T11. Why would it then make sense to speed up an optional grind?  UA was always intended to be optional, so I would assume anything viewed as being main/required content that comes out of 10.5 or 10.67 will be obtainable in T11. I am sure there will be one or two trophies or toys that you can only get from 10.5 and 10.67 but that will be up to each individual player to choose if they want to embark on the GSS journey to get them or not.

A decent internet connection and "/filter name add *text that spams windows" goes a long way in preventing you from going LD during ZP.

It only happens in SR and infrequently in ToFS, fine in every other zone so it's hard to tie it down to my filters or my internet connection(100mb), I've had filters done for years, makes no difference in SR for some reason...

This is why I get frustrated when people say it must be a problem my end or it's my fault it's doing it, if it does it in 1 or 2 zones then it can't be down to something my end surely?

Tank

There are many factors really, not just your internet connection and filters. Let me sum up a few:

- Where you pull from and how you pull. Do you find a good spot and let mobs come to you, or are you circling them in and then go? The more mobs hit you at the same time, the heavier the hit on your computer and connection.

- How fast the mobs die when pulled. The more mobs that cluster up and beat on you, the heavier the hit is on your machine and connection.

- Some zones are just heavier on your computer than others. This is due to the amount of mobs in the zone, the models, big maps and mobs takes longer to die, to mention some.

- Filters and connection obviously. Also it helps with a good computer. I clocked my I7 a few years back and improved my boxing performance a lot along with adding more memory.

- Do you ZP with one toon alone close to the mobs or do you have your entire team nearby? Moving most of the toons away from main tank when ZPing also helps.

These are just at the top of my mind. I understand that it's frustrating to LD during a ZP.. possibly die and waste a ZP. It's true what you are told though. This issue of yours is not on the servers end. Most likely it's related to your software and / or hardware setup, your connection or the way you perform the zone pulls.

Hope this helps.

On another thread dimur (I guess) posted some stuff to prevent from going LD. That sums up most pf sarthins tipps.

I only go LD (sometimes) in SR and Tofs aswell. And it is all about how mich data/information gets in at a time. And the more toons you got near you the more data comes in and the more likely you will go LD.

Try ZP in Tofs with Tankus only, looking at the bottom and you wont go LD .. bring some toons with you and you will likely go LD. Same goes with SR… try some scenarios… also try that viewport thing and you will get better results.

In SR I always start with my warrior and after a while I let my other toons join the fun. Works like 98% of the time.

On the other hand. Going LD while ZPing in SR you wont get knocked back from juggs ;-) so it can be helpful lol

Another thing.. make sure you use client side filters. Almost forgot this.. MQ2 hides the text but doesn't prevent it from being sent.