EZ Server

Dragonscale is Open.

Fixing a few issues that popped up during testing today, will resume tomorrow sometime.

Thank you to Sarthin, Denzig, Orkiho and Raygan for coming over today and poking around. There's enough missing right now that it doesn't really have a risk vs. reward feeling just yet, but finding what's broken, and some tuning information is super helpful.



Just a few things. Obviously the zone is incomplete, so you'll have to excuse the empty chunks of land, but what's needed for testing now should all be there. If possible, keeping track of how long the quests are taking to complete is important, as well as reporting any bugs or issues in OOC there. There is a new zone _chr file in the server files download for Dragonscale. I will be in and out of game, and there may be the odd random repop as fixes/changes get pushed up, but I'll try to announce first, and keep those to a minimum.


T11 is progressing along, but there is need for some testing of the first 15-20 entry quests. While the quests themselves should work, there is need to test NPC tuning, faction gain tuning, along with general gameplay in the zone. There is still portions of the zone that will be unpopulated or underpopulated, and spells have yet to be added to NPC’s, and won’t be by the 9th. Everyone is welcome, however this is early testing, so if you A) don’t like spoilers, or B) are prone to overreacting to difficult content, then it’s not for you. I need information like well thought out reviews, time to finish quests, time for faction gains, times to kill XYZ mobs with X sized raid. It is not at all a completed zone, and while it’s a framework for the entry quests, it’s all subject to changes and tuning. It’s possible it’s too easy in it’s current state, or it’s possible it’s too hard, but if you have the dedication to push through the difficulty, than I need you. Character data is right at 2 weeks old on Test, so most should be close to their current state.

Also of import to this testing, the Draca Sigil of Stability will not remain in it’s current state. I have been quite open about mistakes I’ve made being new to development, and that is one of them. It’s an unnecessary cause of friction, and rightfully so, as it’s a powerful item. It will be changed to simply a cosmetic token of my thanks, but lose it’s stats and buff click. Test and Production servers are currently on different server versions, however once testing is completed for T11, I will be able to update them to the same version and the change will be brought over to Prod. Changing this item in no way lessens my appreciation to those who are willing to spend their time grinding on content for no real gain, but it’s super important to bringing an exciting and balanced Tier to EZ.

Testing Sunday went well, and continues now. If you are interested in testing, there is very little reward for doing so, other than hopefully low-bug content on launch. Test server is open, talk to teleporter to get to Dragonscale Hills (dragonscale), then talk to Dark Elf named Stanus, and just work through whatever quest he gives you. Note bugs or issues in OOC, and if possible keep a fair accounting of how long the quest takes you.

Testing is closed at this time. Will resume in the coming few days.

Just to re-iterate, if you want your voice to be heard on coming content, now is the time to get on board and do some testing. You cannot expect that everything you report/mention/complain about will be acted on, but if a large consensus has a problem with a particular issue, than it's more likely to get serious consideration. If you want reserve your complaints for release to Live, that's your decision, but realize at this point the main testing group has been Sarthin, Denzig, Raygan and Orkiho, definitely some of the top flite players on the server, so perhaps you might want to make your opinion heard if you're not quite up to their level.

Just remember, you didn't zone into Sunderock and unleash a can of whoop ass, you pulled two orcs and got Rampaged all the way back into Loping Plains, so expecting this to be easy is not realistic, but it should be possible. Test, test, test. When I do re-open, please report any issues in OOC, I can see the OOC chat history through Discord, and it makes in easier to sort and correct issues.

-Draca

Is there an easy way of switching between Test and EZ-Live or do you need to do it one toon at a time?  I.e. have a different set of files for autologin somehow...took me a long time to get one set working... :)

The autologin server text for test is:

EZ=|t| EZ Server (Test) - Custom Zones Vendors Quests Items etc


My autologin looks like this, and I just put the semi-colon in front of the live path when i play on test.

;EZ=|t| EZ Server (Test) - Custom Zones Vendors Quests Items etc
EZ=EZ Server - Custom Zones Vendors Quests Items etc

I tried.  It was taking several minutes just to take down 1 mob.  I was never able made it close to the quest mobs.  :-[

Dragonscale is re-opened on Test server.

Few notes:

• If anything particular stands out as broken, please report here with as much detail as you can, information such as group size and composition, specific mob names, time required to kill, quest name, where it bugged etc..something I can use to gauge where tuning needs to go, and fix what's needed.

• While this isn't intended to be a walk in the park, it's also not supposed to be so difficult that people are turned away from it. That being said, there are a substantial number of players who haven't necessarily played through EZ without the benefit of constant Wing buffs, or higher players zone pulling. Difficulty should feel like the first day you broke into Sunderock and got Rampage'd into next week because you pulled too many mobs (no, not much Rampage in Dragonscale). It's going to be tough, and it's going to take time, but testing involves some hard usable data as mentioned above. It also requires some degree of patience and determination, as well as situational awareness. MQ2 allows you to see everything on the map, so haphazardly running around then wondering why 3 mobs beat the brakes off of you, isn't really testing anything. Yes, you are going to die in here. Port back, rez up, and try it again.

As I've mentioned, currently there are about 4 well-geared, high skill players testing content. This wasn't by choice, they've just shown up and started working through some stuff, and provide complete information to work off. Without putting too fine a point on it, these 4 players do not represent the average EZ player. They are hardcore min-max players who content cannot be specifically tuned around, else it will exclude a wide portion of the player base.

• You don't need to test for hours...even trying a portion of a quest, and offering as much detail as possible is incredibly helpful.

• Read the quests/dialog from NPC's. Without a wiki, there is information provided in these that you may need to clarify what you're being asked to do/where you're being asked to do it.

• Download dragonscale_chr file from EZ Server Files link on left sidebar before trying to log in, otherwise there will be a bunch of human models standing around.

• There are currently no spells being used in Dragonscale, this will not be the case once I get to adding and tuning spells (sometime soon). Spells are a real troublesome spot with development. As everyone is aware they don't all work properly, they don't stack like you want them too, and are generally difficult to get working as you design. So with T11, I want to make sure that every spell added works as intended, or overwrites other spells to insure that it's obvious what is happening, and doesn't always require Sarthin to parse through dozens of class/gear/buff combos to find what works best.