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Author Topic: Finally....Tier 10.67 -- Veeshan's Peak!  (Read 7085 times)
Draca
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« on: March 27, 2022, 02:36:33 pm »
Welcome to...
Veeshan's Peak!

(Tier 10.67)




After a long, patient wait by the players of EZ, I'm proud to announce the release of Tier 10.67, Veeshan's Peak.

First in a long line of developments to continue to push EZ Server forward.


Story:

Venril Sathir has long reigned from Karnors Castle in the Dreadlands, his power harnessed from the Unholy Writ of War, itself a compendium
of the powers of the primal god, Rallos Zek, though the Writ had been long believed lost. Owing his unnaturally long life to a pact with Innoruuk, Venril Sathir has spread terror across Kunark for generations, and has long been guarded by his loyal drolvarg soldiers. These vicious guard dogs are not mindless creatures, they were once proud Iksar warriors, monks, wizards and necromancers who fiercely opposed Venril's abuse of his power, and rose up to challenge him. Ultimately, they could not overcome Venril's power, and were twisted and subdued to his will. This dominance, while strong, did not completely strip these drolvarg of their free will, but they were near powerless against the might of Venril Sathir, until......


Rumors started to swirl that Venril no longer possessed the Unholy Writ of War, that in fact it had been lost long ago, and the power he drew from it was slowly fading. While weakened perhaps, Venril still possessed near god-like necromantic powers, as well as immortality through Innoruuk, so unseating him was no small task. That is, until drolvarg began hearing whispers of an undead Iksar named Raulfer, who had been trying to gather support against Venril, promising to undo the curse that befell them. Emboldened by this news, the greatest of the drolvarg lashed out at Venril, and took him as their prisoner. They could not stay in Karnor's Castle, as not all drolvarg would agree with their treachery, and they would be vulnerable in that place.



It was at this point that Raulfer began to exert his control over them, and led them to Veeshan's Peak, long the stronghold of Veeshan's children on Kunark, and believed impenetrable. That was not the case. In mere days the drolvarg swept aside all but a few of the dragons within Veeshan's Peak, killing most, enslaving others, with the few remaining fighting pitched battles for their survival. It was here they made their prison for Venril Sathir. Deep within Veeshan's Peak, guarded by the only the fiercest warriors, Raulfer waits. Deeper yet Venril is held by elite guards, who will stop at nothing to prevent any attempt to free him. Not everything is as it seems, and you will be challenged from the moment you step foot in Veeshan's Peak.


Treasure exists in Veeshan's Peak that were thought lost long ago, powerful treasures. Everything in Veeshan's Peak wants to kill you, and it can, so tread carefully....







Quests:

There are several quests in Veeshan's Peak, some for spells, some for items, all of which you will figure out for yourself. As some people know, Classic through Velious is my favorite era of Everquest, and much of what I loved about it came from the unknown. While I've teased some items, figuring out what's required for them, is up to you, and in game NPC's.



Notes:


    • Level 79 & 5 pieces of Ultimate Armor required to enter (includes Sleeper wrist and Shaman chest)
    • It's quite difficult...like you're gonna die...for sure...a lot.


    **This is intended to be difficult, more difficult than most content we've grown accustomed too, however, if it turns out that it's just too hard, don't immediately rage quit the server, adjustments will be made if needed.



    Files:

    Veeshan's Peak requires 3 new files, download them HERE

    Personal Thanks:


    First off, I want to thank Akkadius. This project, along with several other abortions before it, has been more than a year and a half in the making. If anyone doesn't know, Akkadius is an incredibly high-level programmer, and spends an inordinate amount of time keeping the EQEmulator project as a whole progressing forward, while always keeping an eye on EZ. He has spent a substantial amount of time going over aspects of development and server operation that I'm sure he wished I already knew, but has always been supportive in my shortcomings and receptive to my ideas. While I hope to continue to require less and less of his time going forward, his stewardship of EZ Server, and his willingness to spend the time he has with me, makes me excited about the future.

    I want to thank everyone on EZ Server who have universally been very supportive of me, both as a GM, as well as helping where they can with testing. Transitioning to a GM/Developer is more difficult than it seems, as you do have to detach yourself from your player side, and do what holds true to the history of EZ, not just what the majority of the playerbase wants.

    While this is not a complete list, I want to thank a few people specifically, as they have given many hours towards supporting this development:

    First is Icestriker. Ice is well known amongst EZ players, and spent over a hundred hours during my initial deployment phase, working out how to affect the type of fights I wanted to have, during a point where I was incredibly new to the technical aspects of NPC creation, stats and spells. This was a tedious period of repeatedly dying to overpowered mobs, or waiting while I depopped, modified then repopped mobs over and over. Despite being a Florida-man, he is still ok in my book.

    Secondly, with the same, if not more time invested, is Sarthin. Sarthin spent hundreds of hours going through Veeshan, with his full group, single group, 12 man groups, 18 man groups. Pretty much anything I needed, he was more than willing to help me with. His feedback helped shape tuning decisions, as well as helping me work through which mechanics are hard, but good, and which were too hard, and unnecessarily punishing. While he runs a monster group, he was always willing to step down to whatever size group I needed to make sure tuning wasn't too much for a 1 group player. Despite being a Viking that doesn't even own an axe, he is also an ok guy.

    Last but not least, Ogru. Ogru has helped me with several scripting issues either I wasn't able to figure out, or simply didn't have the time. He's never asked for anything, and is typically only wanting to help fix some of the glitchier aspects of the game. So when you don't crash simply trying to use the Universal Teleporter, or when *most* of the scripts work in VP, much thanks should be given to Ogru.

    Finally, in no particular order, I want to thank Kendiian, Miriya, Soron, Slippz, Tankus, Natedog, Dimurwar, Ekiir, Falconkick amongst others who have provided advice, testing, or technical expertise at one point or another during this development. It may not seem like much, but being as green at this as I am, every little bit helps.

    Also a big thank you to Skankie, who while not involved specifically with Veeshan's Peak, has been a driving force behind some as yet unannounced content and quests, he's been tenacious and is helping me cook up some good stuff for everyone.

    All of this testing provided by these players is very beneficial for me, as there is no substitute for real player groups working through the content, while I can observe what's going on from the outside. As I have been to this point, I will be as open as I can about new developments, and will continue to ask for everyone's help to try out new stuff. Sometimes it's as simple as playing through it and giving me feedback, other times it might be actively helping me tune mobs, but even 20-30 minutes running through a boss fight over and over can be super helpful to me, you just have to be ready to die, a lot.

    Finally, I want to thank all of the EZ Server players, who have hung in there during the countless Soon™'s, hopefully you think it was worth the wait. What I don't know I will learn, and what doesn't play well on a larger scale, can be changed, just leave me constructive criticism, and we will work it out.

    This is just the beginning, there's already a development at a strong alpha-build level for an upgrade to the Champions Symbol, Tier 11 is being fleshed out, along with an all-in-one mount clickie quest, stat food quests, and a few other things for all tiers...

    Let's f...... go!


    -Draca
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    XtrO
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    « Reply #1 on: March 27, 2022, 03:20:59 pm »
    Super Excited, Thanks Draca!!!
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    Sarthin
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    « Reply #2 on: March 28, 2022, 03:44:57 am »
    Draca, I was on a break back in November '21, but I still kept tabs on the forum. Your  dedication to moving the server forward with new content was clearly visible. This was the main reason for me to return as a player when I did, to a server I love and have a part of since 2008. I also know that I am not the only one who returned because of this.

    I know this has been a long and at times frustrating ride for you, with a steep learning curve, but I can see that you really enjoy what you are doing. Lucky for us! You have now finished your first zone on EZserver and you should be seriously proud of what you have achieved thus far. I've had a blast helping you out and I think VP is a solid zone. I have said all along that I think going back to the roots of Everquest where you focus on fighting smaller, yet challenging packs of mobs, where you can use much of your classes arsenal, is the right direction to go. This is what you get in Veeshan's Peak.

    We all understand this had to be a smaller project than a new tier entirely. You have gained much important experience, with the help of the players and not the least Akkadius. This will prove useful when moving forward with what we've all been waiting for, T11.  

    I want to thank you, not only for implementing Veeshan's Peak, but for everything you do voluntarily to keep this server alive for us all to enjoy and get a break from real life. You have spent hundreds of hours of your spare time, both being a developer and a proper GM. Not only have you worked hard on learning the ways of developing content, but you are also active as a GM on a day to day basis, helping out with in game issues, as well as contributing to some /ooc banter. That's really more than any of us can ask from someone on an emulated server off a 23 year old game Smiley

    The future of EZ looks really bright, oh and you're not so bad yourself, for being a Canadian tough guy Wink
    « Last Edit: March 28, 2022, 04:37:15 am by Sarthin » Logged
    Dokplayer2
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    « Reply #3 on: April 23, 2022, 08:29:52 am »
    feedback after a few weeks of VP
    -Mob damage and tweaks to rampage seem appropriate. I would consider decreasing debuff up time of enslaved dragon soul. I think it would be fair to decrease max HP of deeper mobs by 5% as well.
    -timer to wand seems fair. you could increase the cooldown slightly.
    -I would make sure every boss has a 100% chance to drop an item every time. Its kind of lame with how rare bosses are not to get anything. Even ranger bow I can give to someone else is better than nothing.
    -Increase drop rate of SK quest soul zone wide.
    -Increase frequency/# per mob of flower drops for ucv4
    -drop rate of XX resist stone is awesome
    -I agree with trade in option of GSS > GSOA 1:2/1:1 especially with removal of GSS requirement for VP zone in. I would also be for increased GSOA zone wide drop rate.
    -you are already aware of the negative spell damage and working on it which is appreciated.
    thanks for your hard work
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    Draca
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    « Reply #4 on: April 23, 2022, 11:26:21 pm »
    Quote
    Increase frequency/# per mob of flower drops for ucv4

    I actually got a substantial amount of feedback the other way regarding flowers, and they were reduced slightly from their initial drop rate, although based on what I can see, and the amount of UC4 drops themselves, I am fairly happy where these lie.

    Quote
    I would make sure every boss has a 100% chance to drop an item every time. Its kind of lame with how rare bosses are not to get anything. Even ranger bow I can give to someone else is better than nothing.

    It's just not feasible to do this. Unless the bosses are on a cooldown, or some other limitation on their drops, it would result in too much loot dropping. I realize that not every player has the same farming capabilities as others, and certainly some boss loots are turds (such is RNG), but without imposed limits, it's not possible to have sweet loot piles every kill.

    Quote
    I agree with trade in option of GSS > GSOA 1:2/1:1 especially with removal of GSS requirement for VP zone in. I would also be for increased GSOA zone wide drop rate.

    GSOA's won't be tied in any way to GSS's. GSS's are specific to one thing in the game, GSOA's are not. I understand GSS's are considerably more common than they were, and that GSOA's are in considerably higher demand, which is exactly what was expected.


    Other items aren't necessarily anything I'm currently looking at, aside from investigating negative spell damage issues, which will be dealt with prior to anything else.
    « Last Edit: April 25, 2022, 09:27:54 pm by Draca » Logged
    Dokplayer2
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    « Reply #5 on: April 24, 2022, 05:43:19 am »
    okay. thanks for feedback
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    neccos
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    « Reply #6 on: April 25, 2022, 07:15:23 pm »
    With each reboot brings a new VP mob hardness/toughness, I think it's a bit over the top now, down a notch pls, 16 M rampages just destroy the raid with non-stop healing. Fun is fading (
    « Last Edit: April 25, 2022, 08:01:36 pm by neccos » Logged
    Draca
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    « Reply #7 on: April 25, 2022, 09:26:52 pm »
    Quote from: neccos on April 25, 2022, 07:15:23 pm
    With each reboot brings a new VP mob hardness/toughness, I think it's a bit over the top now, down a notch pls, 16 M rampages just destroy the raid with non-stop healing. Fun is fading (
    Nothing changed, reboot wasn't related to a change in particular. What's hitting particularly hard now?
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