What Akkadius said. Only takes 3-5 days to reach T10 now if you have the resources available (DL/TL items, zone pulls and a T10 crew already)
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The first thing that comes to mind when I'm thinking about a new tier is that it should be really tough and require a lot of time and effort to finish various quests and milestones. I tend to find many of the older zones boring both graphic wise and npc model wise, but I'm sure there are some exeptions. Performance is an important issue though. Ideally a balance between something a bit fresh and visually sweet, and with good performance. I will probably plow through some zones and make some suggestions at some point, but would be nice to know from a devs perspective what is important to look for/not look for. I prefer open area zones like T10/HW zone/OC contrary to water zones/tight areas like Abyss, ToV and Anguish.
- I like the mechanism of having a chance to spawn a boss or chain of bosses when killing certain npc's, like the T10/ Halloween zone.
- I like the action messages and effects (rumbling) that we've seen both in T10 and the new Halloween zone.
- The way you aquire armor in T10 is fine with me. The idea of different armor sets for different class roles is very nice in theory, but needs a lot of thought put into it. Right now, you're best off using the orc armor for your classes with a few exeptions.
- The majorioty of the players that have broken into T10 runs anywhere from 12-24 characters on a normal basis, and currently I find myself (and I know others are in the same situation) mostly using the main warrior for dps, and perhaps only using the other toons for some utilities like DA, skin, buffs and finishing off some last mobs. I know this is partly due to a powerful UW and UA, but it's also due to high damage rampage. I'd say more focus on various troubles for main tank and less for the toons assisting. I know we've all done our share of mass ressing toons every other minute in Sunderock. And maintank dead = entire raid dead, quite often.
- Announcements for finishing major events are fine, but small stuff like Citrine upgrades is not necessary.
- I like when a tier has a final boss, like in Anguish or the Halloween zone.
- I also like that a zone has mechanisms and npc's that makes life really hard for you, and makes you have to find abilities, spells, and strategies to remedy it. Could for example be bosses with adds that needed to be killed in a certain order or they would start a hell, backstabbing mobs is always fun :p and I am sure devs imagination is good in this area.
- Focus on benefits of building up resistances. I understand that npc's like Goops are there as a barrier, which is fine. However when adding new annoying spells and abilities in a new tier, it would be sweet if some of them could be countered or partially resisted by working hard on resists.
- I am fine with T11 having a hub like T10, but I think it is a must have to be able to run instanced versions of the zone.
- Instead of having a new level of hp augments, maybe we could add a new Power source item or an augment for another slot that could be upgraded over time, giving heroic stats(not resists).
- There is no denying the end players have gotten their share of UW's, essencially rendering our 20+ strike augments useless. Maybe the UW13 could have a slot for the strike augments, so we could put them to use again.
- I like the idea of mini milestones during long lasting quests.
- Always get angry when Thunderpants mess up the oncoming or ongoing night cycle by spawning and setting game time to midday
- Quests have always been a big part of this game and should continue to be so. It would be nice with previews of rewards, much like the quests in the HW zone, so we could determine who gets what first.
- Jugg spell skyrocket, skyjump or whatever it's called it retarded
- Oh and last but not least, all this tied down to Rents good storytelling for questlines.
TLDR/Suggestions:
*Chain spawning bosses mechanism like HW zone
*Action messages and effects
*Various armor sets are fine as long as they give a clear benefit to different classes.
*Wild rampages or effects that wipe the entire crew on a regular basis should be avoided. If not alltogether, at least once you have geared up resistances and armor pieces.
*Less announcement spam unless it's a major event.
*More focus on gaining a benefit by building up resistances.
*A final boss in the new tier.
*Smart mechanics that keeps you on your toes and work strategies and abilities to counter.
*Quest for a high speed mount.
*Quest for an item for Power source slot.
*Quest for an augment that you can keep upgrading for higher heroic stats.
*UW13 (with 1 slot for strike augments, like the Mixlor club that HW end boss drops)
*No water zones or too many tight areas.
*Instanced version as well as a hub of the new tier.
*Preview of quest rewards.
That's what I can think of at the moment. Will update when more stuff pops to mind.
