2008 July

Crystallos Is Beautiful

Welcome to Crystallos

I recently gained access into Crystallos and I’ve got to say, it’s one gorgeous zone. It’s quite creative and each wing has a slightly different feel to it. Plus, pretty much the whole zone is shiny! Who doesn’t like shiny things?

I have yet to actually group in there, but it appears to have 4 wings, one for each element (air,water,fire,earth). The zone is surprisingly easy to travel through, considering it’s the top tier for group content. The only mobs that seem to see invis are the eyes that patrol the wings. These eyes create a mini game of sorts when you’re trying to travel from place to place. Continue reading »

Wrath of the Lich King - New Talent Calculators

The new talents for Wrath of the Lich King are out!  Obviously, these are highly subject to change.  Don’t get your hopes up too much until the actual expansion is out. Check them out here.

Every time they release new talents, my brain starts hurting from all the various combinations I start putting together. So have fun with it, but don’t hurt yourself!

I lied, Devs Budge on New Raid Size

Turns out I lied, looks like the devs cracked after tons of posts against the idea.  Rytan:

After continued discussion and reviewing the copious amounts of feedback we’ve received over the raid size reduction we’ve decided not to drop the raid size and instead leave it at 54 for now.  We are continuing to examine alternate methods of allowing raid content to become more accessible to smaller groups and will be experimenting with some of them over the next several months.

We appreciate your continued feedback and support that helps make EverQuest the great game that it is.

While I personally feel it was the correct decision, that’s not what makes me happy.  It appeared the Devs had their hearts set on this new raid limit, but enough player feedback lead them to change their minds.  It’s nice to know that occasionally player feedback is actually heard.

Devs Not Budging On New Raid Limit

In the ongoing raid limit battle (which has worked it’s way into almost every thread on the boards) the Devs do not appear willing to budge on this one.  Rytan:

The class balance issue is definitely the one that I feel has the most merit.  Regardless of the raid size class balance is one of if not the most important issues in the game.  We will be spending a great deal of time over the next several months to address as many of the imbalances in the game as possible.  The goal is to allow each class a meaningful role in both the group and raid game.  As always, class balance is an ongoing task and will require constant attention as the game expands and changes.  We are under no delusions that it will ever be pinned down as “finished”.

We expected some negative feedback from this announcement, though I’ll admit to being surprised by the volume thus far.  I think it’s important to remember that the people that stand to benefit from this change are not typically the type of player that consistently post on message board threads.  Especially on threads filled with such vitriol for anyone in support of the change.  The message boards are an important source of feedback, but are only representative of a subgroup of our players.  It would be much simpler for us if it was representative of the entire player base, but we don’t have the luxury.  We have to other considerations when making decisions.

I find it interesting that they realize the class balance issue, but are going through with it anyway. Sure they “plan” on making everybody useful, but that’s bologna. When it comes to raids, there’s never been a point where everybody was equally useful.

I was also a little upset with them pulling the “well, the forums aren’t a great indicator” card. It certainly is true that only a small percentage of players use the forums. Still, when the feedback is almost entirely negative (from what I’ve seen, at least 90% are against it and most of those that aren’t against it don’t care either way) you have to question if it’s a good idea.

I’m used to the devs turning a blind eye to their players, but given the magnitude of the negative feedback, this is disheartening. My real interpretation of this is that they’re already a ways into tuning the expansion and are too lazy to go back on it now.

EverQuest to have 42 man raids

Woah, this came out of left field.

According to the Dev Blog the newest EverQuest expansion will feature 42 man raids. This will not effect old raids, just the new ones.

Good Idea?
I have to imagine their goal here is to make it easier for mid tier guilds to progress. It’s much easier fielding 42 players than it is 54. I’d have to agree with them that mid tier guilds need some help. It’s becoming quite clear (at least to me) that higher end guilds are pacing along much faster than the mid level ones. For the most part, that’s to be expected, but the gap is continually widening. High end guilds are beating the latest expansions in a few months. Mid tier guilds are still working on content from 3 expansions ago. It’s a bit of a problem, no doubt.

Bad Idea?
With all that said, this gets my vote as a bad idea. The big problem I see is that EverQuest’s classes are extremely diverse. Because of that, they aren’t always balanced perfectly. Some classes (namely casters and hybrids) have accepted that they are fairly mediocre when it comes to raiding. They enjoy a lot of utility and power while grouped, so it’s a trade off. As you lower how many players can come on a raid, guilds will have to get more selective as to who tags along. If you’re having a hard time beating an encounter and you have extra players, who are you going to pick, a ranger or a rogue? A druid or a cleric? Hybrids who are in guilds that already fill the raids are going to be feeling the pinch.

New Secrets of Faydwer Quests

In a patch that was added about two weeks ago, there is now a new line of quests available from Fenden Helter in Dragonscale Hills.  The tasks come in three types: errands, acts, and combat.

Errands
Errands are non-combat tasks that reward you with faction, experience and 20 Faycetum (more on that later). These quests can usually be completed solo in 5-15 minutes. There are errand tasks available for each faction and have an 18 hour lockout. Unforutnately, all of these quests are linked, so you can only do one errand per 18 hours.

Acts
Acts are non-combat tasks that reward you with experience and 30 Faycetum. There are two of these quests. These also have 18 hour lockouts, but they are not on a shared timer. You can do both every day. These can both be easily soloed.

Combat
Combat tasks require you to kill 10 specific mobs and reward you with faction, experience and 3 Faycetum. These have an 18 hour lockout, but it is not shared. You can do all of these every day. Some of them can be soloed by certain classes, but they are intended for groups.

Faycetum
Faycetum is a new alternate currency. You can purchase various items from Fenden using them. They are no drop. The items Fenden sells are Secrets of Faydwer tier 2 non-visible drops. Most of the items are attunable, but some of them are no-drop. They vary in price from about 900 to 2300 Faycetum. Because these items are mostly droppable and appear else where in the game, there is no buyback feature. Continue reading »

Getting Back Into WoW

It’s been nearly a year since I last logged into World of Warcraft. I’m excited to get back into it. A few things have surprised me a bit though.

I know Blizzard is slow, but seriously? Still no Wrath of the Lich King? The game is closing in on 4 years old now and they still only have one expansion? Really? That’s insane. At least I won’t have a lot of catching up to do.

I’m not looking forward to redoing my UI though. Ugh. Every time I get back into WoW, I always have to spend painful hours trying to get my UI just the way I want it. Oh boy.

Well, I’m off to get corpse camped…wish me luck!

Is EverQuest Dead?

With the recent Living Legacy promotion there’s been a lot of old players returning to EverQuest. Sadly, most of these players only login once or twice and disappear back into the darkness they came from. I had to ask myself why.

There’s a number of reasons it’s possible that somebody would take the time to return to EQ only to quickly leave. Perhaps the new expansions don’t run smoothly on their machines or they don’t like the direction the game has gone. Honestly though, I have a hard time believing that either of those are the big reason. I think I figured out the real reason…they think the game is dead. Continue reading »