Sony recognizing Soloers?

[Nhin Impious]

plus, you can bandage WHILE sitting, and bandage to 70% before any AA improvements.

Ranger: WHAT are you doing?

Nhinx: Bind wound 205, and FM, that's what. Pull, and try to make it a single this time, or I'm pulling.

Nhinx Aphsion
*making kissy-kissy noises at First Aid 2 = BW to 90%*

[Serenya]

How will that stop twinking? I'd put odds on any of my twinks over someone who was working their main up from scratch.

You don't know any level one paladin's with the Fiery Avenger? That's the type of twinking I think they have in mind (albeit an extreme case) -- I know I frequently see posts on the cleric boards from folk looking to turn their low level cleric alt into a rez bot as well. Though I think they are also preventing that now by adding minimum levels before the NPCs will speak with you, and minimum effect levels as well.

[Sylphan]

I wonder why people think 'time gear required' content is 'just like in Kunark' or 'just like in Velious'. I usually admire efforts to calm the alarmists. But today's EQ is not like yesterday's EQ. The barriers to getting to Time are very different than the barriers to getting to 60... the latter was merely a matter of perseverence, it could even be done solo. And then you could inch forward into tougher content as you were capable. Nowadays there are zillions of folks with 65/200 and Ornate or LDON gear, but they still can't inch forward into elemental planes. Flags are a very solid barrier. And BTW, even 30,000 LDON points won't get elemental-quality gear. Better than bazaar gear yes, but not elemental.

Also I remember doing epic raids years ago where the average level was about 53 and gear was... well, not even Kunark standard. We did it with random groups, taking any old friends from whichever guild, and random lfg. And a 35-person raid was big. Even the poor shmucks powering through level 52 could believe that someday eventually they too might finish their epic. Does anyone believe that a similar subpar force will be capable of finishing any of the new epics? Does anyone believe that the poor shmucks of today will harbor any hope of completing their new epic -- ever?

No, I doubt it'll be like the old epics at all.

[KyrosKrane]

You don't know any level one paladin's with the Fiery Avenger?

Well, in the case of the Fiery Avenger, it would have to be level 46 -- the turn-in for the Avenger is in the Plane of Sky, and you must be 46 or higher to enter that zone. I suppose that techically, some paladin might have done it before the level limits were instituted, but I doubt it.

Oh, and the paladin epic is the Fiery Defender.

[Serenya]

Well, in the case of the Fiery Avenger, it would have to be level 46 -- the turn-in for the Avenger is in the Plane of Sky, and you must be 46 or higher to enter that zone. I suppose that techically, some paladin might have done it before the level limits were instituted, but I doubt it.

Oh, and the paladin epic is the Fiery Defender.

Ok, so I get confused easily ;o I distinctly recall on Fennin (where twinks have twinks) more then one Luclan dying for under 10 paladins, just because they could. I assume they got whichever weapon you get from that part, but I could be wrong as I don't know the steps.

[Dunthor Warsmith]

The Lucan D'Lere kill is a step in the Soulfire. The Soulfire itself is a component for the Fiery Avenger.

The Soulfire was a common twink item, both for a particle effect (first weapon to have one, the fires along the blade) and the clickie: 5 charges of instant-casting CH.

[Serenya]

Thank you Dunthor, that's what I was remembering then At any rate, I suspect, but don't know, that that is one of the things the 'solo' step is intended to eliminate. Another variant on the recommended/required levels.

[Itzena]

Soulfire has, um, interesting lore on the official EQ2 website.

[Dunthor Warsmith]

Hmm, curious lore on the EQ2 site .... It's not inconsistant with the lore provided in EQ1, but it does have one little oddity - a Temple of Life priest tells you the Soulfire contains the souls of many shadowknights and necromancers. If, as per the EQ2 lore, it entraps the souls of those it slays, and that it has been in possession of evil powers for all/most of its past existance (since presumably the paladin who reassembled it are the EQ1 players), that implies a lot of bad-guy infighting.

----

Epic 2.0 seems, to me, like it is designed to be of a difficulty akin to the original epics - hard things to do, requiring a strong raiding guild to accomplish. I'm guessing the real difference is in the rate of mudflation of casual player power - it increased hugely from Kunark to PoP, but with high end PoP (ele & time), LDoN, and GoD there has been very little to trickle down to the non-raiders, and it doesn't seem like more time and expansions of the current style will change that very soon. That lack of massive mudflation for this group makes it unlikely the Epic 2.0 will come down to the level of difficulty/commonality as Epic 1.0 anytime soon.

[Eumerin]

My guess is that the "solo" bit is just a reference to required camping of low level mobs that no one in their right mind would subject a fellow guild member to (except maybe a tracker). Case in point would be Quillmane, for the Mage Epic. By the time you can get your epic, Quillmane is quite green, and easily soloable by a mage (although a tracker who's willing to spend a few hours hanging out is still quite handy).

Be that as it may, I wish they'd make the epic 2.0 weapons something that casual players could obtain. Epics are one of the single biggest draws for casual players, and an epic 2.0 with good stats that could be obtained (with some hard work) by a casual player would be one of the easiest ways to throw a bone to casual players.