Patch Tentatively Scheduled for March 16th

[Brodybeard]

The EQLive Upcoming Updates page:

Upcoming for March
We have an update tentatively scheduled for the 16th of March.

Stay tuned for details.

Brenlo the Updated

Should I knock myself out and empty my bank account in an attempt to skill up pottery and jewelcrafting this coming weekend? Or relax and trust in the wisdom of SOE?

[Secone]

Or relax and trust in the wisdom of SOE?

LOL this almost my made my day

[Rissenn]

Honestly..I would skill up as much as I can right now. I dont think SOE will back down on any tradeskill stuff, or at least not have any time to make any changes. But I DO think they will keep stealthnerfing some Tradeskills.

[Verdandi]

I object to the use of "stealthnerfing". Yes, it was essentially a nerf in the way it ended up working. But Maddoc has acknowledged that it was an accident that it went live when it did. And it was in the patch message to give us all a head's up, not snuck in, in spite of being premature. He has also told us that more such changes are coming, removing any trace of stealth that may be implied in not having any forewarning.

It's one thing to have legitimate complaints about the way things have gone, and to explain why it is a problem. But accusing people of things they didn't do will only leave them much less likely to listen to what you have to say. That may make you feel good for the five minutes as you write and post and read it, but could leave you ignored and out in the cold down the road.

[Brodybeard]

Well, I think I'll do some tradeskilling over the weekend. My gnome is currently at 284 for jewelcrafting and has been collecting stacks of diamonds and blue diamonds to attempt to reach 300. He also has nearly enough materials for 100 molten bow cam combinations for tinkering. My druid will also get him to enchant another 100 or so vials of clear mana for some pottery skill-up attempts.

But that's about it. There's no sense in going crazy until we know more about Maddoc's plans for tradeskilling. We may be seeing the end of the practice of gathering mass qualities of ingredients for runs of several hundred combinations at a time. Tradeskills like tailoring will have recipes with smaller gaps between trivial levels -- something like jewelcrafting. A person at a tailoring skill of 250 might use three or four stacks of arctic wyvern hides and cod oil to reach 252 and then collect ingredients for some other recipe to reach 254 and so forth. I don't know if it will be any easier, but I think it will certainly be more interesting.

Maybe this will be the weekend my druid decides to visit the Plane of Storms and sees if she can track down those frogs she's heard so much about. It would be nice to actually gain some experience for a change.

[Obina]

I do wish I knew what would happen on this patch - I'm worried most about Smithing and pottery - I have got to believe that trivial for Star Ruby Encrusted Stein and Mistletoe Cutting Sickle are both comming down.

I think I'll do Pottery first. No wait not much for a potter to make since Ceramic items are not to lvl 70, so why bother? I'll do Smithing. No I hate MCS anyway. Pottery. JC? Arrgh - I think I'll go to the gym.

[Drukin]

I don't play anymore, since the solstice / velious nerf, but I really wouldn't trust them to make an easier skill up route. If you skill up now, the worst that can happen is you expended more effort than needed. There is also a very real possibility that if you skill up now, you save yourself a LOT of work - i.e. next patch message "velium hound fur, and plane of earth drop rates have been slightly increased to provide a skillup path to 300", or that there may not even be a viable skill up route for the next 6 months to a year.

Afterall, they have never said that a reworked skill up path is coming next patch, 2 patches from now or 2 years from now. They've asked ya'll to hang on, but they didn't say how long they were planning to leave you hanging. If they can get you to continue paying your monthly fee while at the same time keeping you from achieving goals in a timely manner, it's a win win for them.

[Darknyss]

Make the path harder, and the casual player complains... (or quits and winds up trolling boards, bad-mouthing Sony)...

Make the path easier, and the hardcore player whines about taking away something they worked so hard for. (Imagine if a college decided that you only needed 1 year of classes for an equivalent degree)

So I don't see how ANY path for them is going to be win/win...

There's an ancient Iksar saying... "You can please some of the people all of the time, and you can please all of the people some of the time... but you can't please EQ players any time"

[Drukin]

They could of left things as they were.

It seems to be forgotten that it's supposed to be a game and entertaining at the end of the day. What does it really matter if there are 600 300 skill tailors on a server if everyone is having fun...

But then mayhaps I am missing something.

[Wyvernwill]

The last post illustrated the point to the absolute root of the problem. Had everything been left the way that it is... no one was complaining and no one would be complaining. By changing it, they put themselves out of the Win/Win situation into a situation where they are only going to lose.

Also, think of it this way. You can't throw up the argument that "Make the path easier, and the hardcore player whines about taking away something they worked so hard for."

Why? Because by making the path harder, as they plan, you have a very select few people who were able to abuse the "easier" methods. I don't consider people saying "OH yeah, I worked up tailoring on Solstice Robes before they were nerfed to get 300" as being any sort of accomplishment at all. That's just my view point on that.

Also, I can see why they are changing the trivial levels, but I am sorry, this is past the expansion of the level cap raises, which royally sucks. Again, it goes back to the argument that, you let a few people do it one way, then change it for everyone else. That would be the fair way, but like with Work, Life, Love, Women and EQ... there is no such thing as Fair Play.

[Sylphan]

As I've been going through a zillion precombines, I've had time to ponder.

One of the things they sometimes do is nerf something really hard, then say oops that's not what we intended, undo it and nerf something half as hard. Then everyone cheers, because the new nerf isn't as bad as the old one. The half-nerf is, of course,what they wanted all along, but now they tricked us into cheering while they did it.

The real trick is to figure out what nerf would be half as bad as changing solstice trivials. My only thought so far... what if they unnerf tailoring trivials but remove the scent of marr from merchants? Then solstice robes would still be a difficult skillup path... and sickles too.

It's a really evil thought... but it kinda fits what celestial essence was supposed to be (made from research drops) so it's hard to dismiss.

[Lanthorny]

As I've been going through a zillion precombines, I've had time to ponder.

One of the things they sometimes do is nerf something really hard, then say oops that's not what we intended, undo it and nerf something half as hard. Then everyone cheers, because the new nerf isn't as bad as the old one. The half-nerf is, of course,what they wanted all along, but now they tricked us into cheering while they did it.

The real trick is to figure out what nerf would be half as bad as changing solstice trivials. My only thought so far... what if they unnerf tailoring trivials but remove the scent of marr from merchants? Then solstice robes would still be a difficult skillup path... and sickles too.

It's a really evil thought... but it kinda fits what celestial essence was supposed to be (made from research drops) so it's hard to dismiss.

Hush you

[Zacatac]

what if they unnerf tailoring trivials but remove the scent of marr from merchants

Considering how many celestial essense it takes to make anything, that would be an awful nerf. I'm already of the opinion that the person who created those receipes needs to be flogged. How insane is it that we have to makes 1000's of combines that not only are trivial, but no-fail, just to have a chance to skill up?

[Bolas]

I'm thinking I better get my butt in gear and do mistletoe cutting sickles from 254 to 300 between now and then... and CERTAINLY not have any un-used mistletoe cutting sickle parts on any mules anywhere when the patch goes live.

I hope they retract the tailoring changes for 30 days with the march 15th patch. Or am I dreaming?

-Bolas

[Wyvernwill]

To hope, isn't to dream.

However, if you seriously think they will... yeah, then you're dreaming LoL