The New expansion :the Secrets of Faydwer:

[Elyssanda]

Am posting this here because I can see where it can easily become a scream thread.
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"Rediscover Faydwer as you strive to thwart the plans of the evil gnomish necromancer, Meldrath the Malignant.
Meldrath takes his fortress Mechanotus to the skies on a mission of destruction exposing a network of mineshafts
and tunnels that lead across the Steamfont Mountains to the unexplored lands of Faydwer.

Prepare for adventures with new friends and foes as you do batlle against angry clockwork machines and come face to face with the great dragon, Kerafyrm, who plots to end the world.

FEATURES:

Heroic items: Push yourself beyond your limits with Heroic Items that take your abilities beyond their maximum potential.

Level cap increase to level 80.

New Zones, Non Player Characters, and Interactive Objects.

New Alternate Advancement Abilities, Spells and Items."

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My thoughts, personally I'm not ready for a level increase to 80, BUT if they are REALLY and truly not gonna release a new expansion for another year after this, I guess it's ok.

[Aetemius]

First scream?

Is there no extra bank space? Please for the love of all lings, let there be extra bank space!

[Rinikku]

Arg, the level cap is increasing again??? I haven't gotten to level 75 yet. Doh!

[Minta Rose]

YAYAYAYAYAYAY!

Neato necro gnomie conquest!
Neato necro gnomie conquest!
Neato necro--wait, whatcha mean we gotta fight against it?

--Minta Rose, neato necro gnomie girl
Kinda bored of not playin'

[Ozadar]

Arg, the level cap is increasing again??? I haven't gotten to level 75 yet. Doh!

I hear you bro. But that's good news for me. I will be able to level up to 75 without getting pvp'd to death.


Ozadar of the 71st Corpse
Erudite Tradeskiller of Zek
Member of 1450 Club

Baking - 286
Brewing - 292
Fletching - 268
Jewelry - 287
Pottery - 261
Smithing - 248
Tailoring - 270
Research - 202
Fishing - 200

(+5-8% to all skills) + Salvage 3

[Roanne]

I like the idea of more time going into the expansions.

If we could get more content that is play-tested and balanced well instead of 2-3 expansions worth of crap that is thrown together with a gimmick or two to get it out the door, Id be willing to pay more for the expansions. Unfortunately, I suspect the corporate response to the time frame will be to pay less people to develop it and we will be right where we are or worse within one or two expansions. I hope Im wrong about this.

As the migration trend away from EQ continues, the party-line will be because EQ is such an old game rather than admitting to bad development strategies that persuaded too many player to leave. Of course, not every player agrees on what the "best" game features are.

I do *not* like the idea of doubling the level expansion rate.

Every time there's a level increase, most of the previous content becomes trivial within a few months. Its an easy implementation from a game design point of view to simply increase the difficulty through higher levels and stats then just recycle the same old content style with a new face rather than actually develop new and interesting content for the game. This is fine if you play 8 hours a day and can get through everything on time or dont mind skipping content you havent seen; its not so good if youre a casual player who wants to doesnt race through progression.

I predict the new strategy of a level increase with every expansion will hurt the development of game rather than keep it interesting. Along with that, doubling the leveling rate will nullify the effect of putting the expansions out slower to allow players time to see the entire expansion. Each new expansion will relegate the previous expansion's non-raid content to obscurity and special interest quests and make the new content more about the same old pattern of grinding levels a few months followed by filling AA boxes just like we see already with smaller, more frequent expansions (unless of course the yearly expansions dont actually offer more content than an average expansion already).

Ive been meaning to look for a new hobby anyway.

[Strokker]

Personally I would not mind the new level cap even if it hits every expansion if they got rid of the exp cap I have a level 72 necro and right now I am getting good exp with others whr are level 75 but you are able to group up to your level plus half your level and get exp, this being said the cap you will get is less than what you would other wise.

I put this forth on the EQplayers forums and got shot down rather quick they said heck you aint doing any damage so how come you expect exp up there with the others, I tried to point out that I was doing damage and a pretty good amount for my level which was on my 58 bard but I was not even seeing 1 % off the kills, Strange how my slows were landing in Icefall and my chants as well.

Oh well I am not expecting things to change as I do not really believe Sony really cares about all the player base, they give you nice spells then nerf them and a bunch of other goodies that have been promised and never materialised.

Mind you I am not pointing fingers here there are too many making conflicting decissions and they can't please every dev out there but I would dearly love some more nice stuff for the lower level players TSS was good but the armor quest stopped shrot at 45 and then nothing till 70.

[Catweazel]

When I started EQ pre-Luclin, I remember getting tells about the amazing battles going on in Oasis killing orcs and that continent seemed like Africa in comparison to England. I would never get there walking or on the crazy boats they had. When the first new expansion came out I remember sitting starry-eyed hearing about places like the Bazaar where you could sell things in an organized manner (no more shouts in the EC Tunnel), The Deep with a chasm so massive and deep I was worried crossing the invisible bridge that I would lose my corpse forever should I fall, and whispers about a zone I never expected to visit ever called Vex Thaal. Killing Gods in POP followed which required level 40's to even visit....no way was I ever going to reach level 46.

Our guild has just completed GoD content and is very close to beating OOW. 4 expansions behind and I sit staring starry eyed at raid loot linked from The Barren Sea thinking -- I will never get to see that.

I have not spent much time doing TBS missions....I only just finished my DODH clicky mask from those missions. My impressions of the game and its vastness have not really changed in 5 years.

My complaint about the yearly expansions and the level increase to 80 is "why only 80??" That seems so reachable in comparison to other expansions. I would love to see level 100 announced....I would love to see version 2 of all the old zones to revisit them and enjoy them once again. I would love to hear whispers of supreme bosses hitting for 20k.

There will always be those travelling faster than you do. Take the road less travelled and enjoy the experience.

C'mon Sony -- lets see some vastness added back to the game!

[Bara]

Meh, Cap level schmap level. Almost everyone I regularly played with is gone to RL or other games. Untill they put in some drop dead, gotta-have-it tradeskill stuff (and more bankspace is ABSOLUTELY included in that) I don't intend to buy any new expansions. Just my viewpoint on the matter. I'm sure everyone else will feel differently.

[Fox the Clever]

Count me in with your opinion, Bara. I didn't bother getting The Buried Sea expansion because it didn't interest me, and I don't see anything that's proposed with the upcoming one to get me interested either. That, and the fact that I have no idea as to how much longer this game is going to last. I don't know about the rest of you, but the population on the server I play on is starting to get really slim.

The only thing that could really get my interest going would be a great increase in solo content, both with the upcoming expansion and revamping old expansions - but that's just a dream and I know it.

[olhoss]

To me the big problem in the last two expansions is all the factioning and other time sink crap. What makes some of the other games so attractive is that doing quests to complete story lines yields genuine rewards and experience and makes the ride along the way to max level fun.

In TSS and TBS, my class (enchanter) has been nerfed out of welcome by the content alone, and there is just a TON of it to go through to see the benefits of it. Like most, I don't have time to try to dig up groups over and over and over and over to get through these things.

I know that Ngreth has done a lot for TS, and is working to do more...but I do not have such faith in the rest of the design/development team. I can only hope they are more forthcoming about what they are doing in this expansion and that it looks like they are going to fix some serious ills or I, like most of the EQ community already has, will move on.

[Ozadar]

Increasing solo content would be great. And I don't mean solo quests that require a group or raid to kill a mob. I'm talking about things you can do all by yourself or with the help of another person or two. Guilds aren't what they used to be, so I find myself solo more than ever. Luckily, I'm a necro.

Also, hate the factioning thing. It's one thing to kill a 100-300 or so grey mobs that take a couple of hits to kill. Still do factioning everyone once in a while to open up access in a city or for merchant mobs. But in OOW and later expansions, killing 100-1000 green or light blue (or even blue) monsters was mind numbing. The quest loot you were factioning for would be quickly nerfed by something in the next expansion that would fly out only 6 months later. I don't even waste my time on these type of quests anymore, unless you are baited with good xp along the way.

I generally like the way they have patched up the old zones like Commonlands and Tox Forest. Look forward to Kethelin getting an upgrade one day. I remember the days when I walked around that city with my spectre pet and had everyone looking at the necro in the middle of elf city. Those were the days.

Ozadar of the 71st Corpse
Erudite Tradeskiller of Zek
Member of 1750 Club

Baking - 286
Brewing - 292
Fletching - 268
Jewelry - 287
Pottery - 261
Smithing - 251
Tailoring - 270
Research - 202
Fishing - 200

(+5-8% to all skills) + Salvage 3

[olhoss]

The real place for this is probably the EQ forums but the community here seems a lot more intelligent, so here are some thoughts...

I believe the reasons so many are leaving for other games is because:

1) Sony's lack of response to the community (Ngreth excepted)
2) Laughably AWFUL customer service (guides/gm's/service center)
3) Lack of solo content requiring mind numbing searches for groups
4) Long time sinks (faction work) to slow people down in expasnion progression
5) Content that renders either entire classes obsolete, or that quickly renders older gear obsolete rendering hours and hours of effort wasted, thus building frustration.

Many of these issues are preventable and correctable (though I am guessing there is probably some 6 Sigma Blackbelt behind much of their failures) some of which could easily be corrected in a single expansion. The terrible customer service...well that's not going to change but:

1) Other games have plenty of solo instances and solo quest rewards, so it IS possible to add some content like this
2) Eliminate some of the time sink and just make interesting missions
3) Stop making content that excludes certain classes from groups, unless you make a part of this progression excluse ALL classes at one time or another. It's called balance.
4) Stop worrying that acquiring spells and focuses easily will make it too remedial. The vendor bought spells at rank I was a great idea.
5) Make crafted items as good as any you can get, or at least close to it. Most more successful games have reduced raid content and have made it possible to get good items by alternate means. Some of this has been done in EQ but I do not believe a majority of the playing public wants to have to rely on 40 other people to get upgrades.
6) Listen to the community. Between all the new tradeskilling and all the faction quests, there seems to be a loud cry for bank space. Is it going to ruin the game to add another 8 slots?
7) Be more creative in content. Some of the higher end raids are very interesting. However, in group content the best they can muster to make things challenging is to render abilities useless. Why give chanters mez then make a Frost Crypt? Why give Mages a CoH then make it unusable in spots where they could really use it? Why allow lev and then have it debuffed in places you need it?
8) Stop making such huge zones with a lack of ports to get around them. In TSS it absolutely blows to run through all those huge zones just to find that there are no decent camp spots available, or to have it take 20 minutes for someone to make it to a group which is already there
9) Do away with things that render the game even more cliquish. The fellowship idea is as bad as the level-without-learning-skill monster missions. The goal is to encourage group play and to help people interact, not make it more advantageous to group with the same people every time than it already is.
10) Stop letting the top 1% of the players in the game tell you what is best for the whole community. If you want people to stay interested in the game as they level, make interesting content for people in the lower levels, and perhaps leave some zones exclusive for those levels. People PL to high level and then try to play in content that is over their heads because they never learned to play. Most believe the game starts at the high end any more. It doesn't have to. Make a series of zones designed to bring a character through all the levels and come out with good gear so that there is an advantage to playing in these zones over getting PL'd elsewhere.

[Ngreth Thergn]

4) Long time sinks (faction work) to slow people down in expasnion progression

You certainly do not get away from this in WoW... I have some friends who have lately been complaining alot about the tons of factioning they are having to do currently... It sounds like we are not the only ones who do it...

[olhoss]

True...I think WoW found it necessary because it was so easy to max level there and run out of things to do (without AA to work on). Some of it is to gain access to merchants to sell recipes, some of it is to open other quests, but what I found is that when I got to 60 (which was the cap there at the time) there were no more interesting stories...it was faction quests like "go kill an army of bugs and I will give you a token". Then get a bunch of these tokens for a new item, which was not a gigantic upgrade over what I had.

That kind of thing is a huge boring time sink, and my feeling is that EQ is starting to rely on that kind of thing too much to keep people playing in the new expansions.

When are you due for a promotion and raise, Ngreth? I think the team needs a lot more like you.