Edited, Thu Jan 27 13:45:06 2005

only thing SOE has not done yet is offered a vendor where 1 can buy AA points :P

Think there is any new AA's?

Remeber they have to Follow teh EQ2 back lore

In EQ2 it says that the Age of War is eventually followed by the Rallosian Army, orge and trolls, rising up and raging war on norrath, Then Qeynos and Freeport become super powers( theres three now Rallosin Qeynos Freeport, and they defeat the Rallosian army. THen they but horns and then the moon goes boom( damn gnomes( actually it probly ahs someithing to do with the POTatics invading Luclin)) THis is all followed by the age of destiny, which is the era of EQ2.

So i wouldent be supprised that in teh expansion after the Rallosion creatures start to revolt. Oh yea and when teh moon goes pboom it causes Norrath to go threw cataclysms adn all hell breaks loose.

They should make this one free.. and make a big deal about how it's free.. might win back some people. My subscription runs out in june, would be nice of SOE to do something selfless for once, to give me some sort of reason to continue playing.. but as is, I have no plans to renew, and I hate to think of all the invested time basically going *poof*..... but I guess that has to happen eventually =)

I hate zone-revamps. If they are changing Lavastorm into some unrecognizable High Level plyaing ground, this is one expansion that won't draw me back to the game. It's a personal preference I know, but I truly detest zone-revamps. I don't care that they are underused, I love empty zones.

Been playing from day 1 and all I see is the old world getting consumed for the benefit of more "lewt" for the AA-grinding crowd. EQ has gone from a great game with a believable world to a stomping ground for level 60-70's.

"Waaaah, this zone gives bad xp now, I want to grind faster and gather more phat loot, give me more zones, revamp the old zones, take out the boats and put in the teleporters so I can get even quicker to my next AA-grind zone, I dont care about the old world or a consistent world, give me more LOOT and XP, WAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

Sad.

Hooray for these two, straight from Diablo II.

* Potion Belt - Allows for quick use of inventory items.
* Bandolier Equip - Lets characters have two sets of pre-arranged weapons for each hand.


I was just ranting to my guild about how I hated constantly switching from my weapons to Opal Steins, and then going into battle while still using them, having to switch right in battle, maybe it's just me, Im lazy.

The solution is simple to getting ppl to old zones. You make a aug that increases with power for each zone you visit. Have one for each continent etc. And you have to kill at least (put number here) mobs that you get exp from in each zone (not including cities) for the aug to go up in stats.

Hugs,
Tambora
lvl 63 druid
Diamond Circle
The Tribunal

This expansion seems to be a gathering of old and new ideas in other rpg games which i will not mention and all I have to say is Sweet>>>>>>>> With 4 eq accounts 2 on lanny and 2 on the preferred server LOL MS.... My serious concerns of lossing thi s Wonderful RAW game which eq2 can never be is all but disapatied ..... Grats to Sony and "Bring me the NAMED:)"

If the guild halls remove people from PoK then I see that as a negative. PoK is a great gathering place and by using /who you can find people of a class who you can talk to about buying buffs. If all the guildies are tucked away in instanced guild hall zones there will be less opportunity to find people who can sell you the buffs you need and less opportunity for finding/making groups to go somewhere. Remember the KEI parties and MGBs at the main bank...sometimes happens because people are standing around waiting for a group or raid...wont happen if those same people are now isolated in their guild hall!

/ramble on

I started on the Stromm server 20JAN04 with the EQ Evolution bundle--all expansions pre-LdoN. My starting city was N. Qeynos and the joint was jumping, spam grouping rampant--in fact, I got my first 5 levels that night in a group. The bazaar had over 450 traders and the top guild Raiding guilds were going strong.

I've since seen the population dwindle--a couple months less than year later, the NQ newbie yard was definitely not hopping, bazaar trader population dropped down to a low of 193, and the top Raiding guilds were suffering decline if not already history.

Yet, after those couple of months, Stromm shows some life returning, bazaar pop is hovering around 330, and there's 2 guilds that are certainly going ot be top Raiders, with several more making plays.

Part of it I'm sure was/is server selection--when I started Stromm was listed as "newbie" server--may even still be I'll have to look next I log in. I know Morden Rasp is strong in population even with the drop off.

The deal is, I figure around major holidays, populations will dwindle as folks do their RL activities--this year especially hit hard due to game releases from SOE itself and Blizzard.

Nonetheless, I don't know that the population will return like I saw it when I first started, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I own Nurga, hardly a player there--usually zone-ins from Droga or someone passing through on a quest. I've soloed AA and XP there--despite the long haul out and back, it's well worth it for many reasons. If the population were higher, finding such an ideal spot could certainly be tougher.

Folks who previously couldn't get into raiding guilds or wanting to start up a guild with dreams of raiding *can* do so, if for any reason, the log jam is broken from top guilds owning the schedule.

Groups are certainly more talented in my estimate. I rarely do pick-up groups, but I've found when I do, the skill level is off the chart.

I do wonder about the constant release of expansions--hell I just got LDoN in October--impacts the overall population dynamic. It seems that more zones will thin the numbers, and folks finding a comfort zone rather exploring new zones will certainly make one feel lonely when in the hinterlands--Iceclad waiting for Stormfeather is no place for the loquacious and gregarious right now.

I'm reasonably certain that mid-level grouping is hurting on Stromm; my favourite place to solo when I need to be close to PoK is Dulak and getting picked up in a group can be hard for some class and level combinations, that in my estimate, should be snapped up quickly.

At the lower levels, the Warrens is almost always empty, Blackburrow has low numbers--yet GFay and Crushbone are moderately busy, while PC still remains the PL place of choice.

On a closing note--before I even popped in the first install disk, I did some research, and of course, Google led me to Alla, CR, Everlore, etc. After reading posts on these boards from now 3 year ago or older, folks were saying EQ was dead. Yet, give it time, folks not thrilled with WoW &/or EQ2 will come back, after the holidays, folks who got EQ for a stocking stuffer are going to be loading it up.

I certainly can't say any of my posting is true for all servers--I know some were hit really hard and maybe a future server merge among the lower populated will be beneficial.

See the positive in this--try a class that solos stronger than most, farm an empty zone for that drop you were SO sure was uber when you started up, go to The Warrens with your high-level toon an feel like a gawd as you wipe out hapless Kobolds BwahahahahaMwahahahahahah...oops, sorry.

It's a game, have fun--if it dies, it dies, just be thankful for the experience and be grateful there are alternatives out there if you still need your MMORPG fix. =)

/ramble off

Ya know... this astounds me. They pull this out after I leave the game, revamping old zones, finally making guild halls, amazing. I've been playing WoW(I'm not a traitor, honest) but, I might renew my account for this expansion, maybe I can finish the last few fights for my epic, I dunno. I just can't believe they added guild halls. I remember reading about those when I first got the game, during Kunark... *sighs* Memories.

The biggest issue with EQ is all the underutilized zones. I think about umpteen people already mentioned that. The trick of it is how to get an old player to be interested in an old zone they already know well because they had to spend 5 weeks dying in it back before (Insert expansion here) came out. And with the new players, as long as they keep oocing where they need to go and keep getting answers, they'll not have to explore Norrath. I mean, when I say trainer hill, i bet maybe about 10% of the players know what I'm talking about. I honestly still like to walk into crushbone and smack around orcs for old times sake... but i digress.
SoE has tried to keep up with player demand on chasing gear, which is why I think we have so many empty zones. Everyone wants to be where they can get the better gear. When Luclin came out, we had the Twighlight Sea quests to replace the Temple of Solusek Ro quests is a good example of their intent to keep people playing. Now, the problem there was that most of the people that could get to twighligh might have already had a ton of better gear, and by the time players new to EQ got to the point of being able to quest the Twighlight armor, well, they were looking at PoP, maybe even the LDoN expansion with much better armor options. Soe appears to be expanding itself out of a population base. Like an Upside-Down Pyramid for lack of a better comparison. SoE has tucked away many quests/features sending people to the far side of the empty world to get drops they need. If your Epic is worth getting (for example, as a Pally, at lvl 50 back a couple of years ago, i knew my epic was useless since I could get AA's to two hand bash, and there were literally dozens of better 2 handers dropping all over the planes) but, with the possibility of upgrading your epic to 1.5 or 2.0, those players in large, er, helpful, guilds have the incentive to go back and explore the karanas, Trakanon's teeth, or whereever your epic takes you. However, again, as a player whose guild began leaving when GoD shattered their dreams of a good update ever happening, even a 1.5 is a ludicrous dream. So, that plan really didn't help out most people, I believe. A better example is the freed slave quests in Kunark. Getting the items they require sends us to under-populated, and appreciated areas for some good gear that a casual player can acheive. Same goes for tasks if you happen to be a lower level player, however, for the higher level tasks, like drake hunting in skyshrine, a lvl 65 or + soloer might be able to get a drake, and burn all their Disciplines, might.. But then, EQ isn't designed for soloers. The problem there is how do you convince a pick up group to go to the other side of the world for YOU to get a task complete? You can't. So, maybe as a fix to get players interested in exploring, offer something tangible and real to encourage it? As I racked my brain, and thinking about other MMORPGs I've seen... Here are some ideas I had to aid in getting people out of the pack and into their own.

How about a bonus for exploring? Not necessarily exp for entering a zone you've never seen before, but maybe, say give an AA for visiting every unkeyed Zone in Classic Norrath, one for all the new zones in Kunark and Velious? Maybe another AA for having all the keys for every zone up through Luclin? Roll with the idea.

Ease of travel.. As a pally, i have the AA for the Holy steed, which is nice. but, just for someone of lvl 51, just starting out on AA's, what about a Gate AA, sort of like a discipline. Downtime of a couple of hours or more?

Group quests! Get a pick-up group? Too spread out to do an LDoN? Someone not have OoW? maybe have a few things that a group leader can start that involves gathering-killing, just like an LDoN, but happens off general mobs in a underpopulated zone. Maybe for a group ranging from lvl 25 to lvl 35, they could talk to someone in, i dunno, shadowhaven, and have to go to Firiona Vie and collect drachnid web sacs or something. And when the group leader does a turn in, everyone gets the prize.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that to get people in underutilized zones, it's going to have to benefit the whole group to go, not take have the night to get there. (i.e. "I need to go to Dragon Necropolis, anyone got a port nearby?" "Uh, I can port us to GD" "You nut, i can take the book there" "Well, its not liek I get to cast it that often, and I never picked up the other velious ports cuz i didn't need to ever go there" And thus there is a group taking over an hour to get in place, getting there and realizing that work starts at 6 in the morning and having to run back because it's late without ever actually doing anything other than running.)

oh, and something about Hot Spots. before they made Grieg's End a Hot Spot, my regular group LIVED there in our lvl 50's. it was a great zone for exp, money, and drops. Then, every idiot in norrath crashed our party. I'll tell you what I'd like to see other than a 'Hot Spot' and thats a rolling xp curve based on the number of players in the zone. OK, you're level 17, you go to Paludal and see there are 5 groups in the zone, if you knew that you could take your group to a zone that no one else was in (The Warrens, for example) and get a 50% xp bonus for being the only group hunting there, why would you add group 6 to the paludal mix? Just a thought.

K, I'm done

Dweebus the retired
Pert the Inept Pally
and Oozing the monk-ey
bristlebane

Its cool that SoE is still taking an interest in EQ1, and I always like new toys, spells, menus, Quests etc... However it pains me that instead of revamping the old completely wasted old world kunark zones, they just keep " finding " new continents.

How bout...having NK (<<< North Karana :) over-run by the minions of hate, destroy the old zone features, crumble the guard towers, some new mobs, some new loots, and something for the level 40 somethings to do. Just one option, and Im not saying that a new dungeon cant be found here and there ( I love Ldons ) but there are soooo many empty zones why make new ones? when with alttle thought you could make the old ones interesting :)

And again, I would pay SoE 10bucks cash to let me permanently name my pet

safe hunts and rare drops