Quote:
Originally Posted by Keza
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There's a reason people still play WoW instead of FFXIV despite FF being superior in every way in regards to both being themepark MMORPGs. It's because that's what they do and they'll do it because they do it and they won't stop doing it because that's not what they do until they stop doing it which they never will. The reason people go to Oasis is because they do. They did in the past, they do now and they will in the future. They likely don't even know if the mobs in LS are easier or harder than Oasis. These kinds of people need alluring bait to be lured from their caves, like ZEM changes. That said, I don't think Lavastorm needs ZEM changes as it's already viable. It just needs people to actually go there instead of saying it's bad without having any idea what they're talking about.
The only plausible argument against LS would be the terrain hiding enemies. Otherwise it's a centrally located with a TP that makes it easily accessible with several similarly leveled zones connecting directly to it allowing you to go 1-max while barely moving from a city. As for landmarks, there are many, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. You can usually see one by climbing any random hill. Shadowmen rings, gypsy camps, goblin camps, Najena, Nek ZL, and the caldera. It's really simple to remember that the giant caldera is directly across the zone from the Nek ZL, rings are topleft, Najena is bottom right and Shadowmen are bottom left with nothing topright and camps in the middle. You always have a landmark.
I feel like people claiming LS is bad have never tried leveling in a truly bad zone. Anything with goblins is terrible. Tiny hallways, tons of adds, healing through walls, fleeing and massive wizard nukes. You need to make meta groups unless you have twinks/PLs to survive. You'd have to pay most people to exp in Dalnir. Fifteen minutes to get there with a port and knowing the path, trapped once you fall down and an NPC potentially guarding the exit that can obliterate max level players in an instant with an OPAF melee proc. Now that's a zone that wouldn't see groups traverse even with a ZEM buff.
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I leveled in Lavastorm and Najena on live. It is certainly do-able, and I don't remember it being bad. However, the reason why people leveled in Lavastorm on live was probably because it was easier to do a corpse run (can be bound in Neriak). People were probably more likely to pick race based on starting location as well, unlike P99. Ports were harder to come by back then, and a lack of game knowledge made traveling much more dangerous. Also, Oasis was more dangerous on live due to lag, viewing distance being reduced, and trains. You were much more likely to get killed by a Sand Giant or train.
On P99 that doesn't matter quite as much since ports are easy, game knowledge is prevalent, computers can play the game at max viewing distance, and many people are twinked. Oasis is generally easier to play in than Lavastorm on P99 because the only true obstacles are random Sand Giants, which are generally easy to see and avoid, and trains aren't really a thing in Oasis anymore.
The problem with Lavastorm is the mob level range is in a bit of a weird spot. Oasis and the Ro's can occupy you from early teens until early 20s. Lavastorm peters out sooner than early 20s if memory serves, and then you have to run elsewhere anyway. Leveling from 1-30 doesn't take that long if you know what you are doing, so the leveling progression in the desert is better anyway. You could go into Najena after Lavastorm peters out, but it is more dangerous.