Question about future custom content

[Clark]

Luclin plz.

[tanknspank]

Originally Posted by Danyelle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Nexus: [ideas]

Travel to Luclin should not be wiz/dru only (not sure if that's what you meant) and definitely not that complicated. Automated means however should cost time or resources. What I would do would be:

Spires - Activation on a 72min (1 game day) timer from Norrath to Luclin at all spires. This is a boat-equivalent method of travel that makes it accessible to all. However, the downbound spires only activate every 72min in rotating fashion. This kills their use as a fast travel.

Alternately a single norrath "super-spire" (NK maybe?) connects to Luclin (both ways) every 72min.

Spire Quest - A LORE mid-level item would drop from mobs. (Rare drop from any caster mob lvl 30-40?) Turning this into a spire NPC would cause you to be immediately ported. This spreads some income to all classes, adds to player economy and provides a more expensive alternative to wiz/dru.

Druid/Wizard spells - A self-only port at 19 and a group port at 29. Why so low? I think the pattern of spells in classic was ideal, allowing access to each continent at 19/29. I forget if Luclin had any special evac locations. In either case I think there should be a couple of them, spread out somewhere in 44/49/low-50s levels.

Originally Posted by Danyelle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The Bazaar

I think this needs to not be in. Neither the place (artifical hub), neither the mechanic (offline commerce), neither the search. Why not the search? The way it is now, sale success depends on being active (advertising) and the interface (/auction) allows a much greater freedom to haggle or trade. Implementing a search UI would make it impossible to advertise WTB, WTT and services.

Backpack token exchange would be implemented through a few NPCs scattered in the world. A Luclin arena would be added in another location.

Originally Posted by Danyelle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

AAs

XP in addition to items as a reason to group and do content (or even solo) is a valuable thing that brings people together. I think the concept of AAs needs splitting in a few different concepts (names could use improvement):

AA-Levels: 10 Class specific AA-s (incremental cost starting at 10). Each one grants a small increase to MaxHP and MaxMana as well as specialized bonuses for each class. For melee this may be small raises in skillcaps, an increase to the damage calculation or a new discipline. For casters this can be meeting prerequisite of a new spell or small casting benefits.

AA-IconicAbilities: Iconic AA abilities granted in the form of "sub-epic" quests. Long, involved quests on par with the epics, but doable with a group of 6.

AA-Expendables: A maximum pool of 20 AAs that can be spent to create temporary effects (something like this was added on live in a later expansion). No idea what effects they gave them on live, but generally long and shared cooldown utility abilities.

Originally Posted by Danyelle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Soulbinders:[...] Kill them all with fire and napalm

Agreed. Though as the world gets bigger I could see giving mages the ability to summon a no-rent bindstone. (Reagent: 1 Pearl)

My biggest problem with luclin, however, was the whole moon thing. For me it broke the believability of the game. Personally I would take a selection of Luclin zones and stitch them into a new on-Norrath continent. I'd expand upon the shissar and akhevans (was that the name?) as main enemies in the area and give it more of a consistent theme centered on them.

Originally Posted by Faisca [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

One of the problems with Luclin’s graphics is they make previous expansions’ graphics look old and outdated.

This is personal preference, but I found Luclin graphics uglier than the classic. Some models were just plain Models (`old` Vah Shir, etc), animations (new models, many mobs, mounted characters) and textures (all over).

Some were amazing (Ssra, shissar model), but overall I wish the style had stayed closer to classic with just higher poly count and texture resolution.

Originally Posted by Faisca [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Obviously, revamping old zones is not an option because it would kill all the nostalgia.

There was someone on the forum who redid a few textures from classic. I think Gfay and Felwithe were two of them. It looked very nice and didn't change the feel of the game.

[Danyelle]

Great ideas!

Mine were just suggestions of course, to show how newer expacs could be changed to fit the Classic feel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. The best route, obviously, would be to have P99's development team use their gut instincts on some features, but for others (especially larger ones like these) compile a list of dev or player made change suggestions and run a pole to see what the community likes best. So it can best appeal to everyone.

And keep in mind, it'd be like Nilbog already said, a server clone. The original would still always stay at Velious only. This would just be to continue the fun of the project and keep people enraptured in it beyond the initial nostalgia spike.

I agree about the graphics by the way. I obviously like them, i mean hell I got Luclin models working over here. I even like modern designs. It was how they replaced everything that bothered me. For example, Dragons of Norrath released a new model for spiders. I loved it. Rain of Fear released a new texture for that newer spider model that was supposed to be a revamp of the phase spider in Velious. I loved that too. Buying Rain of Fear gave you an item that illusioned your pet as a 'fear corrupted' phase spider. I named my pet Phasers (you can name pets permanently on Live now..) and started roleplaying it as a phase spider rather than an elemental. I loved it. Obviously i enjoyed the new spider models....what I didn't enjoy is when they first made it...and went allll the way back to every old zone and ripped out the Classic spider models as well and replaced them with the new one. Old and new should have coexisted. Zones shouldn't have been revamped unless they were gonna be a separate instance (like they did in House of Thule) etc. But unfortunately they seem to have learned that lesson way too late. Live will never get the old Freeport back [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[tanknspank]

Originally Posted by Danyelle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Great ideas!

Mine were just suggestions of course, to show how newer expacs could be changed to fit the Classic feel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. The best route, obviously, would be to have P99's development team use their gut instincts on some features, but for others (especially larger ones like these) compile a list of dev or player made change suggestions and run a pole to see what the community likes best. So it can best appeal to everyone.

Thank you! Same with mine. I have fun brainstorming game design.

Design by community tends to worry me because in many MMOs they lead to trivialization as people ask for easier and easier. If they do any polls I hope it's after thoroughly filtering any ideas through the classic filter before opening the valid ones for polling.

Originally Posted by Danyelle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Zones shouldn't have been revamped unless they were gonna be a separate instance (like they did in House of Thule) etc. But unfortunately they seem to have learned that lesson way too late. Live will never get the old Freeport back [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Agreed. Keep the classic zones as they are. If something is broken enough to need fixing, fix it in place. Add NPCs or quests here and there when needed, but keep the layout the same.

[Zaela]

Originally Posted by nilbog [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Despite it being possible for years, tools have recently been developed which makes it feasible to create new zones.

My ears are burning?

[Kevris]

Originally Posted by nilbog [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

A classic-Velious server should remain as a museum, without modifications.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Now, if I could perhaps convince you to reset Sleepers after the Kerafym event please, good sir.

[Dragonsblood1987]

Originally Posted by Messianic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Your misuse of that line made me uncomfortable. Shame. Shame on you.

[Dragonsblood1987]

Originally Posted by tanknspank [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Travel to Luclin should not be wiz/dru only (not sure if that's what you meant) and definitely not that complicated. Automated means however should cost time or resources. What I would do would be:

Spires - Activation on a 72min (1 game day) timer from Norrath to Luclin at all spires. This is a boat-equivalent method of travel that makes it accessible to all. However, the downbound spires only activate every 72min in rotating fashion. This kills their use as a fast travel.

Alternately a single norrath "super-spire" (NK maybe?) connects to Luclin (both ways) every 72min.

Spire Quest - A LORE mid-level item would drop from mobs. (Rare drop from any caster mob lvl 30-40?) Turning this into a spire NPC would cause you to be immediately ported. This spreads some income to all classes, adds to player economy and provides a more expensive alternative to wiz/dru.

Druid/Wizard spells - A self-only port at 19 and a group port at 29. Why so low? I think the pattern of spells in classic was ideal, allowing access to each continent at 19/29. I forget if Luclin had any special evac locations. In either case I think there should be a couple of them, spread out somewhere in 44/49/low-50s levels.



I think this needs to not be in. Neither the place (artifical hub), neither the mechanic (offline commerce), neither the search. Why not the search? The way it is now, sale success depends on being active (advertising) and the interface (/auction) allows a much greater freedom to haggle or trade. Implementing a search UI would make it impossible to advertise WTB, WTT and services.

Backpack token exchange would be implemented through a few NPCs scattered in the world. A Luclin arena would be added in another location.


XP in addition to items as a reason to group and do content (or even solo) is a valuable thing that brings people together. I think the concept of AAs needs splitting in a few different concepts (names could use improvement):

AA-Levels: 10 Class specific AA-s (incremental cost starting at 10). Each one grants a small increase to MaxHP and MaxMana as well as specialized bonuses for each class. For melee this may be small raises in skillcaps, an increase to the damage calculation or a new discipline. For casters this can be meeting prerequisite of a new spell or small casting benefits.

AA-IconicAbilities: Iconic AA abilities granted in the form of "sub-epic" quests. Long, involved quests on par with the epics, but doable with a group of 6.

AA-Expendables: A maximum pool of 20 AAs that can be spent to create temporary effects (something like this was added on live in a later expansion). No idea what effects they gave them on live, but generally long and shared cooldown utility abilities.



Agreed. Though as the world gets bigger I could see giving mages the ability to summon a no-rent bindstone. (Reagent: 1 Pearl)

My biggest problem with luclin, however, was the whole moon thing. For me it broke the believability of the game. Personally I would take a selection of Luclin zones and stitch them into a new on-Norrath continent. I'd expand upon the shissar and akhevans (was that the name?) as main enemies in the area and give it more of a consistent theme centered on them.


This is personal preference, but I found Luclin graphics uglier than the classic. Some models were just plain Models (`old` Vah Shir, etc), animations (new models, many mobs, mounted characters) and textures (all over).

Some were amazing (Ssra, shissar model), but overall I wish the style had stayed closer to classic with just higher poly count and texture resolution.


There was someone on the forum who redid a few textures from classic. I think Gfay and Felwithe were two of them. It looked very nice and didn't change the feel of the game.

Why would it taking place on the moon kill it for you? Some moons have atmospheres breh

[Daywolf]

I gots an idea, how about a pony spell for enc's?? Enc gets to transform themselves into a pony! Then p99 will be super popular with Bronies!

Or did they do that on live already?

meh... best off to just wipe the server and start from scratch, with all the fixes in place this time.
Or just start a new progression server and leave this as classic vel.

[tanknspank]

Originally Posted by Dragonsblood1987 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Why would it taking place on the moon kill it for you? Some moons have atmospheres breh

Not sure. It's not that it can't be possible for the moon to have atmosphere or possible in the framework of magic set up by the lore, it's just one of those subjective things that never clicked to me.

Maybe part of it is how Norrath-like the moon is, maybe it's the prevalence of humans on it, maybe it's the cat people (never been a fan of anthropomorphic animal races in general, and after NPC kerrans and Iksar - which are awesome, granted - another one, on the moon, felt too out there). No idea.