Was Qeynos really one of the first cities designed?

[murrpau]

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

qeynos was what they developed as proof of concept for investors

once they got funded, they had to meet shipping deadlines, and you can see how the rest of the game (basically from then on) was rushed

That makes sense. Doesn't give it much argument of being the best-designed city though.

When they made Doom, they made the first level last. That's because by then they learned everything and got good at design and that's why it hit so differently from stuff that was out at the time (like compared to Wolfenstein).

I think they kind-of did the same with Qeynos. After going out and building some other stuff (SFG shows up in Alpha footage too) they came back and redid big chunks of Qeynos. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Videri]

Suppose Qeynos was the first city they designed, and thereafter they got better and better at it.

They did put extra effort into Qeynos questlines. Some of them fork, some of them intersect, etc, and I don’t think any other towns/regions can boast the same.

So maybe they went into too much detail on Qeynos quests, and everywhere else in the pre-Kunark world didn’t get so much attention; but the adventure zones were more and more in-depth. With Guk as the pinnacle.

[AgKnight]

And no one even talk of qeynos aquaducts... It's one of my favorite low level dungeon...

[murrpau]

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

I always felt that the Qeynos area was rushed through and always seemed unfinished to me. You have Qeynos, and then QH which is just bare bones. Then you have Surefall which seems like it was supposed to be a main town but is more like an outpost.

Now that you mention it, I want to add on to that theory:

It was an alpha/beta area with just enough to create some immersion and scale with some variety in climates.

So maybe humans were from Qeynos, Elves from SFG,
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then Dwarves/Ogres you could argue each comes either from the Qeynos Acqueducts or Everfrost.
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[BigPlays]

Qeynos in of itself was well designed. Lots of detail, the different factions and quests. For example the guard by the clock, one is good one is bad (there is some quest involved there too).

The problem starts when you leave. QH for example had that broken warrior sword quest, does not have much in it aside from BB, and Surefall which seems like it was supposed to be a starting city but was never finished. Then you have WK which is just a barren waste with a spattering of mobs and a couple of guard outposts. Just a huge waste of space. Same with NK...huge zone, nothing going on really, and again, huge waste of space. SK is one of the only zones you can actually level in up to around 40ish? And Paw at the time was a lv 15 zone (I am going with launch zones etc here, not the revamps).

My point being is if you look at FP, you can get to Lavastorm in like under 5 min and level from say 15-50 without ever leaving.

The game was surely rushed but I always wonder why they never bothered to do anything around Qeynos aside from BB and Perma. Plus add in the fact that your closest port is NK while in FP, you have WC/Nro/Nek and Lava.

[Jimjam]

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

My point being is if you look at FP, you can get to Lavastorm in like under 5 min and level from say 15-50 without ever leaving.

But maybe the point of qeynos is not to have a single mega dungeon (the lavastorm area) to do 1-50.

Maybe Qeynos is about getting out there and exploring the whole world, ensuring human adventurers are pushing into all areas of Norrath?

Imo its a feature not a bug.

[BigPlays]

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

But maybe the point of qeynos is not to have a single mega dungeon (the lavastorm area) to do 1-50.

Maybe Qeynos is about getting out there and exploring the whole world, ensuring human adventurers are pushing into all areas of Norrath?

Imo its a feature not a bug.

Knowing what you know today, if you were to start a fresh toon, other than nostalgia or preference for say liking Erudites, why would you start say a HE bard in Qeynos instead of FP? Both have end game dungeons but Sol B is way more fleshed out than Perma. Maybe it is not a bug, but I think it was more of the devs didn't know what they didn't know.

Like they never thought a Bard would AOE kite an entire zone or people would kite with DOTs, so it ended up getting nerfed. They did also add the Hole later and revamped kerra. So looking back, I think they did recognize that the Qeynos area was unfinished and added the paw revamp and Hole.

[Raj]

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

Knowing what you know today, if you were to start a fresh toon, other than nostalgia or preference for say liking Erudites, why would you start say a HE bard in Qeynos instead of FP? Both have end game dungeons but Sol B is way more fleshed out than Perma. Maybe it is not a bug, but I think it was more of the devs didn't know what they didn't know.

Like they never thought a Bard would AOE kite an entire zone or people would kite with DOTs, so it ended up getting nerfed. They did also add the Hole later and revamped kerra. So looking back, I think they did recognize that the Qeynos area was unfinished and added the paw revamp and Hole.

I think many of us almost never start real toons - fresh or not - in FP tbh my friend! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The Qeynos area for a newbie is good for alot more reasons than just nostalgia...And when you have to venture out farther than Qeynos to level in much farther away areas, 1 long scenic trip to a new area then getting a bind there really isn't a big deal to most of us as far as I know.... [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Jimjam]

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

Knowing what you know today, if you were to start a fresh toon, other than nostalgia or preference for say liking Erudites, why would you start say a HE bard in Qeynos instead of FP? Both have end game dungeons but Sol B is way more fleshed out than Perma. Maybe it is not a bug, but I think it was more of the devs didn't know what they didn't know.

Like they never thought a Bard would AOE kite an entire zone or people would kite with DOTs, so it ended up getting nerfed. They did also add the Hole later and revamped kerra. So looking back, I think they did recognize that the Qeynos area was unfinished and added the paw revamp and Hole.

Why on earth would level 50 content influence my decision on where to start a level 1 toon? I’m going to have been all over the world by 30 let alone 50 regardless of my start point.

I usually fresh start kunark for +20hp from jewellery and all the little quests.

[cd288]

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

Knowing what you know today, if you were to start a fresh toon, other than nostalgia or preference for say liking Erudites, why would you start say a HE bard in Qeynos instead of FP? Both have end game dungeons but Sol B is way more fleshed out than Perma. Maybe it is not a bug, but I think it was more of the devs didn't know what they didn't know.

Like they never thought a Bard would AOE kite an entire zone or people would kite with DOTs, so it ended up getting nerfed. They did also add the Hole later and revamped kerra. So looking back, I think they did recognize that the Qeynos area was unfinished and added the paw revamp and Hole.

This makes absolutely no sense