Simple QoL fixes that would not jeopardize classic?

[Gloomlord]

Okay, but how do you explain the grindiness of EQ if it wasn't about a subscriber treadmill?

Just take a look at some bottlenecks in this game. People will sit for hours on end waiting for a rare spawn and/or a rare item drop.

How was not about drawing the longevity of a game, and thus the longevity of a subscription?

[cd288]

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

Okay, but how do you explain the grindiness of EQ if it wasn't about a subscriber treadmill?

Just take a look at some bottlenecks in this game. People will sit for hours on end waiting for a rare spawn and/or a rare item drop.

How was not about drawing the longevity of a game, and thus the longevity of a subscription?

Again, you're looking at 1999 through 2023 glasses. Nothing they did in the design of the game in 1999 was for a subscriber treadmill. They didn't even think they'd get much more than 20-30k subscribers. You're forgetting this had never really been done before; there was no concept of "grindiness" or any of this other modern day MMO parlance/ideas/strategy...they just created a game and threw a bunch of ideas together and watched what happened (making balance changes later as things progressed post-launch).

The rare drops are because that's how they wanted the game to work. They thought people should work hard for rewards in this game.

[Jimjam]

The longevity is to keep players stuck on content until the next expac is ready to drop.

The devs had to really rush dev of expacs as even with the timesinks the hardcore could rush thru content.

Also scarcity of rares made them feel more valuable to players.

[Eyry]

Key ring please

[Ooloo]

How about: Once quillmane is killed, a 3 day window immediately begins during which she can spawn at any time. So she might spawn again immediately after being killed, or ten minutes later, or two days later. Always in a completely random location\pathing. So you're guaranteed at least 2 quillmanes a week, but statistically it would shake out to many more than that cause the window is usually not gonna go the full three days. And as always, whoever engages first gets it. This would mean that any time you go to SK, there's a chance that she's either already up or could pop at any time. There would never be a period during which you knew she couldn't pop.

I think that would simulate how most people encountered her in classic better than having the spawn tied to any trigger mob or placeholder.

[cd288]

Was it rare because the mechanic was different or was it rare just because people didn't know what they were doing?

I hardly remember SK having people killing "every imaginable placeholder all day long". Primarily people killed at KFC and the Gnoll spires, plus eventually the Treants once people realized how lucrative they were. I guess it could vary depending on the server, but I would be surprised because that would mean one server had figured it out which would've ended up online for sure.

Two years later in like 2001 people had started doing it a lot more, but for the first year and like a half or so I don't remember people trying to mass kill trash mobs in SK to try and get Quillmane to spawn, which would explain the rareness at the time.

[Ooloo]

Originally Posted by cd288 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Was it rare because the mechanic was different or was it rare just because people didn't know what they were doing?

I hardly remember SK having people killing "every imaginable placeholder all day long". Primarily people killed at KFC and the Gnoll spires, plus eventually the Treants once people realized how lucrative they were. I guess it could vary depending on the server, but I would be surprised because that would mean one server had figured it out which would've ended up online for sure.

Two years later in like 2001 people had started doing it a lot more, but for the first year and like a half or so I don't remember people trying to mass kill trash mobs in SK to try and get Quillmane to spawn, which would explain the rareness at the time.

People in 1999 used to literally form groups to kill 2 or 3 mobs at outdoor camps that nobody touches now. The server populations were much higher, and since nobody really knew wtf they were doing they would just kill anything that conned blue. So yes there were guaranteed tons of people killing random shit in SK because they didn't know any better, who are not doing that now. So if popping quillmane is just a matter of running around clearing every conceivable placeholder, you should have seen her more often in 1999 than you do now. I played on povar from launch until 2002 after luclin was out and I only saw quillmane once, and would occasionally hear stories about other people killing her, basically always by just randomly finding her while passing through the zone. There were absolutely zero guilds requiring members to have quillmane cloaks, much less selling the loot rights to them.

[BigPlays]

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

People in 1999 used to literally form groups to kill 2 or 3 mobs at outdoor camps that nobody touches now. The server populations were much higher, and since nobody really knew wtf they were doing they would just kill anything that conned blue. So yes there were guaranteed tons of people killing random shit in SK because they didn't know any better, who are not doing that now. So if popping quillmane is just a matter of running around clearing every conceivable placeholder, you should have seen her more often in 1999 than you do now. I played on povar from launch until 2002 after luclin was out and I only saw quillmane once, and would occasionally hear stories about other people killing her, basically always by just randomly finding her while passing through the zone. There were absolutely zero guilds requiring members to have quillmane cloaks, much less selling the loot rights to them.

I lived in SK as a druid back in 1999 and I can say I only seen QM once. That zone was always camped, probably 70-80 people easy. It was a ta apoint where nothing would even be on tracking because people all levels were killing..from 10-35ish.

[Ralexia]

Another QOL change I'd like to see is reinstating spell sets for easier memorization.

[Coridan]

Originally they thought more people would RP, and hang out in the pubs and stuff, since they were all coming from the world of MUD/MUSHs. They likely would have dedicated more dev time to that kind of stuff but nobody bothered with it. WoW tried to provide a mechanical incentive for it but eventually took it out I think.

They had no idea the game would be played like it was.