BDA to Phinigel

[pasi]

I think Riftseekers is right up there with Sebilis and Guk.
Dreadspire Keep was (imo) the pinnacle of EQ design.

[bigjerry]

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

Daldaen hit on most of the stuff already. Although, I greatly call into question anyone who enjoyed Ikkinz 1, 2, 3. Ikkinz 1/2 were regularly a PUG's affair during GoD. Everybody had a Darkglint Blade in theirs bags and every warrior had a JoS. Ikkinz 3 was an abomination - run it once and never come back. I loved Gates, but the raid content prior to Uqua was total dog-shit. Qvic was awesome since you could 6-12 man M'shas.

In terms of LDoN, it marked the shift for the most desireable loot being Augs once they made it so augments weren't destroyed when you removed them. Initially you could grind LDoN for 40hp or 40 mana augments, but there wasn't really anything to do for mass augments until you could farm Anguish Minis or Ashengate for 90/90s. That is, excluding tanks who could easily farm up Flameshield Stones/Ore of Stone Strength/Shard of the Guardians.

LDoN Raids were intended to be designed around 3 difficult tiers: Vex Thal, Ele Planes, and Time level. The problem with these raids was that the difficulty out-of-whack despite this being the first expansions with tons of guilds beta testing. Guilds that one dayed PoTime were there to test the difficulty of VT raids. I'm not sure if thats the only reason, but either way, the end result was basically that VT LDoN raids were as difficult as PoTime. Who knows, maybe this was intentional given that PoTime was a loot pinata outside of Vallon Zek and Innoruuk.

These raids also had an insanely high trash to loot ratio which would make even PoAir and PoEarth Rings blush.

Overall, the RvR just wasn't worth it. The loot for the PoTime-level LDoN raids were on par with Phase 3 PoTime (or Elemental God) level. There were a couple of really great items such as the 35 AC shield augment, weapon damage augments, the 15% alteration augment, etc. There's also the cool as fuck augment that procs swarm pets. However, you weren't guaranteed these. Normally you would spend a couple of hours and get some shit like an HP regen, Attack, or Haste augment that nobody wanted. Maybe you would get a spell focus augment that an applicant wanted because they had yet to be drown in PoTime loot.

The only LDoN PoTime-level Raid that I remember most guilds at the time doing was the Valdoon (Mistmoore) one. It had an insane amount of trash, but it was only slightly more difficult than PoTime. I'd argue it was easier than the VT or Eleplane Ruj one.

Anyhow, there's a few items that will last you a dozen expansions that can be found in LDoN raids. My SK + Shaman at 80 (SoF) still used the 35AC and 15% specialize alteration augment. However, it's similar to playing the lottery in trying to obtain these items (and that's assuming your guild can actually even clear them). It's much better to just go back at 70/75 and do it.

I bolded weapon damage augments because it's insane how valuable these are. I came back to EQ at the end of TSS (75 level expansion). At the time, Anguish and Demi-Plane had already gone down to weekend PUG-level. Prophecy of Ro was ignored entirely. You know what was still being run when Ashengate and Frostcrypt were all dead? Fucking Tacvi. Tunat Weapon Augments last forever. The same can be said for BiC augments for casters (BiC augments slot into slot4s for Epic 2.0/2.5s).

Anyhow, all this talk of EQ is making me consider checking out Phinigel.

wow dude

[Llodd]

Sure there was the odd exception. But that was basically it...the odd exception. Compared to pre velious, dungeon design was sorely lacking.

[Daldaen]

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

GoD separate from OoW... tough to say no.

Likely would roll something like War/Cleric/X which I assume the vast majority of people boxing are playing. I assume war/cler are the most played classes, but also still in demand. Going to try to recruit some dudes and maybe roll up on Monday.

If you roll on Phinigel be aware the true box code requires you have each box on a different PC. I believe nerds have some ways around this. Many use a program that broadcasts keystrokes to multiple machines I think? But you can't just box 3 toons on a single PC like other servers allow.

As far as class goes... tanks are typically pretty rare for group purposes. One thing you'll find on Phinny is people are very AFK in your run of the mill groups. I think most are playing on their live server or boxing another toon in another zone while they Group. So active tanks and active pullers are hard to come by.

But when it comes to raids, as you might imagine no one boxes a tank alt. Every tank is a main and their casters or DPS are Alts. Because gear on the tank is most valuable and all guilds prioritize main gear typically.

Definitely get some pals to level up with. If you get a full group to level with you are set. Will be 65 by LDoN launch no problem.

[Llodd]

And Dreadspire Keep wasn't really a dungeon in the same way Seb and Guk were. Loved going through that placee but it was a totally different dynamic as it was mainly a raid zone, not somewhere LFG's hung out hoping to score decent xp and some amazing loot.

[mr_jon3s]

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

As far as class goes... tanks are typically pretty rare for group purposes. One thing you'll find on Phinny is people are very AFK in your run of the mill groups. I think most are playing on their live server or boxing another toon in another zone while they Group. So active tanks and active pullers are hard to come by.

I play a 60 warrior on phinny and stick with guild groups 90% of the time. And the biggest reason is all those semi afk groups you get as a tank when you go pug. The amount of times you die as a tank because the healer will just ninja afk or half the dps just afks is insane in pug groups.

I am glad they decided to unbundle GoD/OoW. Both are great expansions but GoD at 70 would have been way to easy.

[pasi]

I mostly agree w/ you Llodd. I would argue that it has less to do with zone design than it does with rewards being droppable though. The most populated exp/group zones always were the ones with easy access and sell-able items. EQ stepped away from that model from Bastion of Thunder until Wall of Slaughter.

Anyhow questions for dudes playing:
Are spells era appropriate (i.e. you don't have access to LDoN or GoD spells at PoP)?
Furthermore, are they the right values for the era?
Is PoP going live with warriors having bellow/incite?
Are non-classic exp bonuses in (i.e larger group bonuses, AA bonuses, or hot zones)?

[nhdjoseywales]

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

I mostly agree w/ you Llodd. I would argue that it has less to do with zone design than it does with rewards being droppable though. The most populated exp/group zones always were the ones with easy access and sell-able items. EQ stepped away from that model from Bastion of Thunder until Wall of Slaughter.

Anyhow questions for dudes playing:
Are spells era appropriate (i.e. you don't have access to LDoN or GoD spells at PoP)?
Furthermore, are they the right values for the era?
Is PoP going live with warriors having bellow/incite?
Are non-classic exp bonuses in (i.e larger group bonuses, AA bonuses, or hot zones)?

yes, the vast majority of spells and aa are era appropriate

not sure, but i believe so

warriors have been given threat lines already. melee and caster dps is boosted a bit due to each having a line of autogranted aa's.

xp on phinny is nerfed hard compared to live currently. no aa bonuses currently, no hotzones.

bottom line man, even if its not exactly what you remember/think you remember, its fucking awesome and you will enjoy it

[arsenalpow]

Originally Posted by mr_jon3s [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I play a 60 warrior on phinny and stick with guild groups 90% of the time. And the biggest reason is all those semi afk groups you get as a tank when you go pug. The amount of times you die as a tank because the healer will just ninja afk or half the dps just afks is insane in pug groups.

I am glad they decided to unbundle GoD/OoW. Both are great expansions but GoD at 70 would have been way to easy.

Always guild groups imo too

[nhdjoseywales]

Biggest differences i would say are
1 tank taunt is a lot better than it used to be due to a relatively recent patch and the threat ability lines being in game
2 player dps is boosted a bit due to autogrant dps aa lines
3 origin aa is autogranted at lvl 5
4 bosses hit a lot harder and take a less damage than on live
5 new style bazaar instead of the lines of vendors
6 instances
7 ability to play fashionquest with store appearance augs
8 ability to play for free by using krono purchased with in game plat to pay for your subscription
9 nerfed xp
10 No other server can claim the sexiest halfling rogue ever to grace Norrath. Naudee Bynature. (well i guess there is my testcopy but thats more like my doppleganger)