Life after Velious... we can make it better!

[pasi]

It's funny that Vex Thal is remembered as "tank and spank" more so than -almost- everything before it due to the use of the same models/environment and exceedingly high AC/HP of the mobs. Vex Thal encounters - while less complex than Ssra - were as complex as NToV and the Velious Era Tank-N-CHeal encounters. Yet, one set is remembered far more fondly. Really goes to show how little encounter design matters relative to environment.

[Kika Maslyaka]

those zones are already in on your hard drive - aka Titanium client [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] (10 expansions worth to be exact)
all they need to do is to change zone in coordinates - about 30 sec worth of work

[Pringles]

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

those zones are already in on your hard drive - aka Titanium client [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] (10 expansions worth to be exact)
all they need to do is to change zone in coordinates - about 30 sec worth of work

Let me spell it out for you: The modified zone files to get to the PoP zones are not on my hard drive [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] You're going to have to modify existing SOE zones and redistribute them in order to allow people to zone into any new / non original zones.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] <---- does that help you?

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

Let me spell it out for you: The modified zone files to get to the PoP zones are not on my hard drive [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] You're going to have to modify existing SOE zones and redistribute them in order to allow people to zone into any new / non original zones.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] <---- does that help you?

If you playing on this server - then you have Titanium client, no?
Titanium includes everything up to DoDH. Anymore questions?

P.S. Oh I get what you saying - you think that to make people to zone from say South Ro to Plane of Fire you need to modify the zone files? Its not how it works. As I said its a 30 sec job server side, without modifying any of the zone files.

[Pringles]

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

If you playing on this server - then you have Titanium client, no?
Titanium includes everything up to DoDH. Anymore questions?

You aren't getting it. Of course I already have the *original* files, thats not the point.

In order to create a brand new zone line in existing zones - which will enable you to zone into any new enabled zones (eg: POP zones, without the use of POK), you're going to have to modify existing SOE zones, add zone lines, and redistribute the the zone files.

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

You aren't getting it. Of course I already have the *original* files, thats not the point.

In order to create a brand new zone line in existing zones - which will enable you to zone into any new enabled zones (eg: POP zones, without the use of POK), you're going to have to modify existing SOE zones, add zone lines, and redistribute the the zone files.

You don't need to create a new zone line [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
You can emulate zoning with:
-a clickable object LIKE a PoK Book or a Door
-with invisible proximity triggered NPC script

[Kika Maslyaka]

True, everything pre Luclin was exclusively tank and spank.
The problem with VT was:

-INSANE 3 months long shard grinding to get the key
-Endless trash mobs with gazilion of hps that added no extra difficulty other than to tie your raid force down to 8+ hours raid what otherwise would be 2-3 hours content in Velious
-And after you endure the above, THEN you got nothing more but another boring tank and spank

So yes, the Ssra was the pinnacle of creative raiding during Luclin, while VT was half-done. If you read the history behind the VT release it was initially suppose to come BEFORE the Ssra. Original loot that dropped in VT was inferior compared to Ssra loot. But at the last moment some devs at SOE decided to swap VT and Ssra around progression wise. But they were in such a hurry to release the expansion they even forgot to upgrade the VT loot, so when the first guild finally broke into VT they found extremely sub-par loot drops, that were even inferior to Velious loot. It was only 6 months AFTER Luclin release that VT loot got upgraded to the loot you now remember.
But VT bosses remained inferior to Ssra challenges.

You can find all this history if you read through allakhazam posts.

PS. In EQ2 SOE tried to pull the same shit during Echos of Faydwer expansion. The final raid zone - Emerald Halls was VT 2.0 in every sense. Before you could get to the bosses you had to plow through HUNDREDS (i kid you not) yes HUNDREDS of trash mobs who kept spawning wave after wave for 3-4 hours straight. This was SOE attempt to slow down the top guilds so they don't run out of content too fast. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[pasi]

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

True, everything pre Luclin was exclusively tank and spank.
The problem with VT was:

-INSANE 3 months long shard grinding to get the key
-Endless trash mobs with gazilion of hps that added no extra difficulty other than to tie your raid force down to 8+ hours raid what otherwise would be 2-3 hours content in Velious
-And after you endure the above, THEN you got nothing more but another boring tank and spank

So yes, the Ssra was the pinnacle of creative raiding during Luclin, while VT was half-done. If you read the history behind the VT release it was initially suppose to come BEFORE the Ssra. Original loot that dropped in VT was inferior compared to Ssra loot. But at the last moment some devs at SOE decided to swap VT and Ssra around progression wise. But they were in such a hurry to release the expansion they even forgot to upgrade the VT loot, so when the first guild finally broke into VT they found extremely sub-par loot drops, that were even inferior to Velious loot. It was only 6 months AFTER Luclin release that VT loot got upgraded to the loot you now remember.
But VT bosses remained inferior to Ssra challenges.

You can find all this history if you read through allakhazam posts.

Yeah, I mentioned in my first post that itemization was a huge problem in Luclin. I also mentioned in the same post that the modrod change made the expansion playable.

Vex Thal's biggest issue was that it forced you to clear it in a single night (which I think we both agree on). The mob HP/AC was high, but nothing astronomically higher than normal. The problem was that once you got to the second floor, you had to keep pushing. If your guild was insane enough to double up on wing bosses, it just added to this.

I don't think shard collecting was half as bad as people remember. I did 5 or so VT keys and 4 VP keys on live. I'd rather do an entire VT key before I camped Pained Soul once. I'm also considering saying I would rather collect shards than camp Comm1/Comm2.

Acrylia sucked before they gutted the zone - that's really the only one that was both RARE and difficult. IIRC, only 2 mobs dropped the shards before and I don't remember if we pulled them with AE groups. Conversely, Maidens Eye sucked after PoP came out since the best way to get this shard was to just pay one of the 7 groups in the zone for loot rights.

High-five to loving Ssra though. All the big (not Rhag1/2) encounters there were top notch other than XtC.

[Galelor]

I also remember VT shards being way easier than VP.

While the VT clears were horrible, they became exponentially better once your CoH bots are in place.

[pasi]

Blinding Eoms too. Forgot about them.

We only had CotH bots setup at Blob 1, and the first 2 wing bosses. I didn't think it was possible to put em elsewhere. In PoP, having SoS rogues (or horse warping) to get targets of mobs and then assist targeting + taunting from the floor below made PUGing VT not complete shit. They eventually ninja patched the zone to have vertical leashes.