Was Qeynos really one of the first cities designed?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

I distinctly remember mino axes being all the rage during super early vanilla. They are such trash lol. Not even magic.

Also, I bought a crafted bracer for 60 dollars on ebay, using money I made from selling my ultima online account, also on ebay. Before ebay banned those kinds of auctions it was like a money launderer's dream

I think part of that might have been fashion. People loved having unique looking items on live, I would say more-so than P99. Someone offered to trade me a CoF for a Wurmslayer once, but I got disconnected and never got to finish the trade lol.

[BigPlays]

I had a bard with two EBW's. Yaks were all the rage but the EBW looked cool.

[Knuckle]

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.

Blackburrow seems like a good newbie dungeon but then the whole area just falls off. NK/WK are huge areas which just a spattering of mobs and nothing very valuable dropping. After BB, it looks like Paw (old paw) was the next logical place but was never that much higher than BB.

Which brings us to Freeport which seems very polished. Natural progression and tons of dungeons to choose from. You can do Befallen then his Oasis, Upper Guk, Lower Guk and literally get to 50 easy. Or you can do Befallen, Najena, Sol A and Sol B.

So am I wrong in thinking the devs started out in Qeynos, then just stopped caring about that area?

you answered your own question, the earliest zones are the least polished. As they learned from their mistakes their zone building improved.

[grims]

Qeynos quests and aesthetic are awesome but the roaming wizards on faction with ice comet are LOL WTF

[cd288]

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

you answered your own question, the earliest zones are the least polished. As they learned from their mistakes their zone building improved.

That's odd. The Qeynos area is generally considered to be the best starting area in terms of polish because it has actually good starter quests that help you level and a good natural progression in terms of accompanying turn in quests as you level up through the mid teens. It also has well polished lore.

[Tormmac]

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

That's odd. The Qeynos area is generally considered to be the best starting area in terms of polish because it has actually good starter quests that help you level and a good natural progression in terms of accompanying turn in quests as you level up through the mid teens. It also has well polished lore.

yeah it actually has quests they make you feel emotions and send you to level appropriate dungeons, its like the only newbie city done correctly

[Tushy_master]

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

Blackburrow seems like a good newbie dungeon but then the whole area just falls off. NK/WK are huge areas which just a spattering of mobs and nothing very valuable dropping. After BB, it looks like Paw (old paw) was the next logical place but was never that much higher than BB.

They are called the *plains* of Karana so I think they were meant to have a lot of large swaths of empty area. Kind of like the great plains of Atonica.

I kind of like this contrast with the Freeport side which feels a bit claustrophobic the way Neriak, another major starting city, is just a couple zones away.

[cd288]

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

They are called the *plains* of Karana so I think they were meant to have a lot of large swaths of empty area. Kind of like the great plains of Atonica.

I kind of like this contrast with the Freeport side which feels a bit claustrophobic the way Neriak, another major starting city, is just a couple zones away.

His other comment about nothing dropping also isn't entirely correct. The Karana bandits are one of the top early money-making quests you can do...there's a reason they are so camped on fresh servers. Additionally, in NK you have the Gypsy Medallion and Giant's Reminder String, which are close to if not BIS items in the pre-Kunark era (isn't there also a Werewolf that drops some good loot?), plus the GLS turn ins which can net very solid plat and EXP for the level of the quest.

WK in general has a bunch of good camps, maybe not necessarily with loot but for EXP (and that's not even including the Bandits I mentioned). Obviously, once Kunark and Velious come out people don't really level there as much anymore, but they were well designed zones for the time period.

[Toxigen]

why is this rnf

[Ennewi]

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

His other comment about nothing dropping also isn't entirely correct. The Karana bandits are one of the top early money-making quests you can do...there's a reason they are so camped on fresh servers. Additionally, in NK you have the Gypsy Medallion and Giant's Reminder String, which are close to if not BIS items in the pre-Kunark era (isn't there also a Werewolf that drops some good loot?), plus the GLS turn ins which can net very solid plat and EXP for the level of the quest.

Fishbone earring. Glowing black stone. Peggy cloak. Runed oak bow. Invis rings.

Kunark and Velious loot bumped these down the list in terms of demand, but just looking at the classic continents, the zones immediately surrounding the two cities, Qeynos offers more valuable drops.

Rabid pelts are another reliable source of xp/coin, on top of bandit sashes and lightstones, and there are consistently more willowisps in NK and QHills than EC and WC, leaving Erud's Xing out of the conversation which also has thin boned wands and resist earrings.