Pre-Tier 2 content balance

[Allizar]

Morning

I am going to be reviewing and possibly tweaking and/or balancing 1-70 content including epic 1.5 and Tier 1 to smooth out a few of the more difficult speed bumps. I would like to get some opinions and input on the difficulties that players are having with small groups or solo+bot within these areas.

I'll also be taking a look at pathing, so if a Froglok Commander jumps out of a wall and ambushes you, let me know ;P

Please keep suggestions civil and constructive!

[Brace]

The biggest speed bump I recall is level 55. The lower "tier" zones are really easy at that point and offer minimal exp (compared to the run up to 55) which is further aggravated by the hell level run of 51-59, and then the jump in mob strength in the next "tier" is substantial.

My suggestion would be to cut the initial pack of four drolvargs in the gatehouse to one pair (the wanderer adds a touch of danger) and perhaps lower the level on all of the drolvargs in the initial gatehouse structure to 55-57 so they con even to yellow rather than yellow to red. The named would be the exception.

Thing is, once a player has a level 70 character on one account, that speed bump is gone anyway so the fix need not be extreme to get someone's single character over it.


Edit:

If I hadn't completely screwed up the tier of KC it made sense lol. Ah well, that will teach me to post before I get enough coffee into the system. As many brighter folks below me illustrated correctly, Seb/NL and PoV are pretty rough to jump into at 55 without assistance of some sort.

To use my original idea, maybe cut the spawn groups in half on the way to the bridges in Seb and knock the levels down to 55-57. There are no named along the way and thus it shouldn't negatively impact the zone and such. Likewise, tweaking Oasis a bit to bump up a section of the zone (maybe more spectres along the island but with reduced aggro ranges?) would be a good fix as well.

[Banderas]

I think it is all well balanced until and including KC/CoM tier (30-55). The next tier (I believe is seb/naggy/PoV) seems a bit jump in difficulty. The mobs seem to have way more HPs in comparision.

I have basically stayed in the prior tier until 57 or so to be able to handle the mobs in 55-70. and then with some difficulty and dying many times.

It seems there is a "missing" zone in between KC and the next tier, as all the 30-55 are then light blue with minimal exp and the jump to the next tier seems not as gradual as prior.

wow, was that english? (I hope I expressed myself correctly)

[Brontu]

for people new to the server who dont have a box/friend to help them through that jump from 50-60, Seb/solb/povalor are definately rough spots - i spent quite a bit of time on my first toon just killing LBs trying to make ends meet so to speak. Oasis was supposed to be the buffer zone between these, but atm its lacking so much (other than looks, i love the orc models and stuff in there - bit of the old mixed with the new is great imo) Theres no gear drops or anything that generally keep people killing in KC/guk through those levels to help gear them out.

I think improving upon oasis - adding more names and THF flavor to the zone would solve alot of issues - basically make it that stop that you layover @ between 30-55 zones and 55-70 zones.

Another thing i would love to see, and i know that this is an issue long beaten to death over the last year is the way Kael armor/icewell armor is itemized. Personally i would love to see the tradeskilled icewell armor remain as is, but create new armor sets for those who are hunting/raiding Kael prepping for Ssra/Tov. Nothing big upgrade wise - but atm there is a large gap b/w Kael armor and the ToV armor - understandable - but the difference between having a fully geared kael tank and fully geared ToV tank is pretty staggering @ first.

I think (from what i have witnessed in OOC at least) we have gotten alot of new players since we went legendary, and we are probably just going to continue to grow, hell - the dev's deserve to have the most popular server on eqemu - its certainly the best! With some tweaks to not make it easy, but more of a steady lvling curve, would really benifit new people in learning the server - relearning the game (as was my case after a 6 year absence) and generally having a more fun time early on to keep them hooked (remember first hit's always free 8D)

As it's been quite a while since i really experienced the game from a non-raider pov i have been removed from this arena for a while. But as i remember more and uncover those long lost urges of breaking my monitor trying to break through that 50-60 barrier (beyond the hell lvl aspect) i will add some more thoughts.

oh and as far as 1.5 goes i really think its perfect as is. Most any new player, as long as they are made aware of what the quest involves can EASILY obtain the items prior to 65 with people always being kind and shouting rots. getting my 1.5 @ 65 was a HUGE boost for me when i was lvling my bst (my first toon). And i really think that doesnt need to be touched much.

My ... well its not 2 cents more like a dollars worth...

[Allizar]

oh and as far as 1.5 goes i really think its perfect as is. Most any new player, as long as they are made aware of what the quest involves can EASILY obtain the items prior to 65 with people always being kind and shouting rots. getting my 1.5 @ 65 was a HUGE boost for me when i was lvling my bst (my first toon). And i really think that doesnt need to be touched much.

My intention for the 1.5 is to keep the fun/challenge of the quest, but I believe it should be completed by players and not scavenged from others. It's no longer end game and the players attempting it will not be max geared with max augs/AA and a 6 person group from that tier, so touch ups are definitely in order =P

Appreciate the ideas and input, keep em coming!

[Brontu]

oh and as far as 1.5 goes i really think its perfect as is. Most any new player, as long as they are made aware of what the quest involves can EASILY obtain the items prior to 65 with people always being kind and shouting rots. getting my 1.5 @ 65 was a HUGE boost for me when i was lvling my bst (my first toon). And i really think that doesnt need to be touched much.

My intention for the 1.5 is to keep the fun/challenge of the quest, but I believe it should be completed by players and not scavenged from others. It's no longer end game and the players attempting it will not be max geared with max augs/AA and a 6 person group from that tier, so touch ups are definitely in order =P

Appreciate the ideas and input, keep em coming!

ok i see the direction u mean then - in that sense then i couldnt agree more - it would be nice to more or less force some people to work together to get the steps of the quest done in an order - not scavenged 8)

[BosCo]

One thing i like to see changed in a big way is the HH quest in those zones.
Most people dont start or really get into HH quest till 70s and they are geared so they can fly through it. With all those zones having HH mobs and on spawn timers PH and or dragons:
1 they are hard to find up when you need them, 2 when actual 30'40's50's are in the zone getting exp they get over ran by lvl 70's tryin to finish quest. Same as with Naggy and Trak both being on the HH list and both on epic really makes it hard to find them up to get either the HH or Epic.
Could maybe change HH mobs to different zones. Maybe do away with Dragon kills for epic. I dont know just soemthing to help in that area

[Grey]

Man people just do 50-60 in CT and get a headstart on farming up the supplies you need for tailoring.

Please for the love of jebus take the ability to summon away from the stuff in this zone. Outside of giant sized pets its the most annoying sub raid level server/game mechanic that I hate.

[Stickybuds]

as a new player to the server and a new 70 i have recently gone through this content and am currently attempting keal with my small guild.

Some comments.

I have my 1.5 but i didnt really "do" any of the fights. I found the 1-4 stones on my own but the rest of the stuff i just waiting till some uber player killed it and looted the left overs. I tried many many times to solo the mobs with my bot and sometimes it would seem i would be able to do it although the fight would take 10+mins but then my bot would take a hit that would do 60% of his HP and i couldnt catch back up on heals. I also tried many times to get people of similar gear to help me take down these mobs and we would get stomped. The only way to get it done was to have a uber geared monk who basically killed the mobs in 5 seconds help or just collect the stuff as i seen it in /ooc. It would be great to see the 1.5 mobs tuned to where a fresh 70 with chaotic/seb gear could do these. Not necessarily solo with a bot but at least with some help of similar geared players. My bot was as well geared as i could get it with 13k+hp and he was getting destroyed by the 1.5 named mobs.

Keal gear - it is very weak upgrade and in some cases a downgrade in comparison to the chaotic gear and even more so the case with gear found in Sol B and Seb. 70 gear should be an upgrade to the 30-55 range gear. The HP/mana is usually higher but that's about it. They are almost void of bonus effects when compared to chaotic which has +hp and mana regen all over it and focus effects. Where as the KD gear may have a single bonus effect and a focus effect. Granted the focus effects are higher lvl which is the sole reason i upgraded my arms, as it would increasing healing up to lvl 68 spells which is my main heal until i can get the lvl 70 ones. So maybe that's a trade off but they still seem weak.

only two things i could really think of. I had tons of fun lvling up on the custom content and I am very excited to get started on the custom raid content but I'm kinda stuck right now making that transition.

[Zolzimar]

The summoning in cazic causes me to be in a wall, and usually it ends up that i have to rely on bot to kill mobs the gate, since I cant 'see' the mobs, and rewind works 1/2 the time. I think rewind gets wacked when you have more than 1 mob summoning you behind walls backtoback. Obviously mob pathing is the real issue here. The summoning really doesnt bother me that much.

I also use cazic to get new characters through their 47-60 lvls, pretty religiously I might add.