New Hot ZonesFollow

So chill out of the summer heat and go play in the snow.

Sad to see some of the same old zones however.

Someone at Sony just decided to make all the snow zones "hot." Which wasn't the best formula for deciding. It means GD and Vald are hot zones for the second straight time. Considering the popularity of these zones, this is a bad way to introduce the game to newcomers because they'll get the impression that EQ is all about winter and ice.

Velks is a great zone and super for levelling, even without being hot. It can support 5 groups easily (meaning even halfwits can get to those camps.) Plus I know of at least another 5 camp spots in the zone that players with half a brain can get to. Either way, though, it's going to be train central on a server like Mayong because until players get the hang on moving around on the ice-slick ramps without lev, most are going to want to camp the 2-3 spots on the first floor, including the zone-in. Which means trains, camp-stealing, /ooc wars, etc. But still this is a great zone and anybody returning from long ago will possess fond memories of levelling here.

IC, EW, GD and WW all look the same. Gross overkill to make them all hot zones.

TFS is a fun zone but not sure if the "modern" player has the patience for this, what with the keyed access to each floor and all. Plus it's a thin linear zone so not good for multiple camps.

Kael is a great zone, plenty of camp spots. I do hear complaints about excessively long spawn times in some areas, which may be an issue. I've wandered around Kael many times just for fun and been the only person in the zone. Will be fun to see others whacking giants!

Icefall, great zone, large and with lots of camps. Good hot zone. Vald is good for the same reasons but kinda lame to repeat it as hot. I've spent a lot of time in Frostcrypt and it's not a bad zone but being a dungeon it doesn't support a lot of camps and the zone-in is tiny and cramped.

Everfrost, great noobie zone. Barbs luck out that they can level 1-25 without leaving their first zone. And with Permafrost, if they can handle this tough dungeon, they can get another 10 or so levels.

The Ascent is an offbeat zone well-worth visiting but it sucks as a hot zone.



Edited, Jul 15th 2009 7:57am by Sippin

Tower of Frozen Shadow is a terrible hot zone. It's far too easy to outlevel a floor while still waiting for the key to drop.

The last 2 times I leveled alts in TOFS...they must have upped the key mob dropping rate. The longest I waited was the second ( library ) floor ( always the hardest, it seems) But it only took two sweeps of the level to get the pop.

Maybe I just got lucky twice...

Makes me glad I don't play any more.

Yeah, there was a time before Hot Zones. Years ago. If a burger joint gives you an order of fries with your burger every day for years, it stops being a "free bonus bag of fries!" and becomes part of the package deal.

Aren't they? Most of EQ hasn't changed much -- especially with the new slower rate of expansion releases. If I tell someone how to get the floor keys for Befallen, that information is most likely still accurate, right? I gave someone advice on where they can level a 46 Mage and no one seemed to have a problem with it. Has leveling a 46 Mage in the past six months changed all that much? Tower of Frozen Shadows is still the same keyed-per-floor zone it was in January?

I post here because I post on the Allakhazam.com forums and tend to wander about. I post here because I can still sometimes help someone or give an opinion on something. No one's required to take them as gospel.

Oh, and I've seen Egnaro posting here for years. She's built enough credibility with me to have me assume her posts are factually accurate. And kept the same avatar, too!

Edited, Jul 16th 2009 10:54am by Jophiel

Velks brings back too many memories of being kill stealed and falling off the ramps.

i totally side with the Devs on this. gamers playing video games today are possibly the most self-entitled generation to ever exist. they're full of the "its all about me" attitude, failing to consider what's actually going on at the developing studios or publishing houses.
so what if there's no new items or augments ? there's zone upon zone upon zone full of drops and augs. go hunt there if you want equipment. you can't always have your cake and eat it too.

Last Hot Zone update was last December 2008. They must of had a meeting regarding changing hot zone at one point. I would assume that it was understood that with the hot zones came more experience and augs? Hard for me to conceive that they didn't have enough time. Except if all departments were working on Marketing?........................NOT!

Years later, they're not really "free fries" any longer. Hell, years later you have customers who never knew you without the burger & fries deal and to whom you're just ******** with their fries.

For obvious reasons, I don't care if there's new augments/gear or not. But Elidroth comes across as whiney and petulant when he stamps his foot and threatens to take all the hot zones away because God forbid people criticize.

That something friggin' Brenlo would have done. And that guy was a jagsack.

I was in a very similiar arguement the other night in general chat on the server. People were whining about how crappy some of the new Hotzones were and the fact that there were no new items for them. I have come to the conclusion that people wither think they are entitled to the Hotzones/augs and feel they have to right to comnplain when it not what they or want or they have come to expect everything just given to them and they dont recall what its like to have to work for things.

The Hotzones are a great idea, and the fact that they did them for as long as they have, is a gift for us. People forget, that hotzones are an added bonus for us, and NOT a requirement. Many folks who have started playing in the last couple years DO believe its part of the game.

It reminds me of my kids. My 12 year old is the most thankless kid in the world. Last christmas he wanted an xbox. We got him one, he complained it didnt have the part to go online. We buy him games for that and every other game system has, and if its not the one he asked for, he says well "next time, get me this one, its the one I wanted". He never says thankyou, but keeps on asking for more.

So I sit and read all the posts/chats about the new hotzones and it sickens me. When did we all stop appreciating what it is we have/are given as is, and expect everything to be the way we want it? Honestly, it doesnt even just apply to the new hotzones either. Same arguement stands for what people said about the Mayong server, ot when they released info on the next expansion. People complained and griped about what they thought was wrong or what they figured would suck so bad.

People seem to forget, that this is a GAME after, well for most of us it is. If we dont like the road the game is taking or has taken in the past, then quit. If you cannot appreciate the fact that its for entertainment, that it allows you to get out of your daily life drama and associate with friends/family the friggin quit.

As Elidroth stated if you dont like the HZ, dont play there. Simple. I took my pally last night to Crpt of Decay, the last 60 HZ. No one was there. No Camp Stealing, KSing, trains or any ********** Yes, it took me a few more kills to earn that aa, but so what? Im not in any hurry to get said pally to 85. I thoroughly enjoy playing this game. Yes, I am sad there isnt going to be any new augs or new item drops in the new hz, but so what? My world isnt going to collapse...why the hell is yours?

amen.