Producer's Letter: October 20, 2006 :: Free Realms :: ZAM

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Producer's Letter: October 20, 2006Oct 20th, 2006 at 11:54 AM by Railus

In this Producer's Letter, Chris Lena touches upon the Serpent's Spine, zone revamps, and Halloween, as seen on EQLive:

Now that some time is passed since the launch of The Serpent's Spine I thought it would be good time to send out one of these producer letter things. Overall, we are pleased with how the expansion has turned out. If you haven't tried creating a Drakkin and going through the lower level content I would really like to encourage you to give it a try. There are an incredible amount of play styles out there now and I think we managed to get a little bit in there for most of them. I should also mention that the pick up for the expansion is quite brisk and is definitely outpacing Prophecy of Ro.

Let's also talk about some more zone re-vamps. We really wanted to get more done with the launch but ended up wanting to put that time into the expansion content instead. So, you should be seeing a new Commonlands (East and West combined) and Ocean of Tears in just a little while. Why Ocean of Tears? Well, we needed to do that one in order to get the new boats working. And I mean new boats because the old boats have also been rebuilt from scratch. All of that is currently going through QA but it shouldn't be too much longer until we get that up on the live servers.

There are a lot more zones in the pipeline but this is a process with massive iterations and some may not see the light of day anytime soon. It can be a little scary when an artist diligently redoes a zone then a designer gets a hold of it and sends back 2 pages of "feedback". Things like "Wall needs to be 30% taller" And "You forgot the courtyard".

Now it is that spooky time of year and our Halloween events will be appearing shortly. We will be bringing back a lot of the old favorites and also adding in more quests and fun things to do. I hope you enjoy them!

Chris "Raghnell" Lena
EverQuest Producer

These are two mini-screenshots of the upcoming Commonlands revamp:

Tags: EverQuest, News

Comments

Zone Revamps

# Nov 04 2006 at 4:07 PM Rating: Decent

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10 posts

I agree with Froglo: " personally could care less about zone revamps. ...IF they are going to redo a zone I think they should keep the overall design the same (IE neriak 3). While the new freeport looks great I hate it because I am not willing to learn a new zone that I seldomly use."

MatkaZ
Wiz L 65

Revamps

# Oct 27 2006 at 6:24 PM Rating: Decent

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93 posts

As I read the different post here I see that I agree with most of the negitve comments. It would be real nice to have zones that didnt lag you down and yet looked nice with good content. As usual though SOE is much more concerned with their own idea of what the playing populace wants and needs rather than what we, the ones who pay their saleries, know we want and need. We need another laggy zone guys so ao ahead with your misbegotten plans.

revamps

# Oct 24 2006 at 2:31 PM Rating: Decent

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64 posts

Revamps are ok, as long as it isn't too much more graphics demanding. They should have left the UI stuff alone too.

Places like the Karanas need major over-hauling. Huge zones that no one plays in, because there aren't enough mobs or quests, go empty and unplayed. West Karana has like, what, 5 different mobs to kill? Come on, add something in these old zones and make them something that people wanted to be in. People like new things, and want stuff to do.

And as far as these tradeskill items go, most of them just blow. Who in their right mind at lvl 60 is going to wear +15 stat armor with little or no ac? Or int 2 wis 2 str 1 junk? Bleh. High end raiding guilds need to be able to get loot in groups that actually upgrade without having to raid the hardest things in the game to get 1 upgrade.. 70's plus zones that drop damage shield 2 augs is kinda retarded. (just an example)

I like what has been done as far as the look in these new zones and revamps in some of the old, but people want to see them while they are doing something, not just passing through.

Just my 2cp worth.

404

# Oct 24 2006 at 6:11 AM Rating: Good

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Scholar

383 posts

Alla was doing some weird things when I tried to post this.
My apologies to repost 3 times.

I tried to edit it to get rid of space, but alla is returning internal 404 error.

Substance over style: attempt 3

# Oct 24 2006 at 1:13 AM Rating: Good

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383 posts

Looks nice, I do perfer the look of "most" post luclin zones, but more and more, too much crap is being added like radial flora and such, that simply isnt needed and only serves as lag to anyone running right at "recommended" specs for the game.

As for the graphical quality of the drakkin.... While it is evident that the graphical quality of Drakkin does have much more detail, look at the prices paid for that "quality" Higher RAM rate, No low res option, semi pointless texture levels for tattoos which get covered by armor, and currently, no ability to armor dye.

Perhaps Its because of being of the generation of 8 bit games that were fun to play not because they looked pretty, but what they could do, and the story they told, ect. but it does irk me to no end the mentallity of "Graphics are a deciding factor in the game I play". Functionallity is infinitely more important than Feng Suei. What good are "pretties" when your in a group with lets say a cleric, who cant get complete heal off in time to save your butt because their PC has no choice but to choke down all the extra unneeded graphical rendering for your pretty armor? A pretty corpse is still a corpse.

Dont get me wrong, I do think it is important to bring the old world graphics current. Having Pre-luclin zones in the game detracts from the experience and emmersion one has when they go from one visual reality akin to PS2 graphics, back into a visual reality akin to PS1.

The point is, there is a huge gap between doing what is needed, and doing what can be done, simply for the sake of doing it.

Substance over style

# Oct 24 2006 at 1:09 AM Rating: Good

__DEL__1591811866805

Scholar

383 posts

Looks nice, I do perfer the look of "most" post luclin zones, but more and more, too much crap is being added like radial flora and such, that simply isnt needed and only serves as lag to anyone running right at "recommended" specs for the game.

As for the graphical quality of the drakkin.... While it is evident that the graphical quality of Drakkin does have much more detail, look at the prices paid for that "quality" Higher RAM rate, No low res option, semi pointless texture levels for tattoos which get covered by armor, and currently, no ability to armor dye.

Perhaps Its because of being of the generation of 8 bit games that were fun to play not because they looked pretty, but what they could do, and the story they told, ect. but it does irk me to no end the mentallity of "Graphics are a deciding factor in the game I play". Functionallity is infinitely more important than Feng Suei. What good are "pretties" when your in a group with lets say a cleric, who cant get complete heal off in time to save your butt because their PC has no choice but to choke down all the extra unneeded graphical rendering for your pretty armor? A pretty corpse is still a corpse.

Dont get me wrong, I do think it is important to bring the old world graphics current. Having Pre-luclin zones in the game detracts from the experience and emmersion one has when they go from one visual reality akin to PS2 graphics, back into a visual reality akin to PS1.

The point is, there is a huge gap between doing what is needed, and doing what can be done, simply for the sake of doing it.

Functionallity is infinitely more important than Feng Suei

# Oct 24 2006 at 1:08 AM Rating: Good

__DEL__1591811866805

Scholar

383 posts

Looks nice, I do perfer the look of "most" post luclin zones, but more and more, too much crap is being added like radial flora and such, that simply isnt needed and only serves as lag to anyone running right at "recommended" specs for the game.

As for the graphical quality of the drakkin.... While it is evident that the graphical quality of Drakkin does have much more detail, look at the prices paid for that "quality" Higher RAM rate, No low res option, semi pointless texture levels for tattoos which get covered by armor, and currently, no ability to armor dye.

Perhaps Its because of being of the generation of 8 bit games that were fun to play not because they looked pretty, but what they could do, and the story they told, ect. but it does irk me to no end the mentallity of "Graphics are a deciding factor in the game I play". Functionallity is infinitely more important than Feng Suei. What good are "pretties" when your in a group with lets say a cleric, who cant get complete heal off in time to save your butt because their PC has no choice but to choke down all the extra unneeded graphical rendering for your pretty armor? A pretty corpse is still a corpse.

Dont get me wrong, I do think it is important to bring the old world graphics current. Having Pre-luclin zones in the game detracts from the experience and emmersion one has when they go from one visual reality akin to PS2 graphics, back into a visual reality akin to PS1.

The point is, there is a huge gap between doing what is needed, and doing what can be done, simply for the sake of doing it.

Where's the love?

# Oct 23 2006 at 4:09 PM Rating: Decent

Scholar

32 posts

It's very disconcerting for those of us on the Macintosh server to see expansion after expansion and zone update after zone update on the PC side while Al`Kabor basically gets ignored. We do pay the same per month to play as the PC side, and yet our fees seem to just go towards more eye candy for the PC side. If SOE had any brains they would have put some of the money that we contribute monthly into fixes of our current content (only up through PoP) and maybe give us LoY and LDoN (limited to these due to PCEQ going to DirectX and making the graphics engine incompatible on all the expansions after LDoN). The Mac server lost a huge chunk of its population to WoW because SOE chose to ignore us. What they (SOE) don't seem to realize is that there has been a large increase in Macintosh users and they could be capitalizing on that trend. Instead they seem to be satisfied in letting all the potential revinue from Mac users go to Blizzard.

Those of us that have remained on Al`Kabor love the server. We have a great community of helpful players and we are dedicated to see how far we can progress with what we have. We love playing EQMac and wouldn't trade it for the PC version or WoW. All we ask is to be thrown a bone every now and then.

____________________________

Utdaan Twoswords
65 Forest Stalker of Al`Kabor, Macintosh server
http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=834254

Revamps

# Oct 23 2006 at 3:11 PM Rating: Decent

12 posts

Zone revamps need to be done, but if you are just doing a graphics revamp save your time. Dropping new graphics on an old zone without fixing the old quests etc. is like putting lipstick on a pig....What the heck for??

hmm

# Oct 23 2006 at 11:38 AM Rating: Decent

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4,445 posts

I personally could care less about zone revamps. Anybody that boxes (which I know is quit alot of people) probably doens't like the new graphics used. IF they are going to redo a zone I think they should keep the overall design the same (IE neriak 3). While the new freeport looks great I hate it because I am not willing to learn a new zone that I seldomly use. The new Ro's I can take or leave, same with the new Highpass.

I kinda doubt we will see any of the older quests updated. IF they did that then they would have to update every quest from Classic and up. IF they change the lvl 30 EQ classic armor quests then people will want the Velious armor to have better stats, etc etc. I do have to admit they should at least make older quests that require expensive items (IE enchanted plat for Armor of Ro) cheaper. I mean really who is going to spend over 200pp and gobs of time for armor of ro armor. Same can be said for most of those lvl 30ish armor quests.

I haven't got to enjoy any of the halloween events over the past 2 years. Last event I remember is the junk armor that drops off werewolves in west commons.

____________________________

Hi

we need some cool rewards

# Oct 23 2006 at 9:31 AM Rating: Default

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1,232 posts

They should make all zones have Quests that must be done to unlock new AA's or gear. Like Soloing your EPIC.

TSS is where the new Rank 2 spells are droping they are not in other zones-dont expect peeps to be in other zones to play their char to lvl 75 if they are 70. And what percent of the Population is 70+? This is an old game.

The Double EX should not be the only reward.
Cliky- LORE One Charge DI
Cliky- LORE 3 sec Fly (yes only for 3 sec to fly or down not that powerfull to chagne class
Maybe a 1 charge - of thoese 3 new AA"s that are expendable

Clicky- Lore 3 sec See INV (see this as dummy buff for most)-but can be a good reward if knowing where to stop to aviod a INV mob.)

Yea re-vamp quest rewards

# Oct 23 2006 at 7:38 AM Rating: Decent

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Scholar

62 posts

Yea, I agree...would have made more sense to ve-ramp the quest rewards, give more Augs or something so quest are worth doing, the rewards need to be at a level that you would want to do them, instead of grinding past that level, I think evolving weapons would be a great way, do a noob quest and get a weapon, then the weapon can evolve with player, upgrade augs, states, proc etc. through a progressive quest you have to start at lvl 1, ie turn in the note, forget the shirt thats always been dumb anyways, was only cool when tattered and bronze armor was worth something. Maybe even join a faction and different factions have different rewards, play up the good vs evil faction or faction between races or something. Work the quest into the epic 1.0 quest. So player could work towards their epic via solo content. I still think all epics should have a solo track to get them. Same idea with armor. Let revamp rewards then enviroment, most people I know turn it off as it is.

Take notice Sony! No matter how good the graphic are if the rewards are a waste of time and the xp is a waste of time, then few will go there. This hot zone thing is a good idea, but we all know if you want to level a toon you go for the tried and true zones for exp. Make the rewards and xp in the old zone equal to the new stuff. Forget the new graphic for now,

Example, DoN items at 35 that would blow away old world End game raid drops,

Why try to raid at that level when you can group for better items, ie re-vamp old world items!

Peace

Revamped zones are great!

# Oct 23 2006 at 4:07 AM Rating: Decent

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11 posts

With so many more mmorpgs out there now, SoE has alot more competition than they did in 1999. I think the zone revamps are a great idea. Not only do they want to keep the old players happy but also appeal to new players. Graphics are always something I take into consideration when choosing a new game to play.

Comments

# Oct 23 2006 at 3:55 AM Rating: Decent

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23 posts

The old zones do need a revamp. The trouble is that they also need to revamp the mobs, gear and quests in the zone to bring them in-line with 7 years worth of expansions. Spending time just redoing the gfx in the zones is a waste of time and money unless they also make it worth actually going there. Most of the old quests are now not worth doing and haven't been for years. They should strip out the ones that don't have any dependancies and replace them, or simply update the rewards.

As for the halloween events, they had better bring back xp potions. 90% of the people I know abandoned them in disgust last year once the rewards were known. It was a mistake putting in the potions in the first place, but now they have raised peoples expectations and if they fail to meet them again this year then a lot of people will be p*ssed off.

Graphics instead of content

# Oct 22 2006 at 4:08 PM Rating: Default

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30 posts

SOE seems to be intent on bring more lag to everyone except the owners of Ã¼ber machines instead of adding content. The players have NOT been asking for rewamped lowbie zones where they spend a short time of their "lives", they as for playability and well written code that doesnt kill midend machines. SOE has managed to botch every game except old EQ...hmm, could it be that they bought the code and idea from people that wanted something great for players instead of just smoke and mirrors hiding the fact that SOE spends huge amount of money on graphics that we never asked for instead of updating the ancient quest system and npc communication.
Less SOE groupthink and more communication with the fanbase.
TY!

when

# Oct 22 2006 at 12:01 AM Rating: Decent

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2 posts

when are the events starting? just halloween day?

Player Character models

# Oct 21 2006 at 10:56 AM Rating: Good

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50 posts

Personally I think the new Freeport and Ro revamps were incredible. Every time I run through Freeport I get a sense of a real medieval town - something I just didn't get with the original Freeport. The only thing I'd like to see happen in Freeport is an update to all of the NPC models - as opposed to just the newly added NPCs.

Speaking of new models - I think that going to Drakkin-quality (i.e. new) character models for all playable races should be the highest priority as far as game appearance. I think that would make the highest impact on the appearance of the game - especially since zones released in the last 3-5 expansions are already of high graphic quality.

FoB

# Oct 21 2006 at 8:29 AM Rating: Decent

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84 posts

I'd like to see a revamp of the field of bone. I spent a ton of time there with each toon when they were young and I know a lot of people still go thru there on their way to the teens. PC could use a facelift too imo. And I agree with murraybrown, Neriak is perfect :-)

Revamps

# Oct 21 2006 at 6:17 AM Rating: Decent

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129 posts

I hope they redo the new zones and not remake them like they did freeport and the ROs.

I think that Neriak 3 is perfect. Its the same zone it just looks really good now.

Revamps

# Oct 23 2006 at 1:29 PM Rating: Decent

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Sage

3,362 posts

Took the words right out of my mouth. As long as they do not ***** with the zone setup or toy with the levels of mobs and such then I'll be fine, nothing worse than a good zone ruined.

WOOT

# Oct 20 2006 at 10:29 PM Rating: Decent

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110 posts

Glad I will get my chance at the skelly illusion mask this year, got into it too late last year... damn work. Yeah double exp clicky that stacked with lesson of the devoted, or even just seperate timers :).

trick or treat

# Oct 20 2006 at 9:40 PM Rating: Decent

51 posts

Bring back the double experience potions as rewards heh heh. In fact lets just make the trick or treating reward a double exp clickie!

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