Well, in the case of BB and CB I personally don't think that being able to
bind is what causes those zones to be bursting at the seams. The zones
themselves are VERY close to major cities and very easy to get to. CB is
extremely simple to run to from Kelethin in a minute or less and the major
hassle getting from Qeynos to BB is waiting to zone into the from North
Qeynos into the Hills...but even that trip takes maybe 3 minutes or so tops.
Other than this reason I can't imagine what the allure of BB is for so many
people for so long, and even I am not guilty. I spent levels 5-8 in BB
before I decided to brave the cross country trip from my starting city of
Qeynos and other than hunting lions in the Karanas for pelts to make
patchwork armor, BB is just about all I did, Gnoll after Gnoll, day after
day.
But what is the best loot in BB? A +3STR spiked collar that you can only
get off the elites, which you can't really kill until you are in your teens?
Hmm, or is it the +2AGI onyx earring? I dunno, unless I am mistaken that
dungeon doesn't even have any lore items. Strange...but many many people
from the west side of Antonica grow up in BB just like players who start on
Faydwer grow up in CB. They are places where one can remain challenged for
many levels.
I do think that BB could have its own terrorizing D'Vinn type character, but
one of the things about that place is the size and frequency of the trains.
Do all dungeons have huge trains on a regular basis like this? I have been
annihilated by trains in Runnyeye, Guk, CB, and BB - the only dungeon I have
not seen a big train in so far is Unrest.
Faras Tar'Linedhel
E'ci Server
> -----Original Message-----
> From: silky@... [mailto:silky@...]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 1999 1:16 PM
> To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Subject: Re: [eqbards] NPC's Binding
>
>
> From: silky@...
>
>
> Well, I don't particularly want my bard to be able to bind -
> I don't mind
> finding or waiting for a caster - my problem is WHERE
> noncasters can be bound.
>
> As someone pointed out earlier - it tends to make folks much
> less likely to
> explore the world - course he was happy bout that - only 10
> folks in his
> dungeon whereas places like BB and CB are bursting at the seams.
>
> If you really want folks to get out an explore, you don't
> penalize them
> with half hour - hour - sometimes longer 'downtime', just to
> get back to
> their corpse.
>
>
>
> At 08:16 PM 7/13/99 -0400, you wrote:
> >From: "J.M. Capozzi" <croak63@...>
> >
> >
> >It was decided early on that all casting classes (not
> hybrids) would have
> >Gate, and only a couple classes would have Bind Affinity.
> As a matter of
> >fact, some of you early phase testers might recall that Bind
> used to require
> >a then hard to find and costly stone to cast.
> >
> >After a lot of heated debate, the spell was given to all
> pure casters, and
> >after more heated debate the cost of the spell became mana
> only. You don't
> >want to know how ugly it got when the idea of the casters
> being able to self
> >bind anywhere besides in an adventure zone came up.
> >
> >So, I wouldn't ever expect any of the hybrid classes to be
> able to bind. It
> >is not going to happen, it's something of a concession that
> bind even works
> >the way it does now. The idea of inns or static NPC's that
> could bind was
> >kicked around back in beta, and rejected.
> >
> >This is akin to the exp loss reductions that have twice
> occurred, once in
> >Beta, and once again in Final. Both times, there was a very
> strong negative
> >reaction from many members of the development team, a schism
> if you will.
> >But in the name of the holy grail of "playability", the
> experience loss
> >reductions were implemented. This was partially offset by
> the increased
> >experience needed for levels after 25th implemented a few
> weeks earlier (but
> >much too late imho, the damage was done)
> >
> >In the case of experience loss, the changes were made to
> help out the game's
> >actual market. The mass market, RPG newcomer. The game is
> complex by
> >design, lightly documented by design, and often daunting,
> and far too many
> >folks bypass the built in training curve via various
> methods, leaving them
> >at moderately high levels with very deficient play skills
> (and character
> >skills).
> >
> >Those folks tended to die a lot more often than was
> necessary all of a
> >sudden, and watching that exp bar keep dropping was pretty
> discouraging,
> >especially when you didn't learn from your mistakes. And
> there are the
> >inevitable bugs and zone crashes that were fairly common
> early in retail and
> >still persist. After a bit of this, people start to vote
> with their feet.
> >And since the bulk of the player base fell into this
> category in one way or
> >another, from a business standpoint it was suicidal to stand
> by design
> >principles in this case.
> >
> >With the success of EQ, I'm hoping the existing player base
> will in the
> >future be educated enough about RPGs in general, and Verant quirks in
> >specific, so that when EQ2 rolls out, the bar can be raised
> in terms of
> >experience and rate of progression/regression. Hitting the
> level cap in 45
> >days is appalling to me. Hitting it in 120 days, no matter
> how dedicated a
> >player you are, still makes me twitch and drool some.
> >
> >In the case of Bind Affinity, there's more than enough bind
> capable players
> >online on any server at any time to accommodate player
> needs. The only time
> >this is not the case is when a fresh server comes online,
> and the race to
> >12th or 14th level is on, and those few casters that reach
> it first are
> >heavily in demand..but only for a matter of days or even hours.
> >
> >This is still a strong balancing factor. Synergy. Interaction.
> >
> >Now, you ask, why did I compare the experience loss changes
> to giving Bind
> >Affinity to everyone, either by spell or by NPC's? Well,
> both rank right up
> >there as the most requested changes to the game. One
> happened, one won't.
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Snicker Furfoot, Esq. <snicker@...>
> >To: <eqbards@onelist.com>
> >Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 1999 6:04 PM
> >Subject: [eqbards] NPC's Binding
> >
> >
> >> From: "Snicker Furfoot, Esq." <snicker@...>
> >>
> >> At 02:51 PM 7/13/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >> >From: scott@... (scott brisko)
> >> >
> >> >What I would like to see is an NPC that could bind for a
> fee, and limit
> >> >class based binding to one of a few classes. The
> advantage that the
> >class/es
> >> >would have is the ability to bind themselves away from a
> city, which is a
> >> >nice limit for the NPC's. Make sense to me if you want to
> foster a sense
> >of
> >> >being able to explore the world safely.
> >>
> >> Actually, that would make a heckuva lot of sense. J.M.,
> mebbe you could
> >> suggest this idea:
> >> Inn-running NPC's could, when given the proper coin, cast
> a "bind" spell
> >on
> >> a player. To determine the cost, hail the Innkeeper, and
> ask the cost for
> >a
> >> night. It would make sense, RP-wise, and if you made it
> cost, say 1 plat,
> >> players could still undercut the merchants, but other
> players wouldn't be
> >> SOL. This would still encourage players to work together
> to get bound in
> >> certain areas (not every zone has an Inn, most Inns are
> inconvenient at
> >> best. Certain Inns have associated hazards...), but allow
> travelers to
> >feel
> >> safer traveling.
> >>
> >> Comments?
> >> Talies the Wanderer
> >> Still bound to Kelethin after all these years *grin*
> >>
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