>There is no death in EverQuest, except psychologically. And I'm dying, I
>think. I have loved this list like no other board've known in some years.
>It is highly intellectual, why I bother you with this damned heavy luggage.
I have to agree, of the lists I've been on, this is one of the best. We
generally get few mindless rants and many insighful opinions compared to the
ratios on, say, the brewing list. I personally think it's because of the
kind of person that likes to play bards, but I have a slight bias. = )
>* It runs deep, I think. There is no wandering. Everyone stays put.
Roop, you yourself helped me to start really traveling long distances, and I
am quite grateful you took me on my first trip to Halas (bashing vengeful
skellies, getting lost in EverFrost - hmmm sounds like a good song title).
I don't know about everyone else, but in the last three days I have traveled
from Kelethin to Halas to Qeynos (one night), from Qeynos to Halas back to
Kelethin (another night), and from Kelethin to Freeport (last night). Every
night I also made stops in Mistmoore a few times (hoping against hope for
someone to sell me the dang drum). Now, this is definitely travel on a
global scale. I do it often - heck, I have saved up enough Stormbreaker
frequent passenger miles to qualify for the Kunark cruise First Class.
Everyone does not stay put - many do. But then, many people do stupid
things IRL too, and I feel no compulsion to follow them there either.
>Camping is a problem, everyone says, and we have all these solutions
>suggested and implemented. But, mmmm, none will work! Camping is central
>to EverQuest! Everyone camps! Everywhere! Been to Unrest? How else do
>you survive there but "camp the wall?" These people aren't camping for
>items, but just to play. Folks camp every dungeon, every outdoor zone.
>I've been to West Karanas and watched folks pulling lions to the wall. And
>it's the same everywhere else. Was suggested by a friend, since I so
>loathed camping, to play the south Karanas. I am currently "camped" there
>now, because that's all anyone does in such an outdoor zone as well!
I don't like camping either. I do almost all my hunting in outdoor zones,
and I run around looking for good game. This may become harder and harder
at higher levels, but for now I rarely find it difficult to track down
something around my level to hunt... I have spent a lot of time killing
kodiaks in the Commonlands, hunting beetles in the Karanas, etc. This is
not camping - I literally run until I find something to kill. Yes, if I am
in a dangerous zone like North Karana (wayyyy to many grifs wandering around
to hang out in the middle) I do pull monsters away from the action to a
place of relative safety, such as Xanuusus' little grove to the North. But
that's just a basic survival tactic.
You don't like camping? Avoid dungeons unless you have a good group. Most
groups do camp spawn points because it pays off. I find this to be
typically boring, just like you do. Yes, the best loot is found by camping.
So I make money by hunting and by performing and by doing people favors
and I buy the loot I am unwilling to camp. I have even had fun a few times
camping, but this is entirely dependant on the group. People who like to
screw around, have some fun, make humorous emotes... they can really liven
up a boring few minutes of waiting. I try to be such a person when I can,
and seek out the company of others who actually want to roleplay.
A small digression - warriors can stop to heal and casters can stop to med
without camping. Just because you stop to rest for a few minutes does not
mean you are compelled to stay there until something attacks you.
>:My solution: No natural regeration of wounds, for anyone. This is not
>how wounds work, afterall. A warrior is wounded, make no natural
>regeneration but increase effect of bandages. They want healing, find a
>freaking cleric.
You said you wanted less down-time? Removing healing would cripple everyone
except clerics, druids, shamans, and of course us bards. Now, while I am in
favor of grouping, how would a level 1 character ever survive if he could
not heal at all? Every healer in the world would be CONSTANTLY bombarded
with people begging for heals, and in fact the healer classes, now very
overpowered, would see a huge influx. Hell, I think personally we'd see a
LOT more bards. But the point is, this is not at all feasible.
>No regeneration of mana either. I know there's no real-world counter-part,
>which others would point out THIS IS A GAME anyway in the last argument,
>but we're talking logic. Mana, where does it come from? The physics of
>mana? Where is this pure energy coming from? Apparently Norrath does have
>gravity, and follows Einstein, so we must assume Energy cannot be just
>created out of thin air. It needs a source.... The soul I always assumed,
>but that can only supply so much.
Exactly why there is a set mana regeneration rate... casters don't just get
all their mana at once. Their soul, or spirit, recharges at a rate based on
their requisite characteristics. If a wizard is more intelligent, he has
greater mental capacity to hold the energy he manipulates... becuase he
understands and uses this energy intellectually. A cleric needs wisdom,
becuase his link to the energy flow of the world is through the depth of his
understanding of how his god manifests in the world.
>Enough with everyone sitting on their duffs. Burn mana in a battle, run
>and hope you're not chased to find a private spot to channel spirit spell
>to regain all your lost mana. I want the game to require people to be on
>THE MOVE and not encourage them to sit around like they're lazy.
Rather than requiring you move, I'd like the game to reward you more if you
do. A difference in approach... I noticed last night that quests now give
appreciable experience. Heck, at level 15 I think I saw a rise from
delivering the mail, and I got about 1/4 bubble for killing the Nybright
sisters and bringing their necklaces to their besotted father. So Verant is
taking some small steps to encourage people to do quests, which pretty much
always involve moving around.
>* AI lacking. In a massively multiplayer game it should be better,
>especially one that is so Player vs. Environment based. This is AI that
>was seen in Doom, if that. The wonder of AI that some folks are impressed
>by how it acts, when it's actions are not that complex. MUST be improved.
>When I fight this AI, it makes me bored.
OK, the AI is far from perfect, and it has numerous bugs. Still, I remember
recently facing a camp of orcs and being impressed that the oracles sit in
place and buff up all the cents, that when you attack one they will all mob
you, that they figure out who is the greatest threat and typically all
attack it at once... that is what they're doing, I hope. I like to believe
that monsters attack bards preferentially because we are the greatest threat
to them... No, they are not as smart as players... well, most players. = )
>* Tradeskills are lacking. I have a feeling, given a year, this may work
>out.
Absolutely. I regret the fact that Verant does not give much support to
trade skills, and that brewing has been so difficult of late. I am sure
that has hit you as hard as it has me... nerfing Ol'Tujim's, then releasing
a lot of new recipes onyl to find we can't make many of them... it's
frustrating. I recently took up baking for kicks, and have found it to be
pretty fun. I don't try to make a profit off trades anymore, I just do it
for the roleplaying...
>* Death. There is no death. I want to die. I cannot die. Who were the
>generation before this, the immortal generation? Totally ignored by the
>story of the game.
I have never played any computer game (that I recall) where death was
"real". You either get resurrected with some penalty, or you have a certain
number of "lives" per game, after which you start over with another set of
"lives". Granted how many times we die in EQ, I am very glad death is not
permanent... otherwise no one would ever make 10th level. = )
>It is like a moment locked in time, it never changes. No matter what
>anyone does, the NPCs will always be locked in that moment, regardless what
>level the real folk have gotten to. The "plot" is unchanging. Join a
>massively online rolplaying game with an ongoing plot! There is no ongoing
>plot. Everything is the same. It always has been, always will. McQuaid
>wants people to appreciate where items come from plotwise, when they buy
>them or find them. Yet I'm afraid those subtlties are lost when it's
>always that same NPC in that same place, and they never change.
I would like to see some sort of plot evolution too... but the point was
well made elsewhere. How would any new player ever keep up with massive
changes? Now, maybe some day Antonius Bayle will be assassinated, and
Qeynos will fall under the sway of his evil brother... but even something
like this would massively screw with newbies in that zone. I don't honestly
know, algorythmically, how to solve the problem of having an evolving plot
that does not cause all new characters to be at a HUGE disadvantage.
>* Fix the damned NPC parser. Using Scott Adams Parser in 1999!!!! Infocom
>got it better in 1985!!!
OK, the parser is not very sophisticated, granted. I'd like to see this
improve as well.
>* To really encourage roleplaying and a community allow people access to an
>in-game print press. Where they can make their own newspapers or books.
>Allow people to own a deck of cards so they can play kings court and
>gamble. Make a Roulette Wheel when a PC spins it everyone can watch the
>text as it clicks along.
Well, there is one option along these lines... the message board in Qeynos.
I'd like to see these in every city in Norrath... some of the personals are
really funny... Mael trol luking for inky pet fur barshin and luvvin...
I'd love to see the cards too... though I hear there are cards in game, I
don't think we can play. After all, in the Bristlebane section of the
manual don't they warn you against playing King's Court with a worshipper of
the god of tricks?
>NAMELY
>
>GIVE folks options besides combat!!! I ask this, because the way combat
>works in EverQuest bores the living crap out of me. If it weren't for the
>way groups worked, "heroes" sitting around in some safe corner while
>squires hauled the monsters one at a time for them.... BAH!
The options besides combat are few, but meaningful. There are quests... I
know there are a finite number, and many don't seem that rewarding. I use
quests as a means of accomplishing one of my personal goals: I want to make
all the NPCs in the cities I frequent love me. I want to have everyone I
deal with look on me warmly. So I go off and run small quests and feel like
I am progressing towards a huge and nigh-impossible goal.
There is exploration... Norrath is pretty big, and given enough time and
dedication I am sure you can see everything... but given the rare spawns and
the fact that many things move around, the same zone is not the same each
time you visit it. I want to see the Lake Rathe monster! I want to see the
named sea serpent in Dagnor's Cauldron! I want to give Cazic Thule a
wedgie! Well, ok, maybe not soon, but someday...
Most importantly, there are other PCs. Most of the really good times I have
had in EQ have been in player interactions. Last night a good friend of
mine named Murtik sent me a /tell to say a friend of his was on a scavenger
hunt and wanted some edible goo. He was willing to pay well (15pp for 3 of
them!!!) so I ran back to Freeport with my friend and master baker Bayrn.
We brought the goo and gave it to Guta, and also threw in some cookies and a
Blackburrow stout, on the house. We eneded up sitting around the bank for
about a half hour, just talking and drinking and screwing around. I can't
even say it wasn't profitable (beyond the very genrous money for the goo)...
the kindly Guta appreciated my roleplaying and my generosity (hey, he gave
me a lot of money for something made out of fire beetle eyes and rat ears, I
was in a good mood) so he gave me some bronze armor. He was happy, I was
happy, and it had nothing to do with killing things or camping.
Roop, you were an inspiration to me when I was a young lad in Kelethin. You
gave me my first drink of Elven Wine (now I have maxed out my alcohol
tolerance every level since). You took me on my first trip from Freeport to
Halas. You answered some of my newbie questions about bards. I am truly
sorry to hear you are not enjoying the game anymore. I think you can find
other things to do in Norrath that you will enjoy more, and sincerely hope
that some of the suggestions I gave above will be helpful. If not, I for
one will miss you.
May your voice always be sweet,
Aloro (E'ci)