Weekly Update 7/17/06

Frelorn · 07-17-2006, 01:34 PM

Hello there everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend.

Let’s get right into things for this week. I have some good news and some bad news. We are going to start with the bad news, which in a way is related to the good news. The bad news is that we are going to have to delay the launch of the July event for one week. The new date set for the July event is July 25th. As we continued to test some new content we found that we just needed more time to balance things out and get some needed fixes into the game. We gave ourselves a heavy workload this month, and we want to make sure that things are done right. This also means that the July Letter to the Players will not be coming out until this Friday, July 21st.

This brings us to the good news which is related to the heavy workload that I already mentioned. You may recall in a past LttP’s that we mentioned one of our In-Concept items was additional high level outdoor hunting. By this time many of you have completed the Raising Grael’s Island quest. Well in July, this island will be come open to players. This new landmass is aimed at players level 150+ and is going to contain some new spawn dynamics we have been working on. Unlike Vissidal Island, players will no longer want to “Cherry Pick” certain creatures from a spawn to get better loot or the special drop. In the case of this new island, players will be encouraged to kill the entire spawn they are hunting in order to get that special creature with the item to spawn.

This new spawn dynamic is also something we are looking in to adding to some of the regular landscape spawns throughout Dereth. If we decide to add this dynamic to regular spawns, you may find yourself suddenly involved in a mini-boss type fight when you least expect it. We feel this could definitely spice things up a bit for those players who enjoy outdoor hunting and a few surprises.

We have also deployed a fix for those players having authentication issues. We are hopeful this will resolve these issue and we will be able to move on with improving Asheron’s Call. We will be continually monitoring things to see just what the results of these changes are. We once again thank all of you for your understanding while we worked through these issues. It is appreciated, and we will discuss more of that appreciation in a future update.

That’s about it for now. Everyone have a great week and see you all in Dereth

Ministry · 07-17-2006, 01:36 PM

When you mention Raising Grael's Island quest. Is this the same quest with the shadow raids and getting Grael's Claw with Mukkir Slayer on it? Cause there is some concern that many people werent able to do all of that quest. Will there be a way for those who have not done it, to do it in the future. And we have all been waiting for an answer on the Grael's Claw. Will this be the only Mukkir Slayer weapon, and if not, those who have Grael's Claw and are not UA, will we be able to turn in the claw for a differnt weapon?

Paraduck · 07-17-2006, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ministry

When you mention Raising Grael's Island quest. Is this the same quest with the shadow raids and getting Grael's Claw with Mukkir Slayer on it?

Helm of Isin Dule.

PartyVT · 07-17-2006, 01:47 PM

Sounds great

Will we need to do the Raising Grael’s Island quest to access the island?

Ministry · 07-17-2006, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paraduck

Helm of Isin Dule.

Ahh ok thanks. What about first part of the Shadow Raids that delt with the paper peices. Will this come into play later, or have we seen its use already in Graels Claw?

Hydrargyrus · 07-17-2006, 01:51 PM

Pretty soon we're going to have to call it the August event.

Lokania · 07-17-2006, 01:53 PM

This really has me excited! Since Vlad and I normally kill everything we see (no cherry picking) the idea of a mini-boss spawning sounds like a great new dynamic. We have greatly anticipated new outdoor hunting and can't wait to get to the island!

Delaying the patch to make sure it's right isn't a problem in my mind.. as long as I can log into the game consistently, I will be happy.

Gustaive · 07-17-2006, 02:20 PM

Cool dynamic! I can't wait to check it out. Great JORB!

Moxie · 07-17-2006, 02:21 PM

Yes, plz tell us that their are no other requirements besides 150+, plz!

Vitae Boy · 07-17-2006, 02:44 PM

What luck! I just hit 150

Can't wait to see the new island, but I guess I can wait a week to make sure everything works.

Fraxish · 07-17-2006, 02:57 PM

This brings up some really annoying thoughts.

#1. Forced grouping in AC = Bad. If the monsters are geared towards Mage/Archer/Melee in any direction, it's essentially forced grouping, and there's nowhere near enough intelligent players left in this game to be enforcing people to group to hunt outside.

#2. Nerfing of old content, namely Vissidal. Right now, Vissidal is pretty much the only soloable high level hunting ground for archers. If you make us sit there and have to kill junk mobs (read: Non-golds, that yield crap XP and crap loot, and that have four times the amount of HP they should for the effort and reward.), then the only real option will be forced grouping, ala #1, or forced grouping, ala macroing in Egg Orchard with everyone else.

Either way, it's a pretty disgusting thought, IMO. I think this tech is *fine* to apply to such things as Magma Golem Exarchs, and other 'boss' monsters that normally spawn on the landscape now. It's not a good mechanism for outdoor hunting, unless the XP reward is NOT going to be a turnin item, but XP directly from the monster that will share in fellowship. Which brings up another problem...

#3. Under group hunting scenarios, particularly pick-up groups, Turbine doesn't provide any enforced looting rights, at all, other than THIS GUY KILLED IT, HE GETS EVERYTHING. This is why the XP rewards need to be directly off the monster kill instead of a turnin item if you're essentially forcing group hunting.

It just seems that this is substantially more fun-killing than fun-creating. The only way I see it working is if the entire island meets the following criteria:

1. Island has to be *massive* in size, with no stupid zones. What do I mean by "stupid"? Excessively thick spawns, like on the plateau on Vissidal. Spawns so thick you can't vuln a mob without getting 20+ more of them from all over your radar. By "massive" in size, I mean at least three times the size of Vissidal, or the size of Caul, without mountains.

2. If XP item drops are going to be used again, the NPC has to be in a safe location that IS NOT IN A BUILDING OR UNDERGROUND. Getting cornered inside a structure due to a bug in the code, and one idiot deciding to fight a monster there is not acceptable.

3. Soloability. I don't know how you guys figure this stuff out, but as far as I'm concerned, Vissidal is/was intended for 150+ characters, because that's when you can effectively solo there. If this new island is just going to be UberCaul, with high armor+resistance mobs with 5000-10000k HP, then it's going to be used about as much. This isn't everquest. We like soloing.

Kintani · 07-17-2006, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moxie

Yes, plz tell us that their are no other requirements besides 150+, plz!

There may be one more "small" quest to gain access to the Island.

Don't worry, it's not an epic, overly convoluted or monsterous quest.

OldSchoolACPVP · 07-17-2006, 03:05 PM

150+?

Only 10 levels higher than the 'high level' content we have right now.
...

Kid · 07-17-2006, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldSchoolACPVP

150+?

Only 10 levels higher than the 'high level' content we have right now.
...

Maybe they plan to add even HIGHER level content later in the months?

I wonder if the XP and loot will be worth going there :\. Btw, thanks for the update Frelorn.

ACBanko · 07-17-2006, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kintani

There may be one more "small" quest to gain access to the Island.

Don't worry, it's not an epic, overly convoluted or monsterous quest.

Given that you said 'more', that means players must complete the current (and 3/4 unavailable) quest 'arc'. Given that you will move the locations to be static for this month's quests to be completed by those who were not able to do them in July - it WILL be another epic quest and even moreso considering the manpower it takes to kil the Vortex and his nasty smite-like spell.

Please, tell me I'm wrong. Please.

Old School Banko