Feldon Even though we do not have a specific release date for Gu53 (Shards of Destiny), “late September” has been posited as a timeframe we should be watching for. As we approach the duly appointed time, more information is coming out about what we can expect in this update.
Unless you follow the EQ2 Dev Tracker, you’ve probably missed some salient details.
Skill Up Catch Up
Not every EQ2 player has access to a Guild Hall, specifically the Training Dummy amenity. This is relevant because at the great speed most folks now level up into their 50’s or 60’s, many players find themselves deficient in certain skills such as priest skills (Ordination), mage skills (Subjugation), scout/fighter skills (Piercing, Slashing) and want to “catch up”. So far, the only easy means to do this was to grind kill mobs or fight a training dummy.
You get better at Ranged (126/400).
According to Aeralik, this issue has been identified and in Gu53, if there is a large gulf between your skill level and the maximum, you will skill up faster. From this Dev Tracker post:
If you are really low in skill it will be much easier to level it up and the skill gains will come along much faster. Then once you get closer in skill to your level you will then slow down to a more gradual level.
AA XP Slider
One of the features I am the most excited about in Gu53 will be the AA XP Slider. On PvE (regular) servers, we will be able to channel up to 100% of our combat XP into AA XP. PvP servers will allow up to 50% of combat XP to be converted into AA XP (until the AA cap is reached). I intend to roll an alt and see how feasible it is to level from 20-80 entirely by grouping all while earning sufficient AA points.
I am very hopeful that this AA XP slider will encourage folks to group in the level 20-60 range again. Flying through Stormhold, Nek Castle, Runnyeye, Deathfyst Citadel, and getting a solid amount of both Alternative Achievement (AA) and levels will be a great thing. A lot of folks out there are soloing to 80 and have no clue what their character brings to a group/raid.
Once again Aeralik chimes in on the EQ2 Forums with the facts:
The aa slider enables at level 10. Pve players can put all adv xp into aa if they want but pvp players will be limited to 50% while below the current maximum level.
The AA cap only applies on pvp servers and works to keep players relatively close in strength. We don’t have any plans to adjust this cap because its just a spending cap and you can still earn additional AA levels while capped.
Racial Traits
When racial traits were added after the launch of EQ2, players were surprised at just how good some of the effects were. Specifically, erudites are clearly superior spellcasters, while ogres are the obvious choice for tanks due to their health buffs.
With the upcoming Racial Respec tokens we will be able to purchase with StationCash, and with certain racial traits being such obviously good choices, there is a concern that all wizards will change to Erudite, all predators to Dark Elves, all tanks to Ogre, etc. As a result, we can expect racial traits to be rebalanced and reshuffled in Game Update #53.
Here are Aeralik‘s comments on the EQ2 Forums:
The racial trait changes are staying largely in line with how they have always really been oriented. Fighter races get some nice fighter bonuses,, caster races get caster bonuses, etc. This really goes back to the base race design. The original stats favored certain archetypes for play and usually their racial packages complemented these using effects of the time. The previous racial update made things a bit more specific with current effect packages but we tried to make each race a bit more unique.
This next race update tries to mix them together so you have a wider variety of choices but the race’s abilities come from common pools. So if you picked a mage oriented race and play a mage you get some nice choices but nothing really amazing. If you went off the normal path and chose something like an ogre mage you still get a lot of benefits to yourself but overall dps differences from a mage race will be minimal at best and easily overcome. In fact the ogre mage is probably a really good choice for a number of playstyles because the fighter package is really nice in some aspects and the priest package shares a lot with the mage one.
Leather & Lace
And I leave you with some leather screenshots to tide you over until the next posting. Toodles!
Tier’Dal Executioner Leather Assassin appearance gear
The skill point update is sorely needed. I remember being 5/200 Subjugation on my Dirge because our only Subj skill is learned circa level 40, and taking about twenty levels to fix it. As another example, Timorous Deep is designed to spit newbies out at 5/55 in all six harvesting skills, which adds up to 300 points (and more than one 5 second harvest attempt per point, if you don’t level in the mean time) to catch up on.
I’m hoping that the racials are done by GU 53. I have some alt plans that are on hold so I don’t end up wishing I’d waited when the new traits arrive.
Nonsense. People create an appearance around their race. I have some awesome dwarf gear for my dwarf zerker, for instance. If I changed him to an ogre, it wouldn’t be the same; ogres are more Roman than Viking.
Meaning, I’d have to go through the trouble of finding gear that better suits an ogre. And to be honest, that’s terrible.