Mythical Weapons in Sentinel’s Fate

Mythicals present a significant challenge to EQ2 developers trying to create desirable weapons for players at level 90. Some of the Mythical effects are uniquely powerful and no player would even consider replacing them without getting the same effect with another weapon. For this reason, it was announced at Fan Faire that mythicals would become either an equippable charm, or a clickable item.

Already, in Beta, players have discovered that, when equipped, Mythicals would not modify level 81-90 spells (eg. Chimes of Blades III, etc.).

The Truth Comes Out

Frizznik has posted in the Beta forums that owners of their Epic weapons will be able to do a challenging heroic quest called “Epic Repercussions” at level 90 to gain a Persistent Spell which gives them the effects of their Mythical weapon.

Mythical Conversion

Mythicals are a large part of character power, and we don’t want to remove that functionality at higher levels.  We did however want to make weapon slot upgrades viable again.  In the expansion, mythical weapons can be converted into a spell by doing a quest.  The new spell will take the mythical’s proc and buff components and convert them into a “Until Cancelled” buff. Any subclass with an activatable effect will have that effect converted into a spell as well.  You will also be able to retain the mythical appearance through an appearance only or house item.

Effect Changes

We needed to make a few changes to how some of the mythical effects worked. The modifications will also be applied to the effects on the existing mythical weapons.

• Mystic: The reuse time of the activatable portion is now 10 minutes rather than 5 minutes.  We didn’t want to weaken the effect, but the duration and reuse made this effect too powerful so we increased the reuse time.
• Wardens: The triggered proc will now trigger off of any heal rather than only critical heals.  The effect will only trigger once per cast rather than up to six times per cast for group heals.  The power gain on group heals was greater than intended.
• Illusionists: The triggered power proc was reduced to one trigger rather than three.  The power gain was too too high across the entire group.
• Rangers: The bonus based on proximity was removed and replaced with a bonus that is active all the time.  The bonus is equal to the bonus you would have gotten at point blank range.
• Conjuror and Necromancer:  The new spell effect will increase the damage of the pet’s spells and auto-attack damage directly, rather than summoning a new pet.  The existing mythical will not been altered.

Most of the mythicals are a direct conversion from the item to the spell.  The spell version will modify level 80-90 spells.

The heroic quest to acquire the Mythical Spell effect will be available to players who own either the Fabled or Mythical versions of their Epic weapons.

The significance of these changes will be felt by Rangers (yay, I can stand anywhere I need to!). And Summoners starting out the expansion will be able to continue to use their special Mythical pet. My understanding is that the mythical pet’s maximum level is 83. Then, after completing the quest, they’ll be able to cast one of thier other pets and cast the Mythical Spell to buff that pet instead. The folks who will lose out the most are Illusionists who will see a huge loss in how much power they are able to regenerate.

Bracing for Betrayal

Kaitheel has advised us that the Mythical spell will be cancelled, and the Mythical spell removed from your knowledge book if you betray to another alignment. The last step (as well as previous steps) of “Epic Repercussions” requires you to have the fabled or mythical weapon in your inventory or bank to complete the quest.  Completion of the quest removes the original weapon (from either inventory or bank).

Once you have completed the quest “Epic Repercussions”, if you betray your class, you will be able to speak with an NPC on the Nektulos Forest docks to trade in your useless spell gem for a new one of your new alignment. In other words, you no longer need to re-do your fabled/epic/mythical quest if you betray.

The Mythical Appearance

Gninja reports in on the topic of still having your mythical weapon appearance:

When you finish the quest you get the spells appropriate for your class, an appearance only weapon to use if you so choose, and a house item version of your weapon.

Our Stand

Considering mythicals are pretty much just knowing the right person or paying the right amount of plat to get into a raid, I have no issues with this change.