Holly “Windstalker” Longdale recorded (along with the Producers for EverQuest and EverQuest Next Landmark) a video talking about upcoming features this year. After the jump, our bullet-point list of what Holly talked about.
Fabled Kingdom of Sky
First up, tomorrow, we’ll see level 95 Fabled versions of classic Kingdom of Sky zones released tomorrow, January 23rd. According to Holly, itemization will be “complementary” to existing Tears of Veeshan zones. The updated dungeons include a contested group zone:
- Sanctum of the Scaleborn
Group instances:
- Den of the Devourer
- Halls of Fate
- Vaults of El’Arad
and Raids:
- Laboratory of Lord Vyyem
- Mutagenic Outcast
- Three Princes
New Prestige Homes
Last year, an in-game poll queried players as to which city zones they’d like to see turned into Prestige houses for the StationCash Marketplace. Oakmyst Forest (a Qeynos zone) and Darklight Palace (from Neriak) won so they will be offered soon.
PvP Balance and Procs
Next month, we can expect a number of PvP Balance tweaks, including the removal of Proc Effects from PvP, and a new 24 person open-world Warzone for the Nagafen server. Mounts and fast travel will be disabled, and there will be no timers or NPC population. It’s a return to “pure PvP” and we’ll see if it draws players back from Battlegrounds.
March/April
In the coming months, we can expect a contested Highkeep group zone.
The most challenging north wing of Temple of Veeshan will open. The itemization and difficulty is said to harken to Plane of War, which remained relevant for over 2 years after its launch.
Alternate Advancements cap will raise to 350.
Is there any lore behind the new fabled version or are they just loot pinatas?
What zone isn’t a loot piñata? The same lore exists (tbh I’ve heard even more) it’s just an advanced difficulty for current tier rewards.
To quote a certain person I saw on Beta yesterday, “5 days of beta for 7 zones.. What could possibly go wrong?” the only thing I can think of is oops.
i’m not a real pvp’r but i am glad they are at least attempting to revisit pvp and straighten out some of the issues. it’s especially good to see them trying out new ideas rather than beating old dead horses. 🙂
i have to say though, not being a raider, i would really like to see them revisit some of the older lower level zones.
this could take several forms.
1. simply progress the zone’s storyline a little. don’t even have to revamp it, just move it along some.
2. also, start to add higher level content to lower level zones. let players start to cross paths with each other more often.
The Contested Zone and drops are horrible. what a nightmare. we killed an actual semi Legit X2 (outrageous HP’s decent Dmg output) dragon in there it dropped garbage we looted off of the first named in the zone.
Biggest issue I have with the fabled zones is befit Vs Reward on Gear that is dropping in there.
1. 7 out of 9 Drops is a really Decent Tank / Scout Piece
2. 2 mobs in each zone have a 90% priest drop rate.
3. 1/10 mobs will drop a simi- caster /dps item but you have to fight every other class for it if they need it.
There needs to be more about the items to distinguish its intended use So you wont have some tanks/ Plate and leather healers/ and every scout rolling out on it.
A very Discouraging example..
Best DAMAGE proc I have seen is a —Tank— item as it has Block Chance added to it. 400k+ 3T/min. Insane dps increase and because tank is auto attacking I parse it = to the auto attack dmg.
As it is, you can have
—-Weapon dmg with huge CB (Scouts)
—- Huge Pot items with Heal increasers
—- And High Dmg with Mitigation or block chance.
Though Casters to get small increases (like 20%pot) Nothing equally enhancing for the Casters (like the Healers 60pot increment’s)
There Needs to be a Real Pot/ CB Procs with say Increases to Spell Damage or increases Spell Trigger Chance.
I am about to delete my delete my wiz go full retard on my 5mil dps Spec Zerker and run him as top DPS and Top Heals Rwar…. Deplete Class Roles all together.