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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Everquest 2  |  Topic: Next Expansion: Rise of Kunark 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: Next Expansion: Rise of Kunark  (Read 63042 times)
Signe
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Muse.


Reply #105 on: November 16, 2007, 02:58:15 PM

I'll install my expansion (which is still in the box) tonight or tomorrow and try and get re-motivated.  My mouse and keyboard both started to die at the same time which may have lead to my irritation with games lately.  I'm waiting for the third shoe to drop.  Wait.  You know what I mean.  Hopefully it won't be the computer or I may go all emo.  Anyway, my new stuff glows blue and makes me happy.

My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
Sauced
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Reply #106 on: November 16, 2007, 03:01:21 PM

So, I have been considering picking this up again and giving it a try. I love games with very fast advancement and from the talk it seems like it is pretty damn fast now. Is that true? How much /played would you say it would take to cap now?

Not sure, really.  8 to 10 days?  All I know is, start in the new Kunark city.  Messing around with a Sarnak (can start with other races, fyi) for 1 hour and was 14.
Simond
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Reply #107 on: November 19, 2007, 03:45:55 AM

FWIW, I've got a SK (high elf  awesome, for real )which I've played very intermittantly - mainly when I've had a mini-burnout from both WoW & EVE at the same time - and she's currently at L28 with combat XP turned off otherwise I will start outlevelling large numbers of quests. Quite a few people advocate turning off combat xp at level ten and just levelling off of quest xp to maximise the number of AAs you get.

Tip: If you're starting from scratch, start in Gfay (Good/Neutral) or either Neriak or the Sarnak city (Evil/Neutral) and spend as much time as you can on Faydwer. The older the content is, the worse it is designed (eg Freeport is actually Hell in a light disguise swamp poop )

"You're really a good person, aren't you? So, there's no path for you to take here. Go home. This isn't a place for someone like you."
DarkSign
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Reply #108 on: November 19, 2007, 05:22:12 AM

How many Sarnak braids do I turn in to get to play this race? j/k  awesome, for real
This should be pretty interesting. Once I come back to EQ2 I'm definitely going to try this race.
UD_Delt
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Reply #109 on: November 19, 2007, 06:51:12 AM

So, I have been considering picking this up again and giving it a try. I love games with very fast advancement and from the talk it seems like it is pretty damn fast now. Is that true? How much /played would you say it would take to cap now?

It really depends on your playstyle. For the average person soloing maybe 10 hours per week who is new to the game I would say around 10-12 days /played is about right if you use at least a couple spoiler sites to help with quest progression and letting you know where to head next.

One big factor is how often you play a single char. If you have vitality you level twice as fast as normal and Vitality only regens about 18% per day. Soloing it takes about 6 hours to go through 100% vitality if you are steady killing w/questing. In a group it takes maybe 1-2 hours to burn through 100% by grinding.

To give you a couple ideas from someone who's been playing for years. I've started 2-boxing now and have an SK/Inq combo that only plays w/ vitality and mainly does solo quest lines. They are both at 53 right now after about 34 hours /played. This weekend I also started up a Mystic and I'm using a 70 Swashbuckler to mentor down and powerlevel and with no vitality I got him to level 23 in about 4 hours. If he had vitality he'd probably be closer to level 28-30 by now.

With tradeskills if those are of interest the fastest leveling class is a Sage. By playing sporadically and only with vitality I've hit 70 with a sage in 28 hours /played.


If you (or anyone) really just wants to burn a char up to mid-levels let me know and start a character on The Bazaar server (it is an exchange server though so be warned.) I'll let you join up with one of my duo's and powerlevel you up a few levels.
tazelbain
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tazelbain


Reply #110 on: November 19, 2007, 08:11:18 AM

Sky would love Kunark if he was high enough to go there  ROFL

It looks like they put a lot more thought into zone layout in Kunark. It took about 6 hours (although I did repeat many quests for guildies) to do quests needed to get the 20k Teren's Grasp Faction needed to use the city.  It is a nice city. I went to Fens, it looks like I am going have to grind the Risilian faction so the damn rhino guards don't slaughter me.  I can see quests I can't get because of the guards.

Are the Soko routes for Fens not in the game yet or am I missing something?

"Me am play gods"
Sky
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Reply #111 on: November 19, 2007, 08:23:46 AM

On the other end of the spectrum, there's me with 14 days /played on my level 42 SK. :) Turned combat exp off at 31.

Put in about six hours over the last few days, my baby Sarnak is a level 18 bruiser now. Some comments on the new expansion.

Gorowyn. Ouch. Who thought making a city more convoluted than Kelethin was a good idea. Playing a puzzle game just to get to a quest giver is not a great thing imo. Luckily, I played a bruiser, so I could just jump down to most lower platforms. And the sysreqs...are we going backwards here? I had to make a new graphics profile to load in before I go into the city, I call it 'crap'. Trying to play at my normal graphical settings, which would chug a little in Kelethin, but were otherwise solid...well, that led to slideshows and multiple CTD.

LoN. Hey, the client is now centered on my screen. Unfortunately, still displaying with a vertical res that can't display the cards in my hand (the bottom edge of LoN is off the screen). Also, multiple CTD.

UI. Big win for the UI folks, some nice additions there. The new combat music works.

Lewtz. Holy crap. Definitely the new place to be rolling evils. The loot is ridiculously good. I wonder if it's tuned for good drops right now or something, because I got an exquisite chest of a normal non-aggro mob (that was for my class, even, the lvl 20 Mend). Also got an LoN starter pack/2-booster drop. Not sure whether to open it and hope for an item or sell it if the market demand is still strong. LoN continues to vex me with unplayable resolution and CTD. But yeah, lewtz...some of the teen-level drops I'm getting have better stats than my level 42 SK's gear (mostly mastercrafted). The Treasured drops are at least old-world Legendary quality.

I also like the new seamless zones. There's one flight path that takes you over a stretch of Timorous with a big  shipwreck, and you can see another zone in the distance. I didn't swim out to see, but it looked like I could. Not sure how much they implemented that at the high end of the spectrum, but it looks to have good potential.

edit: Oh yeah. Got my new favorite weapon. I have a gnomish spanner with my SK that was my favorite weapon, so cool to bash things with a wrench. My bruiser got a bottle of liquor weapon from a quest yesterday (Excuse me....Deadly Bottle of Whiskey). Kthunk. As in TF2, I'm a bottle-basher in EQ2! Going to hate to give that one up, getting used to the blue bottle hanging from my hip.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2007, 08:30:46 AM by Sky »
Blackluck
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Reply #112 on: November 19, 2007, 10:54:16 AM

Sky would love Kunark if he was high enough to go there  ROFL

It looks like they put a lot more thought into zone layout in Kunark. It took about 6 hours (although I did repeat many quests for guildies) to do quests needed to get the 20k Teren's Grasp Faction needed to use the city.  It is a nice city. I went to Fens, it looks like I am going have to grind the Risilian faction so the damn rhino guards don't slaughter me.  I can see quests I can't get because of the guards.

Are the Soko routes for Fens not in the game yet or am I missing something?

They are scattered about, but yes they are in the game (there's one on the bridge down the road from the entrance, e.g., and another one at the 'crafting' area even further down the road) FYI, completing the first quest from the guy at the entrance to Fens will make the rhino guards non aggro (you're faction will be -39000, but that's good enough not to get killed.)
Horik
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Reply #113 on: November 19, 2007, 11:29:39 AM



Lewtz. Holy crap. Definitely the new place to be rolling evils.

Kelethin-based good characters can easily get there, I've a level 11 High Elf Illusionist in Gorowyn right now. The only challenging thing was the run across Butcherblock to the dock/Sarnak area. You start -15000 apprehensive to Gorowyn so you can sell and get quests, the only drawback is that if your a good-only class there are no trainers there.
Sky
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Reply #114 on: November 19, 2007, 12:22:25 PM

Trainers are completely useless in EQ2. Well, not completely, they are good for the level 20,40,whatever fun spells. Who wastes money on AppII scrolls?
shiznitz
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Reply #115 on: November 20, 2007, 06:54:36 AM

So I am finally starting to see some legendary items linked in guildchat and the level channels and it seems to me that SOE has done a good job avoiding horrible mudflation with Kunark. From what I can tell, mid-T8 Legendary is about on par with T7 Fabled from KoS. That is about how it should be.  However, there is some mudflation in Treasured gear. T8 Treasured tends to have effects on it (+spell crit, +in combat power regen, +CA damage) that make it interesting.

For example, is a T8 weapon with a 68DR and +40 CA damage > T7 Fabled with 77DR? Intuitively I don't think so but they could be very close. The bottom line is that if you are in the low 70s, it still makes sense to raid EoF at the margin.

There is one badly planned (or badly intended) issue woth RoK. The EoF Fabled class armor gives bonuses to specific CAs/spells. When you upgrade those spells, the bonuses no longer apply.

For example, the Templar Fabled set with 3 pieces grants 4 extra triggers of their T7 heal over time spell. 99.9% of templars that have EoF Fabled have this at M1. If they "upgrade" the spell to T8 they lose those 4 extra triggers. Looking at the berserker set, the bonus for 3 pieces is +100 threat to Outrage, our single target taunt. A beserker needs the M1 of the T8 version to beat that.

I have no idea if this is intended or not. In the grand scheme of things, it only affects 1% of the playerbase but it is a wrinkle.

I have never played WoW.
Sky
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Reply #116 on: November 20, 2007, 08:07:39 AM

As I mentioned, the teen-level treasured is pretty nuts. It also has a chance to have those special effects, I've seen a few with +power or +health in-combat regen. Treasured gear with double-digit stat bonuses before level 20. I wouldn't start a new character anywhere else at this point, even if I liked EoF's newbie experience more overall.
UD_Delt
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Reply #117 on: November 20, 2007, 08:10:58 AM

One good thing is the easy access from Darklight Woods to Timerous Deep. You now have both zones full of 10-20 quests and gear to pick from and a pretty easy 15-20 AA's just from following quest progression in both zones.

To get back and forth:

TD -> Carpet to SS -> Carpet to Darklight - drops you off right in the main quest camp in darklight.
Soukyan
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Reply #118 on: November 20, 2007, 08:32:41 AM

One good thing is the easy access from Darklight Woods to Timerous Deep. You now have both zones full of 10-20 quests and gear to pick from and a pretty easy 15-20 AA's just from following quest progression in both zones.

To get back and forth:

TD -> Carpet to SS -> Carpet to Darklight - drops you off right in the main quest camp in darklight.

Nice tip. Will have to pop over to Darklight soon. I started an Erudite Coercer last night and am level 14 already and good god is this class fun to play. At least so far. So don't ruin my fun with tails of suckage in later levels.

"Life is no cabaret... we're inviting you anyway." ~Amanda Palmer
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shiznitz
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Reply #119 on: January 23, 2008, 09:51:50 AM

NECRO!

I just wanted to report on my first experience on probably one of the coolest RoK instances - as far as design anyway - Chelsith, home of the Yha-lei fishmen. The tweak on Chelsith is that not all the named are up every time you enter. There are three giant worm things that are there every time. Aside from them, there are 6 other locations where other nameds can appear, but only 3 will be up in any instance. This is good because the instance is not identical every time you run it. Yes, the difference is small but some variety is better than none.

The zone is reached by swimming underwater quite a bit in Jarsath Wastes, a level 75-80 outdoor zone that combines the Overthere, Skyfire Mountains and Burning Woods zones from EQ1. All the mobs in Chelsith are 81+. The Yha-lei are larger versions of the ones found in the Fens. There are also blobs that float well above the ground throughout the zone. These are amusingly referred to as "poo" by my guildmates. We also fought a giant blue frog named The Blue Baron.  The zone is impressive graphically. It has a swampy, sewery feeling to it but it not low-ceilinged at all. Lots of blues, greens, browns and yellows.

Chelsith is not a popular zone because the metal chest frequency is much less than other instances like Crypt of Agony, but if you get a metal chest then the legendary items therein are quite amazing. It is not unusual to see 2 Master spells drop from boss mob chest. That is unprecendentd in a heroic instance. Combine that loot uncertainty with the difficulty of the mobs and one can understand why it isn't popular as a PUG instance. Single pulling is also quite challenging and takes experience to do safely. The mobs hit hard: as a 77 zerk putting Intercept on our 80 guard, I could easily get bashed down to 40% health on the pull.  We did manage it quite comfortably with a single Fury healing, though. We never wiped thanks to our monk's group feign.

I won this from the giant brown goo called Mucus of the Deep One:



The effect is a 50% bonus to riposte damage which is huge for a zerker with a base 8% riposte chance and a few riposte CAs.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2008, 11:48:09 AM by shiznitz »

I have never played WoW.
Kirth
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Reply #120 on: January 23, 2008, 11:10:26 AM

Nice, Chelsith is the former capital of the Shissar according to the lore, that reflected at all? Looking forward to visiting some of these places, I'm 74 now with 100% vitally due to diminished play time. I should prolly join a guild but been putting that off for the afore mentioned play time issues.
tazelbain
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tazelbain


Reply #121 on: January 23, 2008, 02:48:34 PM

RoK was awesome for solo game but really kicks the group game in the balls. Basiclly requiring everyone to solo quest grind to 80 basicly killed the interest for those of us who like to group with our friends.

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Furiously
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Reply #122 on: January 24, 2008, 01:24:09 AM

I just joined a guild on AB and have been running COA/VOES after a raid just about every night.

I really like speed running COA with my monk, a mystic and a brigand friend of mine, usually a coercer and 2 randoms. (Did a 30 minute run a couple nights ago - one ornate chest for the 8 named in the place rest wooden.) The drop rate on masters is really horrid.

The ramp instances other then COA and VOES to an extent are really unforgiving. I've run maidens about 5 times, and sandstorm is a huge cockblock if you don't have a ton of DPS. Impaller is a horrid cockblock if you don't have a mystic with a poison ward, Sisters you really need a mezer, and Drusilla is just a really hard to time fight with her healing ability. I really need to look through my parses and see what she starts casting to put up an alert to stop dps. Then you have the great gear who is a pushover. The zone is bizarre. I like running it, you just need a "perfect" group.

I liked chelsith the one time I've run it, just a pain to get to the named. Having a hard time getting everyone in the guild keyed for korocust so I have only gone down there once.

As for raid instances have only done Tomb of Thuuga, cleared to the named a couple times and killed her Tuesday.

They really are making it hard to gear up spell wise for people. And even then the spells are not a huge upgrade.


Wahn
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Reply #123 on: January 24, 2008, 09:47:42 AM

I really need to look through my parses and see what she starts casting to put up an alert to stop dps.

If you are using ACT (http://home.maine.rr.com/eqaditu/ACT/) this might be helpful for building a custom trigger:

Code:
(?<attacker>Drusella Sathir) (?:begins to shield herself in a necromantic aura\.|is shielded in a necromantic aura!)

Drusella Sathir beginning to cast and completing her reactively healing cage. (30s+)

(From the ACT RegEx forum)

Furiously
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Reply #124 on: January 24, 2008, 12:00:55 PM

 Heart U.

Thanks.

Bandit
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Reply #125 on: January 25, 2008, 05:55:24 AM

I came into the expansion with mostly fabled/legendary equipment - so I figured I wouldn't be able to upgrade equipment anytime soon. I wouldn't have even bothered to check the crafted gear, until someone linked a piece in chat. Wow! the mastercrafted armour is excellent though! Much better than any of the quest equipment I have seen thus far (now 77).  I got my full imbued melodic chain set for a total of 5 plat. The mitigation was not as high as my original gear - but the stats, especially the +combat damage, +spell damage are unreal.
shiznitz
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Reply #126 on: January 25, 2008, 10:27:57 AM

The quest gear is mostly Treasured and kind of crappy, agreed. As a plate tank, equipment upgrades other than jewelry have been non-existent outside of instances.  Most of the stuff out of Labs is better than the solo quest rewards in KP, Fens and KJ. This is how it should be, though, or mudflation would be insane. I definitely find myself choosing between mitigation and a bit more dps quite a bit with RoK loot. I like that.

I have never played WoW.
Sky
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Reply #127 on: January 25, 2008, 11:11:57 AM

Mastercrafted armor got a boost in a recent patch. My poor solo wretches actually have some decent gear now.
Surlyboi
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eat a bag of dicks


Reply #128 on: January 25, 2008, 12:30:29 PM

Yeah, I've been using MC stuff and it's solid.

Tuned in, immediately get to watch cringey Ubisoft talking head offering her deepest sympathies to the families impacted by the Orlando shooting while flanked by a man in a giraffe suit and some sort of "horrifically garish neon costumes through the ages" exhibit or something.  We need to stop this fucking planet right now and sort some shit out. -Kail
Numtini
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Reply #129 on: January 25, 2008, 06:25:04 PM

I just joined a guild on AB and have been running COA/VOES after a raid just about every night.

Don't suppose it's early EST? My time zone is killing me.

If you can read this, you're on a board populated by misogynist assholes.
Furiously
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Reply #130 on: January 25, 2008, 08:28:26 PM

Late night PST.  Raids start at 8 PST and end at 11 generally.  So run instances until 1 or so.

Furiously
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Reply #131 on: January 29, 2008, 06:40:52 AM

did protector's realm last night cleared it through Coilfang. Fun zone.

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