/ooc 65 Monk LFG!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 14, 2002, 1:44 am

http://eqlive.station.sony.com/communit ... p?id=51678

The Planes of Power development team has been working hard to ensure development is on schedule and things are looking really fantastic. Initially, we wanted to avoid mentioning too much too soon; unfortunately the lack of details has lead, at least in part, to an increase in rumors as we get closer to the release of Planes of Power. We'd like to put some of those rumors to rest and give you a general outline of some of the things we have planned.

For Planes of Power there will be two forms of character advancement: level increase and Planar Advancement.

The level cap will increase to 65. Those levels will have inherent benefits much like previous levels. However, they will not be exactly the same. The rate of advancement in character levels is designed to feel more natural and not take the punishing time commitment required between 51 and 60. We understand the frustration that painfully long levels can cause, and hope not to repeat that experience for players. This, combined with the new bonuses for fighting higher level opponents, should make leveling seem less like something that you have to do and more like something that just happens as you play.

Level advancement is closely tied to Planar Advancement. The systems compliment each other. Planar advancement includes extensions on the Alternate Advancement system, along with new abilities for all classes. Advancing your character is a combination of traditional leveling and advancement through planar abilities. Players who enjoy pure leveling can do so, and people that prefer a combination of level advancement and investment in specific abilities can do that as well.

That's the basic plan for advancement in Planes of Power. We'll continue to refine and tune the specific details as we go through the remaining six weeks of beta testing.

Many of the game balancing and system changes you've seen in Live EverQuest over the last few months have been done with this future advancement in mind. Expect to see more balancing that allows us to once again develop high end content that does not involve marathon battles that are more about attendance and endurance than tactics and skill (e.g. The first time people rounded the corner, stared Trakanon square in the face, and knew they had mere minutes to win or lose, as opposed to the second hour of an end-game encounter.) Creating Planes of Power has been as much about reevaluating existing gameplay as it has been about creating new gameplay.

We believe that advancement should be fun and rewarding. We are very aware of the issues that players are not enjoying in current gameplay and some of the mechanics introduced with other expansions. We plan to avoid contrived "timesinks", so that you'll be playing rather than just spending time. This is not to say that success in Planes of Power doesn't require some time, we just want it to be time that you can enjoy. And even though this is a high level expansion, there will be ways for both casual and hardcore players to advance.

That is as much detail as we can give you right now. We appreciate your patience, and we hope that you'll enjoy Planes of Power.

- The Planes of Power Development Team

Krurk · Post by **Krurk** » September 14, 2002, 2:31 am

If it makes you feel any better, Bordael just started working on PoP this week. Considering I had to spend 45 minutes one day explaining to him not only how most of the high end mobs in eq work, but where they are located, I am quite confident we will indeed get a quality product.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » September 14, 2002, 2:44 am

My money is still on the monkey.

Raistin · Post by **Raistin** » September 14, 2002, 6:08 am

Guess with your hard top of the line info, he will be up to date huh.

Drolgin Steingrinder · September 14, 2002, 2:49 pm

/ooc No thanks! Ever since the dev's stopped playing monks and started playing BSTs and Necros, monks have sucked ... any 64+ Necros with the 2nd generation duckstick LFG? ST PLZ PLZ!

Vaemas · Post by **Vaemas** » September 14, 2002, 2:52 pm

2nd gen duckstick? You mean the one that is the 30 second cast, single-target DMF?

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » September 14, 2002, 5:47 pm

I'd like to say that this change totally, truly depresses me... it took me a freaking year to go from 52 to 60.. and now I've got to do 5 more levels again to get my resists on the top of things for raids? You know it's going to be a guild requirement. Goodbye AA, hello normal exp? This also implies that some zones in PoP are going to be designed for group exp, not just raiding.. tho I'm going to have a really big problem if i have to spend 3 months getting through half a dozen planes to get to an exp zone.

This is about as depressing as it is disgusting...

Ebumar · Post by **Ebumar** » September 14, 2002, 5:58 pm

Then follow after me, and quit the game.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 14, 2002, 6:31 pm

Can I have your stuff??

Katria · Post by **Katria** » September 15, 2002, 2:11 am

Better yet, don't buy the expansion. Save money, save time and show Verant that you won't buy half finished steaming turds anymore.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 15, 2002, 6:46 am

Katria wrote:Better yet, don't buy the expansion. Save money, save time and show Verant that you won't buy half finished steaming turds anymore.

I don't think Verant would be too heartbroken. They're focus is on SWG and EQ2. PoP won't make them as much $$ as getting new monthly subs to SWG and EQ2 soon. They'll still get your $$ every month for EQ whether you buy PoP or not unless of course you cancel your acct.

murr · Post by **murr** » September 15, 2002, 11:02 pm

Katria wrote:Better yet, don't buy the expansion. Save money, save time and show Verant that you won't buy half finished steaming turds anymore.

Better better yet, make your own half finished steaming turds =p