What do you think of LDoN?

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » September 9, 2003, 11:16 pm

Didn't buy it yet, won't have time until the weekend regadless

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » September 9, 2003, 11:56 pm

a bit early to ask this

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » September 10, 2003, 12:30 am

I think it has some pretty cool stuff with it, but I can see where folks who don't have a tight group of friends might get frustrated with it.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » September 10, 2003, 12:55 am

The mostmoore zones are a paladin's dream come true.
Call me the chubster.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » September 10, 2003, 1:00 am

are the undead zones set up so you basically NEED a pally to do them?

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » September 10, 2003, 8:50 am

No but I'm not going to lie to you that having a paladin who's getting random 4k slay hits against every single inhabitant is a bad thing.

Kindo · Post by **Kindo** » September 10, 2003, 9:08 am

Had a ton of fun last night, but haven't seen a whole lot yet. If last night is any indication though, this expansion is the best ever. It was so refreshing (as a cleric) to be able to summon my hammer and go to town right along with the melee. I'm looking forward to trying the undead areas!

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » September 10, 2003, 10:58 am

if you need a paladin to kill an undead mob you got problems

Pahreyia · Post by **Pahreyia** » September 10, 2003, 11:17 am

I enjoyed every minute of my first run through deepest guk. My group sucked ass and I ended up tanking some necro boss that hit for 850s from 70% to 4%. If the cleric had tossed a supernal light instead of supernal elixer when I was at 10% there, all would have been well.

Decent loots, tons of fun crawling again, stuff was challenging, but not too difficult, and no problems with steamrolling/camp checks/lootmongering.

Top notch release on this one too.

Drolgin Steingrinder · September 10, 2003, 12:41 pm

I foresee this expansion becoming the epitomy of repetitiveness

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » September 10, 2003, 2:20 pm

i'll probably do each of the dungeons a couple of times to check them out.

i'm not saving up 1500 mission points or something stupid like that though. no thanks.

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » September 10, 2003, 2:39 pm

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote:I foresee this expansion becoming the epitomy of repetitiveness

Isn't that what sitting in one camp and killing the same mobs over and over and over and over and over and over is?

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » September 10, 2003, 3:17 pm

Every adventure that I have won or loss has been due entirely to Crowd Control issues. I see Enchanters being the number 1 most requested class for LDoN groups. With a slower, druids heal fine on regular. Plan on multiple pulls every single time. Be happy if you only have one or two adds.

I think it will take some getting used to for many, but so far I really enjoy this expansion.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 10, 2003, 4:00 pm

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote:I foresee this expansion becoming the epitomy of repetitiveness

What's not the expansion. It's the entire MMORPG genre.

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » September 10, 2003, 4:40 pm

being able to take 4-6 people to your own private zone is the fucking win. it'll be repetitive (exping usually is tt), but omfg, no more U STOL MY MOBZ AHOEL or U TRAIND US FUKER.

the WIN i say.

win win win.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » September 10, 2003, 4:47 pm

I foresee this expansion becoming the epitomy of repetitiveness
What's not the expansion. It's the entire MMORPG genre.

Heh, I'd probably have quit last year if I didn't get hooked playing my beastlord. The prospect of grinding away in the same PooP zones on my enchanter over and over wasn't something that looked at all like fun.

I've gone through all of LoY and most of SolC and ChardokB so far on her (the bst), LDoN should keep me interested for a bit longer.

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » September 10, 2003, 5:29 pm

The best part of LDoN........

No 'Asshats of Lore' in your zone. Haters and his merry band of assclowns can only train themselves.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » September 14, 2003, 2:45 am

This expansion is teh suck.

If you can't train anyone, or steal anyone's mobs.. where the fook will the VV flames come from? Jeez.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » September 14, 2003, 2:55 am

we still have pop progression flames to look foward to

Gemily · Post by **Gemily** » September 14, 2003, 10:38 pm

I love it. Being a battle cleric is a lot of fun. And the Vampire Castle adventures are awsome.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » September 15, 2003, 8:24 am

I had the most fun I've had in a long time with EQ this weekend. I got all excited when I saw the +2 fire damage thingy for sale, then I noticed you had to have 30+ delay to use it

Played my bard for one run through, I'm pretty sure it was the first time I'd ever played him in a group

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » September 16, 2003, 2:00 am

Alright fill me in, I knew instancing would be cool...

What are mission points for, how often do you get them?

What are these +2 fire damage weapons for delay 30 plus, it's like an add on to existing weapons? Is it 2 hp damage or 2 damage like make a 17/25 into a 19/25? What other type of add-ons are there?

I heard something about chests inside dungeons...do they drop from mobs or part of the dungeon? Do they hold loot? Valuable loot or like 10 pp?..like can you skip a short hall with 5 mobs to have the rogue sneak in and grab a small loot and sneak back to the rest of you while you were medding?

Anything else unusual....how do you feel about these add-ons? Are they going to make people too uber?

Do you like the layout of the zones?

Are they difficult? Or too easy?

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » September 16, 2003, 8:43 am

Ok.
There are 4 main "adventure" types. You get points for completing them sucessfully, or lower points for completing 30 minutes after the initial hour and a half has been completed.

You have collection: pretty easy, walk in and kill everything. When you get a certian number of X item (a randomly generated ND NR thing) you win.

You have rescue: Supposedly, you hunt for a NPC and get him / her / it back to the zone in. I've never done one sucessfully, so..

You have assissination: Your goal is to kill a good 20, 30 some mobs then you will have a named boss spawn. When he does, you hunt him / her / it down and kill it.

And my favorite, and arguably the easiest: Extermination. It's what it sounds.. you're given a number of mobs to kill to win, and then you go do just that. Find them, and kill them.

As for item augs, you have (generally) two types. You have +6 stat mods that randomly drop off of any spawn in the dungeons that grant +6 to any stat and fit in the basic slot.. that sounds wierd, but it makes sense when you consider that outside of time loot, all of your non LDoN loot gains a Type 1 slot - which the +6 mods fit perfectly in.

Mission points let you buy armor, other augments, weapons, spells, ect at the wayfarer's camp. The more points, the bigger the reward.. supposedly, some of the items in the 1k - 1400 range are comparable to elemental armor in stats. I don't think these items are goign to unbalance anyone... I was told that the high end plate BP is about 1450 points. That's ~30 wins in a single dungeon set for an item. If you're not decent enough to start with, you're not going to get that kind of upgrade for a long time..

The zones are well laid out. I've mainly kept my head in MM - better rewards for my class, anda shitload of undead which just makes me purr - but brief trips into Deepest Guk and Takish have shown some fun things. Really beautiful, love the new npc models, ect.

The weapon augments add everything from Guard abilities to actaul damage mods.. and yes, can turn a 12 30 into a 14 30.. or other weapon comparable.

Chests are a pain in the ass. They're trapped, and usually traped (from what I can tell) in a way that is just opposite of what you bring to the group.. IE: bring a rogue, and it's going to be a spelltrap.. being a caster, it's going to be mechanical. The traps themselves vary from quick DDs to driving you ingame drunk in a second. If there is any great loot from them, I've yet to see it.

Think that sums it.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » September 16, 2003, 8:48 am

The zones are just about right I think, with a "non-optimal" group you can finish if everyone is on the ball. With a strong group you can get the mission set to hard and get better loot\exp. You get missions to collect 30 whatevers, or assasinate the zone boss, or rescue some goober and have 90 minutes to complete.

For which you get adventure points, in addition to pretty good exp and about 250pp each from cash, gems etc...

The adventure points can be used to buy items that add damage and\or a proc to weapons, or stats like CR, wis and such. There's regen and haste items that can be added to just about every slot too. I don't see it getting unbalancing, as you can save your pp and by most of whats available in the bazaar.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » September 16, 2003, 12:30 pm

Eh, I wouldn't say the exp is great.
An hour and a half in Tactics, good group.. 70-80% of an AA, easily, sometimes less time than that. PoV Inner, 2hrs a AA. BoT DS or CY, 1hr30 AA.. CoD undead, 2hrs15. MM advent.. 1% aa per mob, usual max is about 60 mobs to kill in any given zone before you complete the advent and that's if you stretch it. The mobs die faster but hit for about the same... so I'd call it about less than what you can get from a Tactics / BoT / Inner Cave group, and that's completly ignoring the AA availability in the elementals.

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » September 16, 2003, 12:39 pm

Do you guys find it hard to do events if your in a raid guild?

Previously if I got called to a raid I could leave the group and attend, usually it took like 10 mins to find a cleric replacement but I travel kinda fast so I didn't hold anything up....I imagine less desirable classes could leave almost instantly before without upsetting people.

But if a mission is 60-90 mins long...and you get called out 30 mins into it...you can't get a replacement cleric can you? Is that causing any issues?

Wulfran · Post by **Wulfran** » September 16, 2003, 1:38 pm

I agree with some of whats been said here.

on the pro side:

- its nice to have your own private dungeon without the LOIO Syndrome (as Sunserae mentioned).
- the different themes are all kinda cool
- the mobs on regular dont hit as hard as POP Trash so you don't need the Perfect Group to be sucessful
- seeing coin drops off exp mobs is nice again

on the con:

- itemization for drops and rewards sucks ass hardcore
- there is a limited number of floor plans (although different mission types make the adventure a little different even in the same floor plan)

Haven't done a raid so I can't comment on them

Mawafu · Post by **Mawafu** » September 16, 2003, 2:23 pm

Pretty much agree with what has been said so far except about AA. I did 12 adventures on Sunday (~30 mins each, normal, ass/slay missions) and got 6AA. Outside of elemental planes I would say that's pretty damn good.

As far as loot, yea it sucks so far. I have yet to do a raid so we'll see when the time comes.

As for item augs, you have (generally) two types. You have +6 stat mods that randomly drop off of any spawn in the dungeons that grant +6 to any stat and fit in the basic slot.. that sounds wierd, but it makes sense when you consider that outside of time loot, all of your non LDoN loot gains a Type 1 slot - which the +6 mods fit perfectly in.

These augs can be put into anything, including Time items, as they are marked any type.

Ennia · Post by **Ennia** » September 16, 2003, 3:01 pm

if one of your group members in an andventure leaves or goes afk for longer than 1-2 minutes you're pretty much screwed, timer is ticking regardless what you do. Once you enter the dungeon.

Last night I was in a pick up group, we zone into the dungeon, enchanter goes LD (he never came back), 50 minutes into killing 2 other members decide this dungeon/exp suck and run back to exit, zone, log (one of them took all loot with him

)

me warrior and cleric decided to get as far as we could although we knew we will fail at this point, yeah it sucked but that's what I get for fooling around with pick up groups I guess

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » September 16, 2003, 3:19 pm

I've had pretty good luck with PU groups, surprisingly enough. 4 wins, 1 partial.

Though the next time someone says "Oops" after looting something nodrop, I'm going to gate right then and there...

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » September 16, 2003, 4:35 pm

I wasnt totally clear they were timed...that kinda does make AFK's a pain in the ass. Then again usually someone can book 60 mins straight of play time...with just maybe a piss break or a 5 sec run for a soda.

I imagine uber groups can get through these missions quicker as well.

Is there a bonus exp reward for completing the mission?

How many points is an average mission worth in points at level 65?

Is there further bonuses for clearing the mission in a shorter time?

Mort · Post by **Mort** » September 16, 2003, 5:58 pm

Aabidano wrote:Though the next time someone says "Oops" after looting something nodrop, I'm going to gate right then and there...

Grrrr.... My 1st LDoN crawl, the 4-5th mob dropped a 6int aug and a druid looted it "Accidentally". The pain.....

Kudo · Post by **Kudo** » September 16, 2003, 10:10 pm

This expansion rocks, seriously.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=23471

check that out~ seriously, awesome loot for like taking 20 dungeon crawls to get, plus you get all the augs from the crawls / loot~

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » September 17, 2003, 8:02 am

It's pretty funny, I keep hearing people talk about how it's nice to get loot exping. Besides being boring it's one of the reasons I've avoided PooP as long as I have on my bst. Yes there are drops there, but you don't get the ~250pp an hour + random semi-useful drops.

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » September 18, 2003, 1:10 pm

Yeah that is a nice BP, I would have worn it no doubt and it seems like something I could earn in a week. I was still wearing the kael quests BP.

Can you tell me more about slots, I see type 2 and type 3...I assume type 1 is the +6 stat augs I keep hearing about..what is type 2 and 3?