Eadric
07-19-2005, 09:19 PM
<DIV>On 6/21 <FONT color=#ff0000><STRONG>Gallenite</STRONG> </FONT>posted a producer's letter. Within he stated:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Gallenite wrote:<BR> <DIV><B><I><FONT color=#ffff00>Combat and Items: Diversity, Challenge, and Rewards</FONT> </I></B> <P align=justify>Class diversity, class roles, and the challenge that the world presents have been major topics that we come back to a lot when talking with people about their experiences in EverQuest II. As many of you know, we're nearly in testing with some pretty large combat and abilities improvements aimed at addressing many of common concerns about what people experience in the game:</P> <DIV align=justify> <UL> <LI>In some cases, classes aren't diverse enough. People get pigeonholed into one of four core roles with not enough useful flavor between the subclasses.<BR></LI> <LI>In other cases, a profession's secondary contribution is better than another profession's primary contribution.<BR></LI> <LI>In other cases yet, even inside of an archetype, there are distinct differences between people's ability to contribute at the level they're supposed to.<BR></LI> <LI>Some combinations of abilities are a bit too effective, causing some of the end-game to get into the realm of trivial and, therefore, boring. This is one of the most frequent causes of burnout at the high end of EQ2. People figure out "the trick" and there just "isn't any challenge left." While issues like this won't impact the majority of people, it should come as a relief to those on the high end.</LI></UL></DIV> <P align=justify><FONT color=#ffff00>An update on our progress will be showing up on Test Server for public evaluation some time in the next couple weeks, and we'll be paying very close attention to the feedback of those who've played with it.</FONT></P> <P align=justify>One thing that everyone should be aware of: In our discussions with people on this topic, we're definitely aware that there has been a certain amount of apprehension to what we've been doing. Anything that's an unknown that touches a topic like "combat" or "spells" gets people nervous. While there will definitely be some changes, please be assured that we're not looking to drastically alter the fundamentals that make EQ2 fun.</P> <P align=justify>We want to make it very clear that we're paying attention to people's concerns. In everything that we're doing with this revamp, we are proceeding <B><I>very </I></B>cautiously, which is why you haven't seen anything rushed out to the live servers, or even rushed out to public test, for that matter.</P> <P align=justify>All of our work in this area can be turned on and off with a switch, as we've been doing on Test Server over the few past updates. When we're in the middle of working on areas that really need to be finished all at once before a part if it makes sense, we just turn it off.</P> <P align=justify>In addition, everyone will be getting the ability to respec all of their traits, traditions, and the like once this update does go live.</P> <P align=justify>Good hunting,</P> <P align=justify>- Scott<BR> <HR> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>It has been about a month now and still we haven't seen this happen. Can we maybe get an update as to what is going on? Also, this secion of the Producer's Letter indicated it was going to talk about Rewards but never did. Is there finally going to be an update on the rate of master drops from raids?</DIV>