Does announcement of Neriak and new race mean RoK to be all high end?

[ximo]

I wondered this when the Neriak stuff started surfacing. Many hoped that RoK or whatever it is wil be focussed on 60-80 (or whatever cap raise) and be of a similar size to eof, but many pointed out that it surely must have a newbie/starter area and so surely but have some lower content, or content for all levels, akin to EoF. Just wondering with the announcement in the producers letter, as it seems we now have the lowbie/starter area for new evil race solved -  is the way is now paved for a decent expansion aimed purely at higher tiers (yes DoF and KoS were but look like adventure packs next to the content/size of EoF in some ways)

[valkyrja]

I'm hoping that since it's connected to commonlands, there is no reason for it to be mostly newbie stuff.  So long as they give safe passage from the city area to the CL it would be ok.

[Cusashorn]

Hopefully it'll be the same amount of high end content that KoS gives, but has that much more for low level zones too, making it a huge expansion.

[Degron]

Neriak is free content. Everyone will get it. Thus it is not part of Kunark. =P Thats much later....

[TheGReddy]

<p>Im guessing the Darklight Woods will be level 1-20 content since Neriak will be a new starting zone. Easy access to Nek Forest which is 20-30 content. </p><p>What i am hoping is that there will be high end content inside Neriak itself. I mean apart from the newbie starter zones, there will be areas with quests where you can find out more about what happened to Neriak and hopefully go into dungeons or instances deeper in the city for high level content. Like some zones that tie into lore about the conspiracy/plot of queen thex against the king and prince. But not sure if SoE would ever want to do that...<img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[ximo]

Ok, my original post was not all that clear, I was not referring to the new Neriak content. I was simply suggesting the Rok when released, might be an expansion comaprable to EoF in size that focuses on high tiers only. Some people have stated RoK must include the long talked about new evil race and starting city, but now that issue has been solved with the Neriak content I was wondering if the higher tier players wish will be granted with the next expansion...... <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Winter]

<p>I could be incorrect, but I don't feel that they would put out an expansion consisting of ONLY high level material. The team has been very fair with content distribution - moreso than most dev teams, for sure.  I think it is likely that the expansion will have a lot of higher end content, but I am confident that there will be some lower level stuff as well. I, personally mind you, wouldn't blame them if they mostly went with higher level content this time around - you can only create so much mid-level content before the game is saturated with it. I would think it fairly safe to assume that long time players have very high or even max level characters. Granted, I'm just pointing out my logic - I tend to write in a stream of consciousness.</p><p>That said, they have been adding things to the game constantly. Heck, the addition of Neriak and the Arasai adds a bit more for the 1-20 range. I'm sure it won't be the last content added between expansions. They will keep it balanced, no matter what they do.</p><p>On top of that, they have been improving the very basics, from combat down to the AI. They've got the ongoing project of streamlining the models, etc...</p><p>I've played a vast majority of the popular mmorpg's out there and I can honestly say that the dev team for EQ II has, by far, been one of the most dedicated to its player base. They do listen, and they take our best interest into consideration (of course, keeping their business plan in mind is necessary as well)...</p><p>Anyway, enough rambling from me - it are beddy-bye timings for teh Winwin! *hugs*</p>

[NorrinRadd]

<p>I'm hoping all Levels will get areas to adventure in with this soon to be released content,EQ2 seems to be grabbing a nice share of the WoW & Vanguard(judging by posts on forums) crowd, so the Devs giving them more areas to play as well as the veteran players seems brilliant. The future of this game really is looking very bright right about now.<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Catsy]

I'm just excited at the possibility of an evil starting city that isn't absolutely horrible to get around in. The main reason I don't play evil characters is that I can't stand the convoluted and winding street layout of Freeport. The extra content and new starting race are gravy.

[Nocifer Deathblade]

<p>I can't imagine that ROK is for 60-80 only considering the fact original ROK of EQ1 was for 1-60..</p><p>It probably would be for 30 or 40-80 instead of only 60-80..  Since ROK might not have any starting city, it can skip newbie zones completely giving more room for higher contents like 20+ or 30+ which would be fun..  We got too many newbie zones already anyway. Neriak using CL as newbie zone is pretty smart thing to do.. So don't waste space in ROK to do the same thing..  Neriak is one of most popular evil city in EQ1 and it's smart to add that for EQ2 while using same CL zone.  Brilliant way to save time to do it..  </p><p>When EOF came out, I don't play much in Gfay and BM at all but played at higher end contents as veteran gamer. I guess SOE that it was "average" for veterans to skip those contents so remove those level range contents for ROK to keep veterans players' interests to last longer while luring in new players to try Neriak out at no cost..</p>

[Vukota]

<p>I would hope that RoK is primarily nothing but 60-80 content. There is a TON of low level content and zones now...if you don't think so check out the Allakhazam zone listing. </p><p>While I am happy that a new starting city is being introduced to balance the good vs evil starting cities...the level 70 crowd struggles for ways to keep themselves entertained. </p><p>And no I am not referring to hard-core gamers...I am referring to folks who are casual and have maxed level and aa's. </p>

[Sartredes]

Sotanyavejin@Guk wrote: <blockquote>I'm just excited at the possibility of an evil starting city that isn't absolutely horrible to get around in. The main reason I don't play evil characters is that I can't stand the convoluted and winding street layout of Freeport. The extra content and new starting race are gravy. </blockquote> Well if the layout of Neriak is anything like the layout in EQLive, I wouldn't expect that it wouldn't be any easier.  Considering it's underground and your likely not to have extremely large open areas, I expect that there may be a convoluted system of tunnels  connecting areas of Neriak.

[Emlar_from_Halas]

Nocifer Deathblade wrote: <blockquote><p>I can't imagine that ROK is for 60-80 only considering the fact original ROK of EQ1 was for 1-60..</p><p>It probably would be for 30 or 40-80 instead of only 60-80..  Since ROK might not have any starting city, it can skip newbie zones completely giving more room for higher contents like 20+ or 30+ which would be fun..  We got too many newbie zones already anyway. Neriak using CL as newbie zone is pretty smart thing to do.. So don't waste space in ROK to do the same thing..  Neriak is one of most popular evil city in EQ1 and it's smart to add that for EQ2 while using same CL zone.  Brilliant way to save time to do it..  </p><p>When EOF came out, I don't play much in Gfay and BM at all but played at higher end contents as veteran gamer. I guess SOE that it was "average" for veterans to skip those contents so remove those level range contents for ROK to keep veterans players' interests to last longer while luring in new players to try Neriak out at no cost..</p></blockquote><p>You are right, though Kunark was the very first extension for EQ1 and had to address new joiners as well. But EQ2 already got 3 with one of it addressing 1-70 characters (EoF ). But as someone else already mentioned, the main point is that most players (at least whose that have been playing for 2 and half years) already have HL characters and are looking for T7-T8 content. Even though we all took pleasure to (re)discover Faydark, I cannot believe most of us share the same kind of nostalgy for Cabilis (unless you played an Iksar in EQ1).</p><p>Let's focus on high level content . Please dear devs.</p>

[RaistNA]

id expect to see high end content only, on par with DoF maybe.  I see a possible series of expansion ideas sorta like release (all content lvls, then DoF, then KoS, then all content lvls again).

[Occam]

Nocifer Deathblade wrote: <blockquote><p>I can't imagine that ROK is for 60-80 only considering the fact original ROK of EQ1 was for 1-60..</p><p>It probably would be for 30 or 40-80 instead of only 60-80..</p></blockquote><p> While EQ2 is based on EQ1, they are completely different games. You can't accurately base any assumptions about future EQ2 content on EQ1.</p><p>That said, I will now be a complete hypocrate as I use EQ1 to base an assumption about the upcoming RoK expansion in EQ2 <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. Kunark was HUGE in comparison to Feydwer in EQ1. IF (emphasis on the "if&quot<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> they chose to include as much EQ1 Kunark content in the expansion as they did Feydwer content in EoF, then it would be an enormous expansion. I hope they do, Kunark was my favorite expansion in EQ1.</p>

[Graton]

<cite>Winter wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I could be incorrect, but I don't feel that they would put out an expansion consisting of ONLY high level material. The team has been very fair with content distribution - moreso than most dev teams, for sure.  I think it is likely that the expansion will have a lot of higher end content, but I am confident that there will be some lower level stuff as well. I, personally mind you, wouldn't blame them if they mostly went with higher level content this time around - you can only create so much mid-level content before the game is saturated with it. I would think it fairly safe to assume that long time players have very high or even max level characters. Granted, I'm just pointing out my logic - I tend to write in a stream of consciousness.</p><p>That said, they have been adding things to the game constantly. Heck, the addition of Neriak and the Arasai adds a bit more for the 1-20 range. I'm sure it won't be the last content added between expansions. They will keep it balanced, no matter what they do.</p><p>On top of that, they have been improving the very basics, from combat down to the AI. They've got the ongoing project of streamlining the models, etc...</p><p>I've played a vast majority of the popular mmorpg's out there and I can honestly say that the dev team for EQ II has, by far, been one of the most dedicated to its player base. They do listen, and they take our best interest into consideration (of course, keeping their business plan in mind is necessary as well)...</p><p>Anyway, enough rambling from me - it are beddy-bye timings for teh Winwin! *hugs*</p></blockquote>well i'm going to guess you're a fairly new player because adding an expansion that is to quote you "consisting of ONLY high level material" is more the norm than the exception. Both Desert of Flames and Kingdom of Sky added a new tier and had content nearly exclusively for only that tier. DoF - lvl cap goes from 50 to 60. There was some content for mid 40's ( sinking sands). all instances dungeons started at lvl 50. you could argue that low levels could go to Majdul but "and do what" would be my question. all the quests except grifters were for higher lvls. sure you could avoid aggro mobs and walk around but to what end. KOS - lvl cap goes from 60 to 70. There was some content for mid 50's ( tenebrous ). all instances and dungeons started at lvl 60 and went up from there. my prediction would be as follows: if RoK raises the lvl cap ( horrible idea imo ) 10 levels to 80. RoK will be exclusively 65 to lvl 80 content if RoK raises the lvl cap but the tier system is trashed ( better idea but still not my favorite ) and the cap goes to 75, RoK will be lvl 55+ content if RoK does not raise the cap at all but adds only AA's , god abilities, class specialization , etc. it will be very much like EoF in having a wider lvl range but still no more than 40 +

[Taicheese]

<p>EoF came out, they added zones for T1-7... why wouldnt they do the same for next expansion?</p><p>but on the other hand... eq1 had many expansions directed to high end content and i could see them doing this to coerce the raiders and people who have already done everything in the game. you know, try and keep them around. cause i honestly can see if they only add 3-5 zones for the raiders... it will be quickly mastered and we will get hungry for more.</p>

[Controlor]

Nocifer Deathblade wrote: <blockquote><p>I can't imagine that ROK is for 60-80 only considering the fact original ROK of EQ1 was for 1-60..</p><p>It probably would be for 30 or 40-80 instead of only 60-80..  Since ROK might not have any starting city, it can skip newbie zones completely giving more room for higher contents like 20+ or 30+ which would be fun..  We got too many newbie zones already anyway. Neriak using CL as newbie zone is pretty smart thing to do.. So don't waste space in ROK to do the same thing..  Neriak is one of most popular evil city in EQ1 and it's smart to add that for EQ2 while using same CL zone.  Brilliant way to save time to do it..  </p><p>When EOF came out, I don't play much in Gfay and BM at all but played at higher end contents as veteran gamer. I guess SOE that it was "average" for veterans to skip those contents so remove those level range contents for ROK to keep veterans players' interests to last longer while luring in new players to try Neriak out at no cost..</p></blockquote>Just because it was a lvl 1-60 zone means LITTLE to NOTHING in this game. Sorry i dont mean to knock you but i will give you some examples. Unrest is 65-70 zone in EQ2. 15-30 zone in EQ1. Nek forest 20-30 zone in EQ2. 1-10 zone in EQ1. Castle MM 65-70 zone in EQ2. 30-40 zone in EQ1. (if memory serves might be 35-45) Permafrost 35-50 zone in EQ2. 1-15 zone in EQ1 The list goes on. Basically if your comparing eq2 vs eq1 all zones are at a higher lvl base than they were in e1. So it is very natural to think that this will be a 60+ expansion.(specially since there is no noobie zones).

[dieschatten]

Einfach in ROK 2 neue Städe einführen, gut und böse. Dann pro stadt 2 Gebiete je T zum Leveln mit Quest und so. Das durchziehen bis t8, dann ab level 30 2 - 3 Instanzen pro T. Mehr Verbindungen zu alten Zonen schaffen, Quest die durch alle Zonen gehen, nicht immer nur die Epic linien. Dann im T8 1 - 2 Raid Zonen die so auf 4 - 5 Stunden ausgelegt sind und 4 - 5 Zonen die so ne Stunde dauern. Dann Epic quest durch alle Zonen. MEhr Loot für die Leute. Warum baut man Set items ein wenn wohl niemand das Set jemanls komplett hat. Vieleicht ein paar aber 90% der Leute am Server sicher nicht.

[gravemo]

<p>There's a rumor that the Sarnak might be a playable race in this thread: <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=360458" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=360458</a> in RoK. So they could add a small amount of low end content, enough to get the ball rolling. Say your newbie starter zone to 20ish like Gfay and then a BBM style 20-35 area and then go higher end from there allowing characters to move on to other established areas.</p>

[Nocifer Deathblade]

<cite>Controlor wrote:</cite><blockquote>Nocifer Deathblade wrote: <blockquote><p>I can't imagine that ROK is for 60-80 only considering the fact original ROK of EQ1 was for 1-60..</p><p>It probably would be for 30 or 40-80 instead of only 60-80..  Since ROK might not have any starting city, it can skip newbie zones completely giving more room for higher contents like 20+ or 30+ which would be fun..  We got too many newbie zones already anyway. Neriak using CL as newbie zone is pretty smart thing to do.. So don't waste space in ROK to do the same thing..  Neriak is one of most popular evil city in EQ1 and it's smart to add that for EQ2 while using same CL zone.  Brilliant way to save time to do it..  </p><p>When EOF came out, I don't play much in Gfay and BM at all but played at higher end contents as veteran gamer. I guess SOE that it was "average" for veterans to skip those contents so remove those level range contents for ROK to keep veterans players' interests to last longer while luring in new players to try Neriak out at no cost..</p></blockquote>Just because it was a lvl 1-60 zone means LITTLE to NOTHING in this game. Sorry i dont mean to knock you but i will give you some examples. Unrest is 65-70 zone in EQ2. 15-30 zone in EQ1. Nek forest 20-30 zone in EQ2. 1-10 zone in EQ1. Castle MM 65-70 zone in EQ2. 30-40 zone in EQ1. (if memory serves might be 35-45) Permafrost 35-50 zone in EQ2. 1-15 zone in EQ1 The list goes on. Basically if your comparing eq2 vs eq1 all zones are at a higher lvl base than they were in e1. So it is very natural to think that this will be a 60+ expansion.(specially since there is no noobie zones). </blockquote><p>Huh? I never said ROK for EQ2 should be 1-60 just cuz EQ1 has the same thing.. I only said that I find it hard to imagine that ROK for EQ2 is restricted to 60 to 80 Only.. I am already aware of EQ2 zones above that you mentioned and the level difference. Cuz of above that you mentioned, I estimated that ROK of EQ2 would be either 30 or 40 to 80. That's my safe bet. I can safely assume that ROK EQ2 won't have any newbie zones just thanks to Neriak so that would remove 1-20, 30, or 40 zones entirely.. I usually use EQ1 as baseline for estimating EQ2 using EQ2 existing ranges of zones for speculation estimation. You can disagree or agree with me. I don't give a crap cuz it's only pure speculation. No one is right or wrong til we actually receive official announcement from SOE. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Some other posters said EQ1 and EQ2 are entirely different game. Not ENTIRELY.. EQ2 got so much same names from EQ2 as well as classes, races. history, etc.. So I disgree that its ENTIRELY different game other than the feel of combat and graphic and some other new things that came to EQ1 or EQ2 separately. If you said WOW and EQ1 or EQ2 are entirely different game then I WOULD AGREE! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> EQ2 and EQ1 are closely linked to each other than EQ1 would be to WOW.. I play EQ1 for 8 years and now playing EQ2 since launch. I felt much more related to EQ1 by playing EQ2  than playing Vanguard.  </p>

[MadTexan3]

<p>Let's be brutally honest about the outcomes of the 2 realistically possible scenarios:</p><p>1) RoK is released with a mix of content for low/mid and high end raiding. Result: Not enough endgame content from raider perspective (within a month or less of release), too much endgame focus from recurring low/mid level perspective.</p><p>2) RoK is released with mostly high end raiding content. Result: Not enough endgame content from raider perspective (within 2 months or less of release), entirely too much endgame focus from recurring low/mid level perspective.</p>

[Kizee]

<p>If they raise the level cap then the next expansion has to be as big as EoF but for high levels only since it will green out the old zones.</p><p>Nobody will want to do any of the t7 raids anymore so there has to be alot of new raiding content to keep the raiders happy.</p>

[Vonotar]

No more playable races, please! Don't get me wrong, I'd like more options but I suspect SoE will want to avoid another round of complaints about the lack of character slots per account. I'm a self-confessed Altaholic with a 59 Wiz, 48 War and all others below 31, but even I would prefer the next expansion to be 65-80.  There is a lot of content already for the mid-levels, I would even suggest that many redundant/ignored old zones should be given a makeover (light-touch) and moved to higher tiers (if enough adventurers don't use a zone the mobs there will grow stronger!). If a playable race <b>has</b> to be added they should add both good and evil from the start, alternatively add a neutral race with a minimal starting zone that then leads on to the two main cities (kind of an island for neutrals). Even if the expansion is level 65-80 enough extras (AA's etc) will filter down to the lower ranks to make some impact.  If the expansion is again sold as including all previous expansions this will also help sales.

[hobi]

i feel the new expansion should contain stuf for everyone at all levels of play and no expansion should be for a certian tier of player over ther other. that was tried with kos which wasn't recieved well and the whole reason for eof sucess was becuase it was big and for all levels. and if soe want s to atrract more players  the next expansion also needs to be done the same way. and have something added for all

[lilmohi]

<p>Even the most casual player in my guild has finally managed to hit lvl 70.  Pretty much every level of player from soloers raiders have burned through all the content available to them.  If they release the next expansion and they only have 1 overland zone and a handful of dungeons (like eof) for content for lvl 70's people will get bored of it long before they can put out another.  Furthermore if they raise the level cap to 80 there is just no way you could cram enough content to progress through 10 levels in one overland zone.</p><p>Putting neriak & evil race in early is just further proof that they have no intention of trying to cram 8 teirs into one expansion.  And why should they put in mid level content?  There is already so much mid level content that you can take 2 characters from 1-50 with combat exp turned off and still not experience all the content there is already.  Furthermore adding more mid level content actually hurts the mid level experience rather than helps it, these zones are already very low in population and spreading those populations out even more just makes it harder to get a group.</p><p> That said there will be some things in the expansion that will make it desirable for lower level players as well, after all the dev team wants everyone to have a reason to buy it.  I would guess it would come in the form of AA's and city content such as housing, pets or some other handy game feature.</p>

[cronar]

<p>If they would limit their raid content to instances, that would leave the vast majority of open zones and dungeons to be playable by everybody.</p><p>I certainly hope that the content for kunark goes 1-80.</p><p>To the people who burn through content at a blazing speed, i have no pity for you.</p>

[ke'la]

You know with the addtion of Neriak its got me asking the Question really why would a New Race really need a progression past say lvl 20, They could put in a Darklight Woods type zone that is a Newly Discovered Island among the IoR chain, that you can travel back and forth too(ala' Isle of Maria) via the TS/Nek/BBM(yes add a boat to the new newbe Island) Docks. Make it part of the expaintion and then the New player Race can use the existing 20-70 content in EoF, and Old World. This would leave Main Land Kurnak for 60+s. Now I am not saying this is what they will do or even sugjesting its the best way to do it(personally I suport a 1-70(80) expaintion with 2 or 3 overland zones devoted to the High end.. one of wich should have very few Solo Mobs in it)

[Radigazt]

<p>I have no idea about RoK, but having played on the Test server I can give some input on what Neriak is and is not.  </p><p>The newbie area is definitely level 1 up, it's called Dark Woodlands or something, I can't recall exactly.  It's far less dense than Nek Forest.  I'm not sure of the level span, but I think it's at least 1-10 ... but it might have a higher spread that I haven't explored yet.  </p><p>Neriak itself seems to have plenty of 20-30 content, but it's sooooo big that I haven't really seen it all to really know what it's level range is at the top end.  Neriak as a city seems to be larger than Freeport for example, and probably fairly close to Qeynos in size.  If you've gone to Fallen Gate, you know that that area is very tightly enclosed ... well Neriak isn't.  The only semi-open areas in Fallen Gate are at the actual gates.  The scale of Neriak is much bigger.  It may be an "inside" zone, but it definitely doesn't feel claustrophobic like Fallen Gate.  I don't want to give too much away, but if you're expecting something the total size of Fallen Gate, you're going to be blown away.  If you're expecting the scale of things inside Neriak to be like those inside Fallen Gate,  you're going to be very impressed.  </p><p>But, my favorite part is that it's kind of zone-less inside Neriak, and really gives a far more immersive feel IMHO.  When going from North Freeport to West Freeport, you have to zone.  When going from one area inside Neriak to another area inside Neriak, you take a winding connector tunnel, but you don't ever have to zone.  I don't know how that will handle the lag of a full city, but on the Test Server it definitely does a better job of setting the mood and keeping the immersive feel.  </p><p>I also really like the plot lines I'm seeing in Neriak.  I'm sure you can find that stuff posted elsewhere, but suffice it to say that there is a lot of content in there and I'm kinda surprised it's not an expansion.  I tend to play Dark Elves, so for me, this seems to add much more dynamic stuff than Kelethin did.  It's not as big (EoF had a ton of zones/areas), comprehensive, or visually original perhaps as EoF, but I think it's major addition to the EQ2 world.  </p><p>I don't know what they're going to do for RoK, but with 4 cities capable of self-sufficiency and each with it's own lowbie content, this holds a lot of promise.  From a PvP perspective, I could easily see a change to the 2-faction system after Neriak's release.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Noaani]

Ryos@Lucan DLere wrote: <blockquote>i feel the new expansion should contain stuf for everyone at all levels of play and no expansion should be for a certian tier of player over ther other. that was tried with kos which wasn't recieved well and the whole reason for eof sucess was becuase it was big and for all levels. and if soe want s to atrract more players  the next expansion also needs to be done the same way. and have something added for all</blockquote><p>The problem with this (other than the obvious that has been bought up in various threads already) is that, if they did this, imagine what it would be like as a new player in a few years.</p><p>Ok, so I am making my first toon. I have a choice of 68 diffrent races! cool! Now there is a choice of 18 diffrent starting cities. Ok, My RL friend has just started a character that is a cross between a pig, horse and elephantmanthing, and is in a city over there somewhere. I dont want to play that race, it sounds like crap, so I'll just make a diffrent race and start in teh same city. Ok, now which race starts in the pig horse elephantmanthing city? High Elves? nope, [I cannot control my vocabulary], I really wanted to play one of them, Drak Elves? nope, prolly good, I dont want to be all dark and gloomy. Ok, i'll make a toon and quickly ask a high level player what races can start in the pig horse elephantmanthing city....</p><p>"Hey uber level 120 player with full mystical gear, what races can start in the pig horse elephantmanthing city?"</p><p>"Umm, I remember them adding that city, it was in the same expansion that added in that cool contested mob where we had to have crafters use catapults every time we wanted to kill it, but umm, I dont think I made a new toon with that expansion. They were adding new newb content with every expansion, and some in between, it got boring making new toons, so i stopped after they gave us the flying mini hippo with scales race thing in that other expansion with the 2 raid mobs that had to be killed at the same time but were in diffrent zones. Sorry, but I have no idea who can start there".</p><p>"crap"</p><p>Adding a small amount of new content with every expansion would be a far far bigger mistake than adding nothing but high level content in every expansion. The reason for this is who really wants to play broken up newb content? How far do you really think new players will get when they realise that most of the < level 20 content in the game is so sprad out, and they dont want to do all that traveling. Lots of content is good, but lots of small bits of content is far worse than lots of big bits of content.</p><p>The best thing they can do is pick a level range, focus on it, finish the project, then move on to another level range.</p><p>EoF was a great expansion. No question. Only comment i have is 'imagine how happy raiders would be if ALL of that content were aimed at top end players?' done to the same standard, with the itemization that is starting to show up in game now, SoE would have a legion of happy, subscription paying, hardcore players like no other MMO has. These people would spread the word to hard core raiders that have left, bringing them flooding back in, along with friends that they have made in other games. This would likely have had more of a subscription boost for this game than what EoF did, but it would have been a boost in high end subscriptions, with a few totally new players here to experiance the top end content.</p><p>Edit: Devs, any chance of a pig horse elephantmanthing race? sounds kinda cool!</p>

[Reidjanyiel]

<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: times new roman,times">Hi folks...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">Done a bit of reading up on this topic and this coupled with a few other things has me thinking.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">Many seem to have complained in threads I have read that if a new race was to come out...there would be a need for a new character slot.  Well...as we know...both a new race and city are planned without being components of RoK.  I have read in an announcement that a new character slot will be made available also...so that will address that issue.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">As for RoK content, lets face it, a great many players (on the servers I have been playing on) have been at EQ2 now for 2 years or so and already are sick and tired of the available high end stuff.  EoF will not be enough to sort that issue out.  It has been pointed out that there is already an abundance of low and mid level content, and none could honestly or fairly deny it.  Not saying that there are not things that could be included for low and mid levels...just please not more and more zones spreading the already tiny chance of grouping so thin that to get to 50+ means soloing all the way...or easy grouping and 90% empty zones.  </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*Another tier...great!!!  Work something out to draw it out time wise...and compensate for it in some way with at least Avitars of Gods dificulty...after all it just isnt plausable for them to be push overs.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*Guild content...NEEDED!!! Housing/halls would be wonderful...in some way tied to guild level.  Raising guild levels would also help.  A few bonuses for guild levels like perhaps guild aa's earned from status...have say an aa for increasing by a small incremental percentage the overall personal status a member can earn doing writs for example, another could decrease the traders commision incrementally on market transactions...little things.  To pay for upkeep for guild premises...lets have a "dues" tool intergrated in the guild management that can syphon between 1 and 15% of all coin looted by members in combat...and an option on say 1-5% of market transactions (profits only).  Even the oportunity to have a guild raffle like the gobs run where 30% of all proceeds are periodically donated to the guild bank...held in the new guild hall/tavern(the rest can be sunk from the game like they planned to do anyway after prize money is allocated).  Perhaps even have it so higher ranks in the guild earn a fraction of the guild status personally, reinforcing the guild promotion system as something more than just a...tokenistic...and b...predominantly more responsability for very little reward beyond the social aspect(not saying that it is already tokenistic just that more can be done to impove the game experience's value).  Better mounts could also come with this...and more status items  to boot.  Dont get me wrong guilds have done ok so far...but by no means has the game been exausted.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">Even a few guild commisions...like mapping for instance...where a guild commisions an expidition into a zone and when fully explored have updated maps with every mob loc and spawn times etc...possabilities abound.  More Guild bank space would be useful also.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*Certainly more Raiding content...high end.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*Perhaps better aa lines.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*No more new races please...YET!!!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*Some spell improvements please...as a wizzy I am sick of having my lines nerfed only to be replaced with nothing...heck we had 3 wizzies in a group the other day all 65-70 and all three of us were out damaged by a Palladin, of all classes!!!  Ports would be a wonderful thing!!!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*Tradeskilling by all means.  Better combines.  Maybe even aa's</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*A parser???  perhaps a great quest(high end) or something to unlock it as an ability.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*Some massive quests perhaps...where loot isnt made redundant by single mob drops.  A real killer for quest lines. I know it is said there will be no epics...but just think of say a quest line that starts at level 1-5 and ends at level 80 or so...raids needed and all accross several tiers...with the ultimate godlike raid/group item/spell/ability.  Reward could be class specific...but the quests could be for Tank/Scout/Mage/Priest divisions reducing the number of questlines needed to 4.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">*One post I read presented the idea of being able to plant crops in a household garden which could be harvested for usable, unique tradeskill items...heck in harvesting them you could even strike a rare from time to time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman">Obviously these are not predictions...just presenting some ideas for thought.  Not all of them are original by a long shot.  I am hardly an expert of the game...and this is just some of my 2 cents worth.</span></p>

[lilmohi]

<cite>cronar wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If they would limit their raid content to instances, that would leave the vast majority of open zones and dungeons to be playable by everybody.</p><p>I certainly hope that the content for kunark goes 1-80.</p><p>To the people who burn through content at a blazing speed, i have no pity for you.</p></blockquote><p> LoL i'm usually the one accusing people of burning through content.  I have almost all my character slots filled on the live and test server and each new character i try to go through content i hadn't been before and i know i still haven't seen all there is for low level adventures.  Even with combat exp turned off there is no way you can hit even half of the content available before it greys out.</p><p>Seriously if you are under 50 and are in need of new content becaues you have already done all the quests then you are missing a lot of zones.</p>

[Aethane]

<p>I personally cannot understand why people want a level increase, just give us alot more content, maybe more aa's. New content doesnt equal levels and grinding. All a level increase would do is make all tier 7 content worthless just like dof. Nobody will do it anymore, wasted content. If they just add more new tier 7 zones and quests it just creates progression, we sort of have that now, to even think about raiding EoF raid zones you need to do KoS raid zones first. It gives us ALOT more to do and something to look forward to. Increasing the cap to 80 will ensure people don't do EoF zones anymore and we'll just level, do the new raid zones and be bored cause there wont be enough ala DoF.</p><p> 70 levels is enough, what we lack is enough content to keep us busy. There is more than one way to progress and 10 more levels is a very limited way to do so. I want to look forward to better items and equipment, not 10 levels of replacing my combat arts that are just beefed up versions of what i already had. Levels don't add anything new except another grind. AA's are a fun way to advance your power a bit and everbody loves new gear. I love progression without my gear greying out, EoF legendary and Fabled beats KoS fabled and legendary but that gear wont be useless until you get the EoF stuff, i like that. Until now every time we got an expansion all our old stuff became useless and had to be replaced within 5 levels. Alot of hard work questing and raiding for nothing.</p><p>Right now if we had 5 more heroic dungeons and 2 more raid zones, 1 for KoS and 1 for EoF i suspect it would make most of us happy. I ran out of quests at my own level and had to resort to doing greyed out ones to gain aa's being that i am a day one of release veteran and got screwed on aa's. We need more content not levels, the last thing we need is more grey content.</p>

[Besual]

<cite>Aethane wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I personally cannot understand why people want a level increase, just give us alot more content, maybe more aa's. New content doesnt equal levels and grinding. All a level increase would do is make all tier 7 content worthless just like dof. Nobody will do it anymore, wasted content. If they just add more new tier 7 zones and quests it just creates progression, we sort of have that now, to even think about raiding EoF raid zones you need to do KoS raid zones first. It gives us ALOT more to do and something to look forward to. Increasing the cap to 80 will ensure people don't do EoF zones anymore and we'll just level, do the new raid zones and be bored cause there wont be enough ala DoF.</p></blockquote> New level (even with the rehash of the old spells) will give me a sense of progression. More weak AAs will not. Why do people not understand that a new expansion WILL make the current zones obsolete? New level or not. The new zones have to offer better loot or nobody will use them. Well, when the new zones offer better loot then no one will use the old ones -> old zones obsolete. When RoK is lunched KoS will be out for at least 1 1/2 year and EoF for 1 year. People are tiered of this old zones -> old zones obsolete. The only reason to go back to them is to grab the AAs from there with an alt.

[Aethane]

<cite>Besual wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aethane wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I personally cannot understand why people want a level increase, just give us alot more content, maybe more aa's. New content doesnt equal levels and grinding. All a level increase would do is make all tier 7 content worthless just like dof. Nobody will do it anymore, wasted content. If they just add more new tier 7 zones and quests it just creates progression, we sort of have that now, to even think about raiding EoF raid zones you need to do KoS raid zones first. It gives us ALOT more to do and something to look forward to. Increasing the cap to 80 will ensure people don't do EoF zones anymore and we'll just level, do the new raid zones and be bored cause there wont be enough ala DoF.</p></blockquote> New level (even with the rehash of the old spells) will give me a sense of progression. More weak AAs will not. Why do people not understand that a new expansion WILL make the current zones obsolete? New level or not. The new zones have to offer better loot or nobody will use them. Well, when the new zones offer better loot then no one will use the old ones -> old zones obsolete. When RoK is lunched KoS will be out for at least 1 1/2 year and EoF for 1 year. People are tiered of this old zones -> old zones obsolete. The only reason to go back to them is to grab the AAs from there with an alt. </blockquote><p>Wrong, my guild still raids kos zones because we arent geared for EoF enough yet. But we all feel we have plenty of content to look forward to and do raid wise because they didn't raise the cap. You cannot get the new loot without the old loot, it is progression, EQ1 had the same kind of progression. You didnt raid velious unless you had done kunark and you didnt raid luclin unless you had done velious and you wouldnt be raiding PoP unless you had done Luclin. Some guilds are at the top and get bored faster. The top guild on my server still raids KoS because it gives them something to do every night instead of just 2 or 3 nights a week. Oddly enough because of attrition some of their people still need some items from KoS. Hard to beleive your server would be any different.</p><p>Even talking heroic content there is a definite progression right now. You wont see tanks tanking unrest or castle mm in xegonite. They have to run thru KoS zones to gear up enough to handle EoF zones. Level cap increases only makes the game smaller for all of us. </p>

[Aethane]

<cite>Besual wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aethane wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I personally cannot understand why people want a level increase, just give us alot more content, maybe more aa's. New content doesnt equal levels and grinding. All a level increase would do is make all tier 7 content worthless just like dof. Nobody will do it anymore, wasted content. If they just add more new tier 7 zones and quests it just creates progression, we sort of have that now, to even think about raiding EoF raid zones you need to do KoS raid zones first. It gives us ALOT more to do and something to look forward to. Increasing the cap to 80 will ensure people don't do EoF zones anymore and we'll just level, do the new raid zones and be bored cause there wont be enough ala DoF.</p></blockquote> New level (even with the rehash of the old spells) will give me a sense of progression. More weak AAs will not. Why do people not understand that a new expansion WILL make the current zones obsolete? New level or not. The new zones have to offer better loot or nobody will use them. Well, when the new zones offer better loot then no one will use the old ones -> old zones obsolete. When RoK is lunched KoS will be out for at least 1 1/2 year and EoF for 1 year. People are tiered of this old zones -> old zones obsolete. The only reason to go back to them is to grab the AAs from there with an alt. </blockquote>Oh and remember if they cater to the players that are at the very top and did it all and claim boredom those of us not quite there will feel cheated of alot of content. It happened when KoS came out, many left because it came too soon, they werent done in DoF zones yet. What you want is what happened to eq1 eventually, they catered to the top end raiders and eventually that is all that was left of the player base. No new people came to play because it would take them eons to ever catch up to where the majority of the playerbase were. We do not need a level cap increase. You can get all the new content and play it just the same without a cap increase. Replacing my masters with new ones never felt like progression to me, ever. At least aa's offer new skills without lessening content available to me.

[Findara]

So far they have talked about 1-20, and we all know there will be 70-80, because there are no other places to level that high.  From the pod  cast on the alahkazam's site it sounds like the progression is from kunark back to old world/eof and ending in RoK,  I am guessing just from the podcast that it will be 1-20, and 70-80 only.

[Galithdor]

I have a feeling the people who want a level cap increase (though we are having one) have not play Dark age of Camelot heh the level cap there is level 50 still and its about 6 years old <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> that shows that a game can continue without raising the cap to a super high level. Dont see what the problem is with adding a little bit of lowbie content then making the rest high end heh maybe next years expansion will be for people 55-80 <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Norrsken]

Loli@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote>So far they have talked about 1-20, and we all know there will be 70-80, because there are no other places to level that high.  From the pod  cast on the alahkazam's site it sounds like the progression is from kunark back to old world/eof and ending in RoK,  I am guessing just from the podcast that it will be 1-20, and 70-80 only. </blockquote>That is my understanding as well. New neutral race and city, and starter area aimed at 1-20. the rest is 65+. And giganormous as he said. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Just imagine, EoF, but all endgame. Now, that should keep people buzy for at least 2 months. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[steelbadger]

Personally I'd prefer it to focus on high level stuff. For a couple of reasons: 1) With KoS, FD and EoF there is a lot of content at lvl 70, with the level cap going up to 80 there will have to be comparable content (or close to) at the top tier. 2) The low levels are a bit too spread out, fine its good to have a choice of where you go in a specific level range but it never works out that way, basically the zones people see are SH > RoV > RE > RV > DoF > KoS. Do they need to add more content at those levels if it will simply be ignored? I have a 70 main, with which I raid casually, and butt-tons of alts which tend to follow the standard progression, because that is where the groups are. Besides... I want meh ph4t l3wts. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[swedago]

<p>Adding my 2 cents...</p><p>I have been playing since the game launched. 6 level 70th toons (2 with 100 AA) later I am happy to see the level raised, and hoped for another AA tree, but the latter is not happening (Just an AA tweak, and maybe some more AA to completely fill up the 2 trees).</p><p>I played eq1 since launch as well.  The nostalgic aspect of RoK will keep me interested.  What it does need to contain is more than just 5 tier8 zones (not to mention at least 5 more raid zones).  I am not saying that the lower tiers are without importance, but seriously for someone like myself that works 60 hours a week, married, and a child, it takes just a few weeks to get to tier7 (took 16 days played to get to 70 with 100AA with alt #6 solo questing 90% of the time).  So with the new tier I hope to see more content for endgamers like myself.  I think adding the additional slots was generous, and for some alt-a-holics wonderful, but rerolling once again once I max out level & AA is not that appealing to me.</p><p>I would suggest making people quest for their t8 spells.  This would prolong the content a little, and would send us to areas that we would most likely not have gone otherwise =)  I do not really know how you will do it, but I hope to be kept busy, and not sit with 12 (yes I have the Station Pass) level 80 toons waiting for the next expansion.</p><p>I know it is hard to please everyone, but my line of work focuses on keeping clients happy for a long period of time.  Everquest has always been a great game.  I have met many friends within I would not have met otherwise, but when many of them maxed out (Most the long term players do this very easily)..  They move on out of boredom.  I did not leave eq1 just because I did not like it.  I left because my friends moved on.  I hope to stay in this great game for many years...  Something to keep in mind for the long run =)</p>