Shard of Love and the fate of Erollisi Marr

[Coniaric]

<p>Images of Shard of Love as shown during the Fan Faire.</p><p><img src="http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4774/shardloveoutdoor.jpg" width="640" height="512" /></p><p><img src="http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8113/shardloveindoor.jpg" /></p><p>What I see in these images is that the building's roof was blown out from inside due to the lack of rubble in the chamber and pieces scattered around outside. So Erollisi may had been ambushed or a turncoat blindsided her.</p><p>Ullkorruuk is the prime suspect. Goddess of Betrayal? Former elite guard to Erollisi herself? Not to mention Innorruk's thrill about the news during the recent Erollisi's Day event.</p>

[Meirril]

<p>Looks like someone forgot to pay the landscaping crew...</p><p>Also its devoid of creatures. I suspect the actual shard itself won't be nearly so empty. With any remaining guardians the rubble could of been cleared from whatever happened. Unless the entire shard is going to be filled with undead?</p><p>If its just going to repeat the history of Erollisi's betrayal then its not a shard of love so much as a shard of betrayal. I'm quite disappointed at that prospect.</p>

[Coniaric]

<p>Why are you disappointed with that prospect? It is Shard of Love and something happened to it. Why not Ullkorruuk? We haven't been told how her transformation into the demi-goddess of Betrayal came to be. Just that it did happened.</p><p>Landscaping, well, without Erollisi, it might started to fall apart. Also I'm not sure if there are any elite guards left. If they rushed to protect their lady goddess, they easily can lose their lives in the process. Even if there are any survivors, why just maintain the inner chambers, not the outdoor gardens?</p><p>It will be nice to know exactly how Shard will be released as ...group or raid x2 or x4. Or as a quest instance.</p>

[Dareena]

<p>I would love some more information on Ullkorruuk.  If there is more to be found in the SoL, then I will be thrilled.  Being a newer person to EQ, I wasn't originally familiar with her.  Yet that all changed when I had to do the Fabled / Mythical Epic questline as a brigand.  A large part of that quest line is all about collecting the book about her in Nek 3 and her guidance throughout the quest line.</p><p>She claims that she is the patron of all brigands (who are doing that quest series).  Interesting.  I'd like to know more about her.  It would be ever more interesting if they released both Ullkorruuk and Erollisi as gods at the same time.  Ah well.  Only time will tell.</p>

[Firecracker]

<p><span><p>Since the Goddess is going to be a deity and for what she represents then this would be great time to introduce more animals types………… that she can take credit for creating. I am thinking a few variety of Birds (love birds we can set in cages), rabbits, squirrels, raccoons and owls.</p></span></p>

[Mistress_of_Nihility]

<p>There are no new Deities being released at this time, is what we have been told.  So if she is going to be a deity, we won't know until after the expansion.</p>

[shadowscale]

<p>there were no new deitys for the expantion itself yes, but they never said anything about before or after with a LU</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p>Hmm. It's a bit more dark and dreary than I had hoped. I hope there's a good reason for it's ruin, though I still wish it could be a quest zone that doesn't involve any raiding.</p>

[Firecracker]

<p>Well if not a diety then at least bring in more anmials types like I suggested then for these animals types I am asking for should of been here already if you ask me.</p><p>I know they said no new dieties with the new expansion but I didnt hear weather there wasn't going to be any before it or even after???</p>

[teddyboy4]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hmm. It's a bit more dark and dreary than I had hoped. I hope there's a good reason for it's ruin, though I still wish it could be a quest zone that doesn't involve any raiding.</p></blockquote><p>Funny, I hope it'll be a raid zone w/a difficulty progression much like the Shard of Hate (ie. like the TSO raid zones, each mob is progressively difficult rather then a setup like VP where each is relatively the same difficulty). SoH is an awesome zone, w/ great loot, and interesting encounters, well once you get past Sisters they're interesting anyway. My ONLY complaint about SoH is that you never find out why, or how the Shard broke off from the main Plane, and how Inny feels about it, and why he hasn't reeled it back in so to speak.</p>

[ke'la]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hmm. It's a bit more dark and dreary than I had hoped. I hope there's a good reason for it's ruin, though I still wish it could be a quest zone that doesn't involve any raiding.</p></blockquote><p>Remember something very bad happened to her, so chances are her Plane and therefor this Shard of it would suffer. I am hoping it is full of Inny loyalists and we get to push them out... and rescue Erollisi</p>

[Meirril]

<p><cite>Coniaric wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Why are you disappointed with that prospect? It is Shard of Love and something happened to it. Why not Ullkorruuk? We haven't been told how her transformation into the demi-goddess of Betrayal came to be. Just that it did happened.</p><p>Landscaping, well, without Erollisi, it might started to fall apart. Also I'm not sure if there are any elite guards left. If they rushed to protect their lady goddess, they easily can lose their lives in the process. Even if there are any survivors, why just maintain the inner chambers, not the outdoor gardens?</p><p>It will be nice to know exactly how Shard will be released as ...group or raid x2 or x4. Or as a quest instance.</p></blockquote><p>This is a shard of the plane of love. Not the whole of the plane of love hopefully. Having the representation of what may (or may not) be a returning diety represent the defeat of that diety as a permanent mark in EQ2 is a bid distressing. For those of us that really wish to see Erollisi return it is a sure indication that dev doesn't have any intentions of doing this.</p><p>Ullkorruuk has been getting an increasing amount of face time with every step of the Theer story line revealed. Its fairly obvious that she is somehow connected. Erollisi's fall being linked to her rise along with her obvious popularity might mean that Erollisi never returns. Erollisi has always been a player favorite, not a dev favorite.</p><p>And if its going to be populated with Ullkorruuk touched mobs and NOT the pristine residents of the plane of love shouldn't it be the shard of betrayal? The shard of fear is completely devoted to fear. The shard of hate is completely devoted to hate. Shouldn't the shard of love be completely devoted to love? Or is the only kind of story/progression that the devs can come up with "you have to beat up the bad guys"?</p><p>Personally I'd like to see 3 progressions series for each of these shard zones. One involves being a worshiper. Mobs are on your faction, which you loose for killing them. They give quests that you can complete for additional faction and some nice end rewards. Maybe introduce a quest for each opposing diety's shard with a level appropriate reward?</p><p>Then a heroic progression which is the default zone. End boss drops a consumable key that opens up a raid version of that zone. Maybe it even spawns the actual avatar in the shard? Either way, it means you need to do the group content version at least once to access the raid version and probaly multiple times to gather enough keys to unlock the big prize. Like maybe consuming 1 key to open the instance, and 3 more keys to spawn the avatar once inside OR you can just kill trash for lesser rewards? This lets you have effectively a x2 zone with a spawnable avatar encounter so you even have casual raiding content right next to Avatar level content. This way your hitting every segment of the EQ2 population with a single zone.</p>

[Zabjade]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hmm. It's a bit more dark and dreary than I had hoped. I hope there's a good reason for it's ruin, though I still wish it could be a quest zone that doesn't involve any raiding.</p></blockquote><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">Agreed!  A quest Zone would be nice, I dislike having to raid to see all the time to see the interesting places. </span></p>

[Rezikai]

<p><cite>Dareena@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I would love some more information on Ullkorruuk. If there is more to be found in the SoL, then I will be thrilled. Being a newer person to EQ, I wasn't originally familiar with her. Yet that all changed when I had to do the Fabled / Mythical Epic questline as a brigand. A large part of that quest line is all about collecting the book about her in Nek 3 and her guidance throughout the quest line.</p><p>She claims that she is the patron of all brigands (who are doing that quest series). Interesting. I'd like to know more about her. It would be ever more interesting if they released both Ullkorruuk and Erollisi as gods at the same time. Ah well. Only time will tell.</p></blockquote><p>Indeed, as a brigand doing my epic i found it very.... interesting that all brigands willing to follow greed and deciet to claim the Havoc, Blade of Treachery, will then claim Ullkoruuk as their new god. Being a brigand it was, a strange moment. Kaitheel i think worked on the brigand epic quest, which is why Parathior was in it iirc.</p>

[Coniaric]

<p><cite>Meirril wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>This is a shard of the plane of love. Not the whole of the plane of love hopefully. Having the representation of what may (or may not) be a returning diety represent the defeat of that diety as a permanent mark in EQ2 is a bid distressing. For those of us that really wish to see Erollisi return it is a sure indication that dev doesn't have any intentions of doing this.</p><p>Ullkorruuk has been getting an increasing amount of face time with every step of the Theer story line revealed. Its fairly obvious that she is somehow connected. Erollisi's fall being linked to her rise along with her obvious popularity might mean that Erollisi never returns. Erollisi has always been a player favorite, not a dev favorite.</p><p>And if its going to be populated with Ullkorruuk touched mobs and NOT the pristine residents of the plane of love shouldn't it be the shard of betrayal? The shard of fear is completely devoted to fear. The shard of hate is completely devoted to hate. Shouldn't the shard of love be completely devoted to love? Or is the only kind of story/progression that the devs can come up with "you have to beat up the bad guys"?</p></blockquote><p>It isn't called Shard of Betrayal, though. It's named Shard of Love so that's what it is.</p><p>I do have to wonder about the message devs are sending to the players. Should the evil always prevailed? Nearly every expansion send this message. Darathar killed in the battle, but Nagafen didn't lose any eggs beyond the missing one. Soulfire get stolen and we get it back but only to lose it to Lucan D'Lere (or Mayong). The Ethernauts "died" but Anashti Sul was restored to Norrath. Erollisi Marr gone and Ullkorruuk rise in power?</p><p>Do a lot of things have to be depressing at the end and/or have a "but" somewhere in the end?</p><p>Back to Erollisi, if the devs are not going to have us rescue Erollisi and have her be restored as the goddess of Love and players gain another option of worship. Then why bother? If they want to hold her off until after expansion release for a "recovery process" ... fine, but it need to be clearly indicated, if ever.</p><p>If they're letting Fear and Hate run freely throughout Norrath by opening up the Shards, but holding back Love, Valor, and other Shards/Planes ...</p><p>I may have to conclude that the developers & lore writers are a depressed and pessimistic bunch by letting things go the way they are going.</p>

[Wilde_Night]

<p>I'm glad evil gets to win sometimes.  In real life, good doesn't always prevail either and sometimes you get tired of reading/watching about the good guys.  *shrugs*  But then again, I'm a "good guy" in real life and play evil in games for the challenge.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[ke'la]

<p><cite>Coniaric wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Meirril wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>This is a shard of the plane of love. Not the whole of the plane of love hopefully. Having the representation of what may (or may not) be a returning diety represent the defeat of that diety as a permanent mark in EQ2 is a bid distressing. For those of us that really wish to see Erollisi return it is a sure indication that dev doesn't have any intentions of doing this.</p><p>Ullkorruuk has been getting an increasing amount of face time with every step of the Theer story line revealed. Its fairly obvious that she is somehow connected. Erollisi's fall being linked to her rise along with her obvious popularity might mean that Erollisi never returns. Erollisi has always been a player favorite, not a dev favorite.</p><p>And if its going to be populated with Ullkorruuk touched mobs and NOT the pristine residents of the plane of love shouldn't it be the shard of betrayal? The shard of fear is completely devoted to fear. The shard of hate is completely devoted to hate. Shouldn't the shard of love be completely devoted to love? Or is the only kind of story/progression that the devs can come up with "you have to beat up the bad guys"?</p></blockquote><p>It isn't called Shard of Betrayal, though. It's named Shard of Love so that's what it is.</p><p>I do have to wonder about the message devs are sending to the players. Should the evil always prevailed? Nearly every expansion send this message. Darathar killed in the battle, but Nagafen didn't lose any eggs beyond the missing one. Soulfire get stolen and we get it back but only to lose it to Lucan D'Lere (or Mayong). The Ethernauts "died" but Anashti Sul was restored to Norrath. Erollisi Marr gone and Ullkorruuk rise in power?</p><p>Do a lot of things have to be depressing at the end and/or have a "but" somewhere in the end?</p><p>Back to Erollisi, if the devs are not going to have us rescue Erollisi and have her be restored as the goddess of Love and players gain another option of worship. Then why bother? If they want to hold her off until after expansion release for a "recovery process" ... fine, but it need to be clearly indicated, if ever.</p><p>If they're letting Fear and Hate run freely throughout Norrath by opening up the Shards, but holding back Love, Valor, and other Shards/Planes ...</p><p>I may have to conclude that the developers & lore writers are a depressed and pessimistic bunch by letting things go the way they are going.</p></blockquote><p>It is called good Story Telling, for Sam and Frodo things got worst and worst, until Frodo LOST the battle with the Ring, it was only the intervention of Golum that saved Middle Earth, and Frodo Lost a Finger, the Elfs lost the majority of thier power and faded away.</p><p>In good Story Telling usually the good guys have lots of early set backs, because without them there is no struggle to get to the final victory, and in the best stories IMO that victory is tarnished with alot of loss along the way.</p>

[Vanisher123]

<p><cite>Coniaric wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I may have to conclude that the developers & lore writers are a depressed and pessimistic bunch by letting things go the way they are going.</p></blockquote><p>Perhaps the build up to theer is suposed to be dark and depressing then once we defeat him (since if we don't the world ends and that's never good for business ;P ) there will be the big grand "On to new adventuers" thing where we have defeated one of the greatest evils and we now go onward into the inspirational exploration phase of the storylines?</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>We don't even know if Theer IS a 'bad guy'. being trapped in the Void, as was Anashti, he has to find a way out. that way out isn't looking too good for us, but Theer was supposed to be the balance as the Nameless' avatar.</p><p>For all we know if we helped Theer out of the void that might be a good thing for us. remember when he first walked norrath mortal life got better. becuase they didn't have to jump at every shadow or light thinking one of the pantheon wanted something. (though judging by how certain deities act, I'd say the 'evil' gods were more prone for that sort of thing.)</p>

[Meatmonster]

<p><cite>Coniaric wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Meirril wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>This is a shard of the plane of love. Not the whole of the plane of love hopefully. Having the representation of what may (or may not) be a returning diety represent the defeat of that diety as a permanent mark in EQ2 is a bid distressing. For those of us that really wish to see Erollisi return it is a sure indication that dev doesn't have any intentions of doing this.</p><p>Ullkorruuk has been getting an increasing amount of face time with every step of the Theer story line revealed. Its fairly obvious that she is somehow connected. Erollisi's fall being linked to her rise along with her obvious popularity might mean that Erollisi never returns. Erollisi has always been a player favorite, not a dev favorite.</p><p>And if its going to be populated with Ullkorruuk touched mobs and NOT the pristine residents of the plane of love shouldn't it be the shard of betrayal? The shard of fear is completely devoted to fear. The shard of hate is completely devoted to hate. Shouldn't the shard of love be completely devoted to love? Or is the only kind of story/progression that the devs can come up with "you have to beat up the bad guys"?</p></blockquote><p>It isn't called Shard of Betrayal, though. It's named Shard of Love so that's what it is.</p><p>I do have to wonder about the message devs are sending to the players. Should the evil always prevailed? Nearly every expansion send this message. Darathar killed in the battle, but Nagafen didn't lose any eggs beyond the missing one. Soulfire get stolen and we get it back but only to lose it to Lucan D'Lere (or Mayong). The Ethernauts "died" but Anashti Sul was restored to Norrath. Erollisi Marr gone and Ullkorruuk rise in power?</p><p>Do a lot of things have to be depressing at the end and/or have a "but" somewhere in the end?</p><p>Back to Erollisi, if the devs are not going to have us rescue Erollisi and have her be restored as the goddess of Love and players gain another option of worship. Then why bother? If they want to hold her off until after expansion release for a "recovery process" ... fine, but it need to be clearly indicated, if ever.</p><p>If they're letting Fear and Hate run freely throughout Norrath by opening up the Shards, but holding back Love, Valor, and other Shards/Planes ...</p><p>I may have to conclude that the developers & lore writers are a depressed and pessimistic bunch by letting things go the way they are going.</p></blockquote><p> Psssttt... you're playing a video game in which advancement requires wholesale slaughter, even genocidal activity.</p>

[Vanisher123]

<p><cite>Rainmare@Oasis wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>We don't even know if Theer IS a 'bad guy'. being trapped in the Void, as was Anashti, he has to find a way out. that way out isn't looking too good for us, but Theer was supposed to be the balance as the Nameless' avatar.</p><p>For all we know if we helped Theer out of the void that might be a good thing for us. remember when he first walked norrath mortal life got better. becuase they didn't have to jump at every shadow or light thinking one of the pantheon wanted something. (though judging by how certain deities act, I'd say the 'evil' gods were more prone for that sort of thing.)</p></blockquote><p>Fair enough, though i was just going by what people had told me (if he comes back we all die, then again the pantheon might want us to think that). Either way, it seems this is leading to a climax, and what happens after this will be "new" (hopefully)</p>

[Nakaru-Nitepaw]

<p>From my own view on lore of powerful god magics and stuff, if a god actually dies, wouldn't that mean their plane would fall apart and disolve? The fact the plane still exists, tells me that erolissi is possibly still alive but not able to tend to her plane because of whatever happened to her. From stories i read on ancient greek gods and mythology, their planes usually reflect how they feel. if they are in a bad mood, their plane will feel it. The ground may shake, buildings crumble, exc...</p>

[Meirril]

<p><cite>Eschia@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>From my own view on lore of powerful god magics and stuff, if a god actually dies, wouldn't that mean their plane would fall apart and disolve? The fact the plane still exists, tells me that erolissi is possibly still alive but not able to tend to her plane because of whatever happened to her. From stories i read on ancient greek gods and mythology, their planes usually reflect how they feel. if they are in a bad mood, their plane will feel it. The ground may shake, buildings crumble, exc...</p></blockquote><p>Actually having shards of a plane show up indicates that the diety in question is having trouble maintaining their own plane of existance and they have lost control over that section. All of the dieties did this at the beginning of the 500 years between EQ1 and EQ2 in an attempt to "fix" things.</p><p>Having a shard show up isn't a good or bad indication. Having it replay the dieties defeat over and over again...yeah.</p><p>Also the planes are linked more to the ideal they represent than the diety itself. When Rodcet Knife was installed as the new Prime Healer he probably didn't have to reform a new Plane of Health, but rather probably had to work on eliminating the undead influence the prior diety had created. He also probably tailored section of it to reflect his own desires. The plane probably wouldn't of changed without his direct attention and action.</p><p>Also it might be possible for one diety to directly challenge another diety and subvert a portion of that god's plane to add to their own. Possibly even severing its "physical" link with the rest of the plane.</p>

[Coniaric]

<p>Okay, all right ... it's fine we, as the characters, are being lied to, manipulated, pushed one way to another, and all ... just for the sake of the story if such.</p><p>Yes, it is a game where we are going out and kill creatures and sentient beings for the purpose of experience advancement.</p><p>Only thing is ... there is a little bit in myself that would like there to be a little bit of sunlight (or whatever) in these doom-and-gloom thing that are going all around us. Current plot is a major doom-and-gloom over last few years since the Fate of Norrath started and the Void's portion not going to end until after next year and after that, it'll be more of we've been experiencing since then. </p><p>So even if it's the return of Erollisi to be that ray of light, it will be fine and good, which was this is about after all.</p>

[McBenzos]

<p><cite>Eandiil@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hmm. It's a bit more dark and dreary than I had hoped. I hope there's a good reason for it's ruin, though I still wish it could be a quest zone that doesn't involve any raiding.</p></blockquote><p>Funny, I hope it'll be a raid zone w/a difficulty progression much like the Shard of Hate (ie. like the TSO raid zones, each mob is progressively difficult rather then a setup like VP where each is relatively the same difficulty). SoH is an awesome zone, w/ great loot, and interesting encounters, well once you get past Sisters they're interesting anyway. My ONLY complaint about SoH is that you never find out why, or how the Shard broke off from the main Plane, and how Inny feels about it, and why he hasn't reeled it back in so to speak.</p></blockquote><p>You mean how VP was a complete waste of a raid zone?  It wasn't even a good idea or a novel concept, it's just a wasted space.  How about they actually make real raid progressions for once?  You know, how you do a zone and then move to the next, and then after you complete the second you move on to the third, which maybe there's like two raid zones for the third tier! and then you know, do an even harder tier of zones, not just bosses.  The entire freaking zone is harder than the last tiers' boss mobs.</p><p>I know it's such a hard concept for them to wrap their heads around, but I still have faith maybe they won't completely flub an entire expansion's raid progression for the third time in a row.  Also the concept of trash being, trash...</p><p>WTB NOT CLEARING TRASH FOR 3 HOURS TO GET TO AN HOUR OF NAMED CONTENT, PRE FIRST-KILLS.  HEREGO THREE HOURS OF CLEARING TRASH FOR 20 MINUTES OF NAMED KILLING THE NEXT RUN.  FFS, did people forget what trash is?  It shouldn't even be a chance to parse because the mobs should go down within 30 seconds, every tier.  Trash was always meant to be an annoyance, but moreso stuff you <em><strong>had</strong></em> to clear to make sure it was down and wouldn't aggro your named pull.  Never were trash mobs in raid content meant to be sought after for any reason other than getting them out of the way, certainly not for loot (SoH... die in a fire plskthx).</p><p>Get rid of easy mode 2010!</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>Personally, if it wasn't for the 'trash drops' in SoH...I know several people that would have never even set foot in that zone. they'd have made sure to be 'absent' those raid days, becuase the few items of loot the named dropped they wanted (or could use) were so insanely rare as to be nearly pointless. (for us, this would be things like the Hood of dark dealings, marrowsong, priest shield, rune etched helm)</p><p>and you obviously either never played EQ1...or never set foot in Vex Thall for trash. not only in Vex Thall was all the trash like Palace...but all the trash when it died spawned a shade so every trash mob you had to actually kill twice.</p><p>VP was like it was in EQ1 for it's general layout. and do tell why do you think it was wasted space? the travel between the dragons and such? the fact you had to clear a wing at a time? what?</p><p>okay...really now. the entire zone is harder then the last tier's boss. so...tell me. how would you like to make Levi trash harder/more complicated the Venril, for example.</p><p>Or lets see..Gynok has mana drains, dispells, deathtouch...so you want the trash in say..Palace, to be harder then Gynok. so you want Trash that can be nastier then a mob that DTs?</p><p>or heck...how about this. lets say Xebnok is the final boss in tombs, as he stands. you know what kills most raid attempts on him? 2 things. Tank iresistable/incurable charm...and the instant raid wipe from not killing adds fast enough.</p><p>so by your logic...that would mean the palace trash (the next Tier up general zone wise) would need to be able to have a raid wiping fail script and at least probably a tanker iresistabe/incurable charm.</p><p>of course right after that, it's trash should be trash...nto last longer then 30 seconds. then the whole zone obviously isn't tougher then the previous tier boss, is it.</p>

[ke'la]

<p><cite>Charming@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I know it's such a hard concept for them to wrap their heads around, but I still have faith maybe they won't completely flub an entire expansion's raid progression for the third time in a row.  Also the concept of trash being, trash...</p></blockquote><p>I know it is such a hard concept to wrap raiders heads around but, 5% of the population is NOT going to get even 25% of the total cost of an expainsion... that is called bad economics. So you have choice go in to carbon copy zones, where the Raid zone litterally is the exsact same zone as some other group zone, just with differant MoBs, or you can get totally unque zones that the devs figure out some what to allow a larger percentage of the population into it and give them the ablity to defeat it... enter the new Selectable difficulty system coming soon to most if not all future raids.</p><p>This SHOULD allow, True progression(just not in differant zones), the ablity for more people to complete the zone, and not only give bragging rights to the top end raiders, but give the lower end raider a glimps of why they deserve those rights.</p><p>The way it will work is by some Lore means you will select what or how to fight a creature, and based on your selection the indivisual fights will be Easy/Normal/Hard, with loot tables comserate with the difficulty.</p><p>For exsample, say they do this with Naggy, For easy mode you might say challange him to a fair battle, Naggy just laughs at you and sends his Giant servant in to fight you and backs off... For Normal Mode, I don't know say you just attack him head on and don't even try to talk to him... this time the Giant servent steps in to protect Naggy, and every so offten Naggy lends a hand... for Hard mode say you insult Naggy's Mom, that gets him to attack you himself, with the assistance of the Giant Servent. All 3 modes would beat the zone, but only the ones who fought on Hard mode can say they beat Naggy.</p>

[Silerua]

<p>I just wanted to chime in... Even though my character is evil, I do hope that Erollisi makes it out okay at some point in EQ2's future and we can see a pretty version of the plane.  Aurelis doesn't care much for prettiness, but egads, I'm so tired of dreary, ugly zones.  Oakmyst Forest is my favorite zone.  I just claim Aure is "keeping an eye on Qeynos" or something.  d:  I absolutely dread going to Moors because it's so... ... dreadful.  Then again, the Faydwer expansion added some pretty zones, but they give me a headache to navigate.  *lol*  I just want sunshine, bright green grass -- things made of prettiness (e.g., pink butterflies with hearts for wings, little heart tornadoes, bright happy canaries...)!</p><p>I'm an embarrassment to my poor necro girly.</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>as far as looks on places like the Moors....there's really only so much you can do to try and make a swamp look 'pretty' and still be a swamp.</p><p>My hope is that the Shard of Love will have a romantic park/lakeside getaway feel to it...even hough some buildies are obviously damaged.</p><p>I however, don't want to see buterflies with heart shaped pink wings, tenderheart carebears, heart tornadoes or things like that.</p><p>gotta remember that Erollisi is also Goddess of the Hunt. so I'll expect stags, does, grizzly bears, things of that nature.</p>

[Silerua]

<p><cite>Rainmare@Oasis wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>as far as looks on places like the Moors....there's really only so much you can do to try and make a swamp look 'pretty' and still be a swamp.</p><p>My hope is that the Shard of Love will have a romantic park/lakeside getaway feel to it...even hough some buildies are obviously damaged.</p><p>I however, don't want to see buterflies with heart shaped pink wings, tenderheart carebears, heart tornadoes or things like that.</p><p>gotta remember that Erollisi is also Goddess of the Hunt. so I'll expect stags, does, grizzly bears, things of that nature.</p></blockquote><p>hehe - I was exaggerating out of desperation.  Though I would like to see those butterflies.</p>

[Barx]

<p>The lore has been getting darker for quite a while... and if you ask me, the void invasion represents almost the deepest part of the 'night' that Norrath is going through. The fate of Norrath as whole will be inextricably tied with the fate of Odus this next expansion... I have a feeling that Sentinel's Fate is going to wrap up the Void storyline and sort of represent the climax, or the deepest part of the night (to keep the metaphor going). I have a feeling it's going to be a situation where the lore has Norrath at a tipping point with the player's actions (ie the lore for the expansion / zone progressions) tip the scale back towards the light.</p><p>As for Erollisi Marr and the Shard of Love... I have a feeling she is gone; probably not "dead," but at least somehow incapacitated or imprisoned. I think the Shard of Love itself will be sort of a battlefield that tells her tale (of her imprisonment or whatever it may be). It'll likely be a heroic zone (Did Cronyn say that at Fan Faire? I thought one of the Devs did but there was so much it kind of blends together), and I hope it's chock full of lore and not just the usual grind.</p><p>I echo some of the earlier comments in this thread about some of the zones (especially raid zones!) being grinds and having little lore. For it's size, I wish VP was more than just killables. Yeah, you have Trakanon with the prophecy of Ellizerain and that whole lore arc, but in VP itself there is pretty much nada. I'd like to see some of the new raid zones they put in have more lore to them... Ward of Elements was a small start in that direction perhaps, at least there is an obvious progression and you have Najena giving you little 'hints' along the way (although I think the projections should change once the mob is dead... its kind of silly to have her 'speaking' to you about something you've already killed, unless it was somehow a recording).</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p><cite>Lord_Ebon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The lore has been getting darker for quite a while... and if you ask me, the void invasion represents almost the deepest part of the 'night' that Norrath is going through. The fate of Norrath as whole will be inextricably tied with the fate of Odus this next expansion... I have a feeling that Sentinel's Fate is going to wrap up the Void storyline and sort of represent the climax, or the deepest part of the night (to keep the metaphor going). I have a feeling it's going to be a situation where the lore has Norrath at a tipping point with the player's actions (ie the lore for the expansion / zone progressions) tip the scale back towards the light.</p><p>As for Erollisi Marr and the Shard of Love... I have a feeling she is gone; probably not "dead," but at least somehow incapacitated or imprisoned. I think the Shard of Love itself will be sort of a battlefield that tells her tale (of her imprisonment or whatever it may be). It'll likely be a heroic zone (Did Cronyn say that at Fan Faire? I thought one of the Devs did but there was so much it kind of blends together), and I hope it's chock full of lore and not just the usual grind.</p><p>I echo some of the earlier comments in this thread about some of the zones (especially raid zones!) being grinds and having little lore. For it's size, I wish VP was more than just killables. Yeah, you have Trakanon with the prophecy of Ellizerain and that whole lore arc, but in VP itself there is pretty much nada. I'd like to see some of the new raid zones they put in have more lore to them... Ward of Elements was a small start in that direction perhaps, at least there is an obvious progression and you have Najena giving you little 'hints' along the way (although I think the projections should change once the mob is dead... its kind of silly to have her 'speaking' to you about something you've already killed, unless it was somehow a recording).</p></blockquote><p>E-Day back in February revealed that Innoruuk is responsible for whatever happened to her, but she is not dead.</p><p>I hope the devs realize that this will be the first time that the Plane of Love and possibly Erollisi Marr (except for her old plane of Mischief puppet) will be put into Everquest. We as players will be exploring it for the first time ever. I think that alone means that it should be a zone where anyone can access. If it's a raid zone, I'm gonna be [Removed for Content]. If it's a heroic zone, I'm gonna be [Removed for Content] because more than likely they will make it too hard for Monks to tank, and you will need your mythical epic to stand half a chance.. Just like Kor'Sha. Still waiting to go into that zone for the first time.</p>

[BChizzle]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Lord_Ebon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The lore has been getting darker for quite a while... and if you ask me, the void invasion represents almost the deepest part of the 'night' that Norrath is going through. The fate of Norrath as whole will be inextricably tied with the fate of Odus this next expansion... I have a feeling that Sentinel's Fate is going to wrap up the Void storyline and sort of represent the climax, or the deepest part of the night (to keep the metaphor going). I have a feeling it's going to be a situation where the lore has Norrath at a tipping point with the player's actions (ie the lore for the expansion / zone progressions) tip the scale back towards the light.</p><p>As for Erollisi Marr and the Shard of Love... I have a feeling she is gone; probably not "dead," but at least somehow incapacitated or imprisoned. I think the Shard of Love itself will be sort of a battlefield that tells her tale (of her imprisonment or whatever it may be). It'll likely be a heroic zone (Did Cronyn say that at Fan Faire? I thought one of the Devs did but there was so much it kind of blends together), and I hope it's chock full of lore and not just the usual grind.</p><p>I echo some of the earlier comments in this thread about some of the zones (especially raid zones!) being grinds and having little lore. For it's size, I wish VP was more than just killables. Yeah, you have Trakanon with the prophecy of Ellizerain and that whole lore arc, but in VP itself there is pretty much nada. I'd like to see some of the new raid zones they put in have more lore to them... Ward of Elements was a small start in that direction perhaps, at least there is an obvious progression and you have Najena giving you little 'hints' along the way (although I think the projections should change once the mob is dead... its kind of silly to have her 'speaking' to you about something you've already killed, unless it was somehow a recording).</p></blockquote><p>E-Day back in February revealed that Innoruuk is responsible for whatever happened to her, but she is not dead.</p><p>I hope the devs realize that this will be the first time that the Plane of Love and possibly Erollisi Marr (except for her old plane of Mischief puppet) will be put into Everquest. We as players will be exploring it for the first time ever. I think that alone means that it should be a zone where anyone can access. If it's a raid zone, I'm gonna be [Removed for Content]. If it's a heroic zone, I'm gonna be [Removed for Content] because more than likely they will make it too hard for Monks to tank, and you will need your mythical epic to stand half a chance.. Just like Kor'Sha. Still waiting to go into that zone for the first time.</p></blockquote><p>If its just people seeing it and walk around there is no reason they cannot have a single up zone for it related to some sort of quest, kind of like how you could go into EH while doing the growth diety quest.  It sucks you can't get into a group doing Korsha but maybe instead of tanking it you can join a group in a support role, or perhaps you can just get someone to let you in the cleared instance so you can walk around and enjoy. </p>

[Barx]

<p>Agreed. One thing I think they could use a lot more often (to satisfy folks love of lore) would be to make the zones at least partially progressable without killing anything. IE make the mobs in the zone non-KoS, but require that you kill them or they add on the nameds so that players still have to kill them. Like Evernight Abbey, where you 'become' a vampire at the end... only make a whole zone on that premise so folks can at least get in and take a look.</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>if Erollisi was in charge, I'd agree. but she's not. so I imagine the forces of Hate or Betrayal or what have you are in there as enemies/fortification.</p><p>gotta remember Mith Marr has probably sent aid to his sister, or tried getting to her himself. or her other allies. so there's gotta be something there stopping them from freeing Erollisi.</p><p>but it would be nice to have a solo/group/raid version with different rewards for doing the different versions.</p>

[Arabani]

<p>I have a feeling she is gone; probably not "dead," but at least somehow incapacitated or imprisoned. I think the Shard of Love itself will be sort of a battlefield that tells her tale (of her imprisonment or whatever it may be). It'll likely be a heroic zone </p><p>New Deity is incoming with GU53, Erollisi Marr, as well as new zone, The Shard of Love.-This was info from first days of ff.</p><p>Also, devs told that we'll have 2 x4 raid zonez before expansion and one of it will be in GU53.</p><p>So, imo, SoL is raid zone and we'll freerescuire Erollisi, first guild to clear bla bla bla will unlock her etc:p</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p><cite>Arabani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I have a feeling she is gone; probably not "dead," but at least somehow incapacitated or imprisoned. I think the Shard of Love itself will be sort of a battlefield that tells her tale (of her imprisonment or whatever it may be). It'll likely be a heroic zone </p><p>New Deity is incoming with GU53, Erollisi Marr, as well as new zone, The Shard of Love.-This was info from first days of ff.</p><p>Also, devs told that we'll have 2 x4 raid zonez before expansion and one of it will be in GU53.</p><p>So, imo, SoL is raid zone and we'll freerescuire Erollisi, first guild to clear bla bla bla will unlock her etc:p</p></blockquote><p>Even I wouldn't jump to such a conclusion like that.</p>

[Lodrelhai]

<p><cite>Arabani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I have a feeling she is gone; probably not "dead," but at least somehow incapacitated or imprisoned. I think the Shard of Love itself will be sort of a battlefield that tells her tale (of her imprisonment or whatever it may be). It'll likely be a heroic zone </p><p>New Deity is incoming with GU53, Erollisi Marr, as well as new zone, The Shard of Love.-This was info from first days of ff.</p><p>Also, devs told that we'll have 2 x4 raid zonez before expansion and one of it will be in GU53.</p><p>So, imo, SoL is raid zone and we'll freerescuire Erollisi, first guild to clear bla bla bla will unlock her etc:p</p></blockquote><p>The only word I remember of new dieties at FanFaire was "no."  I admit I don't recall if this was in answer specifically to Sentinel's Fate or for all time between now and Sentinel's Fate, but I don't expect a new diety any time soon.</p><p>The 4x raid zone coming with GU53 is Miragul's Plane of Shard.</p><p>edit: realized my language was a bit offensive...</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>miragul's 'plane of shard'? [Removed for Content]?</p><p>if miragul is still alive (so to speak) in lich form, he's hardly one that has his own 'plane'. he's not a deity...or even has anything that says he ascended to such.</p><p>he corrupted the Eternal Prism to use as a phylactery, sure. So I can imagine a raid zone to finish what we started in purging him from it. but I seriously doubt the prism is a Plane unto itself.</p>

[shadowscale]

<p><span> miragul's body might be around as a lich, but his soul went and accended. the zones in EF seem like left overs as well.</span></p><p>and its planier shard. i think. not plane of</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p><cite>Rainmare@Oasis wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>miragul's 'plane of shard'? [Removed for Content]?</p><p>if miragul is still alive (so to speak) in lich form, he's hardly one that has his own 'plane'. he's not a deity...or even has anything that says he ascended to such.</p><p>he corrupted the Eternal Prism to use as a phylactery, sure. So I can imagine a raid zone to finish what we started in purging him from it. but I seriously doubt the prism is a Plane unto itself.</p></blockquote><p>Just remember, you don't have to be a god to own a plane. There is the Plane of Innovation. It's one giant junkyard. No god claims it as anyone's domain.</p>

[ke'la]

<p>The 4x is definatly a Miragul's Zone, though I can't remember the name specifically, I know it wasn't a Plane or Planiar... though the discriptive word did start with a P.</p><p>There will also be an easier 2x added, this is what I assume will be what SoL is.</p><p>As far as talking about adding Gods at Fan Faire, there was a Definate NO in reguards to adding any WITH the expainsion... however they where suspiciously allusive when we tried to pin them down on the possablity of a new god  in general as well as Erollisi Specifically, very similar in fact to the way they behaved when, befor TSO was anounced I tried to press them on when they where going to fleshing out the remaineder of the Shaddered Lands...so I suspect that we will see a god added befor Sentnal's Fate, and that god could very well be Erollisi.</p>

[Arabani]

<p>We have 5 evil, 5 neutral and only 4 good avatars. Disbalance imo :p</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>the plane of innovation was ruled by Meldrath the Magnificent, who was ascended after he was split from his twin by I think it was Bristlebane. and I think meldrath the magnificent was a god more along the lines of how Vallon and Tallon are, or Sullon and rolfron. or Varig Ro. 'technically' deities, but not even remotely close to the power of the 'pantheon' deities.</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p><cite>Rainmare@Oasis wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>the plane of innovation was ruled by Meldrath the Magnificent, who was ascended after he was split from his twin by I think it was Bristlebane. and I think meldrath the magnificent was a god more along the lines of how Vallon and Tallon are, or Sullon and rolfron. or Varig Ro. 'technically' deities, but not even remotely close to the power of the 'pantheon' deities.</p></blockquote><p>Uhhh.. I have *NEVER* Heard of Meldrath the Magnificent, Meldrath the Malignent, or any other Meldrath ever ascending to godhood. The Plane of Innovation just existed.</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>it is actually in the backstory about Innovation. one of the other gods 'gave' meldrath the magnificent the plane of innovation. the reason why the planes creatures are all KoS to you is because his twin, meldrath the malignant, entered and basically reprogramed everything. the bots didn't try to stop him becuase the meldrath's were identical twins, so they couldn't tell the difference.</p><p>Though I'm pretty sure it was bristlebane that did it. Now I'm gunna have to dig that thing up someplace.</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>here it is, or the general story between the twins.</p><p>It is said that Meldrath had a conjoined twin with whom he was connected at the chest. One boy's heart was as pure as the waters of the Vasty Deep and his eyes shone with a beautiful light and the other's heart was as dark and cold as the waters of the Ink Sea and his eyes were as black as two pools of oil. Their two hearts beat as one, each balanced by the extreme of the other. So balanced were they, in fact, that they were both known as Meldrath because no one thought of them as two, let alone suspected the extremes of their souls. They lived in peace, gliding through Ak'Anon wrapped in each other's arms like slow dancers.</p><p>Meldrath's mother, however, wanted the two sons she thought she deserved and constantly sought a way to disconnect them. One day Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane, ruler of the Plane of Mischief disguised himself as a healer and gave their mother a magic sword to disconnect them. She ran home and, finding them asleep, plunged the sword between them. Both were unharmed and the two rubbed their eyes sleepily. She rejoiced, but as she looked from one to the other she noticed for the first time that one was beautiful and the other ugly. One looked at her with loving, sweet eyes and the other with hatred. Suddenly, the beautiful Meldrath began to rise higher and higher into the air. His mother screamed and tried to hold him down but the ugly Meldrath bit her leg and stomped on her foot. The beautiful Meldrath floated up to the surface of Norrath and into the sky and was never seen again.</p><p>I think it's an NPC in innovation itself that basically confirms the 'good' Meldrath is the ruler/demigodish type over Innovation. and hte reason that the clockworks are hostile is because his twin reprogramed things.</p><table width="750" bgcolor="white" bordercolor="lightblue"><tbody><tr><td> </td> <td><table ><tbody><tr><td> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr></tbody></table>

[teddyboy4]

<p>The story related in the posts above about the twin Meldrath's is the story I had heard about their background as well. The mother, the conjoined twins, the sword from a god in disguise, etc...although I think I also remember something about her pregnancy and the conjoined twins also being the act of a god, or gods.</p><p>Anyhow, yes, that story explains why there is the one "evil" Meldrath that has always been around, and why there are references to a "good" Meldrath as well as the better know, "evil" Meldrath. The part about the "good" Meldrath, Meldrath the Marvelous, being a demi-god, I admit is new to me,  I don't recal anything about Meldrath ruling over the Plane of Innovation...being there, maybe, but ruling not so sure. Sadly, the entry for the Plane of Innovation was ripped from my Maps of Myrist years ago, so I can't refer to that...but there are references around the net of Meldrath ruling over Innovation</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p>Just to be sure, none of this was released from the Secrets of Faydwer expansion in EQlive, was it?</p><p>Honestly, I've never heard of this before.</p>

[Coniaric]

<p>I had read about that. It was a while ago, probably long before the Secrets of Faydwer, but I don't recall exactly.</p><p>Edit: Never mind ... I found the section about Meldrath in the EQ Atlas: The Maps of Myrist. So it was few years ago.</p>

[TaleraRis]

<p>I can't find my Maps of Myrist, but I did find this on Alla's in relation to the quest to open the elemental planes. I had forgotten who made the time machine and the relation to the Plane of Innovation. But it's been years since I did Planar Progression on PoP.</p><p>Maelin tells you, 'There is no way to escape from the prison that is The Plane of Time. I am sorry but your quest for information ends here. Time is something that none of us can escape. That is however.. back when my explorations of the Planes were more common, I would travel searching for knowledge and lore to bring back to Tanaan. <strong>I stumbled into the Plane of Innovation. It was a great marvel to see indeed. I found the creator of all things mechanical. Meldrath the Marvelous was a kind and just gnome. </strong>We spent many weeks together discussing all of his devices. This included a machine that would allow you to open a tear into a period of time and enter into that time. The machine was more of a flight of whimsy though as the power necessary to power such a machine was enormous. He jokingly equated needing the very essence of the elements to power it.'</p><p>It doesn't necessarily say "god" but I would certainly say it sounds like Meldrath the Marvelous had the position of Overseer of the place. And Overseer fits gnomes better than something like "god" anyway.</p>