buy you instance gear for shards

[demonwr]

<p>umm yeah few ideas here like list needs to be 100 % compleat if this is gonna be done for one</p><p>also implement a way to make shure that the person was able to kill and do the zone the drop came from like a extra coin type item off last boss in each zone and it takes 10-20 of those + the 150 void shards to get said item</p>

[feldon30]

<p>Lots of things missing. Certain classes I don't think will be doing much business with this merchant.  Others might be quite busy. I tend to agree with original poster that some item should drop or some flag set or some quest completed by killing the boss that then enables someone to buy the item for X shards. But then I look at the direction of HEIRLOOM LORE-EQUIP and realize that the intention seems to be that nearly ANY gear can be moved to an alt who might have never played that content. It is the conflict between those folks who just want to level an alt of a needed class to 80, 200 AAs, geared out, and jump in, vs. those who want to enjoy and play the game at their pace.</p><p>How many groups will take an undergeared player? With mentored shards and now HEIRLOOM LORE-EQUIP items, I could totally deck out an alt without that alt ever facing any challenge.</p><p>It cannot become so easy to gear up and twink out an alt that nobody will group with anyone who doesn't have "FABLED" tag running down the entire right side of their gear window. Remember folks, LEGENDARY/MASTERCRAFTED was supposed to be for Grouping. Yet FABLED is flooding this game. I don't know if it's good or bad, there are a lot of items folks can look forward to. When you step back and look at the business problem of "keeping players coming back with more and more rewards", well, we've got this steady stream of things to strive for.</p><p>How will this all play out in the expansion when everyone is used to incredibly powerful gear?</p>

[TsarRasput]

<p>I have to third this.  The list of items included was haphazard at best. </p><p>The one item I would get off of it, Najena's Ring of Readiness is unsuprisingly absent.  I have run that zone into the ground over and over and over, no ring, most of the time not even a single fabled item off any mob.  The same loot every time, all because it is one of the best items in the game for a wizard.  I have no problem with being able to purchase it with enough shards.   The problem I see is only certain items are there. </p><p>For example the Mistmoore battle drums that EVERY bard wants is there, but the Ring that EVERY sorcerer wants is not.  This does not seem equal.  I actually like the idea of the black market shard trader, however I don't like that only certain items were placed on it, haphazardly, unless this is the incomplete list.  It either needs to be all or nothing, or some sort of reasoning behind it.  Personally if I never had to run Najena's Hollow Tower ever again, I would be happy, simply because I have run that zone too many times to count, with no luck.</p>

[Korrupt]

<p>If they put the naj ring on that broker they will have come full circle with 1 single update. From having the best gear in game coming from avatars, to the best gear in game simply being bought and contested mobs forgotten lol. It really would not surprise me.</p>

[Aule]

At least put a token in for each category of zone that makes you run that category of zones "x" number of times to get it. Drops once last boss mob in zone is defeated. Otherwise the grey shard runners will get rewarded for their exploits.

[feldon30]

It's not really the RARE fabled. It's the less-than-rare FABLED. I mean, no Essence of Mastery, or the other book from EA. I would make a quest that requires killing certain mobs, then have a high shard cost to ensure that they at least killed the mob once.

[Korrupt]

<p>SoE really doesnt care if people earned the loot or not anymore guys, it's a /easymode world now.You're wasting your time.</p>

[Haze]

<p>Make it a random list of say.. 10 or so of the fabled instance loot (per day, kinda like the daily missions). It would feel more like a black market trader.</p><p>Or, perhaps.. you actually have to trade for it.. at first, you would have to provide him with something in return (shards + a fabled item, doesn't matter what); and after awhile, he begins to offer those items that where traded (a way to trade fabled items between players.. but that might be a bit too database extensive).</p><p>Oh.. right, with 2 characters, level 80.. if you mentor down, you will get 14 shards, or 18 per day if the daily double is up. In order to get 150 of these, it would take you approximately 11 days.</p><p>You can easily farm, in the same amount of time that it would take to get 14 shards, close to 25 plat. As the living wall usually goes for 50 - 75 plat on the SLR spams, you would be better off farming the plat for it (275 plat earned for the time to get 150 shards). Opportunity cost ftw?</p>

[ashen1973]

<p><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/ljay1973/shardblackmarket1.jpg" width="474" height="865" /><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/ljay1973/shardblackmarket2-1.jpg" /></p>

[theriatis]

<p>Hm,</p><p>the Idea with Shards + Fabled Items sounds also fine.</p><p>So, why not less Shards (say 100 or 120) and 1-2 Random Fabled Items ?</p><p>That would feel like a Black Market <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> I don't know if it is even code-able <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Regards, theriatis.</p>

[corndog2451]

<p>This is just completly [Removed for Content] dumb. Now those people who mentor to farm shards will be able to get some of the loot just for doing that. I cant beleive this is happening. At least make it require an item that drops off the boss mob of the zone plus the shards. and I think it should require say 500 shards thus the 150 shards, just to still make it diffcult to do, but better yet dont implement this on live servers.</p>

[ashen1973]

I don't see a problem with the basic principal of this idea. It still would take less time to farm enough plat to buy any of these items when a loot-rights auction appears (going by my servers prices anyway). I would like to see a flagging system of some sort though, so you need to have at least killed the mob that drops it, non-grey, once. Or even another token required, dropped by the boss of the zone.

[Korrupt]

<p>Just give them different items on this broker with better effects than you get in instances. That way heroic groupers have to work for lesser loot than people that just buy them. Tends to go with the new eq2 motto doesnt it?</p>

[Noaani]

<p>Earring of the Void Transfer needs to be taken off this merchant.</p><p>Its tradeable.</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>Hazerk wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Make it a random list of say.. 10 or so of the fabled instance loot (per day, kinda like the daily missions). It would feel more like a black market trader.</blockquote><p>This is actually a good idea.</p><p>They could rotate items in and out daily, with more desired items such as the drum and Najena's Ring being less frequient than the others.</p><p>They need to put a stop to grey shards if this goes live though.</p>

[Xalmat]

<p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Earring of the Void Transfer needs to be taken off this merchant.</p><p>Its tradeable.</p></blockquote><p>Indeed.</p>

[theriatis]

<p>Ohhh... does that mean we get some none-tradeable Loot on the List ?</p><p>Like the Abbey Charm and Najenas Ring ? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Regards, theriatis.</p><p>(P.S. Just kidding. There is no Najenas Ring. As sure as there is no Spoon. Go away. Nothing to see here. These aren't the Droids you are looking for.)</p>

[EasternKing]

<p>So when are we getting raid loot added?</p><p>im just as sick killing the same boring raid boss's over and over and over for items they never ever EVER drop</p><p>Trak Cloak,</p><p>Ozyk Scout Cloak,</p><p>Anashti-Sul - Hoop, Jewel</p><p>I mean raids drop shards to right? its only fair that casuals can now purchase FABLED for shards, why cant raiders?</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>EasternKing wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>So when are we getting raid loot added?</p><p>im just as sick killing the same boring raid boss's over and over and over for items they never ever EVER drop</p><p>Trak Cloak,</p><p>Ozyk Scout Cloak,</p><p>Anashti-Sul - Hoop, Jewel</p><p>I mean raids drop shards to right? its only fair that casuals can now purchase FABLED for shards, why cant raiders?</p></blockquote><p>I was thinking of posting similar thoughts to this, but then it occured to me that raids have a 100% fabled drop rate, with individual items dropping usually between 10% and 25% of the time.</p><p>Heroic encounters have about a 10% chance to drop a fabled item, with about a 3% chance to drop an individual item.</p><p>Under the scheme on test now, raiders have the advantage in that we get shards via raiding, which we can use to spend on these items (should something worthwhile actually be there). Adding raid dropped gear to this merchant would not mean raiders can buy raid loot and casuals can buy heroic loot, it means casuals can buy raid loot.</p><p>Adding a different type of shard to raids, and putting raid loot up for sale, however, would work. Thats a system that is dangerously close to what WoW uses though.</p>

[EasternKing]

<p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>EasternKing wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>So when are we getting raid loot added?</p><p>im just as sick killing the same boring raid boss's over and over and over for items they never ever EVER drop</p><p>Trak Cloak,</p><p>Ozyk Scout Cloak,</p><p>Anashti-Sul - Hoop, Jewel</p><p>I mean raids drop shards to right? its only fair that casuals can now purchase FABLED for shards, why cant raiders?</p></blockquote><p>I was thinking of posting similar thoughts to this, but then it occured to me that raids have a 100% fabled drop rate, with individual items dropping usually between 10% and 25% of the time.</p><p>Heroic encounters have about a 10% chance to drop a fabled item, with about a 3% chance to drop an individual item.</p><p>Under the scheme on test now, raiders have the advantage in that we get shards via raiding, which we can use to spend on these items (should something worthwhile actually be there). Adding raid dropped gear to this merchant would not mean raiders can buy raid loot and casuals can buy heroic loot, it means casuals can buy raid loot.</p><p>Adding a different type of shard to raids, and putting raid loot up for sale, however, would work. Thats a system that is dangerously close to what WoW uses though.</p></blockquote><p>True fabled always does drop, but combining the longer lockout timers, with the bigger loot tables, plus 24 people minimum, usually guilds are 30 people rosters, means you can go half a year or more and not see an item drop easily.</p><p>I mean my Casual friends that raid weekends only have only seen 2 trak earings since they started killing it in ROK, and they have killed it every time the timer is up since that point.</p><p>They could bump the shard number upto something 300-500 per Raid item scaled on the mobs difficulty, thats still going to be 1-2 items tops for most players in a 6month period, and lets be honest most raiders dont do enough shard zones to get that many.</p><p>I certainly havent got that many shards thats for sure lol.</p>

[madha]

<p>I thought if somethign liek this was ever implamented it would have a check to make sure you cleared the zone before you can buy the loot.. YOu can us e the shady swash bukler codeing and change the hq serch to zone complete search in teh lock out timer window.</p><p>DO i care that some of this fabled doesnt drop of the fianl named,, no not at all should be able to clear the zone before you can buy the items you want.</p><p>Alot of stuff i was hoping to see on my healer wasnt their, the rolling pin fromt he guk zone, is about the only thing id spend 150 shards for</p><p><a href="http://s627.photobucket.com/albums/tt351/rmpetrocox/?action=view&current=EQ2_000017.jpg" target="_blank"></a></p><p><a href="http://s627.photobucket.com/albums/tt351/rmpetrocox/?action=view&current=EQ2_000017.jpg" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://s627.photobucket.co...otobucket"></a></p><p><a href="http://s627.photobucket.com/albums/tt351/rmpetrocox/?action=view&current=EQ2_000018.jpg" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://s627.photobucket.co...otobucket"></a></p>

[theriatis]

<p>Hi,</p><p>Thoughts to make that not that easy as it is currently (some of them were thought before):</p><p>- Add 1-3 Random Fabled Items (Lvl 71-80) to the "Cost" List when purchasing an Item.- Add a Requirement: Must have killed the Mob that drops that Item at least once (non-grey).</p><p>Optional:</p><p>- Add an additional Requirement: Must have killed the Boss in that Zone (non-grey).</p><p>If those Requirements are added you could probably add more Loot to it.</p><p>Anyone more Ideas ? That should help a bit de-trivializing it.</p><p>Regards, TorstenH.</p>

[TwistedFaith]

<p>Either add ALL the fabled items from ALL heroic zones or dont bother. I just dont see the point of doing it otherwise.</p><p>Aidyls Scaled Sash of Dragon Songs is missing from the list I see (Veksar 2) is not on the list I see.</p>

[Wrapye]

<p>Not that I honestly think they did it this way, but we really don't know if the listing of items on the merchant changes.  Perhaps it will change on a daily or weekly basis.  This week it has the drums, next week it happens to have the Najena ring.</p>

[theriatis]

<p><cite>Wrapye wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Not that I honestly think they did it this way, but we really don't know if the listing of items on the merchant changes.  Perhaps it will change on a daily or weekly basis.  This week it has the drums, next week it happens to have the Najena ring.</p></blockquote><p>Then it would be good to hear something from a Redname <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Regards, theriatis.</p>

[Morghus]

<p>If the Najena's ring or otherwise similar in quality/rarity item were to be on sale through this they should in my opinion...</p><p>1 appear very rarely and in limited supply when it does and remain non heirloom/attunable.</p><p>2 cost a large amount of status in addition to at least 100p and 400 void shards.</p><p>3 require completion of all the specific zone's single and daily double quests.</p><p>4 prevent your characters on the account from buying any other similarly rare item for several cycles if they indeed rotate.</p><p>That's just my opinion though. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/908627bbe5e9f6a080977db8c365caff.gif" border="0" /></p>

[theriatis]

<p>Hi,</p><p>while i agree with you on points 1,3 and 4, i find point 2 a little bit exaggerated <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>At least for the cost of shards. Why ? I can think of 2 Reasons:</p><p>1. Not every one is a Farmer and some of us don't play the Game just for farming.Nonetheless, if you refrain from normal Dungeonruns and just farm, you can make 20 timesmore shards a day. But, as i said, some of us play this game instead of farming <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>2. If the Shard Costs are too high, people will start to farm zones for Shards (mentoring etc.)and not run with other people; while some people won't see that as a flaw, i do, becausei know of people who just farm the zones - even if they are in your guild, getting them todo an Instance Run with other guildies is hard work, because Shard Runs are so much easier :-/</p><p>So, with my suggestions above we have now:</p><p>- Add 1-3 Random Fabled Items (Lvl 71-80) to the "Cost" List when purchasing an Item.- Add a Requirement: Must have killed the Mob that drops that Item at least once (non-grey).- Add an additional Requirement: Must have killed the Boss in that Zone (non-grey).</p><p>- Appear very rarely and in limited supply when it does and remain non heirloom/attunable.(From my side i would make them already attuned to the Charakter and not insanely rare)- Cost a large amount of status in addition to at least 100p and 400 void shards.(I would refrain from costing to much shards, if most of the other Requirements are added,I would even tone them down a bit from the point now.)- Require completion of all the specific zone's single and daily double quests. (Sounds good)- Prevent your characters on the account from buying any other similarly rare item for several cycles if they indeed rotate.</p><p>Regards, theriatis.</p>

[Calain80]

<p>The shard system I would have wished from the beginning would give you several different shards based on the difficulty of the zone (max 5 zones per difficulty) and would actually drop from nameds or at least very late in the zone.</p><p>Then you might buy some cheap items that are worse then the loot of the zone for 15 shards. The normal drops of the zone would cost 25 to 40 shards and the fabled / rare drops would cost 50 to 75 shards. Maybe even include some really good items for 100+ shards. (Think that you have a low number of zones you can use for farming.)</p><p>I hope something like this will be included with SF.</p><p>But this isn't possible for TSO any more. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Because of that I like the totem idea. So you need one or even several totems from the named / zone of this difficulty to buy the item. If that would be implemented I would even like it, if all fabled items could be purchased this way for unlucky people like me that needed 1 year to get the Cleric gauntlets out of Shard of Hate (1st drop for our force) and still misses some rare items out of the TSO dungeons beside having done them many, many times.</p>

[revren]

<p>Hey Hey</p><p>Instead of addeding a fabled to the cost , add plat to the cost, we need a good plat sink in the game.( besides one PR run would net half a raid force with said fabled items and you can one group PR)</p><p>Add The ring from NHT or the charm from EA right now besides form Helix(witch is not so great) there is no mage loot</p><p>Keep the shards where they are at, if you added a few items people would want the shards would add up very fast, i do not want to go from grinding for an item to grinsding for shards , just as boring and have allready done this for gear.</p><p>Possibly add that you have had to kill the boss , not bassed on AA, people capped in febuary/march and alot of these names still have starts next to there names</p><p>All in all I do not think this is a horrible idea, and it is what i assumed shard where for when they anoucened them a long time ago. </p><p>Welcome Home</p><p>Rev</p>

[Barx]

<p>I dislike the idea. This just gives people more reason to exploit gray zones for shards.</p><p>Thankfully the rarer stuff doesn't seem to be on there. But this merchant is bad enough as it is. Rarely do I find myself generally opposed to something, but this I can see no value in. I'd love something <em>new</em> to spend shards on, not a merchant to allow people to buy existing instance loot for large numbers of almost-certainly-exploited shards.</p>

[TsarRasput]

<p>I was thinking about some of the ideas people were saying here on the way to work this morning, and I have an interesting idea.  What about if:</p><p>The really rare items cycled with the hot zone, i.e. Najena's Ring would be on the black market when Najena's Hollow Tower was the hot zone, or the EA charm would be on the black market trader when EA is the hot zone, but in addition to the 150 shards for these items, you need to have a temporary  black market voucher as well.  Have this be a 100% single drop in the chest of the last named in that zone.  So like, the magolemus would drop ONE voucher that would also have the TEMPORARY flag when NHT is active, that could could trade, together with 150 shards for 1 of the rarer items from Najena's Hollow Tower.</p>

[Geothe]

<p>you should not be able to buy items which are better than raid drops for void shards, which you can get hundreds of from grey instances.</p>

[RafaelSmith]

<p>I hated the whole shard system when TSO was introduced.......now I hate it even more. </p><p>The fun of getting some item you have been after to finally drop is all but gone.</p><p>If they are gonna do this then might as well do it for every single item in the game and be done with it.</p>

[madha]

<p><cite>Gaylon@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I hated the whole shard system when TSO was introduced.......now I hate it even more. </p><p>The fun of getting some item you have been after to finally drop is all but gone.</p><p>If they are gonna do this then might as well do it for every single item in the game and be done with it.</p></blockquote><p>or put it all on station cash =).</p>

[Ahlana]

<p>All these extra stipulations people are suggestion aren't nessicarily (sp) bad, but I am going with a very basic suggestion here.</p><p>Get rid of it. Take it back out of game and dust it off as a bad decision. It's not the way items should be cycled into the game.</p>

[Barx]

<p><cite>Ahlana wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>All these extra stipulations people are suggestion aren't nessicarily (sp) bad, but I am going with a very basic suggestion here.</p><p>Get rid of it. Take it back out of game and dust it off as a bad decision. It's not the way items should be cycled into the game.</p></blockquote><p>QFE.</p>

[Cele]

<p>I dont think it matters a whole lot, since the next expansion will use a different token system and really isnt that far off.</p>

[Wytie]

<p>250 shards.... I want my Naj ring gogogogogog </p><p>why half way do it? that just pisses me off lol</p>

[Nubek]

<p>Dissappointed to see the only pieces of loot I give a [Removed for Content] about (and have done many unsuccesful runs for) are not present.</p><p>Najena's Ring of Readiness? Jewel Inlaid Fang? Aidyl's Scaled Sash of Dragon Songs?</p><p>Oh well, back to Hollow Tower. (Can the devs confirm the ring is still on the loot table before I lose my sanity?)</p>

[TwistedFaith]

<p><cite>Celena wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I dont think it matters a whole lot, since the next expansion will use a different token system and really isnt that far off.</p></blockquote><p>It doesnt matter anyway, SOE have decided what they want, I presume they will quote some feedback stats from the recent survey to justify any action.</p><p>As for the other options that people have suggested, wake up, there is ZERO chance of SOE implementing something difficult such as a random blackmarket void merchant with limited itesm etc. Thats NOT going to happen, what you see on test will more than likely be how it is on the live server.</p><p>I am curious what happens in T9 will the shards carry over?Or will people simply level and avoid T8 instances, knowing that once they are lvl 82 new mastercratfed will be available therefore there is no need to farm for t8 void stones.</p>

[TwistedFaith]

<p><cite>Nubek@Permafrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Dissappointed to see the only pieces of loot I give a [Removed for Content] about (and have done many unsuccesful runs for) are not present.</p><p>Najena's Ring of Readiness? Jewel Inlaid Fang? Aidyl's Scaled Sash of Dragon Songs?</p><p>Oh well, back to Hollow Tower. (Can the devs confirm the ring is still on the loot table?)</p></blockquote><p>Basically anything a mage would want isnt on the list lol. GJ SOE.</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>Ahlana wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>All these extra stipulations people are suggestion aren't nessicarily (sp) bad, but I am going with a very basic suggestion here.</p><p>Get rid of it. Take it back out of game and dust it off as a bad decision. It's not the way items should be cycled into the game.</p></blockquote><p>I'm not totally in favour of this idea, but based on development direction and recient history, this is going in game reguardless.</p><p>I would have prefered it if the items up for sale were designed specifically for a shard merchant, in the same manner as the legendary shard merchats - but I know that would take up too much time to implement.</p><p>Failing that, I would rather see every fabled drop cycle through this merchant, so as to not play favours with particular archtypes any more than regular TSO itemization does.</p>

[Barx]

<p><cite>TwistedFaith wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I am curious what happens in T9 will the shards carry over?Or will people simply level and avoid T8 instances, knowing that once they are lvl 82 new mastercratfed will be available therefore there is no need to farm for t8 void stones.</p></blockquote><p>T9 will have a new token system, it will NOT use void shards. Given item degradation, I doubt you'll see people worrying too much about shard armor once T9 goes in, unless they plan on level-locking at 80.</p>

[Dasein]

<p><cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>TwistedFaith wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I am curious what happens in T9 will the shards carry over?Or will people simply level and avoid T8 instances, knowing that once they are lvl 82 new mastercratfed will be available therefore there is no need to farm for t8 void stones.</p></blockquote><p>T9 will have a new token system, it will NOT use void shards. Given item degradation, I doubt you'll see people worrying too much about shard armor once T9 goes in, unless they plan on level-locking at 80.</p></blockquote><p>Some of the TSO instances will scale up to T9, so I don't tihnk void shards will be going away entirely. I'd expect there to be some conversion system, especially as SF continues the Void storyline.</p>

[Barx]

<p><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Some of the TSO instances will scale up to T9, so I don't tihnk void shards will be going away entirely. I'd expect there to be some conversion system, especially as SF continues the Void storyline.</p></blockquote><p>They will? Do you have a source for that, that's the first time I've heard that the TSO instances will scale up.</p>

[yadlajoi]

being able to buy fabled gear throu shard is outrageous and the person that thought i was a good idea should seriously reconcider his position at SOE

[Detor]

<p><cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Some of the TSO instances will scale up to T9, so I don't tihnk void shards will be going away entirely. I'd expect there to be some conversion system, especially as SF continues the Void storyline.</p></blockquote><p>They will? Do you have a source for that, that's the first time I've heard that the TSO instances will scale up.</p></blockquote><p>Only particular TSO instances will scale up (they have to do additional work to enable the zone to do it), such as Ferzhul.  Presumably they can just put higher level item drops off the named, and consider that the reward rather than using void shards and a conversation system.</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>TwistedFaith wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I am curious what happens in T9 will the shards carry over?Or will people simply level and avoid T8 instances, knowing that once they are lvl 82 new mastercratfed will be available therefore there is no need to farm for t8 void stones.</p></blockquote><p>T9 will have a new token system, it will NOT use void shards. Given item degradation, I doubt you'll see people worrying too much about shard armor once T9 goes in, unless they plan on level-locking at 80.</p></blockquote><p>Some of the TSO instances will scale up to T9, so I don't tihnk void shards will be going away entirely. I'd expect there to be some conversion system, especially as SF continues the Void storyline.</p></blockquote><p>In much the same way as < level 77 zones do not have shards in the chest, it is probable that < level 87 zones, for those taht are being scaled up, will continue to drop void shards, and zones > level 87 will drop the new token.</p><p>Its also probable that they will either not add quests for these tokens, eill not add quests for these tokens for the scaled up zones, or will prevent grey shards in some other manner.</p>

[Knesh]

<p>This is the stupidest thing SOE has ever done... What were they thinking honestly? Why oh why has SOE decided everyone needs to have FABLED loot - how do you now, distinguish somoene that is a raider from an instance runner. This is completely crazy. SOE really needs to think about the direction they are taking this game. 1) they destroyed the economy by putting the no-drop tag on everything - thus having guilds sell loot rights - which was done before but NOT to the extent it is today. - Making guilds/people extremely wealthy in a very short amount of time. Now the only thing casual people can sell are masters which just became /easymode with the RA's. So shards are the new EQ2 currency not coin - SOE really needs to adjust this game. I can understand why SOE wanted to add Shards it was a great gimmick and adds player value - but this is taking it way WAY to far.</p>

[Enever]

<p>I dub this the /easymode merchant</p>

[Zegon]

<p>Looking at the list, it seems not only is the fabled item list incomplete (No Burning Lavastud, Ring of Readiness, chest piece fableds from EA, or the jester's hat from Caverns of the Afflicted), but the listing seems to exclude harder zones as well:  While you see items from NHT and Nu'Roga, there's nothing from Lower Corridors, Outer Stronghold, Crucible, Veksar2, Kor'Sha, and Palace of Ferzul.</p><p>This does mean it's missing just about anything I want, and the zones that drop things that I *do* want it's missing the items I don't have yet (Such as Charm of the Lost from Caverns of the Afflicted).  It also annoys me that, while Ravenscale is such a fun zone, there really won't be any reason to do it except Chapter 5 updates and White Dragonscale Cloak updates if this goes live:  The Helix is the only major item off the fabled loot table and that's on the current list of fabled stuff on the broker.  Of course, that's more of a gripe about such a difficult zone having such a sub-par loot table and not really a problem with the shard -> fabled merchant.</p><p>Just carefully consider what goes on the merchant, please, and maybe consider how hard/rare they are to get when you price them.</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>Enever wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I dub this the /easymode merchant</p></blockquote><p>I dub it the Crusader merchant.</p><p>Items that are of use to a give class...</p><p>Warriors; 13Crusaders; 14Brawlers; 8</p><p>Rogues; 12Bards; 11Preditors; 8</p><p>Clerics; 5Shaman; 4Druids; 4</p><p>Sorcerers; 6Enchanters; 6Summoners; 7</p><p>More mage and priest items please.</p><p>Edit: I did not count caster items that are also equipable by and useful to bards or crusaders. If I did, you could add 3 or 4 items to each. I also did not add caster items equipable by priests to them, the priest number is items that help a healer heal.</p>

[Akaran2]

<p>I'm actually in favor of this idea. Truth be, had it been in, I wouldn't have paid over 100p last week for an earring I wanted/needed. It does need to include more items (and maybe have the costs associated with some of them lowered / raised) but in terms of, "hey, I have a thousand shards, but still haven't gotten item xxx, what can I do about it?," I think it serves it's purpose.</p>

[Xethren]

<p>I have to agree that this is an 'easymode' merchant and an very stupid idea. What happened to people actually having to do dungeons to get drops?</p><p>All this shard stuff is really getting annoying and I hope there isnt a shard item anywhere with the new expansion.</p>

[Xethren]

<p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Enever wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I dub this the /easymode merchant</p></blockquote><p>I dub it the Crusader merchant.</p><p>Items that are of use to a give class...</p><p>Warriors; 13Crusaders; 14Brawlers; 8</p><p>Rogues; 12Bards; 11Preditors; 8</p><p>Clerics; 5Shaman; 4Druids; 4</p><p>Sorcerers; 6Enchanters; 6Summoners; 7</p><p>More mage and priest items please.</p><p>Edit: I did not count caster items that are also equipable by and useful to bards or crusaders. If I did, you could add 3 or 4 items to each. I also did not add caster items equipable by priests to them, the priest number is items that help a healer heal.</p></blockquote><p>Gotta love it how mages always get hosed. Our shard gear is subpar and then we have the least amount of items on the new stupid merchant.</p>

[Fendaria]

<p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I dub it the Crusader merchant.</p><p>Items that are of use to a give class...</p><p>Warriors; 13Crusaders; 14Brawlers; 8</p><p>Rogues; 12Bards; 11Preditors; 8</p><p>Clerics; 5Shaman; 4Druids; 4</p><p>Sorcerers; 6Enchanters; 6Summoners; 7</p><p>More mage and priest items please.</p><p>Edit: I did not count caster items that are also equipable by and useful to bards or crusaders. If I did, you could add 3 or 4 items to each. I also did not add caster items equipable by priests to them, the priest number is items that help a healer heal.</p></blockquote><p>Or is this a reflection of the loot distribution for the TSO instances in general?</p><p>Fendaria</p>

[Wrapye]

<p><cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Some of the TSO instances will scale up to T9, so I don't tihnk void shards will be going away entirely. I'd expect there to be some conversion system, especially as SF continues the Void storyline.</p></blockquote><p>They will? Do you have a source for that, that's the first time I've heard that the TSO instances will scale up.</p></blockquote><p>It was mentioned at Fan Faire.</p>

[hellfire]

<p><cite>Xethren@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I have to agree that this is an 'easymode' merchant and an very stupid idea. What happened to people actually having to do dungeons to get drops?</p><p>All this shard stuff is really getting annoying and I hope there isnt a shard item anywhere with the new expansion.</p></blockquote><p>To late i already named the research assistant MR.Easy mode in guild hall.</p><p>Did people really not see  something like this incommin?</p><p>Brace yourself for the future.</p><p>Oh yeah and ill  say it again content will be designed around what the majority will have.Expect fabled/master balanced content  as a base for next expantion.</p>

[Gaige]

<p>LOL @ the Brenlo regime.</p>

[Gungo]

<p>This is not a bad idea except for 2 issues.</p><p>1) They already decided to leave a broken mechanic in game that trivializes obtaining shards.2) Raids drop way to many shards as well. Raids should drop thier own quality of shards or simply never dropped them in the first place. The shard cost on raid armour was already neglible compared to tier 2 or even tier 1 armour.</p><p>People who want the most desirable fabled items in game should not be able to obtan it by killing grey mobs for insane amount of shards.</p>

[skycruise]

<p>Well I like this as a start.  More and more people will be doing shard instances now to get their loot that refuses to drop for them.  I know I will start doing shard instances again as a result of this, however I still do not see the loots I am looking for on the merchant.  These included the charm from Necrotic Asylum, charm from undead jailer in CoA, lavastud earring form Deep Forge to name three. </p><p>It would be nice to see a 10 token requirement where the token is unique to that zone, and drops as a body drop off the last named in the zone. </p><p>Overall though this is a step in teh right direction and makes me want to do more instances, more often.</p>

[Morrolan V]

<p>A few points:</p><p>1. I agree that gray shard farming is a broken mechanic that should be eliminated entirely.</p><p>2. I don't particularly LIKE the idea of this merchant, but, at 150 shards per item, I hardly think it's game breaking.  Let's say you are farming for the Mistmoore drum - you would get an average of slightly more than 2 shards per MM run.  150 shards is thus the equivalant of <strong><em>seventy instance runs</em></strong>.  I don't think that's the equivalent of "free loot".</p><p>3. Can we please, please get an explanation of why these were included and others were not?  Why the Drum and not the Ring of Readiness?  Why the Finger Boneguard Rapier and not the Wovern Gloves?  Why no void shackles?  If the principle is to remove some of the frustration inherent in the RNG, why are you apparently randomly letting some classes continue to stew?</p>

[Korrupt]

<p>Have you seen the munzok mage neck and the destruction of avtar loot? SoE obviously holds a grudge against mages lol</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>Korrupt@Najena wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Have you seen the munzok mage neck and the destruction of avtar loot? SoE obviously holds a grudge against mages lol</p></blockquote><p>Don't get me started on instanced mage itemization this expansion...</p><p>Gynok ear, Zarrakon wrist, Mynzak, Field General, Ykesha, Anushti only having one item, total lack of power procs...</p>

[bunnybuttonnose]

<p>wow....raiders are having a fit at this huh lol. Dont worry you still have the accoplishment of putting 24 people together and killing a raid mob - I mean thats the point behind raiding right. The challenge. Least thats what every raider says its not about the loot its about the teamwork!</p><p>and BTW yes I am a raider lol</p>

[Gaige]

<p><cite>bunnybuttonnose wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>wow....raiders are having a fit at this huh lol. Dont worry you still have the accoplishment of putting 24 people together and killing a raid mob - I mean thats the point behind raiding right. The challenge. Least thats what every raider says its not about the loot its about the teamwork!</p></blockquote><p>Its only about the challenge of the first kill.  The other 11+ months of an expansion are about the loot.  If raiding doesn't offer the best loot, then most players won't raid.  They'll do whatever has the best loot and/or quit.</p>

[bunnybuttonnose]

<p><cite>Gage wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>bunnybuttonnose wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>wow....raiders are having a fit at this huh lol. Dont worry you still have the accoplishment of putting 24 people together and killing a raid mob - I mean thats the point behind raiding right. The challenge. Least thats what every raider says its not about the loot its about the teamwork!</p></blockquote><p>Its only about the challenge of the first kill.  The other 11+ months of an expansion are about the loot.  If raiding doesn't offer the best loot, then most players won't raid.  They'll do whatever has the best loot and/or quit.</p></blockquote><p>I'll still raid - I mean what do I care if some random casual player gets uber loot or near the same quality loot that I get. Come next expansion it will be worlthless - then again the next level gear will be worthless come level raise.</p><p>I am not in the mindset that my gear makes me better then the next person, let them run mindless shards for months on end to get gear in all honesty who cares lol. I am sure some of the raiders that think they are better then everyone else will but really who cares lol.</p><p>The hardest part of raiding is getting 24 people together who know how to play thier toons and can follow instructions. Now given with as few players as EQ2 has that can be a challenge lol.</p><p>Again I do raid for fun, I have raided for most of my gear, bought loot rights for a couple items ect. The only reason I bought loot rights was to better assist our raid force in killing named because it is fun to do something as a team. Even when I have the best loot and I dont yet I would still raid cause this is a game of enjoyment - it is not meant to supplement RL accoplishments tho some people see it that way.</p>

[Valdaglerion]

<p>w/e</p><p>Interesting list to say the least and agree the pieces worth 150 shards are missing.</p>

[Khurghan]

<p>As an idea for the devs:</p><p>This is probably going to go down pretty well with the large majority of the casual player base, who will be rubbing their hands together at the chance to get some of this stuff for the large number of shards they have amassed.</p><p>Why not charge 150 shards + a token for the items? You could have the tokens available on station cash (for a smallish fee) and would probably make an absolute killing (and it's not really selling items for cash as the shards would be for the item, the token would just allow the player to buy the item off the vendor with their shards).</p>

[schizolic]

<p>hmmm, how about putting in some of the mutagenic burst items for us non aoe tanks in this heavily aoe expansion?</p>

[Gormak]

<p>I dont see what the fuss is about here.</p><p>Raiders wont (or shouldnt) care. The gear listed does not hold up agains even entry level tso gear.</p><p>Casuals will find 150 shards cumbersome to attain, and if they do, the shards wont last long.</p><p>Failing that, this is just a way of getting some decent gear onto peoples alts. Shards are Heirloom, so youll see a heap of alts going and grabbing some of these items. This is a good thing all round. Alts with better gear for me means raid leaders who need to sub in an alt to fill a spot can be a little bit more comfortable about how alts are geared.</p><p>All the people whining.... who cares? 150 shards, very very few people will be going out and getting 5 or 6 of these things, and its not like the items are game breaking.... Hell, in alot of cases they are essentially legendary items with Fabled Tags.</p>

[salty21db]

<p>God the MMO community goes downhill with each passing day.</p><p>You all are complaining about this yet these items are already being sold in general chats all across the board on all servers.  So what is the difference? why are you [Removed for Content]? Well thats simple, you wont get plat from it anymore and people will get it on their own now.</p><p>We have 6 months till expansion and this gear will be useless then as it is once 90 most likely.  So youre complaining about something that is already being offered to people who dont work for it (and now they are making people work for it through shards, yes they need to get rid of grey shard runs) and stuff that will be obsolete 6 months down the road and something us "hardcores" should already have if we are indeed that hardcore.</p><p>Go whine on another forum about something else...jeebus.</p>

[Gungo]

<p><cite>salty21db wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>God the MMO community goes downhill with each passing day.</p><p>You all are complaining about this yet these items are already being sold in general chats all across the board on all servers.  So what is the difference? why are you [Removed for Content]? Well thats simple, you wont get plat from it anymore and people will get it on their own now.</p><p>We have 6 months till expansion and this gear will be useless then as it is once 90 most likely.  So youre complaining about something that is already being offered to people who dont work for it (and now they are making people work for it through shards, yes they need to get rid of grey shard runs) and stuff that will be obsolete 6 months down the road and something us "hardcores" should already have if we are indeed that hardcore.</p><p>Go whine on another forum about something else...jeebus.</p></blockquote><p>Look i could care less about the idea. The problem is the grey shard runs and people getting these items with absolutely no effort whatsoever.</p><p>This is akin to being able to do raid zones grey and obtaining the same loot. Want some ykesha loot no problem guys i will log on my lvl 50 alt and grey out the zone so me and my buddy can dou it. Yea for douing for raid gear!!!</p><p>That is the issue with putting fabled loot on a shard merchant. Fix the admittedly broken mechanic and the idea for rare drops is sound by buying them with shards you obtained while doing these zones. Even though I think you should at least need to be flagged by killing the last named in the appropriate zone to buy the loot.</p>

[Armawk]

<p>No real opinion on the item availability, but I would comment that anyone with 150 shards lying about is no casual player. They may not be hardcore but they certainly spend a great deal of time on the game.</p><p>(As always I would support the removal of the grey shard runs.)</p>

[Lleren]

<p>If some of the most sought after pieces from herioc zones are going to be included on this new merchant, can we please have some balance and have other greatly sought after items on this merchant as well.</p><p>Some of the greatly sought after items included: Signet of Vampire Kind, Mistemoore Battle Drums.</p><p>Strangely missing: Najena's Ring of Readiness, The Rolling Pin from Guk Outer Stronghold, any of the Fabled Charms.</p><p>Tradeable items should not be included on this merchant, ie the Earring of Void Transfer.</p><p>I guess my Brawler is going to have to make some more Shard Runs, that ring just doesn't drop for him.  If the charms where there my Ranger would be too. </p><p><strong>With grey shard runs being around for so long, I would greatly prefer if these rewards where not shard buyable, and instead used a new currency, that preferably only dropped in the max level herioc zones,</strong> and possibly raid zones as well.</p><p><strong></strong></p>

[Magich]

<p><cite>Khurghan wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>As an idea for the devs:</p><p>This is probably going to go down pretty well with the large majority of the casual player base, who will be rubbing their hands together at the chance to get some of this stuff for the large number of shards they have amassed.</p><p>Why not charge 150 shards + a token for the items? You could have the tokens available on station cash (for a smallish fee) and would probably make an absolute killing (and it's not really selling items for cash as the shards would be for the item, the token would just allow the player to buy the item off the vendor with their shards).</p></blockquote><p>Please, don't encourage real money transactions for items in the game that aren't fluff pieces. Given that there are racial changes, server transfers, appearance armours, players should NOT be expected to pay additional money for a token which, in your ideology, would be <strong>compulsory</strong> to buy in order to get these rarer instanced items.</p><p>Simpler solution, which has already been mentioned countless times: Rotate the items available on the merchant. Limit it to 10, maybe 15, and have them rotate at a <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>random</strong></span> (to prevent people camping the merchant at a specific time change) interval every 24-36 hours. The item(s) in question would be purchased for 150 void shards and a token which you receive alongside the daily-double mission (which almost all include the death of the final named) of an instance. This will promote the daily double to be even more beneficial, whilst controlling the influence of the tokens in the game.</p>

[demonwr]

<p>i think its pritty safe to say that a large majority want there to be some form of control that makes shure that people have done the instance that the item thay wish to buy comes from if this goes in.  and have done it at level 80 not a mentored down version. one way or another and not the station cash idea needs to be implemented or alot of people gonna be upset with this merchant</p>

[Oxie]

<p>Let's say that I've run the same zone every day with hopes of getting Uber Fabled Item X, and that I had the crappiest luck with the item actually dropping. That or if by chance the dang thing did drop, another scout won the roll. (Item that comes to mind for me personally is the scout cloak from RE2.)</p><p>I would much rather see something like: You have done this zone 100 times, and have had no luck with getting Uber Fabled Item X, you now have the right to purchase said item from the NPC in Moors.</p><p>ALSO: Being able to purchase a piece of appearance gear from old content zones. Example: I never got the swashy pants off of Wuohsi in EH. We finally killed that blasted dragon a few weeks before the rush to 80 happened post-RoK launch, and I never went back into EH for a chance to get them. I'd love to be able to purchase said swashy pants from an NPC to complete the set. At this stage, the stats on those pants are trivial, but I'm just asking for a way to get the pants for appearance-only. Yeah...I can dream!</p>

[zorkan]

<p>The easiest solution would be to grant access to this vendor as a reward for the achievement "killed all boss mobs in TSO zones".</p><p>EDIT: meaning heroic zones, obviously.</p>

[Boli32]

<p>3 days before they annouced this I finally got my vampiric ring from Abbey.... now I find if I had just stayed offline not actually logged on and waited... I would just have this reward given to me. (I have so many shards its not worth thinking about)</p><p>Needless to say I am very upset about the entire process.</p><p>What SHOULD of happened is they should have recorded how many times we killed the mobs throughout the entire expansion release.... that would mean when they DID release the fabled shard merchant it would have the requirements of "clear instance 50 times, + 50 shards"... I'm guessing they did not record such kills and so to compensate they have to do 150 shards 0 times to kill.</p><p>I hope they learnt their lesson from this and the next expansion if they are releasing similar to record the number of times cleared on instances so people don;t feel as cheated running the same instance day in and day out to miss out on getting the items they want.</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>Boli32 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I hope they learnt their lesson from this</blockquote><p>Somehow I don't think they agree with your idea, and thus have no lesson to learn.</p>

[Dasein]

<p><cite>Boli32 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>3 days before they annouced this I finally got my vampiric ring from Abbey.... now I find if I had just stayed offline not actually logged on and waited... I would just have this reward given to me. (I have so many shards its not worth thinking about)</p><p>Needless to say I am very upset about the entire process.</p></blockquote><p>What did you lose by having the item drop for you? The item wouldn't be given to you - you may have enough shards for to purchase the item, but that is hardly the same. Besides, if you just stay offline for another 6 months, the problem would resolve itself with the new expansion making all the items obsolete.</p>

[Tehom]

<p>I don't really see the problem with this. All of the items there have raid upgrades for their slots ultimately, so it's not like endgame stuff on the merchant. Admittedly the Mistmoore Battle Drums and Gynok's ring come pretty close, but any raider who has been unlucky on drops and actually needs them will be able to get these items by default from having shards from raids without anything to spend them on. Works for me.</p>

[Morrolan V]

<p><cite>Gungo wrote:</cite></p><blockquote> Even though I think you should at least need to be flagged by killing the last named in the appropriate zone to buy the loot.</blockquote><p>QFE</p><p>I like this idea a lot.  That really does bring it down to smoothing out the RNG.</p>

[xpraetorianx]

<p>All of your arguments are null and void... you STILL have to do the instances to get the shards... so it doesnt matter.   Plus, what most of you guys havent figured out is that 5+ raid guilds every night on every server are selling fabled items from raids.  Its constantly happening with the people buying the loot NEVER once doing the zones....  all of your complaining goes for nothing... seriously.  If it came down to me having to farm 150 void shards... or pay 100pp for a fabled item, I would pay the 100pp lol.  The same goes for legendary loot.. i paid 30pp for a ring that I wear for ONE encounter... ONE encounter... who cares if there is a merchant that will do that same thing for 150 Void Shards.. lol.</p><p>People buying items has been happening for YEARS... its rediculous people would complain now.  Just knock it off [Removed for Content].</p>

[Silverzx]

<p>Please do not let this happen.  IF this goes through no ones even gonna bother running guk and other harder zones any more.  Whats the point when you can still gain the uber fabled item from doing greyed out scions of ice, deep forge, crucible, anathema, etc?</p>

[Purrcey]

<p>I have no problem with this at all and may a piece or two some of it on an alt. Doesnt matter if you run 150 grey zones or 65+ non grey ones. Personally I dont use any fabled instance loot except for the ocassion special case. This should give you something to do for the next 4+ months till expansion comes out and make all the loot worthless anyhow.</p><p>/thumbs up</p>

[QuestingCrafter]

<p>I like the *idea* of it (hey, fabled XXX hasn't dropped in 281 runs) -- I would just add in the item-by-item flag requiring you to have killed the mob that drops it (unmentored).</p><p>As far as which items made the first list -- isn't there a limit of 31 items on NPC vendors?</p><p>Edit/add: Of course there's a limit, but I forgot about crafting/adventuring book vendors. Maybe those were 31 fableds they most wanted in higher distribution? Mmmm, MM Drums ... and Helix ...</p>

[Bookbunny]

<p>The problem I have with this merchant is that SOE has admitted that they cannot fix the Grey Shard farming and has not used disciplinary action for it despite having labeled it an exploit.  With the addition of this merchant a solo player can run gray shard zones (even easier now that they have an auto-mentor npc) and earn fabled gear without every joining up with another player.</p><p>Why encourage grouping in an MMO?  Phat lewts for soloing grayed out content FTW!!</p>

[Sabbz]

<p>Hey why not put in an Avatar Gear researcher and a Mythical Resercher while we at it ...oh hey and I know lets ask SOE if we can buy Avatar gear and Mythicals for station cash ... I mean after all its the next logical step no ?!</p><p>-_-</p><p> why even bother to play closed ..... just get an editor and play an open game  pfft w/e</p>

[Gungo]

<p><cite>Sabbz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hey why not put in an Avatar Gear researcher and a Mythical Resercher while we at it ...oh hey and I know lets ask SOE if we can buy Avatar gear and Mythicals for station cash ... I mean after all its the next logical step no ?!</p><p>-_-</p><p> why even bother to play closed ..... just get an editor and play an open game  pfft w/e</p></blockquote><p>Thats not in the spirit of this change, instead they should allow guilds to mentor down munzoks material bastion down to level 50 so that guilds will finally be able to defeat munzok albeit solo.</p>

[Korrupt]

<p><cite>Sabbz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hey why not put in an Avatar Gear researcher and a Mythical Resercher while we at it ...oh hey and I know lets ask SOE if we can buy Avatar gear and Mythicals for station cash</p></blockquote><p>Well thats just a waste of time, next month nobody's gonna want avatar loot : (</p>

[feldon30]

<p><cite>Silverzx wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>uber fabled item</p></blockquote><p>Did you look at the list? I don't see any uber fabled items. Nothing from EA, nothing from PoF.</p>

[Maamadex]

<p>A majority of all those items aren't any good to be perfectly honest, several aren't worth 10 shards let alone 150. Its an interesting idea, but it doesn't seem like any thought was put into the list itself, or the cost of the items. Not sure why several people are so bothered by it. Did any of you actually look at the fabled on that merchant? The good fabled, like some of the stuff out of crucible, OS, PoF, NA etc aren't even there. The ones worth the shard investment. Most of those I see now are munge fodder.</p>

[Sabbz]

<p>Ok of course it sounds rediculous... But that seems to be the way this is heading<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p><p>I mean because peeps cant get lewt to drop SOE is talking about making things more accessable ... it dont really matter at this point that really uber stuff isent on the list .. cuz it seems that it wont be long before it is or thats the general feeling im getting (not to say Contested raid loot would ever be of course NOT!) thats when i stop playing this game. But what makes an item so desirable also is not only what it does but its  becuase not EVERYONE has it.... or whats the point in having it in the first place... what seperates skilled players that are trying hard from all the rest?!</p><p>whatever but I think its a bad idea... However if they restrict it to the not so uber items and put in some long hard questines as a way to get certain gear that just dont drop often (and NO not NHT ring) then Mabey.. but i still dont like it tbh.</p>

[Dasein]

<p><cite>Sabbz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Ok of course it sounds rediculous... But that seems to be the way this is heading<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p><p>I mean because peeps cant get lewt to drop SOE is talking about making things more accessable ... it dont really matter at this point that really uber stuff isent on the list .. cuz it seems that it wont be long before it is or thats the general feeling im getting (not to say Contested raid loot would ever be of course NOT!) thats when i stop playing this game. But what makes an item so desirable also is not only what it does but its  becuase not EVERYONE has it.... or whats the point in having it in the first place... what seperates skilled players that are trying hard from all the rest?!</p><p>whatever but I think its a bad idea... However if they restrict it to the not so uber items and put in some long hard questines as a way to get certain gear that just dont drop often (and NO not NHT ring) then Mabey.. but i still dont like it tbh.</p></blockquote><p>What skill is involved in getting lucky with a drop?</p>

[Gungo]

<p><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Sabbz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Ok of course it sounds rediculous... But that seems to be the way this is heading<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p><p>I mean because peeps cant get lewt to drop SOE is talking about making things more accessable ... it dont really matter at this point that really uber stuff isent on the list .. cuz it seems that it wont be long before it is or thats the general feeling im getting (not to say Contested raid loot would ever be of course NOT!) thats when i stop playing this game. But what makes an item so desirable also is not only what it does but its  becuase not EVERYONE has it.... or whats the point in having it in the first place... what seperates skilled players that are trying hard from all the rest?!</p><p>whatever but I think its a bad idea... However if they restrict it to the not so uber items and put in some long hard questines as a way to get certain gear that just dont drop often (and NO not NHT ring) then Mabey.. but i still dont like it tbh.</p></blockquote><p>What skill is involved in getting lucky with a drop?</p></blockquote><p>What skill is involved in grey shard?</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>Gungo wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite><blockquote>What skill is involved in getting lucky with a drop?</blockquote><p>What skill is involved in grey shard?</p></blockquote><p>Alter shard quests to open up shards as a drop on the end mob of instances instead of giving them to players, and only if it is the level 80 version, then put all fabled items on the broker.</p><p>Problems solved.</p>

[Bry]

<p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Gungo wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite><blockquote>What skill is involved in getting lucky with a drop?</blockquote><p>What skill is involved in grey shard?</p></blockquote><p>Alter shard quests to open up shards as a drop on the end mob of instances instead of giving them to players, and only if it is the level 80 version, then put all fabled items on the broker.</p><p>Problems solved.</p></blockquote><p>Thats not a bad idea if it is even possible to alter a mobs loot table mid instance.  Although it would prevent even more people from attempting some of the harder zones.  Its basically the same thing but they could add a step to each shard quest that requires killing XXX named above YY level.  You would still need some sort of check to unlock each item of the broker after you killed the mob that drops it though.</p>

[Landiin]

Just fix the RNG and be done with it. What fun is getting a prize if you already know what it is. I know I hate having to run an instance over and over but there is better ways then to just having to do the instance once and then trading in a token for the loot you want. At least the way they are doing it makes you to put in some type of effort.

[urgthock]

<p>Here is my 2 cents.</p><p>Firstly, I think the overall concept here is good. However, I think the design and implementation is terrible. The list of items available are not really all that good. Also, by applying a static currency cost across the board, they are in essence equating the difficulty of all TSO instances. It's like a company offering to sell a product for 150 currency units and equating all currencies. So I could buy said product for 150 US Dollars or 150 Japanese Yen (which is only 1.62 US dollars). A better solution in my opinion would be to actually spend a little time to come up with mob specific currency (totems, coins, tokens, whatever), and price each item seperately based upon the desired drop rate. As an example. If you wish to purchase the Finger boneguard rapier, it will cost you 40 Undead Jester tokens. This will serve to ensure that you actually had to kill the mob (40 times no less) non greyed, and preserve the current 2.5 % drop rate. It would more than likely quiet most if not all the complaints while ensuring that those who DO actually run a zone however many times looking for a specific item will eventually get it by purchasing it if it doesn't actually drop. BTW, these mob specific currencies should not be heirloom.</p><p>Lastly, the merchant should include ALL fabled items from ALL TSO zones (priced accurately of course). If this system were implemented I think (most) everyone would like it. In essence, all it does is <strong>guarentee</strong> that if you work hard enough for something, you will get it in the end.</p>

[feldon30]

<p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Gungo wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite><blockquote>What skill is involved in getting lucky with a drop?</blockquote><p>What skill is involved in grey shard?</p></blockquote><p>Alter shard quests to open up shards as a drop on the end mob of instances instead of giving them to players, and only if it is the level 80 version, then put all fabled items on the broker.</p><p>Problems solved.</p></blockquote><p>Because even the easiest TSO zones are pretty challenging for someone in Kunark gear, the original intention was that some shards could be gotten without killing names. So I don't think this is a good idea. The issue is, grey shards should have been prevented in Beta. Between the daily solo shard mission, and grabbing pages in Deep Forge which can be done every 4 days by a group of 3 people, folks in even the weakest gear can start to gear up., Just 38 shards = full set of T1 which blows away Kunark armor.</p>

[Barx]

<p><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Gungo wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><cite>Dasein wrote:</cite><blockquote>What skill is involved in getting lucky with a drop?</blockquote><p>What skill is involved in grey shard?</p></blockquote><p>Alter shard quests to open up shards as a drop on the end mob of instances instead of giving them to players, and only if it is the level 80 version, then put all fabled items on the broker.</p><p>Problems solved.</p></blockquote><p>Because even the easiest TSO zones are pretty challenging for someone in Kunark gear, the original intention was that some shards could be gotten without killing names. So I don't think this is a good idea. The issue is, grey shards should have been prevented in Beta. Between the daily solo shard mission, and grabbing pages in Deep Forge which can be done every 4 days by a group of 3 people, folks in even the weakest gear can start to gear up., Just 38 shards = full set of T1 which blows away Kunark armor.</p></blockquote><p>Then make it so that only mobs of appropriate level update the quest.</p><p>I would have no problem with the stuff that is on the merchant (I *would* have problems if it included the nicer, rarer stuff) if they disabled the grey shard exploit. They fixed all of the "freebie" shard missions (where you could just zone in and click things), they shouldn't have stopped with the job half done.</p>

[Lord Hackenslash]

<p>I think this is taking too many steps to remegy a situation before they know the full impact of other changes. Personally I think that the solution they came up with in Evernight Abbey by putting all the fabled on one loot item is the best answer and combined with hot zones there really shouldnt be any items that won't be gotten with a reasonable amount of effort put in. With about a 10% chance on any given named to drop a box containing it's loot table like Marcus in evernight Abbey people can form groups with friends to guarantee loot after approximately 10 runs or if they want to take thier chances it might take a bit longer but seeing the item drop now and then even if you don't win is alot better than runnig a zone dozens of times and never seeing it.</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Because even the easiest TSO zones are pretty challenging for someone in Kunark gear, the original intention was that some shards could be gotten without killing names.</blockquote><p>They added the solo shard quest that can take over from that just nicely.</p>

[Landiin]

<p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Because even the easiest TSO zones are pretty challenging for someone in Kunark gear, the original intention was that some shards could be gotten without killing names.</blockquote><p>They added the solo shard quest that can take over from that just nicely.</p></blockquote><p>Thats just silly.. One shard vs 4+ I think not..</p>

[Raveen]

<p>Fabled gear does not mean Fabled player <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Bring it on casuial players get your gear lets see some numbers <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I ran the hell out of every tso zone for my gear but I really dont care if peeps gear up. I't might be nice to have more PUG tanks that can hold agro or more healers that can solo heal harder zones. Scouts and mages that can dps over 3K <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Skill is skill in this game and you can tell who mashes buttons and who really learns there class.</p>

[revren]

<p><cite>Raveen@Permafrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Fabled gear does not mean Fabled player <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Bring it on casuial players get your gear lets see some numbers <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> I ran the hell out of every tso zone for my gear but I really dont care if peeps gear up. I't might be nice to have more PUG tanks that can hold agro or more healers that can solo heal harder zones. Scouts and mages that can dps over 3K <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Skill is skill in this game and you can tell who mashes buttons and who really learns there class.</p></blockquote><p>I am a really crappy warlock and i would like the ring From NHT so i can parse over 3k , can we add some decent mage loot please.</p><p>Welcome Home</p><p>Revrent</p>

[neverez]

<p>Where is the Essence of Mastery?</p>

[Tri-Ace]

<p>Crucible; go earn it like everybody else~</p>

[Morghus]

<p><cite>Tri-Ace wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Crucible; go earn it like everybody else~</p></blockquote><p>It technically is not really earned if it is random chance, you can run the zone hundreds of times and never get it and at the same time you can run it once and get it on the first go...nothing at all related to earning anything as earning something assumes you work for it. In this case you are just fighting the number generator.</p>

[neverez]

<p>Well Said Morghus.</p><p>I've earned it as I've run that zone hundreds of time and have yet to see it drop. Your Right, its the number generator that is causing me not to get it.</p>

[Ranja]

<p><cite>Tri-Ace wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Crucible; go earn it like everybody else~</p></blockquote><p>you're an idiot</p>

[Cocapez]

<p>I don't know if anyone already said this but here goes...I play on test server alot and I will say that originally the Najena's ring all the mages are asking for was going to be on that merchant, but then before the merchant went to live they took the ring off the merchant. Myself being an Illy....I was excited to see it was going to be there, yes I know what's an illy want with it its a warlock/wizzy ring but, I have a couple spells that do a decent amount of damage on their own, and with that ring they would do so much more. Anyway getting off track, so I just wanted to point out that yes originally they planned for it to be there but then for some strange reason took it off. I can't remember is that ring Heirloom or no, if I remember right it was but then they took that off of it too? I could be wrong on that though....</p><p>I do agree with you though I was heartbroken when I found out that it was no longer available on the merchant.</p>

[Pervis]

<p><cite>Shruikan@Nektulos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I don't know if anyone already said this but here goes...I play on test server alot and I will say that originally the Najena's ring all the mages are asking for was going to be on that merchant, but then before the merchant went to live they took the ring off the merchant.</blockquote><p>Najena's Ring was never on the merchant, not even on test.</p><p>The only item that was on the merchant on test, but didn't make it live was the Earring of the Void Transfer. It was taken off because it is tradeable.</p>

[Lethe5683]

<p><cite>Raveen@Permafrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Fabled gear does not mean Fabled player <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Bring it on casuial players get your gear lets see some numbers <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> I ran the hell out of every tso zone for my gear but I really dont care if peeps gear up. I't might be nice to have more PUG tanks that can hold agro or more healers that can solo heal harder zones. Scouts and mages that can dps over 3K <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Skill is skill in this game and you can tell who mashes buttons and who really learns there class.</p></blockquote><p>It's not hard to learn any class. If I got a character to 80 instantly on any class that I have not played yet I could become better than the average raider in a few weeks tops.</p>

[theriatis]

<p>@neverez</p><p>I also earned Najenas Ring because i ran 100 times through the Hollow Tower and didn't even see it drop... and other people do have it on 3 of their twinks... so where's that Ring ?</p><p>-> Get that Ring on the Merchant, double the Price, don't care. Get - it - on.</p><p>Regards, theriatis.</p>

[Khurghan]

<p><cite>theriatis wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>@neverez</p><p>I also earned Najenas Ring because i ran 100 times through the Hollow Tower and didn't even see it drop... and other people do have it on 3 of their twinks... so where's that Ring ?</p><p>-> Get that Ring on the Merchant, double the Price, don't care. Get - it - on.</p><p>Regards, theriatis.</p></blockquote><p>You could just pay the 1000-1500 plat and buy it like everybody else! <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Landiin]

Sometimes you just can't have what you want. We've all been there; run an instance many times with out getting the drop we want. That's life, keep running it untill you get it. After all what else are you going to do?

[thajo]

<p>The really nice rare items should never be easy to get by other means, then you'll just have an Mystical Orb of the Invoker.  A good item, but something that in its teir every single mage on the face of the game wore.  It was a top choice and very easy to get.  That would make the game very very boring if that started happening to more powerful and currently rare items.  Farming gear is what this games been about for a while.  Farming Necromantic orb in FC.  Farming cloak of unrest.  Farming Nizara mage wrists (most rare item ever imo).  Farming the Nest robe.  Farming the MMC earring.  If a good item exists, just know where it drops, and make it drop its loot table every chance you get.  Don't get upset just cause you don't get an item, just keep going and you'll be glad when/if you do.  I never got every single item I wanted from an expansion, im not sure many have.</p>

[Xethren]

<p>I never liked the idea of buying Fabled gear in this manner from the get-go. If the devs insist on doing it, why not also put in a requirement- like others have said- that you need to either get a flag by killing whom drops said item, or need a special token that the named drops in addition to the shard cost.</p><p>Shards are already heirloom and can be traded to alts, why also make the gear heirloom?</p><p>If trends like this Fabled Merchant continue, soon the game will devolve into *cough* WoW, where people expect you to be very twinked up just to group. The fun is slowly draining from this game as things get easier and easier (in terms of gear aquisition). There is no reason anymore to even run dungeons: let's just all grey shard to get the items a lot quicker. And this Merchant encourages grey sharding even more.</p><p>Final comment; looking at the items there is very little there a mage would want. Im not surprised, we've been getting the short end of the stick on everything since TSO released.</p>

[theriatis]

<p><cite>Dakkota@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The really nice rare items should never be easy to get by other means, then you'll just have an Mystical Orb of the Invoker.  A good item, but something that in its teir every single mage on the face of the game wore.  It was a top choice and very easy to get.  That would make the game very very boring if that started happening to more powerful and currently rare items.  Farming gear is what this games been about for a while.  Farming Necromantic orb in FC.  Farming cloak of unrest.  Farming Nizara mage wrists (most rare item ever imo).  Farming the Nest robe.  Farming the MMC earring.  If a good item exists, just know where it drops, and make it drop its loot table every chance you get.  Don't get upset just cause you don't get an item, just keep going and you'll be glad when/if you do.  I never got every single item I wanted from an expansion, im not sure many have.</p></blockquote><p>I think no one has a Problem with farming good Items... but there's a "threshold" where farming gets boring.Most of the Items mentioned above took me a few dozen runs to get, thats not short enough to qualify as "Easyto get - everyone has it" but on the other Hand its not long enough to a point where you might say "oh crap, thenext expansion is on the doorstep, just go away". A guildmate farmed the Queens Gift from Maidens, and hecounted 97 runs before he _ever saw it drop once_. And he was lucky to have just guildmates on the Group.</p><p>As i said before, get the Requirements up and get better Loot (hello next expansion and Levelcap where that stuff isobsolete) in there which needs Flags from Encounter kills, Special Shards from that Mob which drops that Item...An example would be (for Najenas Ring):- Kill Every Named in the Hollow Tower on max level.- Get 30 Special Shards from Magolemus which he drops on a kill on max level, not tradeable.</p><p>So you have to run at least 30 Times (Every day in one Month) through that special instance to get just one Item.Would that be enough to NOT trivialize the Loot ?</p><p>Regards, theriatis.</p>

[Taryn Bowspinnn]

<p>RE: flagging a toon to ensure it can purchase an item (or use an item that is passed down as heirloom), they don't even have to do anything...its already set in the Achievement system.</p><p>I haven't tried it, but I don't think you get the achievement for killing a final mob of a zone greyed.</p><p>If you don't have the achievement, you can't use the item. Simple.</p>

[Jarazi]

<p>removed my reply</p>