Suggestions for improving lockout timers for instances

[Sylvrin]

<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#ffff99 size=4>Devs, please read and consider the following suggestions:</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG>Right now the ONLY way to find out if you are on a lockout timer for any instance is to attempt to zone into it.  This imho is a design flaw for good gameplay.  I understand that lockout timers are a necessary evil, but the way they are dispayed and conveyed to players is very very poor and causes real problems with enjoyable gaming.  Currently, when you want to see if perhaps you are still on a timer for a zone because you have been invited to a raid or group for that zone,  <FONT color=#ffff00>your only option is to attempt to zone in before you are told</FONT><FONT color=#ffff00>..."you have x number of hours before you can go here".  </FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG>What happens when you zone in and your timer is gone?  No message and you zone in...but you might be alone, only checking to see if your timer is clear.  OH crap!  now you have just reset the timer for another 18 hours, 3 days, 6 days, or however long the timer is for that zone ...no raiding for you today my friend!  And your friends that were depending on you to help them? Oh well they may just have to wait too.  </STRONG></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG>Or another scenario that happens frequently:  You spend two hours gathering a group together to go to Icy Digs,  Poet's Palace, Trembling Lagoon, Cove of Decay, Bloodskull Valley, or any of the instances that has a timer on it...now you try to log in and find that someone in your group is still on a timer that they were unaware of, wasting their time, your time,  and quite possibly the time of the entire group/raid party.</STRONG></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG>And then there are those times when you click the wrong option on a zone window and go to the wrong instance by mistake and end up with a timer you never intended to have.  I got locked out of a froglock raid for simply going to that instance instead of Cazic Thule Temple the day before the raid was scheduled...and the sad thing is I've never had the opportunity to go back again.</STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff3300 size=4><STRONG>It shouldn't be this way!</STRONG></FONT> <FONT color=#ff9966> <STRONG><FONT size=5>I have 3 suggestions that would change this and alleviate the frustration that happens in these situations:</FONT></STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#ffff00><FONT color=#33cccc size=4>#1</FONT> <FONT size=4>Display all lockout timers at the entrance to a zone <FONT color=#66ff33>BEFORE</FONT> zone in.</FONT>  By simply mousing over a zone entrance door, you should be able to see all instances that are accessed by that door and and any timer that is still active on them for your character.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00><STRONG><FONT color=#66ffff size=4>#2</FONT> <FONT size=4>Display all lockout timers on persona info window.</FONT>  This would make it a simple matter of looking at your persona window and seeing all instances you are locked out of.</STRONG></FONT>  <FONT color=#ffff00><STRONG>Instead of wasting time travelling to an instance, grouping up with friends, and then finding out at the last minute that you are ineligible to enter the zone.</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#ffff00><FONT color=#66ffff size=4>#3</FONT> <FONT size=4>Allow anyone who accidentally enters a zone by misake the opportunity to zone out again without resetting the lockout timer.</FONT></FONT> </STRONG> <FONT color=#ffff00><STRONG>Give a 5 minute window, during which time the player can zone back out, and if nothing was touched and no combat was engaged by the player during that time, then there is no lockout penalty at all.</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#ffff00></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffffff size=4><STRONG>If anyone has other ideas that might work to help fix this issue please feel free to post them.</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Jonaroth]

"<strong><font color="#ffff00"><font size="4">Display all lockout timers at the entrance to a zone <font color="#66ff33">BEFORE</font> zone in" best [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn]in idea ever </font></font></strong><div></div>

[soulrais]

i prefer #2 so u dont have to run to each zone and mouse over or click door just to see if u can make a raid.... esp if u are in a group ro doing quest already and leave it to raid

[Sylvrin]

<DIV>I like #2 also, but I honestly think that all three of these suggestions can and should be implemented to make EQ2 more enjoyable for everyone.</DIV>

[ClawHammr]

<DIV>What is the point of being locked out when the loot is all Wooden anyway? </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you are going to lock us out from these zones, at least make the loot good.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Magu]

The option nobody seems to even consider: Pay attention to when you did a zone. <div></div>

[Sylvrin]

<DIV>Thank you for that insightful suggestion,  Magus.  If it were that simple then I'm sure no one else but myself has ever run into the situations I posted about.  The problem is sometimes keeping track can be difficult to do.  Especially if you are in a guild that does a lot of instance runs.  Unless you keep a written running log or something, it's very easy to forget which instance you did when.</DIV>

[ClawHammr]

Cleared Roost and not even one Rare chest.......so much fun