EverQuest II: April 29th AMAA Recap
Here is a recap of the Tuesday, April 29 EQ2 AMAA Reddit session!
Q: "With Landmark out now, and housing in EQLive as well, are there any plans to change housing tools in EQ2 to allow for more customization and placement of props and housing in general?"
A: "EQ 2, Landmark, and EQ aren't built in such a way where technology from one game is easily portable to another game. That being said, when other games have ideas that work well we are always willing to use them across the company when we can."
Q: "Is there any chance of more Moonlight Enchantments grottos being added? Or a Maj'Dul festival? ;)"
A: "There is a chance for both, but the current schedule is rather limiting. In fact, a year ago we were seriously planning on a new grotto, but found that our limited time would be best set on expanding our current grottos, helping to bring more content to the current ones available."
Q: "Any word on spell and AA data being corrected in census, and are there plans to complete the loot details data in census?"
A: "My current focus is figuring out what's busted with quest exports on our live servers versus my local machine. I know it's probably been sent to me before, but if you could email me a list of your requests for the stuff you mentioned I'll take a look when I get the chance!"
Q: "I was wondering if you guys have any plan to release further Heritage armour sets, like the ones you currently have on the SC marketplace. They look amazing, and I have bought most of them already."
A: "We usually tinker around with doing new sets but they have to be truly iconic and unique. I would imagine we'll continue to do them as we go along."
Q: "Regarding the Highkeep guild hall. The 95 limit is fine; what I don't think is good is requiring guilds to run the new contested dungeon in able to earn it (if that's the current plan that people are assuming). There are many guilds out there with different focuses. Tradeskilling, crafting, casual soloing, old content progression, etc. I did read above you didn't like the current way you had planned so that gives me hope. Just please remember not all guilds are created for the same purposes but are just as important to the members themselves. That said, can you elaborate on what your current plan for obtaining this hall is?"
A: "We are starting over with how we grant it at this point. We'll update everyone when we've decided what we're going to do. I think we have a good plan, we just need to really think it through. We originally were going to sell it for SC, but that didn't feel right...so we are looking at an in-game/content solution. That much I can say. :)"
Q: "Will the prestige guild hall require normal upkeep, or will it be reduced/waived like prestige houses?"
A: "We're working on that right now and discussing so we'll let you know when we put all the pieces together."
Q:
- Any thoughts on slight boosts to the raid version of Zlandicar's Heart? (great item appearance design, great quest, but the 13 dragons and a ton of work making sure our full raid force was getting updates would feel a lot more satisfying if the item was a little better :)
- Thoughts on appearance jewelry and charms? Why not? I think this would help expand item design and offer another area where you could get some SC revenue. Plus, my Paw of Opolla and Dain's Ring would look nice if I could actually see them.
- Raid-obtained high level mounts having higher ground speed so that we don't have to swap?
A:
- If we had a plat for every time we heard that kind of question....
- We already have jewelry in our SC store (rings, bracers/armbands). Where would charms go? Have a suggestion?
- The team has some interesting plans for mounts later this year, but making 1 mount to rule them all isn't on the menu.
Q: "Will you ever make something like a Jump to Lightspeed but with boats expansion for Everquest2? It would be awesome to sail the high seas of Norrath and upgrade/craft new parts for my ship :)"
A: "Probably not. I'd really like to stop putting in more ancillary systems like this unless they really add to the core gameplay."
Q: "When respecing the AA lines I would love to see the ability we used to have and lost. and that is the ability to respec one tree at a time. I would much prefer that ability OVER the ability to pre-spend points. Can we please have that ability back?"
A: "I don't have an ETA for you, but this is functionality that we'd like to add back."
Q: "Could you add a housing permission for guild members? I'd like to be able to set an access level for anyone in my guild."
A: "Interesting idea, we can look into it."
Q: "One of the few things that made me start playing this game back in RoK and TSO were these amazing quests for every individual class that awarded the player with an amazing weapon, and when you did the raiding quest updates you got an even more powerful weapon with class-defining Abilities or Buffs that you could use right out of these weapons. What are the probablities to see these Epic Weapon quests return again in a future expansion? Maybe you could omit an AA update to be able to implement these? What do you think about this suggestion? I love me some Epic Weapon Quests!"
A: "I am glad to hear that you've enjoyed those quests! As much as we love being able to tell such targeted stories and designing class specific quests, the amount of time that it takes to do so is overwhelming. When it comes to our time, we approach it as a matter of bang for your buck.
The 24 different class epic quest lines that we implemented with the release of Rise of Kunark (GU42) were very time intensive, yet in two years time they had been overshadowed by newer raids, and comparable weapons. (Hence, why Epic Repercussions was then released with Sentinel's Fate.) Then remember that these quests are, by their very nature, limited to who can participate in them.
We find ourselves now focusing more on designing quest experiences that have tailored bits, like conversations or quest steps, based on what you've done, your class, race, alignment, etc. Yet, the quest remains completable by the majority of players.
The design staff that implement AAs are not the same designers that implement quests. So we cannot just switch out one bit of content for another, sadly."
