Should ZEM even be in the game this early?

[jlxharville]

I'd be 100% okay with no ZEM. Make exploring great again...

Instead everyones crunched into a few zones. I mean, why?

Lots on this server isn't entirely classic... might as well just do this.

[cd288]

Originally Posted by fadetree [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think Dolalin is correct. My opinion:
ZEM was always a core mechanic. That way they could make small adjustments to compensate for the 'difficulty' of a dungeon/zone. It could also be used globally to slow people down across the board, as was mentioned.

Luclin and the insane zem on Paludal Caverns was the fist sign that the devs were beginning to react to fears that new people would be left behind as the huge wave of people that had been playing all along would all be end game. They were afraid they'd start to lose new subs because 'there's no-one to play with'. Solution - tinker with noob dungeons to really crank up the zem, that way people can blast through and join their friends. Of course, much later, they were like, 'eh...just start 'em at 80'.

They also started to think about underused zones and how to get people to them, since, craven little min-maxers that we are, everyone followed the same path through 4 or 5 zones to end game. This was what started the 'hot zone' idea later.

I also think the zems in play on p99 are probably from a much later era. Should they fix them? I think so...the problem is I don't think we have any hard data that describes all of the zems per zone at an era that applies to classic. Also, we may SAY we want it 'fixed', but of they did I bet it would cause a firestorm of complaining.

The zem change to Kedge was a p99-specific deal...not sure exactly but I think it was a response to people being able to exploit charm and.or pbAOE or something and render the dungeon easy and yet still with a high zem.

IIRC we use the ZEMs currently in place because those are the last comprehensive ones we have. There are obviously references to certain zones here and there pre-this list of ZEMs, but I don't think there was ever a comprehensive one that they could locate so they use the comprehensive one that's available from as close to classic era as they can get.

[Frostback]

January 14, 2001

Zone Experience

The first and perhaps easiest to explain change that we are making to the experience system is the modification of what we call the "Zone Experience Multiplier", or 'ZEM'. Currently, every creature in game of a given level yields a fixed amount of "Base Experience" (experience before it is allocated to group members). That base experience is then multiplied by the ZEM which is set to a value in correlation with the risk in a particular zone compared with the reward; at least, that is the goal.

https://web.archive.org/web/20010609...rs_letter.html

[Bookie]

Originally Posted by Frostback [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

January 14, 2001

at least, that is the goal.

Northern Karana 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75
Oasis of Marr 75 75 75 75 75 75
Gorge of King Xorbb (Beholder's Maze) 75 75 75 75
Eastern Karana 75 75 75 75 75 75
Lavastorm Mountains 75 75 75 75 75 75
Ocean of Tears 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75
Highpass Hold 80 80 80
Runnyeye 100 100 100 100 100 100
Rathe Mountains 75 75 75 75 75
Lake Rathetear 75 75 75
Southern Karana 75 75 75 75 75
Permafrost 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90
Najena 130 130 130 130 130
High Keep 150 150 150
Splitpaw Lair 90 90 90 90 90
Cazic Thule 85 85 85 85 85
Solusek's Eye (Solusek A) 130 130 130 130 130
Lower Guk 80 80 80 80 80
Nagafen's Lair (Solusek B) 80 80 80

[vossiewulf]

I'd make a few higher-ZEM zones, and change them every day, putting as much distance as possible between yesterday's and today's, and also maximize the distance from porting locations. That way we'll at least get to laugh at the people obsessed by this as they run daily from one end of Norrath to the other.

[Converse]

Originally Posted by Dolalin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

ZEMs were in from the start. But the insane bonuses on newb dungeon ZEMs was added during PoP when they added the low level cleric rez spells etc.

I've done all the digging.

In era sources from a ShowEQ dev that the max ZEM was 100 pre-Luclin, explicit references to Crushbone and Najena ZEMs being 80, and so on.

We are playing with PoP ZEMs and this should change.

https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...d.php?t=343193

Your thread above was a good read!

With your suggested changes, I wonder if we'd see players more spread out across the world & be more willing to adventure outside the current highway.

Right now, it's hard to beat a place like Highkeep, with it's high ZEM, loot, vendors & banker all within the zone. Arrive around lvl 25, then never leave until 50, with a Santa Claus sized bag of plat.

Interesting to think about the potential shake up!

[bum3]

IMHO... get rid of current ZEM system. Instead, put all dungeons at base 90 and increase to 150 if full group. 90 if solo + 10 per additional group member with final slot giving +20 to make 150. Make all outside zones 85 and give +5 zem bonuses per additional group members with 6th slotting giving +10 for a total of 115. It's a group incentive game that was intended to reward grouping for harder content. I'm sure my method has been mentioned 10000x before.

[vossiewulf]

While we're thinking up stuff that won't happen, on My EQEmu Server(TM), for ZEM I would use it as a relatively gentle tide to move players about to various zones, tweaking it every two weeks so no one gets stuck with just one zone and one set of mobs being their best choice.

And while I was at it, I would make it entirely safe for players to combat mobs of light blue and above, but as the level separation increases there is an ever-increasing chance that a booming voice would suddenly say "THE GODS ARE DISGUSTED BY YOUR DISHONORABLE COMBAT, <PLAYER>" and a single lightning bolt would insta-kill said player. If it's a second offense, maybe the gods take an equipped item also.

The trigger test only occurs on offensive action of any kind against the low level mob, so if the high level player gets trained by low green mobs, they can safely get away if needed.

Voila, only appropriate-level players can farm anything, and there are already controls on number of accounts allowed. And so, as usual, all problems vanish in My Universe(TM).

[Wooted]

Rotational ZEMs would be kinda fun. Official progression servers had or maybe still have this(hot zones).

[Roth]

So this server was basically unclassic ZEMS which is why we're all piling into Guk and hhk.