Limited time items

[Crover_CT99]

Referring to this:


Are there any items I can only get for a limited time?
Yes, and they will for the most part be removed once Temple of Sol Ro comes out.
Manastone
Rubicite Armor
Guise of the Deceiver (will stop dropping, will be replaced by bard/rogue only mask, must equip)
Box of Abu-Kar (drops off any lvl35+ mob rarely, will be replaced by purchasable bag of tinkerers)
Journeymen Boots (will stop dropping, become AC quest reward)
Fanged Skull Stilleto (will stop dropping from Mayong once he is killed once)
Several other pre-nerf items that will stop dropping.


To get a few things out of the way so I don't come off as a whiner:
I appreciate this server
I appreciate the ruleset
I appreciate the devs putting forth their time and effort

To clarify for my understanding:
Rubicite will be replaced with class-specific armor (rogue I think?)

My main issue, if you could call it that, is the removal of jboots from Najena, the removal of manastones, and to some extent the removal of Rubicite.

I always felt like these were mistakes, to some extent, by the original devs of EQ.

The jboots camp was one of the "milestone" camps you underwent as you leveled. It gave Najena a significant purpose, and drew people to the zone. Once jboots were removed and made a quest, Najena generally became a ghost town (on my server oh long ago). It was also, from my experience, harder to get people together for a somewhat rare spawn kill than to get together a lower-Najena camp. If you had your stuff together, you might even have your boots by the early twenties and delight at right-click spamming "pekeeewshhh" as you wandered around Norrath.

I always thought that one of the greatest designs of EQ was the various milestones. Surname, certain spell levels, spell graphics, key items, etc. They defined certain level ranges and really gave incentive to progress and participate in various facets of the game.

Manastones for similar reasons, was a milestone item, and one that added tactics to certain classes for soloing (clerics, for example) and grouping (more general). A fun item that I was disappointed was removed.

I guess my questions are:
Is the removal of these items an inevitable occurrence because of the implementation of Sol Ro or a design choice meant to replicate the historical progression of classic EQ?
Would you consider keeping Jboots as a drop and a quest item?
Would you consider allowing Rubicite to continue dropping as a "common" drop in Cazic?

[Ghesta]

I would love to see these items continue to drop and don't think that they make any real effect on the game, especially once Kunark comes out.


This is largely due to the fact that I don't have a guise however.

[Aaron]

They've already said they're following Classic progression about a million times. The removal of these items follow that progression.

They're not going back and fixing broken things (ie removing xp penalty from hybrids, etc), and having these items not drop anymore isn't even broken. It's just harder for you to get them now. They're not leaving the game (except the Guise). You can still trade for and get all other items.

[Tryfaen]

I would also prefer an extremely reduced drop rate instead of having the items not drop at all.

[Zithax]

Was talking about this with my group the other night, the fact that there is an ever surging amount of lvl50's and to remove these camps would congest other loot camps even further. The consensus was it should be kept in-game slightly longer to accommodate these players until kunark was within 2-3months of launching.

[guineapig]

My thoughts on the importance of these items that will be removed.

The most useful item for all situations in my humble opinion is the Box of Abu-Kar.
Every class can and does use it. If it's not being thought of as important now it's simply because there are so many of them at this point. But trust me, a year from now that item will be sorely missed by many newer players.

Second in importance are the J-boots (unless you are a druid, bard, shaman or ranger). No matter what you do in this game you will be running from place to place. Don't need to say much else about that.

The Rubi-BP is most useful for Shaman in my humble opinion. It complements their regen/cani combo perfectly. For all other classes that can actually use it, the 3hp a tick regen won't do you much good once you're past your teens. I might also include bards here since they too can already regen hitpoints at a pretty good rate and can solo so the boost is more noticeable for them.

Manastone obviously excludes non-mana classes to begin with. In addition, it's usefulness is severely diminished if you don't have the ability to heal yourself. Soloing with a manastone might let you kill a mob faster but at the cost of waiting to regen hitpoints instead of mana. Shaman have Cani, mages have modrods, bards can regen both mana and hp at the same time, Enchanters will soon be able to steal mana, etc…
Also if you are using manastone in a group, it’s true that you will be able to nuke more for faster kills but then the healer just ends up wasting mana on you instead of the tank.
It’s a very neat item for sure and can save you at times, but it’s not quite as practical as some make it out to be.

Guise is practically essential to any large race tank (Ogre, Troll and to a lesser extent barbarian). In old world dungeons, unless you are constantly grouping with a shaman you can forget about being the puller for your group to say the least. If you are a large race and can’t shrink I feel sorry for you….


Just my thoughts.

[Goobles]

P1999 is the same thing as Live EQ. Sure, if you began playing near the end or after the nerfs happened; you would be a little upset that you didn't start playing sooner/know about the game sooner to reap the benefits. Same case.

[Kreigore]

I shed many a tear when, for example, a Half-Elf Bard would obtain a Guise in an assassin/supplier group. They did earn it, though. :o

Permanent shrink would be awesome - being a fatty tank and all.

But meh, if it happens - it happens.

[Zordana]

well, my ogre has the mask already, but thinkin about never having that would really annoy me.. i cant even fight in dungeons like sola/solb without a shrink/illusion which pretty much doesnt leave any option besides a) having shrinkpots / shamy or b) have the mask..

get out everthing, but keep the mask tbh ;)

[Slugs]

I personally don't care how it ends up, however, I don't think it would be a bad idea having all those items moved to a very very rare drop-rate. I don't see how it would hurt anyone.

Classic EQ was awesome, but like anything, there were some pretty lame things about it. I have faith that the Dev Team will do the right thing, though.

[Uaellaen]

okay 23 hours camp without drop is not rare enought for you? i would say, go camp the manastone your self, and see how it feels to kill 1 mob every 28 minutes for 23 hours to get 1 manastone ... its rare enought, but its time to be removed ...

this server is following CLASSIC TIMELINE as good as they can, and i love it ... thou tbh, those whine posts with cheese been classic also, already saw all this in '99 ... oh and guess what, Devs didnt care back then, and shouldnt care now ;)

come to think of it .. continue your whine posts to make my experience even more classic!! where are the ranger / druid rants and flames how shitty theyr class is and that they need CH and shoot arrows for 17k dmg per hit!

[Ghesta]

this server is following CLASSIC TIMELINE as good as they can, and i love it ... thou tbh, those whine posts with cheese been classic also, already saw all this in '99 ... oh and guess what, Devs didnt care back then, and shouldnt care now ;)

For the first part of that quote... no it really isn't and no they really aren't.
For the last part of that quote... no they didn't and no they shouldn't.

[Uaellaen]

For the first part of that quote... no it really isn't and no they really aren't.
For the last part of that quote... no they didn't and no they shouldn't.

What is the progression?
Aeolwind posted a list of the original progression on live, which the GMs will be trying to stick to. Located here.

no theyr not?

[nalkin]

There is no way this will ever be resolved. People who have the items that are going away will say "its time they go away, after all we need to follow the classic timeline." The people who don't have the items yet will say "I think its a mistake to take them away."

I would very much like the guise and I don't have it yet... guess what side I am on. However, I already have jboots so I could care less if that becomes a quest item.

There is no way people who have the items they want are going to vote for the items to stay around. Everyone is greedy, and greedy means not wanting other people to have what you have.

If I had a vote I would say keep them around longer. But, if I already had everything then I can't say that I would be saying the same thing. Nor do I think anyone else can.

[Juda]

quit jabbing about your classic timeline cause really its fucked up anyway if your gunna remove orginal items ina few days week whatever gunna make some people feel more uber others feel like shit oh well

[yt2005]

There is no way this will ever be resolved. People who have the items that are going away will say "its time they go away, after all we need to follow the classic timeline." The people who don't have the items yet will say "I think its a mistake to take them away."

I would very much like the guise and I don't have it yet... guess what side I am on. However, I already have jboots so I could care less if that becomes a quest item.

This certainly applies to me. I don't want the items removed, but not for any reason having to do with what's best for the server, I just want to be able to get them more easily because I don't have them.

[President]

quit jabbing about your classic timeline cause really its fucked up anyway if your gunna remove orginal items ina few days week whatever gunna make some people feel more uber others feel like shit oh well

I heard you might be retarded, guess they weren't joking.

[siinge]

i say keep the items in game, they become uselss when kunark comes out

manastones drop to just a novelty toy

it would be a huge fuk you to all the people with multiple stones across there account, hell right now manastone is being camped by a warrior... a warrior dosent need one but i know a shit ton of clerics that can camp it and wont be able to because classes that cant use it are because they know how rare its gonna be in a week shooting the value to near priceless

classic is suppose to be fun its suppose to have you enjoy eq the way it was mean to be, its starting to not get fun with crap like this

i love this server but when kunark is released i dont see myself playing here... starcraft 2 will be out by then and i can name easily 100 people that wont be here

server is already has a small population even for a classic server wed need 2-3k pop to sustain kunark or every zone is gonna have 1-2 people in it, i miss classic i dont miss loot whoreing like this

leave the items in game let everyone enjoy them like they meant to be sucks missing the train once 10 years ago and again 10 years later

it would really make all of the losers with multiple stones camped it would drop the value of the item to sustainable lvls, its already at 40k next week its gonna be 140k, it also frees up more spawns that will soon be over camped when you remove these items

DO IT DEVS MAKE CLASSIC CLASSIC

ps when is the official patch for this next friday?

[President]

Uhh.. really?

You want 2-3k people on here? So that each group has 1 spawn in guk? You want it that classic?

No thanks, I enjoy being able to get groups going in the dungeons I want to at least every once in a while. Kunark won't be any different, it will actually be a blast with this population.

[Uaellaen]

i agree .. 500 ~1000 people is nice for kunark

[LazyFuj]

i say keep the items in game, they become uselss when kunark comes out

manastones drop to just a novelty toy

it would be a huge fuk you to all the people with multiple stones across there account, hell right now manastone is being camped by a warrior... a warrior dosent need one but i know a shit ton of clerics that can camp it and wont be able to because classes that cant use it are because they know how rare its gonna be in a week shooting the value to near priceless

classic is suppose to be fun its suppose to have you enjoy eq the way it was mean to be, its starting to not get fun with crap like this

i love this server but when kunark is released i dont see myself playing here... starcraft 2 will be out by then and i can name easily 100 people that wont be here

server is already has a small population even for a classic server wed need 2-3k pop to sustain kunark or every zone is gonna have 1-2 people in it, i miss classic i dont miss loot whoreing like this

leave the items in game let everyone enjoy them like they meant to be sucks missing the train once 10 years ago and again 10 years later

it would really make all of the losers with multiple stones camped it would drop the value of the item to sustainable lvls, its already at 40k next week its gonna be 140k, it also frees up more spawns that will soon be over camped when you remove these items

DO IT DEVS MAKE CLASSIC CLASSIC

ps when is the official patch for this next friday?


when kunark comes out, can I have your loots?

Also, why do you care so much, if you don't plan on playing when kunark comes out.

[yaaaflow]

I've got mine, take em out.

[drplump]

I will give you my manastone if you give me what I invested to get it or compensate me minimum wage for my time. I spent at least 120 hours killing hill giants and powerleveling people to get the platinum to buy it. So I would like 1000 dollars American or a level 50 SK or Mage fully geared with the best no drop items.

Now you cannot say you "CANT" get one you are just choosing not to.

[Excision Rottun]

Leave the items in.

[Segoris]

I'd vote leave them in, for many people this is their second chance to get it and lots of people still are just hearing about this server for the first time and becoming interested. That is proven by the increase in our average people online. I can see making jboots quested, since at least they stay in the game. Rubicite is pretty crappy, I'd vote to just have ravenscale have a better chance to drop then rubi on the same mobs but keeping rubi in game. Then leave the manastone be.

Yeah yeah, I get it, it's not how classic was. I'd rather have a couple of items in game that keep people happy and playing in increasing numbers then remove them just to serve the purpose of being closer to classic emulation (especially since none of these items will matter much after Kunark except the jboots). I doubt think this will be the route taken, but it is what gets my vote.

[drplump]

If we are going to leave the items in until everyone has one them just make every character start with 1 of each item and be done with it.

[Survival]

I say keep it all like it is, i dont see why its a such a big deal except for the ppl who have perma camped them to maximize profit when it stops dropping. also theres alot of ppl who always wanted to actually camp a certain item theirselves just to say theyve experienced it and own the item. IE manastone was always one of mine. besides i'd like to see the server stay exactly like it is, as it was in the beginning. yea things changed on the way to velious but doesnt mean it was for the best, i think keeping these items like they are now will keep new players and old alike eager to hit some of the zones more often to get themselves a nifty twink item or sometihng useful like the box, mask or boots. the only reason to take them out or change them as i see it is to give some of these perma campers bragging rights when the shit is no longer available to the masses. let the hate begin...


Xathul
22 mage
<gothic circle>

[Aaron]

Manastone obviously excludes non-mana classes to begin with. In addition, it's usefulness is severely diminished if you don't have the ability to heal yourself. Soloing with a manastone might let you kill a mob faster but at the cost of waiting to regen hitpoints instead of mana. Shaman have Cani, mages have modrods, bards can regen both mana and hp at the same time, Enchanters will soon be able to steal mana, etc…
Also if you are using manastone in a group, it’s true that you will be able to nuke more for faster kills but then the healer just ends up wasting mana on you instead of the tank.
It’s a very neat item for sure and can save you at times, but it’s not quite as practical as some make it out to be.

If you don't care about a manastone, then you don't care about being good. :p

[guineapig]

If you don't care about a manastone, then you don't care about being good. :p


I still love that quote, but decided it would be childish to keep taunting with it in my signature forever. :D

Still makes me laugh! :p

[Dabamf]

By all means, keep using it.

[joe]

I would like to see these items continue to drop as well ... was never of a level to get them back in the day and it will be the same way here ... and although that does add to the "original" feel, I would like to have that chance to get these items. ... even if they will be outdone by future items ... shiny red armor would be sweet lol

[Arkanjil]

Leave them in....I get following the classic time line...but a point of this server was to get people to experience the game as it was in 1999. We still have new people joining the server who are wanting to experience this and taking out those old items before many get the chance would seem counter-productive for the kind of nostalgia people are trying to attain (when they might not have had the chance the 1st time around in EQ).

Just my 2cp just like everyone else, but there seems to be a big appeal to leaving the items in. And what would it really hurt by leaving them in? Hell it could only help diminish the big "loot camp" fest that has sprung up with knowing the items will be gone soon.

If it helps, I could care less whether the items are removed or stay, as I already have them, just trying to look at the big picture of this revival of classic EQ.

Ark

[Tryfaen]

make them rarer. rogues need their ravenscale armor.

[Aaron]

By some of the logic here Kunark should never be released. What about the people that join when Kunark is here, but they never got to originally play before Iksars and uber weapons ruled the world.

"The whole reason I signed up to this server was to get a SSoY before they became obsolete." *frown*

There will be people steadily joining and we can't hold the progression back to wait on everyone. And that is the whole idea of this server - classic progression.

[Trout9000]

I never had any of them when I played classic, so I never really was impacted by them. I had no reason for Jboots as I was a self sufficient druid.

Now, as a mage, I am definitely interested in acquiring them. But, I am more than happy to quest for them as that's how I remember it.

And as most people said, rubi bp and manastone become outdated when Kunark comes out.

I vote keep it classic.

[Myth]

I think the biggest question is. Why were these items removed in live?

Box of abu kar is obvious. It was replaced by a plat sink [tink bag] to remove exploited/farmed plat from the economy. Is that needed here?

Lustrous russet and cryosilk? Obvious. Too many classes can use it and it becomes a gearing bottleneck

rubicite? Why removed ?

Manastone? Obvious. Much like why mod rods were changed. Raids would have to be balanced around them. Yet verant had to leave the old ones in as to not piss off players. So future functionality of them impacted but "classic" use was
allowed

Jboots? Needed to be switched to a quest. Too many players want them and there was only 1 place to get them. With quest they added AC to 3(?) zones. Ek, Sro, oot plus it was another plat sink

mask? (pls correct me if I'm wrong). They didn't want everyone being able to be good and evil. It wasn't until velious until religion affected illusions. But the change had already been made to bard/rogue only.

so I can see taking out lustrous russet and cryosilk, but the others. Why?

[Myth]

Additional: before someone says you already state why they were removed

1) we don't have plat farmers here
2) religion already affects illusion
3) jboots ok switch to quest. We all know how to spawn AC In SRO thanks to Sony spilling the beans
4) manastone? Up for debate. Still overpowering for classes that can port back to classic, manastone up then gate

[drplump]

4) manastone? Up for debate. Still overpowering for classes that can port back to classic, manastone up then gate

Pointless waste of time unless you bring a cleric.


Box of abu kar is obvious. It was replaced by a plat sink [tink bag] to remove exploited/farmed plat from the economy. Is that needed here?

YES! An economy with no way to remove money or control creation of more will result it severely inflated prices making it difficult for new players to start.


mask? (pls correct me if I'm wrong). They didn't want everyone being able to be good and evil. It wasn't until velious until religion affected illusions. But the change had already been made to bard/rogue only.


They don't want everyone being able to be good and evil.