Oh you don't even know.

Anybody share the sources used for these changes?
Poking around on wayback...

I see evidence of elven dancers existing and drakes being casters no earlier than May and June of 2003. VP was modified on 5/14/03:Elven Dancers have no entry on Allalhazam until this time, also being reported as new after that patch in zone bestiary discussion:

This change brought the named trash mobs with droppable loot (link):In that same flurry of activity on Aallakhazam following the 5/14/03 patch, Senwen on Allakhazam reports the drakes as wizards casting level-appropriate spells... which might have been one way Sony made them easier (would you rather be doubled for 560 a few times or maybe get hit with a sunstrike?).

If there's some other source being used I'd love to see it, seems totally possible that people on Allakhazam just never noticed or cared enough til after that patch.

bump. What of this man's questions?

Jimmies are certainly rustled over this update. Sources would be nice to see.

These changes were based on comprehensive research submitted from eqmac, including videos and logs. Their version of VP was prior to the 2003 change from what I could tell (did not include named trash mobs that dropped loot, and players couldn't gate). <-- former eqmac players dispute this if not correct.

I changed the lava drakes because I assumed it was a mistake on my part when I first made the zone. You guys have been fighting wizard class npcs that didn't cast spells :X Now it's possible that also is incorrect, and they were just pure warriors at some point. The logs from the eqmac server showed the spells they cast, and that is what I added.

Additional information would be great, as well as feedback on the zone after these changes went in today.

You could Arx Key out of VP :P.

But yea, we had super shitty Kunark-era VP on Al'Kabor.

So if we're using EQMac as the resource here, I'm tempted to say EQMac had the 2003 changes included. While the 2003 change was made after release of Legacy of Ykesha (which wasn't included in EQMac), EQMac was released after LoY came out. The release date for EQMac that I can find is 6/23/03. I would venture a guess that the relatively minor changes to VP would have been developed, if not released, barely in time to make it onto Al'Kabor.

The information I based my post above off of is hard to properly date, as some of those changes might have happened quite a bit earlier and nobody noticed and/or cared enough prior to the 5/03 update.

Sounds like Daldaen is confirming that Al'Kabor had the altered VP. After May 2003 players could gate out "You can now gate out of Veeshan's Peak (May 14)". Unless the Arx key had some exception rule applied, gating out of VP must have been allowed on Mac.

P.S. Damn you for making me start reading Luclin quests. I was never a big fan of cats on the moon but I liked all the lore surrounding the remnants of the Combine Empire...

As far as feedback on the changes as we have them, I think the impact is minimal. It's made kiting trash a bit harder because drakes stopping to cast splits them out of the pack, but kiting in big enough loops or in a linear fashion is the same as before. Racnars in picture room are of no consequence, and the new drakes around Nexona are easily avoided. If it is properly classic then I think it's a good change. I just kinda doubt that it's classic.

Would like to get to the bottom of this.

Everything I can find shows EQMac was locked initially midway through PoP. Then, in 2011 received an additional update to fix problems PoP had after its 4-month run (Rathe Council). Admittedly I did not do much research because we have EQMac players here which could answer it better than I can.


This is absolutely an exception. No other gates worked. From what I recall, the arx key (and I had one on my magician on eqlive) did not function like other gates/evacs. It sounds to me like he specifically mentioned the arx key as an exception.

Daldaen, you couldn't gate out of VP with spells, correct? No gate, circle of combines, etc.

The biggest reason I believe the changes are classic is because.. I handmade VP initially from old maps, pictures, and comments. Actually seeing the zone, and having research, filled in some missing gaps. I'd be astonished to get it that correct the first time around.

Would appreciate EQMac players that played in VP to chime in, please.