Life after Velious... we can make it better!

[deadreaver777]

I was reading the popular thread the other night about introducing AA's, and in regards to that, I think it would be a god awful idea to put AA's into Velious content. Not only would it make the content immensely easier, it just doesn't fit with the server's vision. The subject did get me thinking though, it got me asking the question, can new expansions be introduced on this server after Velious?

There's no doubt that introducing Luclin, and Planes of Power in their pure form would be a horrible idea for this server, because without question, despite being enjoyable expansions, they were the downfall of EverQuest as most of us knew it. But what if we do those expansions right? What if the devs in P99 removed what made those expansions worse than the original 3 games. I know P99 doesn't have a huge team of developers that have an immense amount of time on their hands to do it, but I still think it's interesting to think of a way to fit them in.

So the question I pose is, what did Shadows of Luclin, and Planes of Power do right, where did they go wrong, and what could be added, removed, or refined in those expansions to make them as good as their predecessors? I'm stopping with Luclin and PoP, because let's be honest, any expansion after that was pure garbage, at least in my humble opinion.

Shadows of Luclin

the good
(1)AA's were a nice addition, and being that there was no level increase past level 60, it gave you ways of improving your characters
(2)Despite the silly idea of cats on the moon, the raiding content was still enjoyable, and right on par with Velious, regardless of the time sinks.
(3)Beastlord's were an enjoyable class, and a good addition to the class list.

the bad
(1) Starting with this expansion, it seems like older content, especially from classic EQ, was becoming completely irrelevant. Zones like Paludal caverns killed other lower level zones, and funneled most new players and alts into one zone. Also loot became significantly better than previous expansions, especially classic, and made a lot of classic loot worthless.
(2) The Bazaar. While convenient, it killed a huge social aspect of the game. I can understand some people preferring The Bazaar, but give me the old fashioned EC tunnel anyday.
(3)Mounts. Poorly designed, and made SoW, one of the signature buffs of EQ, a little less significant. And again... poorly designed. Why do I ride my horse with my arms at my side?!?!?!
(4) Luclin models. Again, a matter of opinion, but just like the mounts, they were poorly designed in my opinion. Despite having more animation, and pixelation, their charisma compared to classic models was daunting.

Improvement?
(1) Remove The Bazaar, keep EC alive.
(2) Make some adjustments to loot, both Luclin, and/or previous expansion loot to give people reasons to go back to zones like Guk, or Sol B.
(3)Remove mounts, and Luclin models

Planes of Power

the good
(1) Amazing zones, amazing music, and one of the best, if not the best raid content.
(2) An increased level cap, and the addition of newer, cooler AA's
(3) The fight against the gods! Kind of goes hand in hand with (1), but there was nothing more satisfying than downing the likes of Fennin Ro, Bertox, Rallos Zek and more.

the bad
(1) Plane of Knowledge. While the zone itself isn't necessarily bad, the books/stones in the zone ruined a key aspect of the game. PoK made travel irrelevant. This addition, and this addition alone is what made the expansion bad, in my opinion.
(2) I'm kind of on the edge about this one, but flagging for zones became daunting at times, especially if you didn't have time to raid. Then again, I did kind of enjoy the flagging aspect as well.
(3) even more irrelevancy of classic content. Item stats became even more increasingly abundant, and once again, older zones began to die off as a result.

Improvements?
(1) Removal of all books and stones throughout Norrath, plain and simple. The only book that should be left in, or left functional, is the Nexus < PoK stone
(2) even more item adjustment, to keep older content alive and well.

Last but not least Ill throw Legacy of Ykesha in the mix. Horrible expansion, with the exception of shared bank slots... Yes please? As a matter of fact, it would be nice to have this without the xpac. All content in the expansion I could do without though.

If this server did expand beyond Velious, I would much rather see these two expansions, with revisions/updates, than brand new content, which some other people are suggesting. Everyone has different opinions, and by no means am I speaking out on behalf of everyone in the community. Everyone has their idea of what made these expansions great, or horrible, and I respect everyone's opinion, and am not trying to start a debate, I'm just trying to throw some ideas out there.

TL;DR
If the game expanded past Velious, into SoL, PoP, or even beyond, what would you like to see removed, revised, or added to these expansions to make them EverQuest worthy? I personally would only like to see the game go up to PoP, but if you feel other expansions could be added smoothly, and justly, by all means, let us know how, and why.

Thanks everyone [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] hopefully this gets some good ideas flowing, regardless if they implement them or not. Regardless, we aren't even in Velious yet, and when it is, I'm sure it will be around for a long time, so until then, let's take advantage of one of the best eras in gaming history!