Quest Issue: Left Goblin Ears - Gives too much exp, needs minimum level (Classic Evidence)

[Rygar]

Was reading up on Left Goblin ears... in summary, there is in era evidence that CLEARLY states these awarded no exp (no visible exp) if you were less than level 20 (some posts even claim as high as level 22 did not reward, but some conflicting info). In era these were mainly used for factioning, not to feed to low level alts. Evidence below to support this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20020126...html?quest=434

Posted @ Tue, Oct 16th 5:40 PM 2001
Sorry, but the ears, orc scalps and gnoll scalps give NO exp. The yellow "you have gained experience" message does show up when you turn them in, but gives no exp that is noticeable. AT level 20 I turned in about 65 of these (had to wait til I was not KOS to the guards) and my exp bar did not move.

These are strictly for factions only, and a few coins. Better deal is to sell them to those trying to raise factions. They sell for 1p to 2p, vs the 2-5 gold you will get from doing quest

Posted @ Tue, Aug 28th 6:42 PM 2001
I started hunting here at level 22.
Lot was FFA and being a warrior up front
I got alot of ears fast. I handed in 1 stack
of ears and got no noticable increase.
Just me or did they nerf the quest?
I get better XP turning in CB belts and pads.
I play EQ for the quests, I'm not just a Quake player power leveling.

Posted @ Sat, Oct 13th 12:44 AM 2001
i think people were twinkin there charaters with this quest (great exp.) so they "nerfed it" to only 20+

Above quote speculates that this quest at one point awarded low level exp, but now time frame given.

Posted @ Wed, Dec 27th 8:30 PM 2000
Hmmm... I haven't had a mid 20's class of my own that's turned these in, but have tried a druid around lvl 10 and got very little if no experience though it says it does and a bard at lvl 32+ and little if no experience. Anyone have a clue as to what lvls this gives good experience and if Verant has nerfed quest like these to give no experience to lvls lower than x?

NOTE: Above quote was earliest quote I found on the quest not giving exp at lower levels, but haven't pinpointed the exact same date.

Posted @ Wed, Jan 17th 12:23 AM 2001
I went thru this zone getting great exp on the Ears at lvls 20 thru 25 after that it slowed. My 18 Warrior handed in some ears i had collected and got little to no exp. Either u have to kill the Goblins first then hand the ears in to get the correct exp.

The above states exp gains were nice 20-25, but did not make any mention to quantity handed in. Confirms less than 20 was no exp.

Posted @ Thu, Sep 6th 5:57 AM 2001
There simply *MUST* be a limit on the level you can get xp on these. I get awsome xp at 20. Like an extra blue per 4-5. Every little bit helps, and the faction is great.

Interesting in the above that it states roughly 1% exp gain per ear at level 20. On P99 it is awarding 1.25% per ear at LEVEL 32. Above posts show at level 32 exp gains should not be visible. Exp gains from this quest need to be SEVERELY reigned in. P99 is also most definitely awarding significant exp below level 20 (I know because I've done this quest on a level 15 enchanter).

Additional Link to exp gains:
https://web.archive.org/web/20020319....shtml?id=1655

Posted @ Mon, Oct 8th 5:53 PM 2001
Well, I am a 22 Bard fighting in the Highpass Keep, and Left Goblin ears are mostly used for faction. You can turn them in 1 at a time or more because they stack. They can be turned in to Captain Bosec (a guard found just near the bank) for money, exp, and faction. The exp is horrible, the money is ok, but the faction really helps those Iksar and Darkelves who are KOS. Just thought I would add something in this board.

For what it is worth, there is a mention that the Gnoll Scalp / Orc Scalp quests ALSO do not reward any significant experience below level 20 (as mentioned in first quote on this page). This next poster does not mention his level or sample size, but it is still worth a look at those quests that are also alt printing presses. Interesting to note on those quest exp pages NO ONE is raving about how good any experience is, just talking about faction gains. Perhaps that s warranted for another post, but take this for what it's worth:

Posted @ Tue, Oct 30th 1:07 PM 2001 Score: Good[3.50]
This quest has been very disappointing to me to say the least. I have spent numerous weeks, collected and turned in over 20 stacks of gnoll / orc scalps & goblin ears. My faction is still KOS (ready to attack). I also receive no perceived increase in experience. The sad thing about the game is how lopsided the faction issue seems to be. It is extremely easy to ruin faction, and nearly impossible to improve some factions, especially freeport militia and corrupt qeynos guards. I realize that I ruined this faction by my own hand, but I wish that verant would make it a little more possible to make amends.

I tried looking for when this change potentially took place, my best guess is here (6/6/2000 patch notes):

*Risk and Reward*

The concept of risk and reward is very important to the game of
EverQuest. Ideally, situations that provide a greater reward should
also provide substantial risk. Over the past several weeks, we've been
identifying areas in game where risk and reward are at a disparity, and
making necessary adjustments.

In most cases, those adjustments are in favor of increasing the reward
for a specific action. For example, we recently increased the
experience awarded in many Kunark zones to offset the sometimes-
considerable risk associated with adventuring there. We also do this
quite frequently by increasing the reward associated with a quest by
enhancing the item, as we did last week with the Burning Rapier quest.

However, in some cases there are instances where reward is far in
excess of the risk involved, and we will be correcting these issues
like those above as we come across them. For example, there are many
cases where a solitary and stationary outdoor creature has a "fast
spawn", yielding the reward of fast experience-gain without the
commensurate risk.

Though it is not our policy to announce changes to individual NPCs, we
did want to let you know that you will see risk/reward disparities
corrected over the next several weeks.

In the past, you had said in light of some evidence you would err on the side of under-powered vs. over-powered. I would ask that in light of lack of a specific time frame this was 'nerfed' (or speculated that it was nerfed rather), that for recycle server the exp change and level 20ish minimum for exp gains is implemented from day 1 (and obviously this change implemented now on Blue and Red).

I thank you for your time, let's make P99 a more classic place!!

P.S. Haynar, come and swing that nerf bat... you know you want to.

[Rygar]

Bring on the grief, bring on the tears. As they beat me into oblivion, with my last dying breath I shall gasp, "...Classic..."

[Baler]

I live with the memory of gnoll fangs in their hay day. What's a nerf to exp on goblin ears going to hurt tbh. Most high level players use them for the faction not the exp. That being said I have a feeling it's really not as far off as one would think at the moment. Otherwise you'd hear people talking about it a heck of a lot more. just my 2 cents.

[Rygar]

By my calculation they are giving 4,500 experience but should be giving 1,250 experience (and NO experience if you are less than level 20). That's a pretty steep drop and if you want these for faction anyways people would use em to get exp to boot on their low level alts. I doubt people will pay 30pp per ear now with that little perk disappearing.

Also made mention of the gnoll scalp / orc scalp quests deserving a nerf, which would again drop price / benefits on those.

I'm not sure on the faction gains on P99, but wiki mentions 240 ears needed to get dubious with banker. That is a lot of ching at current prices (7,200pp).

[Rygar]

bump for anti-alt printing press movement.

[Rygar]

Bump for consideration. Thank you Mr Nilbog for the orc / gnoll scalp fix as well!

[Telin]

Fixed. Pending update.

[skarlorn]

dude, AWESOME

this is gonna make shit so classic

[AzzarTheGod]

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

Fixed. Pending update.

Big problem likely with your fix. The exp curve matters.

The Ears worked on Live from early levels till about 12-13 or so. (probably more like level 11 if I recall correctly but you could still do a tiny 1% here and 1% there until the mid to later teens by turning in lots of ears)

After that the exp curve caught up and the ears were worthless past the mid teens.

Making them give absolutely no experience is not classic. The data above does not reference anything below level 22. That is not enough data to warrant no experience from Ears being classic, which is absolutely not the case.

Incomplete thread incomplete change.

[Oscillate]

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

Bring on the grief, bring on the tears. As they beat me into oblivion, with my last dying breath I shall gasp, "...Classic..."

Call me a noob, but I've yet to turn a single ear in. I guess could be lazy too, I love that zone, but never got around to even leveling there yet. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]