What's in the works - preview of next wipe additions

[Jorquin]

People have been asking me "what are you guys working on", and "when are we getting more content". Transparency is good, so I thought I'd openly communicate what's in the pipeline for the immediate future (i.e. live on pwipe, whenever that is).


• Tantallon in its entirety is ready to go back into the game.
• Phaethon will also be put back into the game.
• Enstar's Bay will be put back into the game.
• A couple of small dragonarmy camps zonelets will be added near Neraka.
• A full Qualinesti revamp will be implemented. It will be twice the size of the current Qualinesti, with varying difficulty. Some of it will be slightly harder than the current area, some of it will be significantly harder than the current area.
• A large labyrinth zone will be added. This will be relatively quest-less, being more of a hack and slash type zone. It is a little bit unique in the way it works, but I'm not going to disclose more than that.
• PWS loading will be changed. It is highly unlikely many people will get it, one or two might.
• Nightmare will probably disappear. The spell power balancing is hard, I'll probably replace it with something else. Not sure what though...
• Gnome racial bonus will get the nerf bat.
• Prism and lightning storm will probably get a minor damage boost.

If I have time I'll create an additional high level zonelet area to add in on pwipe, but I may not. We'll see.

Feedback & suggestions welcome.

[reed23]

Great news!  New content should bring people back.  Maybe let someone play with a Druid revamp/change?  Also, I think announcing the wipe well in advance, especially since us US people are in the middle of summer, would maximize the amount of people who would potentially rush.

[kmark101]

Can we get rangers back finally instead of retarded scout classes? That alone would balance lots of things...
New/Revamped content is meaningless for me, there are already way more equipment than players.

[el conquistador]

good stuff!  thanks

[Kronos]

It would really be great to get some news about a wipe. Many of us need to start doing more around the house for a few months to build up extra points with our wives! hahaha. Any news, even a rough time frame would be AWESOME.

Great job with the new content and working on balancing.

-Jon

[Jorquin]

Im aiming for mid June, but i need to have discussions with the other key staff members before we can start to get certainty around a date.

[kielmobile]

what if nightmare was revamped so that you get "the illusionist" effect, where one minute you think you're fighting cyan, then lord soth, or maybe a cuddly bunny and anyone in the room who fails the save can't initiate attacks or something or gets a chance at brain damage, confusion, hysteria, mind mangle, take your pick like prism. possible or not? would be funny as hell though.

[steveb]

Great news to hear some of the old zones will be coming back.  Also great to hear new zones are coming in.  Can't wait to litter their landscapes with my digital carcasses.

Any chance we can have the Tower of Illusions linked back in?  Help file is still intact, references to the path leading in are still outside where it used to be, but the zone has been MIA for a few wipes now.  Always good to have extra options for rolling zones in the first few weeks of a wipe.

[Jang Yoo Sung]

Any plans for chaos day?

[Quid]

Tantallon!, HOOOO!!!!

[Tajs]

Very curious as to the coming changes being finalized and what happens with druids in particular :)

[Gramm]

Love the posts about changes, thanks for keeping it fresh and keeping us interested.

[Attai]

Honestly the best change I could ask for is that lower the XP.  I want to play but I have other responsibilities, I haven't played in a few wipes but want to come back but can't in the current state.

[reed23]

Attai - I think you raise a good point.  The last time the XP tables were adjusted was during the Arctic era of trash mages.  The XP tables were adjusted to back-load the experience, meaning lvls 1-25 is relatively easy, but once you hit lvl 27, it's a monumental grind.  The thought process was to allow people to get to 27 fairly quickly which would allow them to get into bigger groups faster but then have to grind out the last few levels.  It also prevented people from getting to 30 super fast (to deter the dreaded trash-mage).

Given where we are in the arctic life-cycle, I would agree that a review of the XP tables would be warranted.  Maybe 5 mil less from 27-28, 10 mil less from 28-29, and 10 mil less from 29-30.

[Jorake]

I would agree with the exp change. i would lower the requirement from 25-29 but i would keep 29-30 the same as it is now.