Item Decay in EQOA Sucks...Get Ready for EQ2

[Clowns]

As you all may already know, EQOA has come out and is doing VERY well. I play a tank (barb war) on it. Basically, the game is completely kickass, and this comes from someone who has 3 lvl60+ characters (one being a wizard, heh) on EQPC. So i think i have a some authority to speak on this.

The item Decay feature in EQOA is a fucking nuisance to the nth degree. Loot decays to almost breaking in any exp session that last more than 2hours a sitting. That includes all your armor. A tank's gear and weapons decay even FASTER because they are taking the melee hits more often. So much to the point that after you get full on loot, you sell it for 3k and your fucking repair costs are like 7k-8k. That price increases as you get higher level loot btw. For a tank to break even the group has to LET him loot most of the higher priced shit loot just to ALMOST break even. Thay may ok in a friend group, but in a pickup group...well, you know the answer to that one.

Item decay is such a damn nusiance that once the melee are below 30% quality on their gear they HAVE to go get it repaired. That means the whole group has to leave the camp spot and go to a city so they can repair. Picture being deep in Seb or exp deep in PoP or any fucking dungeoun where it takes you half the night to fight down to the camp spot, only to have no choice but to leave after awhile because of your gadamn gear is gonna break and be useless.

But why should you all even give a shit?? I'll tell ya why. Item decay in EQOA is how it's gonna be in EQ2. They have already stated that ID will be alive and kicking in EQ2 upon release. So, if you think the trivial loot code was a nightmare, wait till your uber leet ass gear starts to decay to the point that you need 400k platinum to just fix your bracers. Not even gonna mention your BP or that kickass sword ya got. Most times you wont even be able to use it because the costs to repair it will be prohibitive to even weilding it.

If the item decay stays in the game as it is now, EQ2 will be in big trouble.

Clowns

[-[Ao1]-Nemesis]

Well, this item decay thing sounds like its gone too far...I mean I can see where it might be like Diablo II's durablity where one only has to repair every once and a while but the way you put it sounds insane.

I don't know where they are trying to go with this but it sounds like its counter-productive. The only validation I can think of is to prevent twinking but if it costs that much to repair normal level armor, then we are all gonna be broke and wearin' leather armor at level 40 in Everquest 2

Just my two cents...

[Zyphria]

Well, it just goes to show that item decay can we done well...and it can be botched. DAOC's decay was well-balanced given that decay rate was based on quality. Higher the quality, slower the decay, and if you kept it well-maintained the rate was reduced as well.

While I have more than my fair share of gripes with Verant, I honestly believe that Everquest II will be a better game...just like Warcraft III is better than Starcraft (in gameplay, not story), and how Starcraft was better than WarCraft II. It comes from experience, lots and lots of it.

While the expansions failed to express this sense of 'lets show them a new side', I believe Verant realizes they are getting a fresh start with EQ II and don't want to botch it this time around (or so I hope).

[Aspheris]

It would at least be o.k if you could train in armor and weapon repair and just have one along with you when you exp. He can have a bag with his supplies and you pay him a flat rate to fix your peices.

But going to town and the expence you speak of sounds really gimp.

[Froofy-D]

If what you say is true it sounds like they need to slow it down - a lot! I have no problem with weapon decay and repair since it is realistic. But if I have to leave an XP group every 2 hours to repair that's annoyingly gay. Hope it isnt that bad in EQ2.

[Zyphria]

Realism in a fictional world always seems to lead to trouble...like playing hardcore in Diablo II and dying because of glitchy coding.

The reason for weapon/armor decay is a money/time sink. It doesn't make the game any more fun beyond "feeling" more realistic. I can't recall the last person in DAOC that told me "man repairing equipment is goddamn awsome!" The best way to do it is to have it exist...but not so much that it detracts from gameplay.

[Karae]

Here's a quarter, call someone that gives a fuck.

[Grag]

Pay phones are 50 cents here....

[arax_luminarium]

Actually DAOC item decay is nothing like Eq will be. Why? . because DAOC players have very little dependancy on there equipment, unlike EQ players.
Even with that fact in mind, the DAOC players will still not get out there Uber(RARE) Kick Ass Stomp Sword out because it Shits them to tears that it will eventually bust. So they use there normal drop stuff which is almost as good in stats anyhow.
In EQ, Everybody is soooo dependant on there equipment.. so decay will be very different indeed for EQ2.

In my view Decay will shit me to tears as well. This is 1 thing I think should never be implimented.
As to there anti-twinking. easy fix. just put level limits on stuff.

[Kreugen]

Level limites + trade limits (item can only trade hands so many times) = no twinking + items removed from economy

Rah

[Tuco]

I think any sort of Decay is stupid and 'not fun'

Realism went out the door since Rogue came out.


same with skill decay and all that over time.

[Morphyous]

They should increase the loot (coin) dropped by mobs. It'll be like Diablo II then. The problem is that you aren't geting enough cash from mobs. You probably getting less cash in porportion to the tanking/fixing needed. The problem is the Cash flow. Now I hope they feel stupid as hell for missing that.

[Araxen]

Actually DAOC item decay is nothing like Eq will be. Why? . because DAOC players have very little dependancy on there equipment, unlike EQ players.
Even with that fact in mind, the DAOC players will still not get out there Uber(RARE) Kick Ass Stomp Sword out because it Shits them to tears that it will eventually bust. So they use there normal drop stuff which is almost as good in stats anyhow.

Actually if you have a any item in DAOC, Its take a LONG time for it to actually wear out and break as long as you use for the apporiate levels.

Odds are that if that person's uber rare sword is better than his player made stuff he'll use that sword because it will take a very long time before it'll actually break. I've been playing it for almost a year will have a couple items close to breaking within 3 or 4 months. The best stuff in DAOC is player made(you get custom made stats put on armor) and with the new expansion there is stuff that is as good if not better than player made items coming out of the new Raid Dungeons but won't be custom tailored as player made items can be made. Its a trade off on what you want.

[Lauraliane]

Items decay is among those features that are pure nuisanse and absolutely NOT fun, that alone could be enough for me not to play EQ2.

[Sentient]

Mudflation or Item decay, choose your evil.

Mudflation kills content, item decay keeps content in constant demand. Which do you think they are going to choose, Which would you rather have?

EQ's economy only works because they continue to pump fresh items into the game via expansions. Given a long enough time without new stuff and it would fall apart.

They just need a well designed and tested decay system. Hopefully they can deliver.