Ragefire revamp in progress

[EZ_JustWatchingYou]

The following is a message to Guides/GMs from Brenlo, head of Customer Service, SOE regarding the post at pub23.ezboard.com/fgraffe...9860.topic

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Brenlo wrote:
This did in fact occur at my direction. It is not a change in policy but rather a single case exception. Please inform anyone that questions regarding this issue that it was not the norm and that Ragefire is being reworked to try to solve these community issues.

Brenlo Bixiebopper
Everquest Customer Service Manager
Sony Online Entertainment
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So yes, the Xev respawning of Rage for each of the clerics contesting the spawn did in fact happen and the above message from Brenlo also tells us of an upcoming change to the spawn.

Edited by: JustWatchingYou at: 8/23/02 5:48:10 pm

[EZ_Bywalker Divinusdrood]

(This message was left blank) Edited by: Bywalker Divinusdrood at: 8/23/02 5:55:00 pm

[EZ_JustWatchingYou]

Nope, it was posted internally at SOE. Sorry.

[EZ_maslethalo]

I read through most of that with much pain. What is this change you speak of? and I saw no brenlo.

Anyway make Rage spawnable similar to Faydedar. Who the hell cares how many Water Sprinklers are on the server. If I was a GM i would give any cleric that asked me one just for the torture Verant put all players through camping it in the very messed up Sol, and the even 5x more messed up SF.

[EZ_CosmooEQ]

hmmm...seems phony to me though. I didn't think Brenlo's title was EQ Customer Service Manager..thought it was Head GM. It may be real, may be not. I am guessing it's phony.

[EZ_Vaclav Romanov]

Cosmoo...

I think that may be part of the "no server specific GMs" initiative... just a change in title still a Lead-GM in normal respects, just a different term for his position VI-wise

[EZ_CosmooEQ]

I know, I am just saying though. I was a Guide once. Don't ever remember Brenlo calling himself that in the forums.

[EZ_CosmooEQ]

O and Brenlo is not just a Lead GM...he's Head GM...the big alien boss GM Leader

And there's even a typo in his Sig..Everquest..should be EverQuest you'd think right? It's fake :-)

Cosmoo
eq.stratics.com Edited by: CosmooEQ at: 8/23/02 10:35:10 pm

[EZ_JustWatchingYou]

Quite frankly I don't care if you believe me 'CosmooEQ'. If you would like confirmation, ask any Guide or GM to check the SOE Guide Messageboard to confirm it.

Brenlo IS the Customer Service Manager. That is his title. All GMs are under him.

GM-Admins report to Lead-GMs. Lead-GMs are team leaders and report to Brenlo.

Again, this is what he posted on the Guide board, and quite frankly I don't care what you think ...This was posted here to
1) Let players know that what was reported to have happened on Xev did in fact happen but was done as an exception.
2) Let players know that as Brenlo has stated there is some kind of change coming to the Ragefire spawn.

Have a good night. Going to bed now.

[EZ_DaedreaDarksoul]

It did happen ok, I was personally witness to it and a cleric in my guild now has a cleric epic because of it. See my reply on the Graffe thread for further details.

[EZ_TarskXev]

It happened. 3 Ragefires spawned and killed within the space of 45 minutes on one of the days, actually.

/sigh

[EZ_CosmooEQ]

Whatever floats your boat, I am not saying it didn't happen. I am just saying your post is fake :-) Thanks! Send me an email and tell me some info about the Guide board then and we'll see if your BSing or ur legit :-) Cosmoo@Stratics.com

[EZ_Keynann]

This is a bunch of crap, when are they going to rework the wraith of a shissar for enchanters? At least clerics can camp there epic, its very very difficult to camp fear especially when the server has a summit where guilds have the plane reserved.

[EZ_Raie Heartcharmer]

Not that my opinion matters, but this was infact posted on the guideboard.

[EZ_snufan]

well it certainly happened, my guild got to choose when our rage was spawned. the way it was explained to me is that there was a debate, and the GMs only considered the 2 more boistrious clerics, and made whatever arrangement with them, but the other 3 clerics there were completely ignored because they werent yelling and screaming about it all. when they realized there were other involved clerics, they made arrangements for them...

[EZ_Squink McPoke]

So moral of the story is:

Get a bunch of clerics together and have several of them bitch to GMs, and pre-arrange a couple sideline clerics to stay quiet until the next day. At which point all clerics involved get a free ragefire spawning.

Gotcha, noted.

[EZ_Samthin]

Wraith of Shissar is the easy part =p At least compared to the Vampire Essence...230+ logged hours clearing Forsaken Rev's, and thats since after I started my epic Last piece I need dont think it will ever happen since I dont really play him anymore hehe.

[EZ_Saraden]

The interesting thing about this which was pointed out in the Graffe's thread was that at the Boston Fan Faire Verant stated they had no plans of changing the Rage camp as it was their way of controlling the rate at which this powerful item (cleric epic) entered the game.

[EZ_Hika Mindsong]

The epic is only really powerful for the first one a guild gets, after that it's a nice-to-have not a must-have. Secondly, epics (Well all quests) should be about "can I defeat the challenge" not about some arbitrary limitation of item entry rates. Thirdly, Ragefire is badly done because of the HUGE amount of ill will it generates amongst the player base. VI overestimates the power of the item. That or they equate desirability with power, which isn't the same thing at all (witness illusion masks that do nothing but are very desired).

I'd prefer if rage only dropped the cleric bit (no other loot), and have a once every five day handin mob that didn't require an entire guild to camp on a wall in skyfire, but that a cleric could go check now and then. Worst case, you lose a bit of your time looking for the handin if someone "ganks" it from you. Otherwise you get two+ guilds mad at each other and a lot of wasted time from staying up for 100 hours to protect your cleric's camp.

What they said at Fan Faire is outright wrong, unfortunately. They can still maintain the entry rate without having the huge amount of player animosity that exists. That or just make rage spawnable and let people get on with their character progressions, and feel GOOD about completing an epic, rather than feeling RELIEVED.


-- Hika

[EZ_Deathbane27]

Quote: Secondly, epics (Well all quests) should be about "can I defeat the challenge" not about some arbitrary limitation of item entry rates.

Amen. Right now it's not "Can I defeat the challenge?", it's "Am I going to win the lottery for the right to try after waiting in line for 5 days just to buy a ticket?"

Utterly stupid.

[EZ_Cobee Blazesummoner]

I agree, people should be able to obtain epics when they're ready, not by waiting in line.

[EZ_Moffon Furryhealer]

I'm just glad I got my epic when it was in solb. At least that was harder to KS, and people don't really just pass through solb and come across it. And you gotta kill firegiants so it'd be harder for a few manaburners to take it down. I say make nagafen killable by people over 52 (who the hell wants to farm his loot anyway) and throw ragefire back there.

[EZ_Undaine]

Quote: 230+ logged hours clearing Forsaken Rev's, and thats since after I started my epic Last piece I need dont think it will ever happen since I dont really play him anymore hehe.

Holy god. I've only been to hate maybe 5 times for 2-3 hour sprints since Chanter Epic was made ... and during those times I never saw less than 3 chanter-vampire things drop per trip. One had like 5.

sorry for hijack.

[EZ_Galendril]

There are two very similar drops off the Revs in Hate. One is for rogue poison (so I'm told) and the other is for the enchanter epic. The former item drops a helluva lot and most folks confuse it with the enchanter epic piece (I know I did my first time). That's the thing you're prolly talking about. When I was doing my epic, I had to whore myself to many raids before it actually dropped. Since then, I've seen 2 drop on one clearing, but that was definately an unusual circumstance.

[EZ_Gallerus]

yeah, its like vampire dust (common) vs essence of vampire (stupid rare) or something like that - I havent bothered to go to hate in like at least 6 months so I dont remember for sure

[EZ_Siri Gudernesskat]

Quote: "Secondly, epics (Well all quests) should be about "can I defeat the challenge" not about some arbitrary limitation of item entry rates."

Unfortunately, there is very little real challenge to EverQuest. The designers' idea of "challenge" is increasing mobs' HP/damage/AC/resists, rare spawns, and rare drops.

The Qeynos Badge quests seemed to be a step in the right direction. Too bad it's the exception.

[EZ_Cheriffe]

"The designers' idea of "challenge" is increasing mobs' HP/damage/AC/resists"

This is a rediculous statement. How else are you going to make an encounter hard? Verant is building new "ring" encounters but everyone hates them.

Cheriffe of the Merry Band

[EZ_Ddrak NFyre]

Put Rage on the last island in Sky. Make him triggered by saying something utterly incomprehensible to Sirran (that will be posted to every EQ board in 30 minutes flat). Just for spice, put him kos to hand and eye.

Solves two problems - sky won't be as underutilized as it is now and cleric epic contention is reduced.

Ddrak

[EZ_Brazzlethorpe]

As great an idea as moving Rage to sky might be, it wouldn't fit with the backstory of the epic (what story!? I hear you asking) The whole thing is a "water versus fire" war, where you are helping to keep the balance of power between the two, and are ultimately rewarded for your service to the triumvirate of water with the sprinkler. So in effect the fire mob being in air is kinda off flavor... however, aren't we getting a plane of fire soon?

Can't hurt to add another drop there like they did with the green dragons scales in VP

[EZ_Ddrak NFyre]

Well, you could always put him in VP if you were concerned about the backplot. I was just thinking that would really be going over the top. ;-)

Ddrak

[EZ_Turgen]

also that this was definitely posted on the guide board, and that RageFire is being reworked.

Of course no one knows me, so you don't have a reason to believe me.. just thought I'd let someone know.

[EZ_Fflewddur Fflam]

Didn't see anything official posted on the guide board at all, but this policy screwup certainly *did* happen.

-FF

[EZ_Turgen]

It is. Check the Announcements forum.

[EZ_Fflewddur Fflam]

Announcement forums are server-specific.

-FF

[EZ_Raie Heartcharmer]

The Common Hall./nod. Down near the bottom by now. Look for the red "Brenlo" name. Can't miss it

[EZ_Sharia1]

What would make alot more sense to me is to have each cleric complete a set of challenging quests to spawn their own ragefire. The idea being having the bottleneck confined to quests that do not involve other clerics. Once completed the cleric could thenhand in to spawn their ragefire.

Once you get your pearl...the quest would then begin to spawn ragefire. Shift the challenge from being the first to kill rage to difficulty in spawning him. Keep it so that you must have that pearl in order to begin the quest(ie hand in pearl but npc hands it back) and gives you quest to spawn rage.

This would facilitate clerics helping each other instead of what we have now. Guilds may actually help each other too.

[EZ_Lestan Gregor]

I think they should just make Ragefire a triggered spawn and increase the difficulty of the mob. Hand in the pearl, Ragefire spawns, tougher than before, kill him, loot him, bottle neck over. Too bad verant is so damn stubborn.

[Jazya]

Quote: I think they should just make Ragefire a triggered spawn and increase the difficulty of the mob. Hand in the pearl, Ragefire spawns, tougher than before, kill him, loot him, bottle neck over. Too bad verant is so damn stubborn.

Forgive my ignorance, but isn't Zordakilicus Ragefire (dragon form) a Triggered mob? It's my understanding that he's spawned in exactly the same fashion bard-spawned Trakanon is.

Hand in the mystical lute to the undead bard, kill it and Trakanon spawns. Hand in the pearl to Zordak Ragefire (human form) kill him and Zordakilicus spawns.

I'm not sure that these two are any different in terms of respawn time, but there are several factors which (in comparing these two) make the Cleric quest so much worse.

1- THERE ARE A LOT MORE CLERICS than Bards, especially on the 50+ end.

2- Trakanon isn't the bottleneck for the Bard epic. The White Dragonscale is a LOT worse. You need to get the scale BEFORE Trak (required for lute to spawn him) most 50+ non-uber bards give up at this point.

3- Zordak spawns in Skyfire, a zone where both druids and wizards can port to. Anybody can get an invis and run to his spawn point. Undead bard requires a crawl through seb juggs. Not exactly a raid-level encounter, but still noteworthy.

4- Haven't killed Zordakilicus yet, but isn't he easier than Trak?

I'm not sure that the rate at which VI artificially restricts these two epics from entering the game is any different, but the demand for the cleric epic, combined with the low relative difficulty of the Ragefire encounter and its insanely low supply just makes it brutal.

Rogues - Immagine if the Kithicor DE house had only one mob in it, who spawned randomly once a week, not at server reset and handing the sealed box to spawn V'Ghera caused that NPC to despawn.

The fix is simple. Make Human Zordak spawn at the end of a Ring event and set the ring event trigger to a REASONABLE respawn rate (8-24hours)

Edit: Woot, 1,2,2,4. I know how to count. /cheer Edited by: JazyaVechette at: 8/29/02 10:44:22 am

[EZ_Eumerin]

Quote:
Hand in the mystical lute to the undead bard, kill it and Trakanon spawns. Hand in the pearl to Zordak Ragefire (human form) kill him and Zordakilicus spawns.


This was changed a while back. Now Zordakilicus (dragon form) spawns in Kunark. Kill him there, go to Sol B and hand the pearl to Zordak, and get a (No Rent, I think) container from him. Put the drop from Zordakilicus in the box, and hit combine.

The only bright point about this is that it means that wizards probably have a slightly easier time getting the imbue spell.

[EZ_Kaysha Soulsinger]

Close, Eumerin, but no bonus.

There's a Zordak Ragefire spawn in Sol B, which is non-agro. He spawns below the banner on the ledge just below the entrance to the Fire Giant castle. Spawn time is once every 24 hours.

You need to hand that one the Shimmering Pearl that you received as a result of killing Ixiblat Fer in Burning Woods and the Overking Batezid in Chardok. He will hand you a Swirling Pearl in return and despawn, claiming something about returning through Skyfire and laying waste to everything in Norrath.

There's a Zordak Ragefire spawn in Skyfire, who is KoS to all and level 55. He spawns just in front of the Dragon statue in the northeast corner of the zone, about 0-2 days after the server came back online or 4,5 to 7 days after the previous kill. Once this KoS Human form has been killed a Dragon form will spawn on top of his corpse named Zordakalicus Ragefire. This is a Nagafen clone, but he's level 60 without the banishment thingy that Nagafen uses. Otherwise, he's not too difficult. He drops up to five items that are not related to the Cleric quest, randomly from Nagafen loottables and the set of Blazing armor of Fennin Ro. Next to that he also drops a 2-slot No Drop container called Impure Heart of Zordak Ragefire (or something close).

You need to put the Swirling Pearl into the Heart container and hit combine. The container will vanish and you'll end up with the Heart of Zordak on your cursor, which is No Drop but a regular item so can be placed in a backpack. When turned in, this heart will yield the third and final Orb for the Cleric.

[Jazya]

Zordakalicus Ragefire is one damn cool name.

[EZ_Rekna]

They shouild just make ragefire spawn every 1-2 days and give him 200-300k hps to make him a semi difficult challenge to the mid sized guilds.

this would definatly stop the MB stuff

[EZ_Shugarra]

If you do make him have 200k-300k hps the guilds that are up and coming wont be able to take him down and so he will be left to the guilds that already have 6 or 7, and the guilds that have none will be left with none until they can take him down. They just need to find someway to keep the difficulty the same without the horrible competition and time sink, but I don't know how they are going to go about doing that.

Shugarra

[EZ_farmatyr1]

What they need to do is add a raster style camp. Making the bottleneck a raid mob is idiotic.