Two comments.
One: Looks like Illia has is spell opacity set a little high.
Two: Those golems in some of the shots are wrong. They should look like Ice Golems, not Earth. Again, I blame Illia... :)
Absor
(anon only because it seems that the login function is busted right now)
LDoN Adventure System
LDoN Adventure Preview
On Tuesday, I had the chance to run through a preview of the Lost Dungeons of Norrath expansion which is due out in early September.
Alan Vancouvering was on hand to answer questions, as well as a few people from other Everquest related websites (notably Niami from EQTraders. For the afternoon we grouped up, and got a chance to explore a dungeon using the new adventure system which is included in the expansion.
Lost Dungeons contains 48 new zones in 5 generalized themes. There are 10 zones in each of the new themes, except the new Guk zones which have 8. This afternoon we were in Everfrost Peaks heading to Miragul’s Menagerie.
For each theme there is a camp of adventurers with an Adventure Recruiter, an Adventure Rewards Merchant, and a Adventure Raid Recruiter. This is where groups will talk to the adventure recruiter and receive the adventure. For each theme your group starts in a different zone, Butcherblock mountains for Mistmoore, Everfrost for Miragul’s, South Ro for Guk, North Ro for Takish, and East Commons for Rujarkan Hills; although the starting locations are obviously subject to change.
We formed up our group and talked to the Adventure Recruiter – Mannis McGuyett who asked us to help with a strange power growing in Miragul’s Menagerie. Asked to seek out and kill Frostweaver, we were told that we’d be able to find the start to our adventure through a snowy mine in Everfrost peaks.
The snowy mine was just over a hill from us and when our group leader accepted the Adventure a line appeared on our compasses to make it easier to find the entry to the dungeon.
We headed on over to the dungeon, using the compass to guide ourselves, and soon enough a dark mineshaft appeared in the ground in front of us (surrounded by the corpses of many recent adventurers/testers).
Once we zoned in, the zone in area appeared to be relatively safe, with just one spider standing nearby the entry to the dungeon. Icy vapors rose from the floor and many of the corners, and most of the dungeon seemed to be constructed of blocks of ice and snow. The creatures in this dungeon were wooly spiders, ice goblins; some ice constructs of a sort and some whirling ice/vapor sort of things.
As we fought in, the fights varied in size and intensity, the monsters did not appear to hit too hard for our level 25 characters, and we progressed reasonably quickly. While we accompanied by a GM who kept us healed, and sped our progress, a group of real level 25s would find this to be good fights, with the ability to rest and regain mana or health between them.
When you accept an adventure, you have 30 minutes for any member of your group to zone into the adventure dungeon. This timer allows your group to travel to the dungeon without running down the adventure timer itself. The moment a member of your group zones into your dungeon instance, the Adventure Timer begins. You will have 90 minutes to complete the task you've been assigned by the adventure recruiter. This timer is intended to keep you moving and provide a bit of a challenge to the adventure or raid, assuming you decide to go after the main target of the raid. An adventure requires a group of 4 or more people to begin it, and always has a task that you’re asked to complete, although this task can vary from rescue a hostage, kill a specific monster, collect items, or just kill certain numbers of monsters. There are eleven total difficulty settings ranging from Level 20 to level 65 (hard), and raid datasets in some zones as well. In total this makes for over 2,500 adventures, with 384 available to any player at a time. You always have the ability to request a ‘Hard’ adventure which uses the zone datasets for the next step up, or in the case of level 65 characters a specially designed hard setting.
Each setting for each dungeon was made by a game designer, with a mix of static spawns and wanderers, and for me at least - much of the care evident in zones like Guk, Chardok, and the Hole is evident in these new zones. This isn't randomly generated content.
Spread throughout the dungeon are some rare monster spawns, although you cannot “camp” inside most dungeons as they do not respawn. Additionally there are the new interactive objects in the dungeon as well. In our adventure we came across two: a box and a chest. (Although the rewards haven’t been placed yet, so opening them was somewhat anti-climactic) Rogues and bards have the ability to use lock picking and trap disarming skills to open these objects, while Enchanters, Magicians, Necromancers and Wizards can cast a line of spells to open some as well. Yet other objects depend on the priest classes to remove curses to safely open the box. Our box was inadvertently opened by an enthusiastic enchanter *cough* which then required us to spend some time healing and removing the curse I accidentally inflicted on everyone. *whistle*
The real reward you seek for taking up an adventure is the successful completion of your task. After fighting deep into the caves in this dungeon we came across the large spider we were asked to find, and managed to slay it. Doing so prompted large yellow letters to appear on the display and we were each rewarded with 2 adventure points. The adventure points can be spent at adventure merchants to buy items.
Raids work very similarly to single group adventures, except that instead of 4 people required to start one, you need to have a minimum of 18 people (Max 36) in order to begin a multi-party adventure or raid. Raids have a target as well as a description of your challenge in the window, and a time limit – although in most raids the challenge can be evenly spread between both the monsters themselves and the time limit. Raids also grant adventure points upon completion.
Corpses are handled by the adventure system as well. In the event that you have a corpse in a dungeon when it “deconstructs” - almost always a result of failing an adventure, your corpse will appear outside the zone in where you started the adventure.
To quickly recap the adventure system:
5 themes for adventures, this controls the type and feel of zone you get.
10 zones per theme (8 for Guk) each is a distinct zone with different layouts.
4 different types of tasks you may be assigned when asking for an adventure
11 Distinctly tuned difficulty settings, with Normal and Hard available to you based on the level (not gear) of your group.
When you accept an adventure, once you enter the zone you’re told to find the adventure in, a mark will appear on your compass.
30 Minute timer to get your group to the adventure starting point.
90 Minute timer (variable depending on raid), to complete the task in order to succeed in the adventure.
Multiple forms of potential reward – Adventure points, Interactive object rewards, and traditional EQ semi-random loot that we all know and love.
--Illia
More Screenshots:
a_box.jpg
adventure-merchant.jpg
adventure-text.jpg
adventure.jpg
closed_chest.jpg
cloud.jpg
cloud2.jpg
cramped-hall.jpg
dungeon.jpg
entry.jpg
erratic_torrent.jpg
fight-hall.jpg
fight.jpg
fighting.jpg
final-fight.jpg
frogs.jpg
frostfoot_brawler.jpg
goblins.jpg
graveyard.jpg
hatchling.jpg
inside.jpg
open-chest.jpg
room.jpg
steps.jpg
the-boss.jpg
torrent.jpg
torrents.jpg
we-win.jpg
Guk Raid Screenshots:
aug1.jpg
guk1.jpg
guk2.jpg
guk3.jpg
guk4.jpg
guk5.jpg
