Flagged Zones and Locked Content

Some big changes are in store for currently-locked/flagged zones in Kunark, Velious, Luclin, Planes of Power, and Gates of Discord. This is a post made by Rytan, EverQuest's Assistant Lead Designer, over on the EQ Forums

As I'm sure most of you are aware, backflagging has been a hot topic for EQ for quite a while now.  The complex flagging mechanisms for older expansions can make it difficult for guilds that take on new people to experience the content they are wanting to do.  With the sheer amount of content between Qeynos and Crystallos it can be extremely difficult for new players to catch up with their friends in any reasonable time frame.

So, in order to make it easier for players to access appropriate content we would like to make some changes to previous flags. 
 All of the existing flags will stay in place, as will the various quest rewards that were additional benefits to their completion.  However, the following zones will have an alternate entry criteria of a minimum level.  It's important to know that either the previous key OR the new minimum level is required to enter the zone, not both.

Required Level 46
  1. The Howling Stones
  2. Old Sebilis
  3. Cobalt Scar

Required Level 55

  1. Veeshan's Peak
  2. Vex Thal
  3. Sleeper's Tomb
  4. Locked areas of the Temple of Ssraeshza

Required level 57

  1. Bastion of Thunder
  2. Halls of Honor
  3. The Temple of Marr
  4. Tower of Solusek Ro
  5. Drunder, The Fortress of Zek
  6. Yxxta
  7. Kod`taz

Required Level 60

  1. Plane of Water
  2. Plane of Air
  3. Plane of Fire
  4. Plane of Earth
  5. Uqua
  6. Ikkinz

Required Level 62

  1. Plane of Time
  2. Qvic
  3. Inktu`Ta

Required Level 65

  1. Txevu
  2. Tacvi

Comments

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works for me.....
# Apr 08 2008 at 2:05 PM Rating: Decent
It makes sense.

They have to keep the casual players and attract new ones ....

This game was never easy to learn to play, at least not easy to learn to play very WELL. I think we all know that the learning curve is steep enough that the time expenditure "hill" has to be made LESS steep or no one will come and join us and many others more will simply not stay. If no one new joins us and if casual players can't get ahead and quit playing out of frustration, there will no longer be any Norrath to play in at all.

Has everyone forgotten that many of us want to keep playing this thing that we've been playing for 9 years? I want to keep playing, personally. That is why I welcome any changes that will keep or add players. It keeps us running around Norrath a little longer.
works for me.....
# Apr 18 2008 at 11:26 AM Rating: Decent
Aye i agree 100%. Not to mention drops from these zones are obsolete cept for alts maybe since ya can buy better in the baz. but still gooo ole fun =-)
lolkentersubject
# Apr 07 2008 at 5:54 PM Rating: Default
lets go ahead and rename everquest to world of evercraft and be done with it.
lolkentersubject
# Apr 09 2008 at 12:07 PM Rating: Decent
Somebody call the WAAHHHMMBULANCE!
Solo'n
# Apr 07 2008 at 2:32 PM Rating: Decent
Interesting,

I can't tell you how many guilds I have been a member of on many different servers that have now long since faded into oblivion. With a total of thirty six toons on several servers, I am in only one guild, and that guild has all ready taken a dive. The higher level players left to join another guild which quickly crumbled, a long story short, in a period of a few months some eighty peeps disappeared into the binary after life and at least four guilds faded away.

Not that I am against guilds, or for raiding, I've never seen a reason to join a "Raiding" guild. 100 peeps fighting for a hours, days, on end for a chance at maybe a few drops. Guess I'm not the conquering type, I prefer to go slow, explore the whole zone, do as many quests as I can there and then move on to the next zone.

At what ever pace I decide fits....

Which means I seldom if ever group, unless it's with RL friends or guild mates (even those from guilds long since forgotten).

I could go deep into why I don't like to group (we've all dealt with the impatient, greedy, ninja looting whiner babies), but more often than not, I find it much more relaxing to go along at my own pace, set my own goals, and accomplish them.

So, by opening up these zones that where currently "Flagged" in my book as wasted money on zones I would never see, I am looking forward to seeing many of the other soloing players in the near future there.

As for those who took the time and effort to get the flags for these zones, Congrats, but it's time these zones opened up. If they get something for accomplishing it, no love lost here, they deserve a little something.

But keep in mind,

You did accomplish a great task, and reaped the rewards of that accomplishment for many years now.

To be honest with you all...I figured some time back that when subscriptions fell, so would the flags and locks to these zones. Especially when the new zones that keep coming out are targeted to the higher level players, only naturally that they do. But, for those players who took a sabbatical, or for unknown reasons just now stumbled into EQ, they deserve a little break as well.

And let's not forget those players who choose to Solo as far as they can...

That in itself is the hidden quest in Ever Quest.



crap...
# Apr 07 2008 at 2:00 PM Rating: Decent
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56 posts
I personally think it's crap that they're doing away with all the flagging involved with PoP... I mean seriously, it's not that hard to do. a single group of people from a mid-level guild (say, anguish level geared) can EASILY down damn near every boss up to EP's (except maybe agnarr and RZ would give a little trouble)

Sleeper's tomb opened? seriuosly come on! it wasn't that hard to get a key for it anyways.... ONE kill that can easily be solod these days (i've personally solo'd klandicar, zlandicar, sontalak, and vindi. all of which drop the key pieces). the loot isn't that cool anymore though and everything can be solod once inside (i've solo'd my way through every single event including ancients)so more power to anyone who needs those avatar weapons.

But hey, whatever. That doesn't even make me as mad as seeing tacvi on that list.... I mean seriously, they should at least wait to open up keyed/flagged zones until they've had their first round of fabled. GoD was arguably the most difficult road block for a guild to pass in EQ history, guilds that had beaten it could actually feel like they had accomplished something... and now they're opening the gates for any joe schmoe that wants some loot. All the other zones i can rationalize them opening it up, but not Tacvi... maybe it just still holds some sentimental value in my eyes.
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Bout
# Apr 07 2008 at 12:38 AM Rating: Decent
bout dang time think about this how many expansions ago was pop? if you have not conqured it by now this is the only way to go most of the mobs will be gray to us when this comes out because of the new level 85 so who is going to want to do flags with no exp. and besides that the new expansions have way better baz loot then these zones.


way to go.
AA's for a Complete Set
# Apr 06 2008 at 7:00 PM Rating: Default
Give rewards like AA's for a Complete Set keys to the above flagged zones for all them ubers that have done the time. And the others still working on the keys, give the AA's also as a nice gimmie. Smiley: glasses


Edited, Apr 6th 2008 11:03pm by namdaruluclin
Good change
# Apr 06 2008 at 1:05 PM Rating: Good
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122 posts
I think it's good for players like myself that have started playing again after so many years, or even for those with ALT characters they went to progress with. It seems they did it for reasons such as that, to allow new players to catch up much quicker than before, same with returning players that aren't up to speed with everyone else or completely starting over. I am glad they did this.
Rewards
# Apr 06 2008 at 8:38 AM Rating: Good
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1) They have posted that they are working on special rewards for people who finished the full flags/keys, similar to how they gave the 7 AA's to those who had done PoP flags the correct way before they opened Tier 2 zones to 55th levels and BoT/HoH to 62nd levels.

2) For those mentioning the dumbing down of EQ, yes they have somewhat, but mostly for older content. If you notice the new stuff is still quite challenging. Even if they opened up say Anguish next March for during fabled, that still leaves DoDH, PoR, TSS, TBS, SoF and the next expansion in November to key/beat.
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doesnt work
# Apr 06 2008 at 8:11 AM Rating: Decent
i am lvl 76 and still cannot get into anything past sol ro tower have got all the minis but not sol ro....none of the zeks ....cannot get into any of thes so called level entry zones now just tried all of the elemental ones and it wont allow me in game...like a previous post i was out of game for 2 years so getting flagged for these zone pretty much out of the question
bah
# Apr 06 2008 at 5:01 AM Rating: Decent
17 posts
i have been playing since eq came out and was never in a raiding guild so never any flags ect. I would love to see these zones and everything but would love to work for them like everyone else that has already.
bank cleaning!
# Apr 05 2008 at 5:12 PM Rating: Good
I will be happy to destroy all the key pieces for VT and VP cluttering up my bank. While you are at it, how about those 7 keys for Sky? Let's do away with them too.
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bank cleaning!
# Apr 07 2008 at 4:35 PM Rating: Decent
lets do away with wiz only port and add it to the guild hall portal for a change.
In favor
# Apr 05 2008 at 4:51 PM Rating: Decent
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297 posts
I think that the levels are about 3 to 5 levels too low. For example, Time used to be level 65 AND flagged, but now it will be level 62? Granted, a level 62 with some of today's gear, it still might be easier than back then at level 65.

I am in favor of the change only because of the huge changes that happened to gear over the last couple of expansions. Excluding some of the "clickies", I won't even bother gearing up some of my alts with gear from these zones, and the gear on my alts isn't that great.
Agree
# Apr 05 2008 at 12:56 PM Rating: Decent
Flagging was really difficult.

I am Anguish flagged, but not time or elemental planes because my guild is past doing that. I was able to get partially elemental flagged due to the Fabled mobs being out which out guild went back to do some of.

Am looking forward to seeing newer zones, now only if they would open up the LDoN zones like that and eliminate the group req.
Torn
# Apr 05 2008 at 4:54 AM Rating: Decent
16 posts
Well I can't say that I don't like this. I, like a lot of others, will soon see a lot of the game that I have never seen before. However, (I have been playing since '03) being a father of 5, finding the time to grind through POP flagging with my guild a few years ago was long and tideous. I only made it to elementals, guild fell apart, and here I sit. Left a bad taste in my mouth, started a different toon and have been leveling mage since........

The problem is trying to find a guild that is willing to go back and experience the old content. Everyone wants to see the new stuff, my self included, but what drew me to this game was that sense of accomplishment when I finished a quest.........can anyone say Ever-QUEST. So now that I have the time to play more, my main sits, almost to Time, and we wont even mention content past that.

What I would like to see the devs do is add incentives somehow to get people to go back to old stuff, new gear from old bosses, add augs to their loot table, and maybe an aug or something for completing key/flagging for zones, or an exp boost. I think it would have to be worthwhile though to get people to do it. If you get flagged for Time you get 5 AA's for example.

My main will be flagged for Time one day not just leveled in..........Keep the QUEST in Everquest alive. Just some thoughts if any devs read this.

Now let me into VT and VP >:P

Edited, Apr 5th 2008 8:59am by Glue
not disappointed but...
# Apr 05 2008 at 4:32 AM Rating: Decent
16 posts
I am in a guild and yes it a guild that has been around a while with those folks keyed. My problem is that my guildies are all 75-80th level and there are seldom many on at any given time to group with even if my noob toons were able too. I had to quit EQ for 2 years - 2 years ago and upon my return. I was actually looking forward to some of these zones and getting keys but alas no one to group with that I was used to their style of play and no clue where to start on keys and where to even play at. So, I just got the TSS expansion and have worked in that a lot. I am happy that these zones are open but I do understand how other toons that people have worked on could feel disappointed with this, especially if they have played EQ for a long time. It is much like the ability to go from 1 - 50 in a matter of days if all you do is play. Disappointing and yet... not.
It had to happen, but....
# Apr 04 2008 at 7:52 PM Rating: Default
Well I cant say I am surprised by this move. In my opinion many people will be happy with this and I will certainly benefit from it with some of the more impossible keys to get.

However, ultimately I see this as a sign for the end of eq. I think eq is a very hard MMORPG and that has been its success. Over the last 2 years eq has been nerfed..dumbed down in too many ways to become more of a kiddies game.

I have been working very hard to get my flags for all of these zones. I have been questing and have bank vaults full of key quest pieces. The task ahead was simply impossible for me..but..I liked it that way!! EQ would have had me paying my 3 accounts for ever to experience all of this content, but now I can safely say, the end is insight for me and my subscriptions will soon be a thing of the past.

The question SoE needs to ask itself is, Do new players stay in a game that is so incredibly easy? vs a game that has enormous, almost unsurmountable challenges? I think SoE wil find the answer is no. Maybe I am the only one who is disappointed..but I bet they wont even lower the req level on the gear drops because they are too lazy to change so much code, so it is not as much of a nerf as it seems.

If you are happy with this nerf then I am happy for you!.
Heh.
# Apr 04 2008 at 4:18 PM Rating: Decent
The heck with Vex Thal being overcamped...

Qvic... M'shas... yummy... And very good exps at L65-70.
Heh.
# Apr 05 2008 at 12:40 PM Rating: Decent
True Qvic has better loot. But Vex Thal has more of a history/legacy with players I believe. People haven't been able to get in it longer, so it has been a thorn in the side longer.

/did that make sense? sorry im hungover

Edited, Apr 5th 2008 6:17pm by ddaoman
Lazy gamer
# Apr 04 2008 at 1:43 PM Rating: Decent
Im really going to enjoy myself
When ?
# Apr 04 2008 at 1:29 PM Rating: Decent
When ?


And when they unlock HS...

Will the inner doors all be unlocked too?




Edited, Apr 4th 2008 4:42pm by ToucanVZ
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When ?
# Apr 05 2008 at 12:27 PM Rating: Decent
Good question. Could be asked for a few of the other zones too. Anyone know?


Although the hand of glory is fun to get, HS was/is one of my favorite zones.
good and bad
# Apr 04 2008 at 12:52 PM Rating: Decent
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160 posts
well, for the survivability of the game, we knew this was coming eventually.

to some of us veteran gamers, being properly /keyed was a partial dork-filter for certain zones.
Congrats
# Apr 04 2008 at 10:20 AM Rating: Decent
Congrats and well done to everyone who worked hard to get all the flagging/keying done. But this is an idea that needed to happen. It is not meant to take anything away from you, but rather to give other people the opportunity to check out content not previously available to them. have fun and be safe all.

edit-cobalt scar never had a key or flag, did it?
edit-oh and let the rape of vex thal commence, that's going to be a busy/crowded place

Edited, Apr 4th 2008 2:21pm by ddaoman

Edited, Apr 4th 2008 2:24pm by ddaoman
Congrats
# Apr 08 2008 at 8:48 AM Rating: Decent
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188 posts
There is a key to zone from Skyshrine to Cobalt Scar. There is a quest for it, or you can just kill a specific dragon and loot key (forget name). That must be the key you no longer need. Given how easily one can get this key and the fact that it is very unlikely anyone is going to run to Cobalt Scar through Skyshrine, I don't know why they eliminated the key.
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Congrats
# Apr 09 2008 at 1:18 PM Rating: Decent
TY, I did not know that. My original toon was a druid so I never thought twice about getting to CS. And always seemed like someone was around to port an alt. I never did try the tree in PoM port to get to CS.
Congrats
# Apr 05 2008 at 11:53 AM Rating: Decent
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204 posts
ddaoman wrote:
oh and let the rape of vex thal commence, that's going to be a busy/crowded place


well said.
hmmm
# Apr 04 2008 at 9:40 AM Rating: Decent
my unflagged alts will be happy, but im kinda bummed for all that i went thru to get the keys i have. Still, its probably best thing to keep the game alive.
Should be after Fables
# Apr 04 2008 at 8:10 AM Rating: Decent
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91 posts
Since this is the first year that PoP fables came out then it only makes sense to do this after fables. I feel that the People/guilds that are flagged for time and Solro and such should have first shot at these zones. Last thing anyone wants is a Noob Bazaar tank being told to Corner tank and him replying" Corner Tank" ??? what do ya mean??. I just so all of you know, I am NOT flagged for time/Solro/VT/ST/VP. I can only get into PoPower zones by lvl flag , brside Storms/Valor/drunder. I also think this MAY change someone selling "Zlandicars talisman" for 100k plus...
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NICE...but
# Apr 04 2008 at 7:45 AM Rating: Decent
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159 posts
WHen is this going to take effect.... after Fabled when we dont need the access >?
Joyous
# Apr 04 2008 at 7:29 AM Rating: Decent
WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!

Makes my day complete and it will still be fun to do some of the flagging when possible.

Less gimping more killing!
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