Experience Changes to House of Thule Tasks

Experience rewards from House of Thule tasks and missions are going to be modified, as will the method that experience is rewarded in group tasks.

These changes are set to take effect on November 15:

As many of you are aware, Tasks and Missions represent one of the most rewarding ways of obtaining experience in EverQuest. As of November 15, there will be some changes to these systems that we feel you should be aware of.

Currently Tasks and Missions in House of Thule reward extremely large amounts of experience with very little restriction. These Tasks and Missions had their experience calculated based on a formula that used the amount of experience required to gain a level, not the amount of experience earned from defeating a mob. Unfortunately with the amount of experience required to gain levels continually increasing this led to a situation in which Tasks and Missions gave experience significantly more than they should have.

Group Missions also had an issue, in that they gave full rewards to anyone who was added to the task, regardless of whether or not that person participated at all in the mission.

On November 15th, with the launch of Veil of Alaris, we will be addressing both of these issues. We wanted to make sure to give all of you plenty of notice so that you can take appropriate action and receive the rewards you have already earned. These changes will affect tasks in House of Thule and Veil of Alaris and are as follows:

  • Experience Rewards
    • For group tasks not in instanced zones, experience will be awarded to all group members within 300' of the final step in the Task. This is usually a Hail or Delivery, and in the few cases where a Task ended on killing a NPC these tasks will receive an additional step.
    • For group Tasks in an instanced mission, Task experience will be handed out upon opening of the chest. Experience will be shared with group members within 300' of the chest.
    • Characters will need to be living at the time experience is awarded, please make sure to resurrect anyone in the party who may have met an untimely end before you trigger the experience award.
  • Other Rewards
      All rewards other than experience including progression flags, coin, and any items will be shared as they always have been. No changes to rewards other than experience are being implemented.
  • House of Thule Experience Changes
    • As stated above, House of Thule Tasks (solo and group) are currently awarding too much experience. Experience for House of Thule Tasks will be reduced by approximately 50%.

Given these changes we highly recommend claiming any unclaimed Task rewards before November 15. If you claim previously completed Tasks after November 15, your awards will be affected in the following ways:

  • Previously completed Solo Tasks will receive the modified experience rewards.
  • Previously completed Group Tasks will receive no experience reward, as the Task Rewards will have been significantly modified.

These changes are being made for the long term health of the game. Please understand that we did not make these changes lightly, but only after significant consideration including a variety of methods to address these issues. Ultimately we picked this method of restricted experience rewards as it was the least invasive and exploitable of all possible options. For most players this should provide very little difference in day to day play of EverQuest, and we appreciate your understanding in the matter.

Comments

« Previous 1 2
Post Comment
Good Changes
# Nov 08 2011 at 9:48 PM Rating: Decent
*
145 posts
I am glad for the nerfing of TA added xp. I really don't care if you now have to actually level up your toons through some modicum of effort. TA selling and buying is exceedingly lame and far from the original intent of the game. TAing your alternate toons so you can have your box army leaves you grouping with only yourself and not functionally playing your toons. Which makes the game what, Heroes of Might and Magic with a chat function? Thanks Sony, gutsy change, as it will tick off a lot of people
pattern
# Nov 06 2011 at 9:02 AM Rating: Decent
do we see a pattern here ... when house of thule came out, exp was nerfed for classic missions ... when new expansion comes out .. old exp is nerfed ... I guess it is realistic to think that "long term health of the game" really means keep it profitable and always rush to buy the new expansions
pattern
# Nov 06 2011 at 8:47 AM Rating: Decent
do we see a pattern here ... when house of thule came out, exp was nerfed for classic missions ... when new expansion comes out .. old exp is nerfed ... I guess it is realistic to think that "long term health of the game" really means keep it profitable and always rush to buy the new expansions
really?
# Nov 05 2011 at 8:28 PM Rating: Decent
**
264 posts
Sooooo, let me get this straight. People are whining because they gonna take the xp from group/solo missions from people who arent ACTUALLY doing the task. Why is this bad? That was never the intention anyway. It wasand is an abuse of the system, and frankly Im glad they doing something about it. Granted, several of my alts have leveled that way. but they were task adds that I personally did and added them to. I did not buy them, I did not sell them.

Admittedly, I was becoming lazy. Even tho my alts have the levels and the aa's, I doubt I still could use them to their optimum performance, becasue I dont know them. I didnt "grind" them out. And it does make me sad, to some degree, I am way more happy that its being done. It is no diff than the changes they made when everyone was doing Old Man Mackenzie tasks. They used to be good xp and loot, and just before the expanxsion came out, they killed it.

It hurts that they making the changes thats soon tho. Many of us 90's, are at max lvl and max aa, and are waiting to cash in on the saved rewards, til it can earn us something. Teling us that we have to waste them tells those of us that our time doesnt matter. Make the change in a week , after the expansion goes live. Give us a chance to make it count.
really?
# Nov 06 2011 at 7:15 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
25 posts
For my part, I'm not whining because xp is being taken away from task adds, but because actual xp for those in a task/mission is being cut in half.
Not a problem
# Nov 04 2011 at 10:54 PM Rating: Decent
I honestly dont see a problem with the changes. I am one of those who only play one or two days a week and have been playing since Kunark came out. I have one char at lvl 90 with about 1700 AA. The fun is in playing and achieving each AA and each level, who cares if it takes a few weeks or a months to gain a level?? I dont play so I can be first to 95 or first to 25000 AA, I play for the fun of it.

BUT, just so you TA sellers and junkies can have it...make all TA's AA exp only, but you have to kill to gain reg AA. Simple
claim before launch?
# Nov 04 2011 at 10:54 PM Rating: Default
*
147 posts
So if I have 10 group xp rewards banked I'm screwed. I get that. But would this work? I kill myself like 20 times the day before launch, claim all my rewards so I'm max 90 again, then the next day use my 100% rez AA to get all the xp I was screwed out of by another sony ******** corporate jizzfest?
pugs will be rip for missions now
# Nov 04 2011 at 2:23 PM Rating: Decent
*
187 posts
I could easily see the greifing involved in pugs where people will either open the chest too early or kick people before the chest gets opened or final hail.

I think this is just Sonys way of making sure everyone buys the new expansion. Because if you xp anywhere but in VoA you will get horrible xp in missions/tasks.
:)
# Nov 04 2011 at 12:49 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
41 posts
That's right, Sony!! Keep up the good work of irking peeps off! I haven't played EQ for almost 2 years now unless it was a "free play" deal...and then it was just to get screenshots(I like my character, just hate the game).
It's a d@^m shame
# Nov 04 2011 at 9:25 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
25 posts
I'm currently getting around 5 aa's for a group task on my main, which is low enough to keep me from paying 10k to the TA sellers. But for bringing up the alts on my multiple accounts, the current system has been priceless. I'm very disappointed with the new changes. As it is, maxing out my aa's was looking like a daunting task. Well, I've paid for the new expansion on one account. But maybe I'm going to take a break for a while. Skyrim's coming out on 11/11. Damn, devs, why do you have to break what's working?
Fix?
# Nov 03 2011 at 11:10 AM Rating: Decent
28 posts
Glad to see SONY is tackling the top issues with this game.................


























not
Perhaps...
# Nov 03 2011 at 10:34 AM Rating: Good
*
53 posts
Perhaps...the change could go in for Level 91+ only? This would give all the struggling players a chance to catch up on old content and all the 91+ people can head into new content. I think HoT in it's current form brought a lot of players back to EQ. When UF came out, a lot of players left saying "UF is too hard". The Brell's Rest named was killing casual players, and they felt stuck with no upgrade path from SoD group gear. That expansion started the TA business (after the Old Man Mac nerf).

I don't see how any of this change is going to help expand the player base. A new player right from level 1 with power level help will be 80 in a week, but it's the AAs that is going to take a long time. Doing HoT tasks in it's current form would get them to around 2K AA in a few months, but I wouldn't suggest they head into new content with such low AA. I would only have room for 1 poor geared/low AA players in my group, but I co-lead a casual guild full of such players. You can't put 6 of them together and send them to even fight named in HoT Tier 3 or 4. How will casual players get any help when all the die hards will be grinding in new content? I'm talking about experience here. Not flags or rots.
____________________________
Kshipper Master Mage http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=274568
Perhaps...
# Nov 03 2011 at 1:15 PM Rating: Decent
well said kshipper.

If the intention is to entice new players to EQ (or encourage players to stick it out if they are relatively new) it would be in SOE's own interest to come up with a working plan to help non-top level players get into Game play grouping shape.

I don't object to limiting XP and AA from TA's; that makes sense - as a previous post pointed out, it is frustrating to group with someone who doesn't know how to play their character because they have been pl'd for 20-30 levels.

Perhaps limiting HoT xp on 91+ would encourage top end players to explore the new expansion while also allowing lower level characters the chance and encouragement to explore HoT and play catch-up.
Perhaps...
# Nov 04 2011 at 6:29 PM Rating: Decent
6 posts
Jspike,Kshipper- I've been a casual player for 10 years and from where I sit Sony has been pretty consistent in awarding the diehards and ******** everyone else, thereby slowly draining and killing the game. The last few years in particular have seen the kind corporate treatment universal to all corporations these days- downsizing employees, farming content out, and wringing every possible dollar of the consumer. Everquest is a dead end and Sony is looking to put as little development as necessary in order to maximize their gains from the dying franchise. When was the last time you saw new hot zones? Sony can't be bothered with those kind of details because it doesn't add to their bottom line. New expansions make money, new hot zones doesn't- it's that simple. Sony will likely have great exp in the new expansion to try and get everyone to buy it but beyond that don't expect Sony to do anything to enhance the game for the casual player.
Sony will put lots of development into the marketplace because that brings in the dough- it's all about the money now and nothing else counts, in spite of what they may tell you.
changes
# Nov 03 2011 at 1:15 AM Rating: Decent
24 posts
am thinking maybe its cause we all blew through Hot epxansion fast as hell thats what made it fub but from time to time expacs do get a little rough on the exp side. Sod when it came out blew for experience. just have to wait and see what happens. i on the other hand will try and be optimistic
History
# Nov 02 2011 at 11:37 PM Rating: Decent
***
1,273 posts
Guys this happens eeeeevery expansion. To kick off the new expansion they always nerf the previous one right as the new is released. Likewise the new will invariably have something amazingly awesome that has everyone falling over to do, which they retain for a week or so before nerfing it too.

The formula of these games is to make the new seem fantastic whilst making the old redundant. It's what gets Sony money, but it's also what keeps us interested in the game. The alternative would be that the new expansion comes out and.... we decide HoT is better exp and continue to grow bored my grinding out those same old tasks.

I'd bet money that there will be amazing exp in the new expansion that will make us forget all about HoT.
History
# Nov 03 2011 at 8:41 AM Rating: Decent
*
93 posts
dafdaf wrote:


I'd bet money that there will be amazing exp in the new expansion that will make us forget all about HoT.


I will take that bet.
Whinners
# Nov 02 2011 at 8:49 PM Rating: Decent
Avatar
37 posts
Didn't know EQ had so many playing!See a lot of Lvl 90's with 100 aa complaing that it's going to be too hard ... ya made it hard on your Self.
Whinners
# Nov 02 2011 at 8:49 PM Rating: Decent
Avatar
37 posts
Didn't know EQ had so many playing!See a lot of Lvl 90's with 100 aa complaing that it's going to be too hard ... ya made it hard on your Self.
long term health of the game ?????
# Nov 02 2011 at 7:53 PM Rating: Decent
this game has been running for almost 13 yrs ?? Your implementing them for the long term Health ?? how much healthier are your wallets? you <Sony> have nerfed this game so much who the hell wants to play it anymore, why not make the game more enjoyable, why keep taking **** anyway so people will just give up and say ***** this... i am almost at the point....
EQ
# Nov 02 2011 at 1:15 PM Rating: Default
Scholar
**
428 posts
I hate being the one to hand it to you, but EQ is dying, at least in terms of development and foresight... There are many users who really won't give a damn, but this company, notably this particular game, has "No Budget" so to speak of... Very similar to the "milking the cow" concept... Never had udders, but if I did, they'd dry up eating this bs...

Edited, Nov 2nd 2011 3:15pm by Lilpapei
EQ
# Nov 02 2011 at 3:54 PM Rating: Decent
*
93 posts
Lilpapei wrote:
I hate being the one to hand it to you, but EQ is dying
Edited, Nov 2nd 2011 3:15pm by Lilpapei


We are all dying; that's the process of living.

However you are right that they don't have the resources to keep this going a whole lot longer unless something changes and I don't see how anything will. At least they own the intellectual property (unlike SWG). I hope EQ lasts 5-10 more years at least and assuming the dropoff stays consistant and SoE doesn't go and do something that angers a lot of people.....oh crap. Maybe 5-10 more years is pie in the sky talking.

I can only buy so many accounts to keep them afloat.
Eww, that smell...
# Nov 02 2011 at 1:04 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
**
428 posts
Is that the sushi they're eating or just the Sony execs themselves...
Game Changes
# Nov 02 2011 at 12:58 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
**
428 posts
Don't know about the rest of you, but I surely know now why these "techs" don't work for Mr. Jobs.
Casual player view
# Nov 02 2011 at 12:17 PM Rating: Decent
I don`t like the change here. I`m a lvl 90 Paladin with 1700 AA and the HoT missions were great xp for me. I`m just a casual player so it`s where I gained most of my xp. I guess it doesn`t really matter now though because one of my buddies convinced me to play Rift with him. Yeah, Rift is very easy compared to EQ but I`m haveing a lot of fun playing. I have loved EQ but maybe it`s time for me to just leave. The Rift playstyle just suits me better.
Patch
# Nov 02 2011 at 12:13 PM Rating: Decent
2 posts
I have played this game since 1999 and do not have the time to raid every night. The only way for me to have any chance of leveling is having three accounts to do tasks with. I cant fight in most of the HOT zones with 3 90's because I cant get enough AA's to cope with the damage of these mobs. My warrior with hot gear and 800AA is toast. With less chance of him being able to level or get AA,s sounds like time to quit. Again SOE makes it better for the 7 day a week raider with unlimited time and no job. Those of us who have paid for this game for 10yr are being worked out of EQ
XP
# Nov 02 2011 at 10:32 AM Rating: Default
Avatar
*
208 posts
I am a casual player at best anymore, but this to me is a test of SOE to get you to buy another acct or buy xp potions. Seems they concentrate more on junk to buy in the marketplace then they do on gameplay. Watch on Nov 15th how much more junk is added to the marketplace. If your gonna nerf xp then make some missions to earn credits to use in the marketplace or make xp potions a no trade random drop on mobs.
I believe they did a nice job with HOT expansion, but as a person who has been playing for 10years, I'm starting to look for an alternative game without the SOE symbol anywhere!

Edited, Nov 2nd 2011 12:34pm by Kepness
____________________________
Warrath
Endless Knot
Cazic-Thule
120 Shadowknight
Everquest Player Since 2001
XP
# Nov 04 2011 at 7:45 PM Rating: Decent
**
654 posts
hehe-- if you find a good one that has decent tradeskilling and all that-- let us know. right now, this is the only game i have found that gives me the type of fun i want -- in spite of its problems
____________________________
Success comes when preparation meets opportunity -- and EQ is no exception.
Out of touch
# Nov 02 2011 at 10:28 AM Rating: Decent
So, a year after HoT comes out, SOE finally realizes that it is giving massive amounts of unintended XP? Who at SOE is supposed to be keeping an eye on game play dynamics and balance? The horse apparently left the barn a year ago, now SOE decides to close the barn door?! I only bought the HoT expansion this month so why don't I get a year of "bonus" XP before they nerf me?
ACTUAL effect of attacking XP
# Nov 02 2011 at 9:05 AM Rating: Decent
*
61 posts
The folks out there that can and do max aa and lvls quickly will find a way to deal with it.

This will affect those folks that struggled to begin with or those that wanted to pay for more accts and build them up.

Seen enough of those players basically give up if no one helps em get caught up to content, who the heck wants to go play 2 expansions behind....

So perhaps the unintended ACTUAL effect is to negatively affect, returning, struggling or extra (bot or alt) accts let alone any (gasp) new players.

Quote:
changes are being made for the long term health of the game


/golf clap GOOD JOB.....
Awesome move ... for Bioware's accounts.
# Nov 02 2011 at 8:32 AM Rating: Decent
Players to SOE: "VoA missions are not as good for XP as HoT".
SOE to Players: "Easily fixed -- we'll nerf HoT missions. Job done."
« Previous 1 2
Post Comment

Free account required to post

You must log in or create an account to post messages.