One of the most difficult jobs that I’ve had while working on EverQuest II has been the “revamping” of zones or areas. Some of these revamps have ranged from entire population replacements with quests being modified to fit, to just minor adjustments of mob difficulty in heavily trafficked areas.
Generally, the work in and of itself isn’t that hard, but the planning can be quite labor intensive. Just about everything you click, every mob you kill, and every object you see in our game is somehow connected to a quest, a story, or a character in some way. It is quite nerve wracking when you want to make something better, but risk breaking a hundred things to get to that point.
The best revamps (to me, of course!) are the ones where I get to scrap everything without worrying about what was in there before, and make an entirely new zone out of it. I was given a choice of zones to do this with a few months ago, and eventually settled on making a level 80 instance of Runnyeye.
Runnyeye itself has presented some challenges, but I think it’s coming together nicely after some much needed housecleaning. When I first went into the zone completely empty, I couldn’t help but think that the goblins really need to clean up this dump, so the first thing I did was start deleting all of the trash piles and modifying the zone art to fit my needs.
The goblins were expecting some guests after all, and it wouldn’t do to invite dignitaries into a hovel.
Steve “Saavedra” Kramer
ooo Another dungeon. Will this one come after or before kurn’s tower?
Also…
What are the chances of us getting expert collection quests added to Kos and Sinking sands? I can understand not wanting to add hotspots to eq2 ala eq1, But something really should be added to the game to bring players back to older zones. (Preferably playing, And or Mentoring in them)
Alternatly, Could we not add some odd little monster dropped collections? Available only as monster body drops, Preferably from color conned mobs. ..
Heh.
-B-
By: Tbiggs on April 29, 2008
at 9:24 am
A revamp of Runnyeye to level 80 could be quite interesting! I hope it traverses the whole level range. The instance towards the end could even be a new Nizara type instance if you had that much time
By: Arabelx on April 29, 2008
at 4:22 pm
I’m really looking forward to this one.
A few questions:
What made you decide on Runnyeye?
What other options were you given?
What are the chances of seeing something similar done with either Permafrost, OoLS, or Sol Eye?
By: Sulan on April 29, 2008
at 6:11 pm
Just as long as it remains in the spirit of the original Runnyeye: multi-mob goblin encounters where they overwhelm you with sheer numbers, painfully annoying Evil Eyes, minotaurs, and of course a lot of named. That’s where most of the fun is in the original dungeon.
By: Xalmat on April 29, 2008
at 8:37 pm
RE has special palce in my heart as I spent literally DAYS in there with my first toon, tanking groups for hours on end. And in Jan 2005 it was quite a bit more challenging and our gear was quite a bit worse … and heck, for that matter, SHARDS were still in the game! Ahh … but fond, fond memories.
Although if you have another choice for revamps, may I suggest Sol Eye? The zone is stunning and almost no one goes there anymore, which is a damn shame.
By: araxes on April 29, 2008
at 10:29 pm
Very cool, glad to hear it and runnyeye is a cool zone to start on.
Other zones that would be awesome to have a high lvl instance/version
#1 Crushbone (I’ve started always as evil char and outlvled the place before doing any of it. Had to go in for SoD and though the place was fantasically designed)
#2 New Tarnia (best looking zone in the game with like 3 quests total and a few names that are never up) I’d love to see the zone actually used properly, such a waste currently.
#3 Oblisk of Lost Souls (with the new expansion it might be cool to get people to complete the zone at a high lvl with some new lore teasers, some wild rooms in that place like the crazy transporter rooms and basement)
By: Garagmol on April 30, 2008
at 3:04 pm
SWEET! A new Runnyeye! I’m looking foward to seeing what you come up with!
Would you mind tossing in a gigglegibber at the front door for those that have to wait for their late group members.
By: Alaocia on April 30, 2008
at 6:27 pm
I think revamping RE is a great idea. It’s fun to lvl and quest in there when toons are the appropriate lvl for the current dungeon so I imagine the fun will continue with an upgraded version for higher levels. Can’t wait to see it.
In response to Tbiggs about DOF and KOS… DOF was the worse expansion ever until EOF came out… and Kos comes in third, the only things that save KOS from being a horrid place are the high (well they were high till recently) lvl raid zones and there are some quests up there for some decent items (thermo-shocker, and I always thought the island hopping thing you had to do for DT access was nifty)… I’d prefer if dev’s didnt waste time on something that’s already working, and that sucks… and put their energy into bigger and (hopefully) better things.
By: KHitkhat on May 1, 2008
at 5:19 pm
A revamp ‘could’ be quite interesting, but I suspect a great many younger players will be sorely disappointed to see RE go.
I don’t want to see the 80’s power players left without any new and exciting things to do, but why rob one age group to cater to another?
/scowls
By: Phemme on May 1, 2008
at 5:30 pm
Hmmm… Guests huh?
*starts thinking of death traps, prison cells and torture chambers*
Yeah. Sounds like it will be an interesting place to visit.
By: Kahlef on May 2, 2008
at 4:13 pm