I love the Everfrost charms – with one small annoyance that I realize is difficult to avoid. Well, ok perhaps two. Number one would be the mass of people in this zone working on the exact same quests. It has died down some, but there’s still 30-50 people in the zone at any given time, and while the zone is big it’s not THAT big. Most of the people running through are level 80’s either trying to get new house items, doing the charm quest, obtaining those few aa that they still need, or running baby alts through the zone. I took my monk over to get her charm item. In fact I believe every single one of my 7 characters (on my main account, only active one currently) have their charm item now.
Aside from how crowded the zone is (the 2nd version of the zone only stayed up for one day) I dislike how this level 47 item is better then level 80 items. Or rather, level 77. Specifically the provisioner faction crafted items. I’m of course talking about the wishbone and chicken foot. This level 47 item is also better then the charm item that drops off of the contested Mayong in T7. I realize that when you revamp a zone the gear changes dramatically, but I wish it didn’t only rival but surpass greatly – the gear that is 30+ levels higher then it. There are rumors of gear obtaining diminishing returns eventually. That is to say – as you out level the gear, the stats on it will actually decrease, and make it worthless to wear. I think that this is a good idea (though I have personally seen no proof of it being implemented, for now it is just talk in my eyes) because it forces people to upgrade their gear. In EQ1 upgrading your gear is not exactly a big thing as gear has no levels. Well, actually these past few years gear has been given more of a “can not wear until level” and then a max stat level – but in the past gear had no levels. You had a stat cap for your level, so anything above and beyond was useless, but in the mean time you were free to wear whatever you wanted.
EQ2 doesn’t work that way – every piece of gear has a minimum level you need in order to equip it. Which is why I think it’s important that players upgrade. One of the problems with this though of course is that when a zone gets revamped, or gear gets revamped, or new zones come to life – the items there are of course significantly better then previous areas, so it can draw players into it.
The level 40-50 items in Everfrost rival a lot of the gear that my level 61 necromancer was wearing. The charm item rivals level 80 gear. I don’t like that ‘balance’. I think that the stats could have been reduced – and leave off the crit chances. In the end game those crit chances are bread and butter of pretty much every class out there, and highly sought after. Aside from raid obtained charms – no charms even HAVE crit chances besides these level 47 charms.
Goudia finally hit level 40 alchemist yesterday. Thankfully I have supplies saved up, I’m hoping to at least surpass my Monk’s levels so that I can make her a few skills should the need every arise. Maybe her stances at least. We’ll see.
On a completely unrelated note – happy birthday to my Mom! She’s my best friend, and I hope she has a fantastic day, I love her with all of my heart.