As with pretty much every expansion, there are a lot of changes coming with DoV and I wanted to go over a few of them now that the NDA has lifted. Please keep in mind that these changes were in beta, and are therefor subject to change before being brought to live servers.There are more changes coming then these ones listed here, but these ones are the ones that popped out to me first.
Tradeskill pristine bonus being removed – that means for first time combines you will no longer gain a bonus. There is a very lengthy post about why this is from Domino over on the eq2forums. Basically what it comes down to is that some craft classes have way more recipes then others (in specific the ones that make skills, alchemist, sage, and jeweler). There for they would level up “faster” then other classes because of this pristine bonus. The article goes on to talk about how compensation will be given by means of extra experience awarded for crafting quests as well as writs. I personally think that this is a good move, of course on that same note I dislike change and feel that this is a pretty large one for the crafting community to swallow. Hopefully it all balances out.
Changes to stats – Another big one. Eq2wire has a great write up about what will be changing as far as itemization goes. Number one, gear will no longer have hit points or mana on it. I remember them trying to change this back in SF but it didn’t exactly work out and was reversed. Players will gain power through their primary stat only, so for fighters it’s str, scouts agi, priests wis, and mages int. Agility no longer has anything to do with mitigation or critical mitigation. Wisdom no longer has anything to do with resists. +spell damage and +combat art damage is being phased out.
Item Score (also known as Gear Score for those who may be familiar with the World of Warcraft term) has been removed.
Achievements – Curious about what your new achievements are going to look like? EQ2wire has set up a fantastic aa browser for players to look at.
I’m really looking forward to the in-game calendar, as well as being able to fly around Norrath. I don’t see an issue with having to be level 86 in order to complete the flying mount quest as long as there is also a crafter friendly version of it.
Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Let me know! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.
** Edit ** Domino confirmed for me that there is indeed a crafter friendly version of the flying mount – fantastic!
Sounds like it’s going to be an interesting time on the 22nd. . . . for the couple of days until the Rift headstart opens up for me anyway. And who knows how long the shiny newness of Rift will keep me away? We shall see.
That said, I am indeed looking forward to the expansion.