Lonskils
09-14-2002, 04:01 PM
The Planes of Power development team has been working hard to ensure development is on schedule and things are looking really fantastic. Initially, we wanted to avoid mentioning too much too soon; unfortunately the lack of details has lead, at least in part, to an increase in rumors as we get closer to the release of Planes of Power. We'd like to put some of those rumors to rest and give you a general outline of some of the things we have planned.
For Planes of Power there will be two forms of character advancement: level increase and Planar Advancement.
The level cap will increase to 65. Those levels will have inherent benefits much like previous levels. However, they will not be exactly the same. The rate of advancement in character levels is designed to feel more natural and not take the punishing time commitment required between 51 and 60. We understand the frustration that painfully long levels can cause, and hope not to repeat that experience for players. This, combined with the new bonuses for fighting higher level opponents, should make leveling seem less like something that you have to do and more like something that just happens as you play.
Level advancement is closely tied to Planar Advancement. The systems compliment each other. Planar advancement includes extensions on the Alternate Advancement system, along with new abilities for all classes. Advancing your character is a combination of traditional leveling and advancement through planar abilities. Players who enjoy pure leveling can do so, and people that prefer a combination of level advancement and investment in specific abilities can do that as well.
That's the basic plan for advancement in Planes of Power. We'll continue to refine and tune the specific details as we go through the remaining six weeks of beta testing.
Many of the game balancing and system changes you've seen in Live EverQuest over the last few months have been done with this future advancement in mind. Expect to see more balancing that allows us to once again develop high end content that does not involve marathon battles that are more about attendance and endurance than tactics and skill (e.g. The first time people rounded the corner, stared Trakanon square in the face, and knew they had mere minutes to win or lose, as opposed to the second hour of an end-game encounter.) Creating Planes of Power has been as much about reevaluating existing gameplay as it has been about creating new gameplay.
We believe that advancement should be fun and rewarding. We are very aware of the issues that players are not enjoying in current gameplay and some of the mechanics introduced with other expansions. We plan to avoid contrived "timesinks", so that you'll be playing rather than just spending time. This is not to say that success in Planes of Power doesn't require some time, we just want it to be time that you can enjoy. And even though this is a high level expansion, there will be ways for both casual and hardcore players to advance.
That is as much detail as we can give you right now. We appreciate your patience, and we hope that you'll enjoy Planes of Power.
- The Planes of Power Development Team
For Planes of Power there will be two forms of character advancement: level increase and Planar Advancement.
The level cap will increase to 65. Those levels will have inherent benefits much like previous levels. However, they will not be exactly the same. The rate of advancement in character levels is designed to feel more natural and not take the punishing time commitment required between 51 and 60. We understand the frustration that painfully long levels can cause, and hope not to repeat that experience for players. This, combined with the new bonuses for fighting higher level opponents, should make leveling seem less like something that you have to do and more like something that just happens as you play.
Level advancement is closely tied to Planar Advancement. The systems compliment each other. Planar advancement includes extensions on the Alternate Advancement system, along with new abilities for all classes. Advancing your character is a combination of traditional leveling and advancement through planar abilities. Players who enjoy pure leveling can do so, and people that prefer a combination of level advancement and investment in specific abilities can do that as well.
That's the basic plan for advancement in Planes of Power. We'll continue to refine and tune the specific details as we go through the remaining six weeks of beta testing.
Many of the game balancing and system changes you've seen in Live EverQuest over the last few months have been done with this future advancement in mind. Expect to see more balancing that allows us to once again develop high end content that does not involve marathon battles that are more about attendance and endurance than tactics and skill (e.g. The first time people rounded the corner, stared Trakanon square in the face, and knew they had mere minutes to win or lose, as opposed to the second hour of an end-game encounter.) Creating Planes of Power has been as much about reevaluating existing gameplay as it has been about creating new gameplay.
We believe that advancement should be fun and rewarding. We are very aware of the issues that players are not enjoying in current gameplay and some of the mechanics introduced with other expansions. We plan to avoid contrived "timesinks", so that you'll be playing rather than just spending time. This is not to say that success in Planes of Power doesn't require some time, we just want it to be time that you can enjoy. And even though this is a high level expansion, there will be ways for both casual and hardcore players to advance.
That is as much detail as we can give you right now. We appreciate your patience, and we hope that you'll enjoy Planes of Power.
- The Planes of Power Development Team