noch ein möglicher patch :D

[Minyatur Laurelin]

** Experience System Change - Small Groups **

With the upcoming changes to the experience system, we expect a variety of game styles to be impacted. At the core, we expect most groups to generally grow in size allowing many less utilized players a chance to compete alongside highly sought after players.

In a massively multi-player game, there are many dynamics involved. And any mechanic that encourages interactivity is better for the community as a whole. However, the existing benefits of fighting in smaller, talented groups will be lessened, thereby opening the door to less skilled players.

As it stands in Everquest, a players abilities have some relative merit. We will refer to this as 'Skill'. In practice, players with Skills are often more successful than those without. However, there is no way for players to know the relative skill of new party members.

In the past, we have attempted to make the user experience more friendly to those with less Skill. However, as of this patch, Skill will now affect all non-raid combat.

A new character statistic, 'Skill', will be added for all players. Each player starts with a base skill and players will be able to earn or lose Skill points once they have achieved 50th level.


** Interface **

- Players with low skill will have their names flagged in red, while players with high skill will be flagged in green.

- The Looking For Group window will now include a Skill filter and a sort by Skill option.

- A new UI option will be available for all character buffs. A player will now be able to designate character buffs as 'Important'.

- A new UI option will be available to flag a group member as 'Main Tank'.

- A new UI option will be available to flag a 'Primary Healer'.

- Rangers will be able to sort players by Skill in the Track window.


** Items **

- Some of the best items should not be used by players with inappropriate Skills. To reflect this, some powerful items will now have a 'Required Skill' and 'Recommended Skill' flags.

- Groups with high skill will receive modifiers when determining loot.


** NPCs **

- Some NPC's will react based on player Skill. We think this change will add exciting new content for players. You have been warned.


** Changes for Players **

- Since skill is a reflection of your overall performance, players will gain Skill slowly during combat.

- Melees will lose Skill if they do not hit a target NPC at least once or if more than 50% of their attacks are 'out of range' or 'cannot see target'.

- When an Important buff wears off, the original caster will recieve a tell. Casters will lose skill if Important buffs are not recast within 5 minutes.

- Players that get hit before the 'Main Tank' will lose skill.

- Snaring classes will lose skill if an NPC flees more than 100 feet.

- Bards will lose skill if they do not twist at least 2 songs during combat.

- If the Main Tank's hit points fall below 5%, the Main Healer will lose Skill.

- Int based casters will lose skill if no offensive spells are cast against a target NPC.

- Whenever a monster attacks a party, any players that are more than 50 feet from the Main Tank will lose skill.

- Non-Main Tanks will lose skill for breaking mezz.


** Alternate Advancement **

- Players will low skill will no longer be able to advance in level. Instead, experience awarded will be automatically applied to Alternate Advancement.


** Misc **

- Vendors will be aware of player Skill when setting prices.


We realize that we are, essentially, manufacturing a new caliber of player. As players, we also realize that it is the people who spend most time in groups with unskilled players that suffer the most interruptions and setup time. It simply makes sense to penalize players that are not paying attention or who have poor skill. After all, that's the whole point.

We look forward to seeing how these changes affect the Test community.

The following Interface Files were affected with this patch:

EQUI_BuffWindow.xml
EQUI_GroupSearchWnd.xml
EQUI_Inventory.xml
EQUI_GroupWindow.xml
EQUI_TrackingWnd.xml

- The Everquest Development Team.

[Minyatur Laurelin]

** New Character Attribute **

As of the next patch, all characters will have a new attribute called "Aroma". As players engage in combat, their Aroma will increase based on their level of physical activity. Once any player's Aroma has reached 100, they will no longer be able to do additional damage to an NPC, but all members of their group will take a slight damage over time hit.

Showers will be provided in many cities and dungeons for bathing to reduce Aroma. Also, swimming will reduce Aroma, but not as quicky or completely as Bathing, which will become a new trainable skill.

In order to alert players to the Aroma of another player prior to grouping, a cloud of flies will begin to assemble around any player whose Aroma has exceeded 50%, and the number of flies will increase for every 10 points of Aroma. We are working on an alternate warning flag for use with Trolls, as in our testing phase it was hard to tell the "Aroma" cloud of flies from the ones Trolls usually draw anyway.

KSing, training and trying to sell items in /ooc rather than /auction can also increase a player's Aroma, sometimes to the point that they can agro an entire zone simply by zoning in.

The following Interface Files were affected with this patch:

EQUI_AromaWindow.xml
EQUI_GroupBreakWind.xml
EQUI_Deodorant.xml
EQUI_ShowerWindow.xml
EQUI_TrackingSoap.xml

- The Everquest Development Team.

[Ghorun]

Huhu,

also wenn du das mit dem Aroma weggelassen haettest, haette man fast drauf reinfallen koennen. ;-)