Day 3
Well lets start day 3 by oversleeping. I had planned on attending the 1st showing of Evercracked but missed it due to difficulty in getting my alarm properly set the night before. Cody was able to see it and though it was awesome as well as it dropping a mere few seconds of what they are calling Everquest "Next".
So for me the day started with breakfast, my wife donning her shopping attire and donning her trust weapon "Credit Card". Interesting fact my wife's credit card has a +5 to in debt quicker, anyways.... I prepare and finally head down for the second showing of Evercracked.
I get there with about 15 minutes to spare and have a hard time finding it. Apparently they were doing some of the live quest in the same hallway outside. Between that and the G.I.R.L. gamer panel I didn't see the room for the showing but with some help from Cody found my way there.
I was worried the showing was not going to be full but near the end the room packed in very nicely. Jace Hall stood up and gave some opening remarks (I know hes not a lawyer) and went right in to the movie. The movie was very good and Jace brought that right mix of energy and comedy that EQ is known for. He and his crew did one heck of a job on that movie and should be commended for the way they accurately portray the history of EQ without making its fans to be some weird group of wackos (we are but we don't like people to point it out).
Next up EQ2 panels. So 2 o'clock rolls around and Cody is not here. He has gotten him self stuck in traffic looking for some food. And they just start dropping information like crazy. Here are some of the highlights or at least what I thought was important.
Tradeskilling
With Odus they are doing away with loams to help balance the cost of rares across the board. They are also making soft gems, and hard rocks have separate spawns so if you harvest one you don't have to wonder about what it will spawn back into the world.
They are going to make Transmuting and Tinkering be available to all characters and not have to choose between either but be able to do both. Very nice in my opinion and well needed.
Dominio also said that she would be working with the alternate paths recipes and such as she has time but she has to get all the new 80-90 recipes ready for Odus and that will be her main focus.
Domino seems to be the current superstar of EQ2 mostly due to the way she turned tradeskilling around, this is not to say any other member is not as well liked but she always gets the biggest applause when she is introduced.
Class Balance
Of course the term class balance always brings with it a bad stereotype as its is always a struggle to keep all classes balanced but people should remember that this will always be a ongoing work and will never truly cease.
Summoners are getting some love by looking at their pets so they will be more loved on raids.
Druids are getting some loving in the healing areas with their Heal Over Time so they are seen as not wasting their heals behind other classes.
Work on priest changes somewhat like the fighter changes.
Rogues and Spellcasters will have some upcoming changes the most of which I understand to be that Brigands may get a slight hosing or at least that is what is sounded like from the players.
Itemization
Mythical weapons are not going to be forgotten with the run up to 90 but they will make them relevant but maybe not as weapons but allowing their effects to still be used... interesting.
Also outleveling gear past level 60 will now cause items to begin to lose their effectiveness. This is interesting as they have tried it before and will be odd if they actually finish this in time for the expansion.
So that was the end of the first session, I had to leave the lore session to take care of some home related business but was able to attend the final session with Cody.
Future of the Game session started off with a bang by them showing off the new shader 3.0 effects they are working on. They looked great and will not impact current gameplay but once you see them they make the game look brand new.
They also talked more about auto-mentoring talked about yesterday as well as some of the upcoming achievement changes and how the quest journal will be changed. Also mentioned they are going to work on allowing for tracking of more than one quest at a time.
They are implementing a slider that will allow you to auto adjust how much combat xp is turned into AA points from 0 to 100, of course pvp will have limitations.
During the expansion Q & A they talked about the expansion being only 80-90 in terms of playability (still think it was a good Question Cody). The re-introduction of contested zones and mobs. The ability to decide what level of raid you want to do (upcoming raids only not retroactive).
Unluckily the session soon turned south as they always do with a vocal minority railroading the event into a why do you hate my class question session and we soon left.
After going back to the room and relaxing we decided to head down and line up for the big Dinner. First we were in single file and then they told us to crowd up. At this point the evening went south. I am a large man, both big and wide. I try to remain calm because its the right thing to do and violence solves nothing. People were cutting in front of us stepping on toes bumping us out of the way with the same excuse. I am trying to find my group or I am looking for someone. I too wanted to find someone up further but thought it was rude to cut, well at least 50 people in my area decided they were not rude and did it anyway. I did keep my calm but felt a little less impressed with my fellow gamers. A little courtesy goes a long way.
Once inside we found our group (thats right we didn't even have to cut line) and got seated. There were a few items on the table that the group divided up and then we waited for the food. Whoever planned the meal has no idea about traveling after mexican food. The meal like last year was lacking unluckily and trying to get water was like being in a desert... Which we were.
Anyways Brenlo got up on stage and started the awards to which we watched for some time but had to leave due to an early flight. With that we bid Cody and his wife farewell and retired for the night.
A great day but also a sad one as its the last one with anything going on other than travel.
I will update later on day 4 as well as list my opinion on Fan Faire as a whole.
Donnie "Talnor" Hall
So for me the day started with breakfast, my wife donning her shopping attire and donning her trust weapon "Credit Card". Interesting fact my wife's credit card has a +5 to in debt quicker, anyways.... I prepare and finally head down for the second showing of Evercracked.
I get there with about 15 minutes to spare and have a hard time finding it. Apparently they were doing some of the live quest in the same hallway outside. Between that and the G.I.R.L. gamer panel I didn't see the room for the showing but with some help from Cody found my way there.
I was worried the showing was not going to be full but near the end the room packed in very nicely. Jace Hall stood up and gave some opening remarks (I know hes not a lawyer) and went right in to the movie. The movie was very good and Jace brought that right mix of energy and comedy that EQ is known for. He and his crew did one heck of a job on that movie and should be commended for the way they accurately portray the history of EQ without making its fans to be some weird group of wackos (we are but we don't like people to point it out).
Next up EQ2 panels. So 2 o'clock rolls around and Cody is not here. He has gotten him self stuck in traffic looking for some food. And they just start dropping information like crazy. Here are some of the highlights or at least what I thought was important.
Tradeskilling
With Odus they are doing away with loams to help balance the cost of rares across the board. They are also making soft gems, and hard rocks have separate spawns so if you harvest one you don't have to wonder about what it will spawn back into the world.
They are going to make Transmuting and Tinkering be available to all characters and not have to choose between either but be able to do both. Very nice in my opinion and well needed.
Dominio also said that she would be working with the alternate paths recipes and such as she has time but she has to get all the new 80-90 recipes ready for Odus and that will be her main focus.
Domino seems to be the current superstar of EQ2 mostly due to the way she turned tradeskilling around, this is not to say any other member is not as well liked but she always gets the biggest applause when she is introduced.
Class Balance
Of course the term class balance always brings with it a bad stereotype as its is always a struggle to keep all classes balanced but people should remember that this will always be a ongoing work and will never truly cease.
Summoners are getting some love by looking at their pets so they will be more loved on raids.
Druids are getting some loving in the healing areas with their Heal Over Time so they are seen as not wasting their heals behind other classes.
Work on priest changes somewhat like the fighter changes.
Rogues and Spellcasters will have some upcoming changes the most of which I understand to be that Brigands may get a slight hosing or at least that is what is sounded like from the players.
Itemization
Mythical weapons are not going to be forgotten with the run up to 90 but they will make them relevant but maybe not as weapons but allowing their effects to still be used... interesting.
Also outleveling gear past level 60 will now cause items to begin to lose their effectiveness. This is interesting as they have tried it before and will be odd if they actually finish this in time for the expansion.
So that was the end of the first session, I had to leave the lore session to take care of some home related business but was able to attend the final session with Cody.
Future of the Game session started off with a bang by them showing off the new shader 3.0 effects they are working on. They looked great and will not impact current gameplay but once you see them they make the game look brand new.
They also talked more about auto-mentoring talked about yesterday as well as some of the upcoming achievement changes and how the quest journal will be changed. Also mentioned they are going to work on allowing for tracking of more than one quest at a time.
They are implementing a slider that will allow you to auto adjust how much combat xp is turned into AA points from 0 to 100, of course pvp will have limitations.
During the expansion Q & A they talked about the expansion being only 80-90 in terms of playability (still think it was a good Question Cody). The re-introduction of contested zones and mobs. The ability to decide what level of raid you want to do (upcoming raids only not retroactive).
Unluckily the session soon turned south as they always do with a vocal minority railroading the event into a why do you hate my class question session and we soon left.
After going back to the room and relaxing we decided to head down and line up for the big Dinner. First we were in single file and then they told us to crowd up. At this point the evening went south. I am a large man, both big and wide. I try to remain calm because its the right thing to do and violence solves nothing. People were cutting in front of us stepping on toes bumping us out of the way with the same excuse. I am trying to find my group or I am looking for someone. I too wanted to find someone up further but thought it was rude to cut, well at least 50 people in my area decided they were not rude and did it anyway. I did keep my calm but felt a little less impressed with my fellow gamers. A little courtesy goes a long way.
Once inside we found our group (thats right we didn't even have to cut line) and got seated. There were a few items on the table that the group divided up and then we waited for the food. Whoever planned the meal has no idea about traveling after mexican food. The meal like last year was lacking unluckily and trying to get water was like being in a desert... Which we were.
Anyways Brenlo got up on stage and started the awards to which we watched for some time but had to leave due to an early flight. With that we bid Cody and his wife farewell and retired for the night.
A great day but also a sad one as its the last one with anything going on other than travel.
I will update later on day 4 as well as list my opinion on Fan Faire as a whole.
Donnie "Talnor" Hall
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