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Revisit Epic Weapon concept
dajhla
Member, Founder
Back in Jan 2018 another person had asked if AoC would have an epic weapon quest chain similar to what EQ had implemented. Steven had responded by saying "There will be epic rewards, for epic effort yes". IDK if this was a generic answer or was this confirmation of an epic weapon quest.
Having played EQ, that was a concept that I loved about that game and wished other MMO's (like SW:Galaxies - ie light-saber construction / crystal meditation) would have implemented in their games. With the way AoC is pushing for more in game community interaction I can see this concept working well withing AoC.
For example Player A decides to master processing but requires a master crafter (Player
to make a staff. Player A can farm the required materials (including getting the required recipe) and then Player B can make the staff. However, the materials (ie frost wood) for said staff may only spawn within a specific Node type, during a specific time of season and the Node must be linked to a Metropolis. The power crystal / augment for said staff could be a very rare drop from a Legendary world boss and say the recharge material follows the same guidelines as obtaining the frost wood. As a side note / idea - said material can also be stolen during a siege.
Setting the epic weapons apart from legendary weapons (or shields) is augmentation. The idea I have goes along with the 64 different class possibilities. Completion of the epic weapon gives the player 2 additional augmentation slots. One being linked to their main archtype, ie giving a tank an additional 5% damage reduction when using X skill from their main archtype. The second augmentation is linked to their sub archtype and again gives an additional bonus to a sub archtype skill. Ie a Spellsword's Rush ability with a fire element augmentation which adds a DoT would also add a 2 second stun with the 2nd augmentation from the epic weapon.
The second archtype augment would have to be changed if a player changes their sub archtype.
Having played EQ, that was a concept that I loved about that game and wished other MMO's (like SW:Galaxies - ie light-saber construction / crystal meditation) would have implemented in their games. With the way AoC is pushing for more in game community interaction I can see this concept working well withing AoC.
For example Player A decides to master processing but requires a master crafter (Player
to make a staff. Player A can farm the required materials (including getting the required recipe) and then Player B can make the staff. However, the materials (ie frost wood) for said staff may only spawn within a specific Node type, during a specific time of season and the Node must be linked to a Metropolis. The power crystal / augment for said staff could be a very rare drop from a Legendary world boss and say the recharge material follows the same guidelines as obtaining the frost wood. As a side note / idea - said material can also be stolen during a siege.Setting the epic weapons apart from legendary weapons (or shields) is augmentation. The idea I have goes along with the 64 different class possibilities. Completion of the epic weapon gives the player 2 additional augmentation slots. One being linked to their main archtype, ie giving a tank an additional 5% damage reduction when using X skill from their main archtype. The second augmentation is linked to their sub archtype and again gives an additional bonus to a sub archtype skill. Ie a Spellsword's Rush ability with a fire element augmentation which adds a DoT would also add a 2 second stun with the 2nd augmentation from the epic weapon.
The second archtype augment would have to be changed if a player changes their sub archtype.
3
Comments
it's a different age now, games are different, back then you had people help because it was the nice thing to do. epic quests are something i'd like to see, would need to balance the effort needed vs how necessary the item is for end-game content.. with PvP being a big focus in AoC, if these epic weapon quests are fare and above what other weapons can offer then they become mandatory and a barrier to entry for newer players.
Epic quests are something I would like to see as well. To me, adding epic quests (especially class weapons) adds to the game and gives players ( like you said ) a feeling of accomplishment. As for how necessary the item is for end-game content ... my opinion is that it would not be necessary as it would force players to do something that may frustrate them to the point of not playing (ie, monk epic weapon rare spawn with an even rarer drop rate for one item).
As for the balance of the item(s), I think of it as a League of Legends Orin up-gradable item. The stats are slightly better than the original item ... enough to make a small difference, but not enough to make the item over powered. In my opinion they should be best in slot, but only a slight addition to stats and an augmentation slot.
Oh, and the addition (if not already implemented) is a feign death skill. That was so much fun in open world Boss fights / PvP.
The way the game is set up it's perfect for it..
Imagine traveling the world in order to get your life weapon.
Ok, I need to hush now...
I was thinking more of hitting max level and then the day after you hit max level you get an in-game letter / notice to go see "x" npc to start the quest chain. However, thinking of how the Node system works I can see a quest chain that works with the Node leveling up to continue the quest chain.
Thinking along the lines of the 2nd part, for those players that want to complete their class epic weapons this would kind of force their hands to gather materials to help the Node(s) level up.
For example, as a ranger/summoner I could end up with an epic bow, with ranger specific stats, and a ring that maybe improves a lesser ability for summoners. I think it would be unfair for the ring to have as much power as a summoner's weapon epic. Maybe the ring could give the ranger/summoner access to a spell that only first choice summoners would normally have, but of a lesser ability,such as the ranger/summoner can now summon an earlier summoner pet.
The quests would have to be varied and able to be completed in different ways due to the nature of the node system. You couldn't have a quest that instructed the player to be in a certain place if that place does not exist on every server.
You could, however, have an NPC that moves to different locations depending on what nodes are developed on a server. For example, Hegarty the Mushroom Witch is located in a wood on the northern shore on one server, but has a hut more inland on another server because a metropolis intruded on the wood.
Having to find the home of that NPC would make the quest truly epic, and could even make following a guide more effort.
Some of my most memorable moments from EQ were doing multi staged quests. I did the Paw of Opalla and then the druid and ranger epics.
I'd rather not have to spend 3 hours underwater camping a goblin, as I did in Lake Rathe, however.
Actually you could if the variable for the spawn location is set for a specific location at a specific time of season (say under a frozen waterfall or on a frozen lake - which could change locations based on the progression of the Node).
If AoC does do something like what is being discussed in this thread, IMO I think it should be limited to just one archtype epic quest item. In most MMO's there are 2 ring slots so the question comes into play of, why only 1 ring when we can wear 2 or why not have an epic quest for each slot. Having just 1 in EQ worked just fine and it was one heck of a status symbol early on.
As for the quest chain variable, the way the Node system is set up (just my thought here) if a part of the quest chain requires an specific NPC then there is a possibility of 4 spawn locations for that NPC within the world / server based on the following variables:
1. NPC can only spawn in a Node that is linked to a Metropolis or under a frozen waterfall (which could be
very different from server to server (or the NPC roams throughout the world, yet limited to an set distance
around a Metropolis for example)
2. Rare quest item drops off "x" Legendary world boss (I think I heard those are on a timed rotation)
3. Item only spawns during a certain season (which could spawn in multiple locations during that season)
These type of variables would keep the servers different, give players on the different servers a different experience within the game. Also, if the epic weapon had an additional augmentation slot there is less of a chance that 2 players (same main archtype / sub archtype) will have the same epic weapon. Say player 1 augments to add a paralyzing ability to Backstab, where player 2 augments poison and a player 3 augments a different ability altogether.
Something like this pretty much cuts out the "cookie cutter" builds most MMO's have for their classes and having an epic quest line just adds another dimension to the game that doesn't have to be completed at all.
U.S. East
Actually, I think Steven has said he wants quests to be epic endeavors, or words similar to that. I don't know that I can tie down a specific quote, but from listening to Steven I also thought he sounded a fan of the big quests.
I think he might have said something in one of the recent interviews. Maybe with Asmongold.
Maybe I'm just wishful. 😁
He did say that not every quest is going to have a story associated with it. There will be different ones and the game will not be trying to make up a reason for why someone wants you to kill 10 wolves. So when a quest does have a story it is probably going to matter.
U.S. East