What level ranges (under 20) need more content.

[Loudent2]

Obviously 18+Epic needs lots of stuff, but this thread is about fleshing out the 1-20 game.

Here's the current break down of zones and levels:

Levels	# zones	Zone names
1-3	3	Waterfall Cave - 1,Abandoned mines - 1, Forest of Arugavar
3-5	3	Waterfall Cave -2, Abandoned mines - 2, Underforest - 1
5-7	8	Waterfall Cave -3 ,Abandoned mines -3, Underforest -2, Lower outpost, Plains of Grinding, Chode Burrow - 1, Unrest exterior, Unrest floor 1
7-9	3	Chode Burrow 2, middle outpost, outpost well
9-11	3	Chode Burrow 3, Spider caves, upper outpost, Unrest Basement
11-13	3	Eastern Barrenlands, spider caves, Mirj
13-15	4	Eastern Barrenlands, Mirj, Unrest Floor 2, Wrath Mountains
15-17	3	Eastern Barrenlands, Orc Tower 1(2,3?), Gianthome
17-19	3	Western Barrenlands, Orc Tower 2 (3?), Hall of Fire
19-21	2	Western Barrenlands, Wailing caverns

Outdoor adventure zones:

Outdoor zone	level range	difficulty
Lower Outpost	4-7	Dangerous: Archers fire from fortified positions and quick respawn on melee wanders.
Plains of Grinding	5-8	Moderate: Relatively weak creatures but danger of swarming and quick respawn near holes
Unrest Exterior	5-8	Low: Small area swarming with skeltons. Low damage PCs will have trouble due to undead/skel dr
Middle Outpost	7-9	Moderate: Likely to take arrows on zone in, but positions not fortified. Arrow protection renders this zone easy
Upper Outpost	9-11	Moderate: Mobs are centered inside a fort. Difficult to pull singles in this area
Wrath Mountains	14-16	Dangerous: The giants hit hard and often. Combined with good HP and decent AC it's best to kill them from afar
Barrenlands - East	11-17	Mixed: This is a large zone with a mixture of flora and fauna. Northern half is relatively safe, beware the orcs in the south
Barrenlands - West	17-20	Mixed: This is a large zone with a mixture of flora and fauna. Dervs to the southwest is the biggest danger

So, do you think we're fine for now or do we need some lower level adventure zones?

[mammothtruk]

dont forget the hall of challenges for those quickstarters.

I think the 9-17 could use another place per level range.

[slit518]

I would say levels 15-21. Just give them a few more alternative zones. Particularly the more content for each level the better, but those are the ones I feel need more content. Yeah

[dordon]

I think (remembering way back) that a new player on the server could get to level 10/11 without doing any grinding, i.e. running the same area/dungeon more than once just for exp.

From a repeat offender point of view, the worst levels are 12 and 13 right now. You're a little too weak to go to the eastern barrens (unless you can get there and stay in the spider corner), but you've outgrown spiders. Depending on your class, you can do well in Mirj. But my rogue ended up doing level 12 at the upper outpost I believe.

So come to think of it, there's at least one area that will give max exp for each character level up to 19 I think.

[Loudent2]

Oct 15, 2008 8:28:48 GMT -5 dordon said:

I think (remembering way back) that a new player on the server could get to level 10/11 without doing any grinding, i.e. running the same area/dungeon more than once just for exp.

Heh, but it was always a trade off. If you ran the quest lines you could indeed just progress into the early teens. However the lower levels are always quicker and a lot of people end up holding off on those quests until the harder levels for the XP/Gold they bring.

From a repeat offender point of view, the worst levels are 12 and 13 right now. You're a little too weak to go to the eastern barrens (unless you can get there and stay in the spider corner), but you've outgrown spiders. Depending on your class, you can do well in Mirj. But my rogue ended up doing level 12 at the upper outpost I believe.

You have a point, although I think the worst levels are character dependant but you're right that we need a bridge between spiders and golems. I think eastern barrens is actually not that bad. You can usually do jackals and spiders, but again...it depends on the character.

Although you're right, the zone in into the orc area makes it tough to get there without invis. I'll shift the zone location to the eastern tower.

So come to think of it, there's at least one area that will give max exp for each character level up to 19 I think.

You can, if your character is up to it, get max XP all the way through 22 I believe.

[dordon]

You're right. The only reason I singled out the upper outpost is that it's a fairly un-interesting grind compared to the rest of the areas where there's at least a goal (i.e. boss) at the end and/or quests to do.

My last two characters have stayed in the eastern barrens from 12-18. The higher number of spawns make it faster to level there than the giants in my opinion, although it is harder. The first level of the orc tower is especially good at level 16.

[nicethugbert]

The orcs are getting too much play. And, it's strange that such a creature keeps scaling up like that. It's like Invasion of the Ape Gods: Ape kind's last ditch effort to topple the usurping Much Less Hairy Ones. Apes Lead The Charge for Hairy Kind.

How about another perspective. Make encounters for the sucky classes. I still think some scaling is a good thing. It helps smooth transitions from one area to the next and give old areas new use.

New areas/encounters + extend encounter reuse + attention to the sucky classes maximizes replay.

Warlock may be disappointing as a PC, until we get eldritch glaive, etc. But, for an NPC it can be a real challenge. There is little a sword and board can do to protect himslef against EB. It is steady damage. But, dex builds have a direct counter with their high touch ACs. I guess casters eventually get a defense via SR spells and such.

[Loudent2]

The orcs are getting too much play. And, it's strange that such a creature keeps scaling up like that.

Perhaps they have. However we're pushing into theirterritory so it stands to reason.

At any rate as we move away the from the area and expand the world out we'll probably see less orcs and more other creatures.

[Beldar]

I think the unrest exterior and unrest first floor should be made more difficult. By the time most characters can get there, the xp is terrible. I would venture to say that an untwinked fifth level character is not going to visit unrest exterior unless he is very determined. Very few fifth level builds can handle chodes without twinking - maybe if there is a large pack of fifth levels. No one ever farms the Unrest 1st level boss, because by the time you can kill him he doesn't drop anything. I played on the server for around five months before I discovered that he could drop stuff.

I agree with Dordon that 12 - 14 (expanding his range a bit) is kind of a dead spot. Low damage builds struggle with Mirj because of the DR. I have been known to grind characters to the next range by beating on spiders for half xp. Getting to East Barrens can be a real problem because the first monsters encountered on entry are some nasty orc archers and priests that will destroy most level 12s. I often end up buying multiple invisibility potions and using them to get to the safer grinding areas (spiders or dogs - who happen to be the farthest from the entrance). Perhaps a good spot to add a dungeon for these levels would be below the middle outpost well.

Unrest basement is interesting, but the only characters I ever take there are wizards. They kill the monsters with Isaac's Lesser. Melee characters die on the fire shields. Maybe this is fine, but that zone seems sadly under utilized.

[mammothtruk]

unrest should be level 12 ranged to fill the gap

[Beldar]

Chodes seem a little wimpy - a fast start character gets half xp for them right out of the chute.

Most chars are unable to get to PoG until they reach level 7 or 8. All areas beyond lower outpost should be built with this caveat in mind.

[slit518]

I change my mind, ALL of them

[Loudent2]

Oct 18, 2008 12:58:07 GMT -5 Beldar said:

Chodes seem a little wimpy - a fast start character gets half xp for them right out of the chute.

Most chars are unable to get to PoG until they reach level 7 or 8. All areas beyond lower outpost should be built with this caveat in mind.

There's now a back door to PoG from the Forest of Arugavar (or there will be next update. Now a level 1 or 2 character has a good shot of getting there.

[Loudent2]

bump. don't forget to voice where you think we need more server development for pre-epic areas.

[nicethugbert]

The question as phrased is hard for me to answer. I think rogues and mages are at a disadvantage at early levels. Or, maybe I'd just like to see something wild.

Note, dex builds are less disadvantaged, if at all, in combat now with Champion of the Wild, and, soon, Swashbuckler. But, it's not just about feinting and sneak attacking, but, about playing a different game with each class.