Opening day of Kithicor's undead spawn, October 31st, the place was
packed. I arrived sometime around 10 or 11 pm, and left at 3 or 4 am. At
the time no one knew this was a permanent change. Had I known I certainly
wouldn't have stayed late that sunday night.
Recently I escorted some friends into Rivervale so they could hunt in Misty Thicket, and taking a peek at Kithicor of today I noticed no one was there. Where has everyone gone? Since that day I've been hunting there solo and getting optimum experience (meaning I am leveling at the fastest speed possible).
I have been there about 3 or 4 nights now, and the zone will average 7 hunters, and maxes out on a single EQ night around 50. It seems strange to me a place which has such good experience to be had is empty, averaging a meer 5-7 hunters an EQ night.
I ask myself, why is this?
There are several answers I think, of course as always presuming all servers are having the same result as mine.
Low Loot
For most people the single biggest driving factor for camping an area is
Loot, followed shortly by experience. In Kithicor all the nice loot is No
Drop. As there is little to no competition it's fairly easy to get what
you want if you know what to kill. But the standard loot is fairly weak.
Soloing in Sol B I can gain about a hundred plat in a 4 hour session. Here
in Kithicor I'm lucky to get 1/4 that. Not because the loot is bad, it's
quite average for my level, however since I only kill 2-3 things per EQ
cycle instead of about 20, I have 1/10 th the amount.
Random Spawns
Kithicor has no camp sites. This I think is the highest contributing factor
to it's current 'failure' as a zone.
As an event, the random spawn made the zone very popular and fun. As I near 50 th I am beginning to understand the motivation to do something because it's fun, as opposed to for loot or quick experience gain.
However, I compare Kithicor to Lake Rathe. Both have low level day creatures, and at night it becomes very dangerous. However, in Lake Rathe, a very popular, from what I hear overly popular area, the spawns are fixed. They spawn here, there, there, and over there. You can count on the spawn place and time. In Kithicor the spawns are random, and they boor easily and move on. Often you will find a low right next to a high, or passing each others path.
Those undead, they live for 7 hours, and have no patients, sheesh.
I think it's this unknown spawn place, and fear of being attacked while fighting, is what keeps people away more than anything else.
When your in the wilderness, this is expected. However, at this level if you get a 2nd thing, especially ones which cast, you often get fried quickly.
Sparse Spawns, No Camp to Camp
I think another reason why Kithicor fails for most is that you can't really
get a full group there. It's next to impossible to get enough kills in a
night to satisfy the hunger of a small group let alone a big one. Maybe
if you could somehow pull the whole zone one or two at a time you may get
enough. But I've been there soloing long enough now to see that on an average
night, I will get the 2-3 I need, and if I'm lucky I'll see 2-3 more wander
by while I med. Unless you have tracking or sense undead it would be impossible
to find anything to hunt, let alone find it without finding 2-3 friends
close by.
Summary / Solution / Truth
I think Kithicor (dead time) is a great zone, but could be greater.
I think it's fails is in that lows and highs can cross each others path at any given time or place. The spawn points are unknown and random.
This is a great wilderness zone, however, seeing as it takes 40+ to hunt there anywhere close to safely, it fails. By the time your 40+ your itching to complete your outfit, get the items you want or need.
I see groups of 30 - 40 trying to form there each night, and am saddened when I know they don't succeed. Even those that do make a group have a hard time surviving due to the random placement and levels of the spawns.
Change the zone to fixed spawn points, maybe an occasional wanderer. Make it like Lake Rathe, and I'm sure the zones population will skyrocket.