Last weekend I had the opportunity to experience the post-break camping
of a plane. Though only once for each now, I have experienced both sides
of 'doing a plane'.Last weekend I had the opportunity to experience the post-break camping
of a plane. Though only once for each now, I have experienced both sides
of 'doing a plane'.
Let me sum up how it goes.
Breaking
The breaking of a plane will vary depending on the number of wanderers at the time, and your luck in not getting too many at once. The cooperation of the breaking group is also important. If everyone can concentrate fire, it will go a lot more smoothly than if they do not.
Breaking consists of everyone charging in and attempting to all hit one monster at a time. These monsters are typically 10 - 15 thousand hit points. They will deal on the order of 125 - 500 hp damage a round. (Oh yes, just wait till you've been 'backstabed by a Scareling for 400' a few times.)
This breaking results in several deaths. These deaths will most likely not be resurrected, as the time to cast resurrection is about 2-3 times as many rounds as you'd survive against an attack 1-1. Not counting the time for that person to recover.
I've heard of zone breaks going smoothly, however the one I was on was not. People averaged 6+ deaths each and approximately 1 full level loss.
While I'm 50 th and nearing the full bar of experience, I personally don't see this as a big deal now, but I have yet to experience it. (The one break I was on I wasn't actually planning to be there that long, and thus only died twice and 'waited outside' till I could get my stuff. I was 48 th.).
Open Plane
Once a plane is open people can lay back and celebrate. This is where the real camping begins.
Plane creatures take a tremendous amount of time to respawn. I've heard Fear is approximately 12 - 16 hours respawn, and Fear faster, I'd guess about 4 - 6 hours.
Thus what wound up happening when I entered Fear after the break was it was 40 - 60 players all slamming single monsters as they spawned and were pulled to the camp.
Loot
I've heard various rules about looting in the Planes. Since all of it is no drop, class specific, people are very picky about loot.
When I entered Fear I was told within a few minutes "You have been added to the list". It seems that as all heavy camp, rare item drop places, the plane was a list place.
Now, you would say, well that's not so bad. But most don't consider that there is an incredibly long wait for respawn, and of that respawn things do not always drop for your class.
I didn't get a full list of the rules surrounding this list, but of the few friends I asked, the common belief was that you 'lost your place' if you logged not to return. LD's, ISP refreshes, going afk for long periods of time, did not count.
In fact on the day I was there, the 10 hours I spent in the plane, I know of 3, maybe 4 total pieces dropped. I had heard that Warrior gear had not dropped since the initial break that happed 6 days before.
Summary / Solution / Truth
Plane breaks can be incredibly stressful, as they are a highly difficult task. Anything would be when it can 3 shot you with full gear, let alone how badly it will ream you without (as you are without gear most of a zone break).
Once a Plane is broken it seems a monotonous challenge of 'I was here first' and 'how long can you go without sleep'.
It seems truly ridiculous to me. Here I was at 46 th, somewhere around 50+ days played, now at 50 th and around 65+ days played to be expected to camp for hours and hours and hours waiting for item x.
When I left last Sunday night, after 10 straight ours of camping, only 4 special things had dropped. This means that less than 1 in 15 people who were camped in the plane got anything.
I had heard that Warriors had been waiting 6 days, and on the rounds of warrior creatures that came, still nothing dropped for them.
The Cleric who was 'first' on the list had been there 36 hours straight. The Ranger I knew, got her final plane piece later that evening after I left, and is the first on our server to complete her outfit. A Bard spent 36 hours on a weekend, being the only, or one of two Bards in the plane, but got a complete set of his gear.
So let me get this straight Verant... I've played through my life. Average playtime we will say 50 days, translation of 1,200 hours played. You now want me to play another 200 hours, roughly 1/5 of the life so far, to gain the Plane armor?
I don't know how Sky is, but I sure hope it's a hell of a lot easier to get your gear than Fear and Hate.
What is really happening is the most powerful, most beneficial characters, are being removed from the majority, to camp item x. This is not right. It's all to much more clear that as a Cleric I can rot away camping item x, or go and instead rez, cure, heal, buff hundreds instead.
Camping Fear for 10 hours, I gained nothing of value. I rezed one person.
Last night I spent 3 hours online, I was traveling half of that time. I
rezed 2, and buffed / healed about 3 dozen.
Hum... a "group oriented game" focusing on life not camping?
So far the planes certainly don't reinforce this "ideal" Verant
puts forth to us. Change it Verant.
As incentive to keep people playing, it's seriously lacking.