Well anyway... With the recent release of Everquest: Scars of Velious there was a particular new zone added for the high end gamer only called The Sleepers Tomb. A guild on the Lanys T'Vyl server called Conquest has been attacking this particular area for some time since they all but completely destroyed everything else in their way, leaving only this... The Sleepers Tomb.
Fighting their way down to the final 5 confrontaions had been done many times by this guild which includes 4 warders, and finally Karafym (AKA: The Sleeper). Conquest had succesfully, over a period of time, dispatched 3 of the 4 warders using varying tactics and smarts as only the "Uberest" of guilds could muster and it came down to the final warder that kept Karafym in his slumber. The battle began, and they were not very lucky as the 4th warder proved to be an incredibly hard monster with AE (Area Effect) spells that none had seen, or had to deal with... so the normal tactics were going to have to be re-thought... this is where the situation went to hell for the guild formerly known as "Conquest".
During the battle with the 4th warder, which was all but lost, Karafym arose from his magic slumber and a chain of events transpired that rocked the server... reports from 3 different zones indicated a script that was broken... shouts from dragons in zones where the dragons were dead (IE: Negafhen, Lady Vox), and a model of the sleeper himself which was broken... programming not even finished. The easy way to tell programming is not finished in everquest, among other programs, is that the model will be replaced with a normal image of a human figure. The dragon then dispatched of the 4th warder himself, and anything else that stood in his path, using AE/Charm/Melee/Death Touch spells.
Please Refer To This Link showing the broken dragon still on its platform as it awoke - eqconquest.inet.net.nz/sl...eper01.jpg
Please Refer To This Link showing the broken dragon in battle destroying what members remained - eqconquest.inet.net.nz/img/news/st5.JPG
These are obvious mistakes in programming, as Verant did not bother to realize that The Sleepers Tomb would be conquered to this point so quickly... thus the programming not being finished. As the battle was all but done the head GM on the server transported them all to the "arena" as it is called, and charged the members of the guild which were present at the battle of using exploits to get as far as they did, and using tactics that were questionable as means to exploit the game to accomplish, otherwise impossible, goals.
The tactics in question were the following:
1. Conquest moved their clerics out of the "line of sight" of the warder so that they would not be affected by the AE spells which the dragon used to hit everyone in the group... this is an incredible tactic, used in real life warfare (IE Trenches/Foxholes), but in the minds of Verant and this GM it was an exploit. This does not, however, solve the issue of the clerics not getting hit. When a cleric heals enough he builds up "aggro" with the monster which the party is fighting and any high end monster has the option of "Summoning" said person (Summoning is bringing the person directly into melee range so they can dispatch them easily). So this did not solve the issue of being out of combat... only using tactics to prolong the battle... as any smart tactician would do. This brings up the second so called "Exploit" used by the guild formerly known as "Conquest" on June 4th.
2. There is a spell given to mages called "Call of the Hero". This spell summons the player to the mage thus clearing the "Aggro" on the player being summoned. Mages would use this spell to summon the clerics who were healing the warriors, thus clearing their "Aggro" with the 4th warder and freeing them up to keep their healing spells on the warriors, thus keeping them alive. Again, an incredible tactic... and in no way an exploit.
3. When a person dies, and he is ressurected by the cleric... there is an effect left on the person for a period of time called "Ressurection Effect". Conquest found, that when this effect is on... the 4th warders AE spell did not effect them. So they would "Battle-Rez" the fallen warriors, thus keeping this affect on and send them back into battle so that they would not be affected by the warders area spell and keep the battle alive for the guild... what you have to understand though is this... with that effect comes a SERIOUS penalty to all your stats that would otherwise let you hit alot more, and do more damage... so this did not have much addition to the battle... Verant considered this an exploit as others might also... but you have to consider something. This tactic has been used in the game since the FIRST battle with any dragon since the game was released. It is common knowledge to ANY and EVERY guild that fights in these battles that you throw on a few "crap" spells, and when the dragon casts it removes those spells first and leaves the spells you need so that the battle might be won. As a point of reference GM's on other servers complemented other guilds for using these as a smart tactic. So why would it stop here? Why would this guild be used as an example for poor programming and unfinished product?
When a person buys a car... does it not have seatbelts?
When a person buys a car seat for his child... is the bar that keeps the child in extra?
Then I ask this of anyone who plays the game, and reads this email. Why would you pay $60 dollars for a game, and $20 dollars for EACH expansion for a game that is not yet complete? Is that fair to the general public? I think not.
So in all of this 28 players, who have spent 2 years of their time and money totalling around $10,000 dollars (2 years of play time, 10 dollars a month, 28 people) have been suspended, and 2 of those players have been BANNED for life from that server over the SIMPLE fact that Verant Interactive, and Sony Entertainment released a product and code that were INCOMPLETE and SLOPPY from the very beginning. The FACT is that The Sleepers Tomb, The model of Karafym, The Script that runs when he is woke... and various other geographical and spell issues that have been in the game since its release have been broken... and instead of using the manpower they have to fix and complete the existing game, they use this manpower and time and OUR money to release a new expansion that we will have to pay MORE money on that will just add to the problems that already exist.
Can this be explained? There are kids/adults on this server who spent time and money to play a game only to have it ripped out from under them by using tactics and strategy that have been used on EVERY server since the beginning of this game. Verant Interactive and Sony say they are exploiting the game, when in fact they are just adapting to a world that is incomplete, and using those programming mistakes and snafu's to their best ability... They were using the broken surroundings that Verant/Sony supplied to them to their advantage, and they are the ones who pay for it... NOT Verant, and NOT Sony...
I play on the Lany'Tyvl server, and found this. . .well. . . heartbreaking ? I guess you could say.
