Harclave Adjustments

So what exactly changed to the Trials of Harclave? In short if you haven't earned the trust of the Splitpaw Gnolls there is a 72 hour entrance timer. On the other hand if you have the trust then you can only enter once per level and there is a 72 hour reuse timer. Needless to say this is a significant adjustment from the four or six hours that we're used to. The question that must be asked is why?

From my gathering of various EverQuest II message boards, I saw a good number of people glad these changes were put in. One poster was glad this change was put in place so "you don't get level 50s who have never seen the light of day." I will allow for this as it is true. The leveling rates in the Trials of Harclave was so accelerated that a good number of "grinders" would just stay in there.

The accelerated experience point gain is not the only problem either that I mentioned but money accumulation. The chest drops in Harclave are quite generous to say the least. To be more specific, there was a significant amount of adept 1 scrolls dropping. This obviously has two dramatic effects: it takes a lot of business away from Sages and provides players with tons of money.

Maybe it's for these reasons that the adjustment was made and if it was it's a good argument. Personally I don't like it at all. I'm a soloer, all of you know that. The Trials of Harclave was a great opportunity for the soloer and casual player to catch up with those who group. Now this option is not being taken away but the viability is decreased dramatically.

I will say though that perhaps this is a "necessary sacrifice" of sorts. Maybe Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) realizes that their game needs to be catered to groupers predominantly and they want it gone. Perhaps this is so. All you have to do is look at the last expansion, the Desert of Flames, to see all the group-geared content. If this is the case then I shake my head.

The Trials of Harclave provided something so much more then accelerated experience point and loot gain. It provided to the soloer and casual player the excitement and exhilaration that was ordinarily provided to groupers exclusively. While this hasn't been removed completely it is severely resticted. Now soloers must wait three days in order to experience this "group-like" content and that is something I am not pleased with.

To SOE I ask this: are the reasons why Harclave was further restricted upon because of the experience point gain and loot? If this was the case then why not simply decrease both items respectively? Or was this done for another reason? I know myself and many others who are soloers and casual players appreciated it greatly.

All of that said I can adapt if this isn't the case. The Trials of Harclave is not a make or break item for me but I would've preferred if SOE went another route. This is not the case and we must live with it.

More Arenas?

Long before SOE acknowledged that any form of player versus player (PvP) wold make it into EverQuest II I long thought the closed arenas in Freeport and Qeynos would open up once that system got here. That wasn't the case with the Desert of Flames but it is with the Live Update #16: the doors are opened.

Maybe it's just the server I'm on, Befallen, but normally there isn't a lot of activity in the Maj'Dul Arena. It is my hope that this change to open up the other arenas will spark more participation. As I have stated in previous editorials the Arena PvP system that is set up is brilliant and it's a shame it is seldom used.

On this line of thought before I end this editorial I would like to ask why are the Arenas seldom used? I often thought that it may be the general attitude of the average EverQuest II player. Let's face it: if you play EverQuest II it is not for player versus player excitement. Quite simply it is for the dominant PvE content. Though is that the only reason?

The other possible reason I will allow is that there is no "epic, large scale PvP" like in World of Warcraft? Epic battlegrounds and city raids are tremendous lures to PvP in that game. If this is a possible reason then it begs the question: will we see open PvP in EverQuest II as has been rumoured? I wouldn't be surprised.

That's for the future and we probaly won't hear anything about it until middle 2006 at the earliest. For now let's try and get some use out of the arenas, whether it's in Freeport, Qeynos or Maj'Dul. They really are a lot of fun; take my word for it.

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Posted by Rognoz at 2005-12-05 08:15:24

Great read