Did anyone had an artifact items on AK? from what I understand artifact items was only allowed to have one per character and were mostly presented in an GM Event. Is that how it goes?
there was no limit to how many artifacts a single person could have. But they were usually unique (1 per server). However I remember the last GM event on AK, it was terrible. A broken script was allowed to be online for a couple of days and by the end almost everyone on the server had at least some rare loot and an artifact weapon. The other events I attended were just some random loot pinata with no real thought put into. So if you wanna talk Live EQ servers, there were actual rules about this kind of stuff. The GMs who ran events on AK however usually had no idea what was going on or what they were doing. One of the things you do not want to carbon copy from AK
I never encountered any artifacts on AK. And in my time in AK there were never any GM events that resembled the events on live where Artifacts were given out.
I think "artifact" was probably a meaningless tag that SOE decided to put on "special" items handed out at scripted GM events. Yes, only one Oakwynd was handed out per server, but I have no idea if the tag meant that there *couldn't* be two. I believe Toejam refers to the scavenger hunt of 2008, during which a GM ran a quest in which she let people pick their own rewards. She specified a few limitations - the item had to have dropped on AK and couldn't be from PoTime or an Elemental god. A few people did ask for and receive rewards that broke the rules (a couple of Time items, a manastone or two, a pre-nerf CoS). No artifacts, though. Nor did the GMs hand out artifacts at any other event on AK, so far as I know. One or two artifacts may have found their way into people's inventories through other means. On the whole, I think the game is better off without these special one-off items.
We have a few in our DB, so I am going to add server support for them in our code. Though, I'll likely do it one per player instead of per server. Whether the TAK admins choose to use these items or not is up to them. They could alternatively create new items for events and such and mark them artifact if they so wish.
Towards the end of the server's life (Summer 2013), they ran a multi-day event in Eastern Wastes where they had a ton of artifacts dropping along with some velious raid loot (Boots of the Storm, Ring of Destruction, etc). Everyone and their alts had these disciple items: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=58946, http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=58947, http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=57044
The other AK gm event i attended was in the tunnel that connects swamp of no hope and trakanon's teeth, they gave out 1 artifact item (which had negligible stats and wasn't very good, probably from Kunark Era) and amongst other things 1 NoS (I was the lucky winner )
Yeah from what I recall, depending on rumors, I thought there were only 1 per server or something to that effect. I remember one of our rangers had a bow that was just STUPID good, i remember it was so good that he was asked not to use it on raids and stuff, it was pretty game breaking.
I don't think artifacts in general were limited 1 per server. I believe the wizard staff "Scepter of Al'Kabor" was originally given out as a reward during the opening of Luclin event. But I remember reading (Graffe forums probably) that if you asked a GM, that they would let you trade in your Wizard epic for one. Or at least some people did. Was probably very GM dependent, as not all were as cool and nice as others, and after a time they got rid of the dedicated GMs per server for a less personal setup.
Just out of curiosity what are these 6 'artifact' items, are they from different eras or pre-nerf in any significant game changing way? If not, leave them in I say. Unique 1 per server items are cool, and are great rewards for beta testing dedication, GM events etc...
Oakwynd MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM ARTIFACT NO TRADE Slot: RANGE Skill: Archery Atk Delay: 20 DMG: 175 WT: 0.1 Range: 150 Size: MEDIUM Class: RNG Race: ALL Or in other words, death from above.
surprisely it wasn't that. it was something else in the line of <armor> of the ? I am not at my desktop but I'll check when I am there.
I had always thought Artifact referred to one-of-a-kind item (one per server). I never earned/won any artifact items on any server and certainly never saw any on AK. Sounds like one or two may have existed on AK, but I never encountered one.
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=14109 http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=14111 http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=14112 Those also dropped from the last GM event ever on AK
It would be cool to reward folks who participated the most during classic beta, which is what the GM event for the Kunark release is all about. DON'T MISS IT
16 years later, and oakwynd -still- the best bow ratio wise, even after all the gear inflation over the years.
Yeah, something that remained true for items like the moss covered twig and such. When your haste starts to reach massive thresholds, having that weapon still output more damage than some other weapons that surfaced much later because that sweet, sweet delay.
I think the discipline armor only dropped 2 of each. The weapons dropped very frequently though during that event. It was very bugged. There was a single Oakwynd on the server and it was OP as hell when used. Critical bow hits with Trueshot were upwards of 5,000 each I think? There was a reason it wasn't allowed to be used on raids hehe. That one probably shouldn't be allowed here. A lot of the other Artifacts like Prime Healers BP and the FT 10 wizard staff were part of Luclin launch events which never occurred on AK. Most every artifact that was handed out was part of an event that occurred during Classic - Luclin era. All before AK launched. Some (like the disciple event) occurred later on because the GMs found the scripts and decided to run them.
I know I'm going a little bit off-topic at the moment and I know I've said my opinion once or twice, and you can flame if you want because it's "just a game" or "this game is really old now" or whatever anyone's excuse is for wanting/feeling deserving of OP GM event hand-outs... but... People here spend hours and days of their lives here working on their gear whether it's a game or not. It might not be considered "real work" but it's a lot of time spent and effort for many to acquire the things on their characters and plenty of us are proud of the stuff we have, big or small, because of the effort and time we put into getting our characters uber. That false sense of accomplishment from so much time playing and dying and raiding really drives people to enjoy this game. It's everquest, you never stop improving your character. I still think that illusion clickies and titles and bags and such are the proper reward for things like that. A gnome clicky on someone's druid or shaman or a badass WR bag isn't going to make anything OP or change anything, the game will resume as it should with a bit of community fun and incentive to play. The devs have been working hard as well, not to include gear that is out of expansion, era, or to hand out overly powerful gear thus far for no reason, and i support it. It's actually one of the reasons I love it here. They're trying to make a legit server, not another "custom" one where xp is cranked up and unavailable (for a reason) items are handed out like candy. I know that I'm not the only one here that thinks it's kinda lame to say you're the top dps or top tank or best healer (or top whatever) on the server now because you were lucky at a GM event or because you were excited enough to play as soon as you could here or found your home here before it became as popular. Just as a dumb example, if they handed out a KEI scroll to a few enchanters on the server, would you not be a little scrunchy-faced about that? It would affect an entire raid's ability to drop mobs, and there's already plenty of drama about that without items that people shouldn't have yet equipped all over the place. Why anyone thinks they should be, or simply want to be, rewarded gear that's better than you can get from the hardest raids in the game as it is currently just for playing in alpha is beyond me. I played in alpha too but i'm not sure it warrants free gear that trumps solid raid drops. Besides, this event is all about the release of Kunark, why are there still requests for that? I thought that those rewards were already given for the first few dragon kills when everyone was just going LD every 5 seconds at that raid and stuff, lol, and they were adequate. I dunno, I don't really think that I take the game too seriously just because I have just always been the type that didn't like cheat codes in video games. One of the things I love about EQ is that there aren't any of those things, and players reap the rewards that they play so hard to get. Every item you see on someone that affects combat or anything in a big way should probably be something they looted from the game. I'm not suggesting that they'll hand out anything too crazy, but I think events should be in the spirit of fun and community, so the rewards should also be. TL;DR - I think that illusion clickies, titles, bags, and other similar nonsense should be the most that anyone is awarded for the couple of hours they spent at a chatoic GM event. And they're really fun items without affecting the server at all. A lot of diligent players can't even make it to them a lot of the time. Camping an AC ring for Jboots takes more time and is more difficult! Sorry if this gets ranty and flamey, it seemed a good place to post my thoughts on the subject.
I had a premerf CoS om the SK (Kazlan) I got it at an event in Arena in Lake rathe. I eventuelly lend it out to a few people. Was nice and all, but not really game changing for me.
Well, as has been stated before. There were different tiers of artifacts, it all depends on the ERA they were introduced, the time the GM event was run. Those disciple pieces for example are a late Velious era GM event reward that required a raid to complete. I think the stats are just about right for that purpose. After all they weren't supposed to be farmed, the event was probably only supposed to be run only once per server. Oakwynd on the other hand was an obvious mistake. The rest of early ERA artifacts are not OP. In many ways, handing out a pre nerf CoS at a gm event is way worse.
I'd have to agree with Khorpus here. I believe the biggest factor that brought me to EQ and kept me coming back is that attaining items/coin/exp was not easy. I have never gotten into many other games for long, and I watch my stepson spend $60 on an Xbox game, find every cheat/exploit in the game, be as impatient as a gamer can be, attain all the rewards to be had, and be done with his game within 2-3 weeks... that's insane, and not my idea of fun. As fun as it is to be given uber gear, the thrill doesn't last long. When I work hard for something, I look back on it and can be proud... not so much when it's just handed to me. Think about this for a sec: If a GM walked up to you and handed you all the best-in-slot items, about 10 million in plat, and leveled your character up to maximum for you, how long do you think you'd keep playing? You might say you'd wait for the next expansion. What if he did that each time an expansion was released. Now what if he just did that for everyone? Takes all the fun away, imho. "Instant gratification" is just that, it lasts for only an instant and then it's gone. Id' rather put in the effort and be proud of what I've accomplished, in gaming and in life.
I think the idea of people getting free and OP gear kinda came out of nowhere. Nobody's gonna cheat, and there should be no special treatment. (unless you're in Destiny then you get a custom title) Let's keep it fun for Everyone! If the GM's wanna give away a Rubicite BP or 2 every couple months so what? Just no super OP items. Let's keep it fun and keep it the game we all know and love! I know there's always an argument, but let's just keep it fun. We can do that right? It's been working so far.