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Lost Dungeons of Norrath Introduction
The Lost Dungeons of Norrath (LDoN)
expansion introduced a new technology to EverQuest: Instancing. What this means
in-game, is its entirely possible for a group of adventurers to have a zone all
to themselves.
The entire LDoN expansion is
based around this technology, introducing 5 themes for instanced zones and in
addition to this: the ability to augment items (add additional statistics and
effects to existing items).
Instanced Zones
As the new zones are all designed
to be instanced (an instance generated for a single group) there had to be some
way of entering these zones and designating who can enter your instance. The
method chosen uses adventure camps, which are placed in South Ro, North Ro,
Everfrost Peaks, Butcher Block and East Commons.
Each adventure camp has an NPC
with the job title: Adventure Recruiter. This NPC generates a zone based on the
theme of that camp. For example: adventures from Everfrost Peaks involve icy
caverns and suitably appropriate creatures to fight. The creatures level is
calculated from the average of the group, so if the average level is 50, the
creatures will be around 45, depending on the difficulty chosen when at the
Adventure Recruiter. Normal difficulty is not too hard for the well equipped and
nicely balanced group, whereas Hard requires a high standard of equipment and
skill level from each involved.
The Adventure Recruiter flags
each member of the group present when an 'adventure' is accepted so that they
can then re-enter that zone if the group disbands or they are disconnected. The
zone generated will remain available for play, when it is entered, for a maximum
of 90 minutes. With a further 30 minutes allowed for both exiting and entering
the zone. The 30 minutes needed for entering is because the entrance to the
instanced zone will be a fair run away, often in another zone to the Adventure
Recruiter.
Augments
Augmentations are a new kind of
item, that with the use of what looks like a bird bath in game, allow a
character to 'combine' a current item, with an augment. It is similar to the
enchanting skill found in many other RPGs. An augment can later be removed
through the use of said bird bath, placing the item that has an augment
attached, and the correct kind of solvent (like a potion, that can be brought
from a Gnome in Butcher Block) together, and again hitting the combine button.
Augments may have restrictions
placed on their use, some can only be used on weapons, certain armour slots and
on items that have a matching slot available. For example, an augment that adds
a 'proc' to an item, causing 50 damage will only fit onto weapons, that list the
same slot, as the augment lists on its description. For many items they will
only allow a single augment though there are quite a few that accept multiple
augments.
The only other restriction on an
augments use is the No Drop flag it adds to any item that it is applied to. This
flag is only active while the augment is applied, when removed the item
continues to be tradable as it was before the augments application. |
