Question regarding changes in the past 3 months

[imported_Twelvebagger]

Ok, so I had a small inkling to log in after someone PM'd me about a build question.
So, I'll ask here, and while I appreciate any answer I get, I'd really like some of the insane hunters to chime in here (PJ? You still around?)

1) What has changed in terms of loot and how are the drop tables in terms of both rate and mob distribution?
2) What new mobs have been added since the outpost mobs.
3) Tell me about the new mobs in terms of tactics. Are there new farmable mobs? Are there new non-farmable mobs that take an army (more than 1 person aside from PJ)
4) How is the population on Chaos?
5) How is the aggro?
6) Is the economy any more fruitful and productive than it was since I left? Is it worse/better/the same?

Please answer with the utmost honesty, and in closing this is geared towards the higher leveled mobs since that's where I'd be headed.

I hope that someday, I find enough appealing content to motivate myself to log back into horizons. I miss my guild, but I don't want to do what I did last time. Log in, stare at my buttons, go kill a few things, maybe die a couple times, and then get bored after 30 minutes and call it a day.

Thank you all,
-12-

[Valornyx]

Yo Twelve / Twelve's

I have not been adventuring so much, so I'll leave some of your questions for others, but to address a couple of your points..

Population of chaos I'd say is a little larger - but not noticably. We see quite a few new names popping up all the time in the New Player Assistance channel.

There are two new boss mobs - Valkor and Reklar .. Valkor hangs around with marrows. Reklar requires a new dragon spell Primal Boon to hit him .. Both these mobs need a certain amount of teamwork to effectively take out and drop sections of new attuned weapons (including claws and dragon scales it seems).

There are a wealth of new crystals and cogs dropping off the loot tables now - but I'm not familiar enough with them to judge really how effective they are.

Me personally - getting my claws dirty digging a lair.

[Theolaerynn]

Heya, 12!! Good to see ya old friend [:D]

The two posts above cover things pretty well, not a lot has changed since you left. The stuff the two boss mobs drop is quite nice, with one of the claws basically being an AE Drainstrike. Fairly rare to see anyone with a completed item so far, given the complexity involved in getting all 5 or 6 pieces.

The new Marrows are a bit stronger than the old Marrows, but I think you have seen them. You never participated in ARoP hunts, if I recall, so those critters would be new in the sense that you haven't seen them, although they were in the game when you left. That is where Marrow Guards first appeared, I believe. Could be wrong on that.

Aggro is the same pain in the ******, non-game-play enhancing PoS that it was before. No way to controll it really, and killing the lowbies and healers first is the order of the day. Will be even more 'fun' with the proposed Confectioner changes (Death Points will last 24 hours).

Economy in Horizons will always be a misnomer, and folks are having a hard time accepting that. AE is trying to stimulate it, but we all know how that turns out. Doesn't help the economy and just ends up driving off a few more players. Fact of the matter is, the only things that will force an economy in Horizons will remove what little fun remains.

Population on Chaos is somewhat larger, we seem to have stabilized on bleeding old players, and we have been getting a few new ones. With Lairs out, we have seen a small return of Dragons too.

Speaking of Lairs, they are *awesome*. I mean, I really hate to risk over selling them, but it would be worth $13 for a month just to check them out, although building them will take forever. You know how much I *hate* to craft, but that is just about all I have been doing. My desire for a finished Lair is stronger than my hatred of crafting [:D]

Lairshaping is a major PITA too, with intermediate resources and all the flying from resource to resource, and there being shortages of some resources. But ooooh, is it worth it! I spent 4 RL days just planning my plot, all told! You can walk through your plan before you push the 'Build' button, so you can see exactly how it will look. *Very* nice feature, it has helped me avoid some very painful mistakes. Even so, I would spend a number of hours planning, then work on it for a day or two, decide I wanted something different, delete everything, and start all over. I started out with function over form, and ended up doing the exact opposite by the time it was all over *laugh!*

So all in all, the Adventure side of things hasn't really progressed much since you left, but Crafting has had a bit of a boost. Lairs, the Cenotaph event (provides Master level resource forms), that kind of thing. The new cystals are pretty cool, though, I have to say. A person could get themselves a bit of a collection of them, and swap them out as needed for any particular fight. Some of them sell very well too, at least for the time being. Craftsman Cogs (crystals with sizeable bonuses to certain schools, like a Weavers Cog) seem to be in demand for now.

Come check out Lairs, man, and test the waters while you are at it. I think by and large you will find it more of the same, but with an amusing twist here and there. Probably not enough to keep your attention long though.

[PJ]

Ok, so I had a small inkling to log in after someone PM'd me about a build question.
So, I'll ask here, and while I appreciate any answer I get, I'd really like some of the insane hunters to chime in here (PJ? You still around?)

1) What has changed in terms of loot and how are the drop tables in terms of both rate and mob distribution?
2) What new mobs have been added since the outpost mobs.
3) Tell me about the new mobs in terms of tactics. Are there new farmable mobs? Are there new non-farmable mobs that take an army (more than 1 person aside from PJ)
4) How is the population on Chaos?
5) How is the aggro?
6) Is the economy any more fruitful and productive than it was since I left? Is it worse/better/the same?

Still kicking around....kicking mobs around.

1.) New crystals: http://community.istaria.com/default.aspx?pg=crystalsIs the general design of what is in of crystals. Formulas for enhanced skill crystals, and gears are not in, and there's still a few bugs with em. Phase I is the more common generic crystals. Drop from WA mobs. WA mobs no longer drop regular forms, and drop blighted gear more often. No real change in comp drop rates.

2/3) Marrows: Beefed up versions of the mobs you remember. 8k health, ethereal blade, evisceration of life, multi, crit, cleave, blighted atrophy the works. Drop nice coin, blighted gear, crystals.

Night Stalker/Dark Stalker: Dangerous mobs that aid Valkor, not much loot on them.

Valkor: dropspartsand formulas for 4 different weapons (1 of which is very nice). Aided by numerous marrows, and night/dark stalkers during the fight. Makes an enjoyable fight wheresound tactics are a must. A small group of 4that knows what they're doing is actually easier then a group of 10that doesn't. But isunsoloable, by me or anybody else.(I could ramble about Valkor forever (my favorite mob) so I should stop and get on with it)

General Reklar: Drops parts/formulas for5different items. No minions.Frequently 1 shots players with gold rage. Can only be reliably hit/damaged when you've got a short term aoe buff cast by a dragon. Can be done with a few people (but they'll get major death pointage), best with a larger group of dragons/high melee damagers and healers.

4.) At the higher levels, generally im seeing alot more dragons, and a bit fewer bipeds. Lot of HL biped crafters around, but I don't see many people when i'm out hunting.

5.)Not sure about the specifics of group aggro. They fixed the social code that had been broken for awhile. Mob group leader code (wraiths etc) was still flukey last i checked though.

6.) There was a brief swell in the tech comp market with all the dragons teching scales for Lairshaping/Crystalshaping which PJ Inc rode to record 4th quarter profits. But it seems to be dying down again. Still some demand for lair/crystal shaping techs, and the few lair/crystal shaping forms they didn't place on the trainers for low prices. Other then that, same old.

[imported_Twelvebagger]

Mydnite: Good to hear from you bud! Say hello to the wife for me! Hopefully you two are both enjoying yourselves. You haven't seen the last of me!

Thanks PJ and others for the information, this is what I needed to help me decide not "if" to come back, but "when".

Hopefully it continues to improve, but so far I don't see anything calling my name.

(That Valkor sword sure looked sweet though)

:)

EDIT: Blarg! I take that back, I'll log in now, but just to say hi.