As i see it, evac was born in an era when getting to a camp was realively easy. Now more and more just getting to it becomes a challanging thing. If the group is in trouble we druids (and wizzies too) have to think twice before using it .. or not use at all .. because using evac is almost the same downtime of a wipe .. and using it when a wipe is not already underway and SURE (tank+cleric+mezzer down) will probably make some people angry.

I feel that a nice spell/aa for us and wizzies to bring it to the original usefulness would be sometime to warp the group (within same zone) to the last spot where evac was used.
It could have other uses as well, like evac pulling and mybe a ghetto COTH.

Wishful thinking i know .. but this is something i would like a lot.

Old School Chardok, Sebilis, The Hole, Lower Guk, etc where not easy to get back to camp, this defeats the point of your arguement.

-Fenier

I agree with you about the Evac not being very useful these days. I dont think I ever load it any more since I got Exodus. I only ever use Exodus if, like you said, wipe is already in progress.

I am not sure that having a spell to evac to the last "safe" location would be any more helpful, in that most places respawn on the way and you would be placing yourself right smack in the middle of mobs again.

The only exception would be those instances where the mobs do not respawn - still would be tricky to get back to where you were and get the bods to rez. Intersting suggestion though, thought provoking.

I honestly would like to see druids get FD.

Old School Chardok, Sebilis, The Hole, Lower Guk, etc where not easy to get back to camp, this defeats the point of your arguement.

well the point was not that one Fenier. I just wanted to discuss this idea to revive evac .. or make it better.

Umm if mobs dont respawn then u probably can get back to camp and dont need this warping. I did evac a group on whittletrope mission #1 (Lair of Korlak 1 I think its called) when tank and mezzer went down within 5 seconds on pulled train and they got mad at me .. cause they still was a ranja in group (which was uber but i didnt know it .. nor i knew zone had fast respawns). Hated that .. you know that cold silence in group channel when everyone is angry but they wouldnt say .. well mission over. Luckily now they removed respawns in that mission, gonna try again.

Hate to get that treatment when i am just doing my job evacing .. i'd like a way to undo it.

I honestly would like to see druids get FD.

nah i want fade =) necros have FD .. while bards monopolize fade i think =)

As i see it, evac was born in an era when getting to a camp was relatively easy
When was this?

I think it is far easier to get to camps now then it used to be.

I'm the person that 99.9% of the time is demanding stuff to make the game easier but this one time I have to say that evac is fine the way it is.

Yes, it can suck at times to have to fight back to the spot you were at. But evac is an EMERGENCY spell designed to save your life. It works just fine. It isn't designed to make your missions any easier.

As for your group getting upset that you hit evac, well, that is something they need to learn to deal with. Or maybe you should group with other people. Unless you are hitting it when totally not needed.

Deciding when to evac is one of the more important jobs of a druid. It has taken me a long time to figure out when to evac. Almost all the time someone says, "Good job getting us out of there". The few times someone objects, I just point out the reason (or apologize if I panicked) and we move on.

If you are really having a problem, then do what I do at times. Tell the group, "If we need to evac, someone say evac. Otherwise I will not use it. However, if ANYONE says evac, it will be used and if you don't like that, blame them."

Yes, most times I use Exodus/Succor there is a wipe underway, the main tank and cleric are down and I've got debuffs, dots and nukes, etc., memmed with only chlorotrope to heal. Most times group members say "phew good going on the evac!" we get back to camp and I CoW the cleric to rez or whatever, you all know the drill. However, recently I had a monk who pulled around 6-8 Wall of Slaughter mobs pm me saying "Dont you ever gate when you group with me!" This was after the tank went down, the cleric popped divine aura and still went down, and the 2 main damage dealers who were supposed to AOE gated (or went down). Personally, I rather thought I hit exodus too late!

But to the point of the original post, I think Exodus/succor is fine the way it is... and although I have tired of telling new groups over and over as Fanra said "if we need evac, someone say evac...." that is still a good idea. (I had rather thought that by lvl 65+ people would know that this is a feature of having a Druid or Wizzy in group.)

Namira

However, recently I had a monk who pulled around 6-8 Wall of Slaughter mobs pm me saying "Dont you ever gate when you group with me!"
Sure, the monk says don't evac because he can FD. I would have replied (if I wanted to bother dealing with such an idiot), "As soon as Sony gives everyone FD I will stop using evac.".

Much simpler to use /ignore Monkname. :)

I feel that a nice spell/aa for us and wizzies to bring it to the original usefulness would be sometime to warp the group (within same zone) to the last spot where evac was used.
It could have other uses as well, like evac pulling and mybe a ghetto COTH.

Wishful thinking i know .. but this is something i would like a lot.

Basically a spell like "Lloyd's Beacon" from the Might and Magic games.

I agree that egress and succor are fine, but the original poster didn't claim that they were broken.

I think their usefulness is diminished a little with current content, but can see the point that Fenier makes - they were never perfect.

There's plenty of good reason to introduce a spell like dorda suggests. Kinda like the "town portal" concept of Diablo, Neverwinter Nights etc. Not sure that it will ever happen in EQ, but I certainly wouldn't be complaining if it did.

Town Portal idea is a good one, but would probably be extremely hard to implement and has potential to be exploited.

I've heard somewhere how evac used to invole no zoning time, you've get ported to safe point and have aggro cleared. If that's true, I wouldn't mind seeing that brought back.

this issue was it did not always clear aggro, hence why they now zone.

-Fenier

Basically a spell like "Lloyd's Beacon" from the Might and Magic games.

/heartattack

Someone else remembers those games?! I <3 Darkside of Xeen and Mandate of Heaven! :D :D :D

Well Wizards can bind and gate their GROUP to the Wizard's bind point. They should allow the ability to bind anywhere, I'm unsure the need for the restriction.

Or since we have Secondary Bind. Maybe use the stone of marking to mark a spot, and a spell that will evac the group to that spot instead of just the Druid. That would be fine if it consumed the regeant (although I secretly wish Stone of Markings would stack).

/heartattack

Someone else remembers those games?! I <3 Darkside of Xeen and Mandate of Heaven! :D :D :D

World of Xeen was amazing, 2 games that combine into one big game and since I didn't play it until much later I got to play both games together at 1 time.

I still have M&M 6-9 installed on my computer.

No problem with exodus (or evac) really, but I've never had anyone get mad at me for using it. I'm usually told, "you did what you thought best".

However, I really only use it in disastrous situations, even if someone panics and calls for it.

Buddy of mine was telling me the other day about a guild wizard who evac'd on either a group or a raid....the necro used WTD and the wizard panicked. :clap:

how about a spell that ports and memwipes *all* mobs with the druid on their aggro list back to their spawn point.

yes i also use when tank is down already and group is already half wiped and quickly going down.. still had a few times when frustrated players aggroed me .. guess they were looking to discharge some nerve.

I honestly would like to see druids get FD.- Woodelfous

...oh the trouble druids would get into then !.

I think it is important NOT to implement somthing like that.
Too many things in Everquest have been trivialized horribly.

The downside of evac has always been clearing back through dangerous territory. You better think fast before you evac out of Crypt. Your being forced to make that quick decision is intentional.

If it were so easy to get back to your camp then evacs would trivialize the inherent danger of the encounters you need it in.

Town Portal idea is a good one, but would probably be extremely hard to implement and has potential to be exploited.

Well, I have always liked the idea of giving a (large) group of druids the ability to create a druid ring anywhere, with a circle and ring spell to go there of course.
Creating such a ring would of course be expensive in terms of resources and money and involved foraged goods, crafted materials and a lengthy spellcasting to actually create it. And of course to maintain that ring a large amount of mana should be set aside by the druids involved in creating it every tick. If that mana is not available then the ring will lose some of its 'health' and will eventually collapse. Passing creatures will also do some damage to the structure though they will not aggro.
It would be fun, give druids a unique ability that has only limited impact on the game and we would -finally- be able to teleport to Kelethin again.


Eri

Erianaiel,

That is an interesting idea. While I wouldn't implement it exactly the way you describe, I like the idea of allowing the players to change the world.

Currently, I feel that there are plenty of porting spots around. Especially since I remember playing back in the 'old' days when getting around was much harder.

Still, I'm in favor of anything that might make the game more fun and interesting. Having 'server' quests, where many people on the server work together to accomplish tasks that have an effect on the world would be nice.

I would just suggest that the task be a quest that requires a lot of people working together (with safeguards to prevent bad players from ruining it). Once the task is completed, then I would just either have it require no maintenance or that to maintain it would require doing some more, not very hard quests every month or whatever time frame is good.

yes that would be a LOT of fun =)

serverwide events to change or keep the world they way it is .. now thats fun =) .. in that cases the server quold become a sort of superguild.

I used to play on Meridian 59 .. and the entire server would be affected by which god was in power .. the player base was split in 2 factions that agreed to periodically switch between the 2 gods. Not really good how it was implemented but i liked the concept.

War was along that lines.. wish there was more of that at high level.