Tonight Exodus failed to go off twice in a row with the message "The portal collapses before you can escape!" Of course, it can't be used again for 50 minutes.

I've never seen this before, and have never had Exodus collapse before like gate does. Secondary bind does at times (which I find really annoying since it's a purchased AA).

Anyone else getting this?

I have had exedus fail occasionally since I bought it. sometimes it has left others sometimes myself and taken everyone else. It is rare but then I keep it as a last resort or when I don't have succor up for some reason.

smaller sample than succor, but I think with succor my fail rate is around 1 in 30 times

I've not seen exodus fail with that message although to be honest if exodus fails I'm normally killed and tend not to go back to check failue message.

Sounds like really bad luck. There was always (as far as I know) that small chance that you will get left out of the Exodus. Something about gameplay shouldn't be risk free or whatever.

It has happened to me a few times over the years as well.

I have had exodus leave me behind and take my group only once. The major problem I have had with exodus is it firing after I have already died... (before TSS) So I would die... then immediately zone again to the exodus spot.

Just like with the Succor spells there is always that slight risk that "someone" will get left behind... luckily it doesnt happen that much.

Will druids and wizzys ever get an AA to stop them leaving their group members behind when they evac?



Dev Answer:

There is meant to be an inherit risk involved with most things in the game. Evac, by its nature, is removing risk from combat by allowing you to escape when you would have likely died instead. The chance of it leaving someone behind is very small, but its there to ensure that the ability isn’t something you can rely on to work every time. We have to be very careful when making evac work more often since it directly affects the risk involved in combat. So, removing that small chance to leave someone behind isn’t likely to happen.

On a couple occasions over the years I've had Egress fail in similar fashion. The evacuate portion of the spell fails, but the agro-wipe portion of the spell works just fine.

Running from mobs to gain distance for casting time ... run run run .. stop, cast, turn to watch the train .. mobs getting closer, cast nearly finished ... and ... and ... and ... the portal collapses before you can escape! Mobs all stop and look dumbfounded. Luckily, still being out of re-agro range they simply walk away.

Freaked me out first time it happened :)

Back during DoN evacing was bugged, and people would often die even if they got evac off with 80%+ Hp.

When this was fixed, Zajeer said to remember that evac does have a chance to fail. Maybe I'm crazy... but, before that bug, evac fails almost never happened to me, and they started to happen a lot more.

I got my first "Your portal collapses before you can make your escape!" a couple days ago. I'd never seen it before, and I've been playing since 99.

Never gotten that message, but with madie on the dieing and the it firing after my death once i was in the lobby or pok. There for awhile it seemed to never go off in time, even though group members would see it cast.

Its happened to me 2 or 3 times. First happened after the release of DoDH.

I have had exodus fail like that a few times, when a death resulted, i /petitioned and was given back my lost exp, so that tells me its not supposed to fail.

Will druids and wizzys ever get an AA to stop them leaving their group members behind when they evac?



Dev Answer:

There is meant to be an inherit risk involved with most things in the game. Evac, by its nature, is removing risk from combat by allowing you to escape when you would have likely died instead. The chance of it leaving someone behind is very small, but its there to ensure that the ability isn’t something you can rely on to work every time. We have to be very careful when making evac work more often since it directly affects the risk involved in combat. So, removing that small chance to leave someone behind isn’t likely to happen.


This has nothing to do with the original post. This is not a matter of leaving someone behind, it's a matter of Exodus failing with the aforementioned message "Your portal collapses before you can make your escape!". I have had this happen 4 or 5 times now since the release of TSS and it never once happened previous. Before you go saying "That is just because it left YOU behind", it totally fails, leaving the entire group without an escape. It has only happened to the druids in my guild since TSS release as well. It failed for another druid in my group just last night and none of us were evacuated. I hope this is a bug, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it was some kind of stealth nerf.

Earthwalker Riffen of Druzzil Ro
Druid Class Leader of Tenacity Guild

Yes, it's what Riffen described. Evac spells or the Exodus AA has always had a chance of leaving a group member behind, even yourself at times. That is not what I'm referring to though.

Exodus fails to go off at all at times since TSS, leaving the entire group there, but the timer has gone off so you can't reuse it. The new message it gives then is "Your portal collapses before you can make your escape!"

I have been playing since a few days after EQ was live and that is definitely a new message, and Exodus totally failing is also new.

Since it's a new message, I'm starting to think it's an intentional nerf. Part of the reason for having the AA is that you don't have to also have your evac spell mem'd taking up a spell slot. If Exodus failing is going to be a normal occurrence, you'll also need to mem evac in case Exodus fails to go off. You're just sitting ducks if that happens.

Got deaded using exodus tonight 2 times.

1. Just snagging a guildie while he was kiting a fair share too many mobs run up to him cast it and zone into the Guild hall dead. uh yea.....

2. Got a few adds in an SoC group near the beginning so just hit exodus and well get back on track.....nope, this time left me, the shaman, monk and ported the rest.....

so yeah I dun like whatever they did or broke.

this has happened to me serveral times as well..i evac when im at full health and plenty of room between me and mob and it either fails or i evac and end up at my bind spot dead..dunno whats up with that but it sucks

Very very frusterating..why bother to evac when we end up dead anyways?

What happens when you cast exodus or evac in plenty of time but still end up dead at your bind spot is from a "fix" they put in during Luclin. Remember way back when you always saw a double spam line of "Loading, please wait..." when zoning? The fix was to stop that double line of text.

Before the fix, the instant you started zoning you couldn't be hit, and you would miss faction hits even if the mob died 1 second later. After the fix though, zoning was no longer so clean cut... when your screen is displaying "Loading, please wait..." you are still able to get hit by the mobs for a brief time if they're close enough. But it's long enough to actually get you killed before you get far enough into the zoning process. I think everyone of us has seen this happen probably more often than we'd like.

I remember this change doing it specifically because I got hit with a nasty faction hit right afterwards and figured out what was happening then with the evacs. And yes, extremely annoying to say the least.

But again, this isn't the issue that my first post was referring to.

Used Exodus tonight while at 100% health on my screen. Ended up in Lobby with Exodus down, and the rest of my group at zoneline.

Well you should have put your Car Door shield to better use!

With mobs hitting as hard as they do now, it's often a common occurance to die even if you evac.

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HH

Enjoy this little story ...

Yesterday i was tryng to solo the direwind cave mushrooms trying to finish the clicky mez quest ...
On first pull i got an add. Np right? Just root it.
well i bonked the ceiling with my head and could not cast cause ducking
meanwhile the add rooted me ... panick started ..
tried to instaevac and could not cause of ducking
ok cool down .. hp at 50% .. what do i do?
start typing /rewind desperatly
health at 10%
mistype .. I die =( but WAIT second life (Rk.II) kicks in!!! INVULNERABLE!! YEA!! (2x mobs on me)
I start typing again ..
meanwhile a tell arrives and somhow focuses my cursor
"/" key stops working .. so i end up sending 3x "rewind" tells to this guy
at 4th attempt i get it .. move a bit .. root on me is down (second life effect?)
I start running deeper in caves in panic, seeking a spot where to drop invulnerability a split sec to evac ... 30 mobs after me .. 5% health
i rush through 2 caves training, drop second life, instaevac

...... and i find myself naked at bindpoint GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

well i bonked the ceiling with my head and could not cast cause ducking

And what did we learn from this lesson? Autoduck is bad, mkay? Turn it off and live.

I get it now as well - about once every 12-15 times so about 8%. It looks like a stealth nerf more then a bug

Autoduck is very bad. Beyond me why anyone would use that turd.

When mobs quadding me for 1200+, I didn't seem anoyed when I clicked exodus and still died. Was at 20% life anyway with summoning mob on me. But for someone to die when they are 80-100% HP after evac is just nuts. Sounds like that needs a fix to me.

As for Autoduck, I didn't realize there was an option to turn it off. That probably would have saved me twice in last 2 months. What was the use of autoduck in the first place??

finnally saw what was being asked about, in Steppes being chased by 2 snared giants hit exedus at 80%. entering steppes, land at bind naked. Mobs were not in range to attack when I hit exedus did so to avoid trainung another cluster. No lag at the time

Update: petitioned it and an hour later a GM showed up to CSR rez. On a weekend yet!

Amazingly he asked a few questions stated he was unaware of bug and rezzed. no crap treating me like I was stoopud or a liar. Guess this was a new GM that never met Smed.

What was the use of autoduck in the first place??

I can't fathom a reason.

I also experienced this problem since TSS came out. Click exodus, with plenty of room between me and mobs as I have done countless times, but to my surprise end up dead at bind point. With Exodus button used. Now it seems a coin toss whether you get evac or get dead!

I too have been dying alot with plenty of room between me and mobs, but still end up dead. Also today I had Second Life do it's DA thing on me then the wizzy pulled exodus and I was left behind, twice, is this normal or am I just unlucky?

Volk Grovekeeper

If you have any form of DA on - even the Second Life proc, you will be left behind. Its just part of the DA effect. However, as I stated in my previous post, this "bug" or "nerf" or whatever does happen when there is plenty of distance between you and the mob and when you are 100% health.

I find it most frustrating to hit Exodus - zone to bind point - then immediately zone to the exodus spot in the GL ><