All I want for Sentinel’s Fate

In many ways a new MMO expansion is like Christmas time. The launch date is filled with wonder, excitement and hope. Every player has things on their list that they would really like to see and I am no different. Though I realize that it is far too late to make any sweeping changes to Sentinel’s Fate, it is still a lot of fun to talk about what I would like to see in it. So if you’re an Everquest II developer you will make me an extremely happy guild leader if you do anything on my list!

Round Shields for Clerics – Since I started plaything EQ2 I never understood the shield system. Tower shields for warriors and kite shields for knights make good sense to me. The smallest of all shields go to priests and scouts of all people get round shields! That just seems strange to me. One of the perks to playing a cleric class is that you can wear plate and be more survivable. It would follow that a plate wearing class should be able to be at least as defensive than chain wearing, damage fearing, squishy scouts! I would love to see a new alternate advancement ability that let templars and inquisitors use a round shield!

Two group raiding – Two group raiding is all the rage right now and the fun and excitement of it has really swept over me. You can truly put together a really small and elite guild to focus on this content and that is fine by me. EQ2 thus far has provided an insane amount of one group content and a decent amount of two group as well. I hope to see more of that in the future so Iniquity will have something to keep it busy two days a week!

Less set bonuses – This particular wish is pretty much a pipe dream as EQ2 and every other MMO seems to have fallen in love with the “awesome” that is set bonuses. I’ve always been a fan of having “set armor” in games so your character can collect things but actual set bonuses reduce the player’s ability to choose. How many times has an item in the primary slot dropped that you looked at and said, “Oh well that is good but it isn’t the set?” I’m willing to bet most of us have. We need less set bonuses in our lives to give choice back to players!

Upgrade of Repent – The greatest thing I found on my templar when I returned to EQ2 was the new spell repent. It has made a big difference in the way I play and I’m in love with it. I hope it doesn’t end up being one of those “one time max level spells” that never see an upgrade. I want repent to turn into a line and I hope we see an upgrade in Sentinel’s Fate!

Solution to Mythicals – One of the things that I felt SOE did quite right was mythical weapons for each class. I’ve written extensively on how much I support “epic weapons” in MMOs but I always point out that once you do it they become a part of class balance and must be considered “standard.” This is certainly the case in the EQ2 mythicals. You have pre-myth characters and post-myth and you can always tell the difference. Most of these take one spell or ability and change it completely. Taking that away from a character would be quite saddening. I hope SOE can come up with some way that the mythical effect can still matter even if the item is replaced.

More Debuffs! – I’ve played a templar in EQ2 for pretty much the duration of my career and I’ve always loved to debuff. I know this is a shaman specialty but templars have had three debuffs to use as well. Over time they’ve become decently powerful and you can add to them via AAs. I’d really like to see more of this practice in the future.