Oakwynd has arrived and is now open for All Access members!

Since the announcement in the April Producer’s Letter, there has been much feedback, and we sincerely appreciate the input many of you have provided. Even after we provided you with an update, we know there are still some questions out there that need to be answered. Over the past several weeks, our team has carefully been tracking your inquiries and working to address any remaining concerns. Below are the details about how Oakwynd’s unique features will work along with answers to many of the frequently asked questions we saw.

Encounter Lock System Overview

The Encounter Lock system has a few basic rules that will be in effect:

  • When NPCs spawn, they will be Encounter Locked for a short random amount of time to prevent people from attacking them.
  • An NPC will Encounter Lock to the player who caused it to enter combat. It will unlock a short time after leaving combat if it doesn’t reenter combat during that time.
  • Encounter Locked NPCs cannot be attacked by players who aren't in the same group or raid as the lock owner. This includes spells, melee, and abilities such as Taunt.
  • Encounter Locked NPCs, by default, will have a grey name sprite if you cannot attack them and a green name sprite if you can.
  • Using /yell while targeting an Encounter Locked NPC will semi-unlock it and allow anyone to attack it. Rare or high difficulty NPCs can only be unlocked this way by the group or raid leader using the /yell command.
  • If an Encounter Locked NPC decides to attack someone who is outside of its current lock group, it will semi-unlock (similar to /yell) to allow its new target to fight back.
  • When an Encounter Locked NPC leaves combat, it should not attempt to attack people outside of its lock group unless it is attacked first. This should be the case until the NPC returns “home” and will occur even after the Encounter Lock itself is removed.

Encounter Lock F.A.Q. 

Q: What is Encounter Locking? What are the goals for Encounter Locking? 

A: The Encounter Locking feature will allow the first player who engages an NPC the ability to prevent others from interfering with the fight. A primary goal with adding this feature is to mitigate issues we've seen regarding kill-stealing and training in the early TLP experience before content becomes more instance based as the expansions unlock. 

Q: How is the lock applied? 

A: The lock is applied to the first player who gets added to an NPC’s hate list. This could be via a player attacking the NPC directly or the NPC attacking a player. 

Q: How is the lock removed? 

A: The lock is removed a short time after the NPC leaves combat. If someone on the lock list attacks the NPC within the period before it unlocks, the countdown will be reset, and the NPC will remain locked. 

Q: Can members be added mid-fight to the group or raid? 

A: Yes. The lock is owned by an individual player. The group or raid that they currently belong to is the one that “owns” the lock. Players who are currently in the same group or raid as that player will be able to attack the locked NPC and those who are outside of the group or raid will not be able to. 

Q: Will this prevent assisting/helping other players? 

A: No. If a player would like aid from someone outside their group or raid, they can target the NPC and use /yell. This will semi-unlock the NPC and allow anyone to attack it. Once semi-unlocked using /yell, the NPC cannot be locked again until it leaves combat, and the original lock is removed. Rare or high difficulty NPCs can only be unlocked this way by the group or raid leader. 

Q: Will there be any changes with how loot or experience is awarded? 

A: No. Loot and experience will be awarded to the player, group, or raid that does the most damage to the NPC. 

Q: If a player dies while pulling an NPC, can it be locked by someone else immediately or does it need to return back to its spawn point? 

A: If an NPC no longer has anyone on its hate list and leaves combat, it will unlock in a short time whether it is at its spawn point or not. Once it is no longer locked, it can then be locked by anyone even if the NPC has not reached its spawn point. 

Q: How will I know if an NPC is locked to me or someone else? 

A: Once an NPC is locked, its name will show as green if you can attack it or grey if you are not. These colors will be player-editable if the default colors are not desired. 

Q: Will the Encounter Lock apply to all NPCs, or will there be exceptions? 

A: There will be exceptions and some NPCs will be excluded from the Encounter Locking feature due to them requiring cooperation amongst different people or being part of events that would not be completable if the NPCs were locked to separate people.

Q: Can a player lock an NPC indefinitely?

A: No. NPCs will semi-unlock if they have been locked to someone for an extended period of time.

Q: What will happen if an event with multiple NPCs is engaged by more than one group? (E.g. Rathe Council) 

A: This will depend on the event. For the example of the Rathe Council, the event is handled by NPCs that cannot be aggroed and do not care who killed each NPC in the event, just that the NPCs died. Therefore, the event will continue as if two groups without locks engaged the Rathe Council. 

Q: If an NPC is Encounter Locked and casts AoE spells, will they land on players out of the group/raid? 

A: Yes.

Q: What will prevent players from instantly Encounter Locking an NPC the moment it spawns?

A: When an NPC spawns, it will have a short random duration lock during which time it cannot be attacked.

Q: If a healer leaves or is outside of a group, are they free from the risk of an Encounter Locked NPC attacking them?

A: No. Someone leaving a group after having hate on an NPC will retain that hate. Someone outside of the group can still accrue hate by casting beneficial spells on someone on the NPC’s hate list.

Q: Will there be a limit to the number of NPCs a player can have Encounter Locked at one time?

A: No.

Q: Will faction rewards work differently with Encounter Locked NPCs?

A: There are no changes to how faction is awarded with the Encounter Lock system. Those who do damage or have enough hate on an NPC will continue to receive faction rewards when an NPC is killed.

Q: How will crowd control abilities, such as mesmerize and Memory Blur, affect an NPC’s Encounter Lock status?

A: A mesmerized NPC is still considered to be in combat and will remain locked. An NPC that is memory blurred and no longer in combat will start to count down its unlock timer and then unlock if it does not enter combat before the timer is up.

 

Legacy Characters Overview

Oakwynd launches with something we’ve called Legacy Characters. Legacy Characters allow your other characters on the same account on the server to receive a semi-permanent experience bonus.

  • When players reach max level (for the current era) with a character, their account receives an experience bonus for all characters on that server.
  • e.g., When a player has 1 max level character, their account receives a 10% bonus EXP buff.
  • When a player has 2 max-level characters, the buff stacks. They now get 20% bonus EXP.
  • This bonus caps at a 100% bonus.
  • When the server's level cap increases, players will lose the buff until they get one of their characters to max level again, and the bonus starts again at 10%.

Legacy Character F.A.Q.

Q: Will the Legacy Character experience buffs only work on level experience, or will it also work on AA, evolving items, and mercenary experience?

A: The bonus should apply to AA, quest, kill, and mercenary AA experience.

Q: With the focus on alts on the same account, will there be any changes to the Agents of Change account-wide lockouts?

A: Account-wide lockouts are being treated as character-specific lockouts on Oakwynd.

Q: Are there any other changes for Legacy Characters that we should know about?

A: All "No Drop" items that are NOT "Free-Trade No Drop" will be treated as Heirloom items on Oakwynd. This does not affect items that are already Heirloom; they will stay Heirloom.

 

Evolving Ruleset, Unlock Schedule, and True Box Details

This new Evolving Ruleset Progression Server comes with a ton of features first shared in the April Producer’s Letter and along with some rules more in line with traditional EverQuest progression servers. As a refresher, let’s go through them.

The Evolving part of the server’s design and its unlock schedule is pretty straight forward. For each expansion unlock, we'll be adding the following benefits to the server. Each benefit will add to the existing instead of replacing the benefits active on the server (unless it's a higher value of an existing benefit). For example, using the list below, when The Scars of Velious unlocks, Legacy Characters, Encounter Locking, and a 125% modifier to the normal loot rate will already be unlocked and with the unlock, a 125% modifier to the normal faction changes will be added. These are currently what we have planned for the unlocks:

  • Classic - Legacy Characters and Encounter Locking
  • The Ruins of Kunark - Loot Modifier - 125%
  • The Scars of Velious - Faction Modifier - 125%
  • The Shadows of Luclin - AA EXP Modifier - 125%
  • The Planes of Power - Coin Drop Modifier - 150%
  • The Legacy of Ykesha - Spawn Timers Modifier on all NPCs - 85%
  • Lost Dungeons of Norrath - Alternate Currency Modifier - 150%
  • Gates of Discord - Tribute Donation Modifier - 200%
  • Omens of War - Rare Spawn Modifier - 200% - Relax Truebox to 3
  • Dragons of Norrath - Faction Modifier - 200%
  • Depths of Darkhollow - Evolving Item EXP Modifier - 150%
  • Prophecy of Ro – Chance to Increase Skills Modifier (includes Tradeskills) - 200%
  • The Serpent's Spine - Loot Modifier - 200%
  • The Buried Sea - Alternate Currency Modifier - 200% - Remove Truebox
  • Secrets of Faydwer - Faction Modifier - 300%
  • Seeds of Destruction - EXP Modifier - 125%
  • Underfoot - Tribute Use Reduction - 75%
  • House of Thule - AA EXP Modifier - 150%
  • Veil of Alaris - Alternate Currency Modifier - 250%
  • Rain of Fear - Collection Spawn Time Modifier - 75%
  • Call of the Forsaken - Mercenary AA EXP Modifier - 200%
  • The Darkened Sea - Spawn Timers Modifier on all NPCs - 70%
  • The Broken Mirror - EXP Modifier - 150%
  • Empires of Kunark - Rare Spawn Modifier - 300%
  • Ring of Scale - AA EXP Modifier - 175%
  • The Burning Lands - Luck Modifier - 125%
  • Torment of Velious - Evolving Item EXP Modifier - 200%
  • Claws of Veeshan - AA EXP Modifier - 200%
  • Terror of Luclin - EXP Modifier - 200%
  • Night of Shadows - Rare Spawn Modifier - 400%

Oakwynd will have the "Standard Unlock" schedule as many other progression servers. This is where new expansions unlock automatically every 8 - 12 weeks with the early expansions unlocking faster.

Unlock Schedule:

  • Eight weeks and a day after launch: Ruins of Kunark
  • Eight weeks later: Scars of Velious
  • Eight weeks later: Shadows of Luclin
  • Eight weeks later: Planes of Power and Legacy of Ykesha
  • Twelve weeks later: Lost Dungeons of Norrath
  • Four weeks later: Gates of Discord
  • Eight weeks later: Omens of War and an hour later Dragons of Norrath

At this point the schedule becomes consistent. Enjoy expansions for twelve weeks when a new level cap is unlocked, and eight weeks in expansions where the level cap stays the same.

True Box settings for Oakwynd work as follows:

  • This server starts with standard True Box. Only one EverQuest client may be run per computer.
  • When Omens of War unlocks, we will move to a Relaxed True Box. You may have up to 3 clients per computer logged into the server at the same time.
  • When The Buried Sea unlocks, True Box will be removed.

New Bag Bundles

With the launch of Oakwynd, we’ve also changed up bag bundles that are now available through our Packs page on the website:

  • “Trying Toxicologist Bundle” has been replaced with the “Lorisyn's Lament Bundle.”
  • “Vexing Vermin Bundle” has been replaced with the “Lyirae's Languish Bundle.”

We hope this FAQ and subsequent information is helpful in clarifying some of the questions many of you have shared with us. Now that Oakwynd is live, all that’s left is to jump in and begin your adventures! If you’d like to join others, click here to become an All Access member.

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