This just in from Rytan and Zajeer, Enjoy.
There seems to be some confusion on how this is going to work so I'll break it down a little bit:
All existing foci are having their effects changed to scale down at 10% effectiveness per level past their previously explicit level cap. What this means is that you'll have an overall larger range of effect from a specific focus by 10 levels. For example an IP4 focus will function like this:
Level: % bonus
20: 20%
21: 18%
22: 16%
23: 14%
24: 12%
25: 10%
26: 8%
27: 6%
28: 4%
29: 2%
30: 0%
This will also apply to the level 65 foci, meaning they'll be 50% effective when used on a level 70 spell.
Note that this is dependant on SPELL LEVEL not on player level. So this will only apply to new spells that you're using.
We can scale each foci individually as to how much of a % it loses for each level past the cap if necessary.
I know there are many of you that want most of the high level foci to extend all the way to 70, but this is not feasible for several reasons.
The need for upgrades as the game progresses is obvious. The game of EverQuest is based on progression, and most players need to continually have a method of increasing the power of their character in order to maintain interest in the game. Two things primarily dictate a casting class's spell power: their spells, and their focus effects. In order to allow an upgrade path for focus effects, there needs to be a reason to get the new focus effects.
The obvious question is, "why not just keep increasing the bonus percentages on them up?" Well for one thing, many of the foci types simply can't continue to increase indefinitely. Foci such as spell haste, spell range, and mana preservation can't continue to scale up without breaking the system.
Beyond that, there's also a problem in balancing melee upgrades against caster upgrades. Spells are a very large portion of a caster's power. The highest end spells are much more widely available then the highest end melee weapons, and therefore require a secondary upgrade effort in order to maintain an equal amount of effort for the upgrade. It's simply too much of an upgrade to hand out for that much effort. The goal is to allow a system of two part upgrade, from items and spells that together result in an equal amount of effort to what is required for melee classes in order to gain an equal upgrade. To this end, spells are much easier to get then an equitable melee weapon. While not directly equitable, weapons are the closest comparison to spells in terms of player upgrades.
If Focus effects were to increase in % over each consecutive iteration, spells would not be able to continue to upgrade at anywhere near the rate they currently do. They'd essentially take over as the primary form of caster upgrades. If the spells and focus effects continued to scale at the current rate you'd end up with astronomical power games over very short level ranges. There's certain a sizable amount of power that you can expect to gain by increasing in level, but when that increase gets too large is when you start having problems with balancing players against the world. We saw a lot of this in Kunark and Luclin when players were able to kill trivial Mobs for the same exp that challenging mobs used to provide. Old content should continue to get easier, but there's a certain level of power increase that the game can handle and stay healthy.
The bottom line is that it's impossible to maintain a balanced game while, allowing all existing foci to function to 70, allowing a consistent player upgrade path, maintaining equality of effort for similar upgrades across classes, and maintain a certain level of balance between the players and the world. Something has to give, and we feel that scaling focus effects present the best alternative for the health of the game.
Please submit your concerns or comments using the submit comment option on this page. Thanks folks.