The first version of the Zeb Custom Map pack is now up on the downloads page. The map pack currently contains all zones from 1-70 except for Kael and Nurga. The maps will point out zone locations, quest NPCs, boss locations, points of interest, and more. I highly recommend the download. I will be adding more zones to it in the future so keep your eyes open for updates.
Aug
9
This is a big update!
The Nexus has been replaced by Cabilis East and West. Next time you log in you will start in Cabilis East so please take a second to bind there. New players will start in Cabilis East which features a 1-5 leveling area and a pretty cool event you can do at level 3.
The purpose of this update is to take Zeb to the next level. No longer will you port from place to place in an instanced type format. Every zone has a place, lore, and a distance.
Many zones are connected directly to Cabilis (especially the lower level zones) but many have also been moved out into the world. There are three open zones that connect to Cabilis: Warsliks Wood, Field of Bone, and Western Wastes (in order of difficulty). These open zones are also host to new quests and future high end open raids (no keys required). The open zones aren’t focused on experience or huge loot tables but there are some cool things to discover and some rare things you might happen upon. Here is the current layout:
Warsliks Wood:
-Tower of Frozen Shadow
-Fungus Grove
-Nurga
Field of Bone:
-Kurns Tower
-City of Mist
Western Wastes
-Kael
-Dragon Necropolis
-Temple of Veeshan
-Frosted Halls
The efforts of all of that economy balance are now paying off. To help you get to these new places are a variety of merchants selling different speeds of mounts. There are also new merchants for potions, food, ammo, weapons, twink armor, supplies, consumables, summoned items, trophies, bags, fishing, ale and more!
The new zones combined offer:
-Over 20 new quests
-Hundreds of new items
-Great new features
-Screen melting awesomeness!
In the near future I will be offering a full Zeb Custom Map Pack. I am almost finished with a full set of maps for all the zones on the server. This will help you find your way around these new areas, locate quests for you, and show you where the cool named are.
Please provide as much feedback as possible for me on the forums. This is a big change and I’m sure there is a bug or two. Once the bugs have been ironed out I will start to advertise the server to new and old players and really make the playerbase grow.
Thanks for playing on Zeb and I hope that your experience with the server is as positive as mine.
Aug
9
The server will be up and down tonight as I put in some new content (details coming tonight). Unsure how long it will take but this post will be removed / replaced with more information when it’s done.
I’m excited to share what I’ve been working on with everyone!
Jul
31
A little history lesson. Crushbone was the first zone I finished for Zebuxoruk and that was over two years ago. Since that point it has undergone a lot of face lifts and changes. This will be the 3rd time I’ve actually cleared the entire zone and started over which needs to happen when you have a mess of a zone after it’s been edited so many times.
The new setting is a little different. There is still a battle going on but now it’s between the Blacktongue and Blacktooth. The Blacktongue are the brute, orc, crush your face kinda’ guys and they still hang out around the fort. The Blacktooth are a nomadic, shamanistic dog-lookin’ clan that has decided the Blacktongues are not fit to live anymore.
Changes:
The loot tables - They have been deleted and redone. Crushbone had a lot of old unneeded items. The loot tables are a lot simpler now. The trash can drop plate, chain, leather, cloth, misc items, or weapons (depending on which trash). This should make the first real Zebuxoruk experience for new players less of a disaster.
The loot - Named appropriately and on the right mobs! Some loot removed, some new things added.
Named/Bosses - They have been redistributed throughout the zone and renamed and retooled accordingly. The Blacktooth and Blacktongue areas have equal opportunity for named/loot now.
Nothing but positive feedback from players old and new about the changes, hopefully I won’t have to tough Crushbone for a few more months.
Jul
28
The main changes in today’s patch revolve around the economy and experience. The economy changes have no real effect on players at this point so just hold tight for that coming in the future.
Dragon Necropolis Drebl’s have been tuned to be the main source for AA experience. This overrides a previous decision placing it in East ToV. It was moved for ToV lag reasons. XP gain 55+ is also a bit sluggish. Guk Basements XP rate was nerfed a long time ago before adjustments were made to it to keep it from being a 70 AE hotspot. The XP there was awful so I moved it back up into a reasonable range, 300% is misleading this way, its more-or-less just going back to normal. Kael was also a bit slow so I upped the XP rate there. Because I’m trying to keep the AA grinders out of Kael I moved Necropolis’ XP modifier up too (it’s higher than Kael). To keep AA Exp gain at it’s currently rate I dropped the AA XP modifier down a bit.
Is Necropolis now better XP than Kael 60-70?
No. If you didn’t know AA XP in EqEmu is broken and is calculated independent of NPC level. Regular XP takes NPC level into account. The higher level NPCs in Kael will give better regular XP (They also have loot, molds, and other goodies that Necropolis doesn’t)
Why is Necropolis better than Kael for AA XP now?
The NPCs are built for AA grindage if you want to do that. There are a lot more of them, in a smaller area, with faster respawns. The Drebl’s are a little different than the low level Kael mobs people usually kill on. Most of them are pretty basic. There are no more spell casting (blinding) guys in Necropolis. The two more powerful and rare types of Drebl can summon, one or two types are also uncharmable or unmezable. Mostly this is to add variety and strategy if you are taking on many at a time and generally should be a more fun experience.
Read the Rest of Today’s Changes
And be sure to leave a comment or two in the forum!