Shrouds

[Farlin]

Anyone have a lot of experience with these? I found them sort of crappy. Tried a lvl 70 cleric mob and had a max heal of 800ish. Don't think thats gonna be super useful in a lvl 70 xp zone. Any good experiences with them?

[Kekenewah]

I tried some of them and also found them lacking. I also did not seem to get any experience when in shroud form and did not seem to be able to progress to the higher level shrouds. It did not seem to be working well to me. I have not logged on in 3 days so maybe they have fixed these problems? Anyone have any more info on this subject?

[Saansly]

how do you change forms? do you have to go to NPC? or is it activatable?

[Qinen]

npcs in PoK, you have to go there to change into AND to change out of mob form.

[Daisea]

There has been some concerns raised over on the EQ live forums about XP loss if you die while in a shroud. I do realize that at level 70 you have a choice of levels for a shroud..but I am confused as to how much XP is lost or gained at each level on your main as you go out and do something in it.

[Tiesiaan]

Yes indeed, if people don't gain enough xp on their main while in the group to even offset a death then what is the point of being able to do them other than play with friends? I know that it is a nice thing to be able to do, but I would want to gain xp too so I know Im going to get that last bits of xp towards level 69 and 70, not just sit there.

[Aelain]

Yes indeed, if people don't gain enough xp on their main while in the group to even offset a death then what is the point of being able to do them other than play with friends? I know that it is a nice thing to be able to do, but I would want to gain xp too so I know Im going to get that last bits of xp towards level 69 and 70, not just sit there.

The point is that you can play with your friends in a group with you even if they are much lower level than you.

[Axxius]

Lucy has these new spells that look like the abilities given to the shrouds: Heal Wounds I-XIV (the highest level instant heal is 2468), Fire I-XIV (biggest fire nuke 2201), Frost I-XIV (biggest cold nuke 1980), Thunder I-XIV (biggest magic nuke 1348). That's decent.

[Magik]

Do you need a new shroud for each creature you would turn into?

And how many different creatures can you be? Is that known yet?

[Saansly]

I guess I don't see the point of shrouds, I mean most people but alts are either 70 or real close, so playing with your friends means well playing yourself.

You have to go to an NPC in pok to change into a very limited form, so it's not useful mid raid when the healer goes ld etc.


xp Groups will prefer the real thing to a shroud, surely.

[Magik]

Hmmm... Im confused on this, anyone link an explanation somewhere? Id like to read up on it more.

[Axxius]

If I understood correctly, shrouds don't have a mana bar and can't go OOM. If that's true than a top level shroud cleric that can cast heals similar to cleric Light line without worrying about mana is a decent addition to an average pick-up group. Same goes to a shroud wizard that can basically chain nuke with something better than Sparks and never go OOM.

Forgot to mention: there are also shroud mezzes up to lv 73. So if a group is lacking CC - a shroud chanter is not really much different from a real one.

[Saansly]

no mana??
yeesh.

that almost flips the coin from useless but fun to overpowered.


hmm I guess we'll have to see it in action.

a manaless wizard or cleric seems in most situation superior though. ok missing buffs and diversity of nukes and heal types but still.

[Kekenewah]

When I played the wiz shroud I had a mana bar and went out of mana after two kills. I got no experience for the kills. Then I went back to PoK and changed to a warrior. I killed three mobs before I was so low on hit points I had to zone. Again I got no experience. I played the lower level shrouds, level 20, not the level 70 shrouds. I was in Paludal which usually gives good experience and I got no experience for any of my kills. The spells that the wizard shroud had where very limited, no root, no snare. There was a short stun spell. There was a fire bolt and an ice nuke. The warrior shroud had a number of warrior skills and some additional skills like a snare spell. The shrouds have no equipment beyond a crappy weapon for the warrior. Your hit points and mana are much below what a player character with low level bazaar equipement would have at the same level. Overall I was very disappointed with the shrouds. Definitely not worth buying DoN for the shrouds.

[Axxius]

I guess that was a warrior shroud without mana. If wizards and clerics use mana then their usability is not so great. Especially the clerics (do they even get CH at higher levels?). Chanter will probably be still good. And rogues/berserkers/monks should be too - their functions are not as much affected by gear.

[GalaWiz]

Would love to have a few other classes put on the wizard shroud and see just how bad our aggro management is. Warrior 0001, nuke nuke nuke... dead... Wha happaned?

[Quesci]

Hmmm... Im confused on this, anyone link an explanation somewhere? Id like to read up on it more.

1) Spirit Shrouds are alternate characters that you can play instead of your main character. There are 8 "themes" of shrouds (Aberrations, Undead, Humanoid, Goblin, Animals, Elementals, Nature Spirits, and Reptiles), and each theme has 4-5 different class/styles. When you play as a shroud you leave your own character and play as the monster, with its abilities and equipment. Experience and loot is transferred to your main when you take off the shroud.

2) Each theme of shrouds is a progression. That is, you start being able to shroud the first level in the category. Experience gained while in that form unlocks higher level forms in that category. Everyone who pre-orders the download or who buys the boxed edition will have the Gargoyle shroud unlocked.

3) These are NOT the Monster Missions. There are about 60 instanced missions in DoDH (similar to the current Unrest mission). Approximately 1/3 of them are "Monster Missions", which put your group in the bodies of monsters as they accomplish a specific task. Spirit Shrouds are monster forms that you can take in order to do any group/raid, in any zone.

4) You can only turn on and off Spirit Shrouds from an NPC located at "strategic points" around the game. So you will not be able to morph "on the fly".

5) When you select a shroud, you can choose what level to be, in 5 level increments with your current level max. So a level 70 player can shroud into a level 45 Goblin Cleric and group with friends of similar levels.

6) Experience gained is transferred to your main, but only the amount that a level 45 would get from that content. So you'll be fighting blues/whites, but the experience will still be pretty low. Still, better than nothing.


For more info, including progressions, see http://eq.crgaming.com/viewarticle.asp?Article=9515

[jolteonjak]

Thanks for the link Quesci.

[Daisea]

So if I put on a level 70 shroud and go out there and go splat..then the XP loss is the same as if I was on my main? And how do you handle a CR on one of them? Or a rez and try to get some of that lost XP back.

My concern would be that if I put on a gimped level 70 shroud then the loss would be rather severe when the eventual death occurs. And if you try to go out there at a lower level then the gain from any kills is very minor.

The only use for this I can see so far is to do some PL sessions with some friends who are working on alts.

[Yvolla]

From EQLive Dev Tracker

I answered in the other thread just now, but I'll repost here.

You gain and lose exp based on what you would for the level of the shroud you're playing. So dying at level 5 on a shroud and your main is level 70 will cause virtually no exp lose for your main.

-Ryan
09-08-2005 04:49 PM

Hope this answers the XP loss thing.

A few other things I did not see mentioned before:

While in shroud form the buffs on your regular character are suspended and are not wearing off.

Most (but not all) shroud types have an ability to gate you back to the shroud NPC that changed your form. One striking exception would be the wizard shrouds... and you don't get any other port spells either. Again, may change before going live.

You are not able to twink shrouds with gear really. They start out with some default gear, but even the Fine Steel weapons I picked up were unequipable on the bear warrior I was playing with. I understand that there will be some shroud gear out there, but nothing I have seen yet.

One monster mission I did, I played a Shillskin (Illithid/mind flayer) wizard. I had a little over 14k mana with no gear on. However, the level 70 skeleton wizard I played had like 3800 mana. So for missions at least it seems that the developers set you up with tools you need for success.

When you go over to a shroud form, the first thing you'll probably want to do is access the abilities window (the V key). Depending on level of the shroud and progression into the archetype tier you get more AAs available to spend on the shroud form. As mentioned earlier, you basically get four types of nukes as a wizard shroud (fire, ice, magic, and um... another magic) although the undead wizard did have a lifetap as well. You can spend AAs to boost those spells though such as Cold Damage 1-10. However, the AAs rise sharply in price as you gain power (1/2/4/6/8/15/20... for example) so you are stuck in a choice between specializing in one magic type or being well rounded.

You may save the abilities you chose for that particular shroud if you plan on playing that shroud/level combination frequently. Also you'll probably want to save the hotkey set up for the same reasons. There are new "Save" and "Load" keys on the ability window and hotkey banks for this purpose.

I'll write more about them as I think of stuff, or see questions I can answer.