Talk:Hot Zone

offical post about it
Test Update Coming Soon and other Tasty Tidbits -- 02:45, 29 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Easier to just link the official article in the front page. 71.234.215.133 03:31, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Actual List of Hot Zones
Let's start a list of the Hot Zones here so that we can find out if theres a repetative pattern just like there is for DD-zones.

List:

(Note: Cycle reset here due to a bug, ignore first 3 data points.) (Note: Some bugginess after a 12-hour session DB maintenance, so Sep10 was reset back to Scion)
 * Aug 29th - Miragul - Crucible
 * Aug 30th - Miragul - Scion
 * Aug 31st - Evernight
 * Sep 1st - Necrotic
 * Sep 2nd - Befallen Cavern
 * Sep 3rd - Befallen Halls
 * Sep 4th - Guk Lower Corridors (2)
 * Sep 5th - Guk Outer Stronghold (3)
 * Sep 6th - Guk Halls (1) (Surprise!)
 * Sep 7th - Miragul - Anathema
 * Sep 8th - Miragul - Crucible
 * Sep 9th - Miragul - Scion
 * Sep 10th - Miragul - Scion
 * Sep 11th - Abbey (Changed between 17.00 and 21.00 GMT+2)
 * Sep 12th - MM-Manor ( --"-- )
 * Sep 13th -
 * Sep 14th -
 * Sep 15th -
 * Sep 16th -

--Zarbryn 10:25, 30 August 2009 (UTC)


 * and guess what...it's evernight... --Vraeth 07:06, 31 August 2009 (UTC)


 * But until we get repetition, there will be no proof that it's *just* DD zones. They could make Antonica a hot zone. Good god does anyone remember in EQ1 when Lake of Ill Manners or Train-it-All Caverns was a hot zone? *shudder*--Kodia 09:58, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * i just confirmed today's hot zone ;) --Vraeth 10:29, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Well. If they really are just using a shifted DD rotation, that makes it downright trivial for me to update the DD-displayer to also show the hot zone. But I want to wait until we see it on the US servers and get at least the restart of the rotation on the EU. --lordebon 11:13, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Yep I agree, let's not rush things. --Zarbryn 11:56, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * and thats it guys, RNG fooled us, its necrotic for today --Vraeth 07:30, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Hmm. Now only time will tell whether or not it's truly random or whether it repeats. We'll start to get a good indication of this Friday or Saturday when they turn Hot Zones on for the US. If it starts to follow the same pattern as the EU, then there's hope. But if it doesn't then it may be well and truly random (and just the RNG playing tricks with our minds at the start, hehe. --lordebon 12:01, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * my understanding is that it will be the same zone for all servers, just the rng picks which ones. dont think its different on runny and splitpaw or other non us servers --Vraeth 13:24, September 1, 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, that's my understanding as well, but it'll be good to get confirmation, and by then we should have a little better sense of whether it is random or if it's following some new pattern. --lordebon 13:32, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Hmm. Another in-a-row zone, if it is random then their RNG is playing tricks on our minds, hehe. --lordebon 13:27, September 2, 2009 (UTC)
 * and it still continues... /sigh --Vraeth 08:13, September 4, 2009 (UTC)
 * well uhm abbey was kind of out of order. im afraid the zone selection could really be random... or say... as random as it gets with sony's fubar'd RNG --Zarbryn 19:25, September 4, 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, even the regular "daily double" is a little bit out of order -- the 3 Fens zone's aren't in order (You have Nu'roga and Veksar, then the two void zones, and only then Kor-Sha). As long as it turns out to be a pattern that repeats I can make a daily display out of it. My guess is it is a pattern... so many in order so far, and it's a lot simpler to generate which thing is each day just using the date than make it random... especially since it has to be synched over all the servers, meaning something "random" would likely have to be pre-generated and constantly updated, which is far more of a headache than a rotation. --lordebon 19:29, September 4, 2009 (UTC)

From SOE Kiara, just in case no one had read it, "The way this works: The code goes through and randomly picks a different dungeon each day.  That dungeon will have increased drop rates.  The welcome screen will display which zone is the hot zone for the day" (emphasis mine).--Kodia 21:40, September 6, 2009 (UTC)
 * well no offense to kiara, but thats some shallow information from her and does not reflect the real mechanic of the system, and by just looking at the zones so far does not seem to be very random, but as previously said, lets wait some more before we really judge it --Vraeth 21:58, September 6, 2009 (UTC)


 * I saw that post, but it doesn't mean that it is truly random. As many in-order zones as we've seen makes me believe it's not "random." It may have just been her understanding of it that it was random, since she is a community relations person and didn't quote a developer. (Usually when she gets an answer from a Dev, it's relatively clear that she went to get the answer, this case didn't seem like that.) --lordebon 22:25, September 6, 2009 (UTC)


 * And, confirmation from Rothgar: link. It IS a rotation. --lordebon 00:25, September 7, 2009 (UTC)


 * AH! Excellent! I was just talking to someone at the BBQ I went to tonight and they said they'd read this post, but I hadn't seen it. Thanks for the link!--Kodia 01:36, September 7, 2009 (UTC)


 * ah, there you go, we knew it couldnt be random :) --Vraeth 06:18, September 7, 2009 (UTC)

hm, crucible again. either we should discount the first 3, because they are out of order, or maybe they really put something random in. that being that they randomly choose a zone on the first day of every month and then it continues the pattern from there. just a guess... --Vraeth 06:16, September 8, 2009 (UTC)


 * Hm indeed. I wasn't expecting a repeat so soon, especially with Rothgar saying it's a rotation. If it does start over on a certain date (ie if the rotation goes by day # of the month rather than rolling over) then tomorrow should be Scion -- which would at least lump the 3 EF zones together. I'll try to ask Rothgar on the official forums, see if I can get some info from him. --lordebon 11:04, September 8, 2009 (UTC)


 * yea most likely it will be scion tomorrow. btw rothgar made a post about this, so lets wait what the programmer of the hot zone list says --Vraeth 11:15, September 8, 2009 (UTC)
 * Yep, that thread is what I'm talking about. And if the hot zone is based on day number of the month... then it just seems odd. Zones that are farther down the list (below the 15 day mark) will appear as hot zones less often if that is the case. --lordebon 12:35, September 8, 2009 (UTC)

And, looks like it was an 'oops' that it went back to the "beginning" when the month reset: Rothgar. Given that, it should go Scion, Evernight, and then get back to doing new ones -- which I might add, puts it pretty much back in an order (the 3 zones grouped together). --lordebon 19:10, September 8, 2009 (UTC)


 * this too changes at different times for us and eu servers. today it changed at midnight pst for us, but was already changed sometime before 23:00 pst / 7am uk time for eu. my guess is that for eu it changes around midnight uk time, but havent been able to confirm it yet. --Vraeth 07:13, September 9, 2009 (UTC)
 * i always got to see the new HZ directly after midnight (germany, daylight saving time, so we're GMT+2 currently) --Zarbryn 12:11, September 9, 2009 (UTC)


 * same timezone, but doesnt work for me, heh :/ --Vraeth 12:45, September 9, 2009 (UTC)

Given this, it seems like the EU servers are definitely on different times, and may even be different times depending on which EU server you play?. I think we should just keep the main page display to be for the US server rollover. If you folks want, I can modify the second template (the one not used on the main page but basically a copy of it) to use on an other page where we could display the changeover time and which zone it currently is in the US and for the various servers, we'll have to work out the time for them then. --lordebon 12:49, September 9, 2009 (UTC)
 * There are plans to possibly "randomize" the list of zones. Rothgar writes: "I'll check with the designer that built the list to find out if there was a reasoning behind the current order. If not I'm sure we can randomize it a bit." I'm not sure if this means a) creating a new rotation where the zones are in a new random order, or b) actually making an RNG pick the zones whenever it changes. Either way I'd say it might make sense to wait a while before listing the hawtzone rotation anywhere. link. --Chalmo 13:42, September 9, 2009 (UTC)
 * That post was originally in reference to someone asking about making the hot zones not in close proximity to the DD (some where literally a day apart). That post supports the idea of not making it random, since he said he's not sure if they could randomize it.If the hotzone rotation is not the exact same length as the DD rotation (and I hope it is not, since I think Kurns and C:EA should be on there) then you are going to have zones that are hot one day and DD the next (or vice versa) or even hot and DD on the same day, unless they specifically code an exception to skip forward in the rotation. Which would be most annoying for us.
 * But once we have a full rotation, it makes sense to put up a display for it. If SOE changes the rotation or makes it random after that, we'll know easily enough and can act appropriately after that, but no sense holding off on something that might be useful just because they have the possibility of changing it in the future. --lordebon 13:59, September 9, 2009 (UTC)


 * Reset time was only a bug as Zoltaroth clarified here --Zarbryn 19:12, September 9, 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't think they will randomize it as it would get too much fuss from people who will be fussy about how frequently zones will be hot zones. You will get noobs wanting Scion as much as possible and raiders wanting Guk:Outer..

Yeah, plus there are other technical issues with randomizing it rather than just running a rotation. Also, if you want to sign as a user, log in to that account and do so, as we have no way of knowing whether you are actually that user unless you are signed in with that user's credentials. --lordebon 14:01, September 10, 2009 (UTC)


 * i could swear it was evernight when i checked it at midnight finally, and now it says crucible again. maybe they restarted it after some change in the code? --Vraeth 14:35, September 10, 2009 (UTC)
 * From what I'm reading on the official forums, it was Scion for a time, then Anathema for a time, and then finally it got reset to Crucible again. So seems like something was buggy so they reset the rotation back to Crucible. --lordebon 14:42, September 10, 2009 (UTC)


 * yea found that. well now lets wait another response from the devs :) wonder how long it will take before we'll see the full cycle :) --Vraeth 15:03, September 10, 2009 (UTC)
 * At this rate, it might be a while ;). They probably should have tested the HZ code on Test for a few days, instead of pushing it right to Live for the EU servers. --lordebon 15:06, September 10, 2009 (UTC)

And at least we now know the (current) size of the hot zone rotation: 21 zones, which is all TSO shard instances plus old Veksar. No love for C:EA and KT yet. Kander. --lordebon 17:24, September 10, 2009 (UTC)


 * changed today's to scion which was what he said and it is actually right now ingame. from now on then if nothing goes wrong we'll be able to collect the order. 20 days left.. :) --Vraeth 17:33, September 10, 2009 (UTC)
 * Well... it's now 03:42am german time on September 11th and HZ still says Scion.... *sigh* I guess either the change time is broken again or theres something horribly wrong.
 * /welcome_info lists the correct Bef3 as DD for Sep 11th tho... weird--Zarbryn 01:43, September 11, 2009 (UTC)


 * same for me /cry... on another note, Rothgar said they will mix up the list with the next hotfix (dunno when it comes) /cry more... --Vraeth 06:47, September 11, 2009 (UTC)
 * Lol this is sooo FUBAR. I've seen people ask for groups to Scion (hot zone) at around 17.00 local time. now its 21.00 and people ask for groups to abbey (hot zone). This means they changed the HZ in the evening hours. --Zarbryn 19:37, September 11, 2009 (UTC)


 * Confirming my previous statement. HZ currently changes 17:00 local time on Valor (german server, GMT+2 / PDT+8).--Zarbryn 19:52, September 13, 2009 (UTC)