... Because I don't want to just complain, and it feels like that's what a lot of us have been doing since the Jungle Shard content came into being. There are things that concern us, and we bring that up, but I don't see too much voiced here about what we like. While us being so vehement and passionate in our negative feedback shows that we do indeed care a great deal about the game, it can be disheartening and frustrating for the game staff to only see that side of the passion when they busted such butt to get it out to us.

So on that note, there are a number of things I find awesome, and a few suggestions I'd like to make.

First off, the area is nice to look at. I'd say that it's almost overstimulating, but it's nothing I wouldn't expect of an actual jungle, and it is indeed visually pleasant.

Second, the Jungle base camp/quest hub is a pretty neat feature. I think that a place like that where players can actually see each other like the fishing holes is nifty, and having the NPCs there for quests puts a bit of an RPG feel to things, which I personally like. I can see this area being used for events that might take place in the Jungle or something. It's a place that NPCs for an event could also be placed. On the suggestion front though, it would be nice if we could somehow get a warp to there without having to meander through the campaign gate and such. Outside of having a finished quest pending, it's like running through a random mission, even if we just want to visit the Jungle Vendor.

Third, I'm liking the humor. From the singing and crazy loggers, to self-important elves, to the ever-amusing goblins, to cocky untouched, to "strange elfazons" and everything else, the dialogue is fun to read. I especially enjoyed the special Christof mission where we actually get his boots, and Teddy is always a hoot.

Fourth, the way rare equipment in the Jungle was handled is something I'm a definite fan of. Not only do we have 3 MPs to choose from (though it would be great if the level 45 one could have chests and such, there isn't much reward as we don't need exp anymore at that point), but the Jungle Vendor creates even more options. I especially like the level 32 (EL 37) and 42 (EL 47) gear. While the first set isn't exactly something one would be able to fully flesh out before upgrading to new gear or leveling the gear up past that level anyway, it's still extremely useful. The latter set especially is what I plan to deck out my companions in. Since epic gear is so expensive overall and not THAT much better because companions are just meat shields, gaining two extra effective levels will help notably. After all, we want them to either have more HP or be hit for significantly less. The level 47 gear definitely helps with that.

Since I'm speaking of the gear, now is where my suggestions come into play. I like the look of a lot of the new gear, more so than what I have on in some cases. In terms of my main character, the wizard, I'm liking the new Delver stuff from what I can see. I actually have the hat, and if these somewhat subtle changes are how the rest of the gear looks, I'd love to have my stuff look like that. Unfortunately, stat wise it's much better to keep what I have, with all the time invested in. What I would like to be able to do, if at all possible, would be to somehow either be able to pay a fee (in the currency of the type the gear is purchased with, be it HoT tokens, BH tokens, etc) to upgrade a piece of lower level gear of the same type to the higher one, while still retaining the secondaries (and quality thereof) and tiers. Or, which would probably be easier, have a way to purchase/forge clothing items out of actual gear,for a partial price. So, say I like the Delver 45 gear, I could pay 10% of the cost of the gear and get a clothing version of it. If I want the appearance of Delver 45 gloves? That will be 20 HoT tokens, and voila, statless piece to equip over my T3 30's I need to keep for stat points. Say I want that Brotherhood 45 staff? That will be 125 Paragon Tokens, and I can walk around with my blue glowy stick of doom, covering my Delver 30 staff. Just some food for thought.

Anyway, just wanted to bring up some of the stuff I liked, 'cause I know that I personally have been vocal about stuff I don't like, and didn't want the good stuff to be lost in the shuffle.

They were supposed to, essentially. Last we heard from devs here: http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10414#53933

They are apparently within about 5% of the 45 gear. If you didn't tier up your gear (the recent issue and fix made us have perfect rolls for secondaries on tiered gear), it's better in the long run to upgrade to the 45. If you DO have good secondaries on tiered gear and got the fix on them so they're now perfect rolls, you're probably fine sticking with those because you balance out the slight loss in base stat with the secondaries.