Rise of Kunark replaces lore with bore
If any sect of gamers was ever prone to nostalgia, it's RPG players. If you're ever in a situation where you want to get a nerd talking, just ask him about the most epic D&D campaign he's ever been a party to. It's got a 99.9% success rate, just try it. In the same vein, Clockwork Gamer's Kendricke spins a yarn about his nostalgia for the pure story-driven goodness of his first introduction into the world of high fantasy. Using Rise of Kunark as an example, he explains how the repetitive kill and fetch quests that proliferate in the new EQ2 expansion have neutered whatever sense of time and place the player had.
It's a sentiment that's nothing new, as our own Marc Nottke recently proclaimed the death of roleplaying in MMO. Kendricke's argument is much more focused, however. He say that Rise of Kunark has none of the pan-expansion story arcs that made Planes of Power, Legacy of Ykesha, and even Gates of Discord fun for players. Is it really any surprise then when players blast through all the content in a manner of days? You can't stop and smell the roses if there aren't any flowers on the way.
