EverQuest 2 designers reflect on GU 46, expansion encounter design
It seems like just yesterday that the 46th Game Update to EverQuest 2 was released, but with GU 47 already on the testing servers there's no time to look back. For us, anyway - the development team had the rare opportunity to reflect back on previous work in an interview with the folks at Ten Ton Hammer. The team there discussed a few general design ideas behind the recent revamp to Runnyeye, and puts the kibosh on the notion that we're going to see many more of these low-level-dungeons-turned-high-level-encounters.
Interestingly, they do note that Runnyeye is a sort of prototype for the strategic focus they're giving dungeons in the upcoming expansion. Rather than making them all cut from the same "tank and spank" cloth, some encounters in Runnyeye redux require a very clear head and innovative tactics. Said designer Kyle "Kander" Vallee, "I did not do anything super elaborate with ten boss fights and the amount of time I had, so I tried to make some of the fights a little more interesting, give them a little more sense of excitement. I really tried to make sure there was something for everyone and, at the same time, strive to preserve the fun and humor that Steve Kramer had originally started the zone with."
An interesting preview of what we can expect in the next EverQuest 2 expansion.
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