EQ devs talk upcoming expansion, old zone revamps
A half dozen EverQuest developers sat down with their faithful players and discussed the details of the new expansion, Seeds of Destruction, which old zones were next to be hit with the revamp stick, and what other changes were on the horizon for SOE's most venerable, but still popular, game.
The next expansion will continue to require faction grinding to progress, similar to that in Secrets of Faydwer, though some changes will be made to address player complaints. Still, World of Warcraft-like faction grinding seems to be a big hit with EQ devs since its introduction in the Dragons of Norrath expansion, and we wll likely see it continue in the foreseeable future.
As part of the Living Legacy promotion, Lower Guk was retuned to a high level zone dropping "Darkened" versions of the original loot with power comparable to present-day gear. On July 28th, the gnoll city of Blackburrow in the Qeynos Hills will be revamped as well. The success of these revamps will likely spark similar events in the future.
A lot of people have been asking about the possibility of a new progression server -- one where each expansion must be unlocked in turn by doing certain things from the previous one, usually killing all the raid bosses or completing certain quests. While not promising anything, SOE is discussing this internally. Since soloing in EverQuest is difficult at best, progression servers let the players relive the old content together while providing an inviting place for new players to start the game. Suggestions about making the effects on clicky items of longer duration, or giving them a potion belt-like interface to quickly cast them were met with interest by the devs.
All in all, the general feeling of the chat was that whether you loved or hated the most recent expansion, Secrets of Faydwer, Seeds of Destruction wouldn't be changing the status quo.
[MMORPG]
