Freeport-revamp
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EverQuest II's 8th anniversary: Celebrating a pivotal year
What a difference a day makes. And what a difference 365 days make! Every EverQuest II anniversary retrospective notes a number of changes, tweaks, and additions to the lands of Norrath, but none can boast the depth and breadth of changes that have happened over the previous 12 months. Between adding brand-new systems and altering the very landscape itself, Sony Online Entertainment has changed how players relate to -- and even access -- the game in fundamental ways. What's new? For starters, new lands, new sandbox features, a new payment model, and a new class have all appeared over the course of this past year. But that's not all; no one can accuse SOE of just sitting on its laurels because the changes keep a-comin' at seemingly ever increasing speeds. Not only does this anniversary sit literally on the cusp of even more major dramatic alterations (the dust's hardly settled from SOE Live and the ninth expansion, with all of its content, launches in just five days), but two innovations have slid in right under the wire! Whether you've been away or you just want to reminisce, let's take a moment to look over the past year in EverQuest II before we lose ourselves in Chains of Eternity.
EverQuest II shares planned updates and changes for June
Although news of late for SOE's flagship game EverQuest II has been focused on the soon-to-be-released SOEmote, the company spilled the beans about other plans in the works for the month of June, including a few changes players have been clamoring for. One bit of news that many players have been anticipating is the release of the ability to play their own characters in the dungeon maker instead of slipping into the skin of other creatures; this feature will open on the test server in the next week or so. Another change already on the test server is the addition of icons to NPC names that flag them as quest updates. Some zones will also get some loving: The two starting zones of Darklight Woods and Halas will receive a new coat of polish, from improved ambiance to new armor sets. More details about the much anticipated Qeynos revamp were also offered; unlike Freeport's revamp, Qeynos's revamp will see the city split into two separate zones. To the disappointment of many players, the neighborhoods will disappear except as quest instances. There will also be improvements made to PvP and the battlegrounds and updates to the core technology. For further details, check out the official announcement.
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite zone redesign?
Revamps, redesigns, and restructuring are facts of life when it comes to MMORPG fandom, and if you play these games long enough, sooner or later you'll encounter a portion of your favorite game that has been altered significantly. Often these alterations take the form of class, skill, or ability changes, but occasionally a dev team will up and decide to remake part of the game world itself. Such was the case last month with EverQuest II's famed Freeport locale, and the sprawling capital city now features new textures, new quests, and seamless transitions between its various quarters (i.e., no more loading screens). The lengthy list of Freeport changes comprise one of the best revamps I've experienced in many years of playing MMOs, and I can't wait to see what the EQII devs have in store for Qeynos. What about you, Massively folk? What's your favorite zone revamp? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
SOE releases EQII Age of Discovery expansion, Freeport revamp, F2P model
There are big days, and there are big days, and today is definitely the latter when it comes to EverQuest II. First of all, as producer Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson says in his newly minted producer's letter, "today we stop requiring any sort of payment." Yes, free-to-play is here (again, and across the board this time). That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. Today also marks the introduction of the much-ballyhooed Freeport revamp along with the rest of Game Update 62, and oh yeah, did we forget to mention the Age of Discovery expansion? If so, the short version of AoD includes the dungeon-maker tool, mercenaries, the Beastlord class, and a ton of customization and collectible updates sure to make your stay in Norrath even more enjoyable. We could tell you about 20 additional alternate advancement points, a new launchpad and website, new social networking integration, and more, but then you'd have no reason to check out the official forums for yourself. Check out the official AoD trailer after the break.
The Tattered Notebook: What's free and what's not?
Tuesday, December 6th is going to be a very busy day for the EverQuest II team. The devs are launching an expansion, patching a game update, and performing the transition to make all servers free-to-play, simultaneously. And just as the dust settles from all of that, Frostfell is due to begin shortly after. With the stream of news announcements over the past month, there's bound to be confusion over what's free and what you'll need to pay for. Even veteran players have had questions about the game update versus the expansion, so in this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll give a rundown of what's what and even add in some handy links for more details.
EverQuest II drops Age of Discovery's NDA
Here's the invisible key: You can unlock and unzip your lips to finally talk freely about the next EverQuest II expansion, Age of Discovery. Sony Online Entertainment has released us from our pinky swear promising to keep mum on the project, and now everyone is free to share their experiences. There are a couple exceptions to the NDA dropping, however. Testers still may not share anything that's being posted in the beta forums, and no screenshots taken during the testing period may be made public. Age of Discovery is launching on December 6th. and includes many new features to the game, including the Beastlord class, the Freeport revamp, and the dungeon maker tool. Oh, and there's also a small matter of the entire game going free-to-play, but you knew that already. Because you didn't zip your ears closed.
SOE talks Everquest II's Freeport revamp
EverQuest II's new Age of Discovery expansion is coming later this month, and Sony Online Entertainment is introducing the first of its major city revamps along with it. Freeport gets the extreme home makeover treatment in Game Update 62, and though the city will still be recognizable to long-time players, a new SOE Q&A hints that the changes will be substantial. Art director Timothy "Haohmaru" Heydelaar talks a bit about architectural and layout changes, the city's color palette, and the impetus behind the revamp itself. "Now that Lucan has returned, he has exercised his power by turning Freeport into a proud, magnificent city in a bid to attract more followers and to show off his renewed power. This brought about the need for the art changes and coincided with a lot of work the design team was going to do. We also wanted to remove zoning, like players have asked for as well," Heydelaar explains.
The Tattered Notebook: Mercenary or player, which would you choose?
If you're an EverQuest II fan, the one big takeaway out of SOE's Fan Faire is that the team is focused on addressing those long-time demands that players have been patiently hoping for. That's why we'll have Beastlords, a class that was so taboo you couldn't even post the name on the official forums. And it's why we're seeing an item revamp that now includes all items from levels 20-90. So you'd think that players would rejoice when they heard the news of mercenaries, an in-game feature designed to make it easier for players to make and fill a viable group, or get things done that they couldn't do alone. The response so far, though, has been the equivalent of a needle being dragged across an LP record at a dance party. Why the tepid response? In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll look at why these swords for hire are causing so much trouble.
EverQuest II Freeport and Beyond panel video released
Earlier this week our own Karen Bryan brought you the details on all the EverQuest II happenings from last week's Fan Faire 2011. Today, EQ2Wire has added some lengthy video coverage to the mix in the form of an hour-long recording of the initial EQII dev panel entitled Freeport and Beyond. The proceedings are captained by producer Dave Georgeson, and the panel features more info than one news post can adequately cover. The highlights include Game Update 61 (to be launched in late August), the new dungeon creator functionality, itemization and AA revamps, the addition of AA functionality to the crafting game, the Age of Discovery expansion, and of course, the Freeport revamp. That's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, so grab your favorite beverage and click past the cut to view the hour-long video.
The Tattered Notebook: Fan Faire knowns and unknowns
As we inch closer to Fan Faire, speculation begins to mount about what news EverQuest II fans will finally get to hear. Last year, players were smarting from the announcement of EQII Extended, the free-to-play server, and it seemed to deflate the mood among EQII Fan Faire attendees. This year, EQII is full of knowns and unknowns, to borrow a phrase from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. We have known knowns, which are things that we know we know. And then there are known unknowns, or things that we know but we actually don't know. Lastly, there are unknown unknowns, which are things that we don't know we don't know. That's where things are in EQII currently. Confused? Me too! This week's Tattered Notebook will look at what we know and what we hope to find out more about at this year's Fan Faire.
The Tattered Notebook: Dave Georgeson on EQII's Children of War
Even though Destiny of Velious has only been out for a couple of months, EverQuest II is about to see some big improvements and new content in the upcoming Game Update 60, Children of War. Despite the recent cuts to Sony Online Entertainment's staff, the team working on EQII seems more focused than ever, and over the past couple of weeks, fans have received a constant stream of information on both near- and long-term plans for the game. In this week's Tattered Notebook, Senior Producer Dave "SmokeJumper" Georgeson was kind enough to take some time to talk about the future of EverQuest II. In a bit of a surprise, he discusses how the team will continue to release Velious content in the form of regular updates rather than a larger part II as originally planned. He also gives some detail on highlights from the next update as well as future plans. Multiple housing, deity changes, the Freeport revamp -- Georgeson sheds some light on all that and more. Read on for the interview!
