eq-ii
Latest
Choose My Adventure: What is this I don't even
Where am I? What's going on? How did I get here? I'm so confused! Oh, uh, hi there. I'm Matt, or as most of you probably know me, the new guy. It looks like I'm next on the chopping block for Choose My Adventure, and I am contractually obligated to say that I was in no way coerced, blackmailed, or threatened into doing this column. Now that that's out of the way, let's get on with it. A bit about my MMO history: I've played everything. All right, super. That being said, I don't always play everything a whole lot, and right now I'm what you call "between games." That's where y'all come in. Help me out of my MMO slump by forcing me at gunpoint to play a game of your choosing. It's that simple! My playstyles vary wildly, and I can easily go from carebear PvE to hardcore PvP to melodramatic RP depending on which game I'm unceremoniously thrust into. So do your worst, Massively readers. If you're interested in knowing the logic behind the games I chose for the poll, read on past the cut. Otherwise, skip straight to the voting bit and be sure to get your votes in by 11:59 p.m. EDT on October 14th. I'll see y'all again next week!
The Tattered Notebook: A 'Top Gear' look at mounts
Previously, I've been writing about the weighty topic of free-to-play vs. live subscription servers in EverQuest II. This week, I'd like to switch gears, both figuratively and literally, to talk about speed. I've recently become a fan of the show Top Gear, a British program(me) that is completely devoted to the love of cars. I don't know why -- I'm not really into cars, and my Volkswagon Passat Wagon hardly qualifies as a car with a soul. But I was watching a recent episode, the one in which Jeremy was driving an Aston Martin across country, and I thought about how far EQII's mount selection has grown. Gone are the days when your choices ranged from a horse with brown spots to a horse with white spots to the really impressive horse with brown and white spots. The only unique mounts back then were the Paladin and Shadow Knight "fun" mounts. Today, there are dozens of different types of mounts that run, leap, glide, and fly. And they're not all just marketplace quick hits; several are easily attained from simple quests or live events. In this week's Tattered Notebook, I'll look at a few of my favorite mounts with an ode to Top Gear.
The Tattered Notebook: What if live servers go free-to-play?
For the past few weeks of The Tattered Notebook, I've explored EverQuest II's Extended server, Freeport, to see what gameplay is like on the other side of the wall that separates it from its subscription-based cousins. This week, I'm going to look at the scenario that all EQII players consider: making all servers free-to-play. It's a very complicated issue, and there are excellent arguments on both sides, but there are a few factors that tend to tip the scales. I don't have nearly enough space in this column to touch on every issue involving a free-to-play transition, so I'm going to focus on a few of the most important ones and give my thoughts on what would need to happen if EQII did indeed go free-to-play on all servers.
The Tattered Notebook: The EQ2X community speaks
This week, I was all set to share my personal experiences as I continue my time on the EverQuest II Extended server. I was going to talk about guide events (or lack of them) and my amazing feats with my newly purchased Wand of Obliteration (I killed a Spectre in Sinking Sands at level 13 but only got about 1300 experience, which is not much more than I was getting for white and yellow cons at my level). But then I realized that if we're really going to roll up our sleeves and tackle the issue of free-to-play, we need to hear from those who exist on the other side of the virtual wall, those who have been silently playing in a world cut off from the rest of the Legacy servers, both in game and out. In this week's Tattered Notebook, I tracked down guild leaders and members of guilds on the Freeport server in order to hear from them what their gaming experience is like. While I had been playing my bronze account for the column, I made a character on my main account in order to have access to chat channels and in-game mail in order to get in touch with them. I spoke to two of the top raiding guilds on the server as well as a large crafting guild. We talked about raiding, the economy, and the community overall. What I uncovered was eye-opening. Read on for their stories.
The Tattered Notebook: Jeremy and I go house-hunting
As I write this, EverQuest II's Game Update 61, The War of Zek, is about to hit live servers. There are several exciting changes on the way, including the itemization revamp, two new scalable dungeons for levels 60-90, a new AA tree for tradeskillers, an AA revamp, and a new questline that gives the Fae and Arasai the ability to fly. For those at the level cap, there is a new dungeon and raid zone that continues the overarching storyline, and all stats are now uncapped. Those who like questing can find new content in Eastern Wastes. And everyone can now record her adventures on YouTube with a new Video Capture system. There's a plethora of new content that will appeal to both new and veteran gamers, but of all the additions, the one that's most intriguing is the new house rating system. Players will now be able to design, showcase, and rank each other's homes. The housing directory will also make it a lot easier to find and visit players' homes, something that was increasingly difficult to do because of all the different types of homes -- and addresses. As it so happens, Massively's Jeremy Stratton, who pens the Runes of Magic column Lost Pages of Taborea, has been spending quite a bit of time over in EQII's Norrath and fell in love with the housing system. This week's Tattered Notebook features Jeremy's impressions of housing in EQII, and then he and I present a few tips for those who are interested in showcasing homes through the new system.
The Tattered Notebook: Down but not out!
I was closely watching our Choose My Adventure poll last week and had a flashback to 1986, when I was torn between rooting for my two favorite teams, the Red Sox and the Mets. There I sat, staring at my Cabbage Patch Red Sox doll and my Cabbage Patch Mets doll, trying to decide which one I would embrace as I tuned in for the first pitch. Whom would I root for? Hurst or Darling? Dewey or Nails? Mookie or Billy Bucks? Carter or Geddy? Boggs or Ho-Jo? I chose the Red Sox, and I'm still trying to get over that memorable World Series. The CMA poll had me right back in that seat, as I found myself rooting for both frontrunners, RIFT and EverQuest II. For EQII fans, the vote tally ended up somewhere under Bill Buckner's cleat, and RIFT ended up winning. Take heart, EverQuest II fans: We have a great game, and like an aged wine, it's getting more buttery with a hint of raspberries and a taste of oak. So raise your glasses because it's time to toast the reasons EverQuest II is a great game!
The Tattered Notebook: Let's play 'Keep it or nuke it!'
As a longtime fan of EverQuest II, I'm often asked by non-EQII-players what the game is like. I usually try to answer by describing the usual game features like combat, crafting, PvP, and the unfortunate inclusion of Gnomes. But the best analogy I can think of for EverQuest II is that it resembles a type of MMO archaeological site. If you play the game long enough, you can begin to see the stratification of the game, as layer upon layer of content and features were heaped onto what was already there. It's something I've admired about the game because the developers have always been willing to try new things and make changes. But the mound of content can be overwhelming to a new player and even confusing to those who have returned after an extended hiatus. With a new round of content having just arrived on servers and even more due in a few months, it's time to consider whether some of the older stuff might need to go, for clarity's sake. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll play a little game called, "Keep it or Nuke it." Read on for my recommendations, and then add yours below.
MMObility: More new games and news from mobile MMOs
Finding mobile MMOs for smartphones, slates, and browsers is not easy. I will often lump games that can run on a basic laptop into this column, but the specific games for those wonderful mobile devices are still rare. Yes, there are quite a few games in the Mafia Wars-style, but I have been scouring the internet to find games that actually resemble "real" MMOs -- you know, the ones that have persistent worlds and interaction with large numbers of players. They're out there, but the faucet is at a slow drip. It must be hard to make mobile games, especially MMOs, especially in a market that is not only new but such a niche. Granted, titles like Order and Chaos Online and Pocket Legends have shown that great success is possible, but in this columns, I like to highlight the little guys and the hidden gems. So click past the cut and I'll share with you a few updates on some of my favorite lesser-known mobile MMOs.
Watch SOE Fan Faire address live on Gamebreaker, or listen in-game
Sony Online Entertainment's annual Fan Faire starts this week, but if you can't make it to Las Vegas for the festivities you'll still have a front row seat. Gamebreaker is teaming up with SOE to provide live pre-show coverage beginning July 7th at 6:00 p.m. PDT. SOE bossman John Smedley's community address will happen an hour later and if you can't check it out on Gamebreaker because you're playing EverQuest or EverQuest II, you can listen in by joining the Vivox-powered Station Voice service. For EQ users, it's as easy as enabling voice chat and clicking on the event button in the UI. For EQII, type: /vcjoinuri confctl-3583@e2p.vivox.com Fan Faire. If you're planning to watch the Gamebreaker livestream, you'll need to register and claim your virtual ticket. Head to the official SOE forums for full instructions. [Update: Corrected pre-show coverage time]
The Tattered Notebook: What I hate about public quests
As I was working on getting back into the swing of things in EverQuest II after the prolonged downtime, I had a moment of anger as I was waiting to start a public quest. For those not familiar, EQII's public quests are similar to those in other games, but there are only two, and they run at rather lengthy, and predictable, timers. So I flew over to Storm Gorge first, only to arrive seconds too late and miss out on the chest. I flew back to the Ring War, only to find that I had 40 more minutes before kick off and the only other person there was an Ogre Shadow Knight standing AFK with the angry mood emote. (Why on earth anyone finds that animation cool is beyond me.) "No problem," I thought, "I'll just use the time to peruse my bags and find my Frost Giant illusion that goes so well with the event." I tapped on my "B" key, and then something horrible happened...
Enter at Your Own Rift: Cry me a river
Yep. That was the sum of my experience with Phase 2 and 3 of RIFT's world event this past weekend. I was unable to log in early to stake my place for the fireworks (I was over in Lexington watching the Red Coats and the Minute Men putting on their own fireworks show). As I learned later from guildmates, it wouldn't have helped even if I were on early, since Trion Worlds took down the servers just before the event, causing a mess of sharpened elbows and broken keyboards as people frantically tried to log back in. It was a white hot mess, and no one will argue that fact. But there are a few interesting observations that can be made from this rather bleak moment. Read on for a look at what Alsbeth's finale can tell us.
The Tattered Notebook: Game improvements and a fundraiser for Japan
With the past week filled with PAX East and then an avalanche of PAX write-ups, I felt myself playing a bit of catch-up in EverQuest II. The playerbase is well into Velious content, so we're starting to hear lots of feedback and see lots of fine-tuning. With two updates this past week and Game Update 60 right around the corner, it's time to do a little spot check on what's going on in EverQuest II. Read on for a closer look at changes to public quests, primal velium shards, and a new daily shard quest. Also, find out how you can help with Japan disaster relief through a new in-game fundraiser.
The Game Archaeologist and the NeverEnding Quest: The highlights
To many veteran MMO players, the opening horns of EverQuest's score are enough to trigger vivid memories, violent hallucinations, and an unstoppable desire to leap through the computer screen to return to Norrath. It all depends, of course, on which MMO you first cut your teeth, and while many gamers would claim titles like World of Warcraft as their first, there is a large contingent who will confess that EQ was their first MMO lover. In fact, before WoW came on the scene in 2004, EverQuest was the gold standard of MMOs for a half-decade -- it was insanely popular, perfectly addictive, and absolutely revolutionary. It was a giant that roamed the virtual lands of those days, a giant that continues to forge new grounds well over a decade from its inception. It was 1995 when John Smedley realized the potential for online gaming and roped in Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover to start putting together an online RPG for SOE. What began as a small project ballooned into a crazy endeavor as the growing team created a monster RPG the likes the world had never seen before -- a game that would forever shape the MMO genre. This month, the Game Archaeologist is going after one of the biggest treasures of recorded history as we unearth the secrets to EverQuest's popularity, legacy, and longevity. The first step on our journey is to look at some of the highlights that made EQ what it is today.
EverQuest II opens beta signups for Destiny of Velious
If you've been looking forward to EverQuest II's upcoming expansion, you've likely been waiting for the announcement that beta testing will commence. Good news -- the wait is over, as the official signup page is now available for players. The slightly less-good news is that there will be no open beta for the expansion, which means that the current registration is your one and only chance to test out Destiny of Velious before it goes live. Applications from any players with an EverQuest II account in good standing will be accepted through January 3rd; the pool will be decided upon and the selectees notified sometime before testing begins on January 5th. Fan Faire attendees get an automatic pass, so long as the account used to register for testing is the same as the account registered for the Fan Faire. It's an opportunity to get into a long-lost area of the world before anyone else, so if you're a player, it's well worth at least trying for the beta.
The Tattered Notebook: An Appeal for PLEX
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. There I was, sporting my Santa Glugg hat and all set to merrily report on all the Frostfell news, when the following two questions were posted on the official EverQuest II forums: Am I going to get banned for trading platinum in exchange for Station Cash items, and can we get platinum on the marketplace? Surprisingly, Senior Producer Dave "SmokeJumper" Georgeson replied to both. Read on to see what he said and why I think it's time for EverQuest II to follow EVE Online's lead and add purchasable, tradable game time or PLEX.
The Tattered Notebook: GU58 reactions and a happy ratonga
So the yin/yang monster has caught up with me this week, and it's taken the form of EverQuest II's latest game update. A few weeks ago, my Ratonga alter-ego was positively crushed under the weight of the awful spell effect changes wrought by EQII's Game Update 57. He was so upset, in fact, that he called me during a meeting and insisted I write a rather ranty column about it, complete with sidebar pictures depicting the gruesome before-and-after details. Happily, GU58 has arrived to right that horrible wrong (as well as add some other cool stuff). Turn the page to see what else the folks at SOE have stirred into the pot for the denizens of Norrath.
Friday Livestream: EverQuest II [Updated]
Thank God it's Friday! And, once again, it's time to celebrate Friday the only way we know how -- by playing a video game and chatting with you lovely readers! This week's selection is EverQuest II, and no, I don't mean EverQuest II Extended. We're going back to the original servers for a session of non-free-to-play questing! We'll embark on a few quest-lines throughout the game, and hopefully we'll give you a sense of why the land of Norrath is still such a great place for adventuring. So if you're up to joining us, click the continued reading button below or the picture above to jump right to our Livestream and watch Seraphina attempt not to make a fool of herself! [Update: The livestream is over, but the recording lives on! Click the picture above or the continued reading link below to check out our tour of EverQuest II!]
Go for the gold: Win a 30 day gold subscription to EverQuest II Extended
It's official: free-to-play EverQuest II is live and out of beta. While we just got done catching up with Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson, we have one more EverQuest II related piece of news up our sleeve. We have 30-day gold subscriptions to give away to EverQuest II Extended! If you've been considering trying out EverQuest II or EQ2X but didn't want to pay a subscription fee or purchase items from the marketplace, then why not take a shot at winning one of the 15 gold subscriptions in today's contest? It only takes a minute (and a Massively.com commenting account) to enter, and you might just walk away with a code for a free month! Interested in entering or learning more? Then skip along after the break!
Destiny of Velious details announced for EverQuest II
This year's Fan Faire has been kind to fans of EverQuest II and EverQuest, with the announcement of new expansions and a mysterious further project for the franchise. The fine team at The EQ2 Wire sat in on a discussion of all of the new features and details of the upcoming expansion, Destiny of Velious, and they transcribed their notes from the event. While the notes are a bit disjointed, they should give players quite a bit to look forward to and a number of tidbits to munch on. If there has to be a downside, it's likely the fact that the Othmir will not be added as a playable race -- in fact, no race will be added to the playable roster. But there's a lot for fans to mull over even with the questions that the team declined to answer. Most interesting is that the expansion's release will be split into two parts, with part two possibly coming via update rather than a separate release. There are also plans for flying mounts in every overland zone of the game, rather than the "some" that was announced earlier. EverQuest II players should promptly take a look at the latest news, as it's going to be an interesting ride.
Wall Street Journal examines SOE's and Turbine's switch to free-to-play
The growing trend toward the free-to-play business model in the MMO industry has caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal. The feature story in the paper's weekly Digital Media section is entitled "First, Give Away the Game," and focuses heavily on some of the recent free-to-play announcements from high-profile MMO developers. Warner Brothers President Martin Tremblay spoke to the WSJ regarding DDO's dramatic turnaround last year as well. "The game was almost dead," said Tremblay, saying that DDO is now "very healthy" financially, thanks to the switch to free-to-play. He stated that the change was "a big reason" for the decision to acquire Turbine, and the reason Warner Brothers plans to follow the business model for other games. "This is the way we believe customers want to consume games in the future." It's an interesting look at the growth of microtransactions and the F2P model in the Western market. The full story can be read on the Wall Street Journal's Digital Network.
