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Legends of Norrath taps June 7th for next loot tournament
Sony Online Entertainment has a jam-packed summer schedule planned for Legends of Norrath players. Oathbreaker is set to release on June 19th. There's the $100,000 World Championship event at Gen Con in August. The Legends of Norrath promo weekend is underway in both Everquest and EverQuest II. If that isn't enough there's another Loot Tournament coming next weekend on June 7th with all participating players receiving promotional cards and in-game loot rewards. The official details follow: As per usual the entry fee is 10 event passes, and tournament play is limited to U.S. residents. Each participant will receive three Legends of Norrath booster packs, a Vahlai Ka'izal, Hateful Schemer promotional card and his or her choice of either an EverQuest Familiar of Severilous or EverQuest II Flaming Skull loot card. The top 25 finishers in each event also win extra booster packs. If you are interested in LoN but don't want to dump a bunch of cash you can download the client and learn to play for free.
The history of EverQuest's city of Qeynos
EverQuest's Norrath is a storied place, with nooks and crannies full of unique characters and interesting lore. Even the smallest part of the Norrathian landscape has a tale to tell. Qeynos - one of the mightiest cities of the realm - is wall to wall with personal tales and unique businesses. The official EQ Players site has a lengthy post up, talking about the history of that fair city from the North Gate all the way to Fish's Ale.The level of depth in the article is a little staggering. It starts with a breakdown of the three zones that make up the city, and moves on into the lineage of Antonius Bayle III (ancestor of EverQuest 2's lady ruler Antonia Bayle). From there, the piece walks through each and every business in the city; a huge number of individualized buildings each with their own little personalities. The official forums offers a place to see players' reactions to the in-game city, and we're always interested to hear your thoughts, as well.
Legends of Norrath Oathbreaker set to launch on June 19th
Sony Online Entertainment sent over word that the fourth set of Legends of Norrath cards are in development, and are slated to be released on the 19th of June. Oathbreaker will complete the ongoing storyline begun by Oathbound, continued by Forsworn, and brought into focus by Inquisitor. The new set is going to be the last released into the gameworld before the $100,000 World Championship event in August. Oathbreaker will include another 250 cards, four new starter sets, and (of course) brand-new loot cards.Other features include new free-to-play features, new scenarios for single-player gaming, the Monk, Coercer, Templar and Beastlord classes, and even a new raid encounter. Chel'drak the dragon turtle sounds like a fitting followup to Chardok, the current raid event in-game. We'll have more details on Oathbreaker as they become available. In the meantime, you can check out our gallery of Oathbreaker's art or read on below the cut for the official press release.%Gallery-23223%
A Vanguard Retrospective
Genda of The Grouchy Gamer was a gamer with a dream; to hitch himself to Sigil's rising star. He created a one-stop shop for all news and information about Vanguard's crafting sphere, joined the Vanguard affiliate program, and gained a unique outsider's perspective to what would become one of the MMO world's most legendary disasters. It's a story of how lack of leadership and vision could turn EverQuest's spiritual successor and the hard work of dozens of talented designers, artists and programmers into tears in a parking lot in Carlsbad, California.The retrospective is in three parts. In the first, Genda tells about Brad McQuaid's departure from SOE and the first news about the game that would become Vanguard, his lunch with the late fantasy artist Keith Parkinson, and Brad's increasing absence from the Sigil offices. The second part tells how many of the best innovations in Vanguard died on the vine because the programmers were busy rewriting all the scripts from the Unreal 3 engine and the increasing trouble within Sigil. The last part brings Vanguard from its troubled beta, through its disastrous launch and acquisition by SOE.
The Daily Grind: What MMO would you buy as a single player game?
Sure, it's fun to hang out with the other players in your favorite MMO, but nothing you do really has a permanent effect in an online game. Wouldn't it be nice, for once, to kill Quarm and have him stay dead? To defeat Illidan, and have that event shake the world forever? To finally clear 0.0 of all the pirate corps, or to once and for all rid Paragon City of those vile gangs? Do you think MMOs should have an offline, single player mode that leads into the online MMO later? Would you want to go it alone, or hire some trusted NPCs to explore lost cities and forbidden dungeons with you -- for a share of the loot? If you walked into your local computer store tomorrow and you saw a new stand-up display filled with boxes of World of Warcraft: Single Player Edition (or insert your game of choice) -- would you buy it?
Behind the Curtain: Hard at Work?
Having been trapped in the Hell that we call flood recovery SLASH redecorating over here in noble Caledonia, I have had precious little time to play anything this past week other than 'World of Pry the cat free from the slowly drying gloss paint Craft', so forgive me is this week's column is a little unfocused. Still, as I was slopping on the third coat of paint on one particularly irritating wall, something MMO-related managed to penetrate the paint fume-induced fog in my brain, and I began to wonder about how the ease and difficulty of accomplishing certain tasks in MMOS – how hard are they really, and should they be easier of harder than they are?
How would you design EverQuest 3?
At the ION '08 conference keynote, John Smedley hinted at another entry in SOE's long-running EverQuest franchise. Since EverQuest's 1999 release, the venerable fantasy game has been seen in such places as game consoles (EQ Online Adventures for the PS2), PDAs (The Pocket EverQuest trilogy for the Pocket PC), Real Time Strategy (Lords of EverQuest for the PC), online collectible card games (Legends of Norrath) and even versions for cell phones (EverQuest: Hero's Call). What could possibly be next for EverQuest?EverQuest on the PC has already split itself between the original game and its sequel, EverQuest II. Releasing a sequel to a still-viable game was a gutsy move, but it fragmented the player base substantially, to the point where neither game, by itself, can challenge newer games such as Lord of the Rings Online. It's this blogger's opinion that SOE won't make that mistake again -- any EverQuest 3 would not be for the PC. It's not a huge leap of faith to assume that the next version of EQ would run on the PlayStation 3. SOE recently shifted from Sony Pictures to Sony Computer Entertainment America, makers of the PS3 and publishers of its first-party software. Beyond that, when Smedley mentioned to the Seattle Times that the PS3 would be a strong platform for MMOs, he certainly very likely had this game (and others we don't know about) in mind.SOE has made some mistakes with EverQuest through the years, but has also had some huge successes and innovations. If you were an EQ3 designer, and all you had in front of you was a PS3 and a blank whiteboard, what features would you include to knock the socks off the players? Customizable quests and raids? A Steampunk theme? Faster, twitch-based gameplay? The ability to make your own cities? How would you make EQ a worthy competitor to today's great crop of MMOs?
ION 08: Focusing on the community manager
One of the strengths of MMOs are their communities. The stronger a community around an MMO is the more likely that game is to last into the foreseeable future. "Successfully Managing a Community Emergency" was a panel at ION 08 full of the people in charge of the communities we all take part in. Fittingly enough all of these men and women have their own friendships based on their shared experiences as well, which makes for a kind of interesting mirror effect. It was like watching the same group of people who post on these forums talk about them -- except with a bit more maturity than you'd expect. Though don't get me wrong, there was a lot of goofing about as they tackled different forum emergencies.The panel consisted of Katie Postma (Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment/Stargate Worlds), Victor Wachter (Cryptic Studios/Champions Online), Alan Crosby (Sony Online Entertainment), Meghan Rodberg (Turbine/Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online) and was moderated by Craig Dalrymple (Sony Online Entertainment/EverQuest, EverQuest 2, Free Realms).%Gallery-22796%
Help with panel suggestions for SOE Fan Faire
Over at the EQ developer blog, your help is needed. EverQuest senior producer Clint Worley has made a post asking for suggestions on panels for SOE's Fan Faire, to be held in August. He mentions that things like spells and content are normally covered, but he is hoping that some of the people attending will have interesting ideas for other panels to throw in the hat.Even if you're not planning on attending, it's worth sharing any cool suggestions that you might have, as the news from these events is usually covered by your favorite sites anyway. Visit the dev blog to add your ideas to the growing list.
What's coming for Mythos
Mythos might have released as it is today -- a fairly small, but fun, MMO in the mold of Diablo 2, by the original creators of that legendary game. Overhead gameplay, point and click, talent trees, but more free form -- no plot aside from that given by the quests. You played Mythos a dungeon at a time. Mythos is almost entirely instanced. You'll hardly ever see another player outside of a city -- very rarely at one of the hubs in the countryside.They're changing all that. The countryside will no longer be randomized; it will become a static world as in World of Warcraft or EverQuest. In old Mythos, you got a quest for a dungeon, and that dungeon would suddenly appear on your map. You'd walk to it and have it entirely to yourself, finish the quest, and the dungeon would disappear. Now, that dungeon will remain a fixed part of the world. The random dungeons that you could previously buy maps for, will now be accessed through special runestones that will teleport you and your party straight to it.
Card players prep for a $100,000 Legends of Norrath tourney
The yearly gaming convention Gen Con is a fantasy world unto itself. A 'home away from home' for tabletop RPG players, board gamers, and miniatures fanatics, the Indianapolis-based event attracts thousands of nerdfolk from across the country. It's also a mecca for card gamers, and has traditionally been one of the crowning moments in the yearly tour circuits. The World of Warcraft TCG has its National Championship slated for that weekend, and Magic the Gathering traditionally offers huge winnings to Gen Con attendees.Sony Online Enterainment continues its serious support for the Legends of Norrath online TCG by announcing a $100,000 prize purse for the winners of their own Gen Con event. Championship qualifiers have been held regularly for the last few months, and there are still three chances to make it into the big show. Even if you don't make it in via the online events, players at the show will still be able to qualify by participating in duels on the Thursday and Friday of convention week. The top individual prize to the first place winner is $25,000. Attendees will also get the chance to play against the new Ralkor Bloodmoon raid deck. Groups that win against their evil opponent are promised 'phat lewt'. Make sure to give him one for us if you make it out there.
The history of EverQuest's Surefall Glade
EverQuest's long and storied history includes a lot of interesting nooks and crannies. One of the most influential - especially for the nature-worshiping classes of EQ - is the mini-zone of Surefall Glade. The game's official site has a lengthy review of the area, which lies between the Jaggedpine Forest and Qeynos Hills.The area is steeped in EverQuest lore, home of guildmasters for rangers and druids, and one of the most idyllic settings in the game. As Gherig, a poster on the official forums offers: "Surefall Glades is the best town in all of Everquest. You have a lake, you have a Cabin litterally ON the lake. You can fish. You can go hiking. They sell beer !! You have woodland girls porting in left and right. You have a archery range. Its like Ranger Shangrila."
One Shots: Home again in Greater Faydark
Once upon a time, in an MMO not so far away, this blogger used to play a Wood Elf Druid in EverQuest. As such, there's always been a soft spot for the starting lands of the Wood Elves. What does this have to do with today's One Shots, you ask? Today's lovely screenshot comes courtesy of a recent visit to the improved lands just outside of Kelethin in EQII. Specifically, this is a screen of The Nursery, where new Fae (and Wood Elves and several other races) come into the lands of Norrath. While some do not care for this area, quite a few of our regular gaming group have found it refreshing and fun to wander through the updated version of what used to be our old stomping grounds. It's like being home again -- only prettier -- and you don't have to watch out for those nasty trains to Orc Lift!Do you have a screenshot of a lovely newbie area that just impressed you from the start? How about a "new nostalgia" shot like this? Whatever the case is, whatever your game, we want to see your screenshots! Send those to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with whatever information you'd like to give us about it. %Gallery-9798%
TurpsterVision: Return of the King
Howdy folks, it's great to be home. Sorry for my prolonged absence. I would love to tell you why I wasn't able to produce the internet's favorite 'funny' over the past 3 weeks, but unfortunately if I told you I would have to kill you -- and I am far too busy "killin' mofo's" in GTA 4 to have time to kill you all as well! So down to business, review time, and let me just state that I don't like giving bad reviews -- not because they can upset fans or developers, but because it means I've had a bad time reviewing the game in the first place. EverQuest was the granddaddy of them all before World of Warcraft came along. EverQuest II had a lot to live up to, and for this mild-mannered video blogger, it just couldn't quite manage it. WoW was released shortly after and this probably stopped EQ2 ever becoming fun for me; I like having people to play with.Check out the video, make your own mind up about the game, you are all far more intelligent than me, so I will trust your opinions and past experiences over my ever so limited (but ever so painful) trial of the game.
Age of Conan's raiding treadmill
Race to the level cap. If you're too slow, you lose. If your gear sucks, you lose MORE. The people who got there first have your number and know where you live. You finally struggle to max level -- but you need to raid to get the gear to continue. The game may be built around PvP, but you have to raid in order to get the gear to PvP. You need to raid to get the gear to do more raiding. Then comes the first expansion, and all your old gear is trash. Rinse and repeat. Thus goes the raiding treadmill. Invented by EverQuest and polished to a mirror-finish by World of Warcraft, the raiding treadmill is no stranger to MMOs.Does it really have to happen again? To see all there is to see and partake in all that can be partook, must we jump on the treadmill and, Red Queen-like, run as fast as we can, just to stay in one place? In a recent blog post, Keen looks at the Age of Conan news that performing in the top echelons of PvP in the Border Kingdoms will depend on grinding out mini-games and doing a fair amount of raiding for the gear to compete. In the end, he decides to purchase the game, despite indications he will not be able to fully enjoy the game. Must modern games still reward fanatical devotion so highly? Is there a way in which casual and hardcore players can both enjoy all the game? We'll know in May if Age of Conan's PvE-gameplay can satisfy gamers who don't wish to climb upon the raiding treadmill.
MMOS X: Is CrossOver a solution?
MMOS X is a bi-weekly column dedicated solely to gaming on the Macintosh natively. "Running Boot Camp or Parallels" is not an option here. This column is for people who want to get the most out of their Mac gaming, as meager as it is. In the header blurb to this column, I state that "Running Boot Camp or Parallels is not an option here." I stand by that still. I don't think that dual-booting or loading XP within a virtual desktop is the solution any of us want. Dual booting takes up valuable hard drive space that I could use to store large media files of consenting adults. Running Parallels throws another layer of processor overhead when I run XP within Parallels within OS X. Not to mention Parallels' DirectX support is poor. Note: I haven't tried VMWare's Fusion, which is the competitor to Parallels.A week or so ago, our own Mike Schramm wrote up a little piece on TUAW about CrossOver Games. CrossOver Games lets you run some Windows games within an emulator. It's not a pure virtual environment like Parallels, so you don't have the overhead of running two OSs. When I read Mike's piece, my first thought was, "huh." My second thought was, "Huh, I wonder if there's a middle ground here somewhere." At the risk out sounding like I'm eating my own words, CrossOver might be enough of a compromise that doesn't involve buying a copy of Windows to game on a Mac.
Legends of Norrath Chardok raid decks start dropping this weekend
If you're in EverQuest or EverQuest II this weekend, you'll get a little extra present alongside the usual money and loots. Cards for the free-to-play fantasy card game Legends of Norrath regularly drop in the games, but every once in a while Sony Online Entertainment offers up a special treat. This weekend is one of those times, with the new Chardok raid deck cards dropping all throughout the game. The cards start their appearance in the game at 2pm PST today, and will continue through 2pm PST on May 27th. You've got more than a month to grab as many of the 31 cards in the deck as you can.According to the events calendar there are also Championship Qualifiers this weekend. Several rounds of play are happening through Sunday if you're interested in participating. At the end of the weekend's play the top two places will have a Match Play Constructed Deck playoff to determine the winner for the ultimate prize: $500 USD, a "Bye" into the 2008 Legends of Norrath Championships, paid hotel and air travel to Gen Con Indy, 4-day Gen Con Indy badge, and the winner's likeness on an upcoming Legends of Norrath game card. And second place is $750. So ... not bad for a weekend's work.Good luck, card players.
The next EverQuest 2 expansion is ...
The moon was so clear. It was alive with energy flowing through every part of it. Then it was as if something in the center broke loose and leaped outward, like a bird of prey hatching from an egg. I couldn't turn away. It was so beautiful. -- excerpt from The Shattering.Cyanbane posted a cryptic note on EQ2-Daily.com this morning. "EverQuest 2 - The Shadow of Odyssey? Those f'ing Everlings..." He'd done it. His USPTO-fu was strong. SOE had trademarked the names of their next expansions for their EverQuest franchise. EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction for the older game now entering its tenth year; and EverQuest II: The Shadow of Odyssey for its sequel.So what is the Shadow of Odyssey? There are so many unexplored plot threads in the Norrath of EQ2, and the title is so vague, that it could be almost anything. Still, we have a few good ideas. If we had to put money on it, we'd bet that the shadow in question has something to do with the Void, and the mysterious Shadowmen. Or, Odyssey could refer to the long-lost homeland of the Erudites, the magic-weaving spellsmiths of yore. And then there's the possibility everyone's been mulling ... the one obvious if you look into Norrath's night sky. What if that shadow is the one cast by the shattered moon? What if Shadow of Odyssey will send us back to Luclin? Click on through for a discussion of what "The Shadow of Odyssey" might suggest about the next expansion.
What's your favorite kind of dungeon?
What's your favorite kind of dungeon? Do you like instances so common in the World of Warcraft where it's just you and a few trusted friends alone against the millions of slavering enemies? Or are you the social type who prefers the EverQuest-style open dungeons where people come as much to chat and show off their latest gear as to kill the minions of darkness? Perhaps a combination -- a dungeon with a open portion that leads to instances as in EverQuest 2's Old Sebilis? Or heck, maybe a weird combination of all of the above. Relmstein takes a look through the history of dungeons in MMOs and how, over the years, the dungeon experience has been extended to take into account the many ways people play their games.
SOE's Fan Faire heads back to Vegas for 2008
Imperial-paid bounty hunters, elves, cat-men, sci-fi soldiers, elves, secret agents, and yet more elves are already donning their garb and readying their fake ears; Sony Online Entertainment has announced that this year's Fan Faire event will be held from August 14th to August 17th at the Las Vegas Hilton. It took some time to establish this date, obviously, but it sounds like it's going to be a good time. The usual live events, costume contests, receptions, banquets, and developer roundtables are already in the works. This year's event will feature more looks ahead to in-development Sony Online titles, which we assume means The Agency and Free Realms. There will also be a community address, the second in as many years, from SOE President John Smedley.Every year the community team tops themselves with game-specific events. This year the in-development title out at SOE-Seattle, The Agency, is listed as one of the games on tap for live events. Interestingly, Free Realms is not. While there aren't any details on the site yet, the team already has their work cut out for them. We've been eying up this summer with trepidation: July has Comic-Con and E3, while August has Leipzig, Dragon*Con, PAX, and Gen Con, with Gen Con running opposite Fan Faire itself. Convention attending gamers, we salute you; you've got some hard choices to make.
