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Holiday bonus XP weekends in EQ and EQII
SOE's customer support team may be off for a bit of holiday time, but the dev teams have given Norrathian players a nice big gift to tide us over. Both of the big fantasy titles in Sony Online Entertainment's lineup are offering bonus XP weekends for the holidays! EverQuest II players will see a 20% bump in XP this weekend, through 10:00 AM PST on Monday, December 24th. The second bonus experience weekend will begin Friday, December 28th at approximately 3:00 PM PST and last until approximately 10:00 AM PST on Monday, December 31st. EverQuest players have even more to celebrate, as their Frostfell bonus of 25% xp lasts from now all the way through to 1:59 pm PST, Tuesday, January 1, 2008.And remember: if you haven't picked up Vanguard in a while your account has been re-opened all the way through to January 20th! Go have a happy holiday on SOE, then.
Under The Hood: Running Out Of Time
It's very debatable, but the biggest investment into any MMO is time. It's one thing to just pay to play the game, as there are several per-month services you can pay for, such as cable television, or car insurance, or sometimes simple things like a book club. But no normal service, however, require both the time and monetary investment like an MMO does. They are designed from the ground up to be full of grinding, time-wasting, and slow experience gain. But why is that?
Overview of EverQuest's task system
The official site for EverQuest has up a new informational page on the Task system. Intended to fill the niche taken up by traditional quests in other games, Tasks are variable-length adventures that give Norrathian heroes a sense of purpose and a handsome reward. Introduced back in the Omens of War expansion, the guide runs down the different types of Tasks, where you can reliably find them, and a bit about the Task interface.Tasks are primarily used for single person quests. These are intended to be completed solo and usually have a reward of experience and coin. You cannot share tasks with other characters, though if two characters have tasks that require similar or identical things they can be completed at the same time. You can only have one task or shared task at a time. Most tasks can be obtained from taskmasters found throughout Norrath. Common locations include home cities for lower-level tasks, as well as higher-level areas like Butcherblock Mountains, Dreadlands, Overthere, Swamp of No Hope, Toxxulia Forest and more.
Under The Hood: Going Live
Live events. Where developer interacts with players. Traditionally, this has been a pretty contested battlefield, ranging from forums, to chat rooms, to game masters. Where it really comes together, however, is in the classic legacy of live events, where developers and game masters interact with the players in-game. But not only that, they assist in furthering the story, or fleshing out the game world. But where did live events come from?
Save Santug this Frostfell with Legends of Norrath
SoE is really keeping Legends of Norrath players busy, with all of the special events as of late, and today we've learned of yet another. LoN is getting involved in the Frostfell fun with the "Saving Santug" promotion. Players are tasked with defeating the mean Grinnuch to free Santug Claugg. Although anyone would surely save poor old Santug out of the goodness of their heart, you'll be rewarded for your efforts with Santug's own promotional card.As well as the Grinnuch event, any participant in a Holiday Bonus Tournament will get a Santug's Stocking pack that includes items randomly selected from a list (full list after the break), and not all of these items are in-game -- you can score yourself a Legends of Norrath poster, or one of five framed and signed sets of the Jim Lee Oathbound cards. The winner of the each Holiday Bonus Tournament will get a foil version of one of three Santug Claugg promotion cards, one of which is a Lump of Coal with no stats -- nice.On top of all this, log in on the 25th of December for an extra special stocking stuffer surprise. The Saving Santug promotion will bring Frostfell cheer to LoN players from December 21st through January 2nd.
LoN championship qualifiers begin this weekend -- $5000 prize pool and more
The first in a series of qualifers for the 2008 Legends of Norrath Championship will take place this weekend. On Saturday the 15th of December, from 10:00AM PST, players of LoN can participate in tournaments to win a spot in the Championship that will take place at Gen Con Indy.But there's a lot more at stake than just the Championship entry -- the total prize pool is worth around USD$5000 and is spread among the top 16 players from the weekend's contests. Aside from the Championship spot, first place will get $500, paid air travel to Gen Con Indy, a 4-day Gen Con Indy badge, and -- brace yourself for this one -- their likeness on a new LoN card!The rest of the players ranked up to 16th will get a share in the remaining cash, with second place taking a sizeable $750. Unlike some of the recent LoN tournaments, this one will not have an entry fee, so if you fancy your chances then keep this weekend open. The full event details, and a list of the prizes, are posted after the break.
New loot cards revealed for Legends of Norrath expansion Forsworn
Last month we reported on a new expansion for Legends of Norrath by the name of Forsworn. We now know that Forsworn will be released on the 19th of December, and leading up to this date, the EQ2players site is showing off the loot cards that the expansion will bring for both EverQuest and EverQuest II.The feature shows off every loot card, including this sexy pale rhino mount, that will be introduced, 44 in total split evenly between EQ1 and EQ2. As a reminder of some other major features being brought to LoN in Forsworn, there will be 2 on 2 multiplayer, raids involving a group of players bringing their decks and taking on an NPC boss together, and some new single player scenarios. If you want to brush up your skills prior to the expansion, or beef up your card library, there is a tournament going that offers some special cards and booster pack prizes -- but it's only for this weekend, so hurry along if you want to be involved.
Firiona Vie tournament this weekend for Legends of Norrath
EQ2Players informs us of yet another Legends of Norrath tournament this weekend. The theme this time around is Firiona Vie, and every participant in the weekend's tournaments will receive the Firiona Vie, Guardian of Growth card. Everyone will also get a choice between two different loot cards, one for EverQuest and the other EverQuest II, and each of those result in a shapeshift illusion item that buffs the player with a damage shield.The tournament begins at 7:00AM PST on Saturday and concludes at 9:00PM PST on Sunday. The overall winner will get 9 Oathbound booster packs, and the other top-ranking entrants will get between 8 and 4, but everyone who enters will receive 3 packs. So in the end, everyone will get at the minimum 3 booster packs, the Firiona Vie card, and their choice of one of two loot cards -- just for participating. Not too shabby. The fee for entering this contest is 10 event passes.
The Daily Grind: To forum, or not to forum?
It seems like no matter where you go on this World Wild Web, you can't help but stumble across all manner of trolls. Out of game, you can hear the echoes of "qq moar nub" as they rampage around. Indeed, this is why we suspect some games are loath to spend man-hours creating and manning forums, such as Tabula Rasa's stance on them. As routinely surfing forums on the lookout for news is part of our job, we can't help but notice that some companies do a fantastic job of keeping their forums under control, such as the CoX team. Other forums such as the WoW official forums are an absolute epidemic of trolls that seem to be far more pronounced than just about anywhere else. Now while we would definitely agree that the WoW forums undoubtedly suffer from more trolls due to sheer population density in comparison to other titles, we can't help but wonder... What would it be like if game companies opted to move all official forums to player-run and maintained setups and just popped in like Tabula Rasa has? Would it make more sense to do so and let the communities police themselves? Some of the player-run forums we read, such as different EQ, EQ2, and even WoW resources, seem to do a very good job of policing themselves and keeping the trolls to a minimum. There also isn't backlash into the games overall as they're completely separate. If you do something stupid on a player-run forum, you simply get banned more often than not. The trolls can't argue that they're a paying subscriber and deserve special treatment. (Not that it tends to hold a lot of weight on the WoW forums when you throw that around after a CM has gotten to you.) There are also generally lots of folks who will volunteer time just from the sheer love of the game, getting nothing in return save for a troll-free environment in which to talk about their favorite games. So this morning we ask you. Is it better to let the players run the forums, or the game companies? Do you think that player-run forums tend to be, on the whole, better than official forums, or do you really think it depends on the title involved? Are there any benefits you see with one over the other, or does it all perhaps just come down to a question of official forums needing more staff to deal with the trolls in their communities?
Extra Legends of Norrath drops, new cards this weekend
SOE is promoting its new-ish Legends of Norrath online card game with the not-cleverly-named "Legends of Norrath Promo Weekend." The event begins at 2:00 PM PST this Friday (November 30th) and ends at 11:59 PM PST on Sunday (December 2nd).Players of the game both new and old will "enjoy an increased rate of card pack drops." Additionally, two nice new cards called "Laricel the Gatekeeper" and "Skyshield Maiden" will be obtainable only this weekend. So if you're a hardcore collector in the game, you'd better get to playin'! If you're not already familiar with Legends of Norrath, it's a trading card game playable inside EverQuest and EverQuest II as well as on its own through the Station portal. Players can receive special drops in both games that add cool new cards to their decks. Think of the card game in Final Fantasy VIII, only, y'know ... less lame.
Ten Ton Hammer's guide to EQ2's pantheon of deities
Both EverQuest and EverQuest II let players choose deities for their characters. This feature's primary purpose in the first EverQuest was facilitation of role-playing, but in EQ2 a player's choice of deity (a feature added in the Echoes of Faydwer expansion) has gameplay implications as well. It's a really cool idea which was born in the old text MUD days but which finds only rare application in modern games.For those who play EQ2 and want to explore Norrath's vast pantheon of deities, Ten Ton Hammer has a terrific guide. It lists all the deities with descriptions and lists of their alignments, the quests you can do in their names, and the miracles they'll grant you.Walk with Mithaniel Marr, my friend.
EverQuest: Secrets of Faydwer downloadable maps
With any new expansion comes the fun of running through a new area for the first time. Of course, this also generally involves getting horribly lost, or running smack into things that may prove to be a smidge too powerful for you. As we understand the pain and horror involved in losing experience, we wanted to bring to light a great map pack available for the new EverQuest expansion, Secrets of Faydwer.Obsqura (the Friendless Lizard) and Naedion from the guild Raging Fury on the Antonius Bayle server have taken a great deal of time and care in creating these maps -- and making them available to the public for download. For those who are not familiar with how EQ maps work, you'll need to download them and unzip them into your /maps directory in the EverQuest folder on your drive. (And for those concerned about malicious code, you'll be glad to know that EQ maps are purely text files.) Many thanks to them for doing this for the EQ community at large![via EQvault]
Zhengtu Online holds 1 million concurrent users
According to the Star Online, Zhengtu Online is one of only three MMOs whose userbase exceeds one million players at peak times, the other two being Journey to the West and, of course, World of Warcraft. It goes without saying that American companies would do well to do some research into the Asian markets to see what it is that they're doing over there to be so successful; it can't be a coincidence that 2 of the 3 top-played MMOs are Asian.Having said that, what, exactly is the appeal? Are these other two games simply the best of the breed, as WoW seems to be (die-hard EQ, Guild Wars, EVE Online fans can climb off your soapboxes right now; I'm just going by statistics here)? Are there congruences between the three? Similarities in gameplay? If either of the other two were to come over to these shores, would WoW suddenly find some serious competition? Have any of you played these games, O Faithful Readers? Leave a comment![Via the Star Online]
The Daily Grind: Are death penalties overkill?
This is one topic that never fails to wind up as a huge discussion any time we get together with gamer friends. Some of us who have been around since the early days of MMOs remember the harsh death penalties that many of these games included. If you died in EverQuest, you would lose experience -- lose too much, and you could lose levels. You also had to run back to your corpse either without any gear on unless you could find a friendly player to rez you. Ahh, the memories. Nowadays, death is disposable in games like World of Warcraft. You get killed by another player in front of Karazhan? No big deal. Just rez and head back. In games like WoW, death is less of an impact than it is an annoyance. It represents a whole 30 seconds you're going to have to spend running back from the conveniently-placed graveyard. Of course, you also resurrect with all your gear on you. And then there are they hybrids like City of Heroes; you don't ever lose enhancements or inspirations, but you do lose some experience when you die. Some people feel like this is a good solid trade-off. It teaches you to be less of a loose-cannon since death does have some impact on your character. On the other hand, it's fairly easy to work off debt in CoX, and you never have to chase down your corpse to either resurrect, or to retrieve your items; you just start in the hospital or your SuperGroup's base. So what do you think? Are the newer no-guilt, no-penalty deaths best, or were the older ones the best? Do you think death penalties teach players to think over strategy before rushing in, or do you think they'd do that anyway? What do you think of the hybrid systems that cause you to lose experience, but not gear? Which game has the best system in your opinion?
One Shots: Were you there when...
Ahh, bragging rights. In-game events give us the ability to say "I was there when..." We've almost all seen one larger world event at some point in our gaming lives. The above World of Warcraft picture, as my personal example, was from the night that Ahn'Quiraj opened on my server. While there were most definitely huge server crashes, we braved the worst of it and saw our way through to wind up staring at an enormous collection of Anubisath, poised and ready to stomp our faces in. (For the record, they did exactly that a few moments later -- but what can you expect from a Mage, a Priest and a Druid attacking them for fun?) As we're looking for more One Shots submissions, I hereby challenge you, good readers -- send in your bragging rights screen shots and stories! Were you there when Morpheus walked among us in The Matrix Online? Do you have screens of when Luclin came in EverQuest? Were you around for the opening of the Dark Portal in WoW? Send them along to us at oneshots@massively.com, and you could find your screen-shot and story featured here for all to see! %Gallery-9798%
The Daily Grind: So many games, not much time - What are you playing?
It's a good week to have a habit -- a gaming habit. *twitches* Over a bazillion games launched last week on various gaming devices and contraptions. Button mashers everywhere basked in a new shiny flickering game glow, getting a jump start on that lustrous pale skin reflection. I'm already transparent. This Gamingpalooza most likely prevented thousands from functioning in work society at some point during the week -- at least some of you admitted it! Is it a strange coincidence that so many games and patches released on November the 13th? Normally, I would chalk-up World of Warcraft's patch dropping on the same day as two EverQuest expansions as cruel and evil; albeit, one hell of a marketing maneuver to get players that were possibly thinking about flipping to EverQuest II to check out the tasty patch changes instead. But, so many games launched this week, so I'll crumple up my tin-foil hat until my next crack-pot theory emerges. I'm still piecing my head back together over all this MMOG craziness, patches, expansions, console goodness. Maybe, you aren't interested in any MMOGs right now, and you are dabbling in those nefarious console titles like Mario Galaxy or Mass Effect. Maybe you aren't interested in anything at all and waiting patiently for AoC or WAR! So, what's up with you? Go ahead and tell us what games you are playing and perhaps what you are focusing on, that alt, beating the game, crafting? Maybe you are like me and one MMOG is never enough, I'll be busy doing some pew-pew space joobie off angels in EVE (piloting a brand-spanking new ship today), and I'll do some plundering in PotBS. I might hit up some EQ2, but I doubt there will be enough time -- never is.
Faydwer: EQ's 14th expansion is live
Yesterday, Sony Online Entertainment took the EverQuest Live servers down for a Game Update in order to launch Secrets of Faydwer. Now that it's live, though, are you ready for it?Obviously, being a Massively successful EverQuester, you took the opportunity to review the beta tour, and I'm sure you've visited the Faydwer gallery, but have you spent some time looking at the luscious screen shots and glorious movies SOE made available from its main page?If you have, and you're looking for more information on the Secrets of Faydwer expansion, don't forget to check out the EQ Player's page dedicated to all things Faydwer. Whether you're looking for an overview of what the expansion contains, or you're looking to discuss the expansion in the official forums, SOE has gone out of its way to make the search for information as painless as possible.The same, of course, cannot be said of the raids. Then again, who wants their alts to live forever?
The Daily Grind: Good tutorial zones
One of the things we've noticed in jumping from game to game lately is how common tutorial zones have become. From EQ to Tabula Rasa, it seems common to have a tutorial now. As such, we thought it would be nice to touch on a few of the better tutorials for people new to MMOs.Probably one of my personal favorite tutorial zones is the one in EverQuest II -- now. The tutorial zones in EQ2 can get you into the swing of things fairly easily if you're not familiar with the game. Not only are there myriad quests designed to teach you what you need to know, but there are also tons of NPCs whose sole purpose is to give you tips and tricks about how things work in game. While the tutorial in other games such as EVE and CoX could be said to be roughly as good about telling you how things are, I simply don't think they're quite as much fun, or as chock full of quests to keep you engaged. (Although I will give props to CoH for having the Isolator badge in the tutorial.) A close runner up is the tutorial in LotRO, which drops you smack into the middle of the lore and story that people play that game for while doing a good job of explaining the game. On the other hand, there's the problem of believability when it occurs to you that any low-level character wouldn't likely come out of a brush with a Ringwraith alive. While WoW may be the 800-pound-gorilla of MMOs right now, I do honestly think their newbie zones could stand to be instanced like many other games are. Why? Because if you're new, there's nothing that will turn you off quite a quickly as being ganked and corpse-camped in a noob area when you're level 3 and you're dealing with players who are easily ten times your level. (Yes, I've been corpse camped in WoW's new-player areas by opposite-faction griefers.) Games with distinct, separate tutorial areas save new players from this hassle while they're getting used to just what those shiny new buttons do. There are many other things that we love and hate about tutorials in MMOs, but we'll skip off those for now or this will quickly become a novel. Instead we're curious what you think. What do you love about the tutorial zones in the games you play? What do you absolutely hate? Is there something an older game did better than the newer games you've experienced? Which is your favorite? Let us know!
Everquest I and II expansions launch today
For those inhabiting swank digs under rocks, or those uninitiated in the ways of the Everquest, you may not realize that two major expansions launched today: EQI: Secrets of Faydwer and EQII: Rise of Kunark. We've been following both expansions extensively, so thought we'd round up some of the more notable features for those about to Everquest (we, of course, salute you): Beta tours Everquest Secrets of Faydwer beta tour Everquest II Rise of Kunark beta tour Guides Sarnak starter quest guide Sarnak character creation how-to Rise of Kunark mega information link overload Video Sarnak character creation how-to Sarnak dance movie Sarnak fire breathing movie Galleries Secrets of Fawydwer gallery Rise of Kunark gallery Sarnak starter guide gallery %Gallery-9857%%Gallery-9771%%Gallery-10174%
EQII site is cooler than it was 48 hours ago
The official community site of EverQuest II has been updated in preparation for the Rise of Kunark expansion. The update adds new guild roster features, new art for forum signatures, lots of little fixes and additions, and of course support for all the new Rise of Kunark stuff like post-70 player characters and the Iksar race. You can read all the details on the site's news page.The update responds to a lot of user requests. It was due earlier but was pushed back so the expansion-related updates could be included in the same package. The EQII players website is an exemplary MMO community hub, and all this just makes it better. Check out the site and hang out on the forums during the agonizing wait until Rise of Kunark goes live today!
