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Developer spotlight falls on Brandan McDonald at EQ2Players
EQ2Players has continued their developer spotlight series, this time interviewing Brandan McDonald. McDonald works on modeling the environments and buildings in EverQuest II, and you can see examples of his work in zones like the Fens of Nathsar, Greater and Lesser Faydarks, and the Emerald Halls.The interview sees McDonald answer questions about how he joined the EQII team, what he is currently working on at SOE, what he does outside of work, and he even tells the story behind his cushy executive chair. On the important "pirates or ninjas?" query, he sides with the scurvy sea-dogs, but that's not surprising considering this week's launch of SOE MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea. Check out the full interview at EQ2Players.
The Daily Grind: Should crafting be risky?
In certain MMOs like EverQuest II, you can whiff profession combines -- which is to say you can fail to craft an object if your skill isn't high enough. We've even heard tales of people bombing them so badly at the highest levels that they wind up nearly killing you on top of destroying pricey materials. In other games like World of Warcraft, your tradeskill combines are guaranteed to work every time. There's also no mechanic in "specialization" that opens up the ability to make slightly better gear than a non-specialized person -- in WoW, you either are able to do that tradeskill, or you aren't. Some of the hardcore crafters out there enjoy the element of risk for the trade-off of being able to make slightly better items if you've practiced that trade a lot. Others like the knowledge that you're guaranteed to make at least as good an item as everyone else with your expensive materials. This morning we'd like to ask you where you stand? Do you think that crafting should have an element of risk, wherein you can lose materials but may wind up with slightly better items on a particularly good combine? Or do you prefer the model that WoW uses, that guarantees that you'll wind up with an item, exactly the same as everyone else's item, without the fear of losing materials or taking damage?
Latest patch update notes released for EQ2 Test server
The latest patch notes for EverQuest II's Test server are here, and the full list is available after the jump, but we'll do a little break-down of some of the bigger and more general changes on this side of the fence. It looks like the Avatars of the Gods have bolstered their ranks with a few late-to-the-party ringers, The Tribunal, Karana, and Bertoxxolous. Tradeskillers will now also be able to provide players with mannequins that can display armor and weapons in their home.While we're on the tradeskill front, the crafting-inclined will be pleased to hear that there is a new quest available for level 30 or higher tradeskillers that have already completed the first quest, Journeyman Service. As well as this, tradeskill societies are offering a new recipe book to those that they regard warmly, and rare pelts that are looted from chests will now stack with those that are harvested -- but existing pelts probably won't have this property, so use up your old ones first. The patch also seems to have given pets a boot up the backside, as they will now have an easier time keeping up with their owners when traveling. Finally, a connection stats window has been added to the user interface, and can tell you your ping, bytes per second, frames per second and packet loss. The toggle for this window is mapped to F11 by default.Along with all of this, there are some spell, zone and quest, and item changes that are fairly specific, and they can be found after the break with the entire patch notes, and keep in mind that this applies to the Test server only for now.
"Double Threat" LoN tournament this weekend promises in-game loot card
EQ2Players has details on an upcoming tournament that will take place this weekend for Legends of Norrath. Entrants will not only receive a promotional card of the infamous Mayong Mistmoore, but will also get to choose between two loot cards. The EverQuest card gives a Bridle of the Viridian Cragslither, and the EverQuest II reward is a Cloak of Di'Zok.The tournament kicks off at 7AM PST on January 19th, and will end at 9PM PST on January 20th. There will be an entry fee of 10 Event Passes and on top of the special rewards, each player will receive a minimum of 3 booster packs, depending on how high they place. Unfortunately, it seems that the tournament is only open to U.S. residents.
The Daily Grind: Collecting thoughts
Hi, my name is Krystalle, and I'm a WoW Tabard addict. I don't really know what it is about them, but I absolutely love them. If I find there's a quest out there that will grant me another tabard, I will jump all over it. I've managed to pick up special tabards, such as the Argent Dawn one, the one from the Dark Portal opening, and the one that drops in the Scarlet Monastery. Of course, the truly silly part about this is that I'm most often in my guild's tabard, so my collection sits in the bank, taking up space more often than not. For today's Daily Grind, we'd like to ask what your coveted collection is? Do you also collect tabards? Perhaps you like to collect strange and exotic weaponry or you like non-combat pets in pretty much any game you run across them. It could be that mounts are your thing, and you just have to have one of each color. Maybe you're more into collecting certain pieces of furniture for your in-game housing or like making sure that you've collected all the "collections" in EQ2 and turned them all in. So what do you collect?
Legends of Norrath promotion this weekend brings increased drop rates and two unique cards
Players of EverQuest and EverQuest II will be treated to a Legends of Norrath promotion this weekend that promises an increased chance to find packs of cards on defeated enemies, and amongst these you may find one of two brand new cards, one of which is the tasty little fellow you see pictured here.The weekend officially commences at 2pm PST on Friday, and you can enjoy the enhanced drop rates and hunt for the unique cards up until 11:59 PST on Sunday the 6th. Even if you're not into LoN, the dropped card packs also sell pretty well from what I have seen, so it's a win-win for players of EQ/EQII and Legends of Norrath. Now go get that delicious chocolate gobbo.
Tradeskill developer for EQII Emily "Domino" Taylor chats about her role
Tradeskill developer for EverQuest II Emily Taylor (better known to the community as "Domino") was recently interviewed by The Tairise Tribune. Anyone who has ever read the official EQII tradeskill forums will more than likely have seen a post by Domino, or a reply to a player's question, or a hint about upcoming content and changes -- in truth, her level of interaction with the community is amazing, and it's nice to see people's feedback and suggestions being acknowledged by the person who calls the shots.in the interview, Domino discusses her role with SOE and EQII, working with her team on deadlines (such as the huge amount of new content required for Rise of Kunark) and how working with gaming industry "celebrities" has been far more rewarding for her than meeting the Hollywood celebrities that she did in her former job. It also appears that she isn't above a little real-life tradeskilling too, as she mentions that she has recently been constructing Weighted Companion Cubes inspired by Valve's hit game Portal. Check out the full interview for more from Domino.[Via EQ2Players]
Be a voyeur and check out the Frostfell decorations in houses around Norrath
You won't need your binoculars to spy on the neighbours this time around, as citizens of Norrath have opened their doors to the public to let everyone take a gander at Frostfell's unique decorations being put to use. Even before the holiday furniture and decorations had been made live on regular EverQuest II servers, we were able to see what it all looked like courtesy of EQ2 Traders on Test, but this collection of shots at EQ2 Players shows off the different ways in which people have arranged and designed their festive displays in their own in-game housing.Each stunning setup is accompanied by the responsible player's name and server, and there are 28 shots available for browsing. If checking out these screenshots leaves you wanting to pimp out your own crib, it's worth nothing that EQ2 Traders have updated their list of Frostfell furniture to help you decide what belongs in your own holiday-themed exhibit.
CBS8 features EQ2 and Frostfell
CBS8 News in San Diego recently took a visit to Sony Online Entertainment's offices, where a reporter was taken through EverQuest II character creation and visited the Frostfell Wonderland Village. It's a fairly lighthearted report, and we're told inaccurately that the game is "played by millions worldwide", but it's nice to see games in the media occasionally without the attached list of associated behavioral problems, or a death tally.The story is taken from a hugely mainstream perspective, with no real details about the game being given at all, but you do catch glimpses of the Frostfell holiday event. The report was done to present EQ2 as a holiday gift idea, so I suppose it's wrong to expect a meaty and thorough piece -- as one of SOE's representatives tells the reporter in the video, "Jeff, you're a newb. You're a newbie."[Via Cuppytalk]
Behind the Curtain: Learn 2 Play
I should probably start this week's column by apologizing for missing last week. I won't, but I probably should. I'm sure your world kept turning despite a lack of my wittering on for 500-odd words, so let's crack on, shall we?Assuming some of you managed to stay safe from the murderous robotic Santa this year, you may well have received gifts of new MMO games, and are sitting at home (unlike me) with your feet safely ensconced in new slippers, wracked with indecision over what new vista of unexplored gaming potential you should be delving into. Fortunately, my friends and family understand that my tastes in gaming are (relatively) more esoteric than theirs, meaning that they usually plump for the always welcome gifts of booze or vouchers. What this means is that I will finally be able to pick up Bioshock and the Orange Box – seriously, if I have to dodge one more spoiler for Bioshock or Portal, I may have to stab someone in the mouth. But that's beside the point; let us get back on topic. With most of the big MMOs having been around for a good while now, the sheer amount of content available across these games is a daunting prospect – where do you start, how do you decide? Do you jump straight in and hope that you'll make it?
The EverQuest II year in review
TenTonHammer's Coyote Sharptongue has a up a rundown on momentous year for EverQuest 2. From the echoes of Echoes of Faydwer to the rising respect for Rise of Kunark, I'm going to say 2007 was easily the best year SOE's flagship game has had since its launch in 2004. Excitement among the playerbase is high, hints are that people are returning to the game or trying it out for the first time, and the newest expansion is getting a lot of positive feedback from gamers who have pushed past their initial anti-soloing impressions.Coyote discusses the impact Faydwer had on the game early in '07, and then goes on to discuss the Estate of Unrest, Fan Faire, and RoK.Phat Lewts. Unrest offered it in abundance...IF you could survive long enough to enjoy your riches. Set towards what was at the time "end game" the Estate of Unrest offered something that no other expansion or update had ever offered before. A chance to crap yourself. Creepy dolls coming to life, disembodied whispers and howling, ghostly laughter mocking the fact that you just turned on every light in the room in which you sat. If you allowed it, the zone could easily submerge you in its doom and gloom and suck you into the game play. I like Coyote's list a lot, but it definitely left something out ... where's the love for the Arasai?
SOE President crushes EQ2 / Live Gamer speculation
This past weekend, Sony Online Entertainment's Grand Poobah, alias John Smedley, was out and about dousing the fires and dismissed SOE's alleged takeover by Zapak. (SOE had for a measly 300 million? What a crock.) During his flurry, Smedley also dispelled the crazy speculation talk regarding SOE's new partnership with Live Gamer over on the lovable EQ2 Flames. After the initial announcement regarding the two joining forces; the hysteria pot stirred yet again. The biggest concern was that the grey-market service would intrude on EQ2's non-Station Exchange servers."We aren't going to be allowing RMT in any way, shape or form on the non-exchange enabled EQ II servers. Period. End of statement. If we catch people, we ban them and have been for a long time now. The truth of the matter is it's very difficult to combat them, but we have people at SOE who fight the good fight each and every day. In the near future you're going to see us becoming a lot more public about this then we ever have been. I think we've done a bad job at communicating just how seriously we take this fight.We're interested in working with LiveGamer because they are unique in the RMT world due to the fact that they are pledging (and are putting technology behind it) to not buy from farmers. Farmers are the bane of our existence at SOE. They cause us endless amounts of grief and do real financial damage in a meaningful way."
Bruce Ferguson on EQII's Epic Weapon quests
Like many EverQuest II players, you may have been disappointed to learn that the Epic quests were not being released alongside the Rise of Kunark expansion as was originally planned. Now-former senior producer for EQII Scott Hartsman let the community know that this was due to the San Diego fires, but Clockwork Gamer recently had an interview with Hartsman's successor Bruce Ferguson who was able to tell us a little more about the Epic quests.Among other things, we find out that the Epic quests should be released together, as opposed to be rolled out for different classes at different times. They will all be weapons (no shields, armor or anything like that) and most of the effects on these weapons will be unique to the Epics. Ferguson also says that Game Update 42 will introduce a feature that lets you display items in your house without changing them into something else, by putting them in a display case.Follow the related story link to read the full interview at Clockwork Gamer.
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.
Could Planes of Power be the next EverQuest II expansion?
The Ancient Gaming Noob is a great title for a blog. Even better: the blog offers insightful and intelligent commentary on Massively Multiplayer games. In fact, about a year ago Wilhelm (the blog's author) prognosticated the Kunark setting for the next EverQuest II expansion. When he stepped up to the plate with another guess earlier this week, I couldn't help but pay attention.Wilhelm figures that Sony Online Entertainment is going to be dipping back into the EverQuest lore, but with a twist this time. Instead of more terrestrial real-estate, he imagines they're going to look to the heavens for inspiration. In essence: a revisit to the Planes of Power. His logic is great, and his argument is fairly persuasive. It hinges on what high-end players want most: Raids. Progression. Equipment. All of those in enough measure to keep the high end guilds busy for a long time. Perhaps all of these aspects in enough measure for some EverQuest guilds to take a serious second look at EverQuest II. While I expect that the basics of the new planes will be the similar to how the exist currently in EverQuest, which is to say instanced versus wide open, there will have to be changes. The gods will no doubt have revised their defenses. Of course, they won't go overboard, as you can only have 24 people on an EverQuest II raid, unless they chose to change that as well. For the rest of us, he predicts a new Beastmaster-style class that draws a lot of elements from the Hunter in World of Warcraft, as well as new AA options. To me, it sounds totally reasonable. Are we looking at new planes? Perhaps zones somewhere on the shards of Luclin? Certainly they wouldn't pull Velious out of the closet? What do you think?
Senior producer for EverQuest II Bruce "Froech" Ferguson interviewed
Now that Scott Hartsman has stepped down as senior producer for EverQuest II, the folks at EQ2 Players decided to interview his replacement, Bruce "Froech" Ferguson. Ferguson is no newbie to EQII, and his appointment to senior producer marks his return to the game after spending a few years as a project manager for Sony Online Entertainment in general.In the interview, we find out about his feelings on returning to EQII, what exactly the position of senior producer entails, his gaming background, the future of EQII, and some other fun stuff. The interview is also available in audio form, so if your tired eyes need a rest from a hard day prowling the internets, you can let your ears take over for a bit -- otherwise, follow the related story link for the full interview.
MMOG Podcast Roundup: Dec. 1st - Dec. 18th
Every week, hardworking Massive gaming fans put their voices on the line to bring us news, opinions, and 'critiques' of their favorite games. Podcasts are a staple of many hobbies nowadays, and fans of online worlds are especially fortunate in this regard ... there are a ton out there. As such, every so often we'll try to update you on the podcasting world. Keep your eyes on this space for links to your favorite MMO-commentary celebs. Good and bad, straight-man or blue-mouthed, they all have something to offer about this amazing style of gameplay.This month more than ever the podcasters have spoken ... and spoken, and spoken. The huge update today is my fault, though. Thanks to a fairly spectacular PC failure last week my productivity has gone way down; some people have problems separating their gaming and work lives - I have a problem working if I can't game! Today's highlighted 'casts both talk about Sony Online Entertainment games - one of the exclusively. The official SOE podcast is the only thing like it in the Massive gaming space. It's not as big budget as Bungie's offering, perhaps, but it's still a fascinating look behind the scenes at one of the biggest MMOG publishers out there. Episode 27 is all about the holiday events in SOE games from the dev team perspective; holiday appropriate and intersting to boot! The other 'cast I want to highlight almost seemed like it had gone AWOL. EQ2-Daily has been a staple of the MMOG podcasting scene for some time - their 50th episode was back in October, and we haven't heard a peep out of them since Rise of Kunark launched. But rejoice, EQ2-Daily: Episode 51 was released just a few days ago. With news about the departure of EverQuest 2's senior producer and controversy about character transfers, their insights into the game are sure to be heartily appreciated.Check out the casts' of December, and make sure to have a great Holiday.
SOE caught red-handed: EQ2 Player / Dev relationship breached ethical boundaries
Several days ago Massively reported that EQ2 Flames administrator broke the story on a scandal that regards numerous members from Unhallowed Triad, a guild on EQ2's Test server that was transferred to Unrest, a Live server through an inside connection at SOE. Character transfers from the Test server to a Live one is not allowed and against current SOE transfer policy; albeit, the EULA has a clause that SOE may change this policy at any time. However, the case is made that a Player / Dev affiliation has led to corruption, leaving many infuriated players with lots of unanswered questions as seen in these two threadnaughts. To recap for those not following this closely or wanting to sift through 100+ pages on the forums: SOE employee(s) abused their power breaking various codes of ethics (confirmed & guilty) Numerous Test players accuse Unhallowed Triad with a history of exploitation and getting away with it in due part to their SOE connection (rumors) Someone at SOE made the call to transfer Test characters to a Live server breaking policy (confirmed & guilty) Not only were characters transferred to Unrest, but items as well. Unhallowed Triad's Guild level was also inflated to 60. (confirmed & guilty) Many Unhallowed Triad guild members admitted to transferring off test in Assassin's chat (confirmed) Several Unhallowed Triad guild members were transferred unknowingly (more than likely) Legitimately leveled characters belonging to several Unhallowed Triad members were transferred over from other servers or already leveled on the Unrest server (confirmed) Unhallowed Triad guild tag no longer exists but there other guild tag Unholy Trinity exists and their Guild level stands at 30 (confirmed) All players on the Test server have not been given the same opportunity to transfer to a Live server The evidence found via EQ2 Players alone is overwhelming. So much so that it's impossible to sweep all the allegations under-the-rug. Initially, SOE was quick to react as both Alan "Brenlo" Crosby, Director of Global Community Relations and Bruce "Froech" Ferguson, EQ2's new Senior Producer admitted to SOE's involvement. Well, rather that someone at SOE made the call to override the policy, but in a good natured manner to reward certain players for their hard work on the Test server. Not a smart choice of words or tone given EQ2 players warranted concerns. In any case, Ferguson claims the transferred characters will be removed. Since their initial statements and response there has been no further word from a SOE representative on this matter.
EQII's senior producer resigns
On his personal blog, Scott Hartsman has reposted a farewell letter to the EQ2 community. Originally put up on the official boards, Hartsman has been EverQuest 2's Senior Producer for some years; prior to that he worked on the game in a technical capacity. In the letter, he has glowing things to say about his time with Sony Online Entertainment but remains vague about where he is going next.It's time for me to see what else is out there waiting to be built. It might even end up being something involving SOE. Regardless, I'm sure we'll get a chance to meet up again, whether I'm making new MMOs, continuing to play them, or talking about them on the internet. I wouldn't be leaving SOE if I wasn't positive that the responsibility for EQ2 was being left in the right hands. Taking over for me is Bruce "Froech" Ferguson. Some of you will remember his name from EQ2 beta, others of you may have met him at Fan Faires. If you have met him, you know he's one of the most straightforward guys you'll ever be lucky enough to meet.Hartsman goes on to describe some of Ferguson's credentials. He also uses the term 'we' when describing his new venture, indicating he's already associated with a new project. Whether that's an all-new game or one of the numerous companies currently in 'silent running mode' isn't clear. For more on this, check out our discussion of the rumours of his departure from late last month and expect more as it becomes public.
Rumor: Entire guild Unhallowed Triad moved from EQ2 Test Server to live
A thread on popular forums EQ2Flames is asserting that a guild from the EverQuest II Test Server, Unhallowed Triad, has been moved over to the live server Unrest. This is something that SOE had said would never happen, due to the doubled experience gain on Test making it unfair on live players. The poster also claims that there was a GM account in the guild that assisted them in killing things that they could not take down on their own, in order to obtain some of the best gear in the game.
