We are proud to present you a bonus feature this Sunday.  Our own Laura Genender has returned from a trip to SOE headquarters to bring you a special preview of the new EQ2 expansion: Rise of Kunark.

Yesterday I attended SOE's "Step into Fall" event in San Francisco, where I got to meet and speak with Akil "Lyndro" Hooper, lead designer of EverQuest II and one of the minds behind upcoming expansion Rise of Kunark.

If you're an EverQuest player, the name "Kunark" is familiar; Kunark previously appeared in EverQuest I, both as the first expansion (Ruins of Kunark) and the 4th continent. The EQII Kunark is home to many familiar zones and raid targets, but much of it is changed by the effects of the cataclysm and time.

Read the full preview at this link.

 Sounds fantastic and another great addition  to a game that goes from strength to strength.

I never played eq1, my first MMo was Neocron, but I am looking forward to the new zones. The news on upgrading the char models is also welcome. I am a little dubious about the Epic stuff as there are many guilds that are smaller groups who may struggle to get the 2 group epics and especially the raids but that may alter some of the game dynamics for the better.

Also welcome the news on the future expansion schedule as I think SOE has been true to their original word on committing to regular updates and expansion packs.

Would like some further starting races and some new class types though. I have played since beta and starting with the same classes each time is wearing a little thin.

Good job thou and I cant wait for the pre-order

Whew... I was scared there for a second, thought it said rise of the Kanooks.

"The Kanooks are coming! The Kanooks are coming!".  We worry about that stuff in the states, you know.

I think i'll buy RoK when its released and begin playing EQII again. Aswell picking up Wrath of the Lich King and begin playing wow again and buy Warhammer Online.

Shit, how will I manage :d

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Originally posted by mo0rbid
I think i'll buy RoK when its released and begin playing EQII again. Aswell picking up Wrath of the Lich King and begin playing wow again and buy Warhammer Online.
Shit, how will I manage :d

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Easy, you got 5-6 months for warhammer and the expansion for wow, well thats at least a year off, perhaps more.

RoK2 looks good, looking forward to checking it out.

Everyone is commenting on how EQ2 has came back to be very fun, granted this is true, however; I think that the end game content is only reachable by few players on each server. You need to be lucky to be in a top raid guild to experience the end game and get the better gear and this is limited. So I think most people will get bored of EQ2 soon because of it's linear direction into making the game elitest only attitude. To many players get bored of the normal game and most end raid guilds are so disrespectful to other players because of the ideas that they beat things others can't, having more time and no life will get you better things for sure in this game.

This is why I like LOTRO concept and ideas. There is no real elitest player attitudes and the normal gameplay is fun vs EQ2.

I played EQ2 for 2yrs, got all end game EOF raid gear and seeing how many friends in game who did not have the luck I did with a end game raid guild is disatisfying. Knowing that EQ2 had turned into a gear dependant game like WOW had really turned me away from it and I will never go back to this game. You need to have the required class to be in these guilds, knowing that most classes in this game are worthless compared to others in raiding is also a limited concept SOE has done. All these subclasses essentially ruined the game. It use to be a advancement system you would choose your paths but the problem is lack of balance across the board for most classes. Which makes guilds who do end game raiding take many of the better key classes limiting oppertunity if you play a class that doesn't get used that often or needed over another similar but more useful class.

Many examples can be made of this, like which classes are alike that offer a better role in raiding over the others. Most of the end raid content is limited and doable only with the right setups like having multiple of certain classes, this is a direction in most EOF raid content and ROK will be no exception in limiting other classes from participating in raids. Talk about major imbalance issues go and read the EQ2 players boards for more on these balance issues.

Epic weapons will be a joke as you will no doubt need a very good end raid guild to do. You think having this of top the list on the ROK special features means anything to the average player think again.

ROK = crap

I played right from launch, gave up in a few months, returned after a year to make a few 70s and left eventually.  That was almost year ago, when I started betaing lotro.

EQ2 is much much better than launch.  The crafting is fabulous, the best in the MMO market, the player economy is nice, and the player community is mature.  This is one of the few games I can keep all chat channels on and stay sane.  Try WoW if you want to know what I mean.

The end game is indeed very very elitist.  The raids are undoable without a solid raid clan, and only a few classes are viable.  Among the healers, shamans are in and furies are out ... Go read the raid clan message boards.  Some classes are just not welcome.  The end game raid is as tough as work, you have to be ontime, you have to be 100% attentive, no afk, no bio break till approved, no life once the raid begins.  And 3 to 5 runs a week, for 6-12 months.

Apart from this issue, the game is as good as any others in the market, its beautiful, fully polished, huge variety in class and race.  Immensely enjoyable with lots of place to explore, and lots of things to do, even if you cannot raid.  I disagree with the notion that EQ2 or RoK is crap.  If you do not care for being the best geared guy, and just want to enjoy the path from 1 to 70/80 steadily, its fun.

I can only agree to Bezado, exactly what I experienced. Epics for 80 only... requiring 2 groups... sounds the raid-tasm is going on. I wish anything requiring more than one group would be forbidden in MMOs. I come from a pen and paper background, and thats what shaped my understanding. No solo, no raid and uber crap, but plain, simple, old fashioned band of adventrers.

All this uber stuff for max level chars... it already bugged me that those profession hats were limited for far too high levels. Eq2 never had much diversity in armor, and that hasnt changed in 3+ years at all, alas, only the same 5 armor models with different tints. *shrug* There would be so many possibiities to make armor, helmets and whatnot, and 3 years are enough to add more, but it all the same stale and similar looking trash. Bah. Yeah, limit it to uber high end ppl... But dont wonder when you STAY in the 250k corner forever with that philosophy. What a loss.

One of the biggest problems on EQ2 always was it is stuck in EQ1 ideology too much. All quests and items which are not crap require a lot of planning, preparation and coordination, usually with a lot of ppl. I never seen a game so against anything spontaneous than EQ2. I like the game, but thats really something that always bugged me, and its EXACTLY that which keeps it in this low subscription corner. It had so much potential, but never fully used it, catering "professional" gamers far too much. Its really a pity since games like WOW and LOTRO are far too light-headed for me to catch me. But this idea just log in and start to have fun is an idea the devs of EQ2 never really understood, and nothing I read about RoK tells me its going to change. So the reality is, as Bezado said, some very few will get even more uber and the masses will gape in awe. From afar. But what do I complain. The gap between the rich and average is widening in RL, so why should a spare time fun be different. *shrug*

Yup and that is another thing that they fail to meet at is armor creation and different colors styles that make people happy. Our raid guild had the most unhappy bunch of people when it came to the armor sets. The colors are really way off and not good looking for all the hard work you put into it.

I am betting the epic weapons will be normal old weapon models reskined with particle effects, nothing cool nothing new. My EOF armor set was almost pink, Vehement set in color and was no different then crafted armor in terms of looks really. If EQ2 DEVS want to make the game truly unique they would hire a new ART team and make some cool stuff. Ever seen the Korean artwork the Korean team did for armors on the Arasai update. Check the guards out around the Arasai camps town, they are very nicely done but by the DEVS outside the normal EQ2 team, some people have style and good art concepts others like this EQ2 regular team suck horribly in the art department.

I think if they made it possible to give solo and lesser guilds the ability to get the same epics but lets say a lesser version of them then it would be nice. Make them look less ubber of course but still give the players who are not in the ubber guilds a chance. Each server has maybe 1 to 3 guilds who are capable of doing end game raid content for the good stuff. Most servers it is 1 major guild but the percentage of players is about 2 to 3% of the actual server population who controls end game content and gear. Which is so sad when you think about it with the other problems introduced such as lack of intrest on some classes because of imbalance issues.

Whats the 97% of playersbase on each server going to do when it comes to giving them new cool stuff thats not achievable without elitest hardcore raiding guilds.

god does it annoy me this game decided to do the game 500 years on so casually altering stuff. If they were going to do an EQ2 they should have made it an exact copy, so farcical they've done it the way they have.

Sorry, just ranting. I'm like the AC people who fill with hate when they saw AC2 except its EQ and EQ2 for me.(by the way AC2 was great AC fanbois)

As the article mentioned, the model skeleton changes scheduled for early 2008 will allow the artists to more easily create armor and other clothing for the various races. Once that happens, I think we'll see the floodgates open in that area.

Also, the new appearance slots allow EQ2 players a lot more lattitude in deciding how they look without losing their armor benefits.

I always thought there was plenty of single-group endgame content in EQ2. I'm not a raider and don't need to be. The end-game, prestigious class armor is fine for all of the single-group instances in Kingdom of Sky and Echoes of Faydwer. If you're not a raider you don't need raid gear. I think SOE has done a terrific job in making the different play styles viable.

Even though they didn't specifically mention new single-group content for the new endgame at level 80, I'm sure there'll be plenty if the last two expansions are any indication.

What aload of rubbish is being spouted in this thread.

Any Class can get on a raid.

2-3% of the players where the hell are you getting this crap, I see pick up raids daily. Pretty much everytime my guild goes raiding we run into other raid guilds.

The majority of lvl 70s I see have atleast one piece of raid gear. I can't even remember one I have expected lately that didn't

I look in the guild recruitment with my alt and see 10+ Guilds who say they raid T7 content. Thats not including the top guilds who don't recruit.

Also the Epics will take 1 group to get the Legendary and then raids to get fabled, like the SoD quest line now.

I think what is important to remember is that unlike some ultra-popular MMO's on the market, EQ2 is not geared nor structured to channel you 100% to the "end game". It is true that if all you play an MMORPG for is for grinding out the next "phat" loot, you will find a tougher time doing so on EQ2 - because that is not the focus for everyone on the game.

There are simply too many other things to do, see and experience for many of the players. The "end-game" is not laid out for you in a structured channel. It takes a bit more skill and dedication than other games I have played.

There are many games out there where grinding for loot is all there really is (or all that most of the players choose to do). EQ2 is simply a bit different in this regard.

Wow. Ok, well I've never posted here before and I'm probably going to get bashed for this but ...What servers are you people playing on?  My husband and I play on Blackburrow and there seems to be lots of guilds working end game stuff. Obviously SoE will never be able to satisfy every single person but are you sure you've put as much effort into playing/ exploring  the game/ content as you have posting and complaining about it? Its a rpg game , not a fashion show.  I can log on and find stuff to do , even solo.. and my main is a Templar!..If people who are guilded can't even put together a 2 group raid for some updates,  thats just Sad. You need a new guild.  A new server , something...If its because the person is just whining well then log off and let the other people play it. Its a game that you pay to play. If your not happy with it then stop paying and playing and let others who do like it enjoy their time on it. There is plenty of other *easier* games for the simple folk. Like what was it on south park..Hello Kitty Island something?  Maybe go fish?  Come on people , its not that hard, but you do have to put a little effort into it. No one is going to Hand you an end game weapon and say here, you whined here you go.  If you can't take the tools we have currently and get what you want then maybe you should look to yourself for the solution, because you are so obviously the problem. I'm so tired of reading endless crap posts from people who try to sound like they know everything when the crap they spit out of their own mouth proves they know nothing. Maybe Hello Kitty or the local old folks home has a spot in their bingo game for you...

Originally posted by QuietGamer

Wow. Ok, well I've never posted here before and I'm probably going to get bashed for this but ...What servers are you people playing on?  My husband and I play on Blackburrow and there seems to be lots of guilds working end game stuff. Obviously SoE will never be able to satisfy every single person but are you sure you've put as much effort into playing/ exploring  the game/ content as you have posting and complaining about it? Its a rpg game , not a fashion show.  I can log on and find stuff to do , even solo.. and my main is a Templar!..If people who are guilded can't even put together a 2 group raid for some updates,  thats just Sad. You need a new guild.  A new server , something...If its because the person is just whining well then log off and let the other people play it. Its a game that you pay to play. If your not happy with it then stop paying and playing and let others who do like it enjoy their time on it. There is plenty of other *easier* games for the simple folk. 

I agree with you Quietgamer, I play EQ2 as well with my wife. EQ is more geared toward us older folk, let the younglings have their fun with Lotro and such

Originally posted by Xanrn

What aload of rubbish is being spouted in this thread.

Any Class can get on a raid.

2-3% of the players where the hell are you getting this crap, I see pick up raids daily. Pretty much everytime my guild goes raiding we run into other raid guilds.

The majority of lvl 70s I see have atleast one piece of raid gear. I can't even remember one I have expected lately that didn't

I look in the guild recruitment with my alt and see 10+ Guilds who say they raid T7 content. Thats not including the top guilds who don't recruit.

Also the Epics will take 1 group to get the Legendary and then raids to get fabled, like the SoD quest line now.

Please go back and re-read my post. 2-3% is the percentage of players per server who are in end game raid content. I did not mention noob raiders going after tier 6 or easy tier 7 crap. The top end raid content such as Contested, EOF raiding, Cheldrak etc. etc. etc.

The 2-3% is correct, take a look at each server with over 15k players on some servers the amount of top end game raiders is between 1 to 2 guilds only and you can only take 24 players on a raid so do the math bud.

Anyway we do not consider end game raid content tier 6 like you suggested or weak tier 7 stuff. Laughing at your comment still about pickup raids, and what raids might those be for? Surely not top raid content in EOF cause there is no chance a pickup raid is doing anything more then maybe LABS and thats it, and LABS raid content gear is not even good it is old and very weak if you are doing EOF content.

No, it can't be said EQ is geared towards "older" folk. I know plenty of "older" folk who don't play any of the EQ-line for a multitude of reasons, difficulty and/or learning curve not being any of the reasons. On the other hand, I know a number of "younglings" who still play from the EQ-line. I played EQ1 when it came along with most of my friends who did as well, mostly couples. I got bored and moved on, didn't even try EQOA. I jumped in and played EQ2 when it came out as well. Liked it a good bit, still like them both, but not playing either any more. 

Regardlaess of it being EQ1 or EQ2, it has one very consistant fact, it is very gear-centric. Is there anything wrong with this? No, but it isn't something everyone who plays an MMO wants to focus their time doing. Gear-centric games tend to take a great deal of time though, and especially in this day and age, in American society, not everyone has that much time.

LOTRO is absolutely a niche game, it is more for the die-hard LOTR fans (No, not the movies, it revolves around the books.) That's why it's kept simple, not all LOTR fans are MMO-gamers and it's emphasis is not on gameplay as much as it roleplaying and story, not necessarily in that order. Even with it's simplicity, I wouldn't recommend it to new MMO enthusiasts, it's extremely niche. WoW is more of a starter MMO as it's enjoyment isn't so heavily influenced by knowledge of the prior products of the IP.

Lastly, the personal attacks on people's intelligence is absolutely faux pas. No, it was not out and out said, but it was implied whether it was realized or not. It was not a needed aesthetic to the opinions expressed, on either side.

Originally posted by bezado

 

 

Please go back and re-read my post. 2-3% is the percentage of players per server who are in end game raid content. I did not mention noob raiders going after tier 6 or easy tier 7 crap. The top end raid content such as Contested, EOF raiding, Cheldrak etc. etc. etc.

The 2-3% is correct, take a look at each server with over 15k players on some servers the amount of top end game raiders is between 1 to 2 guilds only and you can only take 24 players on a raid so do the math bud.

Anyway we do not consider end game raid content tier 6 like you suggested or weak tier 7 stuff. Laughing at your comment still about pickup raids, and what raids might those be for? Surely not top raid content in EOF cause there is no chance a pickup raid is doing anything more then maybe LABS and thats it, and LABS raid content gear is not even good it is old and very weak if you are doing EOF content.

Quick question. What does he mean by "skeletal revamps" (From what he said comes after RoK in early 2008)