General Discussion

The official site for EverQuest has been updated with a look into the depths of the Desert of Ro.

The Northern Desert of Ro is a vast and deadly desert that lies just beyond the eastern gates of Freeport. Several inns and a few of Lucan's militia can be found with the last, desperate reaches of temperate vegetation carpeting the flat of land just before the rise of the desert dunes. A tunnel carved into the steep ridge bordering the desert to the west, connects the desert to the Commonlands.

To the south, one will meet the sands of the Oasis of Marr, which separates the northern and southern reaches of the Ro desert. Legends speak that what is now the northern Desert of Ro was once the northern reaches of the ancient Elddar forest – the former home of the elves who had once resided upon Antonica, then called Tunaria. This forest was said to have been the most beautiful woodland Norrath has ever seen Spanning the whole of what is now the desert of Ro and Oasis of Marr, this forest is said to have been burned to the ground by the fiery wrath of Solusek Ro.

 

The northern desert is host to a great variety of inhabitants, range from rattlesnakes and giant tarantulas, to the dread cutthroat pirates of the desert. It is also rumored that the unfortunate citizens of Freeport who are infected with a plague of the mind are cast out into these desert lands to die. However, many of these desert madmen have survived the harsh, unforgiving desert heat and have grown all the more crazed from it.

Read more here.

I enjoy reading these lore stories. Even though it doesn't involve dragons and epic battles, its nice to see that every zone, even the most simple areas where noobs hunt(or used to hunt considering the zone is barren now) have lore behind them and have a reason for existing. This is what these FTP grinder games lack, any sort of significant story to their areas. They're just filled with mobs that spawn for the sole purpose of giving xp and nothing else.

Me too.

Everquest has the best, and most deep, lore for any MMORPG.

"Everquest has the best, and most deep, lore for any MMORPG"

You have not played many MMO's have you, at least the subscription ones, most of those MMO's have tons more lore than EQ.

It has taken them awhile to getting around to adding lore to EQ.

This game will cost a new player a fortune now, because all the old leveling areas are vacant you have to have all the newest and greatest expansions to get to the new leveling areas.

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Originally posted by Ozmodan

 

"Everquest has the best, and most deep, lore for any MMORPG"
You have not played many MMO's have you, at least the subscription ones, most of those MMO's have tons more lore than EQ.

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Like?

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This game will cost a new player a fortune now, because all the old leveling areas are vacant you have to have all the newest and greatest expansions to get to the new leveling areas.

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Erm... it costs $30 to be up to date. Hardly a fortune. Secrets of Faydwer includes all 14 expansions.

They named a desert after Ensign Ro?

Cool!

Originally posted by Ozmodan

"Everquest has the best, and most deep, lore for any MMORPG"

You have not played many MMO's have you, at least the subscription ones, most of those MMO's have tons more lore than EQ.

It has taken them awhile to getting around to adding lore to EQ.

This game will cost a new player a fortune now, because all the old leveling areas are vacant you have to have all the newest and greatest expansions to get to the new leveling areas.

 Yeah, actually there're WarHammer, Lord of the Ring and Ultima Online so EQ series isn't the best. BUT I CAN'T believe the above crap that ya mentioned Ozmo. You fail

Originally posted by celline

Originally posted by Ozmodan

"Everquest has the best, and most deep, lore for any MMORPG"

You have not played many MMO's have you, at least the subscription ones, most of those MMO's have tons more lore than EQ.

It has taken them awhile to getting around to adding lore to EQ.

This game will cost a new player a fortune now, because all the old leveling areas are vacant you have to have all the newest and greatest expansions to get to the new leveling areas.

 

 Yeah, actually there're WarHammer, Lord of the Ring and Ultima Online so EQ series isn't the best. BUT I CAN'T believe the above crap that ya mentioned Ozmo. You fail

I have to disagree.. I think everyone seems to be mistaking questing as lore. I've played a lot of games and I have to say EQ has tons of lore (14 expansions worth). The best part about EQ lore is they always found a way to explain a new continent popping out of nowhere. There is not a zone or area in EQ that does not have a story involved (if you're interested in seeking out that story, that is). From the creation of Norrath by dragons to the creation of the races by gods, EQ never had a lack of lore.

Counting LOTRO as full of lore is a little misleading, as the lore was already there for the developers to work with. SWG should have been the same way.  I play LOTRO and am a big Tolkien fan, but there probably won't be content that Tolkien fans won't see coming and won't already know the story once it's released. With EQ, every expansion is a new and enjoyable addition to a grand form of storytelling.

Warhammer doesn't really count yet because it's not released.

I think also that EQ lore is almost 'hidden' within the game. Games like LOTRO and even WOW force you to follow a grand, pre-determined path with which you are forced to learn the lore. EQ never forced you into any lore nonsense... it was up to the player to decide if they wanted/cared to learn the lore at all... sorta like an extra-curricular after school activity.

oh yas i remember Ro,

our group would meet on the shore and some poor hasted sucker would lure a giant or three back to us and we'd flail around trying to kill it/them and then at the last second we'd either run like hell into the water only to be eaten by Lockjaw or run down the beach trying to train the giant onto some other hapless 1/2 health group who was camping that spawn.  At least it was easy to find your corpse there.  Wheee!  good times.