The folks at EverQuest II are preparing to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the game's launch, and they plan to hold a series of celebrations on each of the game's servers starting next week.

It's EverQuest II's 4th Birthday and you're invited to a party! Don your most festive attire and commemorate the event with us in the Community Lounge, where you can share celebratory food and drink, enjoy the confetti machine, dance along with the maestro, and even have a pillow fight. Plus, you never know who might pop in to join in the fun!

Kiara, Amnerys and Grimwell from SOE's Community Relations team will be hosting these special events according to the schedule below. Just see what date and time they'll be on your server, look out for one of them to log in, then send them a /tell saying, "I want to party!" and you'll be summoned to the celebration.

Read more here.

Well it seems that SOE has put this game as it has most of it's current games into maintenance mode.   Sure they add new areas with the expansions, but no new armor models since shortly after release pretty much dates this game.  There really is not much new in this game except for the additional areas.

I look at Wow and watch it continue to get better and then look at EQ2 just spinning it's wheels and wonder what the heck those people at SOE are doing.

LOL what is it with new armor models, they are fairly realistic, what the heck do you want oversized horns and odd looking growths like other games armors??/ WHAT THE HELL EXACTLY DO YOU WANT THE ARMOR TO CHANGE TO, I am happy with the armor, keep adding the content, ... thats what I like.

Originally posted by boognish75

LOL what is it with new armor models, they are fairly realistic, what the heck do you want oversized horns and odd looking growths like other games armors??/ WHAT THE HELL EXACTLY DO YOU WANT THE ARMOR TO CHANGE TO, I am happy with the armor, keep adding the content, ... thats what I like.

He wants more Armor models, since the models are the same as 4 years ago
Read what he says.
And chill out..............

I know people on the EQ2 forums have started noticing [since RoK I believe] that armor is now getting broken up into many parts, instead of just chest, helm, shoulder, hand, etc. 

This is part of the new 'snap-on' system they are working on.  So once that is finished, they said creating new models will be easier and faster.  All that will be required would be -one- model to fit all the races.  [If it works, that is.]

The character model will fit to the armor model, instead of armor model fitting to the character, from what I understand.

Originally posted by Zarinh

I know people on the EQ2 forums have started noticing [since RoK I believe] that armor is now getting broken up into many parts, instead of just chest, helm, shoulder, hand, etc. 

This is part of the new 'snap-on' system they are working on.  So once that is finished, they said creating new models will be easier and faster.  All that will be required would be -one- model to fit all the races.  [If it works, that is.]

The character model will fit to the armor model, instead of armor model fitting to the character, from what I understand.

They suspended this project, they won't be doing it anymore.
It was too time/money consuming.
Apparently they think Character appereance is not important to players.
So they decided to recicle old models and old zones models and make a "brand new" expansion
Good luck with that.................

You are wrong.  They were working on a new skeleton model, and they stopped it.  The new system will be based on "snap-ons" as I said above.

Originally posted by Zarinh

You are wrong.  They were working on a new skeleton model, and they stopped it.  The new system will be based on "snap-ons" as I said above.

Ok then, describe what this "snap on" is all about then, because the description you gave is exactly the same as the skeletal revamp

Not sure anyone can give more info on the "snap-on" as I'm not sure that much more info. has been given to us.  The only reference to "snap-on" that I've seen was from an interview by the Allakhazam crowd ...

http://eq2.allakhazam.com/wiki/Dev_Chat_July_31_2008

Summarised ...

Bludwyng: Labratt asks, Are there any updates on the skeletal model changes?

Kirstie: The skeletal revamp has been through a lot of iterations internally on the EQII team and is now a bit of a misnomer. The original technology that we had planned to use didn't work out as we expected (software, who knew).

Kirstie: And we are also being careful not to drastically change the character models. We don't want anyone to log in one day and not recognize their favorite character.

Kirstie: What we are focusing on now is ways to customize the look of your character with what we're referring to as "snap ons" that will change your characters profile or silhouette.

Kirstie: There are also a few other plans to enhance the look of characters that we'll be talking about more once we are more confident that they will work within the EQII framework

TBH, I have little concern about armour models in EQII as you can now pick from any of the ones available (for your level/class) and shove them in the appearance slot, so there's generally a "look" for you if you search a bit.  As well as stat updates they also made many of the looks a bit more glossy so the choice is far better now that it was years ago (when I suspect the nay sayers last played).

I do chuckle when I see comments about armour being outdated though.  Only way to have non-outdated armour would to be dressed in kevlar wouldn't it?  I also chuckle whenever people try and compare WoW looks  to EQII, like that comparison could ever work.  Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the Warcraft style of graphics (not WoW specific, I'm a Warcraft fan but couldn't play WoW due to the complete lack of role playing - but I still replay the ond Warcraft games) but the graphic styles are so different that comparison is pointless.

There are many things to moan about in the EQII world that armour really should be way down on the list!

Originally posted by HeavySigh
<snipped dev chat>

TBH, I have little concern about armour models in EQII as you can now pick from any of the ones available (for your level/class) and shove them in the appearance slot, so there's generally a "look" for you if you search a bit.  As well as stat updates they also made many of the looks a bit more glossy so the choice is far better now that it was years ago (when I suspect the nay sayers last played).

I do chuckle when I see comments about armour being outdated though.  Only way to have non-outdated armour would to be dressed in kevlar wouldn't it?  I also chuckle whenever people try and compare WoW looks  to EQII, like that comparison could ever work.  Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the Warcraft style of graphics (not WoW specific, I'm a Warcraft fan but couldn't play WoW due to the complete lack of role playing - but I still replay the ond Warcraft games) but the graphic styles are so different that comparison is pointless.

There are many things to moan about in the EQII world that armour really should be way down on the list!

It may not be a big deal for you, and I am not sure how long you've been playing EQ2 but everyone has their own list of complaints and armor models is a common complaint. And by outdated, they mean the same models that eq2 has been using for almost FOUR YEARS!. Not modern armor as in Kevlar, I have no clue where you got that idea LOL.

My shadowknight was suposed to the epitomy of evil but his armor looked nothing of the sort. I did thousands of quests, all the raid zones, group zones so I have seen lots of the armor in EQ2. Its usually a rehash of old armor with a new color. That is a big deal for people because your avatar is supposed to be unique and changing, to deny that MMOs are gear centric is to deny a huge part of the genre.

When you beat that new awesome super mega uber raid mob, you want to feel as if your growing more powerful, your gear is looking better or more "leet". Then you find out it's just a red version of the same armor you've been wearing. THAT is the complaint and it is a legit point. Hence why SOE always tries to throw a tidbit out there so people will think a bunch of new armor is coming. 2 years later they finally admit it was too hard for them and they throw another "snap ons" tidbit out there.

They constantly reuse art assets and NPC models. When I pay 40 plus dollars for a new expansion I want to feel that effort was put into the art. Not the same textures they used in lavastorm 4 years ago. Not the same stuff they used in Mistmoore Castle 2 expansions ago. I want to feel that I am exploring a brand new place fighting new enemies. Out of all the zones previewed for the new expansion i've noticed 2 NEW NPC models. It gets boring fighting the same old monsters wearing the same old gear after awhile, especially after 2-3 years.

I wanted to add that I really enjoyed playing EQ2 through DoF, KoS and EoF. Echoes of Faydwer was my fav exp pack. I absolutely loved EQ2 and I played the hell out of it. But then RoK came out and myself and others feel the game did a 180 degree turn. Especially after Scott Hartsman left, it went down hill from there IMHO. I hope The Shadow Odyssey exp pack can bring back that love I had for eQ2 'cause you always love your ex.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Well it seems that SOE has put this game as it has most of it's current games into maintenance mode.   Sure they add new areas with the expansions, but no new armor models since shortly after release pretty much dates this game.  There really is not much new in this game except for the additional areas.

I look at Wow and watch it continue to get better and then look at EQ2 just spinning it's wheels and wonder what the heck those people at SOE are doing.

Reading that I immediately think "wow fanboy".  No offense intended to you Ozmodan though.

New armor models?  EQ2 was going for a bit more "realism", if I can call it that in a fantasy setting.  Some of WoW's armor models are either (1) absurd or (2) recolored old models.  Seriously, WoW needs to stop with the shoulder armor that is so big you wonder how one gets through a door.  Plus a lot of the female armor models are "plate bikinis".  Even the new epic undead slaying armor is just T2 recolored.

Seems you are limiting yourself if the way you judge a game is solely based off the armor graphics.  EQ2 caters to a different crowd than WoW, it's apples and oranges.