http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=510172

“AGE OF DISCOVERY” / “FREEPORT REBORN”

Age of Discovery is the eighth expansion of the groundbreaking EverQuest II franchise.  Age of Discovery offers never-seen-before features including user-generated content and the re-imagining of the Beastlord class from the original EverQuest release.  You can make your mark in-game by creating your very own Dungeon, hire some much needed help for your heroic battles, push tradeskilling research to new heights, customize your weapons at the forge, and of course, play as a Beastlord. There’s a lot to like about this expansion!

DUNGEON MAKER

Ever wanted to build your own dungeon? Now you can with the Dungeon Maker system! Locate and collect a variety of floor layouts and styles, decorate your dungeon, select monsters to fill it, and battle through the content you designed to win new rewards!

Ever want access to tons of new content to play so that you rarely need to repeat the same experience? Play as an Adventurer in Dungeon Maker and win xp and awards for your characters!

To start creating a dungeon, click on the ‘Dungeons’ tab on the ‘Character’ sheet (default hotkey ‘c’).  Here you can ‘Create’ a new dungeon from a selection of layouts, ‘Edit’ any dungeons you have created, or ‘Delete’ any dungeons you no longer need. (This Create screen can also be accessed by clicking the ‘Create’ button on the Dungeon Maker leaderboard screen.)

To view and play through any published dungeon, click on the ‘Dungeon Maker’ button found on the ‘EQII’ menu.  Here you will see a list of all currently published dungeons.  Choose any and click on ‘Enter’ to start your play through!

BEASTLORDS

At last, the Beastlord class returns to Norrath.  Seek out new animals throughout the world to train as your warder pet.  Work with your warder to build up your strengths and exploit your enemies' weaknesses.  Build up Savagery with your Warder to trigger powerful Primal attacks! In the Age of Discovery, Beastlords walk the lands of Norrath once again!

To create a new Beastlord character, look under ‘Scouts’ during character creation.

FREEPORT REBORN

The return of Lucan D’Lere to Freeport has given the city new life and purpose. With his iron hand once again on the throne, the citizens of Freeport have been commanded, coerced and dragooned into overhauling the city’s appearance and reorganized to be more efficient and responsive to Lucan’s will. Of course, this is still Freeport, so dissention is always brewing just under the surface, but Lucan’s firm grasp on command keeps most people tentative about their resistance currently.

Storyline Quests

• Players can speak to Serris in the Freeport Militia House to begin doing work for Freeport.
• Players can speak to The Forgotten to continue doing work for Freeport once they are level 40 and have completed the level 20 storyline quests.

Racial Quests

• Sarnak players may wish to visit the Gorowyn Chancery and speak to Ambassador Erazak.
• Half Elves should seek out Thavian Destrus on the docks near Seafarer’s Roost.
• Gnomes should seek out Professor Flimflam located at Inventor’s Outlook.
• Dark Elves should seek out Dyymona K'Vexx located inside The Academy of Arcane Science.
• Erudites should seek out Azreana located inside The Academy of Arcane Science.
• Ogres should seek out Kroota Gukbutcher located in the Dreadnaught’s Plaza.
• Arasai players should visit their new embassy and speak with Ambassador Anttel V'Xeath.
• Freeblood players should seek out Glaria in the Jade Tiger Inn.
• Human players should seek out Derald Walldons on the Overlord’s Perch.
• Iksar players should seek out Zulk Veskk just outside the doors to the Scale Yard.
• Kerra players should seek out Caltuur, just outside the Freeport Block and Tackle.
• Ratonga players should seek out Sneel Valiyn near The Academy of Arcane Science.
• Troll players should seek out Nelik Ulnya on the docks outside of the Freeport Block and Tackle.

Class Quests

• Mages will find quests being offered by Librarian Motius Feldarn at the Academy of Arcane Science at level 20+, and then Foci Tamara Paust at the Academy of Arcane Science at levels 40+, 60+ & 80+.
• Fighters will find quests being offered by Corporal Sergius Mordanticus at the Freeport Militia House at level 20+, and then Grand Duke Lazarus Hazran at the Freeport Militia House at levels 40+, 60+ & 80+.
• Scouts will find quests being offered beginning at level 20+, by seeking out Galla Silverwing, Quartermaster Baile, and Vali’il near the docks of Freeport.  Scouts at level 40+ can then find work with Privateer Twitchwisker, and finally with Captain Siren at levels 60+ and 80+.
• Priests will find quests at level 20+ by seeking out Administrator Frugi, Kenth Lanringe, and Belimee Viperwing at the Temple of War.  Priests at level 40+ can find work with Gisuka Voll, then with Grand Inquisitor Nethal L’tylex at level 60+, then finally with Gisuka Voll once again at 80+.

MERCENARIES

As you travel the lands of Norrath, keep your eyes open for mercenaries who may be for hire. Is your group short-handed? Now you can hire a brave companion to fight by your side, filling a spot in your group or assisting you in a duo. Coin talks, and the mercenaries of the shattered lands are eager to listen. Be sure to watch out for rare mercenaries who may not normally be available, but who will serve you well and faithfully for a limited time.

REFORGING

Ever obtained an item that's just not quite what you wanted?  Using the reforging system, you will be able to reconfigure your items to change their stats and even add particle effects!

Reforging specialists have appeared in Freeport and Qeynos (look for the tag)!

• These specialists will allow you to tweak stats on your Legendary, Fabled, and Mythical equipment via a new “Reforge” window.
• You can revert the reforging process via the “Restore” tab at any specialist.
• These specialists will also allow you to attach a Decoration to your weapon.

Decorations add particle effects to your weapon.

Decorations are available via various means throughout Norrath.

There are several tiers of decorations. 

• The higher the tier, the more elaborate the effect.
• The first tier is available for purchase from Reforging specialists

To add a decoration to your weapon, drag and drop your decoration into the decoration slot in the “Reforge” window.

• Reforging stats and adding a decoration to a weapon must be done at the same time.
• You can revert the reforging process via the “Restore” tab at any specialist.

TRADESKILLS

• Altered the description of the tradeskill AA "Conservation of Mass" to give more information including proc rate and effects.
• The proc rate of the tradeskill AA "Conservation of Mass" now increases as you increase rank.
• The proc "Conservation of Mass" will now only proc when you complete crafting a pristine item, and not while crafting the item.
• Repair Materials and Pristine Repair Materials are now flagged heirloom.

ITEMS

• Many items that were designed to be sold to a vendor can no longer be listed on the broker.  Items like these that already exist on the broker have been taken down and cannot be relisted.
• Petamorph Wands are now toggleable.
• The Station Marketplace casino games can now be played. The result of the spin/roll will be random and all players will see the same result.
• Brute's Unyielding Hand Wraps, Cenobite's Unyielding Hand Wraps and Cenobite's Prodigious Hand Wraps have had haste added to them.
• Fixed a bug where a few items would not properly auto equip when there was already an item in that slot.
• Fighter helms that drop from the Tower of Vuul should now have critical bonus applied to them.

QUESTS

Signature

• The Stormhammer signature quest now spawns Xicotl at the appropriate level for the quest.

Timorous Deep

• Primary Sha’Ki is now more willing to give out The Chain of Command after players have completed work for Ku’Uul.

Chardok

• The Encyclopedias of Mutigenica will no longer tell the whole zone you already have the book.

BATTLEGROUNDS

• Fixed a bug where elemental blast would not work on some NPCs.

Everything in this 'expansion' should have been delivered as a 'free' update, just as NCsoft and others manage to do, just to say thank you to the vets for having to buy what is now being given away and supporting the game all these years. It also would have probably filled EQ2's servers up again with people wanting to try it all out, with obvious cash shop revenue benefit for SOE.

But, as always, SOE take the short term greedy grab approach and miss what good will from their player base really means.

IMO ofc.

Originally posted by vesavius

Everything in this 'expansion' should have been delivered as a 'free' update, just as NCsoft and others manage to do, just to say thank you to the vets for having to buy what is now being given away and supporting the game all these years. It also would have probably filled EQ2's servers up again with people wanting to try it all out, with obvious cash shop revenue benefit for SOE.

But, as always, SOE take the short term greedy grab approach and miss what good will from their player base really means.

IMO ofc.

The Freeport & Commonlands part is free.  I see this complaint a lot, and it's usually from the vets of EQ2.  They are used to expansions being content, when now, they have switched it to content coming with free game updates.  Expansions aren't really expansions but added features, and it's confusing the vets who are used to the other way around.  I have no problem with it so far, but  they have only started this switch recently due to the new free-to-play model and we shall see how it pans out.

ZAM posted some guides

http://eq2.zam.com/story.html?story=28449

Adventuring

• Beastlord Class Guide
• Beastlord Warders
• City of Freeport Quest Series
• Freeport Housing (updated for GU62)
• A Traveler's Guide to the City of Freeport

Crafting

• Tradeskill Apprentices

Features

• Dungeon Maker
• EQII Share
• Mercenaries
• Reforging

World Events

• Frostfell

Originally posted by Jenadara

Originally posted by vesavius

Everything in this 'expansion' should have been delivered as a 'free' update, just as NCsoft and others manage to do, just to say thank you to the vets for having to buy what is now being given away and supporting the game all these years. It also would have probably filled EQ2's servers up again with people wanting to try it all out, with obvious cash shop revenue benefit for SOE.

But, as always, SOE take the short term greedy grab approach and miss what good will from their player base really means.

IMO ofc.

The Freeport & Commonlands part is free.  I see this complaint a lot, and it's usually from the vets of EQ2.  They are used to expansions being content, when now, they have switched it to content coming with free game updates.  Expansions aren't really expansions but added features, and it's confusing the vets who are used to the other way around.  I have no problem with it so far, but  they have only started this switch recently due to the new free-to-play model and we shall see how it pans out.

well they always had free content updates, so they need to make alot of it to make up for a non content expansion...anyway how I see it the only 2 reasons they are doing this is they got behind on schedule and because they promised to keep adding to the velious expansion for free....so have to think of a way to make people pay for an expansion anyway