EverQuest II Game Designer Nathan McCall and Zone Artist Stacey Norman took some time to provide a preview of New Halas, the rebirth of the city of Halas, which has been lost since the Rending. Fans of the original EverQuest, should remember the original Halas as an icy stronghold in Antonica, home to Norrath's barbarians.

New Halas will maintain that icy look, as it essentially a city within an iceberg. Zone Artist Stacey Norman describes the challenges of creating New Halas below:

The city of Halas is nestled in the center of an enormous iceberg.  Icebergs are usually pretty stark in nature so I was really limited in the different types of materials that could be used.  Types of vegetation are also very limited on an iceberg and I couldn’t rely on trees and plants to beautify the vast areas.  So….. I spent a lot of time researching iceberg formations and decided to rely mainly on unique shapes to make the zone interesting.

The actual city of Halas was first home to the Coldains but since the barbarians and frogloks have moved into the city we had to spend time laying out all the architecture in order to please design and for happy gameplay but also keeping in mind what looks good aesthetically.  Our intern, Andres, did a great job modeling and texturing the actual buildings for the city. He also built the player housing for Halas.

Read the full preview here to find out what happened to New Halas since the rending, as well as what is bringing it back.