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EverQuest II Previews: Echoes of Faydwer Preview
It launches today, get our preview hot off the presses as Carolyn Koh reports.
By Carolyn Koh on November 14, 2006
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| A launch-day preview of the latest EverQuest II expansion from SOE The Fae are a good race and as such, players wanting to create a Fae may only play the good and neutral classes. The smallest of the player races available, the Fae glide above the ground, propelled by their fluttering wings as a winged humanoid creature would. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, however, as the customization allows a player to create Faes ranging from pink and blonde Princess goodness to Diablo dark fallen angels. So despite the fun I've made of them, I enjoyed creating several Fae characters just to see the range of customization available. Since Echoes of Faydwer brings back the ancestral homeland of the Wood Elves, High Elves, Gnomes and Dwarves. Players creating any one of these races including the Half Elf and the Fae, can choose Kelethin as their starting city. The Faydark forest and the city of Kelethin were traditionally mist enshrouded and gloomy, but in EverQuest II has been transformed into deeper darkness punctuated by bright mystic glows of magical fauna - a magical night time fairyland. Apart from Kelethin, the rest of the ancestral racial homelands that EverQuest players are familiar with on the isle of Faydwer are adventure zones. Two favorite dungeons have survived the ages. Crushbone Keep, the low level dungeon of Faydwer remains in all its Orcian glory and although I'd heard that D'Vinn the 100th was in resident, did not see him. Castle Mistmoore - that wondrous Gothic castle of yore is as frightening as it ever was. I did not make it that far though I played tourist and took screenshots of the cemetery and the gigantic gargoyle a hapless traveler attracted. The lands of Faydwer are a treat to the senses, with the zones ranging from the lushness of the Lesser Faydark and the Fae Court to the Loping Plains with gloomy, bleak Mistmoore Castle, ridden with undead zombies, menacing Worgs and eerie music reminiscent of vampire movies. I'd heard rumor of "safe areas" within the ancestral cities of the gnomes - Ak'anon, Dwarves - Kaladim and High Elves - Felwithe or is it New Tunaria? But with the lengthy downloads, patches and frequent "downage" of the Beta server (and missing Fluffy, the beta buffer), was unable to explore all. Running through the Steamfont Mountains and Butcherblock was another nostalgic treat for this old EverQuest player... but enough nostalgia. What else does Echoes of Faydwer being other than a trip down memory lane? Sony has tried to create an expansion that plumbs the depths and breadth of player experience. The level cap does not rise in this expansion but all guilds can now reach level 60 and gain access to new nobility titles and guild rewards, including expanded bank space. Guilds also gain a new feature - the ability to choose a unique heraldry pattern to be displayed on cloaks - a new clothing item to be introduced into the game (together with a second earring slot). With mutterings of "Kunark Era" and parallels drawn to it often, Echoes of Faydwer doesn't just capture the imaginations of old EverQuest players but also those new to the EverQuest universe. This expansion brings more acreage into the playing field, a new race, new guild levels, new clothing slots and armor sets as well as introducing a new Achievement system to further customize your characters spells and abilities. The Deities return with this expansion. Perhaps the abandonment of Norrath by its deities could be in part contributed to the number of raiders (in EverQuest) romping through their planes. Being immortal, they resurrected themselves, I would suppose... but I'm sure it got old. Live Events leading up to the expansion have been prepping players for their return and when this expansion goes live, players will be able to choose to do quests or sacrifice in order to gain the favor and the blessings (which come in the form of phat lewt) of one of the Gods or Goddesses. Players will not encounter the Gods and Goddesses, nor will they be able to access their planes, although I am told that they will be able to encounter their avatars... and slay them. What is this Adornment you ask? A new feature SOE has introduced. Similar to the system in Diablo, it allows players to "adorn" a piece gear with an item to make it stronger or raise a stat. New UI enhancements will be introduced with this expansion, as will the ability for secure commissions. Much as EQ players were able to group with a craftsman and receive a message if a "combine" was successful, a secure commission is similar to a trade window where craftsman and the commissioner will be able to see each step of the crafting process, the commissioner providing materials and fee, the crafter providing skill level and recipes. Having had several weeks to romp through the Isle of Faydwer, I can say that the Echoes of Faydwer is easily the prettiest of expansions to date with plenty of eye-candy and atmospheric effects as well sound and music to round off the immersive effects. This old EverQuest player is looking forward to this expansion more than I have the first two. Now I only have to decide if I will recreate my fallen angel or my pretty-in-pink princess at launch.
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Your the best Carolyn, thanks for the preview, will you be doing a full review over the next couple of weeks?
For myself, I waited to re-activate my old account for this expansion so I'm hoping to get in there with a new Fae and have some fun, hoping this adds a spring in the step of EQ2.
The expansion is really good indeed ( I was in Beta).
You just forgot one thing in your review, they are revamping all PVP system, fixing resists, evacs, debuffs...
Its really funny to see in EQ2 forum, threads like "Thanks SOE..." or "DEVs we love you.."
.. I am serious!!!
Hehe, I was just thinking the same thing.
I went over to the eq2 forums expecting the usual ranting, raving, balancing fiasco that usually clusters up any SOE board and I was amazed to see so many positive threads about the expansion pack and the host of other features that are comming along with LU29.
Its so wierd, honestly don't know if I can deal with SOE boards being so civil and... well, nice! Quite the shock it was. Could it be that the SOE/EQ2 team have actually managed to come out with something isn't just free of suckage, but is actually really good?
Having bought the actual box edition (which took me liek ten stores too find.. because people didnt carry it or had just sold out!), it came with a map and on the map it listed The Estate of Unrest just off butcherblock :) which i saw wasnt mentioned (while crushbone and mistmoore were).. and it also showed mistmoore but didnt technically show crushbone on the map tho i had known it was in.. just wanted to let people who may recall unrest as much as me, know it is in there from the looks of it! Cant wait to explore faydwer on my dwarf and new fae! YAY for something hopefully good with eq2... /dance.
Kalade the happy dwarf who just wants to visit kaladim again.... :)
How can i log in while they say that the Severs are Busy??? They say wait a view minutes but i wait an half an hour and then it says again they are busy!!! WTF is wrong with it>>>>??????
A litte patience is always needed during patch/expansion days and that much more on this one. Since patch LU29 was rolled out at the same time as Faydwer, it's a huge job and there's bound to be issues here and there.
There's quite a few people that are able to get into game now so I'm sure your issues will clear up soon enough, you can always check out the official forums too and see if there's any announcements.
EDIT:
You can also check out http://eq2players.station.sony.com/network_status.vm for server status.
Unrest IS part of the expansion, but there were some bugs with some of the parts of it, so its currently closed and being worked on, and will be opened in a few weeks. The rest are all there.
Loving this pack so far, having played some beta's recently of upcoming MMOs, this is actually alot more fun.
Grrrrr! Now I have to play EQ2 again?!? OK!
Awesome preview Carolyn. Really made me want to re-sub and just be a n00by in Fay.
Well when 98% of Asshats and retards are Trolling the WoW forums.........
A lot of it has to do with the moderators, Forum suspension means in game suspension and SOE has no problem banning an account. A good friend of mine is one of the Mods on the WoW forums and he laments daily at the difference in community, but will tell you that Blizzard management feels any form of discipline is squelching the customers freedom, so you end up with the worst community on the interwebs. My friend likened the community with a head honchos children once…Spoiled little brats that will probably end up Menendizng their parents before all is said and done. Still Vevendi has been all over Blizzards back about the forums of late, it would be shocking to see them actually get their act together.
Hmmmmm Then that would make the WoW community what the enlightened living? ROLF
I think Tseric from the WoW forums described the community best at Comic Con. "Yeah it doesn’t help that most of put fans live in Trailer Parks and have a sub 84 I.Q. .... Still their money spends yes?"
Say what you will about SOE at least they make an apperance of respecting their fans at Trade Shows and gaming events. I attended Blizcon, E-3 and Comic-Con Blizzard devlopers all act as if they are going to catch thier fans Stupid or somthing.
At least WoW suscribers have a high enough IQ to spend their money on a quality game rather than wasting it on a pos game like EQII imo =P. There is 100 times more mature and intelligent adults playing WoW than EQII. However, there is 1000 times more immature players playing WoW than EQII. If you hang out and play with the mature players the game is quite enjoyable. Regardless, all of them have better sense than people who give money to Sony who ran every game they ever had into the ground. Course EQII they didnt have to.. it was a flop from the start, and still is.