All Around Norrath - Rise of Kunark
In her weekly All Around Kunark column, Adele Caelia interviews players of EverQuest II in-game to find out their opinions on a variety of subjects. Today, it's the Rise of Kunark expansion.
Rise of Kunark is now in its second week and I must admit that although I was a bit of a naysayer before, I am quite pleased now. The expansion is completely turning the world of Norrath upside down! The new gear has stats undreamed of, and I have almost completely replaced all of my fabled raid gear with treasured gear from quests!
As expected, I’m sure that a few raiders are slightly upset that the gear they have raided for the last six months is immediately obsolete, but on the other hand it is nice that all types of players can get great gear just by questing. Being a mage, let me tell you, the quest gear is extremely mage heavy, so much so that I have been spending a lot of time debating which I should wear. I am more pumped to raid now than ever before. I know that if the treasured gear is this awesome that the raid gear is going to blow us away!
Ah, Everquest, you finally live up to your name! The game is now truly living up the second half of its name, and this has also put a few people in a grumble. They have taken out the experience grind and replaced it with questing! Questing is now the only way to level in a timely manner, and in my opinion this is how it should be. It’s not called Everquest for nothing! Those players who used to find themselves a nice spot in a dungeon, stay up all night, and grind to level are finding themselves in quite the pickle. In order to level this way it would now take weeks! I can’t deny that this makes me giggle a little in delight! In my opinion it is pretty pointless to play a game called Everquest and have a fit because you have to quest…
In fact, questing is not only the best XP for the least amount of time; it is also the fastest way to earn plat! Just to give you an idea of each, the game is now eight days in, and today I will be dinging level 78, and this my friends is only through questing, and actually sleeping and breaking to deal with the fabled “real life”. As far as cash goes, just by doing quests I went from 71 plat to 130 plat in 8 days. The questing has been done very smoothly as well. The quests are all located together, along with the mobs needed to complete them. They have nice little storylines that move you along further in the zone, and eventually to the next. The expansion is all about faction, and in fact you can earn positive faction with all the new cities, and by doing this purchase some awesome items. Oh and they also let you live, a pretty big plus there.
I love this expansion so far, and I have, with some guild mates, snuck ahead to a couple of zones that should have resulted in my death, but ah, nothing can take a conjuror and her guild mates! The sights I have seen have really geared me up and pushed me to keep questing and leveling. Veeshan’s Peak, here I come! In all honesty, I can say that this is a fabulous expansion full of changes that are great, and if you haven’t been back to game in awhile, or if you have never played you really should. In fact if you go for being the scaly evil type I highly recommend trying out the new Sarnak race, they may not be as pretty as the fae, but they do have better housing! I could go on and on about this expansion, but that’s not what I’m here for, here’s what the players had to say:
Kithicor
Bladesinger Klawdia of Mithaniel Marr- “It’s been fun so far, but I wish there was a little bit better xp for grinding mobs.”
Rubble Rabble Rouser Sslip- “In all honesty I think the expansion is kind of boring. They made it too easy to level up to 80. They didn’t put in enough content and instances. I feel they went too quest heavy.”
Catula the Distinguished- “I think the solo content is 100% better, but in doing that they messed up the group content.”
Nektulos
Seratos, a Sarnak- “Expansion was good. My favorite so far. Just like the origninal Ruins of Kunark.”
Bloodseeker, a Sarnak- “Personally I think they did a great job with the look and feel of the new expansion.”
Fangatoulos- “I’m extremely impressed with the soloability and the quest progression, and not having to grind levels. The visuals are awesome!”
Prezzer, a Sarnak- “I’m liking it, although I’ve only been playing the lower level Sarnak stuff. I can see why people are complaining about being too geared towards solo play though. Still I’m certainly enjoying it, and the structure feels good, a nice path through the progression of levels and quests.”
Crushbone
Mogwog- “Very large zones, nice though. I have enjoyed discovering stuff again.”
Archer Losuvas- “The zones are super cool, ya know! I have really enjoyed the Kylong Plains.”
Blackburrow
Fellona- “Kylong and company are laid out beautifully. I often stop to just look around at the landscape. The lower level zones are difficult and hard to traverse, not good for new players. The new worlds seem very laggy, but I’m sure that will improve with time. The monsters are beautifully crafted and skilled in death dealing. Overall I give it a B+.”
Lord Ponno Jonno`Onnonno, the Contender- “Sure! It’s huge! I’ve been playing about 3 hours a day since it came out and still haven’t left Kylong!”
Venekor
Necrosys D`Cease- “I love it, and with all the PVP action now I have hardly gotten to explore much of it. I think SOE needs to keep the participation at this level. The server has returned to life!”
Slayer Nightshade Doctordeath, the Loyal- “I think it is a beautiful design. The new zones look amazing. The PVP will die down in a few weeks.”
Guk
Lord Tazikk Seaclaw the Treasure Hunter- “An all around fun expansion full of fun and death… lots and lots of death…”
Executioner Singedgrizzly of the 7th Hammer- “I think it’s great! Lots of soloable stuff for those of us that work odd hours! My wife can’t wait to get the expansion for her account!”
