Haloface
08-12-2004, 07:33 AM
Copying this from my guild forum. Hopefully a moderator can sticky this (what with it being a forum for EverQuest.. so part 2 of the game is likely an important thing) and feel free to post here with any new links, info, movies, etc.
What's this all aboot, then? eh?
- EverQuest II has entered it's private beta phase, with designers and their families already playing the game. The first phase of public beta has either hapened or will be in the next few weeks (subscribers to certain Sony products, etc) and then the most open beta begins at the end of the summer. The release date for the actual game is, of course, not exact, but the word on the street (wet, cold, english streets) is that it's due to be released in the US and Europe at the end of the autumn, but most likely before christmas. Sony have said that they will continue to work and expand the original EverQuest, and hope to implement a system which will allow people to be interconnected with their old characters, and old friends in EverQuest, while playing EQII (being in the form of accessible items in EQ2 connected to EQ1, and an chat system that allows cross-game communication).
There will be again a monthly charge, and yearly expansions.
The official FAQ can be found here: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/faq.vm
The new system specs, which seem a lot like the current EQ specs, are these:
"System Requirements
What are the game's requirements?
-Operating System: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
-Processor: 1GHz or greater
-RAM: 512 MB
-Video Card: DirectX 9 compatible. Pixel shader and vertex shader compatible hardware with 64 MB of texture memory
-Sound Card: DirectSound compatible audio hardware"
EverQuest II, the game
- As well as a new, highly intensive graphics engine, a number of aspects have changed to create EQII. The most notable is that of micro-gaming. What this essentially means, is that Sony wish to get back to the basics, and do things in small scale interaction. This is shown in everything, from banking, travelling, grouping, raiding, and even being part of a guild.
So there'll be no more RZ-zerg-style raids anymore, which (most) hated. And that's the reason why I'm looking forward to the game, the promise of The Beginning, when things were small, and yet scary. When things were tough and challenging with friends, not a million people. When guilds that relied on eachother, and skill, showed their best qualities, doing things outside the box.
Norrath, Lore, and settings
- The game is set during the Age of Destiny, which occured after the Age of Cataclysm, which saw Norrath almost destroyed over 500 years. Natural (perhaps, perhaps not) disasters tore Norrath apart, as well as bringing the moon crashing down on to the planet, it was also gripped by earthquakes and floods. Qeynos and Freeport are the only main cities to have survived, with Qeynos and its leader, Antonia Bayle (very hawt), being a place for the good and honest, while Freeport, siezed and run by Lucan and his milita, is a place for the seedy and dark. While the landscape has been wracked and twisted, many things remain. The ruins of old cities, dungeons deep under ground, and the bravest adventurers will come in to contact with the most dangerous of all beings, Nagafen and Vox [the expansions will consist of re-discovering old continents. So the first expansion will be Faydwer, etc].
Norrath is also dogged by the aparant silence, or dissapearence, of the Gods. Who knows where they've gone, or what they are up too (probably playing a game of GO JOHNNY GO GO GO GO!!! Sorry, English joke..)?
You, yourself, and the other guy - Customization and Characterization
- This is a top thing in EQII. Customization has gone mental. Insane and mental. Perhaps.. obsessive.
A player will beable to customize almost every feature of their character. Yet the developers are ignoring my emails, asking if I will beable to change the size of my Erudite's genitals. The authorities are looking for me, however. So if anyone asks, I'm in Najaf - Iraq. COME GET ME MOTHER BITCHES!
"Our character models have an unparalleled level of facial customization. You will be able to change the size and shape of the nose, ears, eyebrows, cheekbones, chin, and more, plus select from a multitude of hair styles and skin tones. Males can select from a wide array of beards, and there will be many racially specific customizations as well. For instance, gnomes and ratonga can wear a variety of glasses with custom-tinted lenses."
CUSTOM-TINTED LENSES, FOR GODSAKE!
But noooo, can't alter your penis size! DAMNIT!
Edit: Since I first wrote this, I've played around with customization from the cool little CD thing. It's neato. From hair, glasses, tatoo's, face-style-mask-thingies, horns, weight, height, nose size, ear height, eyebrow slant...Everything, is pretty much do-able. Except the goddamn genitals.
Once physically customized, character creation will NOT involve allocating points in to certain categories such as str or dex, as to avoid the idiot newbies (yes, ok, alright, I put 20 points in to str for Halo when he was created. Well.. strength means better damage, right?! Simple mistake!) putting points in to wrong places. Equally, a player will not - as part of the stroy - not choose a diety to worship or city to choose. Instead, a player will just verify their name and will begin on a ship headed for the Isle of Refuge (see: "EverQuestII, the beginnings") where they can then make the choice for their home-town, and thus allegience.
To get a better understanding of characterization, there will be five main indirectly effected areas of your character, which will consist of Hit Points; Power; Concentration; Attack; and Defense. Furthermore, there will be five familiar character attributes, in which players can directly raise, consisting of Strength, Agility, Stamina, Intelligence, Wisdom, followed by the typical resistances, with the addition of "divine" and "mental" resistances.
Weight will continue to be a factor with characters, dictacting running speed, jumping, and affecting strength, agility, and stamina.
Monetary and inventory mechanics remain the same, as does character equipping, with virtually the same slots available.
Races & Classes
- EQII consists of 14 original races of Norrath plus two new: the Ratonga and Kerra.
Ratonga - "The Ratonga are a race of rodent humanoids, about the height of a dwarf...Ratonga are a somewhat weak race, their armour most often made of hides or light chainmail...whatever they do is usually made to be silent and blend in with the darkness..."
Alignment: Evil.
Classes: Scout, Mage.
Kerra- "Kerra are a large, humanoid feline race...they are tall and powerful with great agility...they are a shamanistic culture..."
Alignment: Neutral.
Classes: Scout, Fighter, Priest.
When a player starts, until level 3, s/he will be a commoner, no specific class or agenda. But when s/he (pc at its best, baby!) hits level 3, there will be four main classes available to them, or "archetypes" as they're called now. At level 10, each archetype splits off in to three disciplines, and finally at level 30, each of those splits in to two classes, depending on alignment.
Fighter - "Fighters use brute strength and sturdy weapons to deal physical damage to their enemies..."
Warrior: Beserker, Guardian.
Brawler: Bruiser, Monk.
Crusader: Paladin, Shadow Knight
Mage - "Mages weild powerful forms of magic to strike down their opponents..."
Sorcerer: Warlock, Wizard.
Enchanter: Illusionist, Coercer.
Summoner: Necromancer, Conjurer.
Scout - "Scouts use stealth and cunning to explore the unknown. Highly skilled at detecting and disarming traps, they are experts at infiltrating the lair of the enemy..."
Rogue: Brigand, Swashbuckler.
Bard: Dirge, Troubadour.
Predator: Assassin, Ranger.
Priest - "Priests augment and replenish the health of their comrades to help them survive long in combat..."
Cleric: Templar, Inquisitor.
Druid: Warden, Fury.
Shaman: Defiler, Mystic.
Classes work like this...
You choose an archetype, fighter, priest, scout or mage. When you get to a certain level, you can then decide what specific discipline you wish to puruse. So if you decided Priest, then you can choose whether you wish to go down the road of the Druid, Shaman, or Cleric. Further more, based on your race, discipline, and alignment, you can choose a specific class. Before you chose this final class, you can reconsider whether or not, being a Troll, you actually wish to stay on Freeport's (evil) side. If so, and you are a troll who chose the Priest archetype and specificed in being a Cleric, you can become the evil version (as you are aligned to Freeport, and thus evil) Inquisitor.
So while neutral races like Humans and Half Elves can either be part of Freeport or Qeynos at the beginning, other classes, like Trolls or High Elves, have no choice. But, before they choose their final class, they do get the choice of changing their cities, and so their alignments. Here's a good example...
"So I will be able to switch my citizenship between Qeynos to Freeport whenever I want?"
You will be able to switch citizenship once (and only once) prior to the selection of your subclass. The change is not a trivial one; it is intended to be a challenging path. Here's an example of how it works:
"Say you make a troll named Buhlia, and she decides to become a fighter. Trolls are an evil race, so they are only accepted by Freeport. Buhlia remains a citizen of Freeport as she gains levels, and eventually becomes a crusader. But as she matures, Buhlia realizes that she actually supports the principles of Qeynos more than those of Freeport and wishes to become a force for good. Before choosing her subclass, Buhlia can renounce her citizenship and work to become accepted in Qeynos.
This will not be a trivial task. Buhlia is going to walk a challenging road, because the citizens of Qeynos won't be quick to trust a former enemy. Furthermore, the people of Freeport will look upon the poor troll as a traitor. But if she completes a series of quests and proves her worth, Buhlia can earn citizenship in Qeynos and be trained as a paladin."
Here's a great FAQ for alignments, factions, and class choices..
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=faq&message.id=11
(note: when you are a commoner, before you hit level3, you are effectively able to "test" out the basic abilities of each archetype, to get a taste of what you can become)
Classes in more detail...
To those who have chosen their class already, or wish to learn more about how their current EQLive class has changed in the new EverQuest, here's a very detailed and specific account of each and every available class.
[Fighter] - Role: To focus a mob's efforts on you, and you alone. Every fighter, whether warrior, brawler, or crusader, can take and deal damage. There's no "monk" class here that can only do one thing and not the other.
Adv: Everyone starts with 6 inventory slots, but fighters gain a seventh one, an 8th at level 10, and most likely more and more.
Tidbits: It seems like there will be extra focus on the fighter's role as taunter and damage taker, and also an increased effort to make all fighter's equal in abilities, just different in execution.
~ Warrior: Will specify in heavy armour and weapons. Plate, axes, two-handed blades. Guardians will gain an advantage in defense, while loosing none in damage, whereas Beserkers will gain more in damage, but retaining adequate defense.
~ Brawler: Specialise in hand-to-hand, with the Monk being far more graceful and agile in their execution of swinging kicks and chopping-style martial arts, whereas the bruiser relies on far more brutal and direct means of damage. Each can tank equally and effeciently well.
~ Crusader: Like their EQLive counter-parts, Paladin's and Shadowknights excel in the use of spells to assist their tanking and damage, with a Paladin possessing a unique and NOT cleric-like spell line, where-as Shadow Knights rely upon new abilities such as despair and hate-like spells. Again, each class can tank sufficiently well.
[Mage] - Role: The pure casting group of classes, mage's will continue to rely on books and scrolls, with far more focus on damage.
Adv: Sounds as if Mage's will be the uber-types of the low levels, specifically, possessing a unique line of spells that regenerate power significantly, yet do not survive in to the later levels.
Tid-bits: Mages appear to be far more about direct contact, such as control and nukes, and far less about alteration, mind spells, porting and such.
~ Sorcerer: The most direct-confronting class out of the Mages, Wizard's will rely on fire and ice to weaken and attack mobs, while Warlocks revert to poison, death and decay.
~ Enchanter: Far more about control and adapting, Illusionists can look to spells of illusion and confusion, while Coercer's call upon control and enhancing.
~ Summoner: Almost completely dependent upon power avatars, Conjurers can summon over-powering Elementals of air, earth, fire, and water, while Necromancers traditionally rely on the dead or the ressurected to do their bidding.
I'll update Priests and Scouts tommorrow, when I can gather more info.
Zones
- It appears Antonica will be split up in to three main areas. The first two are sort of "sub-continents" belonging to either city. The first is Karan, where Qeynos exists. The second is D'Lere, the place of Freeport. These will be the two, huge, main areas for players, where quests will begin and end, where guilds interact to progress, where markets and bazaars are, and guild houses, so forth. Within the city limits there will be districts and towns. So Qeynos isn't just one town, but a huge city with a number of districts or small villages. The same with Freeport. The last area are the Shattered Lands, the area between Freeport and Qeynos, the devastated land of Antonica, twisted and destroyed. This will be where all the adventuring is done, where dungeons are, and quests will be conducted. Many old zones will remain, but completely changed (Runnyeye, for example, is a huge, high level goblin stronghold). And many new zones will be introduced (Orc strongholds in the Commonlands, for example).
Here's a more indepth look in to the main cities...
Qeynos:
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_qeynos_06162004_1_1087428380.jpg
This won't actually be the city of Qeynos from EverQuest. It's built near the Forest Ruins, which is the old Qeynos. As you can see, it is different. Larger, grander, and busier. The Forest Ruins will be a high level zone, which sounds pretty cool. And there will aparantly be plenty of quests in Qeynos related to our dear old Qeynos, well the ruins, anyway..
"Qeynos is the Great City, the city of valor and defender of the meek. It is a beacon of hope amidst the anarchy that plagues the world of Norrath in the Age of Destiny. It was nearly destroyed during the Age of Cataclysms, left in rubble and the land it sat upon partially submerged.
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_qeynos_06162004_2_1087428381.jpg
It was rebuilt with the unification of the Antonicans and the Tunarian Alliance, a society of woodsmen and druids. This unification of communities has created a beautiful blend of medieval architecture and lush flora. The forest and the city have become one. Aqueducts now cut their way through many portions of the Great City. Giant evergreen trees now spire alongside stone towers."
Rivervale was destroyed, as was Akanon, and so here's a little insight in to one of the Qeynos areas, Baubbleshire, home of.. guess who?
"Without a doubt the most carefree of all of the villages, the Baubbleshire is home to both halflings and gnomes. Although it began as a strictly halfling trading post near the end of the Age of Turmoil, the gnomes have integrated nicely and definitely have added their own "flavor" to the community...Upon the gnome's arrival in Qeynos from the Isle of Refuge, Antonia Bayle asked the halflings if the gnomes could take up temporary residence within their walls. Not wanting to be inhospitable, the Underfoot were quick to comply with the request."
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_qeynos_06162004_5_1087428381.jpg
"The halflings have learned to tolerate their new neighbors as best they can. The gnomes are constantly trying to repay the halflings' hospitality by creating "marvelous contraptions" to aid them in their day-to-day life. The halflings simply smile and nod... unless of course something blows up."
Other districts, beside Baubbleshire, will be Nettleville, where Humans and Kerra's find their homes; Starcrest is the mainly Erudite area of Qeynos, although humans also live there, it contains a gigantic fountain in the centre; Graystone is home to both Barbarians and dwarfs, it is situated on the docks of Qeynos and has some of the biggest taverns around, bloody drunk dwarves; Castleview rests directly under Qeynos Castle, being home to an odd couple, High Elves and Frogloks. Supposedly the High Elves have taken Frogloks under their wing, educating them in the way of superiorism, poncy buggers; Willow Wood is home to Wood Elves and Half Elves, and so is naturally more of a bunch of sheds under lots of trees than an actual district of Qeynos; the final area of the city is Baubbleshire, shared by the inventive Gnomes and simple Halflings.
So there ya go. Qeynos has turned from a small, human city of neutrality, in to a bustling, super city for good, inhabited by all good beings, living under one roof, or tree, or hole in the ground. Whatever floats their boat. Or tree. Or roof. Or hole in the ground. You know what I mean, damnit!
Freeport:
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_freeport_06112004_2_1087004190.jpg
Freeport is very much the same old Freeport. Except now it's under the total control of Lucan and his milita, and has had 500 years to... redesign the place. Openly evil, it's buildings and roads have turned somewhat.. menacing. Even in appearence. Note the broken moon in the sky. So, even they finally agree it was a crap expansion.
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_freeport_06112004_3_1087004191.jpg
"Freeport, once known as "The City of Free Men," sits along the coastline of an arid savanna. It is an infamous city ruled by an evil and mysterious Overlord and patrolled by an equally evil and sadistic militia. Illicit business is quite common, which attracts the nefarious and selfish guilds of human society who have built grand guildhalls in the city to bolster their ranks while tending to hidden agendas.
Freeport, profiting from the needs of the ever-increasing flood of refugees. It is a city where man meets monster, where civility meets savagery...Freeport still stands as one of the grandest cities one could ever set eyes upon. Just watch your back and trust no one!"
Anywho, aparantly Lucan now has some big arse citadel. A notch up from the guard house, me thinks.
"Several hundred years have passed since Lucan D'Lere took control of Freeport. Some historians believe that the current Overlord is a descendent of the original Lucan, whereas others claim D'Lere rules eternally in a state of undeath, not unlike a lich..."
Freeport is no longer split in to North, East and West, like Qeynos, but in to districts, like Qeynos, created by Lucan. Big Bend is the largest district, literally, inhabited by Ogres and Trolls, covered in pubs, and generally a city dump; Stonestair Byway is more of a warzone than a city district, being the awkward home of evil Kerras and Erudites, with the Kerras never forgetting the ills done by the Erudites on Odus; The declining population of the Iksar are reduced to a small number living in a place in Freeport called the Scale Yard, detestingly shared by the Barbarians, although it appears the Iksar are the ones who have the power in the area; Temple Street, houses situated around a ruined temple to a mysterious diety, houses the Ratonga and the gnomes, evilly plotting away with the unusual aid of the evil Ratonga clans; Beggar's Court is perhaps the bussiest area of Freeport, being the main abode of humans who conduct in every corrupt and illegal affair they can, although it was once the residing place of the bustling Coalition of Tradesfolk, you could say things have turned...dark; the final area of Freeport is the dark and mysterious stronghold of the Tier'Dal, Longshadow. Reportedly Lucan's most useful resource, the Tier'Dal were awarded this entire district to themselves, where they scheme and plot away.
The sewers, or tunnels, remain, and are aparantly a bit more dangerous than what they were, and a bit more central to Freeport as a whole.
So that's Freeport. Bigger, bader, and uglier.
Other zones so far include:
Temple of Cazic Thule, complete with the coolest dragon you'll ever see.
The Wailing Caves (orc stronghold in Commonlands), Nektulos Forest (the old DE forest), Runnyeye Citadel (now a high level dungeon), Peat Bog (Qeynos newbie area), The Crypt of Betrayal (part of Qeynos catacombs where the royals are buried), The Caves (who knows?), Antonica (what was once Qeynos Hills, renamed New Antonica, or just Antonica, in memory of the place that is now the Shattered Lands. Mid-level zone, full of bandits and gnolls), Blackburrow (guess? :P), Sunken City (part of Freeport submerged in water from the Age of Catalysm), The Graveyard (Freeport's enemies are buried here, a low level undead zone it would seem), Commonlands (self explanatory), Obelisk of Souls (?), Necropolous Castle (?), Deathfist Citadel (some sort of high level Orc zone?), Isle of Refuge (the first zone you arrive at, pretty much a newbie hunting area), Thunder Steppes (?), Nektropos Castle (DE outpost?), Lavastorm Mountains (Nagafen's turf, high end zone), The Feerrott (not sure how similar to the original it will be), Stormhold (aparantly the old Befallen), Zarvonn's Tower (Necromancer dungeon, sounds gnomish to me!), Drafling Tower (Bixie mid-level dungeon!), Elddar Grove (something Elvish, that's for sure), Grimgash's Lair (mid-level Orc dungeon), Everfrost (where the Lady Vox resides), and my favourite...
Forest Ruins. Does this look familiar? :P
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_for_06132004_2_1087256054.jpg
EverQuestII, the beginnings
[b]- This is an insight from numerous interviews about what we can expect initially, from starting a character to getting involved in the game.
"EverQuest II pulls out all the stops when you first create a character and begin adventuring. The backstory is that your character is rescued at sea, so you begin on board a ship making its way across a roiling ocean. The waves are spectacular! Huge swells glisten in the sunlight and roll realistically. Your ship pitches and rolls appropriately underfoot, while the sails snap and ripple above.
As you roam around the deck talking to people (and learning the game controls), disaster strikes when a small dragon swoops out of the clouds. He swings around the bow of the ship and then roars out a stream of rippling fire, causing several cargo crates to burst into flame. Fortunately the dragon breaks off the attack, but the goblin that he frees from his cage starts running amok and it's up to you to take care of the problem. The encounter demonstrates how combat works, but also really shows off the dynamic nature of EverQuest questing."
After such an encounter, players will be taken to a half instantized, half freely interactive zone, where small quests will be available, plenty of NPC's to help you understand the present situation of Norrath as well as people seeking to persuade your decision of alliance and your allegience with the cities. Aparantly, you then choose where you wish to dock to seek refuge, Qeynos or Freeport. From there, you gain a house, almost immediately, in a refugee area (this is sounding more and more like the assylum process for getting in to Britain).
"Not available in our demo, but one thing we learned more about from the event, is that everyone will have their own house in EverQuest II. At first you'll just be assigned to a little one-room hovel in the refuge area. Each house is it's own little private server, so you can set up any rules you like and invite your friends over to visit and to see your collected furniture and trophies. You'll eventually be able to customize the floors, ceilings, walls, and trim of your home. When you can afford it, you can even move into the cities themselves, where land is at a premium and regular upkeep fees are required. The designers expect that these homes will be hotly contested among player groups."
From there, you seek out NPC's to begin classifying what class(es) you want to be, and you're set almost immediately on to some beginner quests. Sounds like a nice change from the usual "create character, log in, kill things for exp."
Death and adventuring
As said, EQII is going to be centered more around groups and small-scale encounters of 20 - 30 people. Groups still consist of six people, and there's even talk of a progress bar which allows a group to, over time, perform group-wide abilities, like group-heal or extra-damage.
Death, however seems a little too light IMO.
"Unlike the previous EverQuest, death of your character isn't a trauma that'll cost you hours of gameplay. You won't lose any items. However, you'll have to respawn nearby, and in the process you'll lose a bit of your 'soul.' Soul is a new concept they're tracking in EQII: When your soul is strong, you get more experience out of each kill and you advance faster. When you die, you lose some soul but you can recover most of it if you find and recover your corpse. Death is an inconvenience, but it's no longer so frustrating."
So basically, everytime you die and you don't recover your corpse, you loose "soul", which makes you weaker the more you loose it. So although your performance will be degraded, you can still collect your corpse later, or when it's convenient, as you don't even loose your equipment with it.
Don't they understand that death should be the thing you REALLY don't wanna do? I always preffered death as a big fear. Made things far more excited. Like playing with paintball guns, and not waterguns.
Progress and experience
- Aparantly there are four main ways to gain experience in the game. They will be..
Adventuring: Killings mobs and questing will still be the main way a person can gain exp in the game. There's aparantly a good mixture of the two, where grouping for exp can lead to a group picking up a quest through zones, and then having it climax in an instanced area. Instanced zones will hardly - thank god - be included, but "areas" where a quest will begin or end will usually exist to give a quest an individual flavour.
Artisan: "Completely parallel to a character's progress as an adventurer is a crafting system. Any character can become an artisan, creating new items from raw material. Characters can learn to become scholars (crafting potions or magic items), builders (forging weapons or armor), or masters of the culinary arts (creating food or drinks. And yes, you can brew your own beer!)
But in EverQuest II advancement as an artisan isn't just a mindless process of dragging-and-dropping materials until your level goes up. There's a whole social system involved. Characters will be able to ally themselves with a particular shop. There, they'll get requests for items or special missions from the master of the shop that can be completed to gain status with the proprietors. For example, you might apprentice yourself to the city's biggest blacksmith shop. The owner will send you on little errands and give you simple items to craft until you've earned a little respect. Eventually you'll learn new recipes, and soon you can gain access to a special private area behind the shop with tons of forges, where other high-level members of the shop can hang out creating items and trading ingredients."
Guild: They're aiming to make guilds no bigger than 40ish, although it's possible to go beyond that, large guilds will find it harder to progress. Each guild seems to have to align with either Freeport or Qeynos, and from there they try and gain the favour of their chosen city by doing guild-wide quests. When successful, the guild's status rises in the city, and guild members have access to better homes, mounts, rare items and even guild headquaters.
If the guild doesn't actively help the city, overtime its standing becomes degraded and less and less options become available. Thus, guilds of a 100 members will find it much harder to keep a high and progressing standard in their chosen city. It sounds... VERY radical, and I have to say, will impress the hell out of me if they can pull it off.
Home: Cash is the main motive here, and while the first house and furniture is free (and boringly drab and dull), you can upgrade to things like mirrors (with real reflections), massive chandilers, thrones, beds, and so forth. And of course, you can buy entirely new houses, in the "nicer" parts of town.
Those are the basic areas of progress and advancement in EQII. And if they can be pulled off successfully, then it sounds like a hell of a lot more fun than just the exp grind.
Guilds
- Well it would seem guilds need a section of its own.
There will be two guild "types" in EverQuest II. The first, Guilds, will work very different than in EQ I. They will be far more ambitious, a path of viable progression that can gain members rewards unlike previously. Primary reasons for guilding will be to gain status and favour in the guild's chosen city, to beable to progress within the city so the guild can gain new options unavailable to those who haven't progressed.
"Our goal is for guilds to play a tangible role in society rather than being just a random collection of player names. Guilds will rise in prestige and standing based on what its members do, much like players themselves level and grow. NPCs will react to that progression; city guards may salute when members of a prestigious guild walk by. The guild you belong to should matter just as much as any other aspect of your character; perhaps even more, since the relationships you form within a guild are so direct and so real."
The competitive element of guilds will be like never before. Being "the" guild really means having to be the most dominant and hard-working.
"Essentially, each guild will be competing against other guilds to raise its prominence within its home town. The guilds that achieve the highest standings will receive tangible benefits for as long as they continue to maintain their standing." So if you can't remain top-dog, you'll be loosing out, literally (and yes, gigantic and lavish houses will be one of many perks for being top-dog).
To form a guild, a player has to register it within your chosen city, with at least 6 people. Painfully, there's aparantly a guild "upkeep" fee, although said not to be much, will still exist.
Now this is the part that has had many people I've spoken to, quite worried. Yes, every member in the guild will have to agree to choose either Freeport or Qeynos, however, a character's personal alignment or faction has no impact on a guild's choice. Thus, a dark elf Warlock can still join a Qeynos guild, work towards bettering their standard in Qeynos, and not have his faction and standing in Freeport suffer. Similarly, he can work hard at his evil standing in Freeport, and not have his Qeynos guild-related standing suffer. So while some roleplayer's may not love the decision the guild makes as a whole in regards to Qeynos or Freeport, they can make up for it through their personal and seperate career on the side.
The second type is that of "Families". A family is pretty much everything a guild is except with none of the competitive political/progressional elements Guild's posssess. So a family is pretty similar to guilds from EQ I, a place to hang out socially or do casual raids/encounters with friends. A nice perk, however, is that Families really will be families, as every member of said Family will have their surnames changed to adopt the Family name. So you could start a Family named Jokerblood, and every member will be recognized by their surname, Haloface Jokerblood. Or Bob Jokerblood. You get the picture.
And yes - "a player can be a member of both of these social structures at the same time. One person can be in a family and a guild simultaneously, because the structures don't compete against each other."
Combat
- Combat remains largely the same, passive with some combos or special abilites in the mix. A similar con and interactive system is in place, so I'll just link to this, again, good FAQ with the jist:
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=faq&message.id=3
Links
Info about technology:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/everquest-ii/523146p1.html
Interview about the core gameplay:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/everquest-ii/522775p1.html
The new UI can be found here:
http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/481/481244/img_2178740.html
Hundreds of screenshots can be found here:
http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/481/481244/imgs_1.html
Voiceover interview can be found here:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/everquest-ii/503435p1.html
If you're patient enough to register with Fileplanet, then you can find dozens of videos here:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/everquest-ii/522818p1.html
Druid discipline and class info here:
http://eq2.forums.thedruidsgrove.org/showthread.php?t=7848
Ilganor, your local resident gnome, was kind enough to host the newest official trailer. It's hard not to be impressed (thanks Ilg!):
http://fjutt.adm.gu.se/~fjutt/bapp/everquest2_e3_2004_640x480.wmv
Anywho, feel free to add whatchya know, whatchya know to be incorrect, or to just make plain fun of me. My left foot is slightly larger than my right.
Go nuts.
PS Sticky this thread!
Edit: updated and added some zones (12/8/04)
Edit: updated trailer link and created a seperate guild section (13/8/04)
Edit: updated "customization" and "class" sections (21/8/04)
What's this all aboot, then? eh?
- EverQuest II has entered it's private beta phase, with designers and their families already playing the game. The first phase of public beta has either hapened or will be in the next few weeks (subscribers to certain Sony products, etc) and then the most open beta begins at the end of the summer. The release date for the actual game is, of course, not exact, but the word on the street (wet, cold, english streets) is that it's due to be released in the US and Europe at the end of the autumn, but most likely before christmas. Sony have said that they will continue to work and expand the original EverQuest, and hope to implement a system which will allow people to be interconnected with their old characters, and old friends in EverQuest, while playing EQII (being in the form of accessible items in EQ2 connected to EQ1, and an chat system that allows cross-game communication).
There will be again a monthly charge, and yearly expansions.
The official FAQ can be found here: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/faq.vm
The new system specs, which seem a lot like the current EQ specs, are these:
"System Requirements
What are the game's requirements?
-Operating System: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
-Processor: 1GHz or greater
-RAM: 512 MB
-Video Card: DirectX 9 compatible. Pixel shader and vertex shader compatible hardware with 64 MB of texture memory
-Sound Card: DirectSound compatible audio hardware"
EverQuest II, the game
- As well as a new, highly intensive graphics engine, a number of aspects have changed to create EQII. The most notable is that of micro-gaming. What this essentially means, is that Sony wish to get back to the basics, and do things in small scale interaction. This is shown in everything, from banking, travelling, grouping, raiding, and even being part of a guild.
So there'll be no more RZ-zerg-style raids anymore, which (most) hated. And that's the reason why I'm looking forward to the game, the promise of The Beginning, when things were small, and yet scary. When things were tough and challenging with friends, not a million people. When guilds that relied on eachother, and skill, showed their best qualities, doing things outside the box.
Norrath, Lore, and settings
- The game is set during the Age of Destiny, which occured after the Age of Cataclysm, which saw Norrath almost destroyed over 500 years. Natural (perhaps, perhaps not) disasters tore Norrath apart, as well as bringing the moon crashing down on to the planet, it was also gripped by earthquakes and floods. Qeynos and Freeport are the only main cities to have survived, with Qeynos and its leader, Antonia Bayle (very hawt), being a place for the good and honest, while Freeport, siezed and run by Lucan and his milita, is a place for the seedy and dark. While the landscape has been wracked and twisted, many things remain. The ruins of old cities, dungeons deep under ground, and the bravest adventurers will come in to contact with the most dangerous of all beings, Nagafen and Vox [the expansions will consist of re-discovering old continents. So the first expansion will be Faydwer, etc].
Norrath is also dogged by the aparant silence, or dissapearence, of the Gods. Who knows where they've gone, or what they are up too (probably playing a game of GO JOHNNY GO GO GO GO!!! Sorry, English joke..)?
You, yourself, and the other guy - Customization and Characterization
- This is a top thing in EQII. Customization has gone mental. Insane and mental. Perhaps.. obsessive.
A player will beable to customize almost every feature of their character. Yet the developers are ignoring my emails, asking if I will beable to change the size of my Erudite's genitals. The authorities are looking for me, however. So if anyone asks, I'm in Najaf - Iraq. COME GET ME MOTHER BITCHES!
"Our character models have an unparalleled level of facial customization. You will be able to change the size and shape of the nose, ears, eyebrows, cheekbones, chin, and more, plus select from a multitude of hair styles and skin tones. Males can select from a wide array of beards, and there will be many racially specific customizations as well. For instance, gnomes and ratonga can wear a variety of glasses with custom-tinted lenses."
CUSTOM-TINTED LENSES, FOR GODSAKE!
But noooo, can't alter your penis size! DAMNIT!
Edit: Since I first wrote this, I've played around with customization from the cool little CD thing. It's neato. From hair, glasses, tatoo's, face-style-mask-thingies, horns, weight, height, nose size, ear height, eyebrow slant...Everything, is pretty much do-able. Except the goddamn genitals.
Once physically customized, character creation will NOT involve allocating points in to certain categories such as str or dex, as to avoid the idiot newbies (yes, ok, alright, I put 20 points in to str for Halo when he was created. Well.. strength means better damage, right?! Simple mistake!) putting points in to wrong places. Equally, a player will not - as part of the stroy - not choose a diety to worship or city to choose. Instead, a player will just verify their name and will begin on a ship headed for the Isle of Refuge (see: "EverQuestII, the beginnings") where they can then make the choice for their home-town, and thus allegience.
To get a better understanding of characterization, there will be five main indirectly effected areas of your character, which will consist of Hit Points; Power; Concentration; Attack; and Defense. Furthermore, there will be five familiar character attributes, in which players can directly raise, consisting of Strength, Agility, Stamina, Intelligence, Wisdom, followed by the typical resistances, with the addition of "divine" and "mental" resistances.
Weight will continue to be a factor with characters, dictacting running speed, jumping, and affecting strength, agility, and stamina.
Monetary and inventory mechanics remain the same, as does character equipping, with virtually the same slots available.
Races & Classes
- EQII consists of 14 original races of Norrath plus two new: the Ratonga and Kerra.
Ratonga - "The Ratonga are a race of rodent humanoids, about the height of a dwarf...Ratonga are a somewhat weak race, their armour most often made of hides or light chainmail...whatever they do is usually made to be silent and blend in with the darkness..."
Alignment: Evil.
Classes: Scout, Mage.
Kerra- "Kerra are a large, humanoid feline race...they are tall and powerful with great agility...they are a shamanistic culture..."
Alignment: Neutral.
Classes: Scout, Fighter, Priest.
When a player starts, until level 3, s/he will be a commoner, no specific class or agenda. But when s/he (pc at its best, baby!) hits level 3, there will be four main classes available to them, or "archetypes" as they're called now. At level 10, each archetype splits off in to three disciplines, and finally at level 30, each of those splits in to two classes, depending on alignment.
Fighter - "Fighters use brute strength and sturdy weapons to deal physical damage to their enemies..."
Warrior: Beserker, Guardian.
Brawler: Bruiser, Monk.
Crusader: Paladin, Shadow Knight
Mage - "Mages weild powerful forms of magic to strike down their opponents..."
Sorcerer: Warlock, Wizard.
Enchanter: Illusionist, Coercer.
Summoner: Necromancer, Conjurer.
Scout - "Scouts use stealth and cunning to explore the unknown. Highly skilled at detecting and disarming traps, they are experts at infiltrating the lair of the enemy..."
Rogue: Brigand, Swashbuckler.
Bard: Dirge, Troubadour.
Predator: Assassin, Ranger.
Priest - "Priests augment and replenish the health of their comrades to help them survive long in combat..."
Cleric: Templar, Inquisitor.
Druid: Warden, Fury.
Shaman: Defiler, Mystic.
Classes work like this...
You choose an archetype, fighter, priest, scout or mage. When you get to a certain level, you can then decide what specific discipline you wish to puruse. So if you decided Priest, then you can choose whether you wish to go down the road of the Druid, Shaman, or Cleric. Further more, based on your race, discipline, and alignment, you can choose a specific class. Before you chose this final class, you can reconsider whether or not, being a Troll, you actually wish to stay on Freeport's (evil) side. If so, and you are a troll who chose the Priest archetype and specificed in being a Cleric, you can become the evil version (as you are aligned to Freeport, and thus evil) Inquisitor.
So while neutral races like Humans and Half Elves can either be part of Freeport or Qeynos at the beginning, other classes, like Trolls or High Elves, have no choice. But, before they choose their final class, they do get the choice of changing their cities, and so their alignments. Here's a good example...
"So I will be able to switch my citizenship between Qeynos to Freeport whenever I want?"
You will be able to switch citizenship once (and only once) prior to the selection of your subclass. The change is not a trivial one; it is intended to be a challenging path. Here's an example of how it works:
"Say you make a troll named Buhlia, and she decides to become a fighter. Trolls are an evil race, so they are only accepted by Freeport. Buhlia remains a citizen of Freeport as she gains levels, and eventually becomes a crusader. But as she matures, Buhlia realizes that she actually supports the principles of Qeynos more than those of Freeport and wishes to become a force for good. Before choosing her subclass, Buhlia can renounce her citizenship and work to become accepted in Qeynos.
This will not be a trivial task. Buhlia is going to walk a challenging road, because the citizens of Qeynos won't be quick to trust a former enemy. Furthermore, the people of Freeport will look upon the poor troll as a traitor. But if she completes a series of quests and proves her worth, Buhlia can earn citizenship in Qeynos and be trained as a paladin."
Here's a great FAQ for alignments, factions, and class choices..
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=faq&message.id=11
(note: when you are a commoner, before you hit level3, you are effectively able to "test" out the basic abilities of each archetype, to get a taste of what you can become)
Classes in more detail...
To those who have chosen their class already, or wish to learn more about how their current EQLive class has changed in the new EverQuest, here's a very detailed and specific account of each and every available class.
[Fighter] - Role: To focus a mob's efforts on you, and you alone. Every fighter, whether warrior, brawler, or crusader, can take and deal damage. There's no "monk" class here that can only do one thing and not the other.
Adv: Everyone starts with 6 inventory slots, but fighters gain a seventh one, an 8th at level 10, and most likely more and more.
Tidbits: It seems like there will be extra focus on the fighter's role as taunter and damage taker, and also an increased effort to make all fighter's equal in abilities, just different in execution.
~ Warrior: Will specify in heavy armour and weapons. Plate, axes, two-handed blades. Guardians will gain an advantage in defense, while loosing none in damage, whereas Beserkers will gain more in damage, but retaining adequate defense.
~ Brawler: Specialise in hand-to-hand, with the Monk being far more graceful and agile in their execution of swinging kicks and chopping-style martial arts, whereas the bruiser relies on far more brutal and direct means of damage. Each can tank equally and effeciently well.
~ Crusader: Like their EQLive counter-parts, Paladin's and Shadowknights excel in the use of spells to assist their tanking and damage, with a Paladin possessing a unique and NOT cleric-like spell line, where-as Shadow Knights rely upon new abilities such as despair and hate-like spells. Again, each class can tank sufficiently well.
[Mage] - Role: The pure casting group of classes, mage's will continue to rely on books and scrolls, with far more focus on damage.
Adv: Sounds as if Mage's will be the uber-types of the low levels, specifically, possessing a unique line of spells that regenerate power significantly, yet do not survive in to the later levels.
Tid-bits: Mages appear to be far more about direct contact, such as control and nukes, and far less about alteration, mind spells, porting and such.
~ Sorcerer: The most direct-confronting class out of the Mages, Wizard's will rely on fire and ice to weaken and attack mobs, while Warlocks revert to poison, death and decay.
~ Enchanter: Far more about control and adapting, Illusionists can look to spells of illusion and confusion, while Coercer's call upon control and enhancing.
~ Summoner: Almost completely dependent upon power avatars, Conjurers can summon over-powering Elementals of air, earth, fire, and water, while Necromancers traditionally rely on the dead or the ressurected to do their bidding.
I'll update Priests and Scouts tommorrow, when I can gather more info.
Zones
- It appears Antonica will be split up in to three main areas. The first two are sort of "sub-continents" belonging to either city. The first is Karan, where Qeynos exists. The second is D'Lere, the place of Freeport. These will be the two, huge, main areas for players, where quests will begin and end, where guilds interact to progress, where markets and bazaars are, and guild houses, so forth. Within the city limits there will be districts and towns. So Qeynos isn't just one town, but a huge city with a number of districts or small villages. The same with Freeport. The last area are the Shattered Lands, the area between Freeport and Qeynos, the devastated land of Antonica, twisted and destroyed. This will be where all the adventuring is done, where dungeons are, and quests will be conducted. Many old zones will remain, but completely changed (Runnyeye, for example, is a huge, high level goblin stronghold). And many new zones will be introduced (Orc strongholds in the Commonlands, for example).
Here's a more indepth look in to the main cities...
Qeynos:
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_qeynos_06162004_1_1087428380.jpg
This won't actually be the city of Qeynos from EverQuest. It's built near the Forest Ruins, which is the old Qeynos. As you can see, it is different. Larger, grander, and busier. The Forest Ruins will be a high level zone, which sounds pretty cool. And there will aparantly be plenty of quests in Qeynos related to our dear old Qeynos, well the ruins, anyway..
"Qeynos is the Great City, the city of valor and defender of the meek. It is a beacon of hope amidst the anarchy that plagues the world of Norrath in the Age of Destiny. It was nearly destroyed during the Age of Cataclysms, left in rubble and the land it sat upon partially submerged.
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_qeynos_06162004_2_1087428381.jpg
It was rebuilt with the unification of the Antonicans and the Tunarian Alliance, a society of woodsmen and druids. This unification of communities has created a beautiful blend of medieval architecture and lush flora. The forest and the city have become one. Aqueducts now cut their way through many portions of the Great City. Giant evergreen trees now spire alongside stone towers."
Rivervale was destroyed, as was Akanon, and so here's a little insight in to one of the Qeynos areas, Baubbleshire, home of.. guess who?
"Without a doubt the most carefree of all of the villages, the Baubbleshire is home to both halflings and gnomes. Although it began as a strictly halfling trading post near the end of the Age of Turmoil, the gnomes have integrated nicely and definitely have added their own "flavor" to the community...Upon the gnome's arrival in Qeynos from the Isle of Refuge, Antonia Bayle asked the halflings if the gnomes could take up temporary residence within their walls. Not wanting to be inhospitable, the Underfoot were quick to comply with the request."
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_qeynos_06162004_5_1087428381.jpg
"The halflings have learned to tolerate their new neighbors as best they can. The gnomes are constantly trying to repay the halflings' hospitality by creating "marvelous contraptions" to aid them in their day-to-day life. The halflings simply smile and nod... unless of course something blows up."
Other districts, beside Baubbleshire, will be Nettleville, where Humans and Kerra's find their homes; Starcrest is the mainly Erudite area of Qeynos, although humans also live there, it contains a gigantic fountain in the centre; Graystone is home to both Barbarians and dwarfs, it is situated on the docks of Qeynos and has some of the biggest taverns around, bloody drunk dwarves; Castleview rests directly under Qeynos Castle, being home to an odd couple, High Elves and Frogloks. Supposedly the High Elves have taken Frogloks under their wing, educating them in the way of superiorism, poncy buggers; Willow Wood is home to Wood Elves and Half Elves, and so is naturally more of a bunch of sheds under lots of trees than an actual district of Qeynos; the final area of the city is Baubbleshire, shared by the inventive Gnomes and simple Halflings.
So there ya go. Qeynos has turned from a small, human city of neutrality, in to a bustling, super city for good, inhabited by all good beings, living under one roof, or tree, or hole in the ground. Whatever floats their boat. Or tree. Or roof. Or hole in the ground. You know what I mean, damnit!
Freeport:
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_freeport_06112004_2_1087004190.jpg
Freeport is very much the same old Freeport. Except now it's under the total control of Lucan and his milita, and has had 500 years to... redesign the place. Openly evil, it's buildings and roads have turned somewhat.. menacing. Even in appearence. Note the broken moon in the sky. So, even they finally agree it was a crap expansion.
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_freeport_06112004_3_1087004191.jpg
"Freeport, once known as "The City of Free Men," sits along the coastline of an arid savanna. It is an infamous city ruled by an evil and mysterious Overlord and patrolled by an equally evil and sadistic militia. Illicit business is quite common, which attracts the nefarious and selfish guilds of human society who have built grand guildhalls in the city to bolster their ranks while tending to hidden agendas.
Freeport, profiting from the needs of the ever-increasing flood of refugees. It is a city where man meets monster, where civility meets savagery...Freeport still stands as one of the grandest cities one could ever set eyes upon. Just watch your back and trust no one!"
Anywho, aparantly Lucan now has some big arse citadel. A notch up from the guard house, me thinks.
"Several hundred years have passed since Lucan D'Lere took control of Freeport. Some historians believe that the current Overlord is a descendent of the original Lucan, whereas others claim D'Lere rules eternally in a state of undeath, not unlike a lich..."
Freeport is no longer split in to North, East and West, like Qeynos, but in to districts, like Qeynos, created by Lucan. Big Bend is the largest district, literally, inhabited by Ogres and Trolls, covered in pubs, and generally a city dump; Stonestair Byway is more of a warzone than a city district, being the awkward home of evil Kerras and Erudites, with the Kerras never forgetting the ills done by the Erudites on Odus; The declining population of the Iksar are reduced to a small number living in a place in Freeport called the Scale Yard, detestingly shared by the Barbarians, although it appears the Iksar are the ones who have the power in the area; Temple Street, houses situated around a ruined temple to a mysterious diety, houses the Ratonga and the gnomes, evilly plotting away with the unusual aid of the evil Ratonga clans; Beggar's Court is perhaps the bussiest area of Freeport, being the main abode of humans who conduct in every corrupt and illegal affair they can, although it was once the residing place of the bustling Coalition of Tradesfolk, you could say things have turned...dark; the final area of Freeport is the dark and mysterious stronghold of the Tier'Dal, Longshadow. Reportedly Lucan's most useful resource, the Tier'Dal were awarded this entire district to themselves, where they scheme and plot away.
The sewers, or tunnels, remain, and are aparantly a bit more dangerous than what they were, and a bit more central to Freeport as a whole.
So that's Freeport. Bigger, bader, and uglier.
Other zones so far include:
Temple of Cazic Thule, complete with the coolest dragon you'll ever see.
The Wailing Caves (orc stronghold in Commonlands), Nektulos Forest (the old DE forest), Runnyeye Citadel (now a high level dungeon), Peat Bog (Qeynos newbie area), The Crypt of Betrayal (part of Qeynos catacombs where the royals are buried), The Caves (who knows?), Antonica (what was once Qeynos Hills, renamed New Antonica, or just Antonica, in memory of the place that is now the Shattered Lands. Mid-level zone, full of bandits and gnolls), Blackburrow (guess? :P), Sunken City (part of Freeport submerged in water from the Age of Catalysm), The Graveyard (Freeport's enemies are buried here, a low level undead zone it would seem), Commonlands (self explanatory), Obelisk of Souls (?), Necropolous Castle (?), Deathfist Citadel (some sort of high level Orc zone?), Isle of Refuge (the first zone you arrive at, pretty much a newbie hunting area), Thunder Steppes (?), Nektropos Castle (DE outpost?), Lavastorm Mountains (Nagafen's turf, high end zone), The Feerrott (not sure how similar to the original it will be), Stormhold (aparantly the old Befallen), Zarvonn's Tower (Necromancer dungeon, sounds gnomish to me!), Drafling Tower (Bixie mid-level dungeon!), Elddar Grove (something Elvish, that's for sure), Grimgash's Lair (mid-level Orc dungeon), Everfrost (where the Lady Vox resides), and my favourite...
Forest Ruins. Does this look familiar? :P
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/eq2_for_06132004_2_1087256054.jpg
EverQuestII, the beginnings
[b]- This is an insight from numerous interviews about what we can expect initially, from starting a character to getting involved in the game.
"EverQuest II pulls out all the stops when you first create a character and begin adventuring. The backstory is that your character is rescued at sea, so you begin on board a ship making its way across a roiling ocean. The waves are spectacular! Huge swells glisten in the sunlight and roll realistically. Your ship pitches and rolls appropriately underfoot, while the sails snap and ripple above.
As you roam around the deck talking to people (and learning the game controls), disaster strikes when a small dragon swoops out of the clouds. He swings around the bow of the ship and then roars out a stream of rippling fire, causing several cargo crates to burst into flame. Fortunately the dragon breaks off the attack, but the goblin that he frees from his cage starts running amok and it's up to you to take care of the problem. The encounter demonstrates how combat works, but also really shows off the dynamic nature of EverQuest questing."
After such an encounter, players will be taken to a half instantized, half freely interactive zone, where small quests will be available, plenty of NPC's to help you understand the present situation of Norrath as well as people seeking to persuade your decision of alliance and your allegience with the cities. Aparantly, you then choose where you wish to dock to seek refuge, Qeynos or Freeport. From there, you gain a house, almost immediately, in a refugee area (this is sounding more and more like the assylum process for getting in to Britain).
"Not available in our demo, but one thing we learned more about from the event, is that everyone will have their own house in EverQuest II. At first you'll just be assigned to a little one-room hovel in the refuge area. Each house is it's own little private server, so you can set up any rules you like and invite your friends over to visit and to see your collected furniture and trophies. You'll eventually be able to customize the floors, ceilings, walls, and trim of your home. When you can afford it, you can even move into the cities themselves, where land is at a premium and regular upkeep fees are required. The designers expect that these homes will be hotly contested among player groups."
From there, you seek out NPC's to begin classifying what class(es) you want to be, and you're set almost immediately on to some beginner quests. Sounds like a nice change from the usual "create character, log in, kill things for exp."
Death and adventuring
As said, EQII is going to be centered more around groups and small-scale encounters of 20 - 30 people. Groups still consist of six people, and there's even talk of a progress bar which allows a group to, over time, perform group-wide abilities, like group-heal or extra-damage.
Death, however seems a little too light IMO.
"Unlike the previous EverQuest, death of your character isn't a trauma that'll cost you hours of gameplay. You won't lose any items. However, you'll have to respawn nearby, and in the process you'll lose a bit of your 'soul.' Soul is a new concept they're tracking in EQII: When your soul is strong, you get more experience out of each kill and you advance faster. When you die, you lose some soul but you can recover most of it if you find and recover your corpse. Death is an inconvenience, but it's no longer so frustrating."
So basically, everytime you die and you don't recover your corpse, you loose "soul", which makes you weaker the more you loose it. So although your performance will be degraded, you can still collect your corpse later, or when it's convenient, as you don't even loose your equipment with it.
Don't they understand that death should be the thing you REALLY don't wanna do? I always preffered death as a big fear. Made things far more excited. Like playing with paintball guns, and not waterguns.
Progress and experience
- Aparantly there are four main ways to gain experience in the game. They will be..
Adventuring: Killings mobs and questing will still be the main way a person can gain exp in the game. There's aparantly a good mixture of the two, where grouping for exp can lead to a group picking up a quest through zones, and then having it climax in an instanced area. Instanced zones will hardly - thank god - be included, but "areas" where a quest will begin or end will usually exist to give a quest an individual flavour.
Artisan: "Completely parallel to a character's progress as an adventurer is a crafting system. Any character can become an artisan, creating new items from raw material. Characters can learn to become scholars (crafting potions or magic items), builders (forging weapons or armor), or masters of the culinary arts (creating food or drinks. And yes, you can brew your own beer!)
But in EverQuest II advancement as an artisan isn't just a mindless process of dragging-and-dropping materials until your level goes up. There's a whole social system involved. Characters will be able to ally themselves with a particular shop. There, they'll get requests for items or special missions from the master of the shop that can be completed to gain status with the proprietors. For example, you might apprentice yourself to the city's biggest blacksmith shop. The owner will send you on little errands and give you simple items to craft until you've earned a little respect. Eventually you'll learn new recipes, and soon you can gain access to a special private area behind the shop with tons of forges, where other high-level members of the shop can hang out creating items and trading ingredients."
Guild: They're aiming to make guilds no bigger than 40ish, although it's possible to go beyond that, large guilds will find it harder to progress. Each guild seems to have to align with either Freeport or Qeynos, and from there they try and gain the favour of their chosen city by doing guild-wide quests. When successful, the guild's status rises in the city, and guild members have access to better homes, mounts, rare items and even guild headquaters.
If the guild doesn't actively help the city, overtime its standing becomes degraded and less and less options become available. Thus, guilds of a 100 members will find it much harder to keep a high and progressing standard in their chosen city. It sounds... VERY radical, and I have to say, will impress the hell out of me if they can pull it off.
Home: Cash is the main motive here, and while the first house and furniture is free (and boringly drab and dull), you can upgrade to things like mirrors (with real reflections), massive chandilers, thrones, beds, and so forth. And of course, you can buy entirely new houses, in the "nicer" parts of town.
Those are the basic areas of progress and advancement in EQII. And if they can be pulled off successfully, then it sounds like a hell of a lot more fun than just the exp grind.
Guilds
- Well it would seem guilds need a section of its own.
There will be two guild "types" in EverQuest II. The first, Guilds, will work very different than in EQ I. They will be far more ambitious, a path of viable progression that can gain members rewards unlike previously. Primary reasons for guilding will be to gain status and favour in the guild's chosen city, to beable to progress within the city so the guild can gain new options unavailable to those who haven't progressed.
"Our goal is for guilds to play a tangible role in society rather than being just a random collection of player names. Guilds will rise in prestige and standing based on what its members do, much like players themselves level and grow. NPCs will react to that progression; city guards may salute when members of a prestigious guild walk by. The guild you belong to should matter just as much as any other aspect of your character; perhaps even more, since the relationships you form within a guild are so direct and so real."
The competitive element of guilds will be like never before. Being "the" guild really means having to be the most dominant and hard-working.
"Essentially, each guild will be competing against other guilds to raise its prominence within its home town. The guilds that achieve the highest standings will receive tangible benefits for as long as they continue to maintain their standing." So if you can't remain top-dog, you'll be loosing out, literally (and yes, gigantic and lavish houses will be one of many perks for being top-dog).
To form a guild, a player has to register it within your chosen city, with at least 6 people. Painfully, there's aparantly a guild "upkeep" fee, although said not to be much, will still exist.
Now this is the part that has had many people I've spoken to, quite worried. Yes, every member in the guild will have to agree to choose either Freeport or Qeynos, however, a character's personal alignment or faction has no impact on a guild's choice. Thus, a dark elf Warlock can still join a Qeynos guild, work towards bettering their standard in Qeynos, and not have his faction and standing in Freeport suffer. Similarly, he can work hard at his evil standing in Freeport, and not have his Qeynos guild-related standing suffer. So while some roleplayer's may not love the decision the guild makes as a whole in regards to Qeynos or Freeport, they can make up for it through their personal and seperate career on the side.
The second type is that of "Families". A family is pretty much everything a guild is except with none of the competitive political/progressional elements Guild's posssess. So a family is pretty similar to guilds from EQ I, a place to hang out socially or do casual raids/encounters with friends. A nice perk, however, is that Families really will be families, as every member of said Family will have their surnames changed to adopt the Family name. So you could start a Family named Jokerblood, and every member will be recognized by their surname, Haloface Jokerblood. Or Bob Jokerblood. You get the picture.
And yes - "a player can be a member of both of these social structures at the same time. One person can be in a family and a guild simultaneously, because the structures don't compete against each other."
Combat
- Combat remains largely the same, passive with some combos or special abilites in the mix. A similar con and interactive system is in place, so I'll just link to this, again, good FAQ with the jist:
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=faq&message.id=3
Links
Info about technology:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/everquest-ii/523146p1.html
Interview about the core gameplay:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/everquest-ii/522775p1.html
The new UI can be found here:
http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/481/481244/img_2178740.html
Hundreds of screenshots can be found here:
http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/481/481244/imgs_1.html
Voiceover interview can be found here:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/everquest-ii/503435p1.html
If you're patient enough to register with Fileplanet, then you can find dozens of videos here:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/everquest-ii/522818p1.html
Druid discipline and class info here:
http://eq2.forums.thedruidsgrove.org/showthread.php?t=7848
Ilganor, your local resident gnome, was kind enough to host the newest official trailer. It's hard not to be impressed (thanks Ilg!):
http://fjutt.adm.gu.se/~fjutt/bapp/everquest2_e3_2004_640x480.wmv
Anywho, feel free to add whatchya know, whatchya know to be incorrect, or to just make plain fun of me. My left foot is slightly larger than my right.
Go nuts.
PS Sticky this thread!
Edit: updated and added some zones (12/8/04)
Edit: updated trailer link and created a seperate guild section (13/8/04)
Edit: updated "customization" and "class" sections (21/8/04)