Massively^™

The much-anticipated addition of Vivox voice chat isn't the only thing being added to EverQuest II in the upcoming Game Update 47. Developer Ilucide dropped into the forums for a chat with the players, to lay out changes being made to a few Rise of Kunark content areas and a source of much frustration: writs. Judging by player response in the fourm thread, the change to writs will be most welcome. The previous number of writs required to go from 0 to ally faction was 267. The new number is 80. As Kunark faction was already relatively easy to climb through, this is primarily intended to make city faction more palateable. Additional changes may be in the works for these items, as the developers mull ways to make this particular part of the game more meaningful for players.

The content changes center around two dungeons. Karnor's Castle has been tuned to be more receptive to small group play in the 72-76 bracket. Difficulty has been generally lowered, and the mob spawns thinned out, to allow for players to have a better time in that playing mode. Meanwhile Sebilis and Chardok have been made less generally annoying. Lower level magical treasure has been removed from the loot tables, ensuring only loot commensurate with the areas will drop. Placeholders for some named critters have also been removed, meaning that a named monster is either 'up' or not - spawn camping will not be a requirement in these zone any longer.

Sound off EQ2 players! How do these changes sound to you?

With the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming Mines of Moria and the recent announcement that Rise of Kunark is the #1 highest selling EverQuest II expansion as yet, we've been thinking about expansions. Some people insist that all expansions are is catering to the endgame raiders, in creating more levels to run through before serving up new raid instances. Other expansions do bring in things for lower-end players, like Burning Crusade and Rise of Kunark introduced new races to play, and new areas for them to play in. Today we'd like to ask you what your favorite MMOG expansion has been to date and why? Which games desperately need an expansion to bring something new to the game?

Rise of Kunark can now put one more feather in its cap: the best selling EverQuest II expansion feather. After a strong pre-order and successful critical reception, it seems like Kunark is SOE's golden boy expansion. We suppose it also helped that buying Rise of Kunark also netted the purchaser every expansion plus the original game. Still, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to expect more EverQuest II expansion packs to follow some of the notes previously played by Kunark.

Between all the continued game updates adding more content and another expansion pack coming sometime soon, EQ2 players should have quite a bit to be happy about. It's no wonder the expansion pack has sold so well, as satisfied gamers are always much more prone to opening their wallets.

Those who trusted to the Word arrived none too soon, for our ship had barely docked at their primitive outpost when the earth beneath us trembled and rolled. For many long years the earth shook violently, finally tearing Tunaria (that which the humans call Antonica) apart. -- The History of the Erudites

If "The Shadow of Odyssey" doesn't deal with an invasion from the Void (the Shadowmen's home plane), what else can we guess from the name? The title is fairly ambivalent. Is there something called Odyssey that casts a Shadow? Is there a Shadow from a place called Odyssey? Is it metaphorical -- could the appearance of Odyssey bring a darkness to the world?

Previous EQ2 expansions have always talked of places -- the Desert of Flames; the Kingdom of Sky; the Echoes of Faydwer; the Rise of Kunark. If they follow this same trend, then, Odyssey is a place. It is unlikely that it is a Shadowman place. It could be; we just don't know yet. Adventuring in the Void would be a truly unique experience.

There's no reason to go to another plane of existence for Odyssey... not when we have the whole continent of Odus still unfound. Odyssey, Odus... could the similarity of the names be just a coincidence? Five hundred years in EQ2's past, Erudites were fairly normal looking people. In EQ2's present, Erudites have evolved into something quite different indeed. Gray, almost metallic looking skin; colored tattoos on their bodies that seem to pulse with an arcane illumination. It is difficult to believe that a race so attuned to the threads of magic that connect together the universe would have been unaware of what was happening to Luclin, a moon surrounded by and infused with magic. They would have protected their home somehow.

Perhaps they gathered together their most powerful wizards and, using the power that had once torn from the ground an entire Kerran village and the land for kilometers below it and transported it to Luclin, pulled the continent from the land and took it to safety when the moon began to split and their cousins who had followed Quellious' call to travel to Qeynos had gone.

Freed from Norrath, Odus would become Odyssey; and in its journeys, would cast a very large shadow indeed. Now that the Age of Shattering is long over and the world of Norrath is at relative peace, they have returned. The Erudites we see around are exiles, waiting for the day when Quellious calls them home again.

SOE recently posted a new video developer chat. In this month's edition, Midori "Momochi" McDaniel chats with EverQuest 2 character artist Thomas Sincich, about his work on EQ2's fifth expansion and Legends of Norrath, his character work on the Arasai and Sarnak races, and his designs for epic armor and the Soulfire weapons.

You can download the entire DevDiary chat and see some of Thomas' absolutely stunning artwork, but it's a bit large, so we've transcribed it here for your enjoyment. Click through the break to read the whole thing, and check out some of our previous EverQuest 2 developer interviews.

Over at EQ2Vault, one of EverQuest II's designers Kyle Vallée answered a couple of questions about his work on the game, and Rise of Kunark in particular. Vallée was the designer for three of the epic quests (Shadowknight, Brigand and Ranger) that were introduced in Game Update 42, and also for the Jarsath Wastes area in RoK. These are just some of his larger projects, and he talks about a few of the other things he has done in the interview too.

Aside from his designing, he loves to play the game as well, and his level 80 Brigand, 75 Bruiser and 70 Warden are testament to that fact. When asked if he could tell us anything about the next EQII expansion, we expectedly get nothing -- but we're assured that it will be good! View the whole interview at EQ2Vault.

Today I thought I'd show off a spot that I've been in somewhat recently that hasn't been shown here as yet. This screenshot is of the newest starting area in Everquest II. Timorous Deep was introduced in the most recent expansion, Rise of Kunark, which introduced the Sarnak as a new playable race. The architecture is heavily Asian influenced, as is the art style for the design of the Sarnak race -- their heads certainly resemble more traditional Eastern dragons. In any case, it was certainly a lovely area to play through for a just-starting character, so I snapped a screenshot on my machine to share!

Have you seen a starting area or location in a game you've played that just looked really cool? If so, send those screenshots (and related quick info) to us at oneshots@massively.com. Your screens could be up here next for the world to see!

Earlier in the week we spotlighted leaked photos of two of the twenty-four Epic weapons being introduced in EverQuest II's Game Update 42 this Tuesday. Today we got our greedy little hands on the concept art behind another one, the Swashbuckler epic, a sword (rapier?) dubbed "Charm's Way." You can click on the image to see a larger version.

These class epic weapons will only be acquired at the end of a long quest whose steps are not revealed. Players will have to piece together the clues spread across Norrath to even find the quest starter. No pre-released guides for these bad boys. Why? A short history lesson going back into MMO history explains all.

We have already had a preview of what is in store for EverQuest II's Game Update 42 with the recent patch notes for the Test server -- some new deities, house mannequins to display weapons and armor, a connection stats window etc. However, it appears that the Live server version of this update will implement, at long last, the epic weapon quests. The epic quests had originally been slated to release with the Rise of Kunark expansion, but due to the San Diego fires, development was pushed back. To make the original release after their setbacks would have meant a compromise to the quality of the quests or to the quality of the expansion, depending on how they channeled their resources, and neither of these options were preferable for the development team.

EQII producer Bruce Ferguson has talked in the past about the epic quests, and in the above producer's letter, he mentions how careful the team is being with information relating to their completion. This is of course the reason that the quests were not released on Test along with the other GU42 features, as there would likely be a detailed walkthrough somewhere on the web before they even went live. Ferguson says that the team is on schedule and they hope to release GU42 in early February.

Tradeskill developer for EverQuest II Emily Taylor (better known to the community as "Domino") was recently interviewed by The Tairise Tribune. Anyone who has ever read the official EQII tradeskill forums will more than likely have seen a post by Domino, or a reply to a player's question, or a hint about upcoming content and changes -- in truth, her level of interaction with the community is amazing, and it's nice to see people's feedback and suggestions being acknowledged by the person who calls the shots.

in the interview, Domino discusses her role with SOE and EQII, working with her team on deadlines (such as the huge amount of new content required for Rise of Kunark) and how working with gaming industry "celebrities" has been far more rewarding for her than meeting the Hollywood celebrities that she did in her former job. It also appears that she isn't above a little real-life tradeskilling too, as she mentions that she has recently been constructing Weighted Companion Cubes inspired by Valve's hit game Portal. Check out the full interview for more from Domino.

[Via EQ2Players]

Like many EverQuest II players, you may have been disappointed to learn that the Epic quests were not being released alongside the Rise of Kunark expansion as was originally planned. Now-former senior producer for EQII Scott Hartsman let the community know that this was due to the San Diego fires, but Clockwork Gamer recently had an interview with Hartsman's successor Bruce Ferguson who was able to tell us a little more about the Epic quests.

Among other things, we find out that the Epic quests should be released together, as opposed to be rolled out for different classes at different times. They will all be weapons (no shields, armor or anything like that) and most of the effects on these weapons will be unique to the Epics. Ferguson also says that Game Update 42 will introduce a feature that lets you display items in your house without changing them into something else, by putting them in a display case.

Follow the related story link to read the full interview at Clockwork Gamer.

Every week, hardworking Massive gaming fans put their voices on the line to bring us news, opinions, and 'critiques' of their favorite games. Podcasts are a staple of many hobbies nowadays, and fans of online worlds are especially fortunate in this regard ... there are a ton out there.

As such, every so often we'll try to update you on the podcasting world. Keep your eyes on this space for links to your favorite MMO-commentary celebs. Good and bad, straight-man or blue-mouthed, they all have something to offer about this amazing style of gameplay.

This month more than ever the podcasters have spoken ... and spoken, and spoken. The huge update today is my fault, though. Thanks to a fairly spectacular PC failure last week my productivity has gone way down; some people have problems separating their gaming and work lives - I have a problem working if I can't game!

Today's highlighted 'casts both talk about Sony Online Entertainment games - one of the exclusively. The official SOE podcast is the only thing like it in the Massive gaming space. It's not as big budget as Bungie's offering, perhaps, but it's still a fascinating look behind the scenes at one of the biggest MMOG publishers out there. Episode 27 is all about the holiday events in SOE games from the dev team perspective; holiday appropriate and intersting to boot!

The other 'cast I want to highlight almost seemed like it had gone AWOL. EQ2-Daily has been a staple of the MMOG podcasting scene for some time - their 50th episode was back in October, and we haven't heard a peep out of them since Rise of Kunark launched. But rejoice, EQ2-Daily: Episode 51 was released just a few days ago. With news about the departure of EverQuest 2's senior producer and controversy about character transfers, their insights into the game are sure to be heartily appreciated.

Check out the casts' of December, and make sure to have a great Holiday.

I guess the leveling and itemization EQ2 devs cranked up the ez-mode a little too far, and completely spaced off during RoK's beta phase. Fyreflyte, dev extraordinaire, popped by the official EQ2 boards yesterday to deliver the news that a rather large tune (nerf) is in-store for the effects found on Rise of Kunark's Treasured items, such as Overflow and Divine Restoration.

The reason given for the upcoming nerfs is that while effects will automatically scale down on lower quality gear, given how easy it is to acquire these items they did not scale down enough resulting in a huge imbalance as these effects were intended for Legendary quality gear and not Treasured. O'rly? The stats on the items will remain the same, but the effects power will subside by at least 1/3 in some cases. Swinging the ole' nerf bat on items doesn't end there as the four rewards from the Anaphylaxis quest will be nerfed from Fabled to Legendary quality.

Don't you love the pleasantries like "hotfix" and "tune" that MMOG developers like to use today? I call it like I see it. Nerfs stink even when they are an evil necessary, but the devs blundered this one to the Ruins of Kunark and back. This should have never happened, but it did, and even the non-loot whores get to pay for it. What about all those players that replaced all their old gear with? This nerf is going to affect a lot of players.

If any sect of gamers was ever prone to nostalgia, it's RPG players. If you're ever in a situation where you want to get a nerd talking, just ask him about the most epic D&D campaign he's ever been a party to. It's got a 99.9% success rate, just try it. In the same vein, Clockwork Gamer's Kendricke spins a yarn about his nostalgia for the pure story-driven goodness of his first introduction into the world of high fantasy. Using Rise of Kunark as an example, he explains how the repetitive kill and fetch quests that proliferate in the new EQ2 expansion have neutered whatever sense of time and place the player had.

It's a sentiment that's nothing new, as our own Marc Nottke recently proclaimed the death of roleplaying in MMO. Kendricke's argument is much more focused, however. He say that Rise of Kunark has none of the pan-expansion story arcs that made Planes of Power, Legacy of Ykesha, and even Gates of Discord fun for players. Is it really any surprise then when players blast through all the content in a manner of days? You can't stop and smell the roses if there aren't any flowers on the way.