Spring, When SOE Blooms

Spring is proving to be a banner time for SOE and EverQuest II announcements.  Winter wrapped up with the announced increase in price for Station Access which caused some discontent in the community and cost SOE some good will on all fronts.  But winter has passed and with spring comes new blossoms!

First Game Update 35 was announced.  It will have a free content update that includes a new (old) city, Neriak as well as a new race, a new outdoor zone, Darklight Wood, and a playable new race, the Arasai, sort of an evil mutation of the Fae that will be one of the races that can start in Neriak.

In addition to that, SOE relented (a little bit) and announced an increase in character slots to be included in GU35.  Standard accounts go from 6 to 7 slots, which Station Access accounts go from 10 to 12 slots.  I still feel a bit stifled by the standard account number, 7 slots for a game with so many race and class combinations, but compared to EQ2 on release day, where you got 4 slots and there were no other options, things are much better.

And then this morning there was the official announcement of Rise of Kunark via Allakhazam’s EQ2 site. (Pardon me while I pat myself on the back one more time for being right on the next expansion location… it is such a rare thing in my life.)  While the official SOE site is not up yet (though they have claimed the likely domain), the basic information is available:

  • New Race: The Sarnak
  • New Starting Area: Timorous Deep
  • New Adventure Zones: Kunark is back, the biggest (and possibly best) expansion from EverQuest brought forward 500 years into the Norrath of EQ2
  • New Mount: That rhino from the loading screen! Forget the drooling warg, I want one of those!
  • Returning Deities: More choices, more powers, more quests
  • Level Cap Raise to 80 for both players and guilds
  • Full screen maps, in addition to the current mini maps
  • And More, more, more of everything that makes EQ2 the game it is

I think if SOE can follow this string of news up with a date for the new and improved launch pad and an intermediate pricing plan somewhere between the standard, single game subscription and Station Access, the SOE Fan Faire might turn into the SOE Adulation Faire, at least when it comes to the EQ2 community.

[Clarification of the Rise of Kunark features here.]

2 thoughts on “Spring, When SOE Blooms”

  1. Kesselia

    *pats Wil on the back for his prediction of Rise of Kunark* Ya done good bud! Keep up the good work!

    Now I’m glad I have SOE station access still..hehehe….I’m saving some slots for my sarnak race. Think my sarnak will be my last missing class….guardian. Woot!

    Ah level increase to 80. Guess this means I will have to work on my necro. *sigh*. and a rhino? jeez I like my friend’s idea better…a chariot being pulled by two tigers. Don’t laugh..this is what he wants and I think it’s pretty cool. I also miss the old graphics for horses….the new graphics for horses imo are ugly…I really don’t like them so…we’ll see what this new “rhino” really is….and the warg…don’t even get me started…they drool…that should be enough…to quote the hyenas from the Lion King…Uuuuggggglllyyyyy!

    *laughs at her own humor* anywho….I am very excited and cannot wait for Rise of Kunark. My husband played EQ1 for two years so seeing content from EQ1 brought forward 500 years should interest him a bit. And the full screen map sounds pretty neat too…maybe it would be possible to add more information that zones like Lesser Faydark and Feerrott will be easier to traverse as rock walls that separate areas will be more easily noticed so that making one’s way through the zone will be easier.

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  2. Ohgr

    You were right about the expansion’s location… but Kirzan had the race pegged.

    At first, I really enjoyed the nastalgia of rehashing old EQ1 zones for EQ2, improving the graphics and feeling like the “old man” in the guild who has to tell the new players about each place. After a while, though… I just want some *new* lore to the game. Time marches on, and so should SOE.

    All the stuff they’re adding in with RoK sounds good, except the larger map. While I gotta agree with Kesselia on the fact that rock walls and things of that nature are hard to map in its current size (why I *still* hate Nektulos Forest), but at the same time I hate the full screen map in WoW even more. And i’m almost positive that I won’t feel any different about it in EQ2.

    But enough of my ranting… good call on the expansion again. Now use your gaming-related psychic powers to tell the world when Duke Nuk’em Forever is coming out and make a profit already. :P

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