The day has arrived, the next EverQuest expansion, Night of Shadows, lands today.
The Night of Shadows arrives
Night of Shadows is the 29th paid expansion to the game, which I have to think is some sort of record. There are lots of titles out there that put out updates and content drops regularly, but a full blown annual expansion… and it was two annual expansions for a stretch, which is how we get 29 expansions for a game that will be 24 years old next March… but I cannot think of an MMORPG that is anywhere close to this level of effort.
And if they keep doing it, it must be making them money and keeping people subscribed. With Daybreak now running Enad Global 7 we know that the bottom line is primary.
Night of Shadows puts us back on Norrath’s moon of Luclin. Norrath’s leading vampire has been kept at bay, but there is always some new conflict brewing. From the expansion brief:
Norrathians have ended the conflict between Mayong Mistmoore and Luclin herself, but can they relax their vigilance? The recent attention of Luclin has emboldened the Akheva, and they continue their plans to conquer the moon!
As war rages across the surface of Luclin, disaster has befallen Shadow Haven deep below. The mysterious sealed door has been smashed open, and the great spirit trapped behind it has rampaged through the city, leaving death and destruction before retreating to the unknown caverns it escaped from. What maddened the spirits? How can the Akheva be stopped? Can Shar Vahl survive as war threatens to engulf the city? The truth lies in the shadows — will you survive to find it?
And what will this expansion bring to the game?
- 7 Expansion Zones – Explore more of Luclin to calm the spirits.
- New Raids, Quests, and Missions
- New Spells, Combat Abilities, and AAs
- New Collections
- Tradeskill Component Depot – Your account will gain a Tradeskill Component Depot that can hold 250 stacks of different tradeskill items. You can add slots with marketplace items as you need them! This depot is shared among your characters on the same account and server, like a shared bank. Each of these slots ignores the standard stack sizes and can hold significantly more of each item. Additionally, you can utilize these items anywhere in the world when crafting.
Some of that is the standard fare for any Norrath expansion, but the tradeskill component depot is probably going to make some crafters happy. Inventory management, even with a couple of decades of UI improvements, is still a chore in EverQuest.
Otherwise there is no level cap increase, so it is the other advancement metrics that come into play. The Alternate Advancement page already has more fine print than a rental car contract, but I guess there was room for a few more paragraphs.
As for the seven new zones, I saw somebody post to Twitter an updated map of Luclin indicating where the zones fit in, but I can’t find it. They were somewhere around the Twilight Sea on the old map.
A busy place, the moon
As always, there are the usual version of the expansion available for purchase, from the reasonable Standard Edition to the crazy “give me two of everything and make half of it tradeable in game” Family and Friends edition.
- Standard Edition – $34.99
- Collector’s Edition – $69.99
- Premium Edition – $139.99
- Family & Friends Edition – $249.99
The pre-launch purchase bonuses are likely gone, but there is still a 10% discount if you are an all access subscriber.
So congratulations to the EverQuest team! Every time they launch an expansion I feel a slight pang, a desire to go back and play. I am just so far removed from the current game’s meta that it is too high of a mountain to scale.
I do wonder what they will do for next year’s expansion, what we will get for the 30th expansion.
Related:
The Ancient Gaming Noob 