EQ2Wire has been trying to get some answers about the EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate Pre-Order for the past 2 1/2 weeks.

We contacted the SOE PR department with a detailed list of questions. We received an e-mail which quoted the Press Release but which did not answer any of our submitted questions.

We sent an e-mail to SOE President John Smedley on November 19th with those same concerns and additional questions. At present, we have received no response to this e-mail.

Where do we Stand?

Going into December 2009, just where do American, North American (Canada, Mexico), and International customers stand with regards to the EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate expansion Pre-Order?

The answer: Left out in the cold.

Amazon.com

BestBuy.com

GameStop.com

Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of where we stand right now:

• Amazon.com is listing a Release Date of February 16, 2010 and will not ship until February 15. With standard shipping, Amazon.com is estimating an arrival date of February 22-24, 2010.
• Amazon.com refuses to ship the expansion outside of the U.S.

• BestBuy.com is listing a Release Date of February 17, 2010 and will not ship until February 16. With standard shipping, BestBuy.com is estimating an arrival date as late as February 23, 2010.
• BestBuy.com doesn’t even have box art for the expansion yet.

• GameStop.com is listing a Release Date of February 16, 2010 and will not ship until February 15. With standard shipping, GameStop.com is estimating an arrival date of February 22-24, 2010.
• GameStop.com is inexplicably limiting the number of EverQuest II: Collector’s Edition sets to 2 per household.

If you want to know where you can pre-order EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate Collector’s Edition (whether you live in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, or Asia) and receive it on February 16th, 2010, without spending $100~140, the answer is NOWHERE. If you want to buy 3 copies of the Collector’s Edition, then none of those 3 retailers will be able to help you, no matter how much money you offer.

Make no mistake folks, the Release Date, Street Date, Ship Dates, pricing, and regional shipping authorization are all determined by the SOE Marketing Department. Their complete failure to manage this situation and have an International Distributor selected before announcing this Pre-Order is a farce.

There has still been no explanation for why the game is not available from BestBuy.CA (serving Canada), Amazon.co.UK, Amazon.DE, Amazon.FR, etc.

So far, all polite, constructive attempts to contact SOE Marketing have failed. They are the division of SOE which seems the most insulated from the public (no Facebook or Twitter pages, rarely post on the SOE Forums), and yet seem to be the division that most needs to hear the public’s feedback.

At this point, it seems the biggest roadblock to customers being able to buy EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate in a timely fashion, are the SOE Marketing Dept.

Specifications: 17.5 lb brined turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, green beans, all from scratch.

Available for Thanksgiving week only, there are 10 new paintings available in Norrath from the City Merchants in Qeynos and Freeport. As I was writing this article, I discovered a writeup at EQ2 Wiki with the names, screen snapshots, and descriptions of each painting. A merchant window retouched to show the 10 winning paintings:

The First Prize winning “Destroyer of Ordanach” by Citadelli.

One of the nine Second Prize winners “Prayer of the Righteous” by Enna.

All 10 paintings can be viewed at your local City Merchant or at EQ2 Wikia.

These items may be available later on, but for the time being, they are only intended to be available for this 5th anniversary celebration week. Join the Discussion on EQ2 Forums.

Xalmat brings us this news from the Test server:

On Test, they opened up starting cities to all races that can be of that alignment. That means:

If you pick a good race, you can start in Qeynos or Kelethin.

If you pick an evil race, you can start in Neriak, Freeport, or Gorowyn.

If you pick a neutral race, you can start in any city.

In summary, the new starting locations for races:

• Fae can now start in Qeynos (Willow Wood)
• Frogloks and Halflings in Kelethin
• Gnomes and Half Elves in Neriak
• Barbarians, Erudites, Humans, and Kerrans in Kelethin and Neriak
• Arasai in Freeport (Longshadow Alley) and Gorowyn
• Sarnak in Freeport (Big Bend) and Neriak
• Dark Elves, Iksar, Ogre, Ratonga, and Troll in Gorowyn

That will probably also mean, when New Halas is released, Dwarf, Fae, Froglok, Halfling, High Elf, Wood Elf, Barbarian, Erudite, Gnome, Half Elf, Human, and Kerra will be able to start there as well.

From EQ2 Forums:

The Heroes’ Festival has begun!  A call has gone out to all Norrathian adventurers to commemorate the five years that have passed since the Refuge Islands first began collecting those lost in the turbulent oceans.  Celebrators, happy to share in the festivities, can be found in North and South Qeynos or West and South Freeport.

Quest starters are in North and South Qeynos, as well as West and NORTH Freeport.

• EQ2 ZAM Wiki page with Heroes’ Festival info
• EQ2 Forums discussion on Heroes’ Festival
• Post on Facebook

Note: This is the EQII 5th Anniversary event, which went live on November 24, 2009 and is expected to end on November 30, 2009.

Note: Currently these 5 year anniversary events require The Shadow Odyssey expansion. This was unintentional and a hotfix will correct the issue.

It seems very odd to the EQ2Wire that an event which will only last 7 days has a reward that will never be available again and there is no announcement on EQ2Players.

We’ve seen an excellent response to the first ever EQ2Wire Reader Survey with nearly 200 submissions. This will help us guide the site into the new year and the next expansion of EverQuest II.

On the subject of EQ2Wire adding updates on Twitter (without affecting our regular site updates), you’ve spoken loud and clear. 81% of readers don’t use Twitter and only 7% of readers would change their visiting habits if we offered a Twitter service.

Your votes on what kinds of articles, news, strategy guides, and amount of commentary we provide will help shape the future of EQ2Wire.

As for a glimpse into the world of regular visitors EQ2Wire gets, here are some of those statistics:

• How many level 80 adventurer characters do you have in EQ2?
  • 4% have none
  • 30% have 1
  • 39% have 2-3
  • 20% have 4-5
  • 2% have 6-7
  • 5% have 8+
• How many level 80 tradeskill characters do you have in EQ2?
  • 30% have none
  • 27% have 1
  • 23% have 2-3
  • 10% have 4-5
  • 5% have 6-7
  • 5% have 8+
• What is your motivation for playing level 20-65 content in EQ2?
  • I like to do as many solo quests as possible in this level range. — 77 Votes
  • I play this game with a roommate/spouse/friend and we are doing as much duo/trio content as possible in this level range. — 42 Votes
  • I like to visit as many group dungeons as possible in this level range. — 47 Votes
  • Have not yet purchased either the Kunark or Shadow Odyssey expansions. — 1 Vote
  • Prefer this content over level 66-80 content. — 18 Votes
  • I am in no hurry to reach level 80. — 53 Votes
  • It’s a necessary evil to reach level 80. — 73 Votes

Also, 79% of you reported that you were not aware of the Strategy Guides feature while only 14% have used this feature more than once. If you have any suggestions about how to improve the Strategy Guides feature, please let us know!

Already I have some ideas for questions for the next Survey, so stay tuned.

If you’d like to see a complete chart of all the Chronomage Missions in the order they are given as well as the rewards (house-placeable plushies), check out Elquinjena’s writeup at Kithicor.org.

Windslasher brings us news that the Qeynos/Freeport World Event first mentioned a few weeks back will be activated on Test and Test Copy hopefully this evening. This should be the source of storylines and lore expected to lead us into the Sentinel’s Fate (Odus) expansion. As soon as we have more info about this event, and whether it will go live with Game Update 54 (Will of the Tyrant), we’ll let you know!

Kiara has posted the following update regarding SoE’s efforts to locate one or more international distributors for EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate.

Answers!  Not all the answers that everyone wants, naturally, but definitely better than nothing, for certain.

1)  The coupon in the retail box for the $10 in the Station Store is for the DD version of SF only.  Good for folks with more than one account or for those who want to gift to a friend to get them into the game.

2)  Still waiting on the lists of where Amazon and GameStop will ship.  Sharp sticks have been employed in the poking phase of “Can we please have this?”

3)  Best news for last!  I don’t have details and couldn’t release them even if I did… However, our sales team is speaking with a couple of publishers and trying to work out details of international distribution.  As soon as we have the deals signed, we’ll make sure to give you the details on this.

Thank you all very much for your patience with all of this as we try to smooth out wrinkles and get you the information you need.

EQ2Wire deduced that SoE were “between distributors” when international retail storefronts listed and then de-listed the expansion. When questioned, they reported that they had “no source” to order the product. EQ2Wire will keep you updated on further news as we hear it.

Kander brings us news that Emperor’s Athenaeum and Kurn’s Tower: Breaching the Void have been added to the Hot Zone rotation. Post on EQ2 Forums.

On the fence about that Race Change Potion? Thinking twice about changing your Name? Contemplating a Server Transfer? If these questions, or the thought of grabbing some furniture or clothing while nobody’s looking, has occurred to you, here’s some news you might use.

Next week — November 23 ~ November 29 – all StationCash cards will redeem with a 25% bonus. So for $10, you get 1250 StationCash, instead of 1000SC. In short, a Race Change potion should work out to $20 instead of $25 if you redeem the points during next week.

Now, just like last time, these cards prominently feature the FreeRealms logo and FreeRealms mascot. But as long as it says StationCash on it, and not “Game Time” or “Game Subscription” on it, that’s the ones you want to buy.  On the back, it says to redeem at FreeRealms.com, but you can also redeem at Station.com. Wherever you redeem it, it all goes to the same place.

(photo courtesy Calthine of EQ2 ZAM)

Check out the 25% StationCash Announcement at EQ2Forums

EQ2Players.com has always had some features locked away behind an optional $2.99/month subscription. The most notable of these features for me have been looking up Alts and Item Discovery information. The rest of EQ2Players.com has always felt rather unfinished to me, especially the oddly formatted Alternate Advancements display.

While EQ2Players.com has recently seen renewed developer attention in the last few months (check out the EQ2Players Forum), it’s premium features have always been a bit skimpy to justify the $2.99/month subscription in EQ2Wire’s opinion.

So we were impressed by today’s news that, starting December 17th, the extra fee for EQ2Players premium features will be dropped. Now all players with an active EQ2 subscription (either the regular EQ2 subscription, or the premium Station Players account) will now have access to EQ2Players.com features for no additional charge.

Link to the Announcement (and Discussion) on EQ2 Forums

Today’s hotfix notes are brief:

ITEMS

• The Legends of Norrath “Mysterious Key” is now flagged No Trade as intended.
• The Legends of Norrath “Draught of Ingenuity” potion is now flagged Heirloom instead of No Trade.

MUNZOK’S MATERIAL BASTION

• Munzok’s Edict no longer persists through death.

Welcome to the first Reader Survey for EQ2Wire. Depending upon participation and feedback, we’ll hopefully have one per month. This survey will be of particular importance to frequent Twitter users.

Survey after the jump:

continue reading EQ2Wire Survey for 2009.11.17…

EQ2Wire is working on a story covering the overseas marketing and distribution strategy for EverQuest II’s sixth expansion — EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate.

While there have been some concerns expressed on the EQ2 Forums regarding the 7-day headstart release strategy of Sentinel’s Fate from American customers (specifically within the 48 contiguous states with guaranteed arrival by February 16, 2010), specifically from American customers who have traditionally purchased the Digital Download, this has been nothing compared to the outcry from hundreds of international EverQuest II customers.

According to the EQ2Players Announcement, the only means for EQ2 players outside of the United States to acquire either the retail box($39.99), or Collector’s Edition retail box ($69.99) and play the expansion on release day, is to purchase the game from an American retailer (Amazon.com or GameStop.com), including shipping and import duties, and gamble that the parcel will arrive in time.

Including import duties, shipping cost, VAT, and the currency exchange rate, international customers are expecting to pay upwards of $80 for the expansion, or $130 for the Collector’s Edition, with no guarantee that the box will arrive by February 16th, 2010.

Due to a breakdown in communication, Amazon.com refuses to ship the expansion outside of the United States, leaving GameStop.com as the only international option. Further breakdown in communication has resulted in BestBuy.com not offering the product at all — even to domestic customers.

EQ2Wire would like to know why EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate is not available for purchase from international online retailers, especially from suppliers with which SoE already has a business relationship. For example BestBuy.ca (Canada), Amazon.co.uk (UK), Amazon.de (Germany), EBGames.com.au (Australia).

Follow the discussion on EQ2 Forums: [pre-order discussion] [7 day headstart discussion]

EQ2Wire is providing SoE an opportunity to respond to these concerns and we’ll get back to you as soon as we hear from them.

~EQ2Wire~

If you attended Fan Faire 2009, you may have watched the Jace Hall production “EverCracked”. It is a humorous documentary about the history of EverQuest, and the slightest hints about EverQuest Next, the 3rd EverQuest game currently in development.

Today marks the debut of the epic documentary EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest, available exclusively on IGN.com. The five-part weekly series, hosted and produced by Jace Hall, chronicles the trials and tribulations leading to the development, launch and success of the genre-defining massively multiplayer online game which celebrated its tenth anniversary in March 2009.

EverCracked! celebrates EverQuest’s legacy by taking a look at the past, present and future of the franchise. The film includes never-before-seen footage and interviews with industry moguls and longtime players. EverCracked! details the events, products, personalities and art that graced the world of Norrath over the years, with many tongue-in-cheek moments that befit EverQuest’s own sense of fun and humor.

EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest Debuting at IGN.com

Niami DenMother and Kaisha of EQTraders.com can always be counted upon to provide excellent coverage of Crafting and Live Events.

There are 3 articles worth checking out, and they are still being updated as more items are discovered, so be sure to check them out again at the end of the month to see anything news! From Niami:

Check out the EQ2TC GU54 Crafting Overview for more details – it already has the furniture shots for the first City Festival event (clothing shots will be incoming as time permits), as well as a page showing both the returning and the new Glacial Furniture from the Icy Keep vendor in Frostfell.  Mmmm, love that bed!

and a word about the Quellthulian Spires event which will end with the launch of Game Update 54 slated for early December:

Finish your work on the spires event now, get your shopping done, earn your title, finish up any incomplete spires, etc. When GU54 goes live, you will no longer be able to quest and earn tokens.

Note that, by popular demand,  Titles were added to the Quellthulian Spires Merchant, but these are still only on Test. Hopefully these updated Merchants are available on the live servers long enough for everyone who is sitting on a stack of Tokens to get them.

The EQ2Wire often produces articles and opinion pieces which would benefit from a comic or cartoon to illustrate the salient points. We are looking for an Artist who would be interested in producing illustrations or cartoons at least twice a month for the EQ2Wire.

This is not a paying position, but the artist retains viewing and portfolio rights to artwork created for the EQ2Wire. This artist will also receive a link to their own personal site (if they have one) in the EQ2Wire sidebar.

Some illustrations will have a specific theme and/or dialogue written by EQ2Wire. Others will offer more opportunities for the artist’s flexibility and creativity.

If you would like to have your art featured on a highly focused MMORPG game fan site which receives 3,000 visitors per day and is currently the #5 Google result for searches for “eq2 news”, please send an e-mail to morganfeldon (at) gmail.com with examples of your work and any other details about yourself which you think may be useful.

The main EverQuest 2 site at Station.Sony.com has been updated with a dozen new screen snapshots for the new EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate expansion. Check them out (choose ‘Sentinel’s Fate’ from the filter menu on the bottom right). Featuring a few below:

If the EQ2 team are trying to keep the secrets of February’s expansion Sentinel’s Fate under wraps, they might want to avoid sending out data files containing Sentinel’s Fate textures and zone art with the EQ2 Patcher. We’re not even in Beta yet (expected sometime in December)

If you wish to remain ignorant about Sentinel’s Fate a bit longer and you’d rather be surprised in February, then don’t click:

continue reading Scrying Sentinel’s Fate…

The trailer we saw yesterday for Sentinel’s Fate, the sixth expansion for EverQuest II, has been posted on EQ2Players in High Definition (1280 x 720). You can download it as well as grab some more screen snapshots at EQ2Players. Note it’s a large file (120MB) so I recommend downloading it to your PC first before trying to play it.

The news is coming quickly about EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate’s new Retail strategy.

Kiara brings us this:

Fan Faire attendees with accounts in good standing will receive a complimentary digital copy of the retail version.  You will have the early access and items associated with the retail version of the game.

We’re looking into Best Buy not having the listing yet.

Amazon and GameStop are shipping overseas.  I’m trying to get a list of the countries that will be shipped to.  Retail boxes ordered online and shipped, SHOULD be shipped in time to arrive on release day to allow people to take advantage of the early access.

In response to concerns that Amazon.com does not currently offer International shipping, and that Amazon.co.uk does not yet carry this expansion Kiara followed up:

This is being looked into.  The agreement is very specific that GameStop and Amazon will be shipping overseas.

Please let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater juuuuuust yet.  Also, since we won’t be shipping until February, we’ve got a little time to work this all out with our distributors.

Additionally, retail boxes **should** be shipped in time for people to have them on release day if they pre-ordered, rather than waiting a week to get it.

Street Dates

The issue is that retailers, both online and stores, are scared sh*tless about breaking Street Dates. They’ve faced huge fines and browbeatings by Microsoft, Electronic Arts, etc.

The important part here, is for CLEAR communication between SoE Marketing and the retailers that there IS NO STREET DATE and that boxes should be shipped as soon as they are ready.

You can now watch the EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate Teaser Trailer at EQ2 Zam:

and you can check out some EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate screen snapshots as well:

To find more information about EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate, you can check out EQ2Wire’s recently updated Fan Faire News Rollup with all the information about the expansion.

From watching the trailer, we’ve also learned the Sentinel’s Fate will contain:

• 4,000 new items
• 400 Quests
• 5 Heritage Quests

EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate

Getting a jump on the holiday season (and a full 100 days before its official launch), the EverQuest II Sentinel’s Fate expansion has been made available for pre-order!!

The most remarkable part of this announcement is the extraordinary measures being taken to get EverQuest II back onto Retail shelves and getting retailers to take the game seriously. With Sentinel’s Fate, it is now clear that the preferred version of EverQuest II will be the retail Collector’s Edition. Not only with in-box and in-game exclusive items, but the release schedule. The Retail version will be available fully 1 week before the Digital Download.

This is a ballsy move and one which will likely be greeted with some skepticism and anger. But many players have been clamoring for better retail presence of EverQuest II. Part of this is the in-box rewards, but perhaps a bigger part is that new players are more likely to come to the game if retail boxes are present. And I believe that having the digital download available on the same day as the retail version was, no doubt, a great demotivator to retailers to bother providing retail space or ordering sufficient boxes.

Now our spotlight rests squarely on the SoE Marketing Department. This is make-or-break time for them. They’ve let us down with the confusing Rise of Kunark pre-order Burynai reward, and they stumbled in providing Best Buy with the incorrect street date for The Shadow Odyssey. All eyes now rest on them to make Sentinel’s Fate a successful launch available to the widest possible audience of players in North America and worldwide.

They have a great opportunity here to surprise players and get EverQuest II back in stores and solve the availability problems we’ve faced in the past few years. Specifically, we will also be watching to see if there are any issues for International customers wishing to purchase EverQuest II as there have been in past years.

They say it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog, and I’m not ready to concede to WoW. Hopefully SoE isn’t either.

Sentinel’s Fate will be available for pre-order beginning on Thursday, November 12, 2009! Sentinel’s Fate will be a compilation pack, containing the previous five expansions and three adventure packs. Sentinel’s Fate is EverQuest II’s sixth expansion, and marks the return of Odus to Norrath. New and veteran players alike will find tons of new content for all playstyles to explore.. More information about this newest addition to the EQII universe will be revealed in the months to come at EQ2Players.

All versions, both retail and digital download come with the compilation all-in-one game. This includes the following expansions: Desert of Flames, Kingdom of Sky, Echoes of Faydwer, Rise of Kunark, The Shadow Odyssey, Sentinel’s Fate; and the following Adventure Packs: The Bloodline Chronicles, The Splitpaw Saga, and Fallen Dynasty.

The retail pre-order may be obtained solely through North American retailers: Best Buy, GameStop and Amazon. You may pre-order through these retailers online. International players wishing to order a retail box may purchase through GameStop and Amazon and have their box shipped.

Retail Pre-Order Links:

• Amazon.com EQ2:Sentinel’s Fate Collector’s $69.95
• Amazon.com EQ2:Sentinel’s Fate $39.95
• GameStop.com EQ2:Sentinel’s Fate Collector’s $69.95
• GameStop.com EQ2:Sentinel’s Fate $39.95

Links from BestBuy.com are forthcoming as their website has not yet been updated.