Notable Norrathians Contest — Add your Artwork to EQ2

Even as EQ2Wire is trying to find an artist or artists to help us tell humorous, interesting stories about EQ2, the development of MMOs in general, and the sometimes tumultuous relations between game developers and the players, we could not help but notice the “Notable Norrathians” contest currently running on the EQ2 Forums and posted by Kiara.

UPDATE: Deadline Extended to May 28th!

The New Artists

My favorite part of EverQuest II’s fleeting 5th Anniversary  “Heroes Festival” (during last year’s American Thanksgiving week) was the 10 Player-Designed In-Game Paintings. Initially, an art conteste, the top 10 winners became available as paintings from City Merchants. Some of these paintings possessed a very high quality and added some much needed options to the previously limited choice of paintings in EQ2.

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

Not all of the paintings were classics. Because the contest wasn’t widely discussed outside of Non-Gameplay Discussion, and because I don’t think it was clear to players that their submissions could become in-game paintings, there weren’t a lot of entries. And in the end, the paintings sold in-game came with some very restrictive terms. They were unable to be placed in guild halls, and required both a guild level of 30 and a sizable stack of status each to buy. Still, I ran out and bought 2 of each (even that, unique Yha-lei mayhem image that came complete with targeting UI elements! 🙂 ).

This time around, I’m hopeful that all aspiring artists and fans of EQ2 will give it their best shot and submit really stunning original artwork or in-game screenshots representing in-game characters or foes of note.

I believe anything that improves the in-game selection of paintings is a good thing, and it’s really cool that players get a rare chance to put some content back into the game.

And I am cautiously optimistic that we’ll see less restrictions on guild hall vs. house, guild status, and guild level when purchasing these new paintings.

DAZ Studio?

It’s worth mentioning that quite a few players of EQ2 who like to bring that extra bit of realism to their characters appearances, biographies, and conquests have discovered a program called DAZ Studio. It is a 3D character poser-type of program which has a toolbox of thousands of armor choices, clothing, weapons, races, accessories, and appearances.

An aspiring artist could spend months experimenting with this program.

Some of the coolest-looking signatures on the EQ2 Forums are EQ2 characters which have been reimagined in DAZ Studio. And thus far, some of the best-looking entries to this contest were created in this program as well.

NOTE: I do not work for Daz 3D nor do I make any money from mentioning their products here.

Three Weeks to Go!

UPDATE: Deadline Extended to May 28th!

Notable Norrathians Contest @ EQ2 Forums