EQ2Wire Preview: Tears of Veeshan Heroic Zones

Stratum of the Protectors

This stunning former Shissar temple is now overrun with Nayads and golems. Defeating each named construct unlocks a glowing weapon which completes the central statue.

Ssrez’Ras: Chamber of Stasis

Plunge further into the secrets of the Shissar in this lower part of the temple.

Temple of Veeshan: Laboratory of Mutation, 

Temple of Veeshan: Halls of the Betrayer

Temple of Veeshan: Vulak’Aerr’s Dominion

The three Temple of Veeshan heroic zones definitely bring back the challenge to EQ2 group zones. These zones not only allow flying, they require it. Within the first room, I found a collectible item up on a ledge that could only be reached with my trusty gryphon mount. The final zone, Vulak’Aerr’s Dominion, is on par with the toughest group zones in EQ2’s history and will require very good gear to survive!

Raid Zones

Tears of Veeshan launches with two raid zones. SOE has eschewed the idea of basic and Challenge mode versions of their raid zones this time around, preferring a straight difficulty progression which will require increasing skill and gear to be victorious.

The Accursed Sanctum traverses the entire Shissar temple, covering the real estate of both the Stratum of the Protectors and Chamber of Stasis. The fabled Temple of Veeshan is the giant sprawling home of dragons, containing two wings (thus far!) of enemies with progressing difficulty.

Conclusions

Once again the EQ2 Zone Art, Population, and Animation teams have outdone themselves. For the High Keep zones, the Goblins got some new models and a bunch of new hilarious animations. I know most folks turn off the music but composer Inon Zur who did the soundtracks for Rise of Kunark, The Shadow Odyssey, Sentinel’s Fate, Destiny of Velious, and Chains of Eternity has come back and delivered an overarching score that grows and develops throughout all of the overland and instance zones, with special boss music for each boss fight. Chris D’ambrosio, a musician at SOE, also whipped up some hummable band music for the goblin band in High Keep.

We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s expansion which has some expansive great zones, where we can start gearing up in the much more nuanced and complex itemization system also debuting with Veeshan. See you tomorrow!

Continue on to page 3 for more photos…