February 2016 Producer’s Letter
From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums:
Hail Norrathians!
It’s going to be another great year for EverQuest 2! The team is excited to be working on new content updates as well as already being waist-deep on our next expansion, all coming this year.
We spent January getting our plans nailed down and are busy getting ready for a big content update for members this spring. This update will have new fabled dungeons and places to explore packed with quests (timed ones too!), key chests, adventures, and awesome stories.
For more news and details, join us for a livestream on Tuesday, March 15 at 11AM PST on twitch.tv/everquest2 and we’ll show you what’s in this game update and answer your questions live with the team!
Here’s your first hint of what’s coming in this spring update…
Move over old orc, the Scourge is in town!
Like the merges we did for US servers a few months ago, we’ll be moving ahead with the server merges for our European servers this spring. Our goal of combining these servers is to build and foster a vibrant server community. We know there may be questions about the European server merges and we’re working on building out a FAQ so players can know what to expect. Feel free to ask any questions you have now, but know we may need a bit of time before we can provide all the answers. We’re grateful for your patience and support and we’ll continue to keep you updated so our players have plenty of notice on the timing of these upcoming merges.
Continuing a time-honored tradition in EQ2, we’ll have new additions to our upcoming live events, Brew Day and Bristlebane Day. When those events roll around this year, make sure you join the festivities and get your holiday-themed rewards while you can!
Hang on to your class hats… there’s plenty more to come!
Update from Roshen:
This won’t be a “campaign” with a price associated with it.
Our spring game update will have new fabled dungeons, and other new zones. You’ll need a membership to access these zones, and the more interesting drops that come from these places will have the prestige tag on those items.
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Comments (44)
somePerson
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That was the worst producers letter ever
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Mizgamer62
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Feldon, do you think they are going to update the skins for the npc’s and playable races perhaps? I think it really helped WOW. I hope they are doing that here.
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ereon
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Those are the orc models, my guess is new content will feature orcs… I doubt they are re-skinning anything… That’s potentially a fair amount of work yes? Skin, Skeletong, animations…. but…. I guess a simple texture reskin would be smaller..
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Feldon
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They are REPLACING all the orcs in the game with these new models with new animations.Reply
Tox
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While I always appreciate graphical improvements, updating all orc models seems out of left field… unless they are positioning themselves to offer Orc as a playable race?
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Gninja
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That is incorrect. We had new orc models made specifically for this new content.
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Tox
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Thanks for clarifying!
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7rlsy
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:::whew!::::
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Feldon
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No.
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Dulcenia
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Not sure how it helped WoW. All my toons suddenly looked like they’d developed birth defects of some sort or another. Then I didscovered how to disable the new models and the world was right again.
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Runswithscissors
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I will be in Black Desert Online until the next expansion anyways. ToT itemization and the forum nazi’s make me not even want to play this game right now. Time for a break.
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Mizgamer62
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Same here.
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Tabri
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Ditto Black Desert Online coming soon.
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Anaogi
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From what I’ve seen, I’m not sure any of us would be any happier with BDO.
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Feldon
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I’m sure the graphics are amazing — South Korea knows how to put out insane graphics — but is it the Western MMO we all want, or an Eastern MMO which rarely does well in the US? (PvP-centric, extremely grindy, extremely focused on the cash shop, punishingly difficult in raids, so obvious in its timesinks as to be comical, etc.)
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Runswithscissors
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It’s pretty awesome man. It will never replace EQ2 and most of us will be back. We hate to love EQ2! But some of the key mechanics of the game are things we could only dream about in EQ2. The game will launch with over 10,000 quests and have the most extensive tradeskill and housing system of any MMO ever made.
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Tox
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What about PVP? I hate PVP and want no part of it. Is it consensual or can it be forced on players?
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Runswithscissors
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The bad:
The classes are all VERY limiting.
Bag space and weight limitations.
There is no way to turn off OwPVP once you hit level 45. Can level lock at 44 by not finishing your class quest.
No class dependency like we’re used to. The classes all blend and it sucks.
There are only a handgul of end game raid encounters. The good ones are contested, the other ones are spawned with scrolls.
Broker prices are sorta set in stone with a low and high sell price.
Leveling is WAY too fast.
The guild system forces you to give members contracts. You pay them.
Power and “contribution points” seriously hinder your gameplay.
The good:
Amazing quality graphics and art. Wow, just wow. Much better than EQN and without that pastel chalk looking crap.
The housing system, crafting system and quest system are all tied together. Very very cool how they did this.
Mounts have 30 levels each and 8 tiers. You can breed them (they have babies) in your house.
Pets give benefits, also breedable and have tiers.
The auto run feature literally runs you to wherever you want to go! Click the map and hit T, off you go.
Mercenaries craft and farm nodes for you. Tied into housing. Buy as many as you can house.
Very, very extensive armor and weapon upgrade system.
Almost everything you see is harvestable. Extensive fishing system.
The game has been out for 2 years in Korea and Russia. Most bugs are gone. New content is already developed.
There are over 10,000 quests already, more incoming.
The PVE system is really fun. Some unique mechanics like climbing on top of a house to save a cat or pushing a wheelbarrow to another village. Most of it is typical but some is very creative.
The combat system is pretty awesomesauce. I do miss my buttons tho.
The “Knowledge System” in the game is amazing! Everything and everyone is tiered. The more you do the better you get.
https://www.blackdesertonline.com/preorder/
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Tabri
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I think EQ could top this MMO if they wanted to. I played the BDO beta and loved it, everything except there is really no end game for pve, maybe BDO will put that in later I dont know. I dont pvp so not happening here I will do everything else in the game then thats pretty much it unless they add more pve content.
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tarb
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Nice write up i only disagree with a couple of your “bads”,
The bag and weight restrictions to me are a nice throw back to old EQ1 days, weight means something and has to be accounted for, just like the weather and night. This is not a gear tread mill game however they are adding raids and dungeons going forward, they actually already started adding them in the Valencia 2 update with several Dungeons all on the desert area. Totally agree about the leveling being to fast however once you hit 50 that changes drastically. I leveled 2 characters to 54 on KR server and let me tell you 1 level post 50 feels like it takes more exp than 1-50, I hope that stays in the NA version.
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Runswithscissors
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Just purchased account #2. 😎
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Tabri
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If only EQ would make an EQish Black Desert Online game now only with EQ art instead, I can dream cant I?
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tarb
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Totally agree, I have said this to my friends also.
BD makes EQNext graphics looks like WoW 2.0
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Tabri
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I just hope they dont release this so called EQNext at all and rethink what EQ is supposed to be, and thats not Disneyland.
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Runswithscissors
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I agree with you guys. EQN has ZERO class dependency, one toon is every class. The graphics look like crap. It’s a cartoon game. There are only 2 good things about EQN…. destructible environment and it’s a new EverQuest. I’m still in awe that it has taken them 50 years to launch EQ3. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Thank God Smedley is gone.
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tarb
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I havent played EQ2 since the pirate paid update and haven’t looked back, I played BDO for a few months on the KR servers and very excited for next weeks NA release.
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John
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we need some customer service….three months plus..to answer a petition is ridiculous to say the very least…is anyone at home in daybreak games?
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John
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also you will need new servers. Or at least one’s that work as well as the test server…..I really have to wonder if Eq2 is being phased out. this has many I know worried…and please hire some customer service.
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Swagdaddy
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Could we get some hints/news/updates on some new content?
such as new “fableds”
Maybe throw in a raid quest also.
such as clear this zone then kill 6 dragons and you get a new shiny weapon or armor.
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Pipsissiwa
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Well that said basically nothing. What was the point?
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Runswithscissors
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Feldon we need a like button on these discussion boards. 💡
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Leahyla
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So I’m not a fan of the new ork models. The old orks looked…animalistic. Brutal. Big foreheads and muzzle like faces. I feel these orks should of take inspiration from the old orks a lot more, and gone for a more neanderthal look.
The letter tells us very little besides what we already knew. New fabled zones and mergers.
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madrat
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I agree, we were told ok we got an xpac headed our way, something that happens every year. Other than that I was kind of like meh. Also I thought why are we retooling the orcs, oh well I guess they want them to kind of look like wow orcs.
Oh well at least I was not the only one who felt the letter lacked a whole lot of information.
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Hoot
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Lol what are you talking about? Orcs ARE brutal. In almost every fantasy fiction that has orcs, they have all been animalistic with a chaotic warrior sense that have evil intentions.
Have you ever read anything from JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth such as LOTR, The Hobbit, or The Silmarillion? JRR Tolkien created the foundation of what is an Orc for all others to follow.
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Archangel
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Consider this a positive; that DBG is actually informing it’s customers about future plans. Instead of the ‘dead silence’ that was so common earlier.
And a surprise:
“The team … already being waist-deep on our next expansion, all coming this year.”
Holly “Windstalker” Longdale
The usual pattern of fall/winter expansions has been pushed back to next year/spring(?)/summer(?). Or perhaps a full year?
“coming in this spring update”
it is rather sad that DBG in general has no sense of history; i.e. Khan instead of say Eisenhower? Spring, at least at DBG, is March 20th. Having a talk on March 15th, the “Ides of March,” is something else all together.
/*
“Beware the ides of March.”
Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, 1599
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Feldon
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Aprilish update and Novemberish expansion are pretty close to the old pattern. We’ll see!
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Ohnix
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“… … awesome stories ….” I, for one, love the lore and enjoy experiencing the new adventures that come with it. 🙂
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Drew
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Awesome Orc model. Looks more modern than the old but both very cool. I like that the old model remains.
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Foodcity
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I’ll be honest…. The new orcs look EXTREMELY similar to Skyrim orcs.
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Runswithscissors
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LOL that was my first thought too. Personally I like them. I’m not sure WHY they did it but ya, they look good in my opinion.
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Mando
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Rum came out last year at the end of April so this timeline is pretty similar although the EoF fabled dungeons were a bit later.
Am I the only one that really wants a level increase and/or another AA tree in the next expac? Being locked at 100 the last 2 expacs is kinda boring and having levels and/or AAs to grind out to do something new is very appealing to me.
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Mizgamer62
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I agree.
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Feldon
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Level cap raise seems unlikely. Would like to see something done with AAs though.
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Wirewhisker
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So…more Romance of the Three Kingdoms 11 for me, I guess.
Meanwhile…waiting for ROTK13 to get an English release. 👿
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