Feldon 
A new website has been added to EQ2Players with the skinny on Game Update 56: Halas Reborn, introducing the player city of Halas, as well as a new character starting area with level 1-20 content. Halas is essentially a neutral-good aligned city, as evil-aligned characters can visit and complete most of the same quests.
Game Update 56 includes substantial features and changes:
- Halas Reborn — new player city with new housing options (2, 4, and 6 room houses)
- Frostfang Sea — new level 1~20 starting area leading to Halas
- The Underfoot Depths — A new x4 level 90 raid zone added to The Hole
- Icy Keep: Retribution — A new x4 level 90 raid zone similar in theme to Permafrost and the Icy Keep.
- Storyteller System — Major quest lines within EQ2 which have widespread impacts on the characters and world of Norrath can now be followed in the Storyteller system.
- Druid Ring Live Event — An in-game event to rebuild some of the Druid Rings throughout Norrath which have fallen to neglect. This questline is slated to resolve some of the mysteries regarding the forthcoming Velious expansion.
Visit the EQ2Players GU56: Halas Reborn page for numerous details and
screen shots of this coming update!
Game Update 56 includes many other features which we have covered in some detail here on EQ2Wire. We have not covered the Travel Revamp in detail until now.
Editor’s Note: Travel Revamp information from this post has been moved to its own article.
More as we have it…
Having to zone less is good, especially with the 20-30 minute delays when zoning . . . but that in NO WAY excuses a half hour of “waiting for zone info” before you zone. I hope they fix that soon and get back to 20 – 30 second zoning times. We’ve actually cancelled a raid after 45 minutes of delays (and one “this instance has expired” glitch that no one wanted to wait until everyone zoned out so we could reset).
Second, I have mixed feelings about this. If you can get to any zone from anywhere, this has a tendency to make the world seem a little bit smaller. Gone are the days when, deciding to do the Ruins Varsoon(and being from Freeport) you had to make the journey across the Commonlands, make the run through the dark and dreaded Nektulos Forest to the docks (pre-griffon days), then journey through the Thundering Steppes before finally arriving at the dungeon. The journey itself was part of the fun and adventure.
Granted, having played EQ 1 and trying to run from Qeynos to Freeport was a nightmare (especially at low levels . . . the Karanas were HUGE!) but it gave a sense of enormity to the world that inspired a sense of awe. Of course, having been through those zones countless times, the travel time DOES get old and I REALLY appreciated the Plane of Knowledge allowing travel to and from most places in the world.
Eh, it’s a mixed blessing. As long as they get the zoning times back to normal I’ll be happy. Besides, if I get nostalgic I can always take the long way around . . . though, with this new “world” system . . . there really IS no sense of “the long way” anymore . . . there I go, getting nostalgic again. (-:
Charn I don’t disagree with you on most of your points. I always loved traveling in EQ1 and seeing Froon and Shoon, when I was going to High Pass Keep. The travel in EQ1 was one of the better parts of the game, unless you had to get some where quick, then it stunk. But if you did, you could hire a Druid or Wizard to port you. I remember when you asked a Shaman to SOW you.
However I feel these changes are not what are needed. What is needed is to have random actions happen during travel. When I would travel from Qeynos to Freeport, I always was on the look out in East Commonlands for that dang griffon.
I don’t know, I think the WoW players have made the game what it is. They have played WoW and want that quick thing, which I don’t understand. Not trying to be negative about them, because that is the only thing they know. But most players now want the end game ASAP and forget, it isn’t the destination, it is what happens getting to that point.
Druid powah!!!
I can’t wait to see where the icy keep entrance will be. Intuition tells me the permafrost door, but it might be in frostfang sea for all i know. 🙂
I’ve played WoW with my two cousins(who I played EQ1 with and they refuse to try EQ2, so I capitulated and tried WoW) and I have to say, though having zones as huge as they are in WoW, with almost no zoning (only into the 3 major continents and the “outworld”) is nice in a way . . . being stuck on a bat for 15 minutes to get from point A to point B is GOD awful. And it HAS happened. When the “UI-mod” I was using, which showed how much time you had left to arrive, read “15:31” . . . I couldn’t believe my eyes. And, unlike in EQ2, you can’t hit jump and “hop off” the point-to-point mounts. I even tried logging . . . but was still stuck on the thing when I logged back in.
So, it’s kind of difficult for me to say WoW players are making all MMOs want the “quick” way . . . ’cause they’re not always so quick. One of my cousins says he just doesn’t want to play a game with all the zoning . . . but I can get from one end of the world to another faster in EQ2 than I ever could in WoW (even before the travel re-vamp . . . half hour zoning issues not withstanding)even WITH WoW’s flying mounts (which is one of the ONLY things I loved about WoW over EQ2 . . . well, that and the ability to walk on water. THAT is cool, too.)
And sure, I guess I could use the map to go from one adjacent zone to the next to take the “long way ’round” . . . but it would just feel forced and contrived to me . . . Eh . . . bend with the times or be broken by them. Darn youth of today always going so fast . . . SLOW DOWN! Ya young whipper snappers! . . .
I guess I’m reminded of the story of the ranger who, while walking in the woods, happens upon a beautiful glade with it’s own waterfall and clear, blue waters cascading serenely over gently sloping rocks down a babbling brook. The kaleidoscopic of flowers splayed throughout the glade were a wonderful counterpoint to the constant rainbow reflecting off the splashing falls. Deer, raccoon, and other woodland creatures were ambling through the glade or drinking from the water and seemed unconcerned by his presence; which proved to him the pristine nature of the place.
He thought he was alone until he noticed a small, elderly man sitting on a rock near the brook. The ranger walked up to him in greeting and the old man, while looking around asked, “Makes the whole trip worth while, doesn’t it?”
The ranger, pausing, not quite understanding the question at first finally replies, “But sir, the journey itself was worth the trip.”
I guess I just miss the journey.