May 2016 Producer’s Letter: Prestige Servers, Premium Guild Halls, Fabled Fallen Dynasty, Summer Ethereals, and More
Feldon 
From the EQ2 Forums:
Happy Springtime, Norrathians!
Time is zipping by as usual! I wanted to drop in and let you know what we’ve been up to.
As you continue with the Terrors of Thalumbra expansion and take part in GU100, the team has been toiling away on future plans. And what are those? Well….
By the end of June we are going to introduce two new servers! We wanted to hear what kind of servers the community wanted so we recently ran an in-game survey. Given the results, we decided to launch two servers, each with different rules. There will be details coming soon, but here’s the summary:
Isle of Refuge Server:
We call this a “Free Trade” server. Here’s some of the nitty gritty:
- Most items tagged as “Heirloom” can be traded freely between players. Only Heirloom items purchased via a merchant, marketplace, or granted from repeatable quests remain Heirloom.
- This is a live server with current features, zones, and advancement.
- There will be limited account bonuses and claims.
- Character transfers TO Isle of Refuge will not be available for the launch of this server.
- Characters transfers FROM Isle of Refuge will not be available. There are no plans to allow transfers off of a Free Trade server.
Event Server: Race to Trakanon:
Self-explanatory, right? The purpose of this limited-time Event server is to see what you’re made of when it comes to a challenge! For this Event server, you will race to kill Trakanon and complete other objectives like the most quests or named encounters – something for everyone! Once the primary goal of an Event server has been completed, like killing Trakanon, the server restarts again with a NEW event! Here’s the overview:
- Event servers will reward prizes for completing event achievements that can be claimed on any character on the account.
- The Event Server: Race to Trakanon will end shortly after Trakanon is slain! The server will restart shortly after with a new event. Details on this coming soon.
- There will be limited account bonuses and claims.
- There will be a limited marketplace.
Like Stormhold, our Time-Locked Expansion server, these special servers will require membership in order to access them.
And there’s more!
We’ve got Memorial Day coming up this weekend with special promotions planned, so stay tuned! We’ll be sharing the details as we inch closer.
Also, in early June, we will release a new option for your guilds to purchase a guild hall from a selection on our marketplace using a new item we’re calling Guild Tickets. With this system, every member in a guild will be able to contribute to purchasing these new guild halls. To kick off this new feature, we are releasing two NEW guild halls for purchase: Skyshrine Capital Guild Hall and the Highhold Guild Hall. Keep an eye out for a post from Kander on the details of this new option for guilds!
What else is coming as we skip from spring to summer? We’ve got Fabled Fallen Dynasty coming in July as well as our first wave of Summer Ethereal drops.
And of course, we are – and have been – working on the next expansion. We want to get a bit further along before we start giving details, but we are endeavoring to deliver more epic adventures! I want to close with a giant thanks to all our intrepid and dedicated players! We are very grateful for all of you!
Sincerely, as always,
Holly “Windstalker” Longdale
Update from Kander about what the Fabled Fallen Dynasty will consist of:
Nizara Heroic and Advanced solo + 3 raids
I am excited by literally none of this.
I’m honestly getting the feeling they are only paying attention to what they want to pay attention to.
Definitely the most underwhelming Producer’s Letter to date.
On the bright side, I guess it’s better than getting a Sunset Letter.
Meh. I won’t be back. TESO is our EQ these days.
I keep coming back to this site in the hope that something will lure me back to EQ2. Nothing so far and this producer’s letter is particularly disappointing.
I’m interested in how the guild halls will work. Do they still cost rent, what about amenities? etc
considering the poll was totally flawed. I needed a none option. I have 15 level 100 toons. I don’t need a new server or want a new server. I am not rolling new toons any time soon. I have more than enough. There should have been a none of the above option on the poll. New servers do nothing for me.
Basically a “give us your money” letter.
Buy vit potions to level on the no-heirloom server, something our players have been asking for for years.
Buy vit potions to level on a Race to Trakanon server.
Everyone in your guild can now contribute to buying new guild halls!
And we’ll release some new content later this summer.
Agree with madrat here – the poll needed a “neither” option. I would be interested in the percentage of people who actually voted on this at all and didn’t just delete the poll, as nobody I have talked to on either TLE or live was even remotely interested in these new servers.
The whole ethos at the moment seems to be focusing on “NEW” things to spice it up, like resolve and infusions, stuff that just makes things more complicated, instead of just concentrating on making the things that don’t really work better and ironing out all the bugs. I’ve played since launch but am really starting to lose interest at the moment.
Loving all the doom and gloom in these comments. I’m really excited about the new heroic and the guild ticket system. Anything that gets us working together is fine by me!
Guilds currently work together to level up and earn enough status to buy and support a guild hall. Isn’t guild tickets just certain guild members swiping a credit card?
That is exactly what it is, instead of that they should be offering LoN items on the marketplace, all the costs to make those items are spent and they can pump out as many as they like and it doesn’t cost a dime and is all profit.
weren’t they planning on doing that anyway?
in my mind event server is a waste of money, but then again we can’t see their profit margin from TLE servers (both short term and all-time)
I think the race for Trakanon server is a great idea.
For people who play a lot, there are only so many things you can do over and over before you get bored so giving people a challenge is a good move. Something to get stuck into.
They are going to have to be careful though that the challenges cater for a variety of people. Even if getting adventure levels and killing a dragon isn’t your thing, a challenge around being the first to craft the shawl or to complete every quest in a zone might be. Over time they can have something for everyone.
I only hope that the rewards are not limited to those who are the first, the next 9 maybe could get a lesser reward so that the top 10 all get something. As exciting as it would be to achieve the goal, it’s going to be disappointing for a lot more people who were very close!
Microtransaction guild status? lol, are we sure Daybreak Games isn’t really Trion?
I quit playing last April, then came back early this year and bought the expansion but quickly lost interest again. I stop by here in hopes something will make me want to start playing again, instead it just reaffirms my decision to stop playing. It’s sad because I loved EQ and EQ2.
agreed. I keep looking here because I love eq/eq2 but the path it takes is pretty depressing.
Not gonna blast the team for trying to drum up some enthusiasm from the player base over the summer, which is traditional a slow time for mmorpgs. If you don’t like the idea of the new servers, ignore them. Easy as that. I for one look forward to Fabled Nizara and the chance at some ethereals. Bring em on !
if you dont like peoples honest opinions on things you can ignore them too you know 🙂
Advice you should take as well.
Resources. Resources wasted on servers likely doomed to fail that could be going into things the players actually give a rat about. Resources that have been scarce for too many important things for too long.
More servers, just what everyone has been asking for!
I wouldn’t be shocked if this new server thing is something that the dev team already knows is a bad idea. It’s probably something being forced from the higher ups because the TLE servers made so much money.
It’s EXACTLY this . But they won’t make nearly as much money as the TLE servers did last summer. So let the Dev Team have their failed experiment. We can ignore the new servers if we so choose….and everyone plays the game “their way” this summer as we await the Fall xpac.
lol @ Fall Expansion pack
I am wondering if there will be an expansion at this rate. They might be developing it, but will there be any one left to play it?
Fabled content from Fallen Dynasty sounds good, as Fabled EoF Adv. Solo’s were my favorite content in 2015.
Regarding the new Guild Halls, hopefully the costs will be reasonable, ideally with the ‘tickets’ being purchasable with DBC.
Also, it would be cool if this new Trak race server works like Path of Exile seasons, where at the end of the event the characters of the season get merged into the live servers. I’ve avoided TLE because I don’t want to play a character isolated from the rest of my chars, but something like a PoE post-season, merge-to-live function could change that.
New prestige Guild Halls: There’s cash grabs and then there’s this. Over/ Under on this being $100.00 USD???
DBG is a depressing company. The way they polled this is absurd. They poll two server ideas with little to no explanation( you couldnt even express disintress in either option, making the poll pretty much total BS). Then they sell you the details however they like. I mean they arent even sure of the server details STILL! What a poor method to hype something. Anyone excited for this has yet to be dissapointed only because of lack of information.
and LOL at being able to buy guild halls. Is Everquest 2 even a game anymore? How much less are you going to be able to earn and achiev in this game before we start realizing it isnt even an actual game anymore. Just an environment where you can buy what the next person has earned. Its only a matter of time before they somehow rationalize that it would be a good move to make these things only attainable through purchase.
Hopefully soon enough they can sell us a video of the ending credits. The beauty of eq2 used to be the journey through the game and the time it took. Now its a total husk of what it was and the devs are just liquidating what made it a decent game more and more with each effort.
I wish this game would get sunsetted, its probably better off in the hands of the emu community.
Honestly, I think the boat sailed on a No-Heirloom server long ago. Maybe back in the heyday of Kunark or Ykesha it would have drawn a lot of attention.
I’m sorry, but nothing in this letter grabs my interest enough to leave BDO right now. And Ethereal weapon grinding and never getting one is a painful time sinc and I will NEVER do it again. See ya ll in BDO (Orwen Server).
Devs – Give me an ethereal for logging in and I might consider it.
Is BDO decent as-is or is it the P2W hell I fear it is due to its origins?
BDO is an awesome game and you don’t have to buy anything from their store to fully enjoy it. I don’t really care about the pvp aspect of the game, but there is plenty to do otherwise and its environment and characters are gorgeous as well.
I’ve heard horror stories of people trying to gather resources only to be pk’d over and over. Have you not had that issue? I tried it on the 6 day trial and liked it but shied away due to the non-optional PvP.
I have been leveling very slowly intentionally so that I am not at level 45 yet, which I believe is the level you can be automatically flagged for pvp. My highest level character is 35. I don’t like pvp so not in a rush lol. I have just been exploring different aspects of the game and trying out different classes. I feel like the journey is the best of part of any game.
I have a 54 Sorceress and a 52 ranger. I rarely encounter a player trying to PK me. It has happened but only at common farming spots. Otherwise it’s a very friendly game despite the level 45 pvp flag. I’m in a high end guild and one of us is PK’d we all respond. So the guild tag alone serves as a safety net. I’m actually looking forward to the upcoming guild wars. Plus BDO is pumping out new content faster than we can clear it. Plus they have built in cheats (you can AFK level fishing, horse training and other stuff). Excellent alternative to EQ2. Look me up on Orwen server, same name.
I love BDO also, and to echo what you just said, when I was exploring higher level areas with my level 35, I didn’t see any players randomly attacking others just for the sport of it. BDO is a great game with something for every one and more to come.
Thanks!
OK this gives me some hope. I’m heading into my personal busy season but I might give it a go in a couple of months. Thanks!
Thanks for the reply!
Do we need to be a full member to play Fabled Fallen Dynasty ?
Sold off all my plat today for krono after reading this, hopefully they will realize how far out of touch they are when both servers fall flat on their face and maybe release something worth coming back to.
Meh. Still playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms 11…
Not sure why I keep paying my EQ2 sub.
It’s really gotten sad hasn’t it? I only payed my sub recently because a friend still plays EQ2 and wanted me to come back. I have a hard time not being depressed when logged in.
I login, see that nobody in my guild has logged in for 2 weeks, find no desire to do anything I can think of, and log back out.
More servers? im not so sure thats what the game needs at present.