78 thoughts on “LIVEBLOG: EverQuest II: Kunark Ascending Expansion Livestream – CONCLUDED”

  1. Damn. I hate to say it but some of the information coming in via the livestream so far has me intrigued…

    Wasn’t able to watch it (Nor can I join in now, since I’m at college), but aside from Epic 2.0s I am extremely curious as to how the Ascension Classes work. If it ends up diversifying classes again that could be fun.

      1. I am excited honestly to return to Kunark as it was my favorite after KoS. I ground tons of faction there back in the day.

        This is the first expansion in 3 years I am springing for the Collectors Edition.

  4. 50 minutes of “please buy now” and not really much info about the expansion… Not pre-ordering…. will wait for release and see what the few remaining friends I have still playing says

      1. Nope, last one was one per character still, dhalgar recipes and precipice house.
        And yep, I like having options, being able to create a new alt which has a free house is a plus. And if I have to start remembering which alt has which carpenters recipes (yes, 3 masters carpenters, altaholic here) it’s going to be tiresome.

        Also, it’s the principle of the thing : it doesn’t cost them a penny so why not all the characters from the account? As it used to be…and it’s more of an incentive to buy too, imho.

        And thanks Feldon. :mrgreen:

        1. I remember the isle of refuge was a one per account. I think they are trying to make it a little more special. I agree it would be nice, disagree about costing them nothing. It adds to the server overhead. With that being said, I have so many free houses from over the years that are all 1 per character, I have tons of them just sitting vacant. lol.

          I do agree that the recipes should be per character though. that seems a bit dumb not to. I hope they change that part.

          2. Isle of Refuge house was a veteran reward. The last expansion had the Dhalgar Precipice house, which absolutely was 1 per character, as was the recipe book for the Dhalgar building blocks and the buff statue.

          4. Both the house and the builder kit are claimable once PER CHARACTER according to the pre-order page, and not once per account.

    2. Frankly, one house per account should easily accommodate all characters who might possibly want to visit that house, or even work on decorating it. All characters can be given Trustee access, right? So what’s to grieve about? A massive estate such as this one will require quite a bit of time to decorate. One per account seems reasonable for all prestige houses. We buy multiple houses as it is. Why do we need to have the same list on every character. This is a sensible arrangement. Try not to be greedy.

    1. Yea, with how hard it is to do them on a toon these days…. Sorry, but it all depends on if they mean the heroic or raid version. The heroics can all be soloed these days with little effort.

      1. Even the raid mythics are soloable except for a few fights that have mechanics that prevent it. Even then you just need a couple more warm bodies to satisfy most of the mechanics.

        Seriously, if you’re at 100 in thalumbra quest gear, you’ll absolutely blow through the epic questline on any character.

      2. I guess you are not remembering the faction grind? I mean, I never said it was going to be hard, did I? I just don’t see why they force us to replay old content for a new expansion… But I guess you feel it’s exciting to do it…

        2. Either you already did the old content. Then you don’t have to do it. Or you didn’t. Then, for you, it’s new content.

          Worst case: you already did it in 2007 but have made a new account or deleted your character and rerolled the same class. Okay, then you have 6 weeks to do it until the expansion even launches. Chrono to 85 solo or do it as a group.TANSTAAFEW!

    2. The worst part is if you look at what you’re getting for the extra $50. the jump to $140 is…hard to justify pulling the trigger on. But damn if a broker-fee-less selling crate doesn’t scream “You have to have this” to me.

    3. I’m looking at it in Australian dollars.

      $54 AUD for the standard edition – looks high, but i’m ok with it.

      The pre order bonus looks standard. We had the altar from the previous expansion, and I’m curious if the two stack.

      All my favourite toons are already level 100, so its not that critical that its only one toon that gets upgraded with that bonus.

      $140 AUD for the collectors edition. That’s a bit high, but I would think about it. I like another prestige house, and a teleport item to the new zone saved jumping around.

      But i’ll possibly pass since it is $140 AUD, and that’s a bit high when a brand new top game is no more than $90..

      $218 AUD for a premium edition ? I’m certainly not even going to look at paying this much for a yearly expansion.

      I’ll also like to thank Feldon for doing all the work on this.

    4. Well, the basic expansion is decent. $39.95 is almost affordable (for those of us on limited budgets). For those who can afford all the fancy extras… well, like everything else in America, if you can afford it, buy it. Frankly, I think the folks who put all their efforts, their expertise, and their time into designing the expansions deserve to be compensated for their time and efforts. I didn’t go to college to learn how to design virtual environments. I think their efforts are worth the price.

  10. So no feathers over heads, no blue POIs… Why?
    I like guidance, getting lost, not knowing the next step in the questline does make like the game more!.. I dont want to ask everyone on chat the next move nor watch that being repeated incessantly.

    If people want to play the game without this help make it optional ….

    Why does it seem that some want to make it really difficult for the few when the developers should be making it fun and accessible for those thinking of joining. .. Remember it is a game that needs to grab you for the long term not pee you off in frustration.

    Hope the DEVs can understand my concerns

    Enjoy the game..

    1. I agree with you on turning the helping aids off for those that don’t want to use them.

      I listened to a little bit of the live. When the comment came across about asking the community made me realize they haven’t been on the live servers in a while. How many times I have seen a poor soul told to “look it up” and called a few names about being lazy. The game has changed where the wonderful community is lost.

      I love EQ2 for the ability to play they way I want to. The feathers and maps are just a tool to help me play and not be frustrated. PLEASE!!!!! Add to the game and not remove features.

      1. Dryea – “I have seen a poor soul told to “look it up” and called a few names about being lazy.”

        It’s one of those exchanges, seen on virtually all websites.

        UselessTroll – ‘Google it Noob’
        AskingForHelp – ‘I did. The link lead me here.’

        The last time I saw that type of exchange was on a computer hardware forum; yesterday.

        Dryea – “they haven’t been on the live servers in a while”

        Agree. Or the Devs are cutting coding corners, to save time, by not putting in the ‘feathers.’ Or worse the new Devs don’t understand or play the game at all. Code is code right??

        This new direction reeks of someone’s philosophy.

        “Remember, you have no companions but your shadow”
        Genghis Khan

        On a related note, late Thursday viewed the copy of the livestream. It had “9,802 Views.” Today’s “10,194 Views” of the video says something about the advertising acumen of a certain Daybreak Games department.

        /*

        “There is no victory at bargain basement prices.”
        Dwight D. Eisenhower

    2. I think that the Myth’s shouldn’t have the quest flags on them. As far as the other questlines they should.

      There are quite a few of the player base who do not have a ton of play time, the blue spots/quest flags are helpful to them to get the maximum fun out of the amount of time they have.

      Time will tell, or at least until the zones are mapped and EQ2 Maps is updated and eq2zam as well.

  11. First thing that grabbed me like “hey… wait a minute…” was the premium edition. Seriously, 100% broker fee reduction but you’ve gotta pay 140$ for the thing….. That’s going to curb the market in favor of people that pay more money irl and that isn’t right on any level. If they’re going to pull that crap then at least remove the petty nuisances of not being a subscriber cuz paying over 320$ per year(not including anything bought through DB) is a bit much for a game that’s over a decade old…

    1. I’m with you on this. The “pay for advantage” bullshit is getting worse and worse as we go.

      Now you’ll be able to dominate the market because you don’t have fees associated with your wares. Shinies sell for tens to hundreds of thousands of platinum anymore. Bots already fuck those markets and now it’s going to be worse.

      1. Frankly, I think the ridiculous (if not obscene) prices that people are trying to charge for everything on the broker is not just greedy in the extreme, it truly is a worthless endeavor. We’re talking about monopoly money here, right? Virtual weath? Give me a break. If you can’t get rich in real life, getting rich in a game is not going to make your real life any less difficult. I’ve begun pricing things on the broker at sensible (much lower) amounts. I’m still making plenty of fairytale money. I’m not suffering, and somebody is getting that collectible shiny he/she needs to finish a collection, or whatever.

  12. “Mostly archetypal meaning Fighter, Mage, Priest, Scout, with specific subquests tied into your class and tying into the old story lines from the original Kunark. You receive a brand new weapon at the conclusion of the quest with a new/upgraded appearance.”

    This better not mean that all fighters get a copy/pasta weapon that looks the same as all other fighter epics. One of the coolest things about the epic weapons in kunark was that each had an appearance suited to the class. I still use my kunark epic appearance on a few characters and most of the house versions are in my guildhall.

  13. Thanks Feldon for all the info and updates and chat! The players friend for sure.

    I’m liking the initial story line of the new expansion. If they can keep the lore going throughout the whole expansion that will be incredible.

    The loss of any real lore continuity has been a real hurt to the game for me. Karuna! It would be such a blessing to have Vahlen back even if on monthly contract. We players love and NEED our lore!!

    1. Bravo, Betony! I totally agree with you! I run around in Norrath daily telling lore stories when I get the chance (albeit of late that’s seldom because I don’t get to group with others often now). I love the lore because I see the whole Norrath “saga” as a huge adventure tale… a virtual living book that we are all traveling through, and the heritage quests, signature questlines and other elements are all chapters in the great book. The lore provides an underlying theme, the fabric of the whole story. We need it. EQ2 is more satisfying to play in (for me at least) because of it.

  15. I’m having a hard time seeing a point to requiring completion of Epic 1.0 to do Epic 2.0. Since 2.0 sounds just as hard to complete as 1.0, it doesn’t seem logical to require players to go through soooo many quests, faction grinding, and harvesting (one of the classes has to harvest something like 20 rares of a particular type) just to start 2.0.

    The reward has to be best-in-game to justify that much work. Even then, I doubt I’ll want to do it on my toons that never did 1.0.

      1. Ditto! I did NOT do the original Epic Weapon quest on any of my character but the very first one… and THAT experience was annoying in the extreme. As a Warden, I remember having to do all those quests in the Reet village to get Reet Faction, just so I could go on with the overall quest. I remember the gathering requirement, several language requirements (Krombal, some others). I enjoyed getting all the languages. I didn’t enjoy screwing around endlessly getting Reet faction! I didn’t do it on any of my alts. NOT interested in doing it over now!

  16. So if you get the Premium, which includes the CE & Standard Ed, does that mean you get an 80 slot vendor crate w 80% off broker fees AND a 100 slot crate w NO broker fees? And is it 1/account or per character?

    The “no 13 year veteran reward” is ridiculous; I’ve had 2 accounts since 30 days post-launch (and been active most of those years). Given we still pay the full expansion price, there should be SOME benefit to long term loyalty.

    Also, are the new TS recipes 1/account, /per char or earnable on all? I love TSing (esp my Carpenters) & decorating. Looking forward to CoM house.

    I’ve never done any of the epic quests, mostly because my guild was too small for the needs at the time, but this may convince me to go back & do those.

    2. Sigh.. nothing lasts forever, but frankly, I shall miss my loyalty Veteran rewards. I really looked forward to getting them each year… particularly the Isle of Refuge reward! But that had to be the definitive Loyalty Award, for me. I wasn’t impressed with the 12-year award – in fact, I have YET to claim it, particularly since I can ONLY claim it on ONE character. Perhaps Daybreak simply can’t think of anything to “top” the 11th year award. Has that occurred to anyone? Every year, the veteran award has gotten better, more uber, (well, mostly). I can’t think of a single veteran award that tops the Isle of Refuge “prestige” house award! But I believe DB needs to rethink this decision. If they hope to keep their long term players (and we ARE the bulk of their customer base, yes?) then they should recognize that we LIKE our Veteran Awards, A LOT. Those veteran awards really ARE an incentive to re-up our membership in this virtual community. The fact that so many of us have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, blowing off our community interactions in favor of solo venturing in our own little private worlds notwithstanding. The loss of our group community interactions is regrettable… The loss of our Veteran Reward is truly a tragedy for most of us, notwithstanding the perspective that DB staff may have that this emotional drama isn’t necessary. It’s a loss, we feel it, and we are NOT happy about it in the least. It’s also another reason that I am considering giving up the game. I’m not alone in this sentiment!

  18. It looked to me like the Kunark Ascending Painting was part of the Collector’s edition in the presentation and not the Premium edition. That is consistent with where it was in the past expansions.

  20. Jeebus cripes… Almost every thing for CE and Premium edition is one per account? o.0 WTF??????????
    Why have customer satisfaction when you can make things less rewarding and less worth spending money on? -.-
    /sigh
    Could have at LEAST one-per-charactered the house and recipes. I would have hoped the broker boxes were per character too, although I suppose there could be a weak argument against the sales crates, particularly for people with a lot of alts. Still, would have been nice.

  21. 37.40 €, but you recieve all the previous content (ToT, Rum Cellar, AoM). I’ve paid them already. I’m sorry, I’m out. I feel that I’m paying the new expansion and the passed again. After 13 years, 37.40 € it’s very expensive. You have a new game for that amount. A fresh game.

  23. I’m concerned about the broker boxes as I feel that anyone selling without one will be at a significant in-game financial disadvantage. They will have to sell for considerably less than someone who bought (with real money) a massive/total broker fee reduction box. That’s tipping into pay to win for me, & makes selling on the broker unbalanced.

    Again, the prices boggle me, considering what a whole new game costs, even at top end. Maybe I’ve been playing ESO too much, where subscribers get all DLC & expacs included in their sub – a truely great incentive. 10% off looks a bit weak in comparison, tho I do appreciate DBG urgently needs money.

    1. I’ve been loving ESO and their subscription model. Not only do you get access to all DLC/expacs for free, but you get the full amount of the subscription cost back in their store currency.

      And now that the entire game is level agnostic with the “One Tamriel” launch, any player can experience content anywhere with any other player, it’s truly an amazing gaming experience.

  25. I can already feel the casual tears. “I have to go do content that’s old?! Then I’ll have to actually read the next quest?! No blue areas that I can mindlessly run to and look for shiny objects to click?! How am I even going to play the game if I’m expected to play the game?”

    I’m sure they’ll revoke that part because enough people will throw a tantrum. I’m waiting on the expansion where decorating levels your character.

    1. The quest feathers were nice. I used to spend way too much time hailing every NPC in every section of every zone. It was really annoying waste of time. The ones with quests could have at LEAST been emoting waves and beckons, maybe some begging… a bit of the “I am not worthy” emote when I’m coming back to turn in a quest, maybe? XD SOMETHing to differentiate the quest NPCs from fluff/population NPCs.

      1. Agree that quest feathers are a minimum. Asking the community is a nice thought but doesn’t work. In the end we all end up in wikipedia if quests take too long.to finish. (though I am curious, how helpfull the information to find your next step or NPC will be. In the past we had information for the next quest step like ” someone, somewhere in Someplace is waiting for you to do something ” !

    2. Your cynicism does not impress me, Gaealiege. I can only guess that you spend all your time stumbling around in the bushes, in the outback regions of Norrath … refusing to use any form of map hints or game helpers to find quest updates. I wonder if you’ve managed to complete a single Heritage Quest. No? That wouldn’t surprise me. Norrath is ENORMOUS…. the talents of our game quest developers is at times amazing, but as a result, the game’s signature and heritage quest lines are sometimes unbelievably long, virging on arduous…and rather than tear our hair out, throw up our arms and walk away from Norrath, never to return, we use eq2i and ZAM walkthrough, and EQ2 map points to help us find stuff that would take us hours, days, weeks? to find.. just so we can complete the quests.. the signature lines, the HQs, to get what we came for – the quest rewards.. the Status Points… the Achievement Accolades. You would have us all scraping in the weeds looking for clues? And when would we find time to battle monsters? Never, maybe? I think you need to get better perspective on this massive world. Even in the real world, the human race has spent endless amounts of time & money finding faster, better ways to achieve our goals. Doing it all “the hard way” is NOT a heroic achievement! It’s a Fool’s Errand!

  26. $15 monthly subscription (do this first for a discount on the expansion)
    $35 and you get a free level 100
    $10 for a character slot to use the level 100

    $55 (slightly less if gold member subscription)

    Pay to beta test their content (just to have your beta feedback ignored)
    No alters with buffs after you claim it on one character
    One zone expansion of an existing zone/expansion & a few dungeons
    99% chance the gear will be a major clusterphuck
    No new veteran rewards
    Shrinking server sizes

    I bout the xpac but I’m already regretting it.

    1. I does all seem rather doom and gloom, doesn’t it? /..\ Sunsetting other games, even LON. No more veteran rewards, already did another server merge, stinginess getting to the point of even cutting the one-per-character goodies back to one-per-account (for no apparent reason…)
      They need to shake things up, pull a Final Fantasy One attempted swan song that winds up a pheonix.

  27. I dont like the idea of eq2 removing POI quest markers (started with Thalumbra) – it really bothers me and all it does is extend and delay our missions/quests however I am excited about the direction this expansion is going (epic 2, Ascension etc).

  28. Make the quest helper optional. Problem solved. If I can click feathered “off/on” I’d be stoked. Not for epic weapons though. Veteran Rewards… We are vets.. We want our 13 year reward. Something to do with the number 13 hopfully. And really guys? I’m excited to not have to pay broker fees! Think of all the plat you’ll be saving!

    And thank you Feldon! Been a loyal follower sence day 1!

  29. No 13 year veteran reward??! 😳

    Honestly, this bums me out quite a bit. Even though it is far from the most catastrophic issue with the current EQ2 landscape, the reward really has been a point of pride amongst us longtime players (which I assume is most of the remaining player base anyways). I always have looked forward to showing off my shiny new reward each year since launch that says “I’ve been here since the beginning!”
    Super sad =(

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