So I wanted an EverQuest II: Age of Discovery wallpaper for my desktop. I change wallpapers often, and thought hey, I’d like to get in the mood. Usually by this point, we’ve received some promotional material for the upcoming expansion, namely high resolution wallpapers, screenshots, etc.

Since I haven’t seen hide nor hair of anything like that, I put together my own 16:9 widescreen EverQuest II: Age of Discovery wallpaper using key art provided to Zam. This is an unofficial wallpaper, but if you’d like to adorn your desktop, feel free to download!

Download Age of Discovery Wallpaper
(1476 x 830 in 16:9 format)

Last night, Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations), Greg “Rothgar” Spence (EQ2 Lead Programmer) and Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (EQ2 Lead Designer) hosted a Webcast about the upcoming Dungeon Maker feature (previously known as Design Your Own Dungeon) in the upcoming EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion.

Note: Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson was not able to make the webcast.

Note 2: For the first ~5 minutes of the webcast, Rothgar’s mic was not working at all. At this point, he and Brasse started sharing a microphone.

Note 3: Throughout the webcast, Rothgar refers to the Avatars you use to play through Dungeon Maker-designed dungeons as “adventurers”. For clarity, I have changed all these references to Avatars.

After the jump, EQ2Wire provides an exclusive transcript of this SOE Webcast…

To date, we still don’t have an exact launch date for EverQuest II: Age of Discovery.

Well, we have a date — November 30, 2011 — but then we’ve seen two other more general time windows of “early December” and “Winter” which might well invalidate it.

If Age of Discovery really hits on November 30th, then this would mean there are 11 days to go til the expansion launches and 2 of those days have become national holidays in the USA — Thanksgiving (a harvest festival) and Black Friday (a capitalism festival).

If the Age of Discovery beta is terminated 1 week before expansion launch as it so disruptively was for Destiny of Velious, then the Age of Discovery Beta could come to an end an alarming 4 days from now. With Dungeon Maker just hitting Beta last night this doesn’t seem plausible.

In other news, some Twitter updates yesterday from EQ2’s Associate Producer Domino which may be of interest:

Currently watching a progress bar increment … as 400 of the earlier registrants for #EQ2 beta get sent their invites! Exciting! =)

Typed up and printed my “to do by expansion launch” list today. Single spaced, it was 2 pages long. >_<

Your Thoughts

Do you think the expansion will be delayed?

UPDATE: According an EverQuestII Twitter post, tonight’s Webcast will be a Smoke-free environment:

“Smokejumper” will not be joining us for the webcast today, as was previously indicated. It’ll still be great, though [Isulith]

From EverQuest2.com:

Come check out the EverQuest II Dungeon Maker Webcast! Host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations) will interview Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (EQ2 Executive Producer), Greg “Rothgar” Spence (EQ2 Lead Programmer) and Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (EQ2 Lead Designer), and learn all about one of the most anticipated features for the new EverQuest II expansion: Age of Discovery.

Join us on Thursday, November 17, 2011, at 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time*, as we live stream this webcast on the Twitch TV! The webcast is expected to last about 20 minutes.

Come join us for the fun!

See you on Twitch TV!

Other Time Zones:

• PST: November 17 @ 4:30pm
• EST: November 17 @ 7:30pm
• GMT: 00:30
• CET: 01:30

From the EQ2 Forums:

EverQuest II: Free-to-Play Webcast Recap

On Thursday, November 10, 2011, we had a very special webcast going over the big announcement: EverQuest II going free-to-play! This week’s webcast featured EverQuest II Executive Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson and EverQuest II Associate Producer Emily “Domino” Taylor. The two were interviewed by SOE’s Director of Global Communication, Linda “Brasse” Carlson. We learned about many of the specifics associated with the free-to-play conversion and a bit about the new expansion “Age of Discovery.” At the end of the video, screenshots of the Collector’s Edition items were also shown.

After the jump, our question about the new EQ2Players and Data Feeds gets answered…

From an e-mail I just received!

NOTE: For most players, you do not need to do anything, as this entitlement will automatically be added to your account, but check your SOE.com account over the next week or so to make sure this is added.

One tantalising bit of information from tonight’s AoD/F2P Webcast was that the Age of Discovery Beta may start allowing Fan Faire attendees in tonight. It’s unknown how quickly others will be brought into the beta.

Also, we were told that while Beastlords, the Freeport Revamp (a GU62 feature), Mercenaries, Tradeskill Apprentices, and Reforging would be in the Beta now (or soon), Design Your Own Dungeon won’t hit Beta until next week, to focus testing attention on the previously mentioned features.

UPDATE: We have it on good authority that Fan Faire attendees are now receiving invites to the Age of Discovery Beta. Hey! No peeking at my Inbox!

The “Very Exciting News” Webcast (which with today’s revelation of EverQuest II going fully Free-to-Play was naturally on that subject) finished a little while ago on Twitch.tv. The new webcasting service produced a MUCH more reliable video picture and better sound quality as well. The webcast included Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, Emily “Domino” Taylor, and Linda “Brasse” Carlson. Lots of questions were asked from SOE’s Facebook page, including a question I submitted  and heck I even won some StationCash for submitting a question.

In case you’re wondering, my question was: When is the new EQ2Players site being launched? and the answer was very much a “We’re REALLY close, but we don’t have a date yet”.

So here are some screenshots of items included in the Age of Discovery: Collector’s Edition, namely the exclusive flying mount, Lavastorm Prestige House, exclusive cloak, armor set, and last but not least the exclusive Beastlord Warder/pet.

UPDATE: We’ve replaced our screenshots with the High Definition images from the EverQuest2 Facebook Wall.

If you’ve been waiting to buy EverQuest II: Age of Discovery and were expecting to get Destiny of Velious included, get ready for a surprise!

Here’s the original announcement about the Age of Discovery Pre-Order:

Digital Collector’s Edition

The Digitial Collector’s Edition is a Station Exclusive and is specially priced at $59.99 for pre-order only. This version includes the base game, all seven expansions, a Cloak of the Truespirit, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #1, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #2, Armored Flying Pegasus Mount, Unique Beastlord Warder Pet, Lavastorm Prestige Home, Custom Dungeon Maker Map Layout, and a Robe of the True Spirit. New accounts will also receive a free 30-day subscription.

Please note that after the pre-order period ends, the price of the Digital Collector’s Edition will increase to $89.99.

and here’s what it was revised to say:

Digital Collector’s Edition

The Digitial Collector’s Edition is a Station Exclusive and is specially priced at $59.99 for pre-order only. This version includes the base game, a Cloak of the Truespirit, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #1, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #2, Armored Flying Pegasus Mount, Unique Beastlord Warder Pet, Lavastorm Prestige Home, Custom Dungeon Maker Map Layout, and a Robe of the True Spirit.

Please note that after the pre-order period ends, the price of the Digital Collector’s Edition will increase to $89.99.

And this info from the Pre-Order page which was not operational when today’s news first broke:

EverQuest II will transition to a “Free to Play” model concurrently with the launch of the Age of Discovery expansion pack. This means that all players will have access to EverQuest II through free and optional paid membership levels. All membership levels will provide players with access to game world content through the EverQuest II Sentinel’s Fate expansion. Platinum-level subscribers will also have access to the EverQuest II Destiny of Velious expansion. For all other players, the EverQuest II Destiny of Velious and EverQuest II Age of Discovery expansions may be purchased separately.

From EverQuest2.com:

Pre-Order EverQuest II – Age of Discovery Today!EverQuest II – Age of Discovery is now available for pre-order! This exciting new expansion to the world of Norrath will be released on November 30, 2011.

Digital Collector’s Edition $59.99

The Digitial Collector’s Edition is a Station Exclusive and is specially priced at $59.99 for pre-order only. This version includes the base game, all seven expansions, a Cloak of the Truespirit, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #1, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #2, Armored Flying Pegasus Mount, Unique Beastlord Warder Pet, Lavastorm Prestige Home, Custom Dungeon Maker Map Layout, and a Robe of the True Spirit. New accounts will also receive a free 30-day subscription.

Please note that after the pre-order period ends, the price of the Digital Collector’s Edition will increase to $89.99.

Standard Digital Edition $39.99

The Standard Digitial Edition includes the base game, all seven expansions, a Cloak of the Truespirit, and a Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #1. New accounts will also receive a free 30-day subscription. The cost for the Standard Digital Edition is $39.99.

EverQuest Executive Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson has unveiled the news that EverQuest II is fully going Free-to-Play on all servers, and the segregation between EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended (F2P)  is going away (as is the ‘powerful cash shop’ and the LiveGamer service).

From EverQuest2.com:

Many of you reading this letter are long-time EverQuest and EverQuest II players. You’ve been part of the SOE family for a long time (earlier this week was EQII’s 7-year anniversary!) and our aim is to take care of you and keep you entertained for years to come.

Part of caring for our customers is listening to you and hearing what you have to say. Additionally, we need to be aware of changes in the industry, changes in player expectations, and larger economic trends in general.

We’ve listened to your concerns about the complexity of the subscription structure, how the separate forums between EQII and EQ2X divide the community unnecessarily, that the Live Gamer servers are under-populated, and that many people want more flexibility with payment options so they can better manage their personal budgets.

We believe the key to meeting your expectations is to provide more flexibility and to deliver what you want when you want it, whether it’s basic game content, full subscription access to the game, or something in-between. So in early December we’re going to change things to be “Free to Play. Your Way.” Let me explain what that means…

Are you ready for some concrete info about Beastlords?

The decision to bring Beastlords to EverQuest II was made less than a month before Fan Faire according to an SOE source, and a lot of things were said at Fan Faire, including what type of armor and weapons they’d use, what class they’d be, and how Warders would work. Now that the team has been working on them for four months, there have, not surprisingly, been a few changes.

Here is EQ2’s Lead Designer Akil “Lyndro” Hooper talking about Beastlords on EverQuest2.com:

Q. What is a beastlord? What makes it different from the existing classes?

A. “Beastlords are a new class for EverQuest II, based on beastlords from the original EverQuest. In EverQuest they were loosely based on a combination of shaman and monk. In EQ II we’ve tried to keep them based loosely around a combination of these two classes. One of our goals for beastlords is to experiment with some new play styles. Beastlords have warders that they can tame, who work in combination with the beastlord to create a new style of combat tactics. Beastlords have fewer buttons to press, and a more active and reactive playstyle than our other classes as they react and interact with their warder.”

So we’ve just posted our transcript of last night’s Freeport Revamp webcast. If you don’t want to read the whole thing and just want the top five items you should know, here you go:

and a sneak about Beastlords:

Last night’s SOE Community Webcast talked about EverQuest II’s Freeport Revamp.

Present were Linda “Brasse” Carlson, Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (EQ2 Lead Designer), Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall (Designer), Jonathan “Prathun” Caraker (Designer), with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (EverQuest franchise Executive Producer).

And here’s a transcript of most of the Webcast:

Brian “Omougi” Ferguson has spilled the beans on Tradeskill Apprentices at EverQuest2.com:

What exactly IS a tradeskill apprentice?

A tradeskill apprentice is an NPC that you can hire to work for you in your house. You will need to be tradeskill level 10 or higher before you can work with a tradeskill apprentice.

Who are these tradeskill apprentices anyway?

The first tradeskill apprentices available for hire will be Coldain dwarves. Now that Velious has been reconnected to the rest of Norrath, the Coldain are eager to learn the advances in tradeskills that have taken place during their years of isolation. They’re offering their considerable skills at research in exchange for the guidance and mentoring of crafters from the mainland of Norrath while they learn.

If you’ve been following the somewhat unfortunate adventures of the Gnoob the Gnome character, you’ll recall he had a big part to play in the introduction of Mercenaries to the original EverQuest when it was faced with its own problem of no new blood to help new or returning players leveling up alts.

There have been over a dozen Gnoob videos in the past but this one touches on the upcoming Age of Discovery and its Mercenaries feature. It’s worth a watch and comes with a laugh.

From EverQuest2.com:

The upcoming Age of Discovery expansion will include the Mercenaries feature. These player-controlled (or perhaps just guided, depending) NPCs will help players in groups or raids, for a small fee. You can read a lore-based/mock interview with one of these upcoming mercenaries at EverQuest2.com:

Recently, we have caught word that mercenaries will start to offer their services in Norrath come the end of the year. We were lucky enough to grab an interview with one of these soon to be job-seeking mercenaries! Her name Vittia Direshadow and she is a Teir’dal Shadowknight. She’s quite scary-looking but assures me she will not try to kill me.

Q. What made you want to become a mercenary?

A. My extensive study with the Dread Guard was extremely worthwhile but not inexpensive, and tithes to Innoruuk are not cheap either, so when I finished my training I found myself with debt still to repay. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of a loan broker in Neriak, I can assure you. So, I started work as a mercenary to pay my debts, and have come to find it a valuable source of income as well as an excellent way to see the world and learn new things.

Continue Reading the story at EverQuest2.com…

Smokejumper responded to a thread from nine days ago on the EQ2 Forums asking for a clear answer to what exactly is Age of Discovery.  He basically said what we already knew about the content included in Age of Discovery.  Reading through it and some of his follow up posts, it looks as though the “expansion” will be coming out near the end of November but price and distribution information won’t be released until next week by the marketing folks.

When 85% of the news articles on EverQuest2.com are about other games, it’s easy to miss bonafide EQ2 items. That said, a new article has been posted outlining some of the Lore related to the Beastlord class coming in the Age of Discovery expansion.

The beastlord class is coming in winter 2011 with the EverQuest II expansion: Age of Discovery!

In North America, Winter is defined as the time period from 21 or 22 December and 20 or 21 March. With the last Beta invites scheduled to go out on November 16th, we were assuming that the Age of Discovery would launch on either November 22nd or November 29th. Should we revise that estimate?

You can read “The Path of the Beastlord” at EverQuest2.com.

Information about the upcoming Age of Discovery expansion has been few and far between, however SmokeJumper did take a moment to clear up how XP and loot will work:

Actually, you earn XP *and* tokens. The tokens are used to acquire items for any of your characters, not just the one you have currently logged-in. XP and tokens are awarded at the end of the dungeon run and based on a challenge rating system that should prevent exploiting. More on this soon.

As we heard at Fan Faire (which may, of course, have changed since then) is that there will be two vendors for DYOD, one selling armor/weapons/loot for your main characters, and one selling parts to add cool stuff to your own dungeons.

No additional information has been released about what choices there will be for DYOD Avatars (since you cannot play your own characters, you must pick one of the provided avatars), if you’ll be able to buy upgrades for them, etc.

From EverQuest2.com:

Closed Beta registration for “Age of Discovery” is now open! Applications are available at this link. Beta testing is vital to ensure a great product launch. We appreciate your participation and welcome any and all feedback.

Click the link above, sign in with your Station Account, complete the application process, and your application will go into the queue for approval. Please be sure to read and accept the NDA. All applicants must have accepted the NDA in order to be considered for participation. All applicants will receive an email to confirm that their application was received.

Applications will be reviewed starting on October 27th. Closed Beta will close on November 14th.

Players who are approved for Closed Beta will receive an email informing them of their acceptance, so please confirm that we have your correct email address during the registration process.

Beta acceptance emails will go out between October 27th and November 16th.

SOE has been exceedingly tight-lipped about the upcoming EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion, now just 5-6 weeks away by our estimates. In the process of searching for any kind of official press releases, we found two sites which covered EverQuest II at Fan Faire that we hadn’t seen mentioned before.

Did you know that MMORPG.com interviewed Dave Georgeson about the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion during Fan Faire?

Did you know GameTrailers did a 4:54 interview with Dave Georgeson at this year’s Fan Faire where he talks about Design Your Own Dungeon?

NOTE: This article contains no new information since August’s SOE Fan Faire 2011 event, but since these questions have been coming up more and more frequently, I thought I’d do a recap.

EverQuest II: Age of Discovery

With its promise of new features rather than new content, EverQuest II’s eighth expansion has the makings of an atypical release. EverQuest II: Age of Discovery is touted to have:

• Beastlords — The most frequently requested feature of EQ1 arrives with the Beastlord class. The 25th class will wear Brawler equipment but otherwise have an archetype of Scout. Will have a separate AA tree for their pet.
• Mercenaries — NPCs which can be hired to assist in questing, groups, and raids
• Tradeskill Apprentices — Little is known about these, but they use a new crafting table type and offer unique new recipes.
• Design Your Own Dungeon — Based on an updated version of the housing system, players can build dungeons using existing Zone styles, placing Items and Mobs picked up from around Norrath. They can then publish their Dungeon for others to play *using avatar NPCs* (you may not use your own character to run a DYOD). Rewards include gear for your main character, or items which can be used to build your own Design Your Own Dungeons.
• Item Reforging — Reshuffle some (but not all) of the stats on your items. You’ll also gain an in-game Particle Effect editor.

I’ve posted our first video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Freeport and Beyond” which is an overview of everything we can expect from the EQ2 team until November 2011.

If you’d like to view the Slides from this panel in higher quality, check out the updated EQ2 Panel #1 – Freeport and Beyond writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.

Starting Saturday’s EverQuest II Q&A Panel…

Update: This is a video of EverQuest II Panel #7 “Q&A #2” added on July 24, 2011.