So you may remember that Racial Traits/Traditions were nerfed adjusted in Game Update 53 to remove all uniqueness, including all offensive buffs and abilities such as Ratonga bite and Sarnak fire breathing. From Frizznik:

Offensive buffs have been removed. We did this to help balance races better against each other.

It seems this ‘balance’ applies to only free races. Left out of the initial version of the The Freeblood: More Information and Images announcement on EverQuest2.com was this Racial Trait:

Another Racial Trait, “Bloodletting,” grants a minor Lifetap spell to occasionally drain health from targeted enemies.

Do you think those offensive buffs and attacks previously available as Racial Traits should be restored in light of this announced Freeblood ability?

Discussion on the EQ2 Forums

Ok, that was bad even by our standards… 😉

Anywho, Cronyn has put his two cents in on the Vampire Lore, to try to reaffirm that this isn’t just an afterthought to leverage other popular vampire franchises:

Heya folks! I thought I’d pop in here to help a bit.

So, I wanted to assure you that the lore for the vampires is indeed tied to bigger events and characters. The piece that was posted was mostly intended to be more of an overview, and was intentially more vague. I was hoping to get you all talking, and they start releasing more pieces fo the puzzle to have you work into your discussions. Unfortunately, it clearly did not work how I intended it to, and I apologize for that. What you see (and have surmised) is not the entirety of their origin, and there is more still to be told – I didn’t mean to give the impression that this was all you would be seeing.

Again, my apologies, everyone. I’ll try to fill in the blanks here sooner rather than later.

Thanks again, guys. You all are awesome.

Covic and Gninja have had their share of the hotseat lately over the appearance and lore of the new Freeblood vampire race. After the jump, their insight and responses to questions on these subjects, including some further revelations about the fate of Marcus Thex and the Evernight Abbey fight.

From EverQuest2.com:

We’ve got more info today about the new Freeblood playable vampire race that’s coming to EverQuest II! Read the initial lore story we shared yesterday at this link, then be sure to check back next week when we’ll have additional details and a new lore story that explains even more about this new race and its place in Norrath.

We also have some new screenshots to share, showing a variety of looks, and some of the special features available with the Freeblood. Because the nature of an MMO is ever-changing, we’re not necessarily done with the appearance of the vampires yet. There may be more adjustments and it’s still a work-in-progress, but we wanted to share a sample of the current state of the race’s female appearances.

One of the special features of the Freeblood is a Racial Trait, “Reveal Inner Self,” which lets the character change from attractive to demonic in appearance. Another Racial Trait, “Bloodletting,” grants a minor Lifetap spell to occasionally drain health from targeted enemies.

Editor’s Note: The highlighted section was added after publication.

Covic (Dave) on the EQ2 Forums, designer of the new Freebloods vampire race gives some insight into the design and issues:

I agree that most of our players want to have some freedom in customizing there characters. With the vampires I want there to be enough color options with eyes, hair and skin that players can get the unique look they want. When I make the color wheels for the custom colors I will have most of the color combos pointing to more of a dead look with greens and blues. But I dont want to take options from players that they might want.

New screens should be up soon. Still dialing in some polish and hair combos.

These are the first models that use normal maps instead of bump maps, the models are higher poly count then other character models but still within reason. The most time consuming task is getting outfits to fit on the new geo and the facial custom bone skinnning. But its all be worth the extra effort.

I will give more info about the models when the new screens are up. They are near completion but still doing some tweaks.

It looks like those EverQuest2.com Freeblood vampire screen shots we saw weren’t ready for prime time. SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:

The screenshots that were released were not intended to be public-facing. Those have been taken down from the EQ2Players site and will be replaced with real shots soon.

Those screenshots were not approved. Real ones are coming later today that will hopefully reassure you that they’re cool.

He even went this far when asked why such awful screen shots saw the light of day:

I cannot disagree. Those shots should never have been published.

SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums perhaps being too truthful:

It was basically the other way around and our announcement wasn’t very smooth. The [vampire] race was originally intended as a marketplace-only offering and then we decided to also create a way for players to get it as a promotion also.

The marketplace offering comes out sometime this month (it’s not done yet, so dates aren’t exact), but the winter promotion doesn’t end until Velious comes out, so that’s when we’ll give it away to those that want to wait for it.

Lemin summarized it thusly:

Frankly I don’t know which of the two announcements i find more deplorable, you actually come to the live servers and post you intended to add a race through the marketplace? You expect not to lose accounts over that? Quite a lot of people will find that this was your original intent an unforgivable betrayal giving it to us as a afterthought probably wont soothe these people.

to which SmokeJumper said:

I’m sorry that this bothers you, Lemin. But frankly, that offering breaks none of the rules we set for this marketplace on Live. And we are giving it away if you’re patient…and we decided to give it away before we told you about the race in the first place. I don’t see the issue here.

Since putting races on the Marketplace is something that has never been announced to the players until today’s ham-handed announcement, I’m not quite sure how we can compare it to any preconceived set of “rules”.

Players have been wondering exactly how vampires are going to be sewn into the EQ2 storyline as a playable race. And some have wondered if any other medical conditions such as lycanthropy will make an appearance.

A new article has appeared on EverQuest2.com with Lore explaining the presence of the Freeblood vampire race and their place in Norrath. This article also includes teaser screen shots of the new Freeblood race.

So you might have heard that Vampires, specifically the Freebloods will be a playable race for those who have an active subscription for December and January, and then purchase the Destiny of Velious expansion. We’ve naturally been wondering how a former villain of EQ2 will become a playable race and if there will be any attempt to tie this into existing lore. Meanwhile, we’ve been stocking up on garlic, stakes, and copies of Twilight.

Last night we received an e-mail with some surprising new information about events leading up the the EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious expansion. They include up to six gifts for players with active subscriptions (accounts in good standing) through December, January, and February, as well as rewards for players who purchase the Destiny of Velious expansion.

To get the two unique December gifts, you must have:

• EQ2 or EQ2X account with Gold or Platinum active on December 14th.

To get the two unique January gifts, you must have:

• EQ2 or EQ2X account with Gold or Platinum active on January 17th.

To get the two unique February gifts (Ice Wolf Mount and Freeblood race), you must have:

• EQ2 or EQ2X account with Gold or Platinum active on December 14th.
• EQ2 or EQ2X account with Gold or Platinum active on January 17th.
• EQ2 or EQ2X account with Gold or Platinum active on February 8th.
• Purchase the Destiny of Velious expansion by December 31, 2011.

Update: Lambda has read the fine print and it suggests that Destiny of Velious could be activated anytime by December 31, 2011 to receive the February rewards, if you fulfill the other requirements.

Here’s a look at that Ice Wolf Mount:

And if you caught the Photoshop Disaster above where the wolf appears to only have 3 legs (debateable depending on the angle, although this really points more to the fact that the original wolf models in EQ2 desparately need a revamp), you’re not alone.