OK Who's ready to shell out $ for the next expansion?

Flunkie · Post by **Flunkie** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:03 pm

Just when I thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous, SOE strikes a new vein of lunacy for Norrath. Long Live EQ!

==========DRAGONS OF NORRATH==============

OVERVIEW

A series of events has transpired across the world of Norrath and the familiar faces of Firiona Vie and her nemesis Lanys T’Vyl return to find themselves at the forefront of the events. Unbeknownst to them, a dark influence has seeped into the world of Norrath causing new tensions to arise and conflicts to intensify as the dawn of a new age emerges. The Age of War is upon the people of Norrath and heroes return in this ultimate, unending battle between good and evil.

Prepare for EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath and return to the lands between Halas and Lavastorm as you seek out the Nest, the ancestral birthplace of all dragons, long sealed away and hidden from the eyes of Norrath. But beware, if the Nest is exposed too early during the Brood Dawn, all dragons and their eggs will be cursed for eternity and death will storm down on all Norrathian's not in their service.

Featuring new lands with enhanced graphics, bold new storylines, and updated creatures including goblins, drakes and the ominous Frost Giant, EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath is the next great expansion pack for the fantasy saga that is EverQuest. Make ready with new features such as the ability to regenerate your mana/health before a battle, use your potion belt to access your inventory quickly, and quickly swap from Sword and Shield to Great Sword using the bandolier. Plus, with the all new guild management tools you can easily get your guild ready to encounter anything that comes your way! EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath is bursting with new adventures and intense battles for players of all levels.

FEATURES
New Zones, Creatures and Content - From Lavastorm to the Thundercrest Isles adventure in graphically enhanced zones with all new themes. Brave challenging new quests, discover new treasures, and battle new NPCs including drakes, goblins, and fierce dragons.
New Interactive World Map - A full-color interactive map of the world allows players to point-and-click from a world view, to a continent view, to a zone view of the traditional line maps.
Player Barter System - Allows players to set up their own method of giving platinum or items for other items. Players can now buy items!
Potion Belt - Allows for quick use of consumable items, such as potions or food.
Bandolier Equip - Lets your character have pre-arranged, multiple sets of weapons accessible by a single mouse click.
New spells and Tradeskill Recipes

GUILD SPECIFIC FEATURES

All-New Guild Halls - Individual instanced Guild Halls for guild members to meet and prepare for playing. Includes the following features and benefits:
Guild Bank - Bank slot for storage of items accessible by all (designated) members of a guild
Mana/health Regen Pool - Allows players to easily regenerate their mana and health in preparation for battle (available only at the Guild Hall).
Mass Corpse Summoning Altar - Allows guilds to summon guild corpses en masse to the altar room after a wipe out.
Guild Portal - Allows guild members to purchase the ability to have a persistent port to pre-determined areas around the world.
Guild Portal - Allows guild members to purchase the ability to have a persistent port to pre-determined areas around the world.
Guild Tradeskill Objects - Various tradeskill tools are located in the guild hall for easy access by guild members.
Guild 'Looking for Members' Tool - Allows guilds to recruit by placing persistent “ads” on bulletin boards, search for player characters who match guild criteria and send in-game emails to those members.
Players 'Looking for Guild' Tool - Allows players to find guilds recruiting members.
Buff Timers - In the Guild Halls buff times can be paused for Guild Members.

goth · Post by **goth** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:09 pm

probably wont be hard or involved content, but is almost worth it for the guild features. but then would ALL members of the guild need to buy the exp for them to work? just another exp rushed out early to try and bring people back to eq1, way to suck soe

Post by **Ddrak** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:21 pm

How is it "rushed out"? Seems about on track for their usual release schedule.

Dd

goth · Post by **goth** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:26 pm

judging rushed , by its got crap for content, unless that put in an assload of stuff at the last minute is seems rather limited .its an odd numbered exp, so will probably blow like loy did

Post by **Ddrak** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:41 pm

Odd numbered expansion I'd agree with, though that doesn't necessarily mean "rushed". Most odd numbered expansions actually weren't rushed and still ended up crappy for some reason.

It's really hard to tell from a marketing blurb exactly how much content is going to be "between Lavastorm and Halas". All that really says is the game engine enhancements rather than the game content they are shipping as well.

Given that it appears to be again targetting higher levels, if it turns out badly I'd guess it will go more like GoD than LoY, with not so much content being lacking as it simply being unappealing. Then again, with dragons it's hard to be too unappealing.

Dd

Burz · Post by **Burz** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 3:21 pm

At least 100 Active people in MV will buy it.

(oh yeah, cross-over baby)

Miriella · Post by **Miriella** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 8:54 pm

If I was actually coming back to EQ, I would join Enshadowed to enjoy the cool guildfeatures of this expansion, oh but wait, Ens doesn't raid anymore. Is that for real or some joke? It's just so hard to imagine... things must be really changing. Anyway, EQ doesn't even live on my harddrive anymore, I exorcised it several weeks ago. So I guess I won't be paying for the next expansion, no, even though more dragons does sound appealing.

Now that mass corpse summoning altar, interesting how the pendulum swings the other way again.

"CR is really becoming a major pain in the ass at higher levels, the players are really unhappy with that."
"I have an idea. We put a graveyard in every zone..."

"PoP really made a lot of things way too easy and pretty much trivialized death. The hardcore players are very unhappy."
"Ok, in GoD, let's make it so that you have to run invis through entire zones full of superfast running mobs just to get anywhere, and when you die..."

"CR after raid wipes in GoD/OoW is really becoming a drag, all the high level raid guilds are bitching about it".
"Guilds... I know! When we put the guildfeatures into the next expansion..."

EQ lost all sense of direction with PoP if not before... You can say what you want about Brad with his Vision(tm), but at least he HAD a vision and he stood behind it.

~Miriella,
Renegade Cleric of Darkness

Post by **Ddrak** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 9:44 am

I don't know why they abandoned the idea of graveyards. I thought they were an excellent game mechanic. It hardly trivialized death - you still had to wait what seemed like an eternity for your corpse to pop and then still lost xp.

Dd

Falundir X`Viento · Post by **Falundir X`Viento** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:45 pm

If it's an involving raid expansion then I belive it is rushed, but not in the same context as mentioned earlier. In a time where even the best of guilds are trying to recover from the mass exodus to other games, another major expansion would be too early. Mind you if this is a smaller expansion ala LoY/LDoN then it might do well for the remaining player base.

Muzukh_the_Depraved · Post by **Muzukh_the_Depraved** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 2:21 pm

I've cancelled my account yet again, and this time it is for good.

Online gaming no longer holds the same appeal it did when I started playing around the Kunark era. I actually have zero desire to play EQ2 or WoW.

As such, I won't be bothering with the latest expansion. However, I will admit that some of the features are interesting. It's a shame those guild features were not present when EQ was at its peak and server populations were always high.

And on top of that, how can you go wrong with dragons? Let's just hope that Sony doesn't show us that they can ruin something as integral to fantasy as dragons.

Flunkie · Post by **Flunkie** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 5:04 pm

Speaking of server populations, are they noticably lower yet?

Muzukh_the_Depraved · Post by **Muzukh_the_Depraved** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 3:52 pm

The last time I bothered logging in, there was only 36 people in the auction channel with only 3 different people actually auctioning stuff.

I was soloing in Natimbie and I was alone for the entire time.

However, I never bothered running to PoK.

Either way, I think it is safe to say that server populations are down with both EQ2 and WoW out.

Amalia Kuso · Post by **Amalia Kuso** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 5:10 pm

Speaking of server populations, are they noticably lower yet?

considering alot of guilds have folded due to numbers....I would say ...maybe

Gutofsouls · Post by **Gutofsouls** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 8:41 pm

lol i have not played eq in about 1 week its fucking boreing as hell now

pen · Post by **pen** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:24 am

How boring is hell anyway? I here Satan runs it as a club with strippers and Voodoo dolls of Zyam we can jab needles in.

Sounds fun to me.

Terd · Post by **Terd** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:40 am

I've cancelled my account yet again, and this time it is for good.

Maybe you could do the same thing with your rants board account.

Terd

Grygonos Thunderwulf · Thu Jan 27, 2005 12:13 pm

and perhaps you should cancel your rl account assbag..

Ariannda Kusanagi · Post by **Ariannda Kusanagi** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:24 pm

Grygonos Thunderwulf wrote:and perhaps you should cancel your rl account assbag..

Was that the BEST you could come up with ?

OMG DELETE IRL PLZKTHX would even have been better then that

Grygonos Thunderwulf · Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:49 pm

I'm giving up all caps leet speak for lent.. sorry

posting that would have been against my religious beliefs.

-=Xilanthanax=- · Post by **-=Xilanthanax=-** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:54 pm

bad @ lie