EverQuest II

EverQuest II
EverQuest II box art.
Developer(s)	Sony Online Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Sony Online Entertainment (US/EU/JP), Gamania (CN/TW/KR)(closed), Akella-online(RU), Square Enix (JP), UbiSoft (EU)
Platform(s)	Windows
Release	November 8, 2004
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

EverQuest II (EQ2), based upon the popular EverQuest, is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and shipped on November 8, 2004. It features graphics and gameplay vastly updated from its predecessor as well as NPCs that use audio for speech.

Story

It is the Age of Destiny, five hundred years after the Gods withdrew their presence from Norrath in retaliation for mortal incursions into their Planes.

Much has changed in that time. First, at the end of the Age of Turmoil, there was the War of the Fay, which brought Dwarf, Gnome, Fae, and Elf together against the invading Dark Elves and the Orcs of Clan Crushbone. While the Dark Elves were attacking Faydwer, their great stronghold Neriak was sealed by a contingent of Halfling raiders, at the cost of their own lives. Although the invading army was eventually driven from the Faydark, the treetop city of Kelethin was burned, and the High Elf hold Felwithe was ruined, and a long rebuilding process began.

Then the great Nexus upon the moon of Luclin was invaded by forces from the Planes of Tactics and Flame, cutting off all transport or communication between Norrath and its inhabited moon. Neither the Combine Empire remnants living on Luclin, nor the noble Vah'Shir civilization, were ever heard from again. So began the Age of War.

With the withdrawal of the Gods, the great curse laid upon the creations of Rallos Zek—the Ogres, Goblins, Orcs, and Giants—was lifted, and they soon united under the Avatar of War, Rallos Zek's chosen emissary, to form the most terrible Army Norrath had ever seen. Gukta fell, then Halas, and soon the army covered Antonica. Only Qeynos in the West and Freeport in the East remained, and they too would soon fall.

The Gods' Avatars, those they had chosen to represent their interests, intervened in this final battle, the Battle of Defiance, and so the Rallosian Army was finally defeated. The cost was great, however, as Lucan D'Lere took advantage of the confusion to finally drive the Knights and Priests of Marr out of Freeport, removing the last defenders of honor and declaring himself Overlord.

Despite the victory, however, Norrath had not seen its final tribulation. The Age of Cataclysms began with The Rending, wherein the great continent of Antonica was ripped apart, splintered into multiple smaller islands. Whole villages were lost to the depths, and those cities that remained—Rivervale, Freeport, Qeynos, and Maj'Dul—became isolated from each other. The oceans became impassable, cutting off contact with Faydwer, Kunark, Velious, and Odus. Even travel among the Shattered Lands, as they were now known, was treacherous.

One night, just as the waters had started to calm slightly, the Veil that hid Luclin from Norrathian eyes dropped, and its ringed form was visible for the first time in centuries. Just as quickly as it appeared, though, a great explosion ripped outward from its core, splintering the entire globe and ejecting enormous mountains of rock. This was The Shattering, and pieces of Luclin rained down on Norrath for months, killing thousands and deforming the already broken landscape further.

Now it is the Age of Destiny. The Rending was 100 years ago, and The Shattering just 15 years in the past. While the remnants of Luclin still hang in the sky, the oceans have calmed, and ships fan out to gather survivors to the remaining great cities. Queen Antonia Bayle of Qeynos is a benevolent sorceress who welcomes all Goodly races to her city to help rebuild Norrath. The Overlord of Freeport, Lucan D'Lere, a centuries-old fallen paladin, rules his city with an iron fist, and manipulates the Evil races to further his goal of conquest.

Gameplay

File:Eq2 level 60 mount.jpg

One of the available mounts that can be purchased with status points

Everquest II is similar to Everquest in that you can focus on killing creatures and gaining experience, but the games diverge in similarity after that. One of the biggest differences is the tradeskill system which uses tradeskill buffs that make tradeskilling more user-action oriented. What you do can affect the outcome of the items.

Many gameplay choices were made in order to stop old, sometimes undesirable, tactics that emerged in EQ. The boldest addition is the concept of "locked encounters". Currently a group or a solo player can set an option to lock encounters. When encounters are locked, the encounter becomes locked to that player or group, which stops kill stealing. Other players can not assist in the encounter unless the player who locked it uses a special "/yell" command for help, after which the encounter rewards neither loot nor experience.

To stop kiting, players in combat lose all their movement speed enhancements except the special "sprint" ability, which costs a considerable amount of power to use, although some classes have speed debuffs that slow the enemy, thus making kiting a viable option. Likewise, many players have discovered another method of pseudo-kiting by running backwards and firing a missile weapon at the enemy. The enemy lands fewer attacks, but can take significant damage depending on the type of ammunition or missile weapon used, and the skill level of the user.

Like the original EverQuest, EverQuest II has guilds. Each guild exists only on its own server. Like players, guilds can gain experience and levels, partially from players completing Heritage quests, but primarily from guild-oriented quests and tasks called "writs". Higher guild levels open up special rewards unavailable to non-guilded characters, and cause certain other rewards to cost less. These rewards include housing options, mounts, house items, apparel, and special titles.

Although EQ2 focuses on Player versus Environment (PvE), Player versus Player (PvP) was added in February 2006.

Setting

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Darathar, a dragon in the world of EverQuest II that is killed during the "Prismatic" quest series.

EverQuest II is set in the world of Norrath like the original, but 500 years later in the "Age of Destiny". The game world has been drastically affected by several cataclysms (see Story, above) since the original EverQuest. The planes have closed, the gods temporarily left, and the moon Luclin has been destroyed (and partially rained onto the face of Norrath). Remnants of the familiar vistas from EQ's Norrath can be found throughout the Shattered Lands.

Players arrive in one of four tutorial areas (The Queen's Colony, The Outpost of the Overlord, The Nursery in Greater Faydark (Echoes of Faydwer), or Hate's Envy in Darklight Woods) and then move to one of four cities, Qeynos or Kelethin (the 'good' cities) or Freeport or Neriak (the 'evil' cities). All of the other cities in the world were destroyed, taken over (Ak'anon, Kaladim, and a few others), rendered inaccessible (Halas), or have banished all others (Felwithe and Rivervale) in The Shattering. The original player cities that were present at the game's launch (Qeynos and Freeport) are divided into multiple zones, with the playable races each having their own special section (Village) of these cities. The player cities introduced into the game at later dates (Kelethin and Neriak) are smaller than the original cities, and as such each 'newer' city is completely contained within one zone. Players from Qeynos or Kelethin are not welcome in Freeport or Neriak and vice versa unless they choose to betray their city via the Betrayal Questline. Players are allowed to betray at any level, starting at level 10.

The game world is as varied as the original, featuring wide geographical and ecological variety. In EQ2, players can ride trained griffons on predetermined routes over the Shattered Lands, or acquire a horse or flying carpet so that they can travel more swiftly throughout much of the game world. "Mariner's Bells" are scattered across the land allowing instant transportation across various areas of the world. With the inception of the Kingdom of Sky expansion, the Ulteran wizard spires teleport you up into Kingdom of Sky, with spires in different zones taking you to different areas of the expansion. With the Echoes of Faydwer expansion, Wardens and Furies (the Druid classes) gained the ability to teleport individuals to one of five druid rings, located in Antonica, the Commonlands, Greater Faydark, Butcherblock Mountains, and Steamfont Mountains. Likewise, Warlocks and Wizards (the Sorcerer classes) gained the ability to teleport themselves or their groups to one of three wizard spires, located in Antonica, the Commonlands, or Greater Faydark.

EverQuest II also includes instanced zones—copies of some zones are spawned in order to better handle player crowding. Instanced zones were introduced to EverQuest in the 2003 expansion Lost Dungeons of Norrath.

Races and classes

Character races

File:Gnomewarlock.jpg

A Gnome Warlock, an actual player character of the Runnyeye Server.

All of the familiar races from EQ are playable except the catlike Vah Shir (their home, Luclin, was destroyed), but SOE added the Kerra as a replacement. The new race is the Ratonga, a rat-like people of mysterious origin. The Froglok race was originally locked until a special server-wide quest was completed to make them playable. Some races are restricted to either Qeynos or Freeport, based on their alignment, but can turn traitor and move to the opposing city.

Races by Starting City (Alignment)
Qeynos (Good)	Kelethin1 (Good)	Freeport (Evil)	Neriak2 (Evil)
Barbarian Dwarf Erudite Froglok Gnome Half Elf Halfling High Elf Human Kerra Wood Elf	Dwarf Fae1 Gnome Half Elf High Elf Wood Elf	Barbarian Dark Elf Erudite Gnome Half Elf Human Iksar Kerra Ogre Ratonga Troll	Arasai2 Dark Elf Iksar Ogre Ratonga Troll

¹ Introduced with the release of the Expansion, Echoes of Faydwer.

² Introduced with Game Update 35. (You must have Echoes of Faydwer to make an Arasai, but you may start in Neriak as another race without it.)

Adventurer classes

There are four classes—called "archetypes"—in EQ2 - Fighter, Scout, Priest and Mage. At launch, a player chose his or her archetype when he or she created a character and then chose a class at level 10 and a sub-class at level 20. This system was changed in Live Update 19 in January 2006 so that a character's final class is chosen at creation. While this system is no longer explicitly defined in the live game, it still lies beneath driving balance decisions and defining the roles of classes. Broadly, in a group situation, any priest can be a healer, any fighter can be a suitable tank, any mage or scout can deal damage, with the mage classes typically being able to deal more damage than a scout class, but being more fragile. Evil classes, such as the Assassin, are only available in either Freeport or Neriak, while good classes, such as the Paladin, are available in either Qeynos or Kelethin. Neutral classes, such as the Guardians, are available in all cities. Ivory background means the class is available in all cities, light blue background means Qeynos and Kelethin only, reddish background means Freeport and Neriak only.

Fighter Warrior Berserker Guardian Crusader Paladin Shadowknight Brawler Monk Bruiser

Scout Bard Troubador Dirge Predator Ranger Assassin Rogue Swashbuckler Brigand

Priest Druid Fury Warden Cleric Templar Inquisitor Shaman Mystic Defiler

Mage Sorcerer Wizard Warlock Summoner Conjuror Necromancer Enchanter Illusionist Coercer

Artisan classes

A character can also undertake a tradeskill profession, completely separate from his/her adventuring profession. The tradeskill professions branch at levels 10 and 20, just as adventuring classes used to.

The Echoes of Faydwer expansion introduced two secondary tradeskills. These go alongside the primary tradeskills, and a character can switch to the other secondary tradeskill at any time (starting from scratch). Characters do not gain separate experience points for these tradeskills; maximum skill level rises with the primary tradeskill or adventuring level.

Tradeskill Class Tree
Archetype	Class	Subclass	Products
Artisan	Craftsman	Carpenter	furniture, strongboxes, and repair kits
		Provisioner	food and drink
		Woodworker	bows, arrows, throwing weapons, wooden shields, staves, totems, and musical instruments
	Outfitter	Weaponsmith	metal weapons
		Armorsmith	chainmail and platemail armor, metal shields
		Tailor	cloth and leather armor, backpacks, thrown-weapon bags, hex dolls, and with the Echoes of Faydwer expansion, cloaks.
	Scholar	Alchemist	potions, poisons, and fighter skill upgrades
		Jeweler	jewelry and scout skill upgrades
		Sage	priest and mage spell upgrades
Secondary	Tinkerer		Tinkered contraptions, such as automated parachutes, environmental suits, summonable robotic pets, mounts, and water-breathing devices.
	Transmuter		Breaks certain valuable equipment down into in magical components which can be used to create adornments and tinkered items.

Voices

One of the most interesting additions to the game is the use of actual voices for NPCs. The actors used for these parts included well-known Hollywood stars such as Heather Graham (as Queen Antonia Bayle) and Christopher Lee (Overlord Lucan D'Lere). Actor/gamer Wil Wheaton and Actor/mathematician Danica McKellar are also part of the cast. According to SOE in October 2004, EverQuest II featured 130 hours of spoken dialog recorded by 1,700 voice actors. More dialog has been added since release as part of regular game updates as recently as July 2006. Everquest II introduced Player Voice Emotes with the launch of EverQuest II: Desert Of Flames in September 2005.

Music

The music for the game, over ninety minutes' worth, was composed by Emmy-award winning composer Laura Karpman and recorded by the FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague under her baton. Karpman has said of the music in the game: "Every place has a theme, its own separate, unique feeling - from a quasi-African savanna to a Babylonian fascist city. Every cue in EQ2, with the exception of the attack cues, is like a main title of a movie. A more cinematic experience for the player was one of our goals." [1]. Purchasers of the EverQuest II Collector's Edition received a soundtrack CD as part of the package.

The most recent expansion, Echoes of Faydwer, included many themes from the corresponding zones in the original EverQuest, remixed by Inon Zur.

Business

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Advertisement of the Pizza Hut and EverQuest II promotion.

SOE is marketing EverQuest II not as a direct sequel, but as a "parallel universe" to the original EverQuest. It is set in an alternate future of the original game's setting, having diverged at the conclusion of the Planes of Power expansion (the lore is explained in an in-game book). This allows both development teams to pursue whatever direction they want to take without impacting the other, and allows players of the original EverQuest to continue receiving updates without forcing players down a specific path. In that sense, they are two completely separate games bound together by name only. Players of the old EQ will find many familiar places and characters, as well as "heritage items" that are similar in name and function to items known from EQ and can be gained via heritage quests.

Like the original and other commercial MMORPGs, EQ2 requires a monthly fee of US$14.99 to play the game. A free play period of 30 days are included with the purchase price of the game. Subscribers can opt to pay an additional monthly fee for extended services, such as an online item database or hosting of guild websites. Players can also download a free trial, Trial of the Isle, which allows players to experience the beginning steps of the game for free before dedicating themselves to a monthly subscription fee. Sony introduced another free trial, Play the Fae, with the release of the Echoes of Faydwer expansion, allowing players to create a character of the new race, the Fae.

In Europe, the game is published by Ubisoft at a monthly fee of €13.49. The monthly fee in the UK is GB£9.49.

In February 2005, EverQuest II began allowing players to place an order for pizza delivery from within the game, with a simple and easy command typed into the chat bar, "/pizza". This promotion has since ended, but generated significant press for the game.

In June 2005, SOE introduced Station Exchange to EverQuest II. Station Exchange is an official auction system—only on designated servers—allowing real money to be transferred for in-game money, items or characters.

In March 2006, SOE announced that it would end its Chinese/Korean operations for EverQuest II, which were being supported in the region by Gamania. The beta period for the game in China/Korea ended on March 29, and on March 30, all Chinese/Korean accounts were moved to the US servers of the game.

Expansions and Adventure Packs

File:EQ2 SOGA Koadadul.jpg

A Male High Elf in SOGA model form.

Title	Type	Released Date
The Bloodline Chronicles	Adventure Pack	March 21, 2005
The Splitpaw Saga	Adventure Pack	June 28, 2005
Desert of Flames	Expansion	September 13, 2005
Kingdom of Sky	Expansion	February 21, 2006
The Fallen Dynasty	Adventure Pack	June 14, 2006
Echoes of Faydwer	Expansion	November 14, 2006
Rise of Kunark	Expansion	November 13, 2007

With Everquest II, Sony Online Entertainment introduced the concept of Adventure Packs. Adventure Packs are meant to be smaller "mini-expansions" to the game, adding a plot line with several zones, new creatures and items to the game via digital download. These smaller Adventure Packs come with a smaller fee ranging from US$4.99 to US$7.99. However, recently the Dev team has decided to release free zones and content instead of making adventure packs. Some recent releases include a new starting city, Neriak, with a new starting race, Arasai; and new high level dungeons The Throne of New Tunaria and the Estate of Unrest.

Expansions usually cost in the range of US$29.99 to US$39.99 and are shipped in boxes to stores, but can also be downloaded through their digital download service. The retail versons often come packaged with a bonus feature such as a creature that the player can put in their in-game house. Expansions generally introduce many new zones with many plot lines, new features, many new creatures and items, new cities, and often come with a boost in the level cap or a new player race. While it may be easier for people to do the digital download, you obtain more by buying the retail version.

After months of speculation, in May 2007, the web site Allakhazam's Magical Realm in conjunction with O-gaming Radio revealed that the next expansion would be Rise of Kunark, with a new playable race (Sarnak), new starting city, and a level cap of 80.

Alternate versions

• EverQuest II: East was created for the East Asian market (China, Taiwan, South Korea) but it was terminated as a separate edition on 29 March 2006. EQE players were moved to standard servers. The special character models created for EQE had already been included in the standard edition as a client-side option since 2005.

External links

SOE websites

• Official Everquest II website
• Station Exchange website
• Everquest II's Dynamic Player Community

Wikis

• EverQuest 2 Daily Wiki
• EQ2I - EverQuest II reference
• Everquest 2 Wiki at Wikia.com

News and community websites

• EQ2-Daily.com Everquest 2 Daily News Site
• Norrath News - a Newspaper for Norrath
• Everquest 2 Master Spell ScreenShot Guide
• EQ2 Traders - EverQuest 2 Tradeskill Information
• EQ2 Village - A Complete Everquest 2 Community Site