EverQuest Lore Feedback - We need your help!

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Pip, Jan 15, 2021.

  1. Pip Developer

    You are all incredible! Thank you for helping us out with this, it means a lot. Keep them coming though. This is helping the creative brain juices...ferment? I got lost in that metaphor, the point is that if you have more ideas you wanted to submit or if you got that one friend who says something like.
    "I want to come back to EQ but they never continued <insert story here>!"

    Then this is your(or theirs's) chance!
    We love you all and look forward to hearing more stories.
    Astral64, Zurril, Elyssanda and 6 others like this.
  2. KrakenReality Augur


    Not going to lie, it's always pretty cool to see you guys source information from the community. Maybe, another good fountain of creativity would be to ask, if anyone has created a DnD campaign involving Norrath or the old EQ dungeon master/player books.
    Elyssanda and Skuz like this.
  3. Froglok Augur

    Make certain elements of the game more relevant, rather than more obsolete.

    Example, make language a requirement in talking to NPC's especially quest related NPC's. That is, if you don't respect them by speaking their language and speaking it to a certain skill level, they will not cooperate with you. When you go into City zones, you need to speak the local lingo (i.e. speak Dwarf in Thurgadin, Gnome in Ak'Anon, etc.), or face a level of resistance / disdain from the locals.

    Recent expansions seem to generally ignore resist modifiers and cures completely (DoT's, for the most part, are simply not curable and / or not resistible) under the ruse of it being part of "strategy." Resists and cures and so forth are part of the game and should not be made irrelevant / useless.

    Faction was eliminated all together in CoV. Faction has always been a part of the game.

    From a Players point of view it just seems like more and more elements are being eliminated or by-passed or ignored.

    In-between expansions, add missing achievements a few at a time. They don't have to be "complete" sets. Example, there are a lot of Hunters missing. (UPDATE: The ongoing debacle of the old / new Hunters from the May / June 2021 Patches are a prime example of why this was suggested... they were added as a big bundle, rather than one expansion at a time, with tons of issues / bugs that give the appearance of a rush job) and There are no achievements for things that would seem obvious to have (Shrouds & Spell / Discipline completions are two that come to mind right away). Hero's Journey covers about 5 expansions... maybe eliminate the HJ category all-together and put everything in the correct expansion... and move what is left of "Hero of the Journey" to General -> Special? After all, Achievements are an excellent tool to help players find expansion-related pursuits / progression / et cetera. It would make more sense -- and would be easier for players -- to look under the related expansions for such guidance / references, than to look in the related Expansion, not find it and then sort through Hero's Journey and try to figure out what goes to what expansion.

    Maybe consider some alternative options for expansions like... an expansion every 18 months, instead of 12, to allow more Dev time?
    Pani and Cimbaeth like this.
  4. Cenren New Member

    Personally I've always been drawn to the lore surrounding Planes of Power -- uncovering Zeb's fate etc. Having this tie in to SoD by referencing Druzzil's time reversal move at the end of PoTime was really neat. Doing something similar to PoP but unexplored planes and gods that we haven't seen with one overarching (maybe Veeshan comes into play?!) storyline could be really awesome. The final message of Zeb in Void G was always alluring and wanted to know what he was referencing. I'm also OK with thinking he's just a mad man and talking nonsense, but would be really cool if it ultimately foreshadowed something.

    I also really liked SoD for the concept of seeing gods asking for our help/being defeated by the discordlings. It showed that norrathians weren't the only threat to Gods. In this way, I think a really cool storyline would be to have some discordians 2.0 (or even a whole new race altogether) show up and threaten Norrath/the Pantheon. The only way to defeat them is to work together with old foes. I.e imagine working with and fighting alongside classic baddies like Mayong and Rallos because everyone knows if they don't team up all will fail.
    Aesthete likes this.
  5. demoria7 Elder

    You are not alone. The dragons in that expansion were amazing to look at. I would love to see a story involving them, going across multiple zones from that expansion,, if it leads to a new tunnel quest with then MOB's from the Tutorial, that would be cool too.. A dragon attacking the same mob you are on because you are helping them out would be cool...... It they follow you around and comment and help fight certain mobs in the quest....could be fun too.
  6. Daarknes New Member


    Miragaul's Highway...
    Reconciling old world lore with new expansions lore :)
  7. ZenMaster formless, shapeless

    Expansion Concept: The Jann War

    This expansion could be the 2nd or 3rd iteration of ‘The Burning Lands’ story line. Each of the four Jann factions have adopted militarism and created/appointed a military dictator: Djinn (Air) called Strategos, Duende (Earth) called Hegemon, Ondine (Water) called Archon, and Efreeti (Fire) called Imperator. The Jann will preparing for total war for the control over the known universe. (The lore would be based on the Peloponnesian War and Persian Wars of Ancient Greece; Duende as Sparta, Djinn as Athens, Efreeti as Persia, and Ondine as Atlantis).

    Zones:
    The Windswept
    The Landslide
    The Flooding
    The Burning

    Each zone would hold a Jann army (Fire and Earth) or navy (Air and Water). The Jann have remade and retooled their civilization for war. Adventurers will encounter the pinnacle of Jann technology, architecture, and design with sprawling dystopian urban scape (Earth), too idyllic countryside (Air), industrial volcanic wasteland (Fire), and a submerged mega city (Water; based on Plato’s Atlantis of concentric rings). Norrathians must infiltrate each faction/zone, sabotage the war machines, and slay each Jann dictator to restore order and balance.
    Skuz and Elyssanda like this.
  8. ZenMaster formless, shapeless

    Treygolas, Aesthete and Cimbaeth like this.
  9. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    ok, seriously Luclin (LUCK LIN) the little aliens, the different factions, there are at least 3 types based off of the condensed ores they drop.. something to do with them, why are they on Luclin, where did they come from, why do they not intermingle? they all seem like young adults, where are the older generations, did the young ones get fed up with the rules of their forefathers and Leave the other moon where they are from?
    Skuz and Kaenneth like this.
  10. FawnTemplar Augur

    The thing that I loved about SoD was being able to be apart of history that we all knew but never really got to experience. There was this sense of "So that's how Field of Bone became Field of Bone" or "So that's what happened to Kithicor." Similar to this, in House of Thule we got to know some prominent characters in EQ lore in a way we've not had a chance to before. For example, Al`Kabor: we get to know him on a different level by getting a glimpse into his deepest fears in Al`Kabor's Nightmare. I'd like to see more of this in future expansions. There is so much in the history of Norrath that a player knows about (the players interested in lore anyway) but were not able to be involved in, so many characters that we know on a superficial level but could be so much more interesting.

    To that end, it could be cool to have some big bad from our past come back (maybe Discord or Mayong or even one of the Gods like Rallos Zek or Fennin Ro) and in order for us to defeat them this time we have to go back to different points in that person's or group's past to learn things about them previously unknown that would be instrumental to their defeat in the present. For example, lets say it is Discord who shows back up, maybe we have to go back in time to the discordlings creation, and to their invasion of Kuua, and to when they defeated the Alarans. Each time we would gain some new bit of information that could help us defeat them for good (as for good as possible in EQ anyway). The twist would be that we would have to maintain the timeline so we would be forced to fight on the side of Discord in the past, this would give us a unique look into their tactics and more importantly their weaknesses. Maybe whoever sends us off on this world saving mission (perhaps it is Zeb) gives us a faction correcting illusion (think the DE illusion from CoTF) so that we can go unnoticed. That illusion could also be the clickie illusion buff thingy for the expansion and it grows in power as you complete the expansion (group stuff not raid since historically this item was tied to group progression).

    That is all assuming you use discord. You could use Mayong and answer a lot of the questions about his past like how old is he really, how was he created, how exactly did he create the shadowspine, ect. If you used someone like Rallos Zek you could explore his, and by extension the other non-primordial Gods, creation. His motivations, is he really just power obsessed or did something drive him to be that way? I don't know the possibilities are really endless.

    I would also love to see more stories involving Ayonae Ro and Sullon Zek (though not necessarily together). Both are powerful and interesting characters who has basically been thrown away or used as props for other people's story lines.
  11. Cimbaeth Elder

    ^
    Hero's Journey is a great quest series and does what it was intended to do, which is get new and returning players up to speed. I've done the run through on most of it 2 or 3 times, and completed it on one. I like it just as it is, but I get what you are saying. Maybe a Hero's Journey part 2 for a new reward? Champion's Journey? It could have a whole new set of achievements to accomplish, things for which it seems like there would or should be achievs but do not as of yet have one like the whole of the Coldain Shawl quests, or the Tears of Alaris. Plus I know that on one beta the Secrets of Faydwer Hunter achievs was active but it seems to have never gone live. Underfoot also doesn't have Hunter active, which is a shame because I think I managed to kill probably 80% of every named in Underfoot the past week.

    As far as ideas for storylines, I like some of the various ideas that people have put forth for dragon related lore, like rescuing the dragon eggs etc. We've spent so many expansions killing the dragons as enemies, except in rare cases where we could gain opposing faction and become non kos like in velious era and with the revamped Veeshan's Peak, where you can do quests for the dragons with the right faction. How about an expansion where we are helping some faction of dragons or where we can fight/quest/ achieve for an ultimate reward of some shard of power from the dragons as a gift? I was talking to Ngreth at the last EQ museum get together thing and he said that around the Planes of Power era they did some preliminary coding/ programming for a class/ race based set of illusions that a character could turn into after a series of quests with some innate bonus : but that it was never implemented. Maybe it could be recovered and used for this?

    Also for ***** ... the love of well, not RZ. Can we not bring back Cazic for the umpteenth millionth time?
    Yinla, FawnTemplar and Svann2 like this.
  12. Machen New Member


    I have played through 90% of all eq expansions several times on the TLP's. I have repeatedly asked, and have never really received, for a short, simple "what the F are we doing in this expansion" lore explanation. If you want to promote EQ lore, a simple "this is the storyline for classic, kunark, velious, luclin, ...." for every expansion in the list would help.
    jiri_, Barraind and FawnTemplar like this.
  13. ZenMaster formless, shapeless

    Environmental Themes: Cloud Forest and microclimates

    I have not witnessed a true cloud forest theme since Stonebrunt Mountains. It is really fun to run and see the zone change with elevation.

    I would like to see zone(s) where you have diverse sections of environs or microclimates. Mearatas and Esianti were very cool at showcasing the four elements.

    Torment of Velious and Claws of Veeshan come off a bit monotone in the outdoor zones. The exception is the unique flavor of Cobalt Scar's Siren Grotto. I did appreciate the complexity of the indoor zones such as Velketor's Labyrinth, Kael Drakkel, Skyshrine, and Temple of Veeshan.
  14. Medya New Member

    I remember being so excited to read all the little stories in the Lore tab that popped up regularly in 2004-2005, following the adventures of the Wayfarers Brotherhood, and ultimately being so disappointed that we never got any closure on what happened with Morden Rasp and Nedaria. She has a whole zone named after her and we couldn’t even learn whether she makes a recovery before immediately switching focus to a completely different expansion? I think we can easily bring back the Wayfarers with some short stories picking up with where they left off, how all the heroic Norrathians have helped with the problems on Taelosia and Kuua, so now they have visions or fever dreams or something compelling them in a new direction, and recently they’ve set up camp at the entrance to a new expansion and feed us intel about what their scouts have learned as we push our way in.
  15. Jevax New Member

    I’ve mulled on this topic for a bit. One idea I’ve tinkered with is another underground expansion, this time focused on smaller components of existing cultures. For example, a sister city of Neriak, inhabited by Dark Elves that are somewhat different culturally, or a group of gnomish or dwarven settlers, perhaps survivors of the ancient colonies of Moradhim and Klik’anon, or even a lost legion of Rallosians who took the fight to the earthen powers directly long ago. Perhaps we hear of a long-lost artifact of Brell that could aid us in dealing with draconic attacks (considering recent events in the last expansions especially) or perhaps these places are dealing with some sort of threat (a wraith of the executed Rathe Council member, or some rogue elemental powers). This would be a good chance to reuse fauna from Darkhollow or even Underfoot, and the new cultures could utilize skeletons from existing player models, so that could save on work for new models.
    Another idea is a continuation of the Kunark revamp. I’ve always been a big fan of Kunark’s lore, and there are a few missing pieces that could still re-emerge. The origins of the drolvargs, for example, or the rediscovery of the ruins of Chelsith. Venril himself is still roaming around, last I heard, and I don’t think we ever discovered the details behind Trakanon’s vision that caused him to sink the fleet of Rile Sathir. The recent revamps of Kunark zones left enough material for two more expansions easily, maybe one focused on Venril and one on Trakanon? If these powers are rebuilding their regional strengths, we could see refurbished Cabalis, Sebilis, and Karnor’s, as well as getting to have more development for the Kunark frogloks and drovlargs… maybe even see what happens to the captured city of Firiona Vie.
    Finally, I personally always enjoy content that lets me ally with typically-enemy races through a bit of work. The dragons are on the brink, so perhaps a group of them ally with the mortal races to preserve their race and dispel Venril’s curse on the Nest, akin to what Cimbaeth said above. Or perhaps a group of orcs or giants are trying to dispel their own curse, and we can either work with or against them. Perhaps a group of devout dwarves or gnomes try to bring a tribe of gnolls back to Brell’s grace, while other nearby residents are tired of their predations and ask you to wipe them out instead. I feel like these choices allow you to make decisions for your character, and give you a reason to do things differently on an alt.
  16. Szilent Augur

    sounds like you didn't raid Ring of Scale expansion
    Skuz likes this.
  17. Niskin Clockwork Arguer

    Why are Hill Giants so rich? How do they pick up those tiny coins with their huge fingers? I think it's about time they invade somewhere and take back what was theirs. I've heard players have lots of plat, maybe HG's should hunt them.
  18. Zarkdon Augur

    More accessible lore! I know a lot are tied into raids, but when you are raiding it's tough to pay attention and get the story, particularly since there are times you are out of range of NPC text. Or it flies by too fast.

    I would really like to see some lore stories added in to the game through droppable books. Maybe a collection that gave you the story as you collected the items.

    If time to create them is short, why not open up the opportunity to the community to write the stories/legends?

    Even just some npcs who tell a little story would be amazing. The more alive the world feels the more it keeps people invested.
  19. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    I think a lot of EQ players stoped seeing a lot of the lore when they added the clickable blue links, I don't think there are many who still read the quest and mission texts.
  20. bortage spammin lifetaps

    I would pay full expansion price for a tbm-style Plane of Mischief: Revisited instance, especially if they added some story quests to explain how the Cazic Thule puppet has such bad stage fright