EverQuest: Call of the Forsaken

If you watched the address, what are your thoughts?

I'm interested to see the new "LDoN 2.0" with dynamic content based on your group. I also think it's interesting how the EQ1/EQ2 lore are melding together some.

Would anyone please give a recap of the keynote address?

twitch.tv/soe it's already posted there as a recording.

New expansion will have "old" zones never visited, like Dead Hills, Neriak 4th Gate, etc.

New "heroic missions" where dungeons will be created based on the classes/gear/group members you have with you.

Also announced that the extra content releases next year as part of the expansion will have changes based on pre-launch community polls.

For the 15th anniversary, Plane of War will be released, as well as new class/race combos decided on by the community.

Oh, and it's all started by a dragon who travels through the Ethermere from EQ2, shattering barriers between realities.

Also, beta starts the 14th of August, expac launches end of September.

It's coming way too soon.

Go go Halfing EVERYTHING!!!!

OH man Gnome monks!

We need gnome monks, if only as a tribute to wtfcomics.com. And iksar wizards

^This.

We arent even getting a chance to enjoy T4, and this new expansion will already be upon us, LOL. Over 50% of most folks in most guilds wont even be done with their T4 gear plans when this launches. Even more than that for those guilds that Beta test.

Which makes me wonder. How many guilds will even Beta test this? A lot of guilds havent even had a chance to fire up that John Deere tractor on T4 yet. Even the ones that have finished T4.

Farming hasnt really sunk in yet for T4, and here comes a new expansion.

I just hope that a new level increase isnt happening. Talk about T4 being useless in a blink of an eye if we also a get level increase.

Dont blink, because T4 will be considered last expansions trash!

Sweet trend

If they're smart, the 1st release will be all overlap with no level increase, and maybe add the level increase to the first part of next year's content.

I could live with this. Yeah, if it overlaps, it wont be a big deal. The only way this would turn into a huge deal, is if there is a level increase from the word go. T4 deserves more of our time.

WIth only a month of beta, I would think it would help balance if they didn't have to deal with a level cap increase from the start.

I so wish they could do like how rof was t1-2 and then t3 and 4 came out would be kinda neat if they could put out levels like that but due to spells it wouldn't work well.... also the level thing made my think of some the old monster missions that the loot you got from the end chest was based on your level like the fairy mm in the smaller revamped nek and I do find it funny a lot of the surpise this is going to happen like MM and sol b and plane of war people knew already =(

Since the in-depth xpac information is tomorrow at 3 pm all of this could easily change in a blink but...

My jaw dropped at the September release date for the new expansion. As a mid-level raider, my guild will probably *just* be getting to the point of consistently clearing T4 with ease/farm mode. First event is down and I anticipate the rest to follow shortly but with this kindof timeframe that would give a couple of weeks at most for farming (and we haven't been doing T3 that long either so most of that is still going to mains). My issue here is if the new expansion T1 (or whatever they're going to call it) is a one-up on ROF T4 - it is just way too soon (from a mid-level, and possibly top, raid perspective). I could see the historical November release being too long but September? Really? What's the point of hyping your new market model on staggered content if you are going to trivialize it in less than two months? That's not staggered, that is cliff dropping.

Basically, I agree with many above that T4 needs more time, especially given how they made such a big deal about these "class weapons"- if T1 CotF is remotely an upgrade then NO ONE is going to bother. An entire selling point for a game update is instantly made worthless in the span of two months. Genius.

I could hypothesize the early release date may be to accommodate the new staggered release model so we can avoid another RoF content release disaster (time-wise)... although in doing so it just puts one more nail in the ROF coffin.

That rant aside, I hope they don't drop a level increase right off the bat. It would actually be rather interesting if a lot of content was accessible but not easily completed before a level increase (which would come a few months in with the next game update, etc.).

I really enjoyed LDON during it's original release and it makes me somewhat happy to hear that reference but I'm skeptical on exactly what their vision of "tailored" content means. I'm guessing the idea is to be more inclusive for ALL classes/playstyles/groups but what I could easily see happening is a manipulation of the system where certain classes get excluded from groups because their presence "increases" the difficulty too much.

I can't comment on crossover lore between EQ/EQ2. I don't keep up w/ EQ2 anymore and I certainly take any lore from EQ2 with a grain of salt in regards to EQ. I'd be slightly annoyed if I was in the dark with the new xpac's storyline because I don't know EQ2 lore.

Mmmmm West Karana! I noticed in the pan overs the fishing huts in one of the zones look EXACTLY like the Karana/Ro etc fishing huts placed in the zones back during Classic, but with new high res textures obviously. Basically they seem to be doing zones like they did with House of Thule, (As seen in Feerrott 2 or Erudin Burning, or Al'Kabor's Nightmare) Which....I love that. <3

I do hope, however, that they don't revamp any of these zones to access the new zones. Leave Karana's alone, for Neriak 4th Gate ( Neriak Palace as far as i'm concerned...) just remove the wall next to the "hidden" hallway and let us zone in through that, Unkempt through the passage in Jaggedpine that is already there, etc etc. No more Classic zone graphical revamps if at all possible, please! At least not where they REPLACE the old zone, using them in conjunction with the old zone (again, like Erudin's burning) with the House of Thule remodeling style is perfectly fine, and in fact really a fun idea.

As for the story line. Still not sure about this whole Eq-EQ2 lore crossover thing but....honestly it sounds KINDA cool, and if done right... I dunno it may come out well. You guys have honestly really pleased me with Rain of Fear. I know a lot of little Grafics Babbys have cried over reuse of EW/Kael/CC/ToV zones graphics. and people upset over the staggered tier releases (which I gotta admit I'm not overly fond of but, it's not THAt big a deal really) but all in all, RoF was probably my favorite expac since SoD...which in turn was my favorite expac since OoW, which again since Luclin/Velious/Kunark. I hope you guys keep it up!

One last thing, unrelated to the new expac, but dealing with the keynote... well for one thanks to an achievement slip we already knew Nagafen's Lair and Mistmoore castle were the next two zones ;P. But um....in the Naggy's Lair screenshot...I noticed you had the new model dragon. Please please please don't do that. Part of the nostalgia is as much the models as it is the zone itself. I was actually hoping you'd revert the bats, beetles, goblin (the ONE goblin on Naggy's Lair haha) and kobolds back to old models temporarily for the HH revamp, please don't go even further in the opposite direction by replacing models that are still Classic with newer ones... Can't tell you how sad I was when Crushbone HH was released and I found out the orcs were still the new models....then how happy I was during the mini raid to find the good old orcs back. lol

Also... 15th Anni class/race combo changes! I swear if Vah Shir can be mage I'm buying /racechange on day one! WOOOO yummy kitties! <3

So we will have half/half gear for the halfling toons now?

Not to mention, T4 will still be new to a lot of guilds/folks when Beta fires up. If people thought that last Beta was "feeling empty", then they havent seen anything yet. Seriously.

I guess we'll find out more later, but meh. Its SOE. Set your expectations low. Expect garbage and maybe you'll find a diamond.

This. If there is gonna be a level increase, please do this.

Think GoD. I know so many complained about it but think of it this way. Which would you rather complain about?:

"Whaaaaa this content is hard! We could only beat up to T3, T4 was undoable until the level increase dropped!"

Or:

"Whaaaaa we beat the new expac in one and a half days and since we think the only thing to do in EQ is raiding we're bored now!"

I'd go with number 1. I enjoy a challenge.

it would be nice if it was doable due to spells and things if they could give out say like 2 levels with the first part then 1 level then if they do a 3 phase drop like this time dropping the final 2 levels but it wouldn't work without changing spell lines in some ways so I doubt it would be done or make a quest that unlocked leveling that would be fun but a pain also and now I am ranting well bed time =p

I'm not going to immediately get negative about this, but I did raise an eyebrow. That isn't very much time to spend on the last tier of this expansion before the next one comes out. Unless the developers change the formula, and the raid gear for tier 1 Forsaken isn't better than tier 4 Rain of Fear. I'm sure we will know more tomorrow.

I'm definitely excited about the Plane of War though! Finally! And ogre monks! There better be ogre monks. If I don't see an ogre do a flying kick in my lifetime then I will consider my life a waste.

I think it is being released too soon delay it to end of oct or even November. But then again any requests will be ignored like normal. I wonder how many raids will be released I bet less than 10