GU 100: The Island of Zek (Zone Preview)

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Dexella, Mar 23, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Dexella Associate Producer

    On Thursday, April 28, EverQuest II will be launching GU 100! This members-only content, designed for highest-level players, will include new zones, content, features, and items.

    Today, we’re going to journey into the first new zone: Zek, the Scourge Wastes!

    [IMG]

    By: Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall

    Ravaged by the horrors of war, the vast majority of the island of Zek has been unsuitable for habitation by anyone, ever since the Deathfist clan of orcs took control of the entirety of the island. They reduced the once-sprawling Jaggedpine Forest to a mere husk of its former glory, stripping much of the forest down to barren, charred earth, while pillaging the land deep below the surface through their ravaging mining operations. What little landscape remained lush and green was guarded by a band of woodland defenders known as the Green Hoods. Their numbers surged during the Age of Destiny, providing them the manpower necessary to begin striking back at the Deathfist Empire, but their successes would be short lived.

    After the murder of Emperor Fyst and his strongest champions at the hands of Green Hood recruits, a new warlord would arise and claim the crown of the Deathfist Emperor. His was a tenuous reign, propped up by the empowerment of a select few warpriests as Heralds of Zek. These Heralds prayed to the gods of war, dispensed their blessings, and advised the Emperor. Influenced by his advisors, Emperor Blacktusk demanded a thorough attack upon the small Green Hood village near Three-Toes Watering Hole. It was devastating, but what was to come next was even worse for all of Zek!

    The island of Zek has been overrun by a new race of orc, born of the power and hubris of Tallon and Vallon Zek! The few remaining pockets of ancient forest flora and fauna have been decimated. No life has been spared under their indiscriminate march. No landscape has been left untouched, from Warship Docks to the very citadel from which the Deathfist Empire ruled, the land bears the scars of the new Scourge of War!

    Under constant threat, the few surviving inhabitants of the dying forest are desperate for your help! The few Green Hood left are determined to locate any other surviving members, while also continuing to support the struggling creatures of Growth, such as treants, sprites, and elementals, through this catastrophic siege of their land. Battle the Scourge of new orcish invaders in an effort to contain their advancement, while delivering strategic, crushing blows to their leadership and objects of strength in The Siege of Zek!

    [IMG]

    Stay tuned for more GU100 previews as we get closer to the April 28th launch! Remember, All Access Membership is required to access GU100. Not a member? Visit www.everquest2.com/membership!
    Kurisutaru, daicia, Kittybock and 6 others like this.
  2. Aivet Well-Known Member

    698 orcs to kill before I get my Orc Destroyer achievement, so this should be fun. A couple of questions though.

    1) Is this going to be an open contested zone?
    2) Is that an owlbear that orc's riding? If so, who or what do I have to axe in the face to get one? :D
    Winterfell and Evilnok like this.
  3. Chrisworld Active Member

    Unfortunately I don't have any max level guys, but this looks cool anyway.
  4. Edelphia Well-Known Member

    Actually two zones, one advanced solo and one heroic, both i believe are contested and both identical except for difficulty. Watch the livestream recording to be sure. I forgot a bunch from the livestream, except the new owl mount, new furniture and heartbound (marriage) from a new Shard of Love zone.
  5. Nockturnal Well-Known Member


    Your not alone here, these last 3 levels have been killing me and it doesn't help when I am constantly derailed by crafting which I totally love to do. I am such a slacker.

    The only comment I have is... are those xp vials ready yet? :cool:
  6. Ratala Active Member

    I'm wondering, is all the content you put out from now on going to be for your highest-level players? I know when I get tired of the new stuff, I blow the dust off my alts and spend time there. Will there be anything new for the lower levels in the future?

    I wasn't thrilled with ToT but did enjoy the crafting line, that was great. I got the crafting books on all my characters and never went back because of how the weekly is set up. Why the change from how Vesspyr Isles and Phantom Sea are done? I always look forward to Thursday to do the weekly any time I have time to do it.

    Don't get me wrong, EQ is the best game for me and I still love it. Not going anywhere until the lights go out.
    Prissetta likes this.
  7. Evilnok Active Member

    from what I have heard/understand,this will be member only content
  8. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member

    Back before SOE became Daybreak and before the significant layoffs, a Dev commented that they were working on new lower level content, but obviously a lot has changed and now it's anyone's guess if whatever that was is still being planned or worked on.

    Non-max level content is probably hard to prioritize, but anything below 90 goes by pretty fast. However... this game is very pro-alts with all the classes, tradeskills, and races. So I personally love seeing new content that isn't maxed level, but again I can understand why it's hard to prioritize.

    It does seem that live servers are benefiting from the itemization updates being done from the TLE server, which IMO is a good thing because some of the older content itemization is totally effed up (I'm looking at you ODUS!).
  9. Livejazz Well-Known Member

    It's about time something truly significant was added for members only. Now, do more.
  10. Busko Glads

    will i have to have ToT added to my account ..as i missed that xpac out and had a rest from the game...will the gear be as good as the gear in ToT or will i have to buy it just for the gear to be able to do all theses new zones/instance
  11. Crinic_001 New Member

    New zones, products etc. are all very nice. Unfortunately most if not all of it is geared to the 100+ characters and the raiding guilds. Where and when will there be new zones and products for low level and mid- level characters?
  12. Merriel Well-Known Member

    So in response to this announcement, I have a few questions.

    As a subscriber, does this mean new zones will be given to me automatically as a paying customer, instead of purchasing new expansions? If sold separately from my monthly fee, seems a bit limiting to both DBG and their player base making it only accessible to members and not F2P players who at least spend some money on the game to purchase expansions.

    Yes, I am a subscriber, and yes, I would be willing to continue paying for a yearly expansion (but not campaigns), even if it means denying me access to the content if I choose not to pay for it, as opposed to having the content given to me without additional cost, but denying access to F2P accounts who would be willing to pay for the additional content. I am more interested in the survival of this game rather than how much I can save by being given 'extra' content for my monthly fee. I am also not interested in purchasing additional content, if said content is going to be denied to the F2P player base who are willing to pay for the additional content as well.

    If a customer purchases the zone whether it be via membership or separate from membership, the company cannot deny access to that content, so the addition of zones to the game that are tied specifically to allowing members only access to that content kills a goodly portion of the income DBG could generate from the sale of that content separate of the membership fee. This seems to be a move in a negative direction for both DBG and it's player base.

    Not to mention the many many subscribers who hold more than one account, some paid and some F2P. Some of these players may quit paying and playing entirely, simply because they can't take their F2P account characters into these new zones with their AllAccess account characters. Not only are they paying a subscriber fee for one or more accounts, but are also purchasing expansions on their F2P accounts, thereby doing more than their fair share to support the company...but with this announcement, they are not being given the option to purchase that content on their F2P accounts, but are strictly being denied access to that content...period.

    My personal opinion is that DBG should still sell expansions to anyone, AllAccess or not, and allow access to those zones by anyone who has purchased them, though I have no objection to other features being available to members only. Can DBG really afford to lose more of their player base and the income they would generate from sales for new content regardless of who is buying the new content, with such an addition as what is being announced here?

    Why is it that almost every time I see an announcement for this game, I cringe, because it seems to just be one more step in the direction of the downfall of this game? Why cannot this company hire marketing personnel who really know what they are doing and can work towards building up the player base again, instead of tearing it down, brick by brick? This is and has been an ongoing concern of mine...and rightly so, as I have seen the sunset of a few other SOE games I used to play, and while this one is no longer owned by SOE, it's still run by the same people, and I still see the same poor judgement applied to the decision making of those in charge of running this game as had been applied to those other games that were sunsetted. Please take heed of my concerns, as I truly do not wish to see this game come to an untimely demise.
  13. Ahupu Well-Known Member

    To the point of the difficulty of those last three levels. If your guild has an adventure writ agent and you have AoM (kinda have to if you are going towards level 100), then once you hit level 96 get all the AoM adventure writs (3 of them) and run them, all are fairly close geographically and should take less than ten minutes. The set of three 96 writs without any vet bonus is worth about 10% of a level total, and the set of 98 writs is worth about 12% total. Then use a published house with a magic guild door to go back and get the writs again, exit the hall and you will be dropped right were you left to rinse and repeat. During the last double xp week with no potions and my vet bonus(160%) I could get about 17% of a level per run, with a 100% potion that jumped to right at 20%, and I was able to get a level every 40-45 minutes. Trust me I get sidetracked by crafting too. :p For proof of that here is my tradeskill house:

    [IMG]

    On topic though, the new zones look great and I agree with Aivet, I want me an owlbear mount.
  14. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Amen to everything, Merriel, and I have another question:

    Is this going to be an instanced new zone (please!), or will it completely screw up Zek, the Orcish Wastes, for any of my toons under level 100? Even Uwk isn't there yet, and most of the others are at most in their 70s. Given the number of quests that involve "old" Zek, destroying and remaking the area for the elite only would discourage the hell out of my lowbies. :-/

    Uwk
    who World of Warcraft lost forever with the stupid Cataclysm storyline X-P
    Sapryze likes this.
  15. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Me too, and if it keeps the Art Dept. out of mischief, great, but not if it distracts the other Powers too much. ;->

    Uwk
  16. flameweaver Well-Known Member

    This will be a separate zone from the current Orcish Wastes, where you'll still be able to go ans play and waste orcs. ;)
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  17. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Whew! Thanks! :D

    Uwk
  18. flameweaver Well-Known Member

    Merriel, this is just an (almost) normal game update and is free. Only difference to previous updates is that is limited to all access and requires Level 100.
    From what I remember from the live stream there was a clear indication that an expansion is already in the works for later this year.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  19. Armageddoux Active Member

    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  20. Nockturnal Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the great pointers Ahupu, I'll do that.

    /chuckles ~ girl your not joking about crafting are you, wow! :p
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.