Since anticipation is killing me I decided to take screenshots of PlanetSide 2 and speculate what EQN might look like, since both PS2 and EQN share the same graphics engine Antonica? Rivervale? Kunark? Velious? Everfrost?
LOL - that would so be SOE to reuse the Planetside2 world and repopulate it with orcs, gnolls, giant beetles and dragons and then call it EQN terrain. Either way cannot wait to see it. Seems like its been forever and a day now.
Creating terrain in EQ2 is nightmarishly hard. Every single little rock, outcropping, edge, etc. has to be modeled and then more geometry has to be built just to make NPCs walk in a correct line without tilting or zigzagging while they walk. It takes a ridiculous amount of hours just to create an overland zone and populate it. In contrast, PS2, EQN, etc. have a terrain builder that cuts the time to create new overland zones by like 3/4. An artist can build up and sculpt areas of the world and add bumps, outcroppings, and details just by pushing and pulling. And when done, NPCs will walk correctly without wigging out, tilting, spinning around, or falling through the world. Actually, GerminUSA is working on a terrain builder for EQ2 that will greatly expedite creating terrain. Hopefully we will see this in the next expansion.
I would better guess the first ones, if there used for Antonica, the landscape is not a jungle like Kunark is supposed to be, and also doesn't seem to fit Rivervale which is supposed to be a halfling village to start with. As for the wintersets, I would say both Everfrost and Velious respectivly. THe latter being Velious due to the fact it's not all snow and ice there. Also speaking as someone that has dabbled with CGI art and animation on his spare time I have to agree with Feldon there. Making terrian is very hard, espically if you want your players/characters to interact with them correctly.
