Maybe they're saving Velious...

Some dragons out there tolerated us more than others. They were all arrogant. They know they were there first and they have the physical and magical power to keep anyone from saying otherwise. However, a few dragons had come to tolerate the lesser races. Klandicar and Wuoshi were among some of them, even if you had to prove yourself as an ally to the Claws beforehand. Even with that in mind, there were still some dragons who had come to respect what the lesser races were capable of.
Klandicar in particular has grown increadibly wise in his old age.

I'd generally wager that the older the dragon in question, the more inflated the ego. The Crusaders of Skyshrine, being rather youngish in comparison to most seemed quite patient and tolerable. Klandicar, though considerably older was an exception and overall was the only dragon I know of who actually admits his own race's failings. As Klandicar himself had said, most dragons are too proud and inflexible in their ways/beliefs. They need to either wake up and change, or face eventual extinction.
As for Wuoshi back in EoF, that never really made much sense. The pre-release lore hinted at him planning something behind Tunare's back, but when you actually meet let alone fight him in-game his attitude, though grumpy seemed to contradict the implications made in the story.
Then again, the general attitude dragons show towards us the players is sometimes justified by our typical track record.

have you guys noticed 80's level items with high numbers vs cold damages?
they either planning for free content Halas, or building up for Velious, since it is colder than Everfrost.
we will find out more when we get new tier items from Sentinel.

Tyrus@Butcherblock wrote:

Halas will be released at the same time as the expansion, as free content. It's going to be the new good starting city, with 1-20ish content like Darklight and Gorowyn.

Morghus wrote:

haha I never expected the people on these forums to start using Tropes to demonstrate a point. I've been addicted to that sight like there's no tomorrow lately.

So I think 6 months of OMG It's not velious is enough. WTB a new topic please.

Cusashorn wrote:

Nah, in all honesty it looks like it's just me doing it.

Qandor wrote:

Good post and one i agree with if Vellious was ever to make a comeback it should have followed EoF at that time the dev team had things pretty much on the ball as things stand atm this current dev team seems to be to small and far too conservative to give Vellious the expansion it so richly deserved.

dawy wrote:

You say it in the past tense as if the opportunity has already passed. What part of "THEY ARE SAVING VELIOUS FOR THE NEXT EXPANSION SO IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE VOID" did you not catch? It's going to happen next. You can pretty much bank on it. They WANT to make sure it is given a good release and that it lives up to everyone's nostalgic expectations.

You people have no faith anymore.

Cusashorn wrote:

Whereas you may well have a little too much faith,some people could call it blind faith..

Cusashorn wrote:

I cannot buy the argument "THEY ARE SAVING VELIOUS FOR THE NEXT EXPANSION SO IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE VOID". Why on earth would they require two expansions to wrap up a storyline (the void) especially in light of the fact that the void storyline is almost universally despised?
In my mind the last proper expansion was EoF and it showed since it attracted many new players and it also saw many players return. It seemed like the game was actually turning itself around with many looking forward to Kunark. Kunark had mixed reviews but at least it felt like a sizable expansion. Then came the mini-expansion of TSO. One overland zone and no open dungeons with a bunch of instances is not much of an expansion in my book. TSO lost whatever moementum they had built up with the launch of EoF entirely. Stretching the mini expansion out for 15 months and following it with a (yawn) Odus expansion which sounds rather mini itself, pretty much demonstrates that the resources are no longer there to do Vellious any justice. Let's face it, Odus is not much of a drawing card so a second resurgence is just not in the cards. By the time they ever got around to Vellious at this point, few would still be here to care.

Qandor wrote:

Unless you're counting TSO, they're using 1 expansion to wrap up the void stuff. After Sentinel's Fate, it will be over (well supposedly). Then they can start Velious fresh.
I'm not sure how confident I am that Velious is next, but after patching the Odus hole, I think that everything that came before Velious in EQ1 will be in EQ2. I think that's a good sign.

Expansions do not have to be in the same order they were in in EQ1. If SoE wanted to they could release the realm of discord or taelosia next. Or maybe even completely new content *Gasp*

Of course they don't *have* to, but they did start with Kunark as the first expansion to feature a continent that was outside EQ1's "old world." Makes sense that they'd do Velious next. Obviously Luclin's out, and pushing Taelosia/Discord on us will feel like Void 2.0 honestly. Velious just makes sense.

I saw somewhere that EQ1 is releasing an underfoot expansion next. Since the Hole had the blocked gateway to the underfoot in it in eq1 it sort of makes sense that they are doing a similar area now. The last couple expansions have vaguely mirrored what was going on in EQ1 also, if not in terms of lore then at least in terms of location

Note that the void storyline is not "universally despised." There are a few very vocal folks who obviously hate it, but I know a lot of people who find it quite interesting and compelling. I also appreciate the completeness of the story, and how well it has been woven into the fabric of EQ2's setting since launch. Those who feel that Anashti-Sul's the void invasion is some sudden twist that has been thrust upon us have simply not been paying attention. The void storyline has had hints and foreshadowing since the game opened, and I think that the revenge of a fallen deity who was banished to a realm of darkness in a forgotten age for crimes against Creation is a staple fantasy plot.
TSO, on the other hand, I think was poorly designed. The content was repetitious and non-compelling, feeling disconnected and shallow. The zones that were seen in EQ1 were so unlike their historical counterparts as to eliminate any sense of nostalgia they could have evoked. I fear the positive aspects of the expansion's story of the expansion were simply overwhelmed by the negative aspects of its mechanical design.

The_Cheeseman wrote:

Part of the reason why we hate it so much is precisely that. It's been in the game since launch, which itself isn't anything bad. At least we knew it was there... EQlive decided to throw Taelosia at the players without even the slightest hint of what was coming. Everyone hated Gates of Discord. However, they didn't *HAVE* to make anything big out of it. They could have left it as an unsolved mistery that didn't threaten the existance of Norrath and everything from it. What started out as a single thread of mystery was suddenly mass produced into a thousand tapestries that was forced onto everyone regardless of whether they took interest in seeing more of it or not.
Subtlety. All the clues and evidence of the Shadowmen's happenings coincided with various other plots like Orc invasions, brooding vampires, Dragon armies awaiting the return of a much better established Draconic figure, rogue clockworks, and evil Iksar empires. Suddenly, BAM! Everything is now all about the Void. No more coinciding plotlines independant from it. Everyone now has to deal with it whether they like it or not.
I had no problems with the Anashti Sul storyline. She and Varsoon have both been defeated and done with. What we have next is Rohan Theer, the Avatar of the Nameless, who has also been trapped in the Void, and seems to be the true Big Bad who's intentions and involvements have not even been revealed yet.

It's just time that the game moved back to dealing with local threats. Not invasions where Norrath itself would cease to exist if we were to lose. Giants, Goblins, Orcs, other local native Norrathian threats are what we need to return to.

My guts tell me that the reason why they did Odus now and Velious next, is I think much more simple than people think.
There were no major MMO releases or any threat to SOE in 2009. So why waste a lot of resources on the most popular piece of EQ1 content in a dead MMO year in wich you don't have much to fear of losing subs? As people had nowhere else to go anyway.
2010 and early 2011 however is going to be a very heavy and threatening year for SOE with very solid big titles coming out like Final Fantasy XIV, Star Wars:The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2. Not to mention World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion.
So it's actually rather obvious that they save the Velious expansion (wich they know, thanks to you all, is extremely popular and demanded) for this coming year to be able to compete against the heavy competition and retain their EQ2 subs!
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Seeing how everything last year pretty much hinted and leading towards Velious. I think they were actually indeed planning to do Velious... but when they saw that SW:TOR was hinting at a 2010 release. The sudden announcement of Final Fantasy XIV for 2010. Guild Wars for 2010. And WoW's Cataclysm expansion for 2010. And so the year 2010 going to be a very tough year for SOE all the sudden.
They quickly changed their plans to push Velious ahead and do Odus first. And so, hence the reason, why they had to push the expansion release to February this year (instead of november 2009).
It all makes a lot of sense when you look back at how events happened like they were the past year.
Jer