Producer's Letter: Expansion 17, Beta and Preorders!

Greetings and well met Norrathians,

2020 has been an interesting year, and we aren't quite finished with it yet! We’ve had to adjust to working from home and learning how to put together an expansion while working remotely. I am incredibly proud of the team and what they have achieved, as we reach the end of the year the shadows are growing with each passing day as the days get shorter, and winter is almost here. I am thrilled to announce our 17th expansion officially. Below is our official logo for the new expansion and I can't wait to reveal the key art in the coming weeks.



Our 17th expansion for EverQuest II is here, and it's time to confront the Reign of Shadows, on the dark side of Luclin! Emperor Ssraeshza and his unyielding throngs of insidious zealots and enslaved minions have laid claim to the ancient citadel of Vex Thal. The march of the nefarious snake-like shissar must end there, deep within the heart of the dark side of Luclin.
Face terrible challenges and forge great alliances in regions unseen by Norrathian eyes in centuries: Echo Caverns, Shadeweaver's Thicket, Grimling Forest, Shar Vhal, and Vex Thal. Heroes will be made in the shadows!


Notable Features

• Get distracted by shiny things, knock things off of high places, hate dogs. Play as a Vah Shir! THAT'S RIGHT OUR FIRST NEW PLAYER RACE IN 5 YEARS!
• 20 Reign of Shadows Prestige Advancement Points and 10 new Reign of Shadows Prestige Abilities.
• Maximum Guild Level increased to 350 with an all new content-driven guild leveling mechanism.
• Discover new Adventure, Tradeskill, and Signature quests as you investigate what secrets lay concealed in the endless gloom.
• Master all new Solo, Heroic, Challenge Heroic, and Raid content in the perpetual shade of Luclin’s dark side!

There is so much more to reveal over the coming weeks as we launch beta, and preorders for Reign of Shadows on November 10 between 10 AM and 12 PM (Noon) PDT. Don’t forget, If you pre-order, you will get access to Beta. I hope to see you all there!
AA Revamp

Launching with Reign of Shadows, archetype and class Alternate Advancement abilities are getting a full revamp so that every point has an impact on how your character plays. These changes should not affect Kaladim in a significant way and we do not plan on having them affect future TLEs either. To see these changes before the launch of the expansion, please login to beta when it opens and check them out.
Team Darkpaw: Extra Life

We announced our inaugural Darkpaw Games Extra Life team TEAM DARKPAW, led by our community manager, Dreamweaver. The team has already raised over $14,500 dollars and has over 100 members! Game Day is November 7th, and it’s never too late to join and raise money for the Children's Miracle Network.
Developer Video Series

Daybreak as a company has been partnering with the San Diego County Office of Education to teach kids about careers in tech, and part of that project is our Developer Video Series. I had the pleasure of being the first one up! You can check out the video on the SDCOE Youtube channel here and stay tuned for more from our studio and other studios in the Daybreak Family.
Upcoming Events

Gear Up, Level Up 2020 begins on October 29 stay tuned on the forums and discord for the announcement for the first set of bonuses. Heroes’ Festival also starts in the next few weeks, as it’s almost time to celebrate our 16th anniversary!

I know that’s a lot to go over but don’t forget,
Beta and Preorder for Reign of Shadows, November 10, 2020. I’ll see you there.
Never Give Up,
Jenn Chan, Head of Studio, Darkpaw Games

New race: Vah Shir!

Wow, that's insane!

Hope to see some previews!

Thank you for the update JChan!

Well the image above it is the Vah Shir merc!

So let me get this right, you say your revamping the AA list because it's outdated and points are practically irrelevant and everyone on kaladim is excited to see it, then you say it wont effect Kaladim?

Are you guys literally serious.. like, honestly.... Is it that hard to implement the better and revamped system to the server with the most population...
Yikes... Been excited for months to see this new AA system and now you dropped a bomb on it. Guess that's one extra thing to add to 2020.
We appreciate all your hard work you do for Kaladim

Signed._ Kaladim.

Isn't TLE supposed to be as close to how it was back when that content really launched? How would it make sense to implement a new system invented in 2020 then to those servers?

Back when tanks could find max health and casters had - hate gain right?
Yeah , play on kaladim first to find it's just a restart with the new EQ structure

Weapon damage % on TLE btw, fervor too, ABDC too, familiars used to be, mercs used to be, Channelers, Beastlords etc.

I'm failing to see how it's different apart from everyone on kaladim paying for a sub and receiving 0 Quality Control.

When will the AA of the long neglected Guardian, Wizard and Wardens be improved?

AA Revamp

Launching with Reign of Shadows, archetype and class Alternate Advancement abilities are getting a full revamp so that every point has an impact on how your character plays. These changes should not affect Kaladim in a significant way and we do not plan on having them affect future TLEs either. To see these changes before the launch of the expansion, please login to beta when it opens and check them out.

Meh, I could take it or leave it with the Vah Shir. If you're not adding a new starter city, then it's just awkward that they're showing up again.

10 new prestige abilities... does this mean all classes will get 10 new abilities, on top of the plethora of abilities we already have? Just cover my whole screen with hot bars, yay!

Summary:
New race
New prestige page
New guild leveling.. thingie
AA revamp

zero details

This is a teaser letter for EQ2's 17th expansion. (EQ1 got a similarly-formatted letter). Beta starts on November 10.

Interesting. No mention of Tenebrous Mountains or the good Combine Empire city of Katta Castellum. This means you might be saving the last 3rd of Luclin for another expansion.

Thank you so much for all the hard work that you all do! I have always loved this game and am looking forward to the next expansion!

First character I played in EQ was a Vah Shir, so I'm totally stoked to see them as a playable race in EQ2 finally! It's a fair statement that I am as excited about this coming expansion as I was about BoL...and I was VERY excited about that. So, thank you folks for all you do to continue making this game fun, new, and nostalgic!

Will Vah Shir be a playable race on Kaladim?

BoL can't end fast enough. By far the worst expansion they ever launched for EQ2, just bare to the bone. Hopefully this expansion is at least a hundred times better and the network lag finally sorted.

We haven't clarified that yet but I am sure we will in the coming weeks.

I'm pretty excited to see the dark side of the moon and Vah Shir. I'm a little wary about AA changes, but mostly because it'll mean I have to go through and redo the AAs on... an absurd number of characters I've been collecting for the past 16ish years. It is long overdue for a revamp really.

This is pretty cool! When I'm not being an elf (or fae or ogre or what have you) in Norrath, I'm a Girl Scout leader and I'm more than pleased to have video I can share with
my girls (middle schoolers!) from a developer in my favorite game ever. Thank you very much for sharing this with a wider audience!