Time to start feedback for the next expac (2009). Ideas needed!

First off, no flaming please. If you disagree with someone's idea, give a better one but leave the bashing out. Maybe for the next expac the playerbase can have a bigger role in its development and construction.
What do you want to see in the 2009 expansion? New continent? Level increase? New class? New race?
Taking all we have seen in eq2 from release until now, learning all the lessons to avoid repeating mistakes or alienating people, what do you want to see out of the next expansion? Give as much or as little detail as you feel needed.
Try to be positive and most importantly, realistic when it comes to these things.
Perhaps Kiara will approve and sticky?

Since it is my thread i'll start it off.
I would like to see a 1-85 or 90 expansion. Base it off of Odus and Taelosia (sp).
Lore of the expansion would attempt to shed some light on where the Ratonga came from and why.
The first truly good versus evil faction play for an expansion. Freeport/neriak/gorowin siding with renewed Paineel, Qeynos/Kelethin siding with the Deepwater knights of Erudin.
Starting area offered in each city.
No classes.
Odus covering the level ranges of 1-70. Small newbie zone for each city covering 1-20. Tox forest covering 20-40 for both factions, large enough to house both seperated by the river.
Kerra ridge persistant dungeon for 40-50, the Warrens persistant dungeon for 45-60, Stonebrunt mountains persistant overland non heroic area for 45-70.
The hole persistant heroic dungeon for 55-70.
Raid instances off of the hole. Other heroic instances possible off of kerra ridge and the warrens.
Next step is Taelosia. Initial overland zone with a mixture of heroic and solo encounters covering 65-75 and progressing higher and higher as you go through the island.

*****
Secondary theme on this expac is Epic armor quest. Much like epic weapon in terms of involvement to complete and difficulty, with followup raid version as well.

as long as it brings back beastlords im all for it......ha....bet you didnt see that coming.muhahaha

I did. I personally would have no problem with it. I think it would make a lot of people happy. I do know that soe wont bring another class in though. Sad but true.

I don't think EQ2 needs any more races or classes. There's a ton of races, a ton of starting cities, and a ton of classes. The tough part about expansions is that unless your player base grows along with each expansion, all you do is make older areas dry up and disperse players over vast distances.
Think: What does EQ2 offer people that they cannot get in any other product? Accentuate that. Bring it out. Then, put some money into marketing it. Let people know that this is where they can find what they are looking for. Bring some fresh blood into the game.
My ideas for what separates EQ2 from other games? Sure.
#1. The audience. The gamers playing EQ2 aren't the 12-year-olds playing WoW or whatever the latest and greatest MMO is (sorry to any 12-year-old EQ2 players, but ya know how it goes). People that play this game are like me: 25, living on their own, want something to do with a good group of friends where you can escape from daily life.
Why not market an MMO to adults?
#2. The game is easy to play. SoE has spent a lot of time with the starting islands, the interface, and the controls of this game. You can pick it up and be playing in no time. The only confusing part of this game are the acronyms. FG, BF, TSO, KOS, ROK, et. al.
#3. The graphics are among the top in its class for the performance it gives.
Sure we're not playing Crysis online, but we're also not playing World of Warcraft either. There are times when I log into the game and I find it beautiful. That's rare in online games. We need more of that, in my opinion. Rise of Kunark has that. They did a damn good job with the art in that expansion.

But, the question was 'what to put in the next expansion?'

Well, if we have to have new areas and new things to do, my suggestions would be as follows:
Let's try something different. Fantasy is basically the same across the board -- from LOTR to Morrowind. How do we make EQ2 stand out? Let's break the mould and introduce some non-fantasy environments juxtaposed with the EQ2 we all know and love.
#1. How about an underwater area. Has this been done in any MMO? Or even any game? Hmm.. BioShock. Imagine a BioShock, but instead of it being Art Deco, have it be medieval. Instead of it being desolate, imagine it's full of life with traders and small missions for low levels (take this item here, kill rats for me, make a potion, fix a leak), head into the sewage system for mid-levels (deformed mice, sludge creatures), and head into the underground caverns far below the city with dripping water, stalagmites and stalactites. Cool!
#2. What about a continent near the south pole of the planet that is eternally covered by night? I'm thinking Solstheim from Morrowind mostly. Caves, frozen warriors, and huge ice castles that have mazed dungeons. I want to get lost in these places. I want to be immersed in them, not have them feel like they're a set or a stage.
#3. Instead of simply offering MORE STUFF as Star Wars Galaxies does, let's focus on the fact that players get very attached to their toons. The signatures on this forum prove that. Hell, I love my characters. So, take that and run with it. Make it feel like your character is actually going on a voyage somewhere. Maybe they can only come back after they finish the quest. I'm not sure. Maybe your character gains a special tattoo or piece of armor or armor set from this expansion, depending on what they did to get it and how long it took.
#4. Dark World / Light World a la Zelda: A Link to the Past. Why not, instead of creating another place to travel to, take advantage of the 330 zones they've currently got and build dimensional shift portals that will take you to an alternate universe for some of them. I'd love to be in Antonica, looking at the castle then shift dimensions into the Dark World and see it in flames with hellspawn and other nasty creatures all about. Integrate it into the live game by being able to bring ore, items, and plants across so you can make special items back in the Light World.
Just a few thoughs anyway!

Here's some things I'd like to see (or expect to see) happen:
Location: with the Quelithulians showing up yet again, Odus is the likely location. Other possibilities are the rest of Antonica (with the Moors of Ykesha showing up, we're still missing four more islands), or maybe an Underfoot expansion.
Level cap: if they continue with the alternating with raising it, then the next expansion will bring it up to 90
AAs: a potential new tree idea would be to create deity AA trees
Deities: perhaps finish off the the addition of deities with Erollisi Marr (good), and Prexus and Veeshan (neutral) (there's currently one more evil god than good god, so this'll balance it out)
City: we need one more good-aligned city to balance the whole thing out. Probably the last city.
New Race: yes, I want another race. My preference one be to go in one of two directions: 1. a winged race (it doesn't really matter what specific race, as long as it isn't another fairy); or 2. a centaur-shaped race (although I don't think an actual centaur would work as a player race)
Spell Consolidation: (ah yes, here's the controversial one) the devs were thinking on this before, but dropped it. 'Spammy combat' is one of the primary reasons I see mentioned for why some people don't play the game, so it may be worthwhile to look at this again. As long as they're very careful with how they handle it, I do think it could be to the overall improvement of the game.
Solo class hats: a minor thing, but it would be nice to have the occasional solo quest reward that has the class hat graphic. They've been around for four expansions now, I don't think we need to keep preserving them for the special armor sets.

I just want new zones where I am forced to obtain new items/AA/levels at such a rate that by the time the next expansion is due I have almost reached my goal only to get nerfed again. This is why I play.

Whatever they do i'll be happy if theres a nice balanced expansion..something for everyone be it soloers/groupers and raiders.

If they do another one like ROK or TSO then the game will surely wither and die and i dont want to see that happening.

Everquest 2: Path of the Hero
The gnolls and the orcs have finally joined forced and launched a full scale assault on Freeport and Qeynos! Freeport has sent scouts to Neriak to recruit help. Antonica has sent scouts to their friends in the Faydark to recruit help. Both cities have gone to Gorowyn to beg for assistance!
Both cities are seeking the greatest heroes of Norrath to assist them in this assault.
Adventure in the castles of Freeport and Qeynos!
The new threat has invaded Antonia's and Lucan's castles! Each castle is a giant adventure zone. Go inside and help to fight off the invaders. Fight in the dungeons, throughout the rooms, on the castle roof, and eventually enter the chambers of the leaders themselves!
25 New Zones! The Path of the Hero!
Antonia and Lucan have sent their best recruiters to find the greatest heroes of Norrath. Pass their tests and earn the right to participate in the greatest battle Norrath has ever known!
An entire instance designed exclusively around each class!
A zone for every class. An entire zone based around the strenghts of the Warden, or Paladin, or Necromancer, etc. Each instance has a choice: Easy (Solo/duo), Medium (3-4 person group), and Difficult (Full group).
The only requirement for each instance is the group has to have the class that zone is designed for. If you're a warden, you can solo the warden instance. If you want to adventure in the necromancer's trial, you'll have to find yourself a necro to group with.
Each instance is a trial for that class, and there will be sections of that instance that can only be overcome by that class.
If you're strong enough to complete the trials for your class, you earn the respect of the recruiter and he sends you to The Battlefield.
The War for Norrath!
After you finish your trials, you're given the option to participate in the great battle. Evil players will fight in an instanced version of the Commonlands, Good players go to Antonica. There, you participate in the full invasion of the gnoll/orc armies. This zone is full of quests and mission that help to push back the invasion.
In that battle, you'll see many large monstrosities have been recruited by the invading force. Form a raid and take these beasts down!

So that's off the top of my head. I'm sure it's monstrously flawed in several areas.

Fix the Engine
Fix PVP
Revamp old world Content to be on par with current one
Make old instanced content scale up to cap
Doesn't sound like a expansion?
I would actually pay for that.
Seriously, eq2 has hundreds of zones, thousands of quests, tens of thousands of items.... do we really need more or do we need the quality of the existing stuff to be increased?

On the sub topic of new race, i said in another thread ages ago that the Othmir would be a nice addition. It could be the good equivalent to the Ratonga as far as furry races are concerned. Any other race would have to be someting bipedal in order to fit existing armor specifications.
In terms of classes, i would prefer to have the option where once you hit max level and aa, you can adopt a sub class that combines two existing ones. (don't worry this will never happen)

As for and alternative to the Odus/Taelosia one i suggested before, I would recommend a Velious/omens of war combination. (this would allow the introduction of the othmir much more plausible).

*edit* killerbee, go moan on another forum or section. This thread is for expansion ideas. In direct response to your question, yes, mmo's must expand continuously over time or the playerbase will grow bored and leave. It is a fact that many zones will lose population over time. It happens all the time. If you cannot handle mudflation and expansionism, go play a non changing persistant game elsewhere.

We need three new classes before we need Taelosia to appear again.
I like the Odus ideas that have been popping up. There's plenty of ways to expand on that continent. What I have trouble seeing there is the obligatory OMGULTIMATEBADGUY each expansion has ended up having the last few times.
I think it'd be interesting to see what happened to the Erudites.

One thing on Erudites that i would love to see is a section or clan of Erudites that avoided or refused the change that their race received that turned them into alien looking things.
Just to have an old school big headed dude that looks like an eq1 erudite would be an AWESOME present from soe that i would never ask for another race ever again!!!

More ideas for the Odus one. Have a war going on between the tox kobolds and the snow kobolds of stonebrunt. Faction choice time! Support one or the other, not both like most of the newer faction games in eq2.
You can also have a large presence of brokenskull pirates and nefarious poachers.
New diety choices would be prexus and the diety that the kobolds worship. (one of the zeks i forget the name)

I don't understand what people mean when they say the engine is broken --- I think EQ2 has one of the best graphics engines out there today for an MMORPG. It scales extremely well -- I play it on my Athlon 2500 with 1GB RAM and a 9600 ATi Radeon one day and on my girlfriend's dual-core the next day. Works great, looks great!

Jovie@Guk wrote:

Rolfron Zek is who you're thinking of. He was a kobold high shaman before Brell abandoned them. Rallos Zek granted him great power and demi-god status. He wouldn't be among my first choices for new player deities, but who knows.
I like the faction war idea, but I think it might be more compelling if the sides were Paineel and Erudin. Broken Skull pirates might not be as plentiful since the Rending though.
At the risk of inviting people to complain about rehashing EQlive, I think they really nailed the faction war concept with Velious. There's a lot of possibilities there too.

Jovie@Guk wrote:

Perhaps you should actually read the posts you complain about first.
TSO had a Tank and Map fix, so whats wrong to say what we want fixed / improved in the next expansion?
And the point about revamping old content and having old instances scale up, it would exactly do what you do demand, create far more usable content while at the same time bring some life back into the old content.

Killerbee3000 wrote:

And perhaps you should read the numerous threads on this SAME subject that pop up before every expansion, dating all the way back to EQlive. They will never spend an entire expansion worth of development time and resources revamping the entire old game. Get used to fixes being made in small amounts; it's just bad business to do what you're asking.
I'll thank you to stop derailing threads with complaints that are routinely ignored for a reason.

There won't be such an expansion ....Soe will simply die quickly ...
When you release an expansion with an Enormous bugg that destroy the economy, when you turn people away by never looking at important issues like class balance, small raids (12-18) content , small groups content you cannot survive especially when the reality stikes back against a failing and sinking social and economic system. You cannot survive when zones for people from 1 to 70 are a wasted land.
TSO is already a failure, it misses totally solo content ( lack of solo is a 100% failure warrant) , man instances are heavily scripted pushing raid boringness and repetitivness to the single group game and man instances are exclusively there for raiders (15 K aoe and so on) ... They will probably hit a 4 digit number of customers very soon.
The only way for Eq2 to survive would be to sell the game and the 5-10 team working on it to decently managed compagny, or to ake the code open source.

Aena@Storms wrote:

I'm not convinced that you have the first clue what you're talking about. Rise of Kunark was the same tier, and was DOMINATED by solo content. This game is not lacking for things to do by yourself, bot crew or otherwise. It was, however, SORELY missing things to do with a proper group.
Strike one.
The game's economy was hardly destroyed by the bug you mentioned. If it had gone uncorrected, maybe you'd have a leg to stand on there.
Strike two.
And uh, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but there are plenty of complaints about there not being enough instances of the overland zone spawning, and that's a good problem to have. When the worst complaint is that there are too many people playing, I think you're probably doing allright.
Strike three, you're out.

I know what the next expansion needs:
More character slots.
What keeps players playing once they've hit top level (short of advancing upon those characters and raiding and such)?
Making alts.
6 7 slots just absolutely positively does NOT cut it nowadays.