Nerfing Rangers, Serpent's Spine, and Other Block Party Info

[Tnexus]

So today I had the priviledge to head down to San Diego for the Block Party at the SOE HQ in conjunction with Comic-Con. Let me just say, it was well worth the drive down simply for the fact I got to see Brenlo get repeatedly dunked in the dunk tank. Anyway, the event consisted of demo's of all the SOE made and marketed games including Vanguard, Matrix, EQOA, EQ2, Gods and Heroes, a new game screenshot to comic program I can't remember the name of, Planetside, and of course, EQ. Everyone who attended the event was given a bag of free stuff at the entrance consisting of two free T-shirts, an LED SOE Necklace (which is actually really cool), a copy of the Matrix Online game, a mini remote controlled car, EQ2 books and maps, a demo of the EQ PS2 game, and a ton of free music downloads. This is what at least my friend and I got, there might have been more. There were also some free posters too, though I didn't pick any up so I couldn't tell you what they all were minus one was an EQ2 poster.

My initial fear was how crowded it would probably be because of all the people from various games that I assumed were coming, but never once did it feel crowded. In fact, I was actually surprised there weren't more. It had its advantages though because unlike a Fanfaire, the devs were able to talk a lot more to you personally instead of being bumrushed with everyone asking questions or making comments at once. More on that later. Anyway, the event consisted of a dunk tank which featured various SoE staff members (including Kytherea and Brenlo to name some), a BBQ, tons of free booze, (Maybe it was just me, but the people serving looked so buzzed by the end of the event.) the Antonius Bayle and Firona Vie characters, live music, and a just an all around fun atmosphere.

One of the highlights of the party was they gave personal tours of the HQ done by the staff themselves. I know Zajeer even led one though it wasn't the one I was on. We got to see the illustrious cubicles for the various EQ Devs, the GM room (yes, they do exist and contrary to belief not in India), and the location where they manage all the server data just to name a few places. They have this giant screen that shows when there might be problems with a server or a zone by the fact if many people are logging on at once or a server population has a weird fluxuation. It spanned the entire wall and was quite impressive. Unfortunately, for most of the buildings, no photography was allowed. However, on my way in one of the buildings I discovered this little gem, proof the devs are out to get us poor Rangers! SOE's HQ is actually divided up into 3 seperate buildings simply because they keep running out of space since they keep adding more products. And if anyone cares, at approximately 5pm PST today there were 85,000ish players on EQ.

We were also given the oppurtunity to see a Beta for Vanguard which is looking better by the day. The texture on little things such as the grass and trees looked so realistic it was hard to believe it wasn't real. Our tester who was showing us the game ported us around the world showing us all the nifty cool zones. The undead look so cool it makes me want to play almost for those models alone. Brad was also there talking to people about the game too answering questions about the game.

However, perhaps the coolest thing about today though was being able to hang out and talk with the devs. At one point I ate dinner with Kytherea (who is a wonderful person might I add), was able to sample Denmom's real life fudge she brought for people in attendance (which let me tell you did not disappoint), and just talk about the new expansion, Serpent's Spine with Zajeer, Absor, and Raghnell for probably close to three hours. Keep in mind I've had about as much contact in my life with these guys as the next person, so none of us were getting any special treatment. The devs themselves showed us a live demonstration of pretty much the entire SS expansion in a near one-on-one environment. I was able to ask a ton of questions about SS to Absor and Zajeer who were all too pleased to answer all of my questions. While the lore, AAs, and spells were not able to be disclosed, largely because they aren't done, most everything else I asked about was answered.

Now about the expansion, before I go into detail about, I must put a disclaimer. First off, I wasn't expecting to be able to get a lot of this info, so none of this was written down while it was being answered. My friend Dnalor and I tried to make a record of anything interesting for this writeup afterwards, but we're not perfect. Now, don't be surprised if some of this is SUBJECT TO CHANGE from what I was shown/told to what is actually in the final game. What was shown was pre-alpha stuff, so it may not be the final version.

Now that we got that out of the way, my first impression was that it was simply AMAZING. For not even in being in alpha yet, the zones and many of the new models looked incredible. The new male Drakkins (female model wasn't available yet I believe) from what we saw look worlds better than the Luclin models and take less resources. Each has customizable horns, body tattoos, and hair. The hairstyles are pretty different than what we've seen in the past, but look good nonetheless. If you want, you can even make a green, pointy-haired character. The armor detail is the best we've seen to date, and the robes got a much needed upgrade. Plate also looks really well done. However, for the moment, these new models are ONLY for the Drakkins, but the devs really want them to eventually used for the old races. As they said, "We need to focus on getting out one before we can worry about doing the rest." Currently the devs do not know what classes they will be as that will be decided later with the exception that monks will be a class for sure.

There's also a ton of revamped models and zones, though no zones are getting a mob change like MM or PoM did. Kithicor, Highpass, and both Commonlands are all getting modernized though none were ready for us to see yet. There are also new models for Griffons, Bears, Gnolls, Mammoths, Wolves (I think), Centaurs, Harpies, Elementals (though they expect these to go live shortly after or right at the final patch of the expansion), Spectres (Necro's rejoice!), and Bixies. Yes, that's right, Bixies. These bixies aren't your run of the mill bixies though, these girls are hot. So props to whoever designed these because they're probably my new favorite model. The giants also get an overhaul and include undead and shade forms as well as your typical living giants.

There are 12 new zones for this expansion and its primarly not an instanced expansion. Some of these zones are HUGE though, with one of them being what Absor thought was the biggest in the game so far. All of them look fantastic, and as Absor and Zajeer could tell you, I was glued to the screen through like 3 different presentations of the same zones. There are roughly 5-6 70+ zones (I think) which include the final two zones (more on that soon!). The other zones are designed so someone could get to 70 from this expansion alone and never go anywhere else. Each zone will have a level range of about 10-20 levels in terms of difficulty of mobs. So for instance, the Bixie zone might be for levels 30-50. One zone, The Roost was made because they wanted to explain where the heck griffons came from. (It was funny because at one point we saw a talking griffon NPC which greatly confused Absor and Zajeer.) There are two final zones, one is a dragon final zone, and another is a giant final zone. Now before you think, "Not another Velious!" it's nothing like that. Faction is not emphasized so you won't be picking sides. Each zone is basically the same difficulty, it just lets raiding guilds have two end zones instead of one. You will be able to do both. Zajeer was guessing each would have around 5-6 encounters each. The Giant final zone is a crypt under a frozen lake where they "bury" their dead and has a reminiscent Kael feel, while the final dragon zone looks like VP meets ToV with modern graphics. If the dev team can pull it off, there is also plans to have a moving maze in the giant zone where the walls will be shifting so it will never be the same twice. I don't know how this will relate to the content, but it sounded like a great concept. Props to Absor for the idea.

AAs and Spells were not readily disclosed, but they did say they were not too happy with continuing the current system because it was almost too easy to get AAs and the ideas were getting a little repetitive. So there's new ideas (which may not go in, so don't get too excited) like an AA that gives a boost in power to the person who got a killshot of a mob for 5 minutes, or 2x faster casting for 50% more mana, etc. Each class will be getting a good amount of AAs, though that's about all we could pry out of them about AAs. Likewise, leveling from 71-75 will be a normal exp grind.

Other small things to note: there's somewhere around 40+ new weapon graphics for this, some of which supposedly compare to the 1.5s in terms of beauty; the lore is completely unrelated to DoDH or PoR; the expansion takes place off of Highpass; and and hopefully you'll be able to have multiple auras by the time the expansion is live. (Apparently it was never intended to only be able to cast one at a time.)

Overall, the event was well worth the trip, and hopefully they'll be another one soon. All the devs were so nice and down to earth, it felt normal just talking to them about EQ. Me and my friend (Dnalor) took a bunch of pictures, though they're rather unsorted at the moment. He just pretty much uploaded them all to worry about them later. However, you're welcome to look at them if you'd like here. Included are more pictures of the screen where Raghnell, Absor, or Zajeer were playing!

--Tnexus
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Tnexus Fyrewolf
Prexus Server

[Ladwenae]

Sounds like fun, thx for sharing Tnexus
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Ladwenae - rangering again!

[Lenas]

Sounds great. I was going to go today after I got my signed Penny Arcade poster, but I didn't want to ask my girlfriend if she wanted to hang out at online gaming headquarters =P Kinda wish I did. Expansion looks amazing.
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// Lenas Uchiha (CT)

[Dnalor]

Bah, where's my credit for driving and taking pictures?

Anyways, I went with Tnexus to the Party yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. It was really great talking with the devs, and seeing their passion for the game. Zajeer and Absor had been busy with other parts of development and were running through some of the zones for the first time yesterday. It was cool seeing them stop and marvel at the art and talking about what they'd like to do.

It was a great event, and I hope they do more of them in the future.

P.S. sorry for some of the lousy pictures, they were uploaded directly from the camera so Tnexus could reference pictures for writing his post. Basically, I blame him. I'll go through later and clean things up a bit.

[Taewen]

The game seems to be looking more like EQ2 (atleast graphics wise) which imo is a good thing. Infact I think thats the same gnoll model they use in EQ2
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[Kanwell]

Those new bixies are awesome!!
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Retired 80 Huntmaster

[Utdaan]

I had a blast at the party as well, got some nice pictures...and most important for Al`Kabor...got the ear of one of the devs.

Here is the thread on eqmac.com with just a few of our pictures.

It was rather...er..um...."special" watching the devs cringe when Al`kabor was mentioned, but while we were on a tour, we actually came across one that stuck his neck out and gave us contact info for him so he can try to help convince someone to do the small server side fixes that we desperately need.

Only time will tell how sincere he was.
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Temerity
Al'Kabor, the Macintosh server

[Faelor]

Great information. Though the models look like rips from EQII for the most part *sigh* Go figure.

Glad to see someone else here was excited about Vanguard
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Kinokenshin
<Fire and Fury> Firiona Vie (Role-Playing)

[Tnexus]

Gah, I really wish we had nametags now Utdaan. I was hoping to say hi to you, but I had no idea who anyone was there. Considering how long I camped at the EQ area there's a good chance we crossed paths at some point. I was the redhead if you happen to remember me.
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Tnexus Fyrewolf
Prexus Server

[wolvestooth]

Great post, great info, great pics! Thanks for that info! Glad to hear the dev's think the AA's are getting redudant or devoid of interest. I also like that they plan on changing the Luclin models to a less resource-intensive type.

Love the new robe and plate designs. Pretty sweet!

Thanks for the info!
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http://eq.magelo.com/profile/1320947

[Ladas]

Great post and info Tnexus, thanks.
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Ladas Sindarin
Feir'dal Huntsmaster
Clan Ta Veren
Prexus

[Utdaan]

[Sokko]

[Utdaan]

[flying_banana]

Hahahahahahaha oohhhh Sokko. Hey, maybe someday

Enjoyed the post, sounded like a good time. It's too bad I'm on the other side of the continent or I might have shown up
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Earthguard Xelus Merivius
Keepin' it real since 1989