by Danny "Ralsu" Gourley
Yesterday, I supplied you with
href="http://tentonhammer.com/node/14518">a preview of the newest
style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest expansion,
style="font-style: italic;">Secrets of Faydwer (SoF).
Today, I'll relive the tour of the content that I enjoyed with Travis
"Rashere" McGeathy, Lead Designer for EverQuest.
McGeathy took me to see the new content in roughly the order players
will be able to tackle it, so pay attention to the flow of my tour. And
keep in mind that SoF features 4 tiers of difficulty. Each tier brings
greater
challenges, harder mobs, and nicer gear. The design provides players
with ample adventures to seamlessly progress through each portion of
SoF. In the end, if you don't want to purchase this expansion by the
time you finish this photo tour, the fault lies entirely with my
writing and not the product. Sony Online Entertainment has crammed its
fourteenth expansion full of activity, character development, and epic
adventure.
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The adventure begins in Steamfont
Mountains.
Humble Beginnings
The start of the plot for Secrets of Faydwer takes place in Steamfont
Mountains, site of many EverQuest adventures long past. Contrary to
what players might think, Meldrath the Mad, wicked gnome necromancer is
alive and well. For years, he has been scheming away from the prying
eyes of Norrath while his imposer kept adventurers busy with nefarious
deeds. Meldrath has returned in classic megalomaniacal fashion, using
the power of his floating fortress (Mechanotus) to lift part of the
Steamfont Mountains out of the ground and assaulting Ak'Anon. In the
aftermath of the battle, players with the SoF expansion will find the
path open to new lands beyond the mountains.
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Don't let the pastoral setting fool
you--Dragonscale Hills holds many dangers.
Dragonscale Hills
Dragonscale Hills serves as the hub of activity in SoF. These are
ancient lands that have enjoyed isolation
from the rest of Norrath. In fact, this place was marked on the
original cloth map that came with EQ back at its launch, but people
were never able to reach it. Many of the citizens will consider your
presence an intrusion. The zone of
rolling green hills, farmland, and windmills is fraught with
dangers.
As you move
through the areas, you'll note quite a bit of variation in art style
and themes. The SOE team really expended some energy here to show how
much it can do with EQ's engine. And the pieces don't look smashed
together. Everything has a smooth flow and makes sense in its place
within the geography--and within the context of the story.
If you are sight-seeing in Dragonscale Hills, you'll want to see the
village of the brownies and the Mechomatic Guardian you've no doubt
heard a lot about in the news postings from SOE. I'll show you all of
those things in their time. First you'll also meander to
Kirkoten Fortress, our next stop.
Kirkoten Fortress
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Home of far too many minotaurs.
My first battle with the mobs of SoF lasted just long enough for my
machine to load my character after being summoned by McGeathy to
Kirkoten Fortress. He had tried to use the SOE customer service command
line to freeze the mobs, but he misspelled a word. The mighty minotaurs
of the fortress were quick to surround me and clobber my poor /betabuff
MAG to the ground. You can view
href="http://tentonhammer.com/node/14600">the combat log if you
are interested in what kind of damage 2 Kirkoten miners and a Kirkoten
spiritwalker can do to an unbuffed level 80 MAG in about 6 seconds.
After my ordeal with the minotaurs, McGeathy buffed me with a special
buff that gave me 50K hit points, and he got the mobs to freeze. The
minotaurs in the fortress are the largest portion of a group that
serves as slave labor to Meldrath. Hey, he's a little guy with a big
brain. You don't expect him
to do the manual labor, do you?
I did not get a chance to delve very deep into Kirkoten Fortress. The
parts I saw featured clusters of minos at tents and fires. I did not
get a chance to see the zone in motion, so I cannot comment on roamers.
I detected melee fighters and spiritual casters. The mobs I considered
were light blue to my level 80 character. This area is a wooden
fortress carved into a mountain, so the color palette was mostly browns
and grays. That's not a complaint, though. The rugged environment added
to the overall feel of place.
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The brownie village was easily the most
colorful location I visited.
Who Wants Brownies?
When I left Kirkoten Fortress, I landed in a brownie village. Standing
in stark contrast to the harsh, drab stronghold of minos, this place
was a lush green valley peppered with brightly colored huts connected
by log bridges. Again, the zone was frozen, so I did not get to see the
place in motion.
McGeathy explained that the brownies of the area have been forced into
working for Meldrath. Apparently their tiny bodies make them extremely
useful for cavorting around in the inner workings of large clockworks.
If you feel bad for this village of wild brownies, don't fear; McGeathy
says we'll get to help them as we work through their story arc. I
managed to capture a
picture of a pair of brownies, both of which were light blue to my
level 80.
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