Smedley Addresses the Fans

President Speaks Through Live Webcast

by: Savanja

Many players, including myself, are applauding Smedley's move to address the players themselves regarding the games they love. Friday evening, in front of hundreds of Fan Faire attendees, the President of SOE showed off new titles, expansions, and unveiled a brand new Norrathian-based game.

We can expect great things from SOE over this next year. Games like Pirates of the Burning Sea, Gods & Heroes, Free Realms, and The Agency prove to have a little bit of everything for every type of player, and every age range.

Free Realms, a smart move into targeting the younger generation of gamers, takes a step into a cute and whimsical fantasy land full of bright colors and fun characters. Young players will love this game, and quite honestly, I believe I'll be checking it out myself.

Another great looking game is The Agency. This game is an amazing combo between First Person Shooter, Strategy, and Massively Multi-Player games, all melded into a provocative and stimulating game. I was extremely impressed with the real time game play footage, and even for those of us who aren't so fond of FPS, this still looks like a game that could be intensely intriguing.

We also had a look at our old favorites and what they will bring in the next year. EverQuest I is expecting their 14th expansion; Secrets of Faydwer. Along with the nifty Gnome punting that will be made great use of, there will be a level cap raise and AA additions.

EverQuest II is about ready to see their 4th expansion, The Rise of Kunark. This appears to be a graphically beautiful land, with vivid colors and lush landscape. A big feature of this expansion will be a focus on persistent instances. These instances will be a breath of fresh air for players who want to play more challenging instances, but don't have the time to make it through them all at once. This is a feature that was recently showcased in the game update addition of Emerald Halls.

Smedley confirmed that SOE has adopted the "one expansion a year" policy for their MMORPGs. This is to add quality to expansions with longer development times. Hopefully this will mean less bugs in expansions and more quality cost-free game updates to fill in the gaps between expansions.

Along with updates on games and expansions in production, Smedley dropped an unexpected bombshell regarding a new game being brought to Norrath.

Legends of Norrath and it's first installment called Oathbound, is a real time card strategy game that works as a game within a game for EverQuest and EverQuest II. Players in these games will be able to challenge other players across servers and across games, giving many a little something to do when we can't find groups or are a little bored waiting on a raid to gather. This answers a long time call to add games within EQ2 to add a little interest.

Purchases won't be necessary to play as players will not only be given starter decks, but they will also be able to add to their collections from in game mob drops! This is definitely a fun and exciting upgrade to the EverQuest games that I think a lot of players will enjoy.

SOE will be hosting a recording of this live address to the players shortly, so keep a look out for that link. And stay tuned at Ten Ton Hammer for more Fan Faire updates!

If you have questions or comments, please contact me directly.