by Danny "Ralsu" Gourley



Secrets of Faydwer (SoF) is
the result of nearly one year of development by the creative minds on
Sony
Online Entertainment's EverQuest(EQ)
team. The fourteenth expansion to the game that brought
massively-multiplayer online games into the public consciousness,
Secrets of Faydwer is an enormous content and mechanics update that
expands the game far beyond its current boundaries. Two stories bring
players to unparalleled levels of power in the EQ universe. The first
plot line follows the ambitions of the sinister necromancer Meldrath
the Malignant. If possible, the second is even more dangerous to
Norrath: the crystalline dragon, Kerafyrm, has decided that the only
way to restore the world to Veeshan's vision is to wipe all life form
the planet and make dragons the rulers of the land.


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Get used to seeing Meldrath's personal
"coat of arms." The feisty Gnome is back with a vengeance.

Some EQ veterans might be protesting that that pesky Meldrath has been
dealt with before. You and every other denizen of Norrath will be
troubled to learn that the Meldrath who has previously been seen in the
Steamfont Mountains area was nothing more than an impostor
positioned by the true Meldrath to keep you busy while he executes his
diabolical plans. In the many years that you have been distracted by
other crises, Meldrath has constructed an army of clockworks,
minotaurs, and brownie slaves. His ultimate goal? Who knows? He's
freaking nuts! Well, okay, the truth is that you'll find out about his
evil plans tonight. In a major in-game event, Meldrath the Malignant
will make his unwelcome return to Norrath in the form of a full-scale
assault on Ak'Anon! Sure to be a moment that players both will talk
about for years and view as a pivotal event in the history of Norrath,
Meldrath will bring terror and pain to the Gnomes of Norrath from atop
his floating fortress, Mechanotus. The battle will allow players to see
a portion of the Steamfont Mountains literally lift off of the ground
and ascend into the sky over Ak'Anon. When the rubble has cleared, and
assuming anyone survives, the path to the zones of SoF will no longer
be blocked by the mountains. Players who purchase the expansion will be
able to move in and begin exploring with the launch of the expansion
tomorrow.



Other old hands in EQ will remember Kerafyrm from style="font-style: italic;">The Scars of Velious (SoV). A
crystalline dragon of world-shattering power, the nearly-omnipotent
dragon had been betrayed by his brethren and put to sleep to protect
the world. Players (as they are wont to do) woke the sleeping behemoth
in SoV and found
out why the other dragons feared his power. Kerafyrm left the inhabited
regions of Norrath for parts unknown. We were better off with him
sleeping. Since waking, he has watched the progression of civilization
on Norrath and, frankly, he doesn't feel it's up the standard Veeshan
intended. Kerafyrm has decided the time to take action is now; he's
gathered those loyal to him and intends to destroy all life on Norrath,
installing dragon-kind as the rulers of the world. His allies are
powerful. In addition to some dangerous "common" enemies in his new
lair, he enjoys the aid of Kildrukaun, Tjudawos, Zeixshi-Kar, and
Vyskudra--each an ancient and formidable dragon. A raider's biggest
wish granted, the
battle to stop this dragon war will pit gamers against 4 dragons in a
humongous lair packed with foes.


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Meldrath always has an entourage of
minotaurs to fight for him.

But before players can dream of confronting the likes of the four
dragons of the apocalypse (my terms for them), they'll need to take on
some of the challenges imposed by Meldrath. You see, the SOE team has
worked hard to bring all of this content in four progressive tiers. As
players move through each section, they'll encounter greater
challenges, tougher mobs, and better gear. The goal is to give
subscribers plenty to do and to smoothly transition them through each
section of the new content. As they go, characters will reach a new
level cap of 80. SoF also opens some powerful new Alternate
Advancement  (AA) options. The AAs I saw in my playing time with
SoF were major steps forward--stat max increases of double digits, stat
total increases, new spells and skills, reduced action timers on new
and existing skills, and more! Other changes include a new auto-loot
function and some tweaking to invisible mechanics that produce visible
results. For instance, casters will enjoy better natural AC than ever
before. Of course, they're going to need it! To top it all off, the SOE
team has been sure to include a variety of environments in the new
areas, introduced a few new character models for mobs, and surpassed
previous limits with the beauty and living essence of its zones.



I spent roughly ten days testing out the changes SoF brings with a
level 80 magician (gotta love the /betabuff command!), but the
highlight of my experience was a guided tour of the expansion content
with Travis "Rashere" McGeathy, Lead Designer of style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest. McGeathy spent a little
over two hours of his precious time giving me a private tour (due to a
hardware glitch on my end, I had missed the tour with some other
members of the press). By the end of my tour, it was easy to see why
McGeathy was willing to sacrifice his free time to show me the
"secrets" of SoF--this expansion is crammed full of  the stuff of
guild chat legends. Any current EQ subscriber will want to purchase
this expansion immediately.



My expedition took me through the SoF content in roughly the order
intended for players. Check back right here at Ten Ton Hammer tomorrow
for a thorough breakdown of that adventure, complete with dozens of
screen shots! McGeathy also graciously answered a number of questions
for me,
so you'll see an exclusive interview with the man behind EQ this week,
too.


Are you excited about the new style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest expansion? Or are you
simply reading because you stalk Ralsu? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=20926">Let us
hear it in the forums!

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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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