I've already brought you a preview of EverQuest:
Secrets of Faydwer
and a href="http://tentonhammer.com/node/14659">Picture Tour. To cap off
my coverage of the 14th expansion to the game that put Sony Online
Entertainment on the map, I spent some time getting some answers to my
questions from Travis "Rashere" McGeathy, Lead Designer of style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest. You'll see a picture of
his in-game avatar, Rashere, to the right below. McGeathy is an
enchanter
because he loves the crowd control aspect of the class.


Ten
Ton Hammer: What would you want people to know about the style="font-style: italic;">Secrets of Faydwer
(SoF) content?
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alt=""
src="http://tentonhammer.com/image/view/78292"
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Rashere was both tour guide and
protector to Ralsu on his tour of Secrets
of Faydwer
.



Travis McGeathy: Few things.
I'm always trying to get the word out that while EQ may be many years
old, we're constantly working to be sure it doesn't feel like an old
game. In a lot of ways, SoF is a return to some of the older ideas from
EQ history. It's an expansion built to last a while and see players
gain a lot of power as they go through it. For new folks, the SoF box
comes not just with SoF, but with EQ and every one of its expansions to
date.



Ten Ton Hammer: So style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest (EQ) is getting new
players then?



Travis: We don't always know if
new accounts in a month are completely new players or people who have
come back to EQ after a while. But the number is enough to pretty much
even out the trickle of people who inevitably leave the game.



Ten Ton Hammer: How would you
characterize the subscriber base?




Travis: The EQ player base is
holding pretty steady these days. The majority of our player base tends
to be at the higher levels these days and have a history with the game.
SoF is built specifically to cater to these players.



Ten Ton Hammer: Lifers?



Travis: Yeah, tons.The other
day I was chatting with some guys who were talking about playing since
the original beta. Got me thinking of where I was when that happened
and how long ago it was.



Ten Ton Hammer: It is these lifers SoF
is built for?




Travis: We built it mainly for
our core players--high end, single-group players.



Ten Ton Hammer: What about the raiders?



Travis: Heh, can't forget the
raiders. They have about 30 new raids and their own 4 tiers of
progression to play with. We've done our best to make sure both styles
are fully supported here.



Ten Ton Hammer: 30 raids? That's like
several expansions in one!




Travis: Yeah. SoF is the first
expansion in our new once-a-year expansion cycle.



Ten Ton Hammer: Why a full year?



Travis: That extra time means
that we have more leeway to provide upgrades and tiers of content for
players.



Ten Ton Hammer: When you say a "new
cycle" of expansions, I hear a dedication to continued growth of the
game.




Travis: Hah! EQ is eternal. I
think it is going to outlive us all.



Ten Ton Hammer: Explain the longevity
of EQ.




Travis: EQ's trials and
tribulations really built a strong community where players have to rely
on each other to accomplish things. And [in] everything we do, we keep
our tried and true players in mind. We may alter the game here and
there to improve things or make some things easier to do, but we're
always careful to keep EQ itself.



Ten Ton Hammer: Are you able to point
to one thing in SoF as your favorite?




Travis: It's the tiers for me.
All the gear you need on the next tier is available in the tier before
it.



Ten Ton Hammer: I will be the right
level by the time I get somewhere?




Travis: If you're not, you'll
quickly know to go back a few steps and gear up.



Ten Ton Hammer: I've encountered some
new AA choices in SoF. They seemed really strong on my MAG.



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src="http://tentonhammer.com/image/view/78292"
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This could be the future of humanity in
Norrath.

Travis: That's actually a theme
with SoF.



Ten Ton Hammer: We've heard of the
headlining features of SoF with Meldrath, Kerafrym and the level cap
increase. Tell me about some other things.




Travis: EQ has always been a
more gritty fantasy, but the clockworks really turned up the levity.



Ten Ton Hammer: True, href="http://tentonhammer.com/node/14631">Meldrath's game room
shows it well.




Travis: We went a bit nuts with
this [expansion]. In addition to
the expansion, we made a number of core system changes that will roll
out with the expansion. [The changes include] both balance changes,
like changing AC across the boards to improve caster survivability and
convenience changes, like adding auto-loot functionality to corpses.



Ten Ton Hammer: What is the team
working on with SoF behind it?




Travis: A first pass at the new
human model. That's...not something going out with SoF, but we put it
up [in the SoF beta] to get feedback from players.



Note: you can view the unfinished
human model in the picture to the left. You can see
style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tentonhammer.com/node/14700">the
back side, too.



Ten Ton Hammer: As a final question,
what would it take for somebody to get you to do anything else for a
living?




Travis: Hah! Good question. A
boatload of cash. Being a developer isn't easy, but it's about the most
fulfilling job I can imagine, and it's hard to beat coming to work
every day with the goal of making people have fun.



Ten Ton Hammer: Thanks so much for
your time, Travis!


href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=21012">Discuss
this EverQuest interview in our forums! style="font-weight: bold;">




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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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