Questions
by Jeff “Ethec” Woleslagle and Tony
"RadarX" Jones
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Answers
by EQ2 Game Designers Nathan “Kaitheel”
McCall and Kyle “Kander” Vallee

 

On June 17, 2008, the world of EverQuest
II got a bit bigger as the developers at Sony Online
Entertainment released Game Update #46, which reintroduced the
reconfigured Runnyeye campaign along with the “Storms on the
Horizon” player event. Recently, Ten Ton Hammer’s
Jeff “Ethec” Woleslagle and Tony
“RadarX” Jones had the opportunity to chat with two
of EQ2’s game designers, Nathan
“Kaitheel” McCall and Kall
“Kander” Vallee, about the recently released Game
Update and why particular decision were made in the development of the
update. If you’ve ever been a fan of the style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest
franchise,
or are simply an interested player, check out this interview!

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Kyle Vallee and
Nathan McCall

Ten Ton Hammer: In
previous Game Updates, players could determine when the live event and
all its trappings - gather and kill quests, loot, etc. - came to an
end. When the building was built, the dragon would swoop in for the big
fight, and anyone who hadn't experienced the GU quests and loot was out
of luck. How have you taken a different tack with "Storms on the
Horizon"?



Nathan
“Kaitheel” McCall: The majority of
live events do not have their time frames affected by player
participation.  For example, holiday live events such as
Frostfell, Nights of the Dead, and Erollisi Day run for a predetermined
set of days (or weeks).  Likewise, the shipboard battles
leading up to RoK in GU 39 were there for all to participate in during
the entire GU.  But you are right that several previous
events, such as the building of the spires that lead up to KoS, were
advanced and concluded by player interaction.  It was both
marvelous and frustrating, at the same time.  Marvelous, as it
tended to bring adventurers together to work towards a common goal;
frustrating, as it also meant that others missed out, depending upon
how advanced their server was through the events at the time that they
could participate.



With GU46’s event “Storms on the
Horizon,” I wanted to give everyone enough time to
participate and enough reason to.  If you come into game for
only a couple hours a week, or you are on every day, you should be able
to participate in this event and get to choose a reward you desire.



It isn’t enough that you can do something repeatedly; there
should be reward in doing so, too!  And since we are all
motivated by different rewards, the idea of reward merchants seemed
perfect for this event.



This does not mean that you will not see future live events in which
player participation advances the storyline, or the quests
offered.  But we will be looking at ways of maxing the
marvelous aspects (bringing community together, multiple rewards) while
minimizing the frustrating ones (unpredictable time frame for event).



Ten Ton Hammer: Runnyeye:
The Gathering is a complete revamp of the Runnyeye dungeon experience
that players of both the original EverQuest and EQII are very familiar
with and have long enjoyed. Has the popularity of this older, lower
level content driven SOE to revisit areas like Runnyeye, renovating
them for level-capped players, and will we see more of these kind of
revamps in the future?



Kyle
“Kander” Vallee: Right now we are busy
concentrating on the next expansion, and we still have a lot of work to
do. I am not aware of any immediate plans for a renovation, but there
is always a possibility. I would really love to do a high level version
of Solusek’s Eye in the future, given the opportunity. Who
knows, maybe after we ship this next expansion, I may get the chance.