Anticipating Adventure

The Fallen Dynasty Adventure Pack

By: Tony "RadarX" Jones

An average day at home, is comprised of work and a little EverQuest 2. Tuesday, seemed to be ordinary as I logged into the game, but was soon interrupted by the repeated "bing-bong" of my email. I ignored it at first, figuring it was my daily reminder that I needed "enhancement products." Soon I started getting Instant Messages of "You heard, right?" Heard what? Great! What did Coyote do now? Fearing tenatacles, or him finally going through with "Krunnk Gone Wild," I rushed to my email prepared for the worst. Expansion and Adventure Pack! *insert Strongbad voice* Holy crap!

We all feel differently about expansions. Some of us don't play as much, and are wondering why other things aren't being fixed instead of adding more content. Others are just hitting level 70 and will be ready about the time the new content hits. There a few that hit level 70 mere moments after Kingdom of Sky was released, and have been salivating like rabid hyenas. SOE announced yesterday they will be delivering. The big news is of course the Echoes of Faydwer expansion which Kiara will be covering here, but lets not leave out the sooner to arrive Asian-themed adventure pack "Fallen Dynasty."

There isn't any lore available, but the overview says the area is "a secluded island with a dark past. Inhabited by rival families and an ancient order of monks called the Whistling Fist Clan." Inhabited by rival families feels reminiscent of the Godfather to me. I expect to be able to "whack" Fredo. Ok, yes, I'm sure they meant it will have opposing factions, similar to the Blade, Truth, and Coin courts in Maj'Dul. I don't see how rival factions could be a bad thing, but I'd like to see some variance in rewards for joining them.

Anytime you see an ancient order of monks (read: NOT ninjas), it's always interesting to find out their story, but why are they so cool? First, they have really sweet looking hats, but primarily, monks are a direction EverQuest 2 really hasn't gone except with the Pillars of Flame. I'm expecting a whole new series of quests with faction and rewards echoing a little with what we saw in Splitpaw. I hope they give us a monk hat though, because if I didn't mention them, they are pimp.

Who is this adventure pack for? It will be focused on content for levels 55-70. If this is similar to other adventure packs, they've done their homework, and figured out how to reach the majority of the playerbase. You aren't to 55 yet? You will be one day, but you still have a month or so, so get cracking!

New weapons! They are giving us new weapons! Unlike those blasted safety scissors they make me use at work, these are actually will hurt stuff. They haven't elaborated yet, but I'll absolutely lose it if they toss in a Rolling Pin of Doom. The screenies I saw showed a pretty nice looking scythe, but based on the theme, I can see katanas, samurai swords, sai's, really anything that a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle would carry.

The most intriguing part of Fallen Dynasty, to me anyways, is the theme. I've only seen an Asian theme attempted by one other MMO, and while it did seem to be a succesful, I can see them doing so much more. Putting aside what a huge fan I am of all things Asian (except their PC parts), this has the potential to open an entirely different realm of mythology. Dragons, temples, gardens, armor, geisha (ok maybe too much), the possibilities are endless with where they can go.

Where is the downside to this? I do see a small risk in an Eastern theme. Why? Because most of the player base is in the Western world. Sound stupid? Look at the SOGA models last year. Some people loved them, but there were people that adamantly loathed every single one. People don't like change, and are sometimes hesitant to try new things (chai tea for instance). The other downside I fear is more solo instances similar to Harclave. While it was a blast to do, it made players lazy and inept in the game later. I think SOE learned from Harclave though. Done correctly, Fallen Dynasty could be amazing, and will wet our appetite for even more. Here is to expecting SOE to deliver. Now, if you'll excuse me, to put myself in a Eastern mindset, I need to go watch the King and I...I mean Seven Samurai! Seven Samurai!

Be sure to keep checking back to TenTonHammer, for news at E3 about Fallen Dynasty and Echoes of Faydwer.