Secrets of Faydwer Revealed!

EQLive celebrates its eighth anniversary, looks forward to tacking on another expansion

by Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle

May 9th, 2007 - Tucked between the more uproarious announcements of Snoop Dogg Cruisin', a chance to try out your skills with pimped-out cars and hydraulics for mobile phones (coming out of SOE's Los Angeles studios, most appropriately) and SOE Taiwan's 2D scroller based on Kung Fu Hustle, was a brief update on one of the few steadfast titles in the MMO industry, EverQuest.

Continually and decisively shrugging off the usual prophets of doom and gloom, EverQuest (or EQLive) continues to go strong into its eighth year. Following the example of the previous compilation EverQuest Evolution, SOE has released a new retail / downloadable version of this touchstone MMORPG called EverQuest: Anniversary Edition which includes each of the expansion the game offers for the bargain price of US$ 19.99.

In case you missed the rather interesting feature set of the latest expansion The Buried Sea, EverQuest now has a host of unique group combat options including ship-to-ship combat and plenty of new missions that span the two paths of advancement offered in the expansion (one battling pirates on the ocean surface, another diving deep into the mysteries of a lost stronghold of an enemy Combine empire). Guilds now have customizable banners, and the game now has a fellowship system which allows persistent groups of players to quickly travel to each other's side, chat in their own channel, and even create a campfire. The Buried Sea also offers a new character slot which powers your armor using ancient Combine technology, and is customizable to change the effect on your armor depending on the type of power source.

Another new expansion was announced at SOE Gamer Day. Perhaps drawing on some of the back-to-the-future content created in EverQuest 2's Echoes of Faydwer expansion, EverQuest will be putting forth a Secrets of Faydwer expansion later this year. Since we're just on the heels of EverQuest's 8th birthday rollout, this new expansion is presumably still in the conceptual stages - we weren't able to discover much about the expansion other than its name. But with 440 zones and an incredible 550 square miles of content (larger than some US states) and a very low box cost, the devs behind EverQuest clearly have their intentions set on delivering a quality, high-value gaming experience for years to come.

Return to the SOE Gamer Day - May 2007 coverage listing.