EverQuest II is approaching its five year anniversary this November and having produced a mind boggling fifty(!) game updates, it’s amazing to see so much effort still being exerted by the development team. Recently we got to see a preview of Game Update #51, which featured the revamp of an old world zone called Lavastorm. Originally one of the two end game zones at launch, it was an unforgiving, volcanic death-trap filled with goblins, fire lizards, and giant globs of lava. Like a theater screening of a romantic drama, the docks near the entrance were filled with masses of sobbing men who were desperately looking for a way out. Trails of burned limbs lead adventurers into the mountain where many never returned (until they wanted their corpses) and many veteran players still harbor some bitter memories to this day. Recognizing the opportunity to make some adjustments and revitalize an area frequently bypassed for Echoes of Faydwer content, SOE has retooled the entire zone.

Ten Ton Hammer had the opportunity to see these changes first hand on the test server by taking a tour lead by the EverQuest 2 community manager and participating in a quick Q&A with two developers heavily involved in the work. I fortunately had taken a few minutes to poke around the zone earlier and was able to observe a few more details the second time through. The zone remains, for the most part, unchanged in the type of content you see, although a new area has been added for end game players to enjoy.

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If you played near launch, you know my exaggerations in the first paragraph were mild and this zone was truly rough around the edges. As it exists on the test server, there is now a quest hub near the entrance of Lavastorm, a dungeon on the far side of the zone, and hundreds of angry creatures, choke points, and death in-between. Aggressiveness of the creatures, especially near the entrance, has been toned back considerably, allowing players (especially solo) a little more breathing space than they previously enjoyed. The tunnel with the goblin patrol, which so many of us infamously ran through, no longer exists, meaning you can now simply walk into Lavastorm proper.

The entrance isn’t the only place that has been toned down. If you walk into any of the goblin areas, there is a considerably lower chance of being snacked on. Wandering creatures I observed were pacified, which reduced the pressures of tip-toeing around everything like players did in the past. This means players now only need to avoid the dangerous groups of goblins digging in rocks piles at static points in the zone. It’s still possible to run into them, but once you note their positions, bypassing is a simple matter. In fact, I found it quite easy to navigate a decent portion of the zone using a level 18 character, which would have barely made it off the dock a month ago.

The threat level of the inhabitants isn’t the only change, however, because even with more tolerant creatures, the zone is still large and time consuming to navigate. Many of us remember making the suicide run from the entrance to the teleporter next to the Solusek dungeon on the other side. Much like the Greater and Lesser Faydark zones, there are now a series of horse masters to transport you, so your friends won’t complain about having to wait any longer. Of course SOE could not explain how you were supposed to ride a horse made of fire and lava, but we’ll just claim “magic” and move right along.

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One of the great advances we’ve seen in MMO games over the last few years is the usage of progressive quest hubs. You complete a series of quests in one area, which send you to another more difficult area, and so on pushing you into increasingly harder content. This zones’ content was sparse and difficulty was frequently judged on geographic location. I asked Brett Scheinert if we could expect more progressive quest hubs in this zone revamp. He was quick to reassure me, "The zone has a lot more progression and a couple quest hubs that help to guide you through it." It sounded like the traditional A to B was now going to have a few more stops in between.

There were plenty of things to see during my tour, but let's get down to the meat of the update: the content. In the past this was mostly a group zone, although a revamp at one point went through and demoted everything to solo targets. What was most interesting about what they've done with Lavastorm is in addition to revamping the experience for level 45-55 players, have added an entire new area full of level 80's which includes a series of quests to complete.

The lower content will center on a new faction; an occurance that EverQuest 2 has become so famous for over the last two expansions. This time you'll be helping goblins, which is certainly a change, but there is an even more unusual twist. Unlike every other faction you have likely ever seen, the goblins absolutely adore you. They like you so much they aren't going to sell you anything at all. You'll have to complete quests, some of which are repeatable, to help ruin your faction and unlock what they have available.

What is available for purchase you ask? The usual battery of items appropriate to a player’s level, mixed in with a few pieces of furniture and a mount. The furniture of course fits the theme with items like mining carts, Lava Blossoms, a Dakota Bone Trophy, end even a tinfoil hat to wear. The mount was, of course, on fire but at least provided a reasonable speed bonus. The Lava Armor was impressive, although statless, and will make a trendy addition to appearance outfits so many people are fond of.

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The end game content sits mostly on the western end of the zone with an entire new area full of void monsters. The tie in is with the Shadow Odyssey expansion, so if for some reason you haven't purchased it yet, some instances will be unavailable. Quests are available right inside where the old Solusek teleporter is and progress players toward a two group raid instance called the “Ward of Elements.” The EQ2 dev Timetravel provided some details, which included the tidbit that we'll meet Najena herself, "It's very long with eight bosses, however the first six are non-linear and can be done in any order as players learn the zone."

The only thing we didn't see was the new epic X4 instance that sits on a small island just west of the docks. SOE did not confirm this was ready for the patch, but it appears to be part of it eventually. It looks identical to the void portals in the Moors of Ykesha, and my curiosity couldn't be curbed so I poked my head inside. While I was only able to see the first room, it was identical to the Anchor of Bazzul. Ginormous void creatures patrolled around with a named mob standing in front of three forcefields.

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This was a significantly large update for the EverQuest II team and when questioned if this was indicative of what we could expect in the future, he answered “There won't always be a zone revamp, and the new content won't always be lots of level 80 instances. However, this is more of the style to expect with the content updates a bit farther apart, with lots of stuff tied together in it.” It sounds like updates are going to add up to what they were originally in EQ; just a little more that are fewer and farther between.

This covers most of what we'll see in Game Update 51, and while I'm sure there are a few things we didn't see or weren't quite prepared for the tour, you get the idea. While I'm not sure how jamming an entire server of high ends into a single space will prove popular, as everyone completes their quests it should lighten up and augment The Shadow Odyssey content well. Since I have a clear memory of Lavastorm, I can say with certainty that it's a lot friendlier to soloers and worth a look. Keep an eye out for this patch hitting the EverQuest II live servers sometime in the next few weeks.


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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