Sapphyra's State of Norrath Address
Hail, travelers of Norrath!This month we're changing things up a bit and we'd like to let you in on a few more long term plans for later this year. We've put a lot of effort into planning 2007 to ensure it is the best year for EQOA and the time has come to announce some of our "adventurous" future endeavors for the game.
Get ready as the winds of exciting new changes move through Norrath….
March is one of my favorite months – everything starts to come to life again from the cold of winter, and it's a month of vibrance. Almost as the old calendar changed from February, the sun turned itself up a notch. This month also brought some long anticipated updates, from The Luck quest, to the alternate Plane of Disease ability quest, to a promised pass over Master Classes, and much more. April brings a few more changes like Zaroan Plateau access changes and Alchemist reward exchanges.
We have been extremely successful this year extending the time between game updates (from 2-3 weeks out to about 4 weeks). As a result, they have been higher quality, which is what we're always striving for, as well as significantly larger than in the past. The amount of new content we can bring you seems to grow exponentially with the amount of time between live updates. Our internal quality assurance folks and our Hagley guild is getting more time to work out the kinks as well – which again contributes to a higher overall quality level.
With this in mind, we're moving to a new format. What this means is that there will be tons more new content and features to enjoy rolled into a big themed pack of enhancements every 2 months or so – effectively replacing the monthly updates. Our first one is slated for late June, and we'd like to discuss some of what you can expect.
Get Ready For New Story-Drive Adventures:
Adventurers that have reached their 30th season should be on the lookout for new stories to uncover that were previously shrouded in mystery. Somewhere in eastern Tunaria, a bright place is slowly being overtaken by undying darkness. In the lands of Odus, creatures are stirring and becoming more powerful by the moment. Can you overtake them and save the day?
Also this update will debut a new rewards system – you can sell the tales from your journeys! Gaining enough faction with the Storyteller will open up some cool and unique rewards.
And Beyond…
That's just one of the many we have planned. Future updates include:
- New Abilities:
Sure you've reached you're 60th season, and have made your character powerful by collecting the most powerful gear, masteries, and abilities. Can you earn the right to unlock new and powerful abilities? Do you have what it takes to make it to the top?
Werehunter and Lycan Intrigues:
Though tension is high, the werehunters and lycans continue to arrive at a stalemate. Something will come later to rock their worlds to oppose them both.
Factional Unrest in Zaoran Plateau:
The Zaoran Plateau is in a constant state of flux, but there is still a stable balance between the three factions. Rallos does not like a fair fight, so expect him to kick things up a notch later in the year.
Tradeskill-o-rama!
We plan to add new common level 50-60 tradeskill items for all of the current crafts as well as some new, rare items for all levels, plus some other tweaks and additions late fall/early winter.
This is just a taste of what we're planning this year, so stay tuned for more details as we get closer to each one. We're really excited to get started on these new updates and we think that 2007 is shaping up to be a really superb year. With the amazing community out there and a super aggressive schedule for game enhancements here in the dev cave, things are looking bright and shiny for EQOA. So, sharpen your adventuring skills and get ready for new challenges, mysteries, battles and rewards – it is all waiting for you this year in EverQuest Online Adventures!
See you in Norrath.
-Sapphyra and the EQOA Dev Team
To check out the entire article at the official site, click here.