EverQuest II

EverQuest II
Developer(s) Sony Online Entertainment
Publisher(s) Sony Online Entertainment
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) 9 November 2004
Genre(s) MMORPG
Mode(s) Multiplayer

EverQuest II is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), the sequel to EverQuest, and shipped on 4 November 2004. It features updated graphics and different gameplay from its predecessor.

Gameplay

Within EverQuest II, each player creates a character to interact in the 3D, fictional world of Norrath. The character can adventure (complete quests, explore the world, kill monsters and gain treasures and experience) and socialize with other players. The game also has a 'tradeskill' system that allows players to create items for in-game use. The player chooses their character's race and type, which affects their abilities. Characters collect experience to advance in level. EverQuest II enables social interaction with other players through grouping and the creation of guilds. Like players, guilds can gain experience and levels, partially from players completing special tasks called Heritage quests, but primarily from guild-oriented quests and tasks called "writs," and gaining guild experience by killing epic monsters. Higher guild levels open up special rewards unavailable to non-guilded characters, and cause certain other rewards to cost less. These rewards include housing options, mounts, house items, apparel, and special titles. Although EverQuest II focuses on player versus environment (PvE), dedicated player versus player (PvP) servers were added in February 2006. EverQuest II has a heavy focus on quests—more than 6,000 exist. The EverQuest II feature set has expanded since its release in 2004.

Players must choose a 'race' when creating a character. The choice of races include human, barbarian, dwarf, erudite, ogre, iksar, troll, gnome, half elf, high elf, halfling, wood elf and dark elf (which were available in the original EverQuest) along with new options such as the Kerra (a cat-person similar to the Vah Shir of the original EverQuest), the Ratonga (a rat-like people), the Sarnak (a dragon-like people) and the Fae and Arasai (fairy-like people). The Froglok race was originally locked until a special server-wide quest was completed to make them playable. Some races are restricted to certain starting cities, based on their alignment, but can turn traitor and move to the opposing city. There are four "archetypes" in EverQuest II - Fighter, Scout, Priest and Mage. When EverQuest 2 was launched, a player chose the character's archetype during the initial character creation and then chose a 'class' at level 10 and a 'sub-class' at level 20. This system was changed in 2006 so that a character's final class is chosen at creation.

Acquisition of equipment is a major focus of character progression. EverQuest II has no experience loss or lost levels from dying. Upon death, characters respawn with their gear intact at specific revival locations, with a minor experience debt to be repaid. Gear is fully functional until its condition runs out after 10 consecutive deaths, and is repaired to 100% for a fee. Players can form groups of up to 6 players, or raids of up to 24 players (i.e., four groups). Monster encounters are classified into corresponding categories of difficulty, and tend to drop corresponding tiers of treasure. Player interaction is encouraged by integrated voice chat, a built-in mail system, global chat channels, and a global marketplace. A looking-for-group tool is provided for adventurers, and looking-for-work for crafters. EverQuest II has strong support for guilds. Each guild has an experience bar and earns guild levels (up to 150). The guild gains experience when its members perform tasks that earn city status. Higher guild levels unlock new items, mounts, houses, guild halls, and other privileges for its members. Guilds get a hosted website and forum, as well as a guild bank with officer controls. Guild recruitment tools are integrated into the game. Players can also maintain houses. A secure commission system allows players to sell their crafting skills to other players, or use the common market system to sell finished items.

Plot

EverQuest II is set on the fictional world of Norrath five hundred years after the The Planes of Power storyline of the original EverQuest game. The gods withdrew from the world in retaliation for mortal incursions into their planes. On Norrath itself, Dark Elves and the Orcs destroyed much of Faydwer; while the Ogres, Goblins, Orcs, and Giants ravaged Antonica. Transport and communication to the moon Luclin were cut off. The storyline says that 100 years ago, the continent of Antonica was ripped apart into smaller islands, which are now called the Shattered Lands. The oceans became impassible, preventing contact between the continents of Norrath. Fifteen years ago, the moon Luclin exploded, and parts of the shattered moon remain in the sky.

EverQuest II is set in what is called the "Age of Destiny" on the world of Norrath, 500 years later than the setting of the original EverQuest. The game world has been drastically affected by several cataclysms (see Story, above) since the original EverQuest. The planes have closed, the gods temporarily left, and the moon Luclin has been destroyed (and partially rained onto the face of Norrath). Remnants from the original EverQuest's Norrath can be found throughout the Shattered Lands. Players can ride trained griffons on predetermined routes over the Shattered Lands, or acquire a horse, flying carpet, warg, rhino or a floating disk so that they can travel more swiftly throughout much of the game world.

Development

SOE markets EverQuest II not as a direct sequel, but as a "parallel universe" to the original EverQuest. It is set in an alternate future of the original game's setting, having diverged at the conclusion of the Planes of Power expansion (the lore is explained in an in-game book). This allows both development teams to pursue whatever direction they want to take without impacting the other, and allows players of the original EverQuest to continue receiving updates without forcing players down a specific path. In that sense, they are two completely separate games bound together by name only. Players of the original EverQuest will find many familiar places and characters, as well as "heritage items" that are similar in name and function to items known from EverQuest and can be gained via heritage quests.

In Europe, the game was published by Ubisoft, followed by Koch Media. As of 2010 it lacks any European publisher and is distributed in Europe only as a digital download.

In February 2005, EverQuest II began allowing players to place an order for pizza delivery from within the game, with a simple and easy command typed into the chat bar, "/pizza".[1] This promotion has since ended, but generated significant press for the game.

In June 2005, SOE introduced Station Exchange to EverQuest II. Station Exchange is an official auction system—only on designated servers—allowing real money to be transferred for in-game money, items or characters.

In March 2006, SOE announced that it would end its Chinese/Korean operations for EverQuest II, which were being supported in the region by Gamania. The beta period for the game in China/Korea ended on 29 March, and on 30 March, all Chinese/Korean accounts were moved to the US servers of the game.

In July 2007, SOE introduced magazine EQuinox, which is the official magazine of EverQuest II. The release date of this magazine was 9 August 2007.

In December 2008, SOE introduced Station Cash, a real-money trading (RMT) feature.

in January 2009, SOE together with Valve made EverQuest II available on Steam.[2]

In July 2010 SOE announced a separate version of EverQuest II called EverQuest II Extended. EverQuest II Extended is a free to play version of EverQuest II funded by micro-transactions or optional subscription play. The free to play version was run on a separate server from the subscription servers.[3]

In November 2011 SOE announced EverQuest II was going free to play following a similar path as EverQuest II Extended. As of December 6, 2011, with the release of GU62 and Age of Discovery, EverQuest II updated from being a subscription based game to a free to play title with subscription optional.

At the end of October 2012, Krono was added as an experiment. Krono work like the Plex currency in EVE Online: it allows players to buy an in-game item for real money that adds 30 days of Gold subscription to the account. Krono can also be traded between players, sold via the Broker or gifted to another player's account. Krono is also a much safer way of purchasing game time than purchasing SC cards from players in the game, which may or may not sell you a valid code. [4]

Audio

A small number of NPCs use actual voices. The actors used for these parts included Hollywood stars such as Heather Graham (as Queen Antonia Bayle), Christopher Lee (as Overlord Lucan D'Lere) and Minnie Driver (as 'Dancer'). Wil Wheaton, Dwight Schultz, Richard Horvitz, Alan Dale and Danica McKellar are also part of the cast. According to SOE, in October 2004, EverQuest II featured 130 hours of spoken dialog recorded by 1,700 voice actors. More dialog has been added since release as part of regular game updates. In September 2005, EverQuest II: Desert of Flames added player voice emotes. Also features voice actors Peter Renaday, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, and Nick Jameson.

The music for the game, over ninety minutes' worth, was composed by Emmy-award winning composer Laura Karpman and recorded by the FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague under her direction. Karpman has said of the music in the game: "Every place has a theme, its own separate, unique feeling - from a quasi-African savanna to a Babylonian city. Every cue in EverQuest II, with the exception of the attack cues, is like a main title of a movie. A more cinematic experience for the player was one of our goals." Purchasers of the EverQuest II Collector's Edition received a soundtrack CD as part of the package. The expansions, Echoes of Faydwer and Rise of Kunark, included many themes from the corresponding zones in the original EverQuest, arranged by Inon Zur. With the Rise of Kunark expansion came a major update to the combat music. A new system was added with 14 contextual combat themes. The strength of the enemy or enemies and tide of the battle determine the tone of the combat music. The previous combat music consisted of just a few linear pieces.

Expansions

Title Type Released date
The Bloodline Chronicles Adventure Pack 21 March 2005
The Splitpaw Saga Adventure Pack 28 June 2005
Desert of Flames Expansion 13 September 2005
Kingdom of Sky Expansion 21 February 2006
The Fallen Dynasty Adventure Pack 14 June 2006
Echoes of Faydwer Expansion 14 November 2006
Rise of Kunark Expansion 13 November 2007
The Shadow Odyssey[5] Expansion 18 November 2008
Sentinel's Fate[6] Expansion 16 February 2010
Destiny of Velious Expansion 22 February 2011
Age of Discovery Feature Expansion 6 December 2011
Chains of Eternity Expansion 13 November 2012
Tears of Veeshan Expansion 12 November 2013
Altar of Malice Expansion 11 November 2014[7]
Terrors of Thalumbra Expansion 17 November 2015

With EverQuest II, Sony Online Entertainment introduced the concept of Adventure Packs (an innovation created by Sean Kauppinen, who was the head of international Product PR at the time). Adventure Packs are meant to be smaller "mini-expansions" to the game, adding a plot line with several zones, new creatures and items to the game via digital download. These smaller Adventure Packs come with a smaller fee ranging from US$4.99 to US$7.99. However, recently the development team has decided to release free zones and content instead of making adventure packs. Some recent releases include a new starting city, Neriak, with a new starting race, Arasai;[8] and new high level dungeons, The Throne of New Tunaria[9] and the Estate of Unrest.[10]

Similar to other games, expansions can be bought in stores or downloaded through a digital service. The retail versions often come packaged with a bonus feature such as a creature that the player can put in their in-game house. Expansions generally introduce many new zones with new plot lines, features, creatures, items, cities and often come with a boost in the level cap or a new player race. Currently, all players have been given the expansions preceding Destiny of Velious as part of the base game. Access to levels above 92 and their respective zones require the purchase of the Tears of Veeshan expansion, which includes the previous Chains of Eternity expansion. Free to Play accounts have access to the same areas as subscription accounts, but have certain restrictions in place. Many of the free to play restrictions have been removed, including bag slot restrictions, coin restrictions, quest journal limits, race and class restrictions, and gear restrictions. However, other restrictions such as the inability to buy or sell items on the broker as a free player, having spell tier restrictions, and being unable to move the alternate advancement slider remain.

Scholarly research

EverQuest II has been used by academics to study a variety of phenomenon e.g., virtual economic behavior in EverQuest II follows real-world patterns in terms of production, consumption and money supply,[11] observations that less than one percent (0.43%) of all the players are Platinum Farmers and more than three quarters (77.66%) of all Platinum Farmers are Chinese.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "EverQuest II - /pizza". Archived from the original on August 30, 2005.
  2. ↑ As reported on eq2players.com eq2players.com news archive
  3. ↑ "EverQuest II Extended FAQ".
  4. ↑ "Krono are Now Available!".
  5. ↑ "EverQuest II Players - The Shadow Odyssey".
  6. ↑ "Sentinels Fate -new expansion announced".
  7. ↑ "SOE Live 2014: EverQuest II's Altar of Malice expansion and a new playable race".
  8. ↑ "EverQuest II Players - Game Update #35".
  9. ↑ "EverQuest II : Game Update 36 Peek and Screenshots - igxe.com".
  10. ↑ "EverQuest II Players - Game Update #32".
  11. ↑ Castronova, E, Williams D, Shen C, Ratan R, Xiong L, Huang Y, Keegan B. 2009. As real as real? Macroeconomic behavior in a large-scale virtual world New Media & Society. 11:685-707.
  12. ↑ Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, Brain Keegan, Jaideep Srivastava, Dmitri Williams, Noshir Contractor, “Mining for Gold Farmers: Automatic Detection of Deviant Players in MMOGS” Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE Social Computing (SocialCom-09). Symposium on Social Intelligence and Networking (SIN-09). Vancouver, Canada, August 29–31, 2009.

External links

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