EverQuest II
Encyclopedia
EverQuest II is a 3D
fantasy
massively multiplayer online role-playing game
(MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment
(SOE), based on EverQuest
, and shipped on 8 November 2004. It features updated graphics and different gameplay
from its predecessor.
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 takes place in what is called the Age of Destiny. In this setting, Queen Antonia Bayle of Qeynos is a benevolent sorceress who welcomes all goodly races to her city to help rebuild Norrath. The Overlord of Freeport, Lucan D'Lere, a centuries-old fallen paladin, (who was oddly enough a warrior trainer in EQ1) rules the evil races in his plans of conquest.
In the creation of a character, the player may choose the character's race and class. Various classes have specialized abilities that are complementary to their class. (Monks will get mainly melee combat abilities that use their fists or fist weapons, or a Warlock will get mainly spell abilities that do large amounts of spike damage but cost a lot of mana.)
EverQuest II enables social interaction with other players through grouping and through 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.
The Everquest II feature set has expanded since its release in 2004.
Each character may advance through 90 levels of experience in his chosen adventure class, and 90 levels in a tradeskill class that is chosen after creation. Characters are customized by earning up to 300 Alternate Advancement Points during the course of gameplay, which are used to purchase achievement abilities. Each adventure class has four trees of achievement abilities to invest in.
Each adventure class accumulates more than 20 distinct abilities. A common mechanic is used for physical combat (Combat Arts) and spellcasting (Spells) - all such abilities draw from the character's Power resource, which must be recharged between battles. Most spells and combat arts can be upgraded through eight tiers of improvement, with the lowest tier granted automatically upon gaining each adventure level. Spell upgrades are obtained just like equipment upgrades - as loot, quest rewards, or produced through crafting. An optional system called Heroic Opportunities grants bonus effects when players combine their abilities in specific ways.
Every character can have a Tradeskill Class in addition to their Adventuring Class. The player specializes in one of 9 Tradeskill Classes (excluding the 2 secondary tradeskilling skills, adorning and tinkering) as his character advances in tradeskill levels. When crafting an item, the player reacts to unanticipated crafting events by using crafting skills, such that the crafting process is superficially similar to combat.
Acquisition of equipment is a major focus of progression. Character inventory consists of 8 armor slots, 8 accessory slots, and 4 weapons-related slots. Most equipment has a minimum adventure level requirement to equip it, and must be permanently attuned to the character before using it. Equipment can be enhanced by applying "augmentations" on a per-item basis.
Equipment and treasure are classified into broad tiers such as "Fabled", "Legendary", and "Treasured". Each quest generally gives an item reward of a tier that reflects its difficulty. Almost all creatures have separate lists of potential loot for each tier, with reduced chances of winning the best (Fabled). Player-crafted items are also divided into tiers, based on the rarity of materials.
Everquest II has no experience loss, corpse runs on death, 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 wear any clothing, allowed by their class, in "appearance slots", overriding the appearance of their functional gear. A Dressing Room feature allows players to see what their character would look like wearing equipment that they do not possess.
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. Players can view each others' statistics and leveling history on the EQ2Players web site, on which basic features are free, while advanced features require a monthly fee.
A mentoring system allows a higher-level character to pretend to be a lower-level character, when grouped with another player of lower level, or by consulting a Chronomage in the major cities. All equipment and abilities of the mentor are scaled down, and, where a lower-level character is being 'mentored,' a bonus is granted to that character's rate of advancement.
Everquest II has strong support for guilds. Each guild has an experience bar and earns guild levels (up to 90). 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.
Player housing is accessible to players from level 1. Furniture is stackable and scalable, and in-house pets are available. House styles are unique to each of seven cities (as well as luxury houses typically unaffiliated with any city,) with various sizes and layouts available in each. Player houses can be shared and visited at the owner's discretion, are connected to the player market system. As well, guilds can purchase halls which function similarly to houses (but often on a much larger scale) that can be decorated with useful amenities - such as bankers, broker agents, and travel portals.
A secure commission system allows players to sell their crafting skills to other players, or use the common market system to sell finished items.
Many gameplay choices were made in order to stop old, sometimes undesirable, tactics that emerged in EQ; a major difference is the concept of "locked encounters". Currently a group or a solo player can set an option to lock encounters. When encounters are locked, only the player or group who becomes linked to that encounter is involved, which stops kill stealing
. Other players cannot assist in the encounter unless the player who locked it uses a special "/yell" command for help, after which the encounter rewards neither loot nor experience.
Regeneration of power and hitpoints takes place very quickly when out of combat in EQ2. While locked in combat both regenerate very slowly. EQ required players to sit to regenerate hitpoints and mana, and this happened very slowly, also adding a level of danger from being in the sitting position.
"Trains" (encounters pursuing fleeing players to a zone line, and then attack uninvolved players), a problem in Everquest, are no longer a problem in EQ2. Encounters will not aggro
on (attack) uninvolved players until they first return to their original location. Encounters returning to their spawn point are also immune to attack until they return there.
To stop kiting
, players in combat lose all their movement speed enhancements except the special "sprint" ability, which costs a considerable amount of power to use, although some classes have speed debuffs that slow the enemy, thus making kiting a viable option. Because certain player classes such as Rangers and Mages have limited effectiveness in close melee range, many of these players have discovered another method of pseudo-kiting by running backwards and firing a missile weapon at the enemy. The enemy lands fewer attacks, but can take significant damage depending on the type of ammunition or missile weapon used, and the skill level of the user.
The penalization of death has been heavily reduced, instead of a "corpse run" to regain your items and lessen the experience loss, in EQ2 you will only have slight damage on your equipped items which will require mending after 10 deaths, and a slight exp loss. There are player made items which you can carry with you to mend the items. Also of note, once you gain a level in EQ2, you never lose it.
Players arrive in one of : New Hallas, Hate's Envy in Darklight Woods, and Timorous Deep in Kunark, and then move to one of Six cities, New Hallas (Neutral) Qeynos or Kelethin (the 'good' cities) or Freeport, Neriak, or Gorowyn (the 'evil' cities). All of the other cities in the world were destroyed, taken over (Ak'anon, Kaladim, and a few others), rendered inaccessible (Halas), or have banished all outsiders (Felwithe and Rivervale) in The Shattering. The original player cities that were present at the game's launch (Qeynos and Freeport) are divided into multiple zones, with the playable races each having their own special section (Village) of these cities. The player cities introduced into the game at later dates (Kelethin and Neriak) are smaller than the original cities, and as such each 'newer' city is completely contained within one zone. Players from Qeynos or Kelethin are not welcome in Freeport or Neriak and vice versa unless they choose to betray their city via the Betrayal Questline. Players are allowed to begin the Betrayal Questline from level 10 onwards.
The game world features wide geographical and ecological variety.
In EQ2, 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. "Mariner's Bells" are scattered across the land allowing instant transportation across various areas of the world. With the inception of the Kingdom of Sky expansion, the Ulteran wizard spires teleport you up into Kingdom of Sky, with spires in different zones taking you to different areas of the expansion. With the Echoes of Faydwer expansion, Wardens and Furies (the Druid classes) gained the ability to teleport individuals to one of five (now eight) druid rings. Likewise, Warlocks and Wizards (the Sorcerer classes) gained the ability to teleport themselves or their groups to one of three (now five) wizard spires.
EverQuest II also includes instanced zones—parallel copies of some zones where characters in one 'instance' of the zone cannot interact with the characters or MOBs of any other 'instance' of that zone.
, but can turn traitor and move to the opposing city.
Qeynos (good) and Freeport (evil) were the original starting cities, but new characters can no longer start in those locations.
1 Introduced on 27 May 2005 with a questline that was initially required to unlock the race.
2 Introduced with the release of the Expansion, Echoes of Faydwer.
3 Introduced with Game Update 35. (You must have Echoes of Faydwer to make an Arasai, but you may start in Neriak as another race without it.)
4 Introduced with Rise of Kunark Expansion. Characters created in Timorous Deep are considered evil by other entities in the game, but the city itself is neutral as a mercenary city.
5 Introduced prior to Game Update 59. (You must purchase a token from the Station Marketplace to make a Freeblood.) Note with the Velious Expansion purchase the Freeblood Race also became claimable without the purchase of a token.
6 Became neutral as of Game Update 60 (previously Evil).
" in EQ2 - Fighter, Scout, Priest and Mage. When EQ2 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 Live Update 19 in January 2006 so that a character's final class is chosen at creation. While archetype>class>sub-class system is no longer explicitly defined in the live game, it still defines the roles of classes. Broadly, in a group situation, any priest can be a healer, any fighter can be a suitable tank, any mage or scout can deal damage, with the mage classes typically being able to deal more damage than a scout class, but being more fragile. Evil classes, such as the Shadowknight, are only available in Freeport, Neriak, or Gorowyn, while good classes, such as the Paladin, are available in Qeynos, Kelethin or New Halas. Neutral classes, such as the Guardians, are available in all cities. Ivory background means the class is available in all cities, light blue background means Qeynos, Kelethin or New Halas only, reddish background means Freeport, Neriak, and Gorowyn only.
The Echoes of Faydwer
expansion introduced two secondary tradeskills. These go alongside the primary tradeskills. Characters do not gain separate experience points for these tradeskills; maximum skill level rises with the primary tradeskill or adventuring level.
(as Overlord Lucan D'Lere). Wil Wheaton
, Dwight Schultz
, Richard Horvitz 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.
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 EQ2, 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." http://www.music4games.net/News_Display.aspx?id=246. 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.
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 old EQ will find many familiar places and characters, as well as "heritage items" that are similar in name and function to items known from EQ 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". 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.
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 is run on separate servers from the subscription servers.
With Everquest II, Sony Online Entertainment
introduced the concept of Adventure Packs. 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; and new high level dungeons, The Throne of New Tunaria and the Estate of Unrest.
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.
virtual economic behavior in EverQuest2 follows real-world patterns in terms of production, consumption and money supply, observations that less than one percent (0.43%) of all the players are Platinum Farmers and more than three-fourths (77.66%) of all Platinum Farmers are Chinese.
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
(MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment is a game development and game publishing division of Sony that is best known for creating massively multiplayer online games, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, DC Universe...
(SOE), based on EverQuest
EverQuest
EverQuest, often shortened to EQ, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game that was released on the 16th of March, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost...
, and shipped on 8 November 2004. It features updated graphics and different gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
from its predecessor.
Story
EverQuest II is set on the fictional world of Norrath five hundred years after the The Planes of PowerThe Planes of Power
EverQuest: The Planes of Power is the fourth expansion to EverQuest, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game...
storyline of the original EverQuest
EverQuest
EverQuest, often shortened to EQ, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game that was released on the 16th of March, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost...
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 takes place in what is called the Age of Destiny. In this setting, Queen Antonia Bayle of Qeynos is a benevolent sorceress who welcomes all goodly races to her city to help rebuild Norrath. The Overlord of Freeport, Lucan D'Lere, a centuries-old fallen paladin, (who was oddly enough a warrior trainer in EQ1) rules the evil races in his plans of conquest.
Gameplay
Within EverQuest II, each player creates a character to interact in the 3-D fictional world of Norrath. Within the game, 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.In the creation of a character, the player may choose the character's race and class. Various classes have specialized abilities that are complementary to their class. (Monks will get mainly melee combat abilities that use their fists or fist weapons, or a Warlock will get mainly spell abilities that do large amounts of spike damage but cost a lot of mana.)
EverQuest II enables social interaction with other players through grouping and through the creation of guilds
Clan (computer gaming)
In computer and video gaming, a clan or guild is an organised group of players that regularly play together in a particular multiplayer games. These games range from groups of a few friends to 1000-person organizations, with a broad range of structures, goals and members. The lifespan of a clan...
. 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
Player versus player
Player versus player, or PvP, is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between two or more live participants. This is in contrast to games where players compete against computer controlled opponents, which is correspondingly referred to as player versus environment...
(PvP) servers were added in February 2006.
The Everquest II feature set has expanded since its release in 2004.
Character development
Everquest II is a class-based MMO. At character creation, players choose one of 19 races and 24 adventure classes. Any race can be any class (with some conditions). Five starting cities are provided, each with its own beginner experience. Hair and facial features are chosen during character creation, but can be changed later by visiting a Barber Shop in the game world.Each character may advance through 90 levels of experience in his chosen adventure class, and 90 levels in a tradeskill class that is chosen after creation. Characters are customized by earning up to 300 Alternate Advancement Points during the course of gameplay, which are used to purchase achievement abilities. Each adventure class has four trees of achievement abilities to invest in.
Each adventure class accumulates more than 20 distinct abilities. A common mechanic is used for physical combat (Combat Arts) and spellcasting (Spells) - all such abilities draw from the character's Power resource, which must be recharged between battles. Most spells and combat arts can be upgraded through eight tiers of improvement, with the lowest tier granted automatically upon gaining each adventure level. Spell upgrades are obtained just like equipment upgrades - as loot, quest rewards, or produced through crafting. An optional system called Heroic Opportunities grants bonus effects when players combine their abilities in specific ways.
Every character can have a Tradeskill Class in addition to their Adventuring Class. The player specializes in one of 9 Tradeskill Classes (excluding the 2 secondary tradeskilling skills, adorning and tinkering) as his character advances in tradeskill levels. When crafting an item, the player reacts to unanticipated crafting events by using crafting skills, such that the crafting process is superficially similar to combat.
Game content
Everquest II has a heavy focus on quests. More than 6000 quests have been discovered by players as of January 2009. Game rewards are biased toward quests. The Achievement Point system is mainly advanced by completing quests. Much of the game lore is presented through quests, using an interactive dialogue system.Acquisition of equipment is a major focus of progression. Character inventory consists of 8 armor slots, 8 accessory slots, and 4 weapons-related slots. Most equipment has a minimum adventure level requirement to equip it, and must be permanently attuned to the character before using it. Equipment can be enhanced by applying "augmentations" on a per-item basis.
Equipment and treasure are classified into broad tiers such as "Fabled", "Legendary", and "Treasured". Each quest generally gives an item reward of a tier that reflects its difficulty. Almost all creatures have separate lists of potential loot for each tier, with reduced chances of winning the best (Fabled). Player-crafted items are also divided into tiers, based on the rarity of materials.
Everquest II has no experience loss, corpse runs on death, 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 wear any clothing, allowed by their class, in "appearance slots", overriding the appearance of their functional gear. A Dressing Room feature allows players to see what their character would look like wearing equipment that they do not possess.
Community features
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. A monster of a given level may be normal (as strong as a single player), Heroic (as strong as a group of players), or Epic (as strong as a raid force). Each encounter may take the form of a single strong monster, or a group of lesser monsters that must be fought simultaneously.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. Players can view each others' statistics and leveling history on the EQ2Players web site, on which basic features are free, while advanced features require a monthly fee.
A mentoring system allows a higher-level character to pretend to be a lower-level character, when grouped with another player of lower level, or by consulting a Chronomage in the major cities. All equipment and abilities of the mentor are scaled down, and, where a lower-level character is being 'mentored,' a bonus is granted to that character's rate of advancement.
Everquest II has strong support for guilds. Each guild has an experience bar and earns guild levels (up to 90). 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.
Player housing is accessible to players from level 1. Furniture is stackable and scalable, and in-house pets are available. House styles are unique to each of seven cities (as well as luxury houses typically unaffiliated with any city,) with various sizes and layouts available in each. Player houses can be shared and visited at the owner's discretion, are connected to the player market system. As well, guilds can purchase halls which function similarly to houses (but often on a much larger scale) that can be decorated with useful amenities - such as bankers, broker agents, and travel portals.
A secure commission system allows players to sell their crafting skills to other players, or use the common market system to sell finished items.
Differences from the original
Perhaps the most significant differences are the high quality graphics, including detailed character graphics, very large and detailed world zones, and highly customizable user interface and graphics settings.Many gameplay choices were made in order to stop old, sometimes undesirable, tactics that emerged in EQ; a major difference is the concept of "locked encounters". Currently a group or a solo player can set an option to lock encounters. When encounters are locked, only the player or group who becomes linked to that encounter is involved, which stops kill stealing
Kill stealing
In online games and especially first-person shooter games, MMORPGs and MUDs, kill stealing is the practice of arranging to get credit for killing an enemy, when it should have clearly been another player's kill. An example is when a player in a first-person shooter whittles an enemy's health down...
. Other players cannot assist in the encounter unless the player who locked it uses a special "/yell" command for help, after which the encounter rewards neither loot nor experience.
Regeneration of power and hitpoints takes place very quickly when out of combat in EQ2. While locked in combat both regenerate very slowly. EQ required players to sit to regenerate hitpoints and mana, and this happened very slowly, also adding a level of danger from being in the sitting position.
"Trains" (encounters pursuing fleeing players to a zone line, and then attack uninvolved players), a problem in Everquest, are no longer a problem in EQ2. Encounters will not aggro
Hate (MMORPG terminology)
Hate, aggro, or threat is a mechanism used in many MMORPGs as well as some RPGs by which non-playing characters prioritize which players to attack. Players who generate the most hate on an NPC will be preferentially attacked by that NPC...
on (attack) uninvolved players until they first return to their original location. Encounters returning to their spawn point are also immune to attack until they return there.
To stop kiting
Kiting (MMORPG term)
Kiting is a term primarily encountered in MMORPGs referring to a popular method of killing mobs or other players by staying at a distance, using ranged attacks, and running whenever the enemy comes near...
, players in combat lose all their movement speed enhancements except the special "sprint" ability, which costs a considerable amount of power to use, although some classes have speed debuffs that slow the enemy, thus making kiting a viable option. Because certain player classes such as Rangers and Mages have limited effectiveness in close melee range, many of these players have discovered another method of pseudo-kiting by running backwards and firing a missile weapon at the enemy. The enemy lands fewer attacks, but can take significant damage depending on the type of ammunition or missile weapon used, and the skill level of the user.
The penalization of death has been heavily reduced, instead of a "corpse run" to regain your items and lessen the experience loss, in EQ2 you will only have slight damage on your equipped items which will require mending after 10 deaths, and a slight exp loss. There are player made items which you can carry with you to mend the items. Also of note, once you gain a level in EQ2, you never lose it.
Setting
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 EQs Norrath can be found throughout the Shattered Lands.Players arrive in one of : New Hallas, Hate's Envy in Darklight Woods, and Timorous Deep in Kunark, and then move to one of Six cities, New Hallas (Neutral) Qeynos or Kelethin (the 'good' cities) or Freeport, Neriak, or Gorowyn (the 'evil' cities). All of the other cities in the world were destroyed, taken over (Ak'anon, Kaladim, and a few others), rendered inaccessible (Halas), or have banished all outsiders (Felwithe and Rivervale) in The Shattering. The original player cities that were present at the game's launch (Qeynos and Freeport) are divided into multiple zones, with the playable races each having their own special section (Village) of these cities. The player cities introduced into the game at later dates (Kelethin and Neriak) are smaller than the original cities, and as such each 'newer' city is completely contained within one zone. Players from Qeynos or Kelethin are not welcome in Freeport or Neriak and vice versa unless they choose to betray their city via the Betrayal Questline. Players are allowed to begin the Betrayal Questline from level 10 onwards.
The game world features wide geographical and ecological variety.
In EQ2, players can ride trained griffons
Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...
on predetermined routes over the Shattered Lands, or acquire a horse, flying carpet
Magic carpet
A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet that can be used to transport persons who are on it instantaneously or quickly to their destination.-In literature:...
, warg
Warg
In Norse mythology, a vargr is a wolf and in particular refers to the wolf Fenrir and his sons Sköll and Hati. Based on this, J. R. R. Tolkien in his fiction used the Old English form warg In Norse mythology, a vargr (often anglicised as warg or varg) is a wolf and in particular refers to the...
, rhino or a floating disk so that they can travel more swiftly throughout much of the game world. "Mariner's Bells" are scattered across the land allowing instant transportation across various areas of the world. With the inception of the Kingdom of Sky expansion, the Ulteran wizard spires teleport you up into Kingdom of Sky, with spires in different zones taking you to different areas of the expansion. With the Echoes of Faydwer expansion, Wardens and Furies (the Druid classes) gained the ability to teleport individuals to one of five (now eight) druid rings. Likewise, Warlocks and Wizards (the Sorcerer classes) gained the ability to teleport themselves or their groups to one of three (now five) wizard spires.
EverQuest II also includes instanced zones—parallel copies of some zones where characters in one 'instance' of the zone cannot interact with the characters or MOBs of any other 'instance' of that zone.
Character races
Players must choose a 'race' when creating a character. The choice of races include human, ogre, dwarf, wood elf and dark elf (and others which were available in the original EQ) along with new options such as the Kerra (a cat-person similar to the Vah Shir of the original EQ), the Ratonga (a rat-like people) and with the purchase of an expansion, Fae and Arasai. 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 alignmentAlignment (role-playing games)
In some role-playing games, alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game....
, but can turn traitor and move to the opposing city.
Qeynos (good) and Freeport (evil) were the original starting cities, but new characters can no longer start in those locations.
| Good Only (Kelethin2, New Halas) |
Neutral (All Starting Cities) |
Evil Only (Neriak3, Gorowyn4) |
|---|---|---|
| Dwarf Fae2 Froglok1 Halfling High Elf Wood Elf |
Barbarian Erudite Freeblood5 Gnome Half Elf Human Kerra Ratonga6 |
Arasai3 Dark Elf Iksar Ogre Sarnak4 Troll |
1 Introduced on 27 May 2005 with a questline that was initially required to unlock the race.
2 Introduced with the release of the Expansion, Echoes of Faydwer.
3 Introduced with Game Update 35. (You must have Echoes of Faydwer to make an Arasai, but you may start in Neriak as another race without it.)
4 Introduced with Rise of Kunark Expansion. Characters created in Timorous Deep are considered evil by other entities in the game, but the city itself is neutral as a mercenary city.
5 Introduced prior to Game Update 59. (You must purchase a token from the Station Marketplace to make a Freeblood.) Note with the Velious Expansion purchase the Freeblood Race also became claimable without the purchase of a token.
6 Became neutral as of Game Update 60 (previously Evil).
Adventurer classes
There are four "archetypesCharacter class
In role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
" in EQ2 - Fighter, Scout, Priest and Mage. When EQ2 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 Live Update 19 in January 2006 so that a character's final class is chosen at creation. While archetype>class>sub-class system is no longer explicitly defined in the live game, it still defines the roles of classes. Broadly, in a group situation, any priest can be a healer, any fighter can be a suitable tank, any mage or scout can deal damage, with the mage classes typically being able to deal more damage than a scout class, but being more fragile. Evil classes, such as the Shadowknight, are only available in Freeport, Neriak, or Gorowyn, while good classes, such as the Paladin, are available in Qeynos, Kelethin or New Halas. Neutral classes, such as the Guardians, are available in all cities. Ivory background means the class is available in all cities, light blue background means Qeynos, Kelethin or New Halas only, reddish background means Freeport, Neriak, and Gorowyn only.
| Fighter | Warrior | Berserker |
| Guardian | ||
| Crusader | Paladin | |
| Shadowknight | ||
| Brawler | Monk | |
| Bruiser |
| Scout | Bard | Troubador |
| Dirge | ||
| Predator | Ranger | |
| Assassin | ||
| Rogue | Swashbuckler | |
| Brigand |
| Priest | Druid | Fury |
| Warden | ||
| Cleric | Templar | |
| Inquisitor | ||
| Shaman | Mystic | |
| Defiler |
| Mage | Sorcerer | Wizard |
| Warlock | ||
| Summoner | Conjuror | |
| Necromancer | ||
| Enchanter | Illusionist | |
| Coercer |
Betrayal
Betrayal is a process allowing the player to change from a good or evil alignment to the opposing one, and convert to the good or evil counterpart of their current class. In this manner, one can play a traditionally evil-only race, betray their city of origin in favor of a good-aligned city, and play a good-only class. Naturally, the reverse is also possible-betrayal of a good-aligned city in favor of an evil one in order to access an evil class with a good race.Artisan classes
A character can also undertake a tradeskill profession, completely separate from his/her adventuring profession. The tradeskill professions branch at levels 10 and 20, just as adventuring classes used to.The Echoes of Faydwer
EverQuest II: Echoes of Faydwer
Everquest II: Echoes of Faydwer an expansion pack for the MMORPG EverQuest II from Sony Online Entertainment, released with live update #29 on November 14, 2006....
expansion introduced two secondary tradeskills. These go alongside the primary tradeskills. Characters do not gain separate experience points for these tradeskills; maximum skill level rises with the primary tradeskill or adventuring level.
| Tradeskill Class Tree | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Archetype | Class | Subclass | Products |
| Artisan | Craftsman | Carpenter | furniture (including altars), strongboxes, and repair kits |
| Provisioner | food and drink | ||
| Woodworker | bows, arrows, throwing weapons, wooden shields, staves, totems, and musical instruments | ||
| Outfitter | Weaponsmith | metal weapons | |
| Armorsmith | chainmail and platemail armor, metal shields | ||
| Tailor | cloth and leather armor, backpacks, thrown-weapon bags, hex dolls, and with the Echoes of Faydwer expansion, cloaks. | ||
| Scholar | Alchemist | potions, poisons, and fighter skill upgrades | |
| Jeweler | jewelry and scout skill upgrades | ||
| Sage | priest and mage spell upgrades | ||
| Secondary | Tinkerer | Tinkered contraptions, such as automated parachutes, environmental suits, summonable robotic pets, mounts, and water-breathing devices. | |
| Adorner | Uses materials broken down by transmuting to add extra stats and/or abilities to equipment. | ||
Voices
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) and Christopher LeeChristopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
(as Overlord Lucan D'Lere). Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
, Dwight Schultz
Dwight Schultz
William Dwight Schultz is an American stage, television, film actor, and voice artist. He is best known for his roles as Captain "Howling Mad" Murdock on the 1980s action show The A-Team, and as Reginald Barclay in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and the film Star Trek: First...
, Richard Horvitz and Danica McKellar
Danica McKellar
Danica Mae McKellar is an American actress, academic, and education advocate. She is best known for her role as Winnie Cooper in the television show The Wonder Years, and later as author of the three The New York Times bestsellers, Math Doesn't Suck, Kiss My Math, and Hot X: Algebra Exposed, which...
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
EverQuest II: Desert of Flames
EverQuest II: Desert of Flames is the first expansion for Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest II. The expansion went live September 13, 2005...
added player voice emotes.
Music
The music for the game, over ninety minutes' worth, was composed by Emmy-award winning composer Laura KarpmanLaura Karpman
Laura Karpman is an American composer, whose work has included scoring for film, television, video games, theater, and concert. She has won four Emmy Awards for her work...
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 EQ2, 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." http://www.music4games.net/News_Display.aspx?id=246. 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
Inon Zur
Inon Zur is an Israeli American music composer who has won several awards for his work. Originally writing for movies and television, he later moved into composing for video games. He has been described as being "internationally recognized as one of the A-list orchestral composers in the video...
.
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.
Business
SOE is marketing 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 PowerThe Planes of Power
EverQuest: The Planes of Power is the fourth expansion to EverQuest, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game...
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 old EQ will find many familiar places and characters, as well as "heritage items" that are similar in name and function to items known from EQ and can be gained via heritage quests.
In Europe, the game was published by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
, followed by KOCH Media
Koch Media
The Koch Media group is a media enterprise started in 1994 by Franz Koch and Dr. Klemens Kundratitz.The Koch Media group produces and markets digital entertainment products and accessories in Europe and North America...
. As of 2010 it lacks any european publisher and is distributed in Europe only as a digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
.
In February 2005, EverQuest II began allowing players to place an order for pizza delivery
Pizza delivery
Pizza delivery is a service in which a pizzeria delivers a pizza to a customer. Delivery is normally made with an automobile, motor scooter, or bicycle.- Ordering :...
from within the game, with a simple and easy command typed into the chat bar, "/pizza". This promotion has since ended, but generated significant press for the game.
In June 2005, SOE introduced Station Exchange
Station Exchange
Station Exchange is the official Sony Online Entertainment auction service that provides players a secure method of buying and selling the right to use in game coin, items and characters in accordance with SOE’s license agreement, rules and guidelines....
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
EverQuest II: East
EverQuest II: East is an alternate edition of EverQuest II, that was developed for the China, Taiwan and South Korea markets. Sony Online Entertainment developed and shipped EQ2E to East Asia on April 2005. There are some proprietary missions for EQE...
for EverQuest II, which were being supported in the region by Gamania
Gamania
Gamania Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. is a PC online game and digital entertainment corporation with its headquarters located in New Taipei, Taiwan....
. 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
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
, 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
Virtual economy
A virtual economy is an emergent economy existing in a virtual persistent world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an Internet game...
(RMT) feature.
in January 2009, SOE together with Valve made Everquest II available on Steam.
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 is run on separate servers from the subscription servers.
Expansions and Adventure Packs
| Title | Type | Released Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Bloodline Chronicles | Adventure Pack | 21 March 2005 |
| The Splitpaw Saga | Adventure Pack | 28 June 2005 |
| Desert of Flames EverQuest II: Desert of Flames EverQuest II: Desert of Flames is the first expansion for Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest II. The expansion went live September 13, 2005... |
Expansion | 13 September 2005 |
| Kingdom of Sky EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky is the second expansion for Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest II, released on February 21, 2006. It features a new region to explore, located high above the skies of Norrath, known as the Overrealm... |
Expansion | 21 February 2006 |
| The Fallen Dynasty | Adventure Pack | 14 June 2006 |
| Echoes of Faydwer EverQuest II: Echoes of Faydwer Everquest II: Echoes of Faydwer an expansion pack for the MMORPG EverQuest II from Sony Online Entertainment, released with live update #29 on November 14, 2006.... |
Expansion | 14 November 2006 |
| Rise of Kunark EverQuest II: Rise of Kunark Everquest II: Rise of Kunark is the EverQuest II expansion pack from Sony Online Entertainment. The expansion pack introduces a new continent, Kunark; a new player race, the Sarnak; and raises the level cap for adventure, tradeskills and guilds to 80.... |
Expansion | 13 November 2007 |
| The Shadow Odyssey EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey Everquest II: The Shadow Odyssey is the fifth EverQuest II expansion pack from Sony Online Entertainment .* Heritage Quests: Five new quests with rewards being added.... |
Expansion | 18 November 2008 |
| Sentinel's Fate EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate is the sixth EverQuest II expansion pack from Sony Online Entertainment.-New Features:* Level cap increase to 90* Two new overland zones: The Sundered Frontier and Stonebrunt Highlands* 12 new dungeons... |
Expansion | 16 February 2010 |
| Destiny of Velious EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious is the seventh EverQuest II expansion pack from Sony Online Entertainment.Features include: 2 new overland zones, 9 group instances, 1 x2 raid, 3 x4 raids, the heroic alternate advancement line, increase in the cap for alternate advancement to 300, flying mounts and... |
Expansion | 22 February 2011 |
| Age of Discovery EverQuest II: Age of Discovery Everquest II: Age of Discovery is the eighth EverQuest II expansion pack from Sony Online Entertainment.-Subscription model change:In tandem with the launch of this expansion, SOE is also converting EQ2 into a fully free-to-play MMO... |
Expansion | 6 December 2011 |
With Everquest II, Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment is a game development and game publishing division of Sony that is best known for creating massively multiplayer online games, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, DC Universe...
introduced the concept of Adventure Packs. 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; and new high level dungeons, The Throne of New Tunaria and the Estate of Unrest.
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.
Academic study
EverQuest 2 has been used by academics to study a variety of phenomenon e.g.,virtual economic behavior in EverQuest2 follows real-world patterns in terms of production, consumption and money supply, observations that less than one percent (0.43%) of all the players are Platinum Farmers and more than three-fourths (77.66%) of all Platinum Farmers are Chinese.
Alternate versions
- EverQuest II: EastEverQuest II: EastEverQuest II: East is an alternate edition of EverQuest II, that was developed for the China, Taiwan and South Korea markets. Sony Online Entertainment developed and shipped EQ2E to East Asia on April 2005. There are some proprietary missions for EQE...
was created for the East Asian market (mainland ChinaMainland ChinaMainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
) but it was terminated as a separate edition on 29 March 2006. EverQuest II: East players were moved to standard servers. The special character models created for the game had already been included in the standard edition as a client-side option since 2005.