EverQuest Online Adventures
Encyclopedia
EverQuest Online Adventures (EQOA) is a fantasy
massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG
) for the PlayStation 2
. EQOA is one of the few MMORPG
s released on a video game console
. It is part of the EverQuest
franchise that is well established on the PC
.
being never released in the territory the European servers for EQOA were ultimately closed on July 31st, 2006. Since the game does not allow cross region play, owners of the PAL-version were unable to connect to the NA-servers to play beyond the closure of the regional servers.
While the game's subscription numbers do not compare to Final Fantasy XI (another fantasy MMORPG available on the PS2), SOE has pledged that it will continue with updates and support in North America as long as it is profitable (however there have been no content-changing updates (with the only exception being the addition of an anniversary pet in 2010) since around March of 2009.
Previously it was hard to find pre-paid game cards for EQOA from retailers which made paying for a subscription to the game difficult for many. Prior to October 2007, SOE made a new Game Card available to retailers that may be used to pay for one month on any of the games developed by the company, including EQOA. This new game card is widely available at electronics retailers but requires a monthly fee. As of June 2010 the ability to add game time to an account (via game card or credit card) on the console has been removed. To add time to an account one must do it online at the Station.com
website (link).
The gameplay focuses on character advancement, environment combat, quests, exploration, grouping, and socializing. It also contains a simple dueling system for 1 v. 1 player action (not counting player pets), but it has had many criticism and has been involved in many item duping glitches.
There are fifteen playable classes, and ten races.
Classes include Cleric, Druid, Shaman, Enchanter, Wizard, Alchemist, Necromancer, Magician, Bard, Ranger, Rogue, Monk, Paladin, Shadowknight, and Warrior.
Races consist of Dwarves, Elves, Dark Elves, Human (Eastern and Western), Gnome, Troll, Ogre, Barbarian, Erudite, and Halfling.
(SOE) and first released on February 11, 2003 in North America. The game was develped so that it does not require a hard disk drive like the other MMORPG on the PlayStation 2, Final Fantasy XI does. Since no HDD for the system was ever released in PAL-territories EQOA remained the only MMORPG there.
EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers was launched on November 17, 2003. Frontiers added another playable race, the Ogre, and character class
Alchemist, as well as many quests and items. The level
cap was raised from 50 to 60. Also added was the continent of Odus and a newly-opened territory of Tunaria known as Rathe Mountains, as well as high-level raid-specific zones in other locations including Plane of Sky, Lavastorm Mountains, and a subset of the Plane of Disease known as Last Home. Certain portions of Tunaria itself that existed previous to the release of EQOA: Frontiers were also revamped for higher-level players given the increase in the level cap. Frontiers also added an alternate form of advancement by allowing players to dedicate a percentage of the experience points they received to obtaining Class Masteries (CMs). These CMs allow players to increase their power and gain new abilities. They also can purchase Master Classes with (CMs), further strengthening themselves in their area of combat. 1500 CMs is the max at level 60, a player with less than 1000 CMs can be very weak compared to one with more than 1000 CMs. 500 CMs are required to unlock a Master Class and 200 more are required to buy a Master class. A Master Class changes the Class of the player character to a more specialized "Master Class" of the original Class of that player character. An example of this is when a Wizard becomes a Sorcerer Master Class.
A secondd expansion was in the works, but was cancelled due to 'lack of interest of the original game'.
In August 2004, Sony Online Entertainment
introduced a new series of quests for players of various levels between 30 and 60 to partake in the ability to transform into lycanthropes (having a choice of becoming a werewolf
, wererat
, werelion
, werebear, or weregator), or a lycanthrope hunter. In February 2005, the game was updated to allow players to redesign their character through Training Point and Class Mastery reallocation by Rehabilitator Anja in Muniel's Tea Garden. Items, such as the Rose of Renewal, can grant an additional reallocation. Since that time, many new quests and functionalities (including a new toolbar for switching out weapons) have been added. Most recently (July 2005), characters that have attained level 60 may complete new epic quests that will result in them obtaining high level weapons and new powerful abilities.
Game developers brought class-balancing to live servers in April 2006. These changes were tested on the test server "Hagley", offering players the chance to help with the decisions of making the game "balanced". All players were offered a chance to be rehabilitated with training points and class mastery points to perfect their characters due to the several hundred changes which class-balancing brought about.
In order to allow those players who may have lost CMs in the class-balancing process to regain their CM points, "The Luck" quest (activated originally on St. Patrick's Day 2005, and then again on March 17, 2006) was changed from its previous duration of 1 hour to be 48 hours. After completion of the quest, the player received three charges of a group buff that doubled experience (XP). On August 1, 2006, the buffs code was changed to be self only, but the item itself was still tradeable. This buff is lost, like all others following death.
The development team has released a new zone for the game the morning of December 18, 2006. The zone, Zaoran Plateau, also known as the Plane of War is currently home to three unique factions you can align your character with. The three factions are: Soldiers of Rallos Zek, whose deity is Rallos Zek, the Honor Guard, followers of Mithaniel Marr, and the Akessan, mysterious, dimensionless beings who worship an unknown deity.
The lead game designer of EQOA: Frontiers is currently Sam Parra (Daemaas), who replaced Leah Ruben (Sapphyra).
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 (MMORPG
MMORPG
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....
) for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
. EQOA is one of the few MMORPG
MMORPG
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....
s released on a video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. It is part of the 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...
franchise that is well established on the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
.
Popularity
Like other commercial MMORPGs in the West, in addition to purchasing the game software, EQOA charges a monthly fee. SOE had predicted 100,000 subscribers by March 2003, but they later reported having only 20,000 to 30,000 subscriptions Eventhough the game did not have direct competition on the PlayStation 2 in Europe due to Final Fantasy XIFinal Fantasy XI
, also known as Final Fantasy XI Online, is a MMORPG developed and published by Square as part of the Final Fantasy series. It was released in Japan on Sony's PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released for Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers in November 2002...
being never released in the territory the European servers for EQOA were ultimately closed on July 31st, 2006. Since the game does not allow cross region play, owners of the PAL-version were unable to connect to the NA-servers to play beyond the closure of the regional servers.
While the game's subscription numbers do not compare to Final Fantasy XI (another fantasy MMORPG available on the PS2), SOE has pledged that it will continue with updates and support in North America as long as it is profitable (however there have been no content-changing updates (with the only exception being the addition of an anniversary pet in 2010) since around March of 2009.
Previously it was hard to find pre-paid game cards for EQOA from retailers which made paying for a subscription to the game difficult for many. Prior to October 2007, SOE made a new Game Card available to retailers that may be used to pay for one month on any of the games developed by the company, including EQOA. This new game card is widely available at electronics retailers but requires a monthly fee. As of June 2010 the ability to add game time to an account (via game card or credit card) on the console has been removed. To add time to an account one must do it online at the Station.com
Station.com
Station.com is Sony Online Entertainment's portal that is the home to its many PC, Console, Casual and Mobile games. It is the home to many MMORPG's including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online , PlanetSide, and Star Wars Galaxies, which have gained hundreds of thousands of paid...
website (link).
Setting and gameplay
EverQuest Online Adventures is set in the fictional world Norrath 500 years prior to the original EQ in what the game designers have called the "Age of Adventure". The world features many places familiar to fans of the original and most of the differences were explained in the lore of EverQuest.The gameplay focuses on character advancement, environment combat, quests, exploration, grouping, and socializing. It also contains a simple dueling system for 1 v. 1 player action (not counting player pets), but it has had many criticism and has been involved in many item duping glitches.
There are fifteen playable classes, and ten races.
Classes include Cleric, Druid, Shaman, Enchanter, Wizard, Alchemist, Necromancer, Magician, Bard, Ranger, Rogue, Monk, Paladin, Shadowknight, and Warrior.
Races consist of Dwarves, Elves, Dark Elves, Human (Eastern and Western), Gnome, Troll, Ogre, Barbarian, Erudite, and Halfling.
Development
EQOA was developed and published by Sony Online EntertainmentSony 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) and first released on February 11, 2003 in North America. The game was develped so that it does not require a hard disk drive like the other MMORPG on the PlayStation 2, Final Fantasy XI does. Since no HDD for the system was ever released in PAL-territories EQOA remained the only MMORPG there.
EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers was launched on November 17, 2003. Frontiers added another playable race, the Ogre, and character class
Character 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...
Alchemist, as well as many quests and items. The level
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
cap was raised from 50 to 60. Also added was the continent of Odus and a newly-opened territory of Tunaria known as Rathe Mountains, as well as high-level raid-specific zones in other locations including Plane of Sky, Lavastorm Mountains, and a subset of the Plane of Disease known as Last Home. Certain portions of Tunaria itself that existed previous to the release of EQOA: Frontiers were also revamped for higher-level players given the increase in the level cap. Frontiers also added an alternate form of advancement by allowing players to dedicate a percentage of the experience points they received to obtaining Class Masteries (CMs). These CMs allow players to increase their power and gain new abilities. They also can purchase Master Classes with (CMs), further strengthening themselves in their area of combat. 1500 CMs is the max at level 60, a player with less than 1000 CMs can be very weak compared to one with more than 1000 CMs. 500 CMs are required to unlock a Master Class and 200 more are required to buy a Master class. A Master Class changes the Class of the player character to a more specialized "Master Class" of the original Class of that player character. An example of this is when a Wizard becomes a Sorcerer Master Class.
A secondd expansion was in the works, but was cancelled due to 'lack of interest of the original game'.
In August 2004, 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 a new series of quests for players of various levels between 30 and 60 to partake in the ability to transform into lycanthropes (having a choice of becoming a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
, wererat
Wererat
A wererat is a fictional lycanthropic creature akin to a werewolf, but shapeshifting into the form of a rat instead of a wolf. This type of therianthrope is rare in historical legends, but has become common in modern role playing games and fantasy fiction inspired by them...
, werelion
Werecat
A werecat is a therianthropic creature of folklore, horror, and occultism, described as being a shape-shifter similar to a Werewolf....
, werebear, or weregator), or a lycanthrope hunter. In February 2005, the game was updated to allow players to redesign their character through Training Point and Class Mastery reallocation by Rehabilitator Anja in Muniel's Tea Garden. Items, such as the Rose of Renewal, can grant an additional reallocation. Since that time, many new quests and functionalities (including a new toolbar for switching out weapons) have been added. Most recently (July 2005), characters that have attained level 60 may complete new epic quests that will result in them obtaining high level weapons and new powerful abilities.
Game developers brought class-balancing to live servers in April 2006. These changes were tested on the test server "Hagley", offering players the chance to help with the decisions of making the game "balanced". All players were offered a chance to be rehabilitated with training points and class mastery points to perfect their characters due to the several hundred changes which class-balancing brought about.
In order to allow those players who may have lost CMs in the class-balancing process to regain their CM points, "The Luck" quest (activated originally on St. Patrick's Day 2005, and then again on March 17, 2006) was changed from its previous duration of 1 hour to be 48 hours. After completion of the quest, the player received three charges of a group buff that doubled experience (XP). On August 1, 2006, the buffs code was changed to be self only, but the item itself was still tradeable. This buff is lost, like all others following death.
The development team has released a new zone for the game the morning of December 18, 2006. The zone, Zaoran Plateau, also known as the Plane of War is currently home to three unique factions you can align your character with. The three factions are: Soldiers of Rallos Zek, whose deity is Rallos Zek, the Honor Guard, followers of Mithaniel Marr, and the Akessan, mysterious, dimensionless beings who worship an unknown deity.
The lead game designer of EQOA: Frontiers is currently Sam Parra (Daemaas), who replaced Leah Ruben (Sapphyra).
