The recent announcement of the next EQ2 expansion - Rise of Kunark - has gotten quite a bit of notice, not only by game websites, but also the MMO playerbase. Take the Fires of Heaven message board thread as an example; 31 pages of posts in two days. There's lots of excitement about this expansion stirring in players - both those current/ex-EQ2, as well as old EverQuest players looking back at all the nostalgia that could be involved.
With that in mind, Scott Hartsman wanted to clarify a few things, as well as some possible inconsistencies between the interview where the announcement took place, and the official Rise of Kunark website - one example being the feature list, which was originally posted as a very rough draft in the interview.
A few snippets from the Q&A clarification:
Q: Why are there two versions of the feature list? It seems to change slightly depending on which site I visit?
A: For the first 11 hours of the announcement, a draft version of the feature list was posted on http://eq2.allakhazam.com. That draft version spent quite a few hours getting reposted. The correct, final version is available at:
http://eq2.allakhazam.com/news/sdetail9504.html?story=9504
and
http://www.riseofkunark.com and clicking Overview in the bottom left
BLOGGERS/POSTERS: If you've reposted the feature list on a forum elsewhere on the web, or on your blog, we would appreciate it if you doublechecked to make sure you have the correct feature list!
Q: The original announcement made reference to a zone count, but interviews since have referred to something else entirely. What the story?
A: What's in the current announcement and the interviews is the correct information: Rise of Kunark overland zones aren't directly comparable to what's gone before.
Kunark's overland areas are comprised of vast regions that are in some cases three or four times the size of previous expansions' zones.
The idea is: More environments available, with less time spent zoning.
For example, when you "zone" to the region called the Jarsath Wastes, you will be in an environment that houses both The Overthere and Skyfire Mountains, with all of the flavor and scope you would expect from those two full zones. The world's appearance is totally different in the two environments, as are the skies, populations, and dungeons contained therein.
Q: The feature list mentions quests for Class Epic weapons. How many epic weapons are you planning on launching with?
A: All 24 are currently slated to be in place at launch, or what was formerly referred to in EQ2's original class system as a "Subclass." (e.g. Illusionists will have one quest series and weapon, and Coercers will have a completely different one.)
Our approach to Epic Weapons is that the initial incarnation of the weapon will involve grouping and some soloing. That will yield a high-quality Legendary reward.
From there, continuing the storyline through Raid content will yield a high quality Fabled reward.
