Exclusive TSO interview with SOE's Bruce Ferguson and Noel Wellen

Ethec · 12-02-2008, 10:22 PM

EverQuest 2 Senior Producer Bruce Ferguson and Design Supervisor Noel Walling discuss some of the finer points of the game's latest expansion, The Shadow Odyssey. These devs de-tangle some misconceptions about storyline tie-ins and the possible performance hit of the so-called snap-on armor used in the expansion, discuss tradeskill enhancements and the all-new mission system, and end the interview with a look at the challenges and future of EQ2.

Have a look at our latest Shadow Odyssey interview!

fozzie22 · 12-03-2008, 09:14 PM

Ah yes nice to hear yet more spin from the people who've produced what is EQ2 most narrow minded expansion to date

Your stuffed if you solo or are a raider with this one truely awful,i just wish Scott Hartsman was back in charge at least he knew how to design a modern MMO,ROK for all its faults was accesable by all and you werent forced into grouping like this expansion does.

Playing this shambles of an expansion makes me wonder if the devs have learnt anything from EQ2s troubled past..to ignore a large section of your playerbase as they've done heer (the casuals) is madness,it happened at launch and the game has never really recovered from it,for all of Hartsmans sterling work.

Sorry guys but this expansions garbage and coming from a 4 year player of the game thats saying something,the forced grouping aspect so beloved by the current dev team has now invaded the fluff frostfell quests,its madness..you can seeit now on xmas day,no love i'm not cutting the turkey i'm LFG..honestly the dev team really has lost the plot.

kitsunegirl · 12-03-2008, 11:08 PM

Ive heard about the group only frostfell quests. I think its a fairly stupid idea myself. But Im going to reserve complete judgment til I can play it.

Darwa · 12-04-2008, 06:14 AM

Like fozzie22, I've been playing for 4 years, however my view of TSO is the exact opposite in every respect. Every single thing they say (even when they suggest that solo players and raiders are stuffed) I am in complete disagreement with. Forced grouping for Frostfell stuff? Dont be silly. lol

I consider TSO to be the best expansion to date by a large margin, and I certainly hope they continue in the same fashion.

There's not much more to say really, other than take the advice of kitsunegirl and decide for yourself.

fozzie22 · 12-04-2008, 06:37 AM

Log on to test and see the quest to sleigh a dragon in the frostfell village then try to solo it.

Then we'll see if you think its fun

rulez · 12-04-2008, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fozzie22

Your stuffed if you solo or are a raider with this one truely awful,i just wish Scott Hartsman was back in charge at least he knew how to design a modern MMO,ROK for all its faults was accesable by all and you werent forced into grouping like this expansion does.

RoK with it's WoW'ish solo quest grind centric leveling was what drove me away from EQ2 after nearly 3 years.

All I hear from TOS so far makes me want to come back.
Maybe sometime in the future some genius will come up with expansion content that satisfies the majority of solo and group oriented players. But some people will never stop to moan regardless. :P

Bansaw · 12-04-2008, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rulez

RoK with it's WoW'ish solo quest grind centric leveling was what drove me away from EQ2 after nearly 3 years.

All I hear from TOS so far makes me want to come back.

You should, I love it. I found the solo content in RoK made me want to electrocute babies. I play MMO's to socialize and group with folks, otherwise I'd play some of the fantastic single player titles out there.

I agree with Darwa 100%.. Best expansion to date.

kitsunegirl · 12-04-2008, 08:48 AM

Nooooooo... I love the newbie area of RoK! Best expansion-part of the last expansion! You have no idea how easy it is to get a new character from 1-20 now! And you get really good armour and weapons too. No more running around trying to find this or that quest, running clear arcoss Antonica to bring some bowl of fish soup to some guy in a forest surrounded by aggr-beetles and bears... no more gnolls in cave with spiders and... weird.... flying ...ribbons.

Of course I have yet to get past 25, because after that... its back to all the searching and running around doing insane quests. Good think theres Crushbone Keep. >.> Oh, and the irritating craft grinding that is cooking. Seriously why cant we cook/brew more than 2 things at a time... thats just madness!

For me personally, I loved the live events leading up to TSO, better than I have the expansion so far. ROK was great because it didnt stiff the low level players. It gave us a new starting area, a new race (even if I hate the way they stand), and a good way to get from 1-20+ in a matter of hours. TSO gives us what? An whole slew of quests, an outerspace zone and a goddess you have to unlock by defeating her... wheres the content for the lowbies?

Aside from the cool void beast housing object, and the interesting concept for the goddess Anashti Sul, TSO in my opinion (so far), falls flat when compared to the newbie-friendly ROK.

Bansaw · 12-04-2008, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kitsunegirl

Nooooooo... I love the newbie area of RoK! Best expansion-part of the last expansion! You have no idea how easy it is to get a new character from 1-20 now!

Don't get me wrong, I think TD is by FAR FAR FAR the best starting zone in the game! Your absolutely correct about that.. best quest line, best gear, best layout of any starting zone. In my opinion it was RoK's best feature.

I should have been more clear. The lvl 65+ content for RoK was what I didn't care for very much.

As for what TSO offers.. well I think like you pointed out, RoK gave content for 1-20 then end game as well. Now TSO gives content for crafters and then all characters from lvl 50-80. Most of the new dungeons are scaleable like Splitpaw which is fantasic in my opinion. The gear is also scaleable so you can start getting fun stuff starting at lvl 50!

But if you are someone who enjoys soloing then I can understand how you would find TSO not to your liking. I just enjoy a good dungeon crawl with friends and TSO really delivers in that aspect.

kitsunegirl · 12-04-2008, 09:22 AM

Nah, I like to party up and go into dungeons and stuff too. I was just sorta hoping for a new race to play around with. >.> Brownies would be cool...

And dammit when are they going to bring back Erolissi? Shes my favourite. ;_;

Maybe they will bring her back next... an extended Erolissi Day event leading up to her return would be fun. ^.^