[EQ2] "Rise of Kunark" announced

[Azzikai]

Game Description:

Centuries of war have left their mark on the continent of Kunark. Explore this massive region as your existing character or as the new playable race – The Sarnak – and discover a world full of intrigue and danger. Engage in all-new adventures as you embark on a crusade to reveal the truth of the wars between the reborn Iksar Empire, Sarnaks, and Dragons and uncover artifacts long since thought lost to history. The lush, nostalgic continent of Kunark begins your courageous path from the new starting city in Timorous Deep.

Rise of Kunark is the fourth expansion pack for the critically acclaimed EverQuest II franchise. With the introduction of the new playable race, the Sarnak, and new starting area, Timorous Deep, Rise of Kunark provides a full range of content for new player’s levels 1-20 as well as advanced, high level players whom can now achieve up to level 80 in high level zones, both increasing their Adventure and Tradeskill classes.

Rise of Kunark includes many highly-detailed areas that are fondly remembered from EverQuest as well as brand new areas only recently unearthed! Hundreds of new quests, dozens of new NPCs, brand new Epic Weapon quests for each class, and new armor sets await those who dare set foot on this fabled continent.

Feature Set:

All-New Player Race – Start up a brand new Sarnak – the classic dragon-like humanoid creature that now inhabits Timorous Deep. Exiled from your homeland and magically altered, discover how your new breed came to be, and eventually return home to help your race triumph over the evil Iksar.

New Starting Area – Begin your adventure from the new starting area in the islands of Timorous Deep. Conclude your day of epic quests and retire to new housing within the Village of Gorowyn.

Level Cap Raised – Continue your adventures on your existing character in Kunark, expanding on your achievements as Adventure, Tradeskill and Guild levels all increase to 80.

More Unique Zones – Advance your way through new massive regions, containing many zones filled with nostalgia and danger, such as the Emerald Jungle and the Skyfire Mountains

Hundreds of New Quests – The tale of Kunark is told through hundreds of new quests, aimed at gameplay of all types: solo, group, and raid.

More Weapons & Armor – New Epic Weapon quests for all 24 classes, with new weapons for both those who raid and those who choose not to. Battle through the opposition and acquire additional fabled and legendary armor sets as well.

New Mount – Explore the world on the shoulders of a new rampaging beast - The Kunarkian Rhinoceros.

New Deities – Recent activities on Norrath have again attracted the attention of the gods. Bertoxxulous the Plaguebringer, Karana the Rain Keeper, and the mysterious Tribunal return to exert their influences on planet. As with the existing gods of Norrath, players may pledge to these new deities to gain access to their Blessings and Miracles.

Dozens of New NPCs – Encounter and engage a wide variety of new enemies that inhabit the menacing lands of Kunark.

Taken from: Allakhazam's Magical Realm: Everquest II

There is also an interview with Hartsman attached to that that goes into more detail.

*updated the features list

[Kuriin]

Fucking christ...wish I had played EQ2 when it first came out. Looks like I'll have to start now because Kunark was my favorite expansion in EQ1. <3

[Qhue]

Damn you Gallenite! (shakes fist)

I may have to play EQ2 now even with the crappy Enchanter class!

[Miele]

Epic quests, again... argh, can't wait!

This part of the interview made me really happy to see Scott in charge:

Scott: I would have to say it is on par with or bigger. And that's just in terms of the square acreage. Square acreage? That doesn't make sense. Huh. The acreage. There. In terms of the area you're probably looking at the same size or bigger. And that is no mean feat just because Kunark was by and large the largest EQ expansion ever. And making areas like that in EQ2 is significantly more time intensive than it was back in the day when making art was way simpler. That's what we're aiming for. I don't know if we're going to get there, but at the end of the day, the thing that we tell the teams here is pretty simple. I would rather ship three gigantic regions that are as polished and fun as they can possibly be than four or five where the quality just drops off. I would rather we go back and rewrite story and redo some population and redo some leveling flow if it means that we ship that what we ship is the most fun and most polished it can possibly be. If it came down to it and we had to ship the single best region in the history of mankind in order to get it out the door we'd still aim for quality.

[Juvarisx]

Definatly happy about this and will resub when the expansion comes out as well. Inc. lowbie Sarnak!

The new Old Seb better be epic however, its a bright spot for so many from EQ1, although I can't see them screwing it up.

Also with this you gotta start thinking they are going to make a Velious expansion as well now in the future, which makes me a happy camper

[Draegan]

Looks like this game is finally making some noise.

[budrick]

Jesus. I may have to re-sub again. WoW is getting boring, VG never had me and LoTRO is fun but shallow. (Although the Lore is great and I love seeing the characters I grew up reading about)

SoE you had me at hello.

[Samflam]

This product is what I was waiting for! I will definitely subscribe and tell all my friends!

Seriously though sounds cool. I look forward to the screenshots.

[Ravensign]

Advanced Mapping System - New full-screen detailed maps and a smaller, always-up mini-map.

Continue to steal good things from WoW 4tw.*

If EQ2 becomes WoW with AA, more classes and the EQ lore, its fine by me.

This could become my bored-with-CoX game that I anticipate coming this summer.

*WoW didnt invent mini-maps but you know what I mean.

[...]

Fuck yea. Kunark was my favorate seting in an mmo yet

[dechire]

Goddamit. Kunark. KUNARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Soygen]

Oh crap. Kunark and Epic weapons! I need to level up.

[redjunkopera]

WTB pictures of new Sarnak race

[Dokomo]

If you started a completely new character in EQ2 how hard would it be to level up? As group oriented as EQ1 was I don't relish the idea of levelling solo.

[Soriak]

Sure as hell am glad I levelled my templar to 70 before quitting
Have they announced the release date yet? November again?

From the interview:

So yeah, we're aiming for power and we're aiming for a satisfying quest but we're not aiming for all the frustration that occured in the first generation.

Gethani: Well thank you, cause I was a ranger in the first generation and it was two years before I got my second sword.

Tamat: Oh please. I was a cleric who did my epic twice. Gimme a break.

Gethani: The thing was, with us, you had to get those stones and so many people wanted those stones and they didn't drop and it took a really long time to get the swords.

Tamat: Yeah, you're right, no one wanted Ragefire.

Scott: See, I was about to complain because I was a wizard and I'm fairly certain that I set a record for Phinegal kills between drops. But yeah, compared to doing two cleric epics? Yeah, I got nothing. I was actually joking around with guild of folks that I currently play with who I also played with back in the day and one of them brought up the 97,000 times we had to kill that friggin fish.

Tamat: Oh yeah.

As frustrating as it was, having those stories to tell was a huge part of EverQuest and probably something we'll never have again. Most people who worked on their epics when they were new will have stories to tell about it and that's really what it should be like. Frustrating? Yeah. Plenty of bitching? Of course. But the recognition and thrill that came from having one made all this worthwhile. So far, no game has been able to duplicate that feeling, maybe EQ2 will be able to do so without the rare spawns.