Tag: Everquest

Shut Up, Everquest, Get On My Horse


Pimp My Mount.

Blizzard appears to set standards wherever they go. The latest venture? A sparkling horse. Not just any sparkling horse, a sparkling horse that generated millions of dollars for Blizzard over the course of just one day. Back in May, Sony Online Entertainment announced that Everquest II would be receiving a similar update. This horse, featuring glowing eyes, was much less sparkly, and wasn’t really a horse.

Flash forward one month and Everquest II’s older brother wants in on the cash pile. Not one, not two, but four mounts are available on the Station cash shop for Everquest, for just twenty five bucks a pop, one of which is pictured above.

So your guess is as good as mine as to which MMO will be following the $25 mount, but if I had to guess I would put my bet on another Sony title.

More on Everquest as it appears.

Sorry Grandpa: Everquest Server Merges Coming


Teddy bears for all!

So it’s been a bad month or so for MMO servers. We know that Vanguard is on the verge of server mergers, and that Aion is to shut down several servers, and that Everquest 2 may be getting some servers shut down on the horizon. New word comes from Sony that beginning June 20th, Sony will begin consolidating servers. The result are that Everquest will end up with ten servers, the result of twenty being merged on a two to one basis (two servers merged into one, ten times over). There are four servers that are unaffected.

Characters will receive one free transfer for their characters that will only be valid for seven days after the transfer. Characters will be automatically transferred to the merged-server. If you play Everquest, you will want to read up on the information in the above link, as there are a lot of important notices you will need to take heed to, including what characters/items/banks/etc will be kept and what could be lost.

Inactive accounts with characters under level 10 will be purged from the system

It is not all bad news, however. Sony announced that they will be opening up a new server, which players will have the opportunity to name.

I’ve said that server mergers are not always a bad thing, and for a game as old as Everquest I am certain the population will enjoy the increased number of players in various areas (or not, we all hate overcrowding). If the new server is a regular rules server, then we might see some vested new interest in the title by new players, as the lower level areas will be populated for quite some time by players rolling alts.

More on Everquest as it appears.

Everquest II: Leveling To Be Made Easier


New Expansion, New Level Cap

The typical MMO Expansion rules include new zones, occasionally a new class or two, perhaps a new race, and increasing the level cap. Of course, this eventually presents the problem that once you raise the level cap several times, it becomes a very long process for newer players to jump into the game and knock their way up to end-game, compared to those who had been in the game long enough to level with it.

So naturally, every now and then you have to increase the speed that players level. World of Warcraft did this by increasing the experience gained by quests in some levels and reducing the experience needed in other levels. Everquest 2 started with a level 50 cap, and now features a level cap of 80.

In response, Sony is releasing a patch to make the leveling smoother. Levels 1 to 65 have not been made shorter, but the experience has been mixed around to make the process much smoother. Levels 65 to 75 require less experience, and quests in this range will give more experience to adventurers. This is a good move, especially considering that several times during Everquest 2, there were levels that required more experience than further levels, an issue that will be fixed with this patch.

More on Everquest 2 and its leveling process as it appears. Sentinel’s Fate hits next month.

Everquest to nDoors: This is How You Charity


Teddy bears for all!

“On January 12th, 2010, a massive earthquake devastated the island nation of Haiti. In an effort to show support and lend aid, SOE will be offering items priced at 500SC on the Station Marketplace through EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Free Realms.

From January 15th to January 18th at 11:59pm PST, redeem 500 station cash towards the purchase of one of these items and SOE will contribute $10 (up to $25,000) to aid in the relief efforts being sent to Haiti.”

People often ask me, Omali, are you ever going to stop berating South Korean developer nDoors and their game Atlantica Online for exploiting a charity cause, one that coincidentally had record donations to its name this past year, for their own profit after half-lying about the paltry two dollars of the forty dollar item, that actually went to charity? Well that’s an oddly specific question, but the answer can be summed up simply: Not as long as other companies offer me the whip to beat this horse with.

If you play Everquest, you now have the opportunity to redeem 500 station points towards a plush bear, with $10 going towards the relief effort in Haiti. Likewise, Everquest 2 players may buy a 500 station point armor crate, with $10 going towards the relief effort in Haiti. And finally, Free Realms players can buy Zando the Red Trex for, you guessed it, 500 station points, with $10 going towards the relief effort in Haiti.

You have until tomorrow night to purchase any of these items. The items themselves only cost $5, meaning Sony is matching every donation with a donation of their own. Sony joins Popcap, who yesterday held a charity drive where 100% of the day’s sales went to charity.

Everquest: Happy MLK Day, Have Some Bonus EXP


Everquest 2’s latest expansion, Sentinel’s Fate, is right around the corner. Being set in February, the expansion pack is right in the middle of a myriad of holiday events: Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Martin Luther King Junior Day, the whole kibosh. Yes, I said Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On the other side, Everquest players are currently throwing their way through the new zones brought in by Underfoot, the latest expansion.

In order to commemorate the weekend leading up to Monday’s day of celebration of civil rights and those who helped expand them, players will be encased in a magical experience increase that will gift them a bonus 50% of experience throughout the weekend. The bonus has already begun as of thsi writing, and will last until Tuesday, approximately 1pm eastern.

I think that ol’ MLK would be proud to see nerds of all race, creed, and archetype, be they human, elf, dwarf, or even halfling, come together under his name to slay the dragons of Norrath while /pizza’ing until their bellies are nice and full.

More on the not-so-mainstream and questionably exploitative Martin Luther King Junior MMO events as they appear.

Very Much Good Stuff Cheap: Steam

[Update] The Steam Sale is over as of January 3rd. Better luck next time!


If Funcom's money was gold-backed...

It’s time again for the Steam Holiday sale, and that can only mean one thing: MMO Sales to be found all around! Here is a list of the games you can find on sale at Steam this week, all of which should be on sale until January 3rd. You have a week and a half, so don’t put it off too long!

Please remember that all of these price are in USD.

[Update] The Steam Sale is over as of January 3rd. Better luck next time!

Mega Packs:

More sales after the break!

Continue reading “Very Much Good Stuff Cheap: Steam”

What’s Happening, December?


I have no idea what this has to do with December...

Welcome one and welcome all. Although I realize that for half of the world, December 1st has come and gone, I speak for all when I say: Welcome to December! Festive seasonal holiday deals continue this month in an effort to bring you into that festive cheer, just cheerful enough to reach for your wallet (or memory if you have your card number memorized like I do).

December roundup after the break…

Continue reading “What’s Happening, December?”

What's Happening, December?


I have no idea what this has to do with December...

Welcome one and welcome all. Although I realize that for half of the world, December 1st has come and gone, I speak for all when I say: Welcome to December! Festive seasonal holiday deals continue this month in an effort to bring you into that festive cheer, just cheerful enough to reach for your wallet (or memory if you have your card number memorized like I do).

December roundup after the break…

Continue reading “What's Happening, December?”

Remembering the Classic: Everquest “Ancient Heroes”


tss22

An MMO is unique in its own world in the sense that, despite what some people think, you truly do live in the world. Think back to titles you’ve played for years, and you’re bound to have nostalgic moments of times that are long past. Many of us longtime players expect the company to recognize their earlier game in some fashion. Jagex, for example, continued running the original Runescape, and continues looking for new ways to publicize the, albeit currently closed to all but a few, title to players who never experienced it.

In a recent update to Everquest, Sony Online Entertainment inserted an old man who will transform you into the classic Everquest experience: A level 50 with the normal gear of the time, before even the Ruins of Kunark expansion. The only alteration comes in the form of brand new drops.

Everquest has come a long way, possibly longer than any other MMO on the market (apart from maybe Star Wars Galaxies). Sixteen expansion packs later, and the Everquest of now is day and night to the Everquest of old. Everquest Underfoot launches on its newly delayed date in December. Everquest’s target demographic is their current and previous players, a fact they have begrudgingly admitted.

Now if only Sony would bring some pre-NGE Galaxy servers up.

Remembering the Classic: Everquest "Ancient Heroes"


tss22

An MMO is unique in its own world in the sense that, despite what some people think, you truly do live in the world. Think back to titles you’ve played for years, and you’re bound to have nostalgic moments of times that are long past. Many of us longtime players expect the company to recognize their earlier game in some fashion. Jagex, for example, continued running the original Runescape, and continues looking for new ways to publicize the, albeit currently closed to all but a few, title to players who never experienced it.

In a recent update to Everquest, Sony Online Entertainment inserted an old man who will transform you into the classic Everquest experience: A level 50 with the normal gear of the time, before even the Ruins of Kunark expansion. The only alteration comes in the form of brand new drops.

Everquest has come a long way, possibly longer than any other MMO on the market (apart from maybe Star Wars Galaxies). Sixteen expansion packs later, and the Everquest of now is day and night to the Everquest of old. Everquest Underfoot launches on its newly delayed date in December. Everquest’s target demographic is their current and previous players, a fact they have begrudgingly admitted.

Now if only Sony would bring some pre-NGE Galaxy servers up.