Stretch Goals Completed at EverQuestNext.com!

Fans of this game don’t disappoint, and in less than a week have also completed the three stretch goals added to EverQuestNext.com. Keep an eye on SOE’s EQNext Facebook page for the promised early sketch reward!

EverQuest Next team members Jeff Butler (Creative Director), Terry Michaels (Senior Producer), and Dave Georgeson (EQ Franchise Director of Development) with Gabor Szikszai (fantasy artist).

I’ll be attending SOE Live this year and will be sure to share a picture of the poster they’ll be handing out as time allows. Make sure you’re following the my Twitter account for on-the-fly pictures and information! The excitement is definitely building – I can’t wait for the big reveal in a mere 10 days!

SOE Live Prep: Geek Badges

When normal people prep to go somewhere, I imagine they write a nice list of all the clothing and toiletries they need to pack, are ready to go a week in advance, make sure there’s someone to take care of their home while they’re gone, drink a glass of wine for their nerves, drive around asking people for Grey Poupon, and so on.

Luckily for me, I’m not a normal people. Sure, I have family to watch over my home, and my kids and cats will be safe and happy while I’m away. Beyond that though, my life is zany, and I really can’t stand the taste of wine (I’m a mixed drink girl). When I prep for a trip, I do two things. First, I overprepare. Second, I underprepare.

But… but.. those two things don’t go together! Of course they do! Just think, how many times have you gotten somewhere just to realize that ONE thing that you REALLY needed but totally forgot? Oh yeah, now you get it.

Continue reading “SOE Live Prep: Geek Badges”

Two Weeks Until SOE Live, Plus GU67 Ramblings

Mere hours under two weeks from right now, I’ll be in Vegas for SOE Live. If that isn’t enough to make someone panic over still not being prepared, I don’t know what is! The past few evenings I’ve been working on my geek badges, so those are coming along, though a bit slowly for my liking.

In the gaming world, I finally ran Cobalt Scar with my main on EQ2. I had done this already when it was in-testing, and to be honest, the storyline was so lackluster for GU66 that I had no desire to run it again when it went live. SOE had other plans though: they wiped the beta server and CS is required for the GU67 sig quests, so it was a choice between re-running it on live, then copy my main again, or run it on beta, and lose that progress again at some point in the future. Obviously running it on live means I’ll never have to do it again, so I took that choice and worked my way through the othmir zompocolypse.

I finished testing the GU67 signature quests in 1.5 hours… while writing a walkthrough for each. This is honestly record time for me doing that many sig quests + work at the same time. Avoiding in-detail spoilers, I’ll just say that the story was sadly left hanging yet again and that I think that the quests will not be very fulfilling for other lore geeks like me out there. If you want to be spoiled, I have walkthroughs and dialogues posted over on ZAM (landing page is spoiler free).

I’m really not sure what’s happened with the storytelling lately on EQ2, but it’s taking a downhill turn that I’m not thrilled with. Here’s hoping that something better is in store for the expansion.

More Unlock Goals Available at EverQuestNext.com!

Sony Online Entertainment has added additional stretch goals to EverQuestNext.com. These include an early sketch of Gabor Szikszai’s reinterpretation of the original EverQuest art, posters for SOE Live attendees, and a VIDEO tour of the “black box” where EQ Next is being made. Spread the word to your fellow gamers to make sure they visit the web site and like, follow, and/or share EQ Next’s social media accounts!

EverQuest Next Panel Updates for SOE Live 2013

The EQ Next panels for SOE Live were updated in the past day or so. They now have generic descriptions, and a couple of them have been moved to a new time slot. Here’s the updated version:

Friday, August 2, 2013
  • 11am – 1pm: EverQuest Franchise Keynote Address
  • 4pm – 5pm: EverQuest Next: Creating a World – Come learn about how we go about making the world of a brand new MMO!
  • 5pm – 6pm: EverQuest Next: The World of EverQuest Next – Find out what the world looks like and how players will experience it.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
  • 11am – 12pm: EverQuest Next: Showing Off Your Creativity – What avenues will our players have to participate in the more creative parts of an MMO?
  • 1pm – 2pm: EverQuest Next: The Classes of EverQuest Next – A discussion about one of the most important features of any MMO: the classes!
  • 2pm – 3pm: EverQuest Next: The Lore of EverQuest Next – What’s new? What’s different? How many familiar faces will there be? Does your favorite character feature prominently in the story? Join us and find out!
  • 3pm – 4pm: EverQuest Next: Q&A Part One –  You have many, many questions. We have answers to at least some of them. We should hang out.
  • 4pm – 5pm: EverQuest Next: Q&A Part Two –  You have many, many questions. We have answers to at least some of them. We should hang out.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
  • 12pm – 1pm: EQ Next Panel (topic still not announced)

See the full panel schedule here!