EverQuest: Gates of Discord Reviews

A pair of reviews for Sony’s recently released Gates of Discord expansion hit the web earlier today. The first is over at IGN PC with an overall score of 9/10:

With such a large number of changes in one expansion, balance issues can turn up that may need to be tuned. The new difficulty and the single group focus of the instanced progression zones may put to the test the long-term player class equilibrium that has been so delicately tuned from expansion to expansion. For a guild to progress to Kod’Taz, for example, members must be flagged through single group expeditions in Vxed and Tipt. These zones really seem to require balanced groups that will put heavy demands on some classes like warriors while make other classes like mages, wizards and rogues in oversupply for the ‘DPS’ role. Hopefully this potential crimp on group makeup flexibility will not dominate the entire expansion. Being able to enjoy the game at a group level with unconventional group setups has been a great part of the game and we hope to see a place for that in this expansion as well in order to call it a truly great expansion. Will the deeper zones and raids address this?

It can take many months for the mysteries of a new expansion to be discovered, but for the player who has played this game for a while, there’s a palpable aura in the air — the risk and challenge are back, the dangerous continent of Taelosia beckons. We are playing with an enthusiasm many of us haven’t felt in a long, long time. Hats off.

And the second can be found over at GameOver with an overall score of 79%:

Overall, this is an expansion that caters mainly to the higher level players. For those players, I would say that GoD is the most extreme add-on for EverQuest to date, in terms of being challenging, and it’s a must have. Players will need to use every trick in the book to really explore the content in this expansion. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer a whole lot for the lower level players except for leadership rewards, tribute bonuses and the capability to play the new Berserker class. The tribute system can be a boon for lower level players, giving them skills that will help them to level faster. At the very least, GoD is an expansion that lower level players can look forward to once their character reaches a higher level.