EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey Previews

Ten Ton Hammer and Eurogamer have both published new previews of EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey, after receiving a guided tour through the expansion pack. A snip from Ten Ton Hammer’s article:

Guk is everything you’d expect for a frog haven. It is wet and swampy and the ambience (which seems to be a focal point of this expansion) absolutely set the mood. We were lead through the zone and shown new characters and key plot points that I cannot get into because I was too busy looting all of the chests that dropped in hopes of seeing what the loot is going to look like.

Because let’s be honest, at the end of the day it is ALL about the loot.

Is it overpowered? Is it underpowered? Do we have to worry about current gear being obsolete with the new expansion, or are we going to be given gobs of “vendor trash”? These are the constant and hard hitting questions that I can safely answer because I am a the world’s biggest Shameless Lootwhore.

And a snip from Eurogamer’s article:

Befallen is an area that was built by the Knights of the Order of Marr’s Fist. It’s a fortress, designed to fight off the orcs and bandits of the commonlands. However, if you call your fortress Befallen, you’re begging for hot undead action. Sure enough, when Gynok of the Bone Bladed Claymore worked his way into their trust, the result was a betrayal, a curse, and everyone became a little bit posthumous. The Order of Marr’s Fist still roam the area.

The Bonegrinder is our first impressively-named mob, and our host takes the opportunity to point out his “snap on” armour. This, she explains, is a system that gives the dev team more options with armour. I ask what snap-on means, and how this results in more options; I get this reply.

“It’s the way that they’re making armour now, rather than revamping all the skeletal structures in game to allow for more and newer options for armour texture.”

You’ll also find a helping of new screenshots in Ten Ton Hammer’s gallery.