The Whole Of The Moon : EQ2

I had a whole long, serious post about MMO payment models nearly finished but stuff that!

Someone mended Luclin!

I was flipping through Feedly after work when I saw EQ2Wire had the latest patch notes for EQ2. The first entry was something about Moonlight Enchantments. That might interest Mrs Bhagpuss, I thought. Must remember to tell her when she gets home.

Then I came to the the second entry...

"With Kerafyrm’s defeat, Freeport and Qeynos have finally broken the Awakened siege, and Luclin – now whole – shines brightly in the skies."

As Antonia Bayle's Bit On The Side (great handle!) says in the first comment - Wait! What?

"Now whole" ?!

I had absolutely no idea this was coming. Unlike many longtime EQ players, I loved the Shadows of Luclin expansion. I was Not Happy (although I was very excited) when Norrath's first moon was destroyed as part of the lead-in to the launch of EQ2.

I've always hoped and halfway expected that, one day, we'd get to visit to the remnants we've watched glower like a livid scar across the skies of Norrath ever since. I never, not for one moment, considered the possibility that Luclin might be restored.

If anyone wants an example of how MMOs can change and grow without making a song and dance about it, this is it. This is how it's done. No big PR push. No cinematics. No hype on social media. No warning at all. Just log in one day and there it is - the moon on a stick.

Of course it won't have come as a shock to everyone. The refurbishment of Luclin represents the culmination of the high-end storyline of the previous expansion, not to mention the underlying narrative of the last decade and more. You don't just drop something like that in as an afterthought.

If you're on the ball you'll have done the two-group raid that was added in the Age's End update earlier this month, where you get to see how it was done. I'll probably have to watch that on YouTube. Oh, wait, what's this in the patch notes...

"YouTube integration has been removed due to incompatibilities with Google’s API updates. Options are being explored to return video functionality". D'oh!

You don't have to be an end-game raider to stumble on a harbinger of things to come though. You just need to watch where you're going once in a while. As I was running through the the undead orc lands above the Commonlands dock, trying to get an angle on the new moon, something caught my eye.

Just a rabbit.

Hang on a minute...this is Norrath not Tyria. We don't have floppy bunnies lolloping across the bleached desert sands outside Freeport. Snow bunnies in Velious, those we have. Or had.

We especially don't have huge, plump rabbits that make eye contact, lock their gaze on you, turn when you turn and sit up on their haunches, drumming their great, fat, furry back feet with an audible thump.

Well, we do now. Whether we've had them since the first bunny mounts appeared for Easter or whether they've arrived in anticipation of the new bunny mounts due after the expansion I'm not sure. It's the first time I've seen one though.

Either way, this is how you get someone's interest. Okay, it's how you get my interest. And my loyalty. And my word of mouth. And my money.

Roll on November!