There's nothing particularly surprising about Daybreak launching a new Time-Locked Expansion server, of course. We used to call them progression servers back in the day, didn't we? Even nostalgia sometimes hangs around long enough to develop rose-tinted memories all of its own. There's something particularly unusual about this one, though.
When it comes to nostalgia, DBG are past masters. Remember when they brought back The Isle of Refuge? They do and they've done it again:
Return of the Hoods
We will be reopening the hoods and villages for Kaladim, like Big Bend, Longshadow Alley, the Baubleshire and Nettleville. Quest content in these villages will remain changed, but the hoods themselves will be there to access and reminisce.That alone would probably be enough to get quite a lot of people to make a character or two on the new server, Kaladim. Only you don't necessarily have to:
In time, these hoods will also be available for all other servers.
Just as you can now start on The Isle of Refuge on any Live server, in time you'll be able to stroll around Greystone Yard or Temple Street with your regular characters, whenever you get the fancy, not just when you happen to have the right quest access to unlock the gate.
I don't remember anyone calling them "Hoods". I thought they were generally know as Burbs. Still, what's in a nickname? Just so we can take the trip down old memory lane.
The server also has a number of other sweeteners on offer, including Heritage Quests and Collections that provide account-wide rewards and what sounds like better thought-out itemization and a more immersion-friendly ruleset than some other TLE servers have had. It's the chance to revisit the haunts of our extreme youth that will grab most of the attention, though.
Alongside this new PvE offer there's also the rebirth of Nagafen, EQ2's infamous PvP server, to tempt those of a confrontational disposition. Apparently it passed the audition in the recent beta.
As the news release says, there's a lot to take in. I'm not planning on playing on Nagafen and I don't propose to precis the ruleset here either. Go read it for yourself if you think you might be interested. I can guarantee that whatever the rules happen to be, almost no-one playing there will like any of them. They never do.
Both servers go Live on Saturday March 19th. Saturday is an interesting choice. Very player-friendly. Not so much for the poor DBG staffer who draws the short straw and has to come in all weekend to try and keep the servers up.
It's all part of the celebrations for EverQuest's 20th birthday. Probably. It doesn't actually say so but the timing is right. I might start a character on Kaladim if only to wander round a few of my old haunts. An All Access account is required but I have one of those. Not sure I have a free character slot on it though.
You might worry it was stretching things a bit thin. I mean, how many servers can EQ2 sustain? Always room for one more, eh? At least for a while.
Anyway, it sounds like fun. Can't knock fun!
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My gut reaction is meh to more TLE servers, but then perhaps this is a difference sub-audience to me. As with my lone FE character, if there are any reasonable "level to X to unlock Y on account" type rewards I'll probably do it. Being on such a busy starter zone was fun while it lasted at least. Of course, I plan on going on a longish holiday just after the date it launches so who knows if anyone will be left near the start by the time I get to play it properly!
ReplyDeleteI'm not really convinced there's an audience for the new PvE server. The PvP one has been much in demand but DBG can never seem to get a ruleset people are happy with so I doubt this one will last long.
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