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The Lore
EverQuest 2 is set 500 years in the
future from the time of the original EverQuest. The moon of Luclin has exploded
and much of Norrath has been destroyed. The Gods are believed to have abandoned
Norrath and many have lost their faith, many effects are evident of the Gods
supposed withdrawal, including the no longer functioning Druid rings.
The once civilised races of Norrath
are flocking to Freeport and Qeynos, the only known cities still under
reasonable control and in good order. They aren't just still standing but seem
to be blossoming with their new status as centre of the world. Freeport under
the rule of the Human Lich Lucan has become the home of the evil races with a
few neutrals among them. Qeynos under Antonia Bayle has similarly become the
home of the good races and a few neutrals. Both cities hold an uneasy peace with
occasional skirmishes quite frequent in the outlands, neither is believed to
want all out war just yet.
The Game
As with the original EverQuest, EQ 2
is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) and will be built
around Player versus Environment (PvE), not Player versus Player (PvP).
Creating a character from the many
races and classes available, then grouping up with other players on adventures
is the order of the day. As in the original their is no real objective as your
reason for play depends on you. Advancing your character, forming a powerful
guild, developing your social standing, searching for lost relics and to combat
the mightiest opponents are all viable goals when you play EverQuest 2.
Advancing your character can take
many forms but the basis for advancement are levels. When you kill a creature or
successfully craft an item you are awarded experience, this experience
eventually reaches a (pre-determined) amount that increases your level. You then
need to gain a little more experience than before to increase your level again.
Each level you gain will give you certain rewards, you may gain more hit points,
learn a new spell and improve your combat ability.
The world is divided into areas
called 'zones', each of these has a distinct character and is usually aimed at a
particular level range. There will be creatures to fight or talk to in each zone
and they will be of varying strength and difficulty. Your 'conversations'
(likely multiple choice) will result in quests or information and a defeated
monster will probably have coin and items for you to 'loot' from their corpse.
The Classes
Unlike the original EverQuest all races can become all classes
(and progress to any level of advancement within them). The class guilds and
trainers for each class will be located in a particular city (either Freeport or
Qeynos) and your allegiance will determine which of these you can initially
access. Some will have guilds in either city but more evil/good orientated
classes such as Paladins and Shadow Knights will be based only in the
appropriate city.
All races are initially classed as
Good, Neutral or Evil and will start in one of the two cities. Qeynos for Good,
Freeport for Evil and either for Neutral. It is possible for anyone to change
their alignment by changing their allegiance to the city of their choosing. This
is going to be possible through a difficult and challenging quest the details of
which haven't been revealed, but expect it to be some kind of spy 'operation'.
For example the only way for a Troll to become a Paladin would be to change
allegiance to the good city Qeynos (all Trolls will initially pledge to the evil
city Freeport).
This change of alignment will be
done before the character reaches (or actually makes) the decision for a sub
class. Again taking a Paladin as an example, the Class before you become a
Paladin is a Crusader. This Crusader class has two sub classes (Paladin and
Shadow Knight), before you actually become a Paladin or Shadow Knight you would
have to change your allegiance if its the opposite of what is required. This
means that there will be no evil Paladins or good Shadow Knights, as this decision
has to be taken before you enter that sub-class.
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