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Pros: Seven new areas with plenty of new content Cons: Not quite as huge as expected
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Around the time World of Warcraft players get their first anticipated expansion, SOE will be shipping the third major expansion onto EverQuest II expanding the world of Norrath yet again. This time around we climb out of the desert and jungle and into an Asian themed expansion.
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The Fallen Dynasty introduces EQII players to a mysterious city shrouded in secrets and once ruled by a powerful entity. The Whistling Fist, an ancient order of monks, guard its veiled past, but seek adventurers brave enough to explore the mysteries of this forgotten civilization.
So far from our hands on experience we have to admit the content is not quite as large as we would have expected. With a lot of people expecting a new set of zones closer to the size of Antonica will be disappointed.
From our experience running away the zones have a Antonica feel for them for sure though with simply Asian building and rice fields replacing corn fields. The Nizani'Oshu are creatures with snakelike lower bodies and female human upper bodies, and they look simply fantastic. Most of the other enemies in the game are similarly impressive, from the underwater giant statues with calm and angry faces on alternate sides of their head to the translucent water golems that back up the Nizani'Oshu.
There are going to be seven playable areas in the game, 30 new weapon models, and all of the content will be targeted towards high-end players, with enemies ranging in level from the low 50s all the way up to above 70 in the final dungeon. They also intend to throw in as many instances as they can fit. Since the game revolves around a hidden monk academy and the quests given there, they're looking into creating monk training quests that players will be able to use to advance their powers.
The plot of Fallen Dynasties revolves around a fallen half-god, half-man that last appeared in EverQuest I. He's lost his memory, however, so you'll need to help him jog it by undertaking quests for him, which apparently culminates in the final raid dungeon, which will be one of the ultra challenging experiences that SOE enjoys whipping out every once in a while.
With the adventure pack shipping in June everything we have had a chance to see is probably fairly close to final. Though we did our best to explore it all as quick as possible I have to admit the adventure pack is large enough it will easily take a quite a few hours to complete. For $7.99, from everything we have had a chance to see, this adventure pack is easily worth the price tag. The expected live date is currently June 15th.