When hearing the word MMO most people think of World of Warcraft. With its seven million of subscribers it certainly is dominating the market. Being the largest and most successful game in its genre doesn’t make the other competitors bad however. Take Everquest 2 for example. Most agree that the game is better than the original EQ ever was, yet somehow the number of players doesn’t reflect that. With 2 expansion packs already under the belt it was high time SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) did something to bring the game out of WoW’s shadow. With any luck Echoes of Faydwer will turn out to be that something.

History lesson
Since EQ2 came out the game has seen tons of changes. Some of them were minor (interface tweaks, zone population balancing, etc.) but a great number of them were major. The combat in the game was completely revamped, the old class leveling system got scraped and the list doesn’t stop there. Most of these changes made the game better, but some argue that the game is becoming over-simplified (or as EQ2 fans like to call it: “WoW-ified”). As it stands the game is a lot more user-friendly than it was at release and with all the content that has been added there is literally no running out of things to do.


The previous two expansion packs were both intended for high-level players – both of them contained only zones filled with high-level creatures. With the first expansion the level cap got raised from 50 to 60 and the second expansion raised the cap by another 10 levels. While such expansions are a good reason for veterans to keep playing, they aren’t all that appealing to the casual player, let alone to someone who is still about to get the game. This is where Echoes of Faydwer comes in.

Fun things to do for both old and young
SOE is advertising EoF as the biggest expansion to date. With the many new zones (roughly 20) located on an entirely new island it is easy to see that their claim is true. Players of the original Everquest will recognize many of the places found in the expansion, as Faydwer was one of the locations players spent a lot of time in back then. Since EQ2 takes place 500 years after the original there are a lot of expected differences between the old Faydwer and the new one. Some of the old cities got overrun with evil monsters and you will stumble upon ruins of places you once knew. While such reminiscing moments are reserved for those who played the original the very common moments of wonder will be experienced by all.

EQ2 has taken a lot of critique about having bland environments and while both of the previous expansions were better in this aspect, EoF manages to top them both. The forests with the typically enormous fantastical trees, the clockwork land filled with smoking craters and every other new zone – they are all filled, almost to the point of bursting, with unique looking geographical features and imaginative architecture.

The new zones cover pretty much all the level ranges, so you will be able to enjoy the new content regardless of how many hours you put into the game before-hand. My first contact with the new landmass was through the eyes of one of my high-level characters and looking at the coast from the distance (I was traveling on a ship but more on that later) filled me with a strange feeling of amazement. I haven’t felt like this while playing an MMO in years and I have to give credit to the authors for making the new world so immersive and mysterious at the same time.

New players (or players starting over) have the option to select a new race when creating their character. The huge selection from before (humans, 3 types of elves, dwarves, gnomes, Halflings to mention just a few) is expanded with the introduction of Fae. These winged creatures are a welcome addition as their looks and animations differ greatly from those of other races. The fae and a few other good races also get a new starting city, located on the new island. Evil aligned players might resent SOE that there is no new starting city for the evil races, but seeing how every other part of the expansion is alignment independent it shouldn’t take long before this “issue” is forgotten.


High level players will be glad to know that there are entire zones intended just for them. EoF features some of the hardest NPC bosses ever and only the best can even dream about taking them down. New achievements (extra abilities) also help differentiate players from as early as level 20, but noticeable differences can only be seen at higher levels.

This is an RPG after all
EoF doesn’t bring any changes to the combat system, save for the new abilities that are part of the new achievements. But why fix something that is not broken (especially if you already fixed it before)? This may be my personal opinion, but the combat system found in EQ2 is beyond anything the competition can offer. It follows the classical click to attack, than select skills routine that all MMOs use, but it spices things up with heroic opportunities. They allow the player to chain together spell combos for additional damage. While in a group the HO system allows the group members to link their attacks together for massive combos. The group based nature of the game makes HOs a welcome feature and gives you plenty of opportunities to use them.

Artisans will be glad to know that the expansion brings new crafting blueprints. They include player cloaks and adornments which give extra stats to the player’s equipment. The cloaks are new to the EQ2 world and guilded players can finally show their guild insignia. Crafting is still a viable way to play the game and some players never leave the safety of their crafting station, not even to collect the components needed for crafting (instead they buy them from other players).

Other additions to the game include beliefs (religions). Worshiping one of the games deities grants you one-use abilities that often come in handy, but you have to pray at an altar (which can be placed in your characters home) if you wish to use the ability again. While this feature is not revolutionary it is nice to have an “ace in the sleeve” so to speak. PvP also saw some changes, mainly in the form of new rewards and titles that you can earn. Teleportation and ship traveling make a return (to the dismay of some). Since the current world of EQ2 (original zones plus the zones from all the expansions) is quite humongous having faster means of transport is a must. Boats and teleportation spires handle the long distance travel while magic rugs and horses help adventurers cross short distances at amazing speeds (horses finally got revamped and they now actually look like horses).

Technical aspect
When released EQ2 was definitely the technically most advanced MMO ever. It looked great, but the bland art-style made it look boring. With the new environments found in EoF the art-style issue is gone and the game can finally take the crown for best looking MMO. The abundance of pixel shaded effects is currently unmatched and you will have considerable trouble finding a single spell/ability effect that does not rely on pixel shaders. Environments look superb as well and most of the textures are bump-mapped. EQ2 bashers are probably calling me a liar right about now, but go ahead and take a look at the pictures if you don’t believe me.


For the expansion SOE apparently optimized the engine, as the game performed better on my machine than it did prior to Echoes. My Athlon X2 4600+, 2GB RAM, X1950 Pro equipped computer handled the game with no problems at even the highest settings (with stencil shadows off – they cause a massive fps drop) and the low-end dual-core 1,66Ghz Centrino with a poor GeForce 7300 had problems only because of the lack of RAM (unsurprising with only 512 megabytes of memory).


Conclusion
MMOs are an ever-changing gaming genre. Even the best start with problems and it takes a while for them to reach the pinnacle. For Everquest 2 that time is now. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone looking for a complex MMORPG with a great community, fun quests and a huge world to explore. Seeing how the retail box of Echoes of Faydwer contains the entire Everquest 2 and both of the previous expansion there simply won’t be a better time to give Everquest 2 a spin than now

Gameplay	16/20	If you don’t like MMOs stay away from EQ2. If, on the other hand, you enjoy playing a fantasy based game filled with other players you simply can’t go wrong here. The deep crafting system, intuitive and complex combat and literally thousands of quests all help make playing EQ2 a treat. Expect some grind at higher levels though.
Graphics	17/20	Not many games can match the list of graphical features EQ2 offers. With the engine optimizations and better artwork the game finally looks as good as it can.
Sound	18/20	The soundtrack in this game is often mesmerizing. Many of the NPCs are voiced over so immersing yourself into the game is easy.
Value	18/20	The price of the expansion might be a bit high, but you get all of the previous content along with it. Taking that into account you have a great playtime/price ratio.
Preference	15/20	If you don’t want to spend long hours trying to level up this game might not be for you. The start is fast and you level up several times per hour, but the pace soon slows down. Definitely not for those who are constantly running out of time.
Overall	84/100	What can I say here that would convince you that EoF is a good purchase? If you read the review and still don’t believe me then there is no hope for you. If not, hurry up and read the review and then run to the store for your copy. See you online!