Greetings everyone,

I hope this letter finds everyone well in the world of Norrath and hopefully you are all enjoying EverQuest's 10th expansion, Depths of Darkhollow. DoD is an expansion our team has looked forward to for a long time and is something we are extremely proud of. Since release, we've had a great time playing through the content and we have truly enjoyed Monster Missions. For us, it was a labor of love that really paid off. Our team represents a large range of play-styles and level ranges so it's an excellent opportunity for us to jump on our main characters and group with folks outside of our regular crew. Expect a few new Monster Missions coming your way in this month and a steady dose of Monster Missions after that.

For those of you progressing through DoD, we are watching. We've got a close eye on Dreadspire and I'd like wish you the best of luck (you'll need it). My only advice is to make sure you have your sound cranked up when you reach the end, it could give you some hints about the future of Norrath. :)

We have many fond memories from developing the Depths of Darkhollow expansion and we hope you will have just as many playing through it. In fact, we're pretty sure you will. :)

Community Summit

Shortly after the DoD release, our team was fortunate enough to have close to two dozen EverQuest community members come out and meet us in San Diego for the Community Summit. The attendees represented a broad range of our players, giving us a solid cross-section of the EQ community to discuss concerns and ideas with. As always, being able to meet with players and discuss our passions about EverQuest (or any of the other dozens of things our conversations digress into) is something we always look forward to. Now, on to some specifics.

Loot Concerns

One of the major topics at the community summit and on the boards was DoD loot. Over the past month we've spent a significant amount of time evaluating and re-evaluating some of the loot drops that were tied to DoD. After a lot of number crunching, discussions, and some heated arguments :), we've decided to make some significant changes to the power level of non-raid gear in DoD. These changes are going to more closely reflect the advancement in power levels that have been seen across other play-styles. These modifications are going to be on Test in the near future so I'd encourage all of you to check them out.

Hacks and Exploits

As any developer will tell you, we get into this industry because we enjoy games and we enjoy making them. That is why I dislike even having to mention hacks and exploits, but it is a reality that needs to be addressed.

As many of you know, we've spent a significant amount of time on our reporting systems to detect various hacks and exploits. The end result will provide a really positive impact. For example, without the reporting tools, we took action on over 1,000 accounts during the month of October. Although that number may seem high, the numbers generated by our reporting tools are considerably higher. These tools are currently limited to generating reports, but we are rapidly approaching a time where these will be used in a more robust manner. I won't go into detail, but I'd like to encourage anyone playing outside the natural boundaries of EverQuest to get back in those boundaries. Whatever advancement these exploits provide to individuals is not worth the damage that it does to the EverQuest community. Consider this fair warning.

Summit Wrap-up

The summit was extremely productive and we got a lot of great feedback on all of the topics that came up. There were countless discussions at meals or at various activities that are too numerous to list, but I did want to leave you all with a list of things that we are planning to do in the near future or have already done as a result of the summit:

  • Add a slash command that allows players to toggle displaying their helm
  • Add a new filter option on the guild bank to narrow your search
  • Add a "guildbank" argument to the /outputfile command, allowing a player to dump the guild bank to disk
  • Add the ability to withdraw items from the Guild Bank deposit area
  • Allow cross zone raid invites
  • Significant modifications to DoD loot
  • Broader action against exploiters and hackers

I strongly believe that our role as developers is to provide an entertaining game, but also to support the thriving EverQuest community. The best way to accomplish both of these goals is to work closely together, so thanks to everyone who sent along comments and questions with the representatives on the boards.

Escape to Norrath

With DoD, we also released our free trial, Escape to Norrath. This release gives new (and existing) players the ability to play EverQuest up to level 10 with no credit card or subscription required. In fact, all you need is a station Station account. This is a great opportunity for friends and family to give EverQuest a whirl for free and fall in love with EverQuest like we all did. There is no expiration date on the trial and players can use the "Subscribe to EverQuest" option on the EQ Menu button to move their character to the server of their choice. Existing players are also welcome to play on the Escape server and it's an excellent opportunity to show some newbies the ropes around the EverQuest community. To play, simply use the EscapetoNorrath.exe found in your EverQuest directory (C:/Program Files/Sony/EverQuest by default).

EverQuest has been independently nominated to the Metreon Walk of Game!

We're thrilled to be included in such a prestigious list of nominees that honor the icons and pioneers of the videogame industry. The votes are still being tallied (voting closed 10/31), but there is no doubt that EverQuest is a pioneer in the MMOG industry and to be recognized by the technology, entertainment, and gaming media with a nomination is its own reward. This nomination is a tribute to the EverQuest community and to all the players that have come to love the game since we launched in 1999. We can never say often enough how appreciative we are of our community. Without our community this nomination wouldn't have been possible so please feel free to step forward and take a bow. :)

See you in-game!

Craig