Dearest Norrathians, 

We’re very busy in the EQ workshop planning the coming year, but there are a few things immediately on the horizon I wanted to clarify. 

Prathun did a great post on what’s coming in March with our Anniversary as well as some future plans. As Prathun said, Dzarn is working on adding the XP bonuses like Lesson of the Devoted and bottles of Adventure to the Heroic Adventure (HA) task completion, as well as increasing experience gains for mercs from tasks. We heard from several folks about the frustrations with the current system and recognized it was a priority, so it’s on the docket for the March update which we are planning currently for March 25th if all goes well. 

HA XP issues constituted Part 1 of addressing XP concerns. Part 2 is starting now as we review the feedback around lower experience in older zones for higher level players. We will discuss that in more detail when we have come to some conclusions. 

The Progression Server poll will end with our update on the 25th and then we’ll start digging a little deeper after that. We really appreciate the responses! There’s been a lot more votes and input than I expected. 

Also, we’re adding a couple of store items. One is a 75% XP potion. It’s been around for a while, but we didn't want to add that to the game until we finished the work on the HA experience. We’re adding a “Teleport to PoK” item also (with longish cast time/recast)…mostly because I logged in some of my characters who can’t gate and was all “OMG where am I? HEPL!!" Origin didn't help me as much as I hoped as I ran around in circles in my Shar Vahl BST guild building. *Looks for Exit signs.* :( 

A quick word on store stuff while I’m at it. Basically, as gamers, we ask ourselves what we’d feel good about paying for that feels valuable to us as individuals, whether it's about fun, time-savings, convenience, etc. I shared my example above because I found myself looking for a gate item to PoK (and my paws were sore). I discussed it with the team and they agreed it would be helpful to add. That kind of approach will drive us going forward, including player thoughts, ideas, and feedback, of course. Everyone is different and I’m sure there are a lot of ideas that would be interesting to discuss. Feel free to discuss any ideas here too. 

I’m really thrilled by your engagement and I’m very grateful for all the passion around our game. We love it as much as you, I promise! And with that in mind we want to continue to have constructive conversations between you and our team. With all we've read, the team has been discussing plans for EverQuest that I’m pretty excited about. I can’t wait to share what we have planned and it’s my goal to keep you all in the know! 

My best wishes to you all,

 

Holly "Windstalker" Longdale

Executive Producer, EQ & EQ2