Hi everyone. It feels like we just did this! Here we go -- it's time for EverQuest's 20th (!) expansion.

While you're waiting for servers (which are expected back at around 10:00 A.M. Pacific Time tomorrow morning) to come up, you can check out the game update notes, our COTF preview postings, and our wiki guides:

• Call of the Forsaken Overview
• What's a heroic adventure? How about boosting those mercenaries? Where to get spells? It's all in our overview section.
• One of the first things you may want to do is attune yourself to the portal stones in the Ethernere Tainted West Karana -- see this link for details.
• Progression & Task Listing
• Just that -- how progression works, along with a listing of all tasks in COTF along with links to quest, NPC, and map images.
• Group & Raid Armor
• Not much has changed in the department of visible armor -- same means of production, only different items in use.
• Armor item links will start to fill in once servers are patched and our Item Collector is back up and running. (You can help speed up this process by running the Item Collector in the background as you play EverQuest -- once we get the item collector patched, that is -- we'll keep you updated!)
• Raiding in Call of the Forsaken
• Four new raids to check out!
• Call of the Forsaken Lore
• Just what's going on here, anyway? Read up on the lore surrounding the expansion.

It's highly likely the patch will knock out Lucy's Item Collector. We'll have that back up and running again as soon as possible, and then items will start piling into the database.

As always, if you have any information you'd like to contribute to the site here, just leave a comment on one of the items, quests, NPC, zone pages, etc. or drop us a line at eqteam@allakhazam.com, and we'll get it updated.

Thank you, and happy hunting!!

Here are the patch notes as EverQuest launches its 20th expansion, Call of the Forsaken:

(Note: Servers are expected to come back up at around 10:00 A.M. Pacific Time.)

*** Highlights ***

- EverQuest's 20th expansion, Call of the Forsaken, has launched!  A cataclysm has befallen the Western Plains of Karana, where a great dragon calling herself Lady Lendiniara has appeared.  Is she here to help the people of Norrath, or to destroy them?  What connection does this event have to Zebuxoruk, the mad immortal who was forsaken by the gods? Will you be the first to discover the truth in this ongoing saga?

The Stone Hive bixies are amassing an army and drawing up plans for waging war on Crescent Reach. Obviously, this isn't going over very well with the Drakkins...

Here is a look at the Bixie Warfront, one of the new zones being introduced with EverQuest: Call of the Forsaken.

Commander Zavrus and her agents have discovered that the quarrelsome Stone Hive bixies are creating a massive army in the Bixie Warfront to wage war on Crescent Reach. The Stone Hive bixies have become enthralled by a mysterious magical force that compels them to fight anyone and everything they come into contact with.

One of the new zones coming with the Call of the Forsaken expansion is Neriak Fourth Gate. Apparently, not all is well within the Teir`Dal royal family... Here is an official look inside the city grounds:

Neriak is a city divided.


King Naythox Thex, ruler of Neriak, sits somberly on his throne in the Darklight Palace. Flanked by his personal Dreadguard, Naythox looks to the empty throne next to him. He wonders silently to himself where his wife Cristanos Thex is, and in what way she plans to murder him.

With the Beta NDA now lifted, we take a closer look at two prominent features set to be added with the Call of the Forsaken expansion - Heroic Adventures and Mercenary Enhancements - as well as several screenshots of the zones being introduced at launch time (October 8, 2013).

Heroic Adventures

Heroic adventures are customized shared tasks (1-6 players) that take place in instanced zones and scale in level, difficulty, and loot quality (based on the highest level player in the group) down to Level 95. They are designed for groups of 2-3 players and their mercenaries, and shouldn't take an average group any longer than 45-60 minutes to complete.

What do we mean by "customized"? Well, instead of a standard shared task with an unchanging set of steps to run through, heroic adventures have a randomized component to them whereby there are multiple options (or 'possible directives') for each step in the task. In other words, you can complete one of these heroic adventures, and then the next time you run through the same adventure, you could have a different set of task steps and encounter different NPCs.

Loot-dropping nameds (such as the Dreadmole of the Bixie Warfront or the Monstrous Minnow of the Dead Hills) can also appear in these adventures, and completion results in group currency that can be used to buy gear (both player and mercenary) and spells from vendors in the Ethernere.

It should be noted that there is plenty of content outside of heroic adventures as they are but one facet of Call of the Forsaken (there are also regular partisan and mercenary tasks, as well as regular group missions), and every zone has a static (non-instanced) version.

(Mercenary Enhancements and Zone Screenshots can be found below the jump!)

The launch date for EverQuest: Call of the Forsaken has been pushed back to October 8, 2013; expansion pre-orders will be available through October 7th; and beta registrations are still being accepted.

Those details and more come from a letter from EverQuest Producer Thom Terrazas:

Hello my Norrathian Friends!

Since SOE Live, the team has been cranking away at the Expansion, Call of the Forsaken. It gives me extreme pleasure to work on EverQuest right now with such a creative team, delivering to you, the 20th Expansion this Fall.

Beta for Call of the Forsaken started soon after SOE Live and we are now extending Beta through October 7th. That also means we are moving the launch of the expansion a couple weeks as well to October 8, 2013. If you haven’t jumped into the Beta yet, there is still time to adventure through some of our new zones like Bixie Warfront and Neriak Fourth Gate before they go live! We are flagging accounts daily and we welcome everyone to check out the expansion and send us feedback while we finish with polish and tuning. (More information on Beta Sign Ups)

Today, we get a look at EverQuest: Call of the Forsaken, EverQuest's 20th expansion. It seems something has gone very wrong in the Western Plains of Karana...

The ground rumbles across the plains of West Karana. The land contorts as the barrier between dimensions breaks down. A chasm opens. Lady Lendiniara, a dragon from another dimension, breaches Ethernere and is thrust into our Norrath. Mountains of debris rise. Rivers of lava flow over the land.

Some citizens of West Karana believe that the upheaval marks the end of the world. The guards of Qeynos have entered the plains and set up base camps in order to calm and assist the inhabitants of West Karana. Meanwhile, Ethernere and its mysterious creatures invade Norrath and begin to consume its land and population.

"Are you fearless? Do you not dread my claw, tooth, or breath? Thus far, the only ones who have had the will to approach a dragon are the ones whose insanity has substituted for courage." - Lady Lendiniara

Call of the Forsaken, scheduled for a September release, will be EverQuest's 20th expansion. SOE's prolific team promises new AAs--for players and now mercenaries--new zones and much more.

Here are some details from SOE Live (full video at http://www.twitch.tv/soe) and Elidroth (as posted on the EQ Forums):