SOE will remove legacy starting zones from EQII, starting in Game Update 56

Game Update 56 will bring the end of an era to EQII: Norrath's major cities, Freeport and Qeynos, will no longer be available as starting locations for new characters. Originally announced back in February, this caused some panic and consternation among players. Alan Crosby, former EQII Senior Producer, said "The new player experience in Qeynos and Freeport are just not up to snuff anymore and do not provide as solid an experience when you enter the game for the first time." New Senior Producer Dave Georgeson said he would not be changing plans for the short term, and sure enough, Monday night on Test the Queen's Colony and Outpost of the Overlord were "turned off". I'm in the group of players that's not very happy with the decision.

In EverQuest II Freeport and Qeynos are cities diametrically opposed in politics and philosophy. After the Shattering they became the homes for all the playable races of Norrath. It seems strange to me that new players will not be allowed to start in these cities, around which the lore and stories in EverQuest II revolve. What will drive players to explore and live there? How will players discover Queen Antonia and the strangely missing Lucan D'Lere? Is Norrath becoming decentralized as the native races rediscover their heritages?

We've come a long way since launch, when we were hauled bodily out of the ocean in the aftermath of Luclin's shattering and taken to the Isle of Refuge to make ourselves useful. You chose an Archetype (fighter, priest, rogue or mage) and later, when you chose your home city, had to complete a tough quest to choose your subclass. When you got to the city you were dropped off in a village catering to your race, and had to earn citizenship to even enter the city. The game wasn't as user-friendly as it is now, but there were tons of low-level quests to help you learn and eventually move you out into the world.

In February 2006 (Live Update 19) the new player experience was revamped. The Isle of Refuge was removed and in its place two zones were introduced: Queen's Colony for Qeynosian (good) players, and Outpost of the Overlord for Freeport (evil) players, collectively called "The Isles" after the original starting zone. There were no more class/subclass quests; players chose their class at character creation. At the same time the city newb quests were revamped: tons of petty errand quests were removed and each suburb got a short series of racially-oriented quests which eventually led players to the local adventure yards. The ultimate effect was a streamlined new player experience with an easier learning curve that got players out into the world quicker, at the cost of some immersion and backstory.

As the game expanded new starting areas were introduced, starting with Kelethin. Neriak and Darklight Wood were innovative, streamlining the new player experience with nicely organized quest hubs and a natural flow to progression and storyline. Gorowyn and Timorous Deep became player favorites for the loot, which was superior to the old Isles. But they have their disadvantages: players are locked into a linear quest series, making it very hard to jump content and get right out into the world. It's difficult to get to other level appropriate areas from them. Players have to travel a bit just to get to what will be their home city after creation. The cities themselves seem small, and thus far are underground or in the treetops, not proper cities at all.

With the Isles it was possible for a player to immediately leave the isle and be out in the world doing level 10+ content in about 15 minutes, if you knew where you were going. The newer starting zones pull the player all the way through level 20 making two huge zones of content virtually obsolete. What does this mean for Antonica and Commonlands? Players are now guided to Echoes of Faydwer content, which is great, but does this mean that Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest will become disused? The Tier 3 Guild Halls were put off Commonlands and Antonica because Freeport and Qeynos are the major cities with which all other cities are aligned. How difficult will it be for new players to make their way to those halls the first time?

Paul “Cronyn” Molina posted that Qeynos and Freeport aren't going anywhere. They want to "repurpose them somewhat into content destinations rather than starting points. A good deal of overarching content deals with these cities directly, and we'd like to create even more content that basically turns these into important quest and activity hubs...." That sounds great, but with two-thirds of the under-level 50 content fanning out from Qeynos and Freeport, a huge chunk of the game goes undiscovered and underutilized. While herding the population into one general path might make for better grouping and socialization possibilities, the world becomes less vibrant without those older stories and adventures. By the time players get out of their starting areas to Freeport and Qeynos they will have out-leveled the large majority of the existing content preserved there.

If players are guided to newer content, how will they discover Hadden's Earring, Ghoulbane or Dwarven Workboots? There's nothing to direct them there and players won't run across them if they're playing elsewhere. How will they learn the heritage of the Green Hoods when they get to Zek, if they even bother? Unless they have veteran friends or enjoy poking though fansites, they will never discover them, and large chunks of content and story fall by the wayside.

I can see some of the logic behind the decision. Budgets are not infinite, and there are only so many development hours available. The devs can spend their time re-developing the original new player experience (again), or they can direct players to the newer streamlined and shiny areas while they work on new content. Time can be spent changing the storyline to redevelop the cities into something new, like contested zones, or they can just be left alone while the game moves forward. At some point you have to decide whether to direct your efforts at the past or at the future, and in this case the future won. But while the newer starting areas might be better, the Isles were not broken and I do not agree with removing content from the game. If the cities were being completely revamped I would reluctantly admit the Isles would not be worth keeping. But as Freeport and Qeynos are only being “repurposed,” leaving the existing content, what harm would there be in leaving Queen's Colony and Outpost of the Overlord so that players could experience Norrath's greatest cities as a young character?

Some players have taken a position of optimism, hoping that sometime down the line the decision will be reversed and we will once again enjoy the legacy of Freeport and Qeynos as new characters. In this even my fabled optimism fails: I find it unlikely we'll ever see the Isles again. They were as much a part of my Norrathian experience as Blackburrow, Crushbone, and the Temple of Cazic-Thule, and I shall miss them.