In the conclusion to our interview with the EverQuest II team, we take a look at GU68 features, future updates and Player Studio.

Looking beyond next week’s update, we briefly touched on a few random topics. The next large update, which will feature new raids and Fabled dungeons, was discussed briefly at SOE Live. Asking if it was still on schedule for January (video) we were told that “it will probably be more like late winter/early spring.” Curious if the Daily Objective system, introduced earlier this year, would ever be expanded to add weekly or monthly objectives, the team replied that while it is “planning on expanding the rewards; we don’t have any plans to create larger objectives at this point.”

We tried to shift the focus to upcoming holiday events. Erollisi Marr made her return to Norrath well over a year ago, but sadly is still not a worshipable deity. We were simply told “no comment” when asking when we can expect that to happen. An interesting rumor about Frostfell showed up on the Homeshow forums shortly after SOE Live. It was an insinuation that there would be a way players could obtain Frostfell crafting tables this year. The team declined to confirm or deny the rumor, stating simply that “We’ll talk more about Frostfell closer to Frostfell.”

One more holiday event falls before Frostfell and Erollisi Day: Heroes’ Festival! While we didn’t ask any questions about this event, testing opened up for it two days ago on the Beta server, so be sure to hop on and help out with the bug squashing.

Our focus finally shifted to Player Studio. At SOE Live 2012, it was announced that players would be able to sell decorated homes via Player Studio. This year we discovered that there are many logistic hurdles and tough decisions that need to be made regarding this feature. Asking for a progress update we were told that “We’ve been focused on other systems and content. We discovered at SOE Live, in talking with players, that we have a lot to consider with selling houses in Player Studio and we didn’t want to be too hasty in our approach. We are still working it out!”

Our final question stemmed from some confusion I personally experienced regarding Player Studio. Speaking with Rick Reynolds, who is in charge of Player Studio, at this year’s SOE Live, I was told that items like building blocks would not be accepted. However, when speaking to an EQII artist shortly before SOE Live, he was fairly certain that they would be, as long as they were textured well. Requesting some clarification on submission standards we were informed that “Building blocks are not really appropriate for Player Studio. We want our creators to be real creators and come up with things that we likely would never come up with on our own so they really add to the world and the experience. Our team can handle the simple stuff and the blocks.”

Tears of Veeshan launches on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Be sure to get your pre-order in by November 11. SOE Live 2013 attendees can pre-order the Collector’s Edition for only $20. Check out this article if you want to see the pre-order goodies!

Missed the first part of our Tears of Veeshan interview? Read it all at Wandering the Tears: Content, Progression and Lore!

Thank you to Holly Longdale and the entire EverQuest II team for taking the time out of their busy schedules to answer our plethora of questions!

Video recorded by Cyliena on the Beta server on November 6, 2013.

Ann "Cyliena" Hosler, Managing Editor

Senior Content Manager, EQII ZAM

Follow me on Twitter: @Cyliena