Everquest 2 Announces Official Launch Date

Is the game truly polished, bug and lag free and ready for release? Not by a long shot. Will loads of people still go out and buy it despite that? Of course! Ready or not, Everquest 2 is coming very soon to a store near you. (Oh and we are working hard to have a site up for you by launch - check eq2.allakhazam.com for more) Below is the official press release: ------------------------ SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT’S EVERQUEST® II SHIPPING NOVEMBER 8th -The 800-Pound Gorilla of Online Gaming Is Ready to Play - SAN DIEGO, CA – October 25, 2004 – Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming, today announced that EverQuest II is scheduled to simultaneously ship to North American and European retail stores on November 8, 2004. EverQuest II is the highly-anticipated follow-up to Sony Online Entertainment’s original EverQuest, the most successful and longest-running 3D MMO role-playing game in North America. After more than four years in development, the wait for EverQuest II is almost over,” said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. “We’ve invested heavily on development of the game to ensure that EverQuest II has the highest production values of any online game produced to date. We want to deliver a game to our players that will provide an experience like nothing they’ve ever seen.” Sony Online Entertainment is delivering a truly groundbreaking MMO game in EverQuest II with pioneering firsts in advanced 3D graphics, story, voice, production values, and gameplay. EverQuest II features the most realistic graphics of any MMO game ever created with a next-generation 3D graphics engine designed to keep pace with hardware developed over the next few years. Players will hear more than 70,000 lines of spoken dialogue in EverQuest II as non-player characters are given voiceover for the first time ever in an MMO game bringing the story of EverQuest II to life. EverQuest II also features gameplay innovations that make EverQuest II fun and exciting for all types of players and play styles, from hardcore gamers, to new MMO players, to those who play in groups, and solo players. EverQuest II comes in three versions, all of which include a 30-day subscription (excluding SOE All Access subscriptions) to the game’s online world. The CD version and DVD versions of the game carry an SRP of $49.99 and include the game, an in-game item and an in-box item. Limited quantities of the EverQuest II Collector’s Edition (DVD) are available at an SRP of $89.99. The Collector’s Edition includes a number of in-game items, including “paintings” of EverQuest II scenery to be hung on the walls of a player’s house, magical talking statues of Antonia and Lucan (voiced by Hollywood talent Heather Graham and Christopher Lee), and an exclusive pet baby dragon. The Collector’s Edition also includes an exclusive art book, bonus DVD with trailers, gameplay videos and behind-the-scenes footage, a soundtrack CD, a collector’s coin with a velvet pouch, a cloth map of Norrath, and two posters. EverQuest II carries a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 for continuing access to the game world. Players can subscribe using a credit card, or purchase SOE 30-day and 90-day Game Cards, which open the new world of Norrath to those who choose not to use a credit card. About EverQuest II EverQuest II is the next generation of massively multiplayer gaming, a huge online world where thousands of players come together for adventure and community. Featuring breathtaking graphics and a vast, beautiful game world to explore, as well as voices for almost all non-player characters, EverQuest II sets new standards in gameplay and immersion. EverQuest II brings players into its world with a powerful epic storyline and gives them the power to be the hero or villain in their personal adventure. Players enter this world by creating their own unique character, choosing from 16 races and 24 classes. Players will encounter hundreds of creatures as they travel across majestic landscapes of rolling hills, barren deserts, dense forests, and bustling cities. Thousands of items, hundreds of spells, and unlimited adventure await all who enter the world of EverQuest II. EverQuest II also features:
  • A new, massive online world for thousands of players to explore, filled with danger, adventure and mystery
  • Voices for most non-player characters (NPCs) in the game, a huge project encompassing more than 70,000 lines and 130 hours of dialog
  • Unparalleled character customization capabilities. In addition to thousands of armor, weapons and items users can equip, players will be able to customize their character’s facial appearance to an incredible level of detail and personalization
  • 16 races, dozens of levels and 24 classes with a branching system that allows players to choose their class as they advance
  • Player-owned real estate (such as apartments, homes, and guild houses)
  • No race/class combination limitations, allowing players to truly choose who they want to be in game
  • New user friendly game mechanics with reduced learning curve for both new and seasoned players
  • More than 160 unique creature types, from Orcs and Goblins to huge dragons and menacing Living Statues
  • Incentives for current EverQuest subscribers
  • A state-of-the-art, cinematic quality 3D graphics engine capable of improving as hardware technology advances
  • State-of-the art combat, spell and skill systems
  • Trade skills available to all player classes
  • Tags: General, News

    Comments

    « Previous 1 2
    Post Comment
    POPULATION DROP
    # Nov 19 2004 at 2:12 AM Rating: Default
    MY POST IS TO SONY and/or those of you that wish to speak for them anyway.

    1. How long before the first expantion comes out??
    2. How much will it cost? $29.95 ??
    3. Will you call it EQ-2 of 8 ??
    4. Oh one minor problem with first EQ game. Population has gone in the tank on my server. This is causing a snowball effect for a PvP server. You see without anyone to attack the predators die off. Without any predators(PK's) the server just becomes a low population blue server. Where is the fun in that?
    Question is do you think the very first EQ server ever is going to die because of the lack of population?

    Thanks

    Oh one last thing. Good work on EQ-2 looks like you increased your monthly subscriptions by stealing from yourself. Question is how long will folks keep active accounts for both games :)

    ready & willing
    # Nov 08 2004 at 11:32 PM Rating: Decent
    17 posts
    i have been in beta forever it seems. I have played EQ1 since the day of its release. I have toons that went all the way and I have played guide toons....

    the beta is ready..for those above that have disregards for it..it is probably due to a hardware problem..i plyed on 4 different systems from low end to dream machine and none had a problem..only lag i ever saw was when working on the guild list...

    i have 4 accounts on EQ1 and I am giving them to guildies...i am making the change...time for a new fresh start
    Nov 8th
    # Nov 08 2004 at 8:48 AM Rating: Good
    Yep, gonna be camping the FedX guy today and hope he has the drop I need!
    DAY ITS LIVE?
    # Nov 07 2004 at 7:30 PM Rating: Default
    yes i know it is now shipping on the 8th but will i it go live on the 8th or live on the 9th?
    baby dragon
    # Nov 05 2004 at 10:42 PM Rating: Default
    if i spend the 80 bucks to get the baby dragon will it die if i dont feed it or something
    FROGS WHERE BE THE FROGS
    # Nov 04 2004 at 7:51 PM Rating: Default
    whats the deal with froglocks i cant ever find a screen shot of them and i cant create a froglock character with my preorder disc what is that all about
    RE: FROGS WHERE BE THE FROGS
    # Nov 05 2004 at 10:04 AM Rating: Default
    frogloks will not be available right away, there is going to be a quest or something to unlock them for everyone on the server, how long it will take them to finish this quest? thats the question :)
    GNOME MONKS
    # Nov 03 2004 at 11:38 PM Rating: Default
    FINALLY! GNOME MONKS!

    **Those who read WTF* Comics will get the joke AND coolness to this.

    *Its the name of the comics, not the acronym meaning WHAT THE ****


    Oh, and you gotta give SoE some credit; they've been in MMO business the longest, and they MAKE PS2s! (Yes, thats the same Sony, diff. department) They've been around the block, came up with the idea for th block, and invented the block, screwed it up, and made theblock_2. Vote NO on proposition E3 - NO EVERQUEST 3!

    Edited, Wed Nov 3 23:43:18 2004
    Character Creation
    # Nov 03 2004 at 9:06 AM Rating: Good
    I just got my pre-order character creation disk on Monday. I have been playing around with the new character models and think they're pretty sweet. I've already decided on a barb and a halfling. The new chick models are pretty cool. I might just have to make one or two for eye candy =). EQ2 ships in 4 days 8)!!!!

    Edited, Thu Nov 4 08:27:28 2004
    EQ2
    # Nov 01 2004 at 8:21 AM Rating: Good
    I've seen and heard such good things about EQ2 that not spending the $50 for it would be a crime. After reading some of the posts and agreeing with a few, EQ 2 offers us die hard fans of EQ a new beginning. I can remember when EC tunnel was THE place to hang out it was the bazaar before there was a bazaar. I hear people flaming a game that they play year after year, moan about this, that and the other and still play EQ despite all of it. OK Sony needs to come out with a new expansion for EQ that has less hack-n-slash and more quests, and do away with this stupid flag system. You need to be in a high powered guild to enter Time. PoP is Power of People aka GUILD only Zones. Since when was EQ all about Guilds? A non-guilded person has a snowballs chance in hell in getting into Plane of Time. Who care if she has 800 AA's, is level 70 and has all 3 epics. The time for flags is over. EQ 2 offers a new look on gaming with the same familiar EQ logic(hopefully Sony make things different). I'll be trying EQ 2 simply because playing in a new place and learning new things is what made EQ originally such a draw....
    RE: EQ2
    # Nov 03 2004 at 11:34 PM Rating: Default
    "OK Sony needs to come out with a new expansion for EQ that has less hack-n-slash and more quests, and do away with this stupid flag system."

    Flag system is nice, but OoW was a LOT of tradeskill stuffs. A few new combat zones and stuff, but mostly tradeskill AAs...

    Also, my take on it is... SOE already sees how messed up EQ is, so they are going to try to make it over without ticking off all players by wiping clean servers and selling back all expansions... They make another game, make it an OPTIONAL reset... They aren't going to mess up EQ 2 like they did EQ 1... oh and btw I love EQ1, no complaints here! :D

    Edited, Wed Nov 3 23:36:32 2004
    EQ2
    # Oct 31 2004 at 4:58 PM Rating: Decent
    I have been a beta tester of EQ2 for over a month now... all I can say is this game is NOT ready to be released yet...they are going to have issues like mad.
    EQ2 vs. WoW
    # Oct 31 2004 at 2:07 PM Rating: Decent
    Ok, I am an OG everquest player, I started my character in july of 1999, and have played only 2 different toons the entire time. I have to say, Sony has a bad track record for its expansions and the way it conducts business. For the past few years/expansions sony has been trying to keep up with its players because the playerbase rips through every expansion that comes out. There is no real challenge in EQ anymore in my opinion. In addition, me and the guild im in had a petitionable issues this past week and the GM's pretty much said FU until many threatened to quit even though the gm had admitted it was a bug on the games end, It took about 7 hours for resolution.
    Everquest is a thing of the past, there are many new games coming out soon including World of warcraft, (which I beta on), Wish 2, matrix, middle earth, etc. I don't understand why so many people are diehard about a dead franchise. For one thing, what was the last GM event you went to that didn't involve mass killing of green mobs in newbie zones? Try something new, I mentioned above that I was in WoW beta..../drool. That game rocks, I saw above someone mention crayola graphics, so what? They aren't bad....at all. In addition the overall game play is much faster, death is relaitvely painless and downtime is nil. The game was developed this way so not to alienate any one customer in addition, we all know blizzard rocks if not a little slack on their release dates(due to the fact they create excellent products and thoroughly test things before releasing them to the general public). Open-beta/stress-test starts this coming week for WoW, I strongly suggest that everyone give it a shot.
    #REDACTED, Posted: Nov 04 2004 at 7:48 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) YOU'RE A DEAD FRANCHISE
    EQ2
    # Oct 29 2004 at 7:25 PM Rating: Decent
    I've been playing in Beta for 2 months. In that time, I've seen lots of changes. The lag everyone speaks of was server lag. Partly due to the fact that they were stress testing beta 1 server. Now with 3 servers open, beta 1 still has some server lag, but that's due to people not wanting to switch servers and build a new toon. Beta 2 and Beta 3 have zero lag, and beta 1 East Commonlands, (the Evil noobie zone) is lag free. What that tells me is most are playing good toons, on beta 1.

    My recommendation to all of you is to see for yourself. If you don't like it, I'm sure it won't be the first 50.00 game that you thought sucked, and didn't play it. However, don't make the mistake of comparing it to EQ. It is not EQ in anything but name and some general Lore. After that, everything else is vastly different. Levelling, Tradeskills, Quests, Raids, Guilds, Prestige and several other things make EQ2 unique and stand out from all other games.

    As for the system requirements, I run a geforce fx5700 with a 2600 athlon processor and 1 gig of ram and can max settins with virtually no lag except in battle. Try it for a bit, because the graphics are stunning maxxed out. So much detail.

    EQ2 Lag
    # Oct 29 2004 at 1:49 PM Rating: Decent
    I just want to know what kind boxes all of you who are experiencing this lag are using? I just upgraded my boat to over the recommended levels and pretty much the top of the uber box on several sites. I am wondering: Did I throw my money away, or are you guys just using small boats?
    Something Positive
    # Oct 28 2004 at 2:41 PM Rating: Good
    I'm looking forward to the release of EQ2. I'm more of a casual gammer and having reached the upper end of EQ1 theres not much for me. I was in a great guild for four years and after it broke up I chose not to look for another. I just can't meet the requirements for the uber guilds. I can't raid 4 times a week and don't have 50-100 AA's. I checked out some of the lower ranking guilds, but just can't get into raiding Splitpaw again, lol.

    I remember how much fun EQ1 was back in the begining when everyone was a noob and lowbie zones were packed. I hope to encounter some of this again in EQ2.

    I have four accounts (only two are active) and tons of great memories in EQ1 and I will miss my characters when I leave. However, I suppose I will get over it like I did with UO, DAOC, Shadowbane, Earth and Beyond and AO. I will most likely keep one EQ1 account open with all my droppable gear from both accounts, but only time will tell for how long.

    I'm sure that a bunch of people will stick with EQ1 and if it makes them happy then more power to them. There are a lot of things about EQ2 that appeal to me so I'll give it a spin. I even dropped a ton of cash to build a sweet gaming box for it, including a $580.oo video card (which made about 98% of my lag in EQ1 go away). Now-a-days gaming is more about the video card, than cpu power (although the more power the better).
    EQ2 Pay
    # Oct 27 2004 at 12:57 PM Rating: Default
    I just got off the phone with Sony's customer service and even tho the release is less than 2 weeks away they Don't have a clue how much thier charging this tells me sony is totally not ready for this.
    RE: EQ2 Pay
    # Oct 29 2004 at 7:25 PM Rating: Good
    Did you even read the Press release. The price is clearly outlined?
    RE: EQ2 Pay
    # Oct 28 2004 at 7:32 AM Rating: Decent
    *
    139 posts
    EverQuest II comes in three versions, all of which include a 30-day subscription (excluding SOE All Access subscriptions) to the game’s online world. The CD version and DVD versions of the game carry an SRP of $49.99 and include the game, an in-game item and an in-box item.

    Limited quantities of the EverQuest II Collector’s Edition (DVD) are available at an SRP of $89.99. The Collector’s Edition includes a number of in-game items, including “paintings” of EverQuest II scenery to be hung on the walls of a player’s house, magical talking statues of Antonia and Lucan (voiced by Hollywood talent Heather Graham and Christopher Lee), and an exclusive pet baby dragon. The Collector’s Edition also includes an exclusive art book, bonus DVD with trailers, gameplay videos and behind-the-scenes footage, a soundtrack CD, a collector’s coin with a velvet pouch, a cloth map of Norrath, and two posters.

    EverQuest II carries a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 for continuing access to the game world. Players can subscribe using a credit card, or purchase SOE 30-day and 90-day Game Cards, which open the new world of Norrath to those who choose not to use a credit card.
    #Anonymous, Posted: Oct 27 2004 at 12:07 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) I've have been playing EQ since before Kunark. With some peer-pressure, I decided to try (or at least try the beta) of AO, CoH, Lineage II, Saga of Ryzom, EQ2, and WoW.
    RE: Lame
    # Oct 27 2004 at 11:19 AM Rating: Decent
    *
    139 posts
    EQ2 is going to lag for long time to come as its engine is tuned for graphic cards and stuff not even made yet. Far as copying WoW I dont know and dont care they all copy from each other. More I read of it the more it bores me. Dont get me wrong I am not going to EQ2 either am happy with EQ1 played since beta and will play till they shut it down.

    Edited, Wed Oct 27 12:27:21 2004
    eq2
    # Oct 26 2004 at 9:27 PM Rating: Default
    Ok everybody to all the Eq fanboys out there please... stop being so blind the game looks absolutely atrocious, the lag is ridiculous, and the overall storyline is just stupid absolutely retarded. What also makes you think eq2 will be different and sony will actually listen to what the customers have to say? They wont Smedley is a jerk off and so are all the devs they dont give a damn about the players if you havent already noticed. Coming from a PvP server i find their customer service **** poor. If you want a good new mmorpg check out World of Warcraft the game is absolutely amazing. Great Graphics, great storyline, awesome gm service, reasonably good pvp for beta, and not to mention the game doesnt require you to have a super computer to run it.
    RE: Lame
    # Oct 26 2004 at 6:22 PM Rating: Decent
    Quote:
    Not to diss EQ or EQ2... EQ is going strong after 5 years and is still buggy/laggy.


    Trust me, some of the lag I've been seeing is beyond anything I've seen in EQ. I was in a newbie zone the other day. There was maybe a 20 or 30 people in the zone (no less than a dozen) I had several times where the game just froze for 5 seconds.

    Granted, my Athlon 1800, TI200 and 512mb isn't as much as this game would like, but I've been in this zone with less people, and it was fine.

    That said, it's light years ahead of where SWG was when its beta ended.

    Unless my RL friends move (only one is even going to try it at this point), I won't consider it for at least 6 months.
    yay
    # Oct 26 2004 at 11:36 AM Rating: Good
    ***
    1,817 posts
    /cheer SOE!

    Although I'm incredibly PISSED that they didn't let me in beta (first beta i've applied for and never accepted since starting eq1 5 years ago), I am incredibly anxious for eq2's release. not for a replacement for eq1 (although it may become that for me), but for something new from an online game creator that has proven they can satisfy my tastes.

    I've wasted money so far on Anarchy Online, Shadowbane, L2 and FFXI. Almost bought CoH after the beta, but decided it wasn't worth the risk after all the other games i wasted $30-$50 on.

    /cheer EQ2!!!
    Monthly Fee?
    # Oct 26 2004 at 11:29 AM Rating: Decent
    I realize 15$ a month is petty stuff (only 3 hours at minumum wage). But I am yet to see customer concern or quality assurance concern by Sony, that would warrant an extra $2 a month per person for their pockets. DAoC or WoW, I will gladly pay 15$ a month for the customer interaction/quality product that they produced, respectively(hell, I'd pay more), but I am not about to go pump more money into another of Sony's cash cow's (every expansion past Luclin and EQII). I would almost bet my life that many of the features are missing from EQII, purposefully withheld to create a 30$ expansion pack in the next two months after release. Bah, forget it. Sony = greedy, and while that is not necessarily bad, they should at least attempt to make something quality out of their product like Mythic and Blizzard have done. This is the primary reason the majority of the older players have left Everquest.
    Stromm Server going strong
    # Oct 26 2004 at 9:53 AM Rating: Decent
    I recently asked ten different people on Stromm if any would be playing EQ2, and EVERY ONE of them said, no for one of two reasons. Either they had invested a lot of time and effort in their character and had so much more to explore in EQ1, OR they were frustrated with the bugginess and/or gameplay of 2. When I ooc'ed in the bazaar which game do you like better, I got 3 answers of 1 and none for 2. So at least in this small sample of people, it seems that Stromm will be going strong in the months to come!
    EQ2 Performace
    # Oct 26 2004 at 8:16 AM Rating: Decent
    I've been playing the EQ2 beta for just about a month. And what I can tell you so far is that it is leaps beyond what EQ was at the start, as far as stability and lag goes. I have not crashed to desktop once. Lag? Well that is going to vary from machine to machine. EQ2 has some amazing graphics, it also has a huge selection of performance options to widen the range of machines that it will run on. I think I remeber reading somewhere that they released 30,000 beta accounts. Well they only have 4 servers running and it still seems to run pretty good to me.
    Dont complain
    # Oct 26 2004 at 8:08 AM Rating: Good
    I was lucky enough to be in beta from start. And the devs really performed miracles on the lag and bugs. For me the game is almost crashfree, and with a little tweaking of settings it runs lagfree. People have to remember that Everquest 2 IS NOT a sequal to EQLive by any means. Its more a new game build on the lore of EQLive. If you are looking for EQLive in a new coat ( what many ppl obviously hope for) you are going to be disappointed.
    Far as i know SOE will keep EQLive running for a long time and will still develop expansions and work on content.
    With Everquest 2 they want to attract a new kind of audience and definitely do not want to draw all players from EQLive.
    ____________________________
    Tuluvar
    ?
    # Oct 25 2004 at 11:22 PM Rating: Decent
    So why are they releasing EQ2 so early if its not quite ready?
    RE: ?
    # Oct 27 2004 at 3:49 PM Rating: Decent
    38 posts
    Has LITTLE TO NOTHING to do with beating WOW.

    The game is a little laggy and will test your patience a little....but BETA IS ONLY BEING SHOWN ABOUT 40-50% of what will be live on 11/08/04. I have been in BETA for 6+ weeks and I am telling you...it is ready and will be the next phenom.

    It is simple...
    If you want GRAPHICS and Gameplay..play EQ2.
    If you want Gameplay and crayola drawings..play WoW.
    RE: ?
    # Oct 26 2004 at 3:28 AM Rating: Decent
    *
    139 posts
    #1 reason to beat WoW
    RE: ?
    # Oct 26 2004 at 8:19 AM Rating: Decent
    Knowing Blizzards history with release dates, Sony could have waited another year to beat WoW on the shelves..lol
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