DEVS!

[Fugazl]

<p>Hey ......this thing on......</p><p>How bout a dev or anyone that works on the game.... with an intrest in the future of the game give us something to read.</p><p>Busy with this and that isnt going to fly with me anymore. Got time to twitter about awesome sauce SC items then guess what?</p><p>haha ty please feed my brain</p><p>I could drop a whole post of /filter off stuff and pretty much feels safe that it wont be read by a dev anyways.</p><p>/monthly whine off</p>

[Celline-Layonaire]

<p>Yeah I'd also like to read some more stories and lore published by dev team inbetween.</p><p>(but I guess we have wait a bit longer than expected, since SmokeJumper himself said GU63 is currently scheduled for April.)</p>

[Zabjade]

<p><span style="color: #00cc00;">I don't know if that is going to happen, I think they have been trying to downplay the lore lately, (Noticed that the Lore section has slid down the list and that you have to scroll down further to find it?)</span></p><p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Rainmare]

<p>I think it's mostly that right now there's nothing to tell.</p><p>we know the Rallos is going to take a permenant fall. we know what is going to happen with Vallon/Sullon/Tallon when he does. We know that both the evil and the good sides of the Pantheon are fine with it, apparently rallos having agitated and annoyed every other god to the point of wanting to off him.</p><p>we know that it will repower the twin swords.</p><p>really the only things we don't know is a) how are we going to deal with Kera and b) what becomes of Kael/giants when Rallos takes his dirtnap.</p>

[Mixxit]

<p>Here's to hoping it's Mayong <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Meirril]

<p>You do know that devs posting info to this board is a rare occurance? Always has been.</p><p>When the devs had stories they released on the EQ2 pages then they linked 'em here. The Ethernaughts was very story driven content so presenting the backstory both in game and out was natural for that content.</p><p>Mostly what gets posted in these forums are questions we have, or comments on new content. Especially how that new content relates to other parts of the EQ2 story, both past and future. Mostly it depends on us as a resource though a dev will occasionally stop in and comment.</p><p>Without new content to bring up new questions, its kinda up to us to find things we want to know more about and see if anyone can shed some light on it. Recently, nobody has had any questions.</p>

[Cusashorn]

^ Vhalen was actually very vocal about responding as well as posting new lore info on the boards, albeit very enigmatically. That said... yeah.. There's really nothing to talk about right now. This board has been dead for a few months now just because there's nothing new to talk about.

[Maergoth]

<p>The entire game is basically spun around Drunder right now, and the lore suffers in the same way that raiding does. Never has the two sides of the coin, the raid community and the lore community, been so aware of each other's issues with the game.</p><p>Both raiding and lore are just sitting here waiting for a new spoonful of content to break them from the linearity of the entire Drunder experience. One zone at a time, one step at a time..</p><p>The days of a multi-faceted play experience are over. The idea stands that "People will always take one path anyway, usually the easiest one, so lets just focus on that". There's only one story going on, there's only one line of raiding (What happened to the Shard of Hate, Miraguls, Munzoks, etc?), one story arc, one gear progression path, one way to spend AAs, etc.</p><p>It makes the world feel dead. Maj`Dul has gone years now without a hitch, lore wise. Everling developed Alzheimers and just forgot about his legacy, and Mayong seems to have ceased worrying about the Monoliths of Theer (What were those anyway?).</p><p>What about the seed of Growth? or the city of Tanaan and Zebuxoruk? Is Nagafen just sitting in Sol's Eye enjoying the scenery while the most powerful dragon in existence, one he's trying to duplicate and control, is about to rip the world apart? What about the shadowed men? Surely they're still around, even without an overall direction.. and who were they? And all the raid bosses we defeated, are they all just dead? The entire ring of scale, Venril Sathir?</p><p>Are these story lines just dead?</p><p>If so, why?</p><p>I would absolutely love to know what is going on in the places adventurer's have washed their hands with. Surely by now we should have some new developments in older parts of the world.</p><p>Fantasy or not, "Happily ever after" doesn't seem right.</p>

[Meirril]

<p><cite>Maergoth@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The entire game is basically spun around Drunder right now, and the lore suffers in the same way that raiding does. Never has the two sides of the coin, the raid community and the lore community, been so aware of each other's issues with the game.</p><p>Both raiding and lore are just sitting here waiting for a new spoonful of content to break them from the linearity of the entire Drunder experience. One zone at a time, one step at a time..</p><p>The days of a multi-faceted play experience are over. The idea stands that "People will always take one path anyway, usually the easiest one, so lets just focus on that". There's only one story going on, there's only one line of raiding (What happened to the Shard of Hate, Miraguls, Munzoks, etc?), one story arc, one gear progression path, one way to spend AAs, etc.</p><p>It makes the world feel dead. Maj`Dul has gone years now without a hitch, lore wise. Everling developed Alzheimers and just forgot about his legacy, and Mayong seems to have ceased worrying about the Monoliths of Theer (What were those anyway?).</p><p>What about the seed of Growth? or the city of Tanaan and Zebuxoruk? Is Nagafen just sitting in Sol's Eye enjoying the scenery while the most powerful dragon in existence, one he's trying to duplicate and control, is about to rip the world apart? What about the shadowed men? Surely they're still around, even without an overall direction.. and who were they? And all the raid bosses we defeated, are they all just dead? The entire ring of scale, Venril Sathir?</p><p>Are these story lines just dead?</p><p>If so, why?</p><p>I would absolutely love to know what is going on in the places adventurer's have washed their hands with. Surely by now we should have some new developments in older parts of the world.</p><p>Fantasy or not, "Happily ever after" doesn't seem right.</p></blockquote><p>Lets see, last we herd from Everling he was being split so thin between the many version of himself that he was loosing sentience. What remains of him are simply echos of his past.</p><p>Lore wise we the players fixed Maj'Dul by defeating the House of Tears, The Master and putting a decent dent in the Rijark Orcs. Unless dev decides to revisit this, I don't see any advancement being made on that story.</p><p>Mayong is doing his thing. He works behind the sceens until a critical moment come up and then he steps in to either fix things and take all the glory, or take advantage of the situation. I have a feeling he won't show himself until we're ready to fight Kerafyrm. He also might be having some trouble of his own from a certain lady who might drop in for a visit.</p><p>The Monoliths of Theer could be many things. It hasn't ever been clearly spelled out but I believe they are the Void Anchors spread across Norrath. Not only do they act as a way for the void army to invade Norrath but they also lead directly to the eventual destruction of the planet when the other end of that anchor is pulled into the center of The Void. Maybe Mayong is arranging to destroy the anchors?</p><p>As for the rest...The Shadowmen were the Jal'rathe, an ancient race that came from EQ:OA but disappeared before the time of EQ1. Assumedly they were banished to the void. Theer isn't dead, so the Shadowmen may still be following his lead. Or they might try to act on their own now that he is weakened. Honestly, your asking for a bunch of story that the producers could direct the game toward, but unless new content moves in that direction there isn't any reason for it to be updated.</p><p>Personally I'll be happy once this whole End of Times story is over, but unfortunately it is getting dragged on and on. I've got a suspicion that Kerafyrm isn't even the end of it. /sigh</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>yes, the Ring of Scale is dead. all of them save 1. and it's not Trakanon.</p><p>the Monoliths of Theer are varied. Vahlen I beleive said we even saw some of them inside VP. Mayong is probably locating/deciphering them. that and indeed probably dealing with a certain someone who is probably either still infactuated, or highly p*ssed, at/with him.</p><p>Maj'dul's story was indeed cleared up with the Ring of Fate line. We destroyed the Court of Tears, crippled the Rujarkian orcs invasion plans, and we dealt with the Vizier and his captured Djinn. the other Courts (blades/coin/truth) had thier leaders taken out, and thier children are running things seemingly jointly.</p><p>Venril Sathir is still around, as we don't have or never got a hold of, his phylactery. as long as that exists, so does he. it's the reason Rile was going after his, and the reason that now that he believe he has it, he's actively (so to speak) plotting against his father again.</p><p>the Leviathan is dead.</p><p>the Seed of Growth in the heritage is given to Fironia Vie, who apparently is getting ready to do something with kelethin's queen. and considering part of DoV 2.0 is called 'the withered lands' I wouldn't be surprised if that's where that story is going to move to.</p><p>Everling..well he's like a split personality...with each part in it's own physical body. he's literally all over the place mentally..and losing the battle to stay sane/sentient...and his family is dead and gone. there's no legacy left other then everling himself who is rapiding 'fading away'</p><p>Theer is weakened but not dead...adn taking to him you get the feeling that after he got drained by Kera...99% of his fabled might is gone. all he's got left is his physical strength...and he's mostly contemplating how to fix things or restore himself in light of this trick pulled by Kera.</p><p>all of the gods (except Rallos) are in debate about how to handle Kera. Rallos is of course trying to play at being the tough guy butt kicker. and he's dicking over the other gods to do it. bringing drunder to norrath, 'restarting' the Ring War...and generally giving the pantheon the finger.</p><p>hence why the pantheon has decreed that it's perfectly alright for us to help Tallon/Vallon/Sullon put Rallos down for good. Rallos has become a liability. a rabid dog that needs put down.</p><p>As to Naggy....he's probably a lot more concerned right now with his clutch of eggs then Kera...and as far was we know, Nagafen doesn't have the means to leave Sol Eye. he's still stuck there.</p><p>But I think Age's End will be over after Kera gets beaten. and I think Theer will regain the twin swords, and become 'the Godslayer' again, and the next 'arc' will be how the Pantheon will deal with Theer being back in power and resuming his place as the Sentinel of Balance.</p>

[Maergoth]

<p>I think both of you missed the point. Just because nothing "has" to happen in places we've already been, doesn't mean nothing "should" happen. And I would argue against both of those points.</p><p>It's reasonable to believe that SOMETHING would happen in a lot of these situations. Everling's consciousness was stable enough to interact with our world before, why now would that have ceased? The peacock club is still in attendance, the city of Maj`Dul is still a city hinged heavily on politics.</p><p>The idea that "Those places are fine, and those people are fine" is just incredibly unbelievable.</p><p>There used to be a lot going on. Now there's just the primary story arc. The few tangents that exist are basically fluff and a mechanism to drive quests. There are so many loose ends that are never going to be tied up, and so many story lines with potential that have basically been abandoned because it's easier just to install a treadmill to get us through the game than maintain an expensive rug.</p>

[Rezikai]

<p><cite>Maergoth@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I think both of you missed the point. </p></blockquote><p>yea, I understand what your saying. The stories flowing along and progressing along individually did make the world seem a lot more alive/active. But in the last 2 yrs Vellious has pretty much been the focal point of any further lore stories pre existing or new ones. It does make the rest of the world seem black and white in comparison to the current stuff. </p><p>I'm going to do something contrary to my tastes and defend our <em><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">red named devs</span></strong></em> for once. Not because I love them or love SOE... far from it. But as of now we're heading for year 8 of this games life. EQ2 was launched in year 5 of eq1. I'm betting the time/coding/manpower/labor hours are simply not there anymore make the world as "filling" as it used to feel with a lot of different continuing storylines flowing at once rather then everything focusing on 1 or 2 expacs/holidays. </p><p>Bill trost, Tony garcia and others knew what they were doing by having a lot of storylines going at once <em>AND</em> having multiple story lines (maybe not all of them) cross over and touch each other in small or large ways (sounds dirty i know) but a webbing of many tales/stories connecting makes for good plot devices.</p><p>Maybe they'll eventually give in and start asking some of the more knowledgable <em><span style="color: #3366ff;">lore lovers/players/writers</span></em> that play the game a chance to help "flesh out" some of the storylines that have sat stagnant for so long. But this late in the game who knows.</p><p>---</p><p>Oh and the <em><span style="color: #999999;">Monoliths of Theer</span></em> are those big azz stone slab tablets hanging in a circle in Druushk's room in VP, the Athenaum of Scale. If you've completed the fate of norrath questline (and kill trak) 4 of the tablets will even show 1 rune from the prophecy/doomsday wheel/rune.</p>

[Meirril]

<p><cite>Maergoth@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I think both of you missed the point. Just because nothing "has" to happen in places we've already been, doesn't mean nothing "should" happen. And I would argue against both of those points.</p><p>It's reasonable to believe that SOMETHING would happen in a lot of these situations. Everling's consciousness was stable enough to interact with our world before, why now would that have ceased? The peacock club is still in attendance, the city of Maj`Dul is still a city hinged heavily on politics.</p><p>The idea that "Those places are fine, and those people are fine" is just incredibly unbelievable.</p><p>There used to be a lot going on. Now there's just the primary story arc. The few tangents that exist are basically fluff and a mechanism to drive quests. There are so many loose ends that are never going to be tied up, and so many story lines with potential that have basically been abandoned because it's easier just to install a treadmill to get us through the game than maintain an expensive rug.</p></blockquote><p>Well, if the old zones changed to update that would do 2 things that I consider "bad".</p><p>First, dev time would be spent on making essentially flavor text. I'm actually for that, epecially if it is accompanied with a few minor quests and books that are chocked full of lore. Though more than likely your actually talking about half of it being NPCs asking "what are these ratonga doing in my city?" kinda stuff. However in light of the second point I think this is a bad idea.</p><p>Because the second point is looking at each expansion area as a chronology of how the game progresses. You start in one of the cities (year 1), moving through the Shattered Lands (still year 1). Then you move to Butcherblock Mountains (actually doesn't place in the story timeline). You wander back and forth from the Shattered Lands content to Feydark content. At 50+ the storyline of EQ2 starts to progress from laying the basis to the actual story. You first hear rumors about a forgotten god, and a little tease of what is to come as you fight for and against the courts of Maj'Dul eventually saving the city (year 2). Then you move into the sky and learn a little about Kerafyrm and the Awakened (year 3). Then you travel to Kunark and learn about the Shissar Calendar and the Ages End prophacy (year 4). While there you finally learn of the Void Anchors and follow rumors to the Moors of Y'Kesha and begin to confront the Void Invasion in earnest (year 5). Learning of how the Ulterian Spire Network was used to move Odus into Ulteria to help Theer escape The Void you move against his armies and confront Theer directly...which leads to Kerafyrm using us to strip Theer of his powers (year 6). Onward we trail Kerafyrm to Velious where we find out that Rallos Zek is going to stop Kerafyrm...and the rest of the gods think this will destroy Norrath. With guidence from the Duality we begin to prepare a plan to stop Rallos from entering battle with an unstable Kerafyrm (year 7).</p><p>Currently we're waiting for the battle in Drunder to end so we can move on towards the real enemy: Kerafyrm. We already know that the dragons of the Temple of Veeshan are opposed to the Awakened and Kerafyrm and under seige. Yelnik himself has come to negotate for the assistance of the Coldain against both the invading Awakened cult and the armies of Kael. The stage is set in Drunder, we're only waiting for the actors to take their places to draw the curtin on Velious act 1. Personally I can't wait to see act 2 of Velious. The Western Wastes call to me, I long to feel the snow between my paws.</p>

[Fugazl]

<p>I never ment this post to be about Lore added in game like new freeport.  </p><p>I  just wanted to see if any devs actually had a real intrest in the actual lore.</p><p>When I don't get the sense of invovled developers in the lore then I only assume this games story is going to fade and become a waste blahs. </p><p>Giving a snip of lore to Aprils updates in a clever way would have been a nice thing. Never had to be Main arc or anything.</p>