Rise of Kunark

[Mirander_1]

I felt this deserved its own thread.  Thanks to another poster in one of the other threads, we've learned that last week SOE got a trademark for the title "Everquest II - Rise of Kunark," so it seems we've got the location for the next expansion.  Obviously, we know absolutly nothing about the expansion, and won't until it's officially announced, but it seemed like we ought to have one thread to fill with our idle speculation until we know more .  

[Zanix]

hell yes. unsink that island. I want to revist some of my old stomping grounds!

[Cusashorn]

Back before Beta of EQ2 started, rumor had it that:

-The cataclysms had ignited most of Kunark, turning roughly 60% of it into Burning Woods. the areas formely known as Warsilik Woods, Emerald Jungle, and Trakanon's Teeth are gone and/or burning.

-Cabilis has been engulfed by the Lake of Ill Omen, long abandoned by the Iksar, who are now scattered across the continent trying to survive on thier own, and of course we know about the ships who fled to other continents to try to survive the disasters there. If EoF had stuck to the original beta lore, we would have found an iksar encampment somewhere near Butcherblock.

[Zanix]

nothing the gnomes can't fix. we specialize in machines to fix things. water pumps, and fertalizer would have that place up in no time.

[Cusashorn]

Bah, you gnomes only make things worse.

[Oosu]

     If this is true and Kunark is the next expansion.....MAN AM I PUMPED! .  I am sure alot will agree with me.  At least the oldschoolers.  Kunark was by far one of thier best expansions.  Lot's to do.  Lot's of interesting lore.  Great designed zones and dungeons.  With the exceptions of Skyshrine :p  Although that was still a blast. The only zone where GMs were forbidden from ever helping period...lol

     On a side note.  Old Sebelis would be a great raid zone!  Oowomp could be an Epic x4^^^ contested mob Large Wyrms to fight.  Those [Removed for Content] dispelling drakes Oo. 

     Now the quintessential question.  Will or will they not be releasing an evil race? And if so what will it be? Let the speculation begin!

[Zanix]

Well, found this from another thread. so.... 

Here's what to do: 1. go to http://www.uspto.gov/ 2. click the "How To Search"-link on top of the page 3. click "search Trademarks now" 4. click "New user form search (Basic)" 5. use the search term "rise of kunark". You should be directly redirected to the entry.

[Cusashorn]

Permastoned wrote:

     If this is true and Kunark is the next expansion.....MAN AM I PUMPED! .  I am sure alot will agree with me.  At least the oldschoolers.  Kunark was by far one of thier best expansions.  Lot's to do.  Lot's of interesting lore.  Great designed zones and dungeons.  With the exceptions of Skyshrine :p  Although that was still a blast. The only zone where GMs were forbidden from ever helping period...lol

     On a side note.  Old Sebelis would be a great raid zone!  Oowomp could be an Epic x4^^^ contested mob Large Wyrms to fight.  Those [I cannot control my vocabulary] dispelling drakes Oo. 

     Now the quintessential question.  Will or will they not be releasing an evil race? And if so what will it be? Let the speculation begin!

The GMs were forbidden from helping people out in Skyshrine?  I dont know about that, I saw them show up in the zone before.

[boylocke]

I think it's a riot we have legal right to search those patent databases (which we should!!).  It must spoil SO much, especially in instances like this one.I'm actually quite surprised they haven't announced the existance of a new expansion or at least an adventure pack already!And I bet the evil races are guarenteed a new one to add to their ranks.

[Oosu]

Cusashorn wrote:

The GMs were forbidden from helping people out in Skyshrine?  I dont know about that, I saw them show up in the zone before.

     When the zone was first released and for a time afterwards.  They were steadfast about not assisting in  anything about Skyhrine.  Nothing.  I remember many a loooong night.  We could not go to bed because we HAD to get our corpses back.  Not a choice.  We had to...But it was good times. 

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Like I said in other recent thread expressing how excited I am when I first heard of ROK 2.0 ..

I'll speculate what would happen in ROK 2.0  I call it ROK 2.0 cuz Ruins of Kunark is also ROK so is Rise of Kunark.

1. Level cap stays at 70

2. Guild level cap increases to 70

3. Few new secondary tradeskills

4. New claymore series style like Sword of Destiny for EOF

5.  New playable evil city, Cabilis

6. New playable evil race:  Sarnak OR Shissar who runs Cabilis that Iksars abandoned.

7. New Diety OR Racial AA with 50 AA cap to increase cap from 100 to 150..

8. New HQS such as Fungi Tunic, Circlet of Shadow, etc

9. New Epic 1.0?

10. 1-70 content just like EOF and same or maybe little bigger size than EOF.

11. More dieties and maybe more quests are added to support existing and new dieties

12. Guild house (WE REALLY NEED THIS). Obtainable at guild lvl 70 at cost of terms of million of SPs and money. It can be built on destinated spots on lands. Unique houses just like cloak design concept does..

I guess That's all off my head..

[Mirel]

The zone in Kunark that GM's would not assist with corpse recovery was Veashan's Peak.

Skyshrine is the dragon city in the Velious Expansion.

[Dikatin]

Seeing all the tensity through the community, I wonder what is the story behind Kunark? Don't really know what exactly Kunark is about - any source for lore? Any links would be greatly appreciated.

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Dikatin wrote:

Seeing all the tensity through the community, I wonder what is the story behind Kunark? Don't really know what exactly Kunark is about - any source for lore? Any links would be greatly appreciated.

ROK 1.0 was very first expansion of EQ1 with new level cap of 60 from 50. It was the introduction of new epic 1.0 weapons for any classes. Paladin had soulfire before ROK as unique epic that all other classes kept whining that they didn't have epics. Typical heh.

ROK was the WORST expansion for crusaders (SK and Paladins) but it was great expansion for its content and advancement. It was HUGE expansion back then that amazed us.

Remember, EQ1 was one of only 2 graphic MMO in existence. UO was there.   So, huge expansion to early generation MMO is something that hit us hard by heart and we remember it very well and rather new "concept" for MMO. I'm not sure if UO expansion arrived first before ROK or after.. Hmm.

I see several links for you to read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruins_of_Kunark

http://pc.ign.com/articles/163/163953p1.html

http://everquest.station.sony.com/kunark.jsp

You can google for more links.

[DobyMT]

Nocifer Deathblade wrote:

Like I said in other recent thread expressing how excited I am when I first heard of ROK 2.0 ..

I'll speculate what would happen in ROK 2.0  I call it ROK 2.0 cuz Ruins of Kunark is also ROK so is Rise of Kunark.

1. Level cap stays at 70

Dear lord I hope not.  So many people have been 70 for over a year.  I'd like to see it raised to 80 and xp amounts reduced to about 10% of what normal gain is.  That way it would take so much to level to 80, and it would give us plenty to do.

2. Guild level cap increases to 70

Sure, why not.

3. Few new secondary tradeskills

Again, sure.

4. New claymore series style like Sword of Destiny for EOF

Pretty much the standard template.

5.  New playable evil city, Cabilis

I'd like to see a new city have arisen, instead of a rehashing.  Some originality.

6. New playable evil race:  Sarnak OR Shissar who runs Cabilis that Iksars abandoned.

See #5

7. New Diety OR Racial AA with 50 AA cap to increase cap from 100 to 150..

If AAs are just gonna be fluff for some and really useful for others, I'd rather not see this.

8. New HQS such as Fungi Tunic, Circlet of Shadow, etc

Fungi tunic would be a fun item to have.

9. New Epic 1.0?

Well, the devs have pretty much made it apparent that this can't/won't be implemented the way that it was in EQLive.  That's why we have the Epic questlines that result in different items.

10. 1-70 content just like EOF and same or maybe little bigger size than EOF.

Another EoF type expansion is not what's needed lol. There's so much 1-50 content not being used anyway, that more is just going to make more zones totally unused.

11. More dieties and maybe more quests are added to support existing and new dieties

Probably.

12. Guild house (WE REALLY NEED THIS). Obtainable at guild lvl 70 at cost of terms of million of SPs and money. It can be built on destinated spots on lands. Unique houses just like cloak design concept does..

And yes, this would be just amazing.

I guess That's all off my head..

I'd love to see a TON of contested epic stuff.  I'd love to see some real hardcore, fun, questing 80+ dungeons with the level cap being increased.  Some real good ones.  I'm hoping Unrest starts a model that they follow, I'm really excited for that.  I'm all for instances that are scripted, fun, and have a taste of some heritage.

Oh, and Trakanon had BETTER be in this. 

[Rashaak]

Nocifer Deathblade wrote:

Dikatin wrote:

Seeing all the tensity through the community, I wonder what is the story behind Kunark? Don't really know what exactly Kunark is about - any source for lore? Any links would be greatly appreciated.

ROK 1.0 was very first expansion of EQ1 with new level cap of 60 from 50. It was the introduction of new epic 1.0 weapons for any classes. Paladin had soulfire before ROK as unique epic that all other classes kept whining that they didn't have epics. Typical heh.

ROK was the WORST expansion for crusaders (SK and Paladins) but it was great expansion for its content and advancement. It was HUGE expansion back then that amazed us.

Remember, EQ1 was one of only 2 graphic MMO in existence. UO was there.   So, huge expansion to early generation MMO is something that hit us hard by heart and we remember it very well and rather new "concept" for MMO. I'm not sure if UO expansion arrived first before ROK or after.. Hmm.

I see several links for you to read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruins_of_Kunark

http://pc.ign.com/articles/163/163953p1.html

http://everquest.station.sony.com/kunark.jsp

You can google for more links.

You forgot one of the most important things that will probably get you keel hauled by them, but the expansion also introduced the Iksar, which was also a first of any MMO.

[Cusashorn]

Rashaak wrote:

Nocifer Deathblade wrote:

You forgot one of the most important things that will probably get you keel hauled by them, but the expansion also introduced the Iksar, which was also a first of any MMO.

Well of course it was a first. Everquest was the 2nd MMORPG to ever exist, and the MMORPG market in whole wouldn't exist without it.

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Cusashorn wrote:

Well of course it was a first. Everquest was the 2nd MMORPG to ever exist, and the MMORPG market in whole wouldn't exist without it.

Correction: EQ1 is 2nd GRAPHIC MMORPG to ever exist.

Gemstone and few others are MMORPG but in form of text. I played Gemstone 3 (MUD) for 4 years before EQ1 hits and it was TRULY MMORPG and still is running alive as existing MMORPG today in form of Gemstone 4.  EQ1 lost the sense of MMORPG and it was changed into just MMO.  Roleplaying in graphic games so far is basically very weak. It's alot better to RP in pen & boards and text games.

I think Island of Kesmai or Meridan 9 or something like that was very first MMORPG ever entered in world history.

UO is very first graphic MMORPG ever entered in world history.

I never forget that it shocked me when I had to pay $3 per hour to play those MUD games when I was a teenager. Then shortly after that, they offered flat $20 for max of 20 hours a month so I signed up but sometimes went over 20 hours and faced horrible bill especially at my very young age back then when I didn't have much money. When it gone to AOL then limited play for flat rate of monthly fee. That led to the truth birth of MMO industry. Flat monthly fee for unlimited play is the only reason for MMO explosion. Believe me as I witnessed the HUGE change right after the concept of flat rate got introduced..

I even heard of some older people paying $12 a hour to play those MUDs! That would be mind-blowing!  I even heard of those people paying over $1k a month just to play!!! You can see why it didn't go mass production at all.

During that period without flat monthly fee. PCs were pretty new and were very costly. $5k was normal price for 286 machines and paying MMO by hour was common.  Those original MMORPG gamers were very rare and few with access of expensive computer and can afford hourly rate. Those gamers were basically grandfather of MMORPG players.    It's realy quite honor to be part of that birth of MMORPG era and live to tell. There is also the birth of arcade/console in 1980's as well along with those MMORPG for computers. 1980s is basically the decade of the electronic game explosion in MMO/stand alone games that forever revolutionized the world. 

[BossCre]

Cusashorn wrote:

Permastoned wrote:

     If this is true and Kunark is the next expansion.....MAN AM I PUMPED! .  I am sure alot will agree with me.  At least the oldschoolers.  Kunark was by far one of thier best expansions.  Lot's to do.  Lot's of interesting lore.  Great designed zones and dungeons.  With the exceptions of Skyshrine :p  Although that was still a blast. The only zone where GMs were forbidden from ever helping period...lol

     On a side note.  Old Sebelis would be a great raid zone!  Oowomp could be an Epic x4^^^ contested mob Large Wyrms to fight.  Those [I cannot control my vocabulary] dispelling drakes Oo. 

     Now the quintessential question.  Will or will they not be releasing an evil race? And if so what will it be? Let the speculation begin!

The GMs were forbidden from helping people out in Skyshrine?  I dont know about that, I saw them show up in the zone before.

I think that person might have been thinking of Veeshan's Peak...not Skyshrine.  Of course...I think it was eventually considered a zone where GMs could provide assistance.  I remember the hesitation that some felt toward entering that place under such conditions.  *shrug*

[Nocifer Deathblade]

OMG! I totally forgot something that I played online game on AOL along with Gemstone 3..  It was NeverWinter Nights. I saw it and tried it out. It was fun and it was ACTUALLY a graphic game. I think that was very first graphic online game. Sorry, UO..   UO would be first MAJOR graphic game yes but NeverWinter Night got it first in terms of graphics and I think UO learned from that example to launch their own..

I remembered other cool graphic online from Sierra Network that I also played. I don't really remember the name but it was also D&D style before UO came out..  So.... EQ1 is actually not 2nd one!  It's actually 4th, 5th, or something like that heh. But sure, I would say that EQ1 is 2nd MAJOR graphic MMO.. But not 2nd one as any graphic MMO.

[Oosu]

Mirel wrote:

The zone in Kunark that GM's would not assist with corpse recovery was Veashan's Peak.

Skyshrine is the dragon city in the Velious Expansion.

Yes you're correct i was wrong.  It is Veesan'speak.  I don't know why i thought it ws skysrhine, hehe.  Ah well.  Anyway, that wplace was a [Removed for Content] but was fun, hehe

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Yeah, VP was horrible for ROK.. So was Plane of Fear for original EQ1.  I never forget 12 hours CR process to get everyone out of POF. It sucked big time..

[ravenscale]

if this is true all i gots to say is WOOT loved me some kunark....and followed

OMG FUNGI KING MOB IS CAMPED GO AWAY i want my [Removed for Content] FUNGI TUNIC

[Mirander_1]

The thing I find most exciting about this expansion is that it is almost certainly going to bring in a new evil race.  I've been thinking over the potential Kunark-themed races, and here's what I've come up with as the likely candidates, along with a brief description for those who didn't play EQlive: Shissar: Snake men who had once enslaved the Iksar.  They had teleported to Luclin to escape Cazic Thule's wrath, but perhaps they returned sometime between the gods leaving and the destruction of Luclin Sarnak:  A race of half-Dragon half-Iksar beings that one of the Iksar emporers had created as a slave race.  They rebelled, and created their own war-like civilization Goblin: Yep, they have those on Kunark too Drolvarg:  A pack of organized werewolves.  Don't know much more about them Burnyai:  A race of badger-men Drachnid: A centaur-like race of half-Dark Elf half-Spider.  They were created by Mayong Mistmoore, and served as his eyes and ears on Kunark. Personally, I'm pulling for the Sarnaks, but I'd like to see their appearance revamped to something between EQlive Sarnaks and EQ2 Droags (ok, I really just want them to have wings ).  But a draconic race has great potential for customization with scale colors and horn styles.

[Zanix]

ah yes the memories. there's tons of great lore on ROK, personally, some of the only lore I've taken interest in over all my EQ years. If you're into that sort of thing, do a quick search for greenmist or rile or shissar. It all ties together.

 Many people in EQ2 have no idea about the EQ1 lore, and that 'thing' you see in the sky is actually Luclin, Norrath's moon. This is where the Shissar (see above post) fled too after the Greenmist.

 And yes, the Sarnaks were an iksar creation race intended for slavery, that rebeled. I believe they were a hybrid of goblins + dragons.

My guess is the DEVs at SOE got a supply in of some really good stuff, and the creative gears were spinning full speed when they developed ROK.

[SpritRaja]

DobyMT wrote:

Nocifer Deathblade wrote:

Like I said in other recent thread expressing how excited I am when I first heard of ROK 2.0 ..

I'll speculate what would happen in ROK 2.0  I call it ROK 2.0 cuz Ruins of Kunark is also ROK so is Rise of Kunark.

1. Level cap stays at 70

Dear lord I hope not.  So many people have been 70 for over a year.  I'd like to see it raised to 80 and xp amounts reduced to about 10% of what normal gain is.  That way it would take so much to level to 80, and it would give us plenty to do.

Yeah would like a rise in level.

2. Guild level cap increases to 70

Sure, why not.

3. Few new secondary tradeskills

Again, sure.

4. New claymore series style like Sword of Destiny for EOF

Pretty much the standard template.

5.  New playable evil city, Cabilis

I'd like to see a new city have arisen, instead of a rehashing.  Some originality.

Would like the city to be factioned like Maj'dul but have content from lvl 1-80 as well as being a starting city for a new evil race.

6. New playable evil race:  Sarnak OR Shissar who runs Cabilis that Iksars abandoned.

See #5

7. New Diety OR Racial AA with 50 AA cap to increase cap from 100 to 150..

If AAs are just gonna be fluff for some and really useful for others, I'd rather not see this.

No new AAs just added as well as revamped class traits.

8. New HQS such as Fungi Tunic, Circlet of Shadow, etc

Fungi tunic would be a fun item to have.

9. New Epic 1.0?

Well, the devs have pretty much made it apparent that this can't/won't be implemented the way that it was in EQLive.  That's why we have the Epic questlines that result in different items.

No need for this with the epic quest lines.

10. 1-70 content just like EOF and same or maybe little bigger size than EOF.

Another EoF type expansion is not what's needed lol. There's so much 1-50 content not being used anyway, that more is just going to make more zones totally unused.

11. More dieties and maybe more quests are added to support existing and new dieties

Probably.

Would like to see Neutral: Karana, Evil: Bertoxulous and some Good diety as well maybe Erolissi.

12. Guild house (WE REALLY NEED THIS). Obtainable at guild lvl 70 at cost of terms of million of SPs and money. It can be built on destinated spots on lands. Unique houses just like cloak design concept does..

And yes, this would be just amazing.

Having customized guild housing would be great. Coding would have to be done for instances like current house rooms. Having guild houses out in the open would be a huge drain on current resources. Would like them to be customizable like the tower in Fallen Dynasty where you get kicked out of a certain part depending on guild rank.

I guess That's all off my head..

I'd love to see a TON of contested epic stuff.  I'd love to see some real hardcore, fun, questing 80+ dungeons with the level cap being increased.  Some real good ones.  I'm hoping Unrest starts a model that they follow, I'm really excited for that.  I'm all for instances that are scripted, fun, and have a taste of some heritage.

Oh, and Trakanon had BETTER be in this. 

Would like to see fabled tradeskill recipes and customizable patterns and parts drops for fabled gear from the new raid zones as well. Recipes should be tradable but the parts and patterns should be notrade. Only way to get it crafted is by commision system.

[Ogrebe]

I made my own prediction on my eq2 blog, but like i said there, i don't think where going to be getting all the original zones from Kunark. There where like 12 out side zones and 10-15 inside zones in that expansion in EQ1. In eq2 we had 5 in EoF, 3 in KoS, 2 in DoF, and 9 in the orginal game. So, i honstly think where going to be getting 5-8ish out side zones. Which mean either some are now under water, or some will be combined. Also adding a new race i think would think out the content if they can ony get 5 or so out side zones out if they raise the level cap

[Ji]

Skyfire and Veeshans.... man talk about a blast from the past. Remember that dragon in Skyfire? The one that dropped a the chanter spell and we pulled to some kind of structure? Think it was a gazebo or something. Wyrms were bigger than the dragons almost. Lava everywhere kindla like lavastorm but more mountainous. It's gonna suck going thru that zone without Dead Mans Floting or levi !!

I think it's an awsome concept but I tried the US Patent Office and there was no such information found.

[Mirander_1]

Well, I recall it mentioned somewhere in the game (the History of the Iksar book, perhaps), that the Lake of Ill Omen had flooded enough to destroy Cabilis.  So, I'm thinking that the Iksar retook one of the other cities on Kunark, and that's the new evil city.  As for the other zones, I'm thinking that the Lake may have flooded to the point of basically being an inland sea, destroying many of the zones located in the center of the continent, and the remaining areas are ringed around the new sea. *shrugs* The idea's completely unfounded, but I rather like it .

[Cusashorn]

from a geographic standpoint, I can see that happening. The Lake of Ill Omen flooded the Swamp of No Hope and extended outwards into the sea via the Firiona Vie colony.