EverQuest: Gates of Discord Wrap Report

Changes and Enhancements There usually aren't very many major changes that occur along the development cycles for any expansion content-wise. Usually, changes occur in the form of balancing optimizations during the beta or tuning phases, or when working with coders on the systems portions. Getting your hands on actual data is a bit different than what you propose "should" happen.

Major Challenges Well, time is always a factor. We would always love to have an unlimited amount of time to concept, develop and tweak the EQ storyline. This last fall, the San Diego wildfires were devastating to the city and everyone at our offices, which took away a great deal of time. Our dedicated team here pitched in and worked extra hours to catch up so that we would meet your target date. We have a great group and they are all dedicated to providing our customers the best experience possible.

Best Decisions The tried and true features such as new tradeskills and new Alternate Advancement abilities are always well liked by players. The Berzerker is a HUGE hit! Working with Jamey Ryan, the Lead Programmer, the design and coding teams came up a great feature in Leadership Abilities. Those were all very well received.

Key Strengths We believe that the EverQuest team did a tremendous job in putting together a large-scale expansion in spite of some pretty significant events. One of the team's greatest strengths is the way that all departments - design, code and art - work really well together to make the best product possible. And now, with the new graphics engine, art will really have the opportunity to shine.

It's a pretty exciting time for EQ. Omens of War, our next expansion, should be a pretty significant milestone in its history. It will display many of the great features that the new graphics engine can take advantage of, and really give the game a new look.

Lessons Learned 1. Understanding that something - anything - may happen during your development cycle helps prepare you for the inevitable things that do happen. 2. Never underestimate the resolve of good teamwork to get done whatever needs to be done.

Audience Response Gates of Discord reminds us, in some ways, of Stephen King's Dark Tower series - the first books are great in and of themselves, but people are clamoring for the next one. Gates sets up travel to the Realm of Discord, and players are playing their way through that in hope of reaching the portal to Discord - the home of the Mata Muram. In terms of features, everyone seems really happy with the Leadership Abilities.

Looking Ahead The game is over five years old at this point, and it doesn't look like things will be slowing down for it at all. If you were to compare the EverQuest from five years ago to the EverQuest of today, you'd see two drastically different products. It will continue to evolve into the play styles of today in order to stay fun and interesting.

Personal Thoughts The new art style used in Gates added a more sinister look to the NPCs than we had seen before. We think many of our customers are so busy killing the monsters that they forget to look at them and see what improvements we have made, even before introducing the new graphics engine. Stop and take a look at the art in both the characters and the terrain. And read the text the NPCs offer as well; you may learn some secrets!

Oliver J. Smith Lead Designer, EverQuest Live and Expansions Sony Online Entertainment

Robert Pfister Executive Producer, EverQuest Sony Online Entertainment

[Since introducing them in November of 2003 to offer post-release viewpoints from the respective teams, it has been our pleasure to publish Wrap Reports on a number of other titles. Lists of the previous ones on both RPG Vault and Action Vault may be found on the next page. - Ed.]