EverQuest2 Revisited Part 2: Travels in Faydwer2009-11-09 00:00:00This week I’m continuing with my journey back into the new Norrath of EverQuest 2. I’ve switched gears from my travels and experiences with the legacy content of Qeynos and am now evaluating at the Faydwer newbie experience.Released in 2006, Echoes of Faydwer was the first EverQuest 2 expansion to introduce a more polished and competitive newbie experience to the player. This was promoted brilliantly with the addition of a new and exciting playable race with wings called the Fay.As in part 1 of this series of articles examining the newbie experience of EQ2, I will be wearing two hats: the first will try to simulate what a new player might experience and encounter, the second from the perspective of a game designer. There are no sacred cows here. Enter at your own risk…Enter the FayAfter you create your character and enter the world, you get the red carpet treatment of a pleasing voice over and moving overhead camera that introduces you to the magical home of the new race called the Fay. It’s refreshing to see that SOE has actually learned presentation and polish lessons from Blizzard’s successful WoW. When the pseudo cinematic ends you find yourself in the Fay starting zone called The Hatchery.The quests here seem to flow logically and are fairly easy to complete from the main outpost which serves as a quest hub. You are not bombarded with excessive NPCs that want to give you tutorials and quests as is the case in the older newbie zones.The zone itself is completely isolated with the exception of one pathway that leads to the outside world — this is as it should be and represents state of the art professional newbie zone design as seen in popular MMOs.聽 Also worth mention is that there are no distracting mariner’s bells with a plethora of destinations that could potentially confuse, befuddle and strand a new player unlike those found in the massive metropolises and suburbs of Freeport and Qeynos.The artwork is outstanding with high fantasy overtones throughout. One interesting surprise is that we actually see a small child and she’s got an entertaining quest to share with you. Oddly enough, children seem to be absent in most MMOs these days except for WoW of course which has used them to great effect in creating the appearance of a living, breathing world.So far, so good…Kelethin: Maze in the TreesThe problems begin once the player enters Greater Faydark and is forced to encounter the capital city of Kelethin via the quests. It is at this point, my character who was around level 7-8 at the time hit a major roadblock and became lost in the city. Kelethin has to be one of the most oblique and impossible cities every devised in a MMO — even the original back in EverQuest was confusing.Instead of creating a easy to use and functional city that is the standard these days in MMOs, the designers were intent on replicating the original design of Kelethin which itself is a homage to the city of Lothlorien in Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings.Trying to find and get to any location in Kelethin was very frustrating and time consuming. Even using the EQ2 waypoint feature was fraught with problems as the banker NPC is not listed there as a banker — only by her full name which is rather pointless as a new player would never know she’s a banker. NPC’s that appear on the city map appear close as the crow flies but聽 in reality can take many minutes as the player must navigate the complex pathways that link each tree branch.Adding to the problem is that the icons that represent the various locations in cities blend in far too much. With all due respect to the fine artists at SOE, this is supposed to be a functional map not an impressionist painting.I also found Kelethin to be a bit dark and dreary. I would have expected it to be cheerier, brighter with more whimsy and certainly full of shimmering lights much like Peter Jackson’s vision of Lothlorien in the Lord of the Rings films.Someone needs to tell the folks that design cities at SOE that bigger is not always better. Cities in a MMO should be designed primarily with practicality and convenience in mind.As an alternative to a complete revamp of Kelethin I would propose the following:More light sources both natural (wisps, faerie dust, sparkles, etc.) and manufactured (lamp posts, candles and lights) would be most welcomeCreate more inns, banks, brokers and crafting stations in close and convenient proximity to each other that can act as hubs for playersCreate specific areas for races indigenous to this area such as dwarves, high elves, wood elves and even half elvesGive players who are in the city a speed buff “Haste of the Fay” so players can get from point A to point B fasterKelethin Re-imaginedCity design in virtual worlds probably deserves an in-depth study and examination. Cities fill many important needs in an MMO. However, first and foremost they should provide: utility for playersbe a place for social gatheringscontext for the storyline and indigenous racesfodder for quests and eventsI created my own vision of ...