EverQuest2 Revisited Part 2: Travels in Faydwer2009-11-09 00:00:00pathway 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 ...
Investing a lot of time in something is worth more than actual skill2009-04-24 00:00:00If you invest more time than someone else, you "deserve " rewards. People who invest less time "do not deserve " rewards. This is an absurd lesson that has no connection to anything I do in the real world. The user interface artist we have at work can create 10 times more value than an artist of average skill, even if the lesser artist works way, way more hours. The same is true of our star programmer. The very idea that time > skill is alien.<br><br>Leveling with empty pockets<br>...