Here is the state of the game, straight from Mr. Ben Bell's mouth:
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the fourth installment of the EQOA Producer's Letter. Each month we update you with news about the game and information about upcoming features.
We're a week away from launching the first set of trade skills for EverQuest Online Adventures. The first trade skills will include Armor Crafting, Weapon Crafting and Jewelry Crafting. Each trade skill will enable you to make hundreds of items, including some of the most powerful items in the game. The components for your trade skills will be found on merchants as well as on NPCs throughout the world. Over time, we'll add more trade skills for players to use including Tailoring and Carpentry.
The team spent countless hours last month playing the game. What a tough job we have! Actually, we were doing research for class balancing efforts. When our designers play the game, they rarely get to sit back and have simple fun like the rest of you. They sit at a desk with notepads and perform the same experiments over and over again until they understand exactly how each class is performing in a given situation. We implemented adjustments for all of the player character classes over the last month to address balance and usefulness issues.
Feedback that we received from players has been invaluable in this effort. We read hundreds of messages containing every imaginable opinion about EverQuest Online Adventures and use the insights of our fans to identify issues in the game. We want to thank everyone who has taken the time to write thoughtful opinions about the game. Your input is extremely valuable and directly shapes game design decisions.
This has been a big month for the development of EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers(tm). For those of you who don't know, Frontiers is the next edition of EverQuest Online Adventures. You will be able to use all of your existing characters in Frontiers, and you can also create new characters that have never been seen before. We are in the midst of wrapping up some of the key features of Frontiers, including the Class Mastery system. Class Mastery will bring new depth and excitement to your characters. For example, Priests can choose masteries that will unlock incredible healing powers, augment their attacks, or reveal powerful defensive abilities... and that's just the beginning. Characters will evolve into mighty specialists, adding to the incredible diversity in EverQuest Online Adventures.
Frontiers is looking and sounding incredible! The new character models are amazing and we're introducing a huge palette of visual effects to the world. From localized fog to falling leaves, the world is becoming more alive. We'll be releasing new screenshots in the near future so you can get a glimpse of what is taking shape.
The Auction system is nearing completion and we'll be testing it extensively in July. This powerful system will add new depth to the economy. It will perfectly complement the trade skill system, allowing players to auction their products throughout the world. We'll have more details on the specific features of the Auction system next month.
Thanks again for all of your helpful feedback. We hope that you are enjoying the Isle of Dread and all of the other new content that was added in June.
Stay tuned for even more new content and features throughout the summer.
Sincerely,
Ben Bell
Producer
Sony Online Entertainment 