Lavastorm Preview Tour - Game Update 51

Calthine and Kain from our EverQuest II team had the opportunity to explore the new and improved version of Lavastorm that will be hitting live servers with Game Update #51.

Yesterday Kain and I were treated to a tour of Game Update 51, which is expected to launch on March 10 (with the usual caveats).  As Christie "Kiara" Renzetti (EQII Community Manager) informed us, the changes and additions to the zone range from new content for the original zone to two raid zones and a third void shard armor set.  And don't let us forget Brewday!  We were also joined by Nathan "Kaitheel" McCall and Brett "TimeTraveller" Scheinert for a little Q&A.

If you're impatient and just want to see the pictures, click here to enjoy the screenshot gallery.  And if those pictures look like they could be more crisp?  Well, there's a lot of heat effects in Lavastorm now!  Otherwise, read on!

Level 45-55 Content
The original content of Lavastorm has been updated.  Notably, mob levels have been edged up a little and there are new quest hubs and progression.  Nathan warned that if you have active writs in Lavastorm, you'll want to wrap them up before GU51 launches.  Some just needed level tweaking, others had to be completely redone.  After GU51, the majority of level 40-45 writs will take you to Everfrost.  All other old content and quests in Lavastorm should be preserved.

On zone-in to Lavastorm, two things are noticeable.  There are some vendors on the docks for one of the new factions, along with a T3 Void Shard armor merchant. The little temple on the dock has been completely redecorated by Domino; check here first!  If you look towards the beach, then you can see it has been extended to accommodate the new level 80 content. Somehow, extending it doesn't look even slightly out of place. You can also see a Void Anchor in the distance, which is the zone-in for the new Epic x4 raid. For the 45-55 content, head to the beach.

Remember the tunnel going from the beach to the inside of Lavastorm? It's not full of goblins anymore! Christie explained this is so crafters can do the crafting quests easily if they don't have the adventure levels. Horse stations have been added, and unlike Echoes of Faydwer zones, you won't have to go discover all the stations to use them.

The actual new 45+ quests are over near all the lava crawlers and molten fragments.  You'll find a new hub where you can work for the Sootfoot Talent Society.  Blisterzonk, a quest NPC, says, "Sootfoot b est diggers in all Lavaland!  You will not be grumpy pants with our work."  Nathan tells us that these are the black sheep of the goblins, "they weren't even invited to the goblin gathering.  They treat family worse than friends.  It's awesome"  You start out friendly with them and the faction merchant will sell you nothing.  But as you do more quests and lose faction he'll sell you all kinds of goodies   Nathan put in over 20 qu ests for this part of the zone, with progression and quest hubs to keep things moving along.

Next we headed upto the Goblet of Ro to check out the model revamp of the Lava Elementals. They're not just sparkly men anymore, they have armor and weapons. Looks like the art team really pulled out the stops there! This continues down into the Lava Field. We saw some huge red crystals and Kiara informed us those  would be house items. Our final stop of the lower-level content revamp was the Temple of Solusek Ro. As questers are led into the depths of the temple they will discover a whole new population there. There are a load of void-infl uenced Erudites in there now, whom have turned the ghosts into slaves.
 
  We were also informed there are 8 new collection quests in Lavastorm. Also, once you finish all 8, the rewards can be added to a further quest to get a better reward, making 9 quests in total (rather like the Gathered Orbs collection).

 

New Level 80 Content
Go west as you leave the docks to find the new level 80 area.  There's a nifty line of torches to warn off the young and adventurous!  This all starts within the Shrine of Thunder, and involves the extended beach area.  The new quests start with Pallasa, and if you did the Void Tempest quests leading up to t he launch of TSO, she'll remember you fondly. Eventually, you can do a solo Void Shard quest, once per 20 hours, to save up for that gear you want. The dev's did say they are aware of the AA problems in TSO, and that's one of the reasons they've gone heavy on quest content.

The void creatures have infiltrated and are corrupting the local creatures.  The solo quest line will lead you to the golden skull caves and will eventually give you the quest to unlock a ward and access Ward of Elements, the x2 zone.  As part of that series there are repeatable quests in the Shrine of Thunder, helping Saedie Kalterra kill the unbound elemental lords.  You can kill three a day, and each lord drops an elemental shard which you can save up to buy items.  Brett said, "it's just a cool way for solo players to save up towards a very nice item". You can actually select what type of elemental you want to fight:  ice, fire, poison, lightening or water.  All five bosses will give AA.    

  Players should know that Ward of Elements requires The Shadow Odyssey expansion.  Development started on it just after TSO shipped, and testers report that it's a tough, fun zone;  we're told it's on the "lower end" of difficulty.  "It's very long," said Brett, "8 bosses, however the first 6 are non-linear and can be done in any order as players learn the zone."  The lockout will be 5 days minimum, 7 days maximum.  We didn't get to explore Ward of Elements, but we were treated to the fly-in for the zone, which explains Najena's role here.  Rather than spoil the surprise, I'll just say that Najena is not the end boss of this zone!  Completing the x2 zone will give you access to the x4 zone. 

 

Brewday

Brewday, the Norrathian version of Saint Patrick's Day, is on Test, with some new additions!  There's a new quest and some new rewards, including... is that a pink elephant?  Christie tells us it will be activated "VERY Soon".  Nathan also said he's finished  Bristlebane Day, which occurs near April Fool's Day.

Other Tidbits
Brett tells us that we can expect more updates in this style, a little farther apart with lots of stuff tied to them.  But he warns there won't always be a zone revamp or new level 80 content.  "[W]e are trying to do a major content update then a feature update (what the fighter revamp was originally) then another content update."  When pressed for a timeline on future game updates he gave a very non-committal "maybe 2 months between updates? 6 weeks?".

We think SOE has really done well with this Lavastorm revamp. It has content for lower level players and higher level, content for tradeskillers (which we didn't have time for on the tour, but we are told it's there) and 2 new raid zones for the raiders.  We hope you enjoy this new content as much as we are on Test!

 

Amy "Calthine" Lanam, Sr EQII CM and Neil "Kain" Wallis, EQII CM

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