Produzentenbrief Januar 2009

Hello there! Hard to believe it's the end of January already; it still feels like we just shipped The Shadow Odyssey just last week. And here I am again, with a brief update for all of you folks who love EQII so much.

First, let me thank you for your support on The Shadow Odyssey. It truly was a labor of love for the entire team, and we've been enjoying your comments about it, and watching you devour the content we toiled so long over. But now that we've got that out the door, we're looking ahead. Last summer, at Fan Faire, we discussed making some changes to the Fighter classes, in order to bring them back in line with our original vision, where all fighters manage their own aggro, instead of relying on other group members to channel them some hate. Making some of these changes will broaden the desirability of all fighter classes, and help increase their role in groups, without altering others.

We released the first part of these changes last year, and placed the second group of them out on our Test Server several weeks ago. The response has been tremendous, on both sides of the coin. Chris Kozak, who has been shepherding these changes, has been communicating with folks on our forums about what he has been looking at, what changes he wants to make. He has also been doing some ad-hoc testing with players on the Test Server, where these changes are currently implemented. The whole team has been taking feedback from you, both from our in-game /feedback function, as well as the posts in our forums, and even information posted in other forums.

There are still some things we want to make sure that we address properly, and we recognize that there are some people who don't quite understand what our goals are. With that in mind, we're going to postpone releasing these changes to the live servers, while we continue to evaluate the feedback that you are giving us. We truly appreciate all of the data that you provide, and most particularly from those who have joined the excellent folks on the Test server in running through these changes, both on their own, and in conjunction with the devs. In fact, if you play a fighter class now, and haven't been on the Test Server to experience these changes yourself, we'd certainly encourage you to do so, as your informed opinions are very valuable to us. Once we're more comfortable with releasing the second part of the fighter revamp, which will include the Hate Meter, we'll certainly let you know, but in the meantime, please keep play-testing, and continue to give us your thoughts.

In the meantime, we've got some other exciting things coming up in the next several weeks. Everyone's favorite love holiday, Erollisi Day starts on February 10, and will run for a week, with an exciting new quest line. We've also got the next expansion for Legends of Norrath, Against the Void, which will expand the epic journey of the Ethernauts.

Just around the corner, we've got some hotly anticipated releases coming in our game updates, including some new solo content, more x2 content, some more x4 raids, additional tradeskill content, and a revamp of an old zone...all this and more coming your way soon! There's not a doubt in my mind that you're going to be blown away throughout this year in EverQuest II.

~ Bruce "Froech" Ferguson