EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey Previews
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Leading up to The Shadow Odyssey's release on November 18, EverQuest 2 will see a substantial update in early October titled "Raising the Banner." Elements of this sizable update will set the tone for the expansion's content.
But the most significant bit of content in "Raising the Banner" will have nothing to do with The Shadow Odyssey. Players in the game now will have noticed the guild halls under construction on the outskirts of their respective faction capitols. Once Raising the Banner goes live, those structures will be completed, and ready for acquisition by guilds advanced enough to have unlocked the privilege of purchasing them. As far as functionality, they'll be similar to player housing -- they'll be instanced for guild members, though outsiders can be invited in. Members will be able to use the halls as a home base of sorts, where they can hang out and form groups, access the marketplace to sell wares, and enjoy other amenities that become available as their guild continues to level up, stuff like "guild strategist" NPCs that teach advanced ranks of abilities without requiring tome drops and armor mannequins that display sets that members have acquired.
And an excerpt from 1UP's article, which also mentions EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction:
Meanwhile, EQII's The Shadow Odyssey sees players exploring a realm called the Ether with a party of Ethernauts. Mixed in with the standard offering of new dungeons are reimagined versions of worlds from the original EQ. Altogether, it has 20 new dungeons aimed at players levels 50 to 80.
Although it doesn't have a level-cap increase with this expansion, each class has its achievement cap increased to 200. And to ease up on some of the pain of grinding inherent to all MMOs, Shadow introduces a new loot system using Shards. Instead of killing enemies over and over for the chance to get a rare drop, players earn Shards. These Shards may then be traded in for epic gear, taking a lot of the frustrating chance out of gaining better equipment.
