Everquest: What we know about how Fippy Darkpaw’s Progression Server will work.

I’ve been getting a little excited about the launch of the upcoming Everquest Progression Server, due to arrive tomorrow. I’m not sure if this will survive contact with the actual server itself, but for now I’ve been looking about trying to find out everything I can about how it will work. To reiterate, a progression server returns EQ to as close to its original form as possible, and then slowly the expansions are added as certain requirements are met. This is what I’ve gathered so far from my investigations:

Zones which have had their physical geometry revamped will be in their new state. This will include Freeport, to the dismay of all. I think the other zones this will affect are Steamfont, Misty Thicket, North and South Ro and the Oasis of Marr, Lavastorm, Highhold Pass, Nektulos Forest, Toxxulia Forest and Kerra Isle, and the Commonlands. Possibly Feerott (I can’t tell whether it got a full geometry revamp or just a little tweaked). I shall probably be spending a good deal of time on day one being desperately lost in the Steamfont Mountains. It’s unclear what state their populations will be in, but I would imagine that it’s as close to an approximation of the original as possible.

Zones which have kept their geometry, but had their population revamped, will be returned to their original state, or thereabouts. Splitpaw will be in its level 30 incarnation.

Certain zones were added to Everquest outside of expansions, available to all plauyers regardless of what expansions they’d bought. These will be appearing at the approximately correct time. So, The Hole will be present at launch, as that was added shortly before the first expansion. The Warrens, a low level dungeon that made Odus actually worth visiting, won’t be along until the first expansion by that measure.

Only original races and classes will be available, but race/class combinations which were added post-launch, such as the awesome Gnome Paladin, will be playable. The missing classes will be Beastlord and Berserker. The missing races will be Frogloks, Iksar, Vah Shir, and Drakkin. They’ll be along with their respective expansions.

Compared with the last progression servers, a lot more effort has been put in to making sure that items do not turn up until the correct era. Also, many items which have since been removed from the game will be making a triumphant reappearance, until it’s time for them to leave again. It is said that this might even include the Manastone!

Jewellerycrafting and alchemy have been totally revamped in the live game. Fippy will be taking us back to how it used to work, with the original recipes. Crafting, in general, will only allow recipes that existed in the current timeframe.

Fippy will be using the modern smooth experience curve which eradicates hell levels. A modifier will be applied to that, to approximate the rate of level gain that we saw at launch. The experience penalties that some races used to have will be gone, though races with experience bonuses will retain them.

The Map UI will work. This was added well after launch, but never required ownership of a particular expansion. Many other UI parts are expansion locked and will turn up at their allotted time. For a more authentic launch experience, don’t use the map! Me, I’ll probably end up using it to extricate myself from Steamfont.

The /melody command, AKA Autotwist, will be functional. This is one quality of life change I’m glad of. Twisting was a technique that involved starting and stopping bard songs rapidly in order to get the benefits of more than one at once. It required constant fiddling about, and perfect timing. While it might be said that autotwist removed some of the skill from playing bard, it’ll save a lot of repetitive strain injuries.

It sounds like the ships between the continents will be running, but there will also be newfangled teleporters on the docks for those who don’t want to wait. Rather a shame, in my opinion. Hanging out at the docks and taking the boat used to be quite a social experience.

Spell gain will use the new system where you gain spells every level, instead of getting a large number in one go every 4 levels. Spell damage, and monk unarmed damage, will use the modern values, greater than the original. However, out of combat mana regeneration will be back at original values, making me glad I play an Enchanter.

NPC soulbinders will be present. Originally non-casters would need to find a player to bind them, setting their respawn point. That wasn’t much fun, so NPCs were added to cities and some other locations that would bind you.

When you died in the old days, most of your possessions would be left on your corpse, and you would need to retrieve them. After 7 days the corpse would decay, and any items on it would be lost. The developers have made the decision to not bring that back, though they are considering putting it up for a vote. I’m a little disappointed by this, as it was rather central to the whole feel of the game. You’ll still lose xp when you die, and be able to reclaim some of the lost xp by getting back to your corpse, but I hope they bring equipment drop back. It is not a feature I would want to see in any modern game, but it was core to the EQ experience. (It’s not quite as awful as it might sound, as there were spells that could summon a corpse, as well as a corpse dragging command. Using my illusions to help people get their corpses back was one of my favourite hobbies!)

Like the first progression servers, there will be certain goals that need to be achieved in order to move on to the next expansion. Typically this involves defeating all the most powerful enemies of the current build. Unlike previous progression servers, once those goals have been achieved the playerbase will then vote on whether to progress or not, and will keep voting once per week until a majority of active players are ready. One of the big problems with the last progression servers was that a small number of guilds managed to advance the servers much faster than most people really wanted. Voting should slow things down a little.

If you have any questions, especially if you haven’t played EQ before, just drop me a comment. I’ll do my best to answer, either in the comments, or perhaps even in another post! The server should be coming up around 10 am PST, and perhaps I shall see you there!