A New Age of Development

With the anticipated launch of EverQuest’s next expansion, it’s important to know where we’ve gone over these past 25 years.

Several episodes back, I discussed the eras of EverQuest development….The Classic Age of the early expansions, The Golden Age of Planes of Power, and a Renaissance after The Serpent’s Spine….

If you missed that episode, I highly recommend you go check out Episode 26 of The EverQuest Show…

But the most important aspect of that story was that after an Age of Nostalgia , Where we went back and revisited all the content of Kunark, Velious, Luclin and Planes of Power….

I posed the question : Could we be entering a new age of development.

The launch of EverQuest’s 30th expansion, Laurion’s Song certainly seemed to suggest that we were going in a new direction… Taking bits of lore and familiar household Norrathian themes, but building something entirely new with it. Laurion’s Song did this well.

And here we are with the 31st expansion for Norrath : The Outer Brood.

And it solidifies the argument that we’re now in a new age of EQ development. One that I’m now calling the “Age of Legends”

Legendary Norrathian ideas or stories that now come front and center.

So what in hell does all this have to do with the Outer Brood?

To Sum It Up : Space Dragons

Everything. To sum the expansion up in two words. The Outer Brood is….essentially : Space Dragons.

But of course, there’s a lot more to it than that.

But first, let me address my already spoken disdain for aliens in my high fantasy. I’ve mentioned it here in my show before. From Luclin to Gates of Discord (Which actually ended up being one of my favorite pieces of lore) to Veil of Alaris (Which I also loved) to now Dragons from Outer Space.

But before you think it’s a bridge too far, once you hear how it fits into the lore of EverQuest, I think you’ll actually like the take for this expansion.

Let’s start with the beautifully done key art for The Outer Brood. Created by Kerem Beyit, the key art gave us the first impression of what was going on in this expansion.

Front and center is a beautiful armored dragon, but quickly you notice that this dragon and all the dragons in the scene have 4 wings. Ok, that’s a bit different.

But the most significant item in the piece is the Leviathan : A gigantic dragon with an entire city floating on its back. 

We learn from the developers that the Leviathan is so large that the big dragon in the foreground of the Outer Brood key art can fly through the windows of the castle atop the back of the Leviathan, which has traveled through the vastness of space and arrived in Norrath.

But why are they here?

Well, this has been in the making since the Claws of Veeshan expansion. What I find fascinating is the lore set up for this expansion was hinted at during the end of the Vulak raid in the finale for COV.

Angry with the roles of the mortals and dragons on Norrath, and for, in Vulak’s mind, failing to live up to Veeshan’s destiny for Norrath, Vulak puts out a call into space to Veeshan.

And if that seems far fetched, remember in the original launch video for EQ, Veeshan was a giant dragon in space…

Well now, far away on distant worlds, the Outer Brood dragons, cousins to the Norrathian dragons are the ones that receive the message. The Aurelians is the term used for the Outer Brood dragons, the large 4 winged dragons that have come to Norrath.

And once they arrive here, they are not impressed with their Norrathian cousins. They decide that they don’t deserve Norrath and that they’ll be taking control of the Planet.

And with the fate of literally the whole world at stake, factions that were once at odds with one another will have to come together, along with you, the Norrathian players to save it from the onslaught of the Outer Brood.

Ok, so now that our Lore lesson is done, let’s dive into the zones for The Outer Brood.

HODSTOCK HILLS

The entrance zone for the expansion is Hodstock Hills. It’s a lush forested and coastal area just north of Freeport between Freeport and Neriak. 

And EverQuest Online Adventure players, take note. The waypoints in the zone will be very familiar to you, as this zone is composed of many areas from the PlayStation version of EQ, set 500 years prior to our Norrath.

There’s Hodstock, Temby, Mu’Lin’s Reach, Bobble-By-Water, The Green Rift and Shark Island with its Fortress ruins. And the Gal’Saris faction plays a role as well.

It’s a beautiful and very large zone, with a lot of varied play areas.

So why Hodstock Hills? Because it’s the point of First Contact for the alien invaders. It’s where they first meet the Norrathians.

But the Outer Brood uses their soldiers and servants to do their bidding, placing the ScaleWrought to scout Norrath and launch an attack.

The Scalewrought have no names or autonomy, and serve solely at the pleasure of the Outer Brood, which the Norrathians have come to call the Aurelians. 

But Hodstock Hills is the only Norrathian zone that you’ll visit in The Outer Brood.

That is to say, the remaining 5 zones all take place ON, or IN the Leviathan.

And because the magic used by the Aurelians is much more advanced than what us mere Norrathians are used to….

Not to mention the huge cannons mounted all over the Leviathan, this makes it incredibly difficult for the Norrathian dragons to take the fight to them. For now.

So, we take a ride on a griffon to get up to the Leviathan

THEATER OF ETERNITY

 In the Theatre of Eternity, we arrive on the beast. From here on out, we spend the rest of the expansion exploring the huge Leviathan.

The large scaled plates of the Leviathan make up the ground you walk on. The city on the back of the Leviathan lies ahead of you, and the Scalewrought are all around.

It’s part parade ground and part offensive structure, as large numbers of huge cannons make up this area.

But the cannons can be turned upon you as well, and large portions of the scaly back of the leviathan are unsafe.

We’ll need to establish forward camps here, building spires and druid rings to be able to take the battle to the invaders.

AUREATE COVERT

As you press onward onto the Leviathan, you can get a direct route into Aureate Covert.

This area acts as shelter and quarters for the Scalewrought, with constant reminders that they are the servitors to the Outer Brood. 

Here you’ll find room upon room of various Scalewrought, and all the necessary support for the planned invasion. Training Rooms. Healing Rooms (red). Repair Shops.

You’ll not find any of the Aurelians here, as it would be beneath them. 

This zone reminds me a bit of a larger and more updated Grieg’s End, with a maze of rooms and creatures.

HARBINGER’S CRADLE

From there we actually begin to head INSIDE the Leviathan into the Harbinger’s Cradle.

The Leviathan itself is controlled by the Outer Brood, and in doing so they have shaped the insides and bones of the Leviathan to their needs.

There are essentially two areas within this zone. 

The first is the hatchery area of the zone. With incubating eggs of various servitors and experiments by the Brood Architect to make new creations that rise to support the invasion.

It’s a colorful zone that has hints of Deepshade and a sort of Skittles effect going on.

The other significant area of the zone is the transport docking station, where the miniature leviathans are loaded to transport Servitors to Norrath’s surface.

It’s important to remember that we are INSIDE the leviathan with the hollows and docks literally carved out of the bones of the beast.

CHAMBERS OF PUISSANCE

But that point is especially notable as you move into perhaps the creepiest zone in the expansion, The Chambers of Puissance. 

It will not feel unlike a colonoscopy as you venture into the deepest bowels of the Leviathan.

The hallways are literally alive and moving as you travel from room to room.

The vessels and arteries are visible, and great effects were applied to this 28 year old engine to make it look like a flow of blood or…something organic….traveling through the Leviathan.

The buildings are created or carved from more of the Leviathan’s bones. The pulsating walls are alive and have movement. 

And you get to the heart of the matter, literally. You see the giant beating heart of the Leviathan , as well as the breathing lungs and more arterial structures.

It is one of the more unique zones I’ve seen in all of EverQuest, and it pushes what artists can convey in the game, even if it does gross me out.

THE GILDED SPIRE

Finally, the end zone of the expansion will be The Gilded Spire.

Where Aureate Covert was the home to the Servitors, The Gilded Spire is where finally the golden dragons we call the Aurelians live and travel on the Leviathan.

The tower is huge, made for the large invader dragons to move about.

It’s a lavish palace, with golden statues of their vision of Veeshan. It’s essentially an Aurelian City.

In the lower levels, the servitors tend to the needs of their masters. But in the upper levels of the spire, The Aurelians command and control their assault on Norrath.

In the Control Room, General Usira organizes the invading forces. While the High Priest seeks guidance from Veeshan.

It is here that you face these huge NPC model dragons, in great palatial rooms inside The Gilded Spire.

The expansion contains total of 6 zones which is about on par , or perhaps a little bit light of some of the previous expansions…

But I’ll mention a couple of things to counter that argument. 1) Most of these zones in The Outer Brood are extremely large and have plenty of content. In particular, Hodstock Hills, The Gilded Spire and Chambers of Puissance are physically quite large and take a long time to traverse and explore.

But also consider that this year, a significant amount of additional content was created for the 25th anniversary, including the anniversary tower and all its levels.

Features of The Expansion

But there are also some new features that come with the expansion.

First is the Activated Items Key Ring.

Basically anything that can’t fit onto the Mount Key Ring, Illusion Key Ring, Transport Key Ring or Familiar Key Ring, can now fit into the catch all Activated Items Key Ring.

Yet another nice feature to help clear out additional inventory space and to help organize the 25 years of clicky collecting that we all have done.

Additionally, and perhaps quite cleverly, is the new class and race combo for the expansion.

With The Outer Brood, Dark Elf rangers are now available. Let the Drizzt name variations fly!

And this combo will not only be available on Live servers, but ALSO on TLP servers, as long as you own The Outer Brood expansion.

Overall Impressions

So, how would I rate The Outer Brood?

Well, as long as you can wrap your head around the Space Dragon idea, I think the lore is elegantly well done. I actually think it fits very well into EverQuest without much of a stretch. 

Veeshan’s story was there from the very beginning, and we know from Omens of War that other worlds like Kuua were also colonized by children of Veeshan.

I genuinely enjoy the storyline, and I’m impressed that this bit of forethought was given way back in the Claws of Veeshan, in preparation for this storyline many expansions later.

The artists really do push this 25 year old game so far in what they can do, and The Outer Brood is no exception. 

To making Hodstock Hills feel very Norrathian and Antonican to the incredible details that are put into the insides of the Leviathan, and colorful touches that were added into the Cradle.

And there are a vast number of new NPC Scalewroughts that were created for this expansion, and each of those were given variety by slightly changing certain aspects of their NPC models, such as the horns and things on the models.

The large Aurelian dragons, which we first got a peak at earlier this year during Fippy Fest, also have some variety, in the armor and the dragon head structure of each one.

Some do look a bit comical, such as this Don King version of the Aurelians used for the Brood Architect.

But the model for “one of the largest NPCs now in the game” are very well done, as well as their smooth animations.

Some of the Beta Raids had issues with the small hit boxes of these extremely large NPCs, but those are the types of beta issues that developers expect to iron out as the invaluable beta process unfolds.

And take a moment to appreciate the wonderful weapons in the expansion. These azure scalewrought ornaments are one of the weapon sets in this expansion and each one is a work of art. Some of my favorites we’ve seen in the game.

What’s That In The Sky?

If I had one disappointment with the expansion, it is also one that is shared by the development team.

And it’s this : I wanted to SEE the Leviathan in the Norrathian sky.

In the recent livestream the devs explained that they tried multiple iterations to make that happen, but it just wasn’t possible.

I still would have loved to look up into the sky, and see a hint of this huge Leviathan.

It seems like it should have been possible, given that on Norrath we have this image of Drinal in the sky (Yes, this is Drinal, Norrath’s second moon, Luclin is veiled and you can’t see it in EQ1)., on Luclin we see Norrath in the sky, and in PoSky we see ….whatever this is….

Instead, the artists came up with a clever viewer of the Leviathan that is visible in Hodstock Hills, that at least gives an idea of what it looks like.

Outside of that very minor superficial detail, the expansion is pretty good.

I asked many players through Beta what they thought, and overall there was positive feedback about the expansion.

The lore is rich and well thought out, the zones are beautiful and large and it’s amazing to think, after 25 and a half years, EverQuest continues to put out engaging content with their incredible 31st expansion, The Outer Brood.