Complete Review for Shattering of Ro

WELCOME TO SHATTERING OF RO

When it comes to EverQuest, there are iconic things, topics, and stories that players really like…

Things that are quintessentially high fantasy. Things that are just cool to see, and have a deep history in the game.

For me, it’s dragons. They are always a big hit with the EQ crowd, and can make for a good expansion topic…See The Outer Brood…

But the gods of Norrath are one of those things.

And I think the developers were very smart, in this recent Age of Development, to find these iconic themes and run with them.

In Shattering of Ro, the gods take center stage. And if the expansion needs conflict, why not make it a conflict between the gods.

And while we’re at it, throw the iconic high elf intellectual property cover girl at the center of it, who stands accused of murder and needs defending as the gods take sides.

This is how the expansion opens. There has been an explosion in the Plane of Magic. Druzzil Ro is presumed dead.

Firiona lays unconscious in the Plane of Growth, accused of causing the explosion leading to Druzzil’s murder.

Now the gods are taking sides.

The armies of Rallos Zek and Solusek Ro have made their way into the Plane of Growth, and into the Plane of the Underfoot.

FIRST IMRESSIONS

One of the first things you notice in any expansion is the artwork.

In this case, the key art, which gave us our first look at the 4 main antagonist gods for the expansion.

As continues to be the case, Darkpaw has a real gem of an artist continuing all of their key artwork.

And each year, I think they get better.

It captures the essence of the expansion, the conflict that is taking place, and it’s vibrant and stands out. You can tell that those decisions are specific and measured and it is appreciated.

But that art doesn’t stop at an expansion poster.

It happens the moment you step into the expansion in The Plane of Growth. Or what’s left of it.

The tree of life, now burning, stands above all, and the zone designers managed to capture not only the serenity of Growth, but the contrast of that set against the war that has broken out.

One of the first areas you’ll encounter is the “good” encampment, so to speak. Surrounded by a wall raised by Tunare as a defense.

In this grove you’ll find the unconscious Firiona, and you’ll get your first look at those new god NPC models for Tunare and Mithaniel Marr.

It makes sense that the developers would update these models as the old Tunare model just stood out in the very lush environment. And EverQuest zones just look much better these days.

Now, venturing out from there you’ll find the siege equipment and implements of war that have invaded the plane, and you’ll also see the encampment for Rallos Zek and Solusek Ro.

You’ll find Quellious here as well, assisting in the conflict and her influence manifests into vibrant pockets of color. 

Now, at this point you’ll need to choose sides, essentially the good camp or the bad camp. Don’t worry, your choice won’t have punitive consequences, but will slightly alter the tasks you’re asked to do.

This is a perfect introduction zone for the expansion. It sets up the conflict. Lays out the story. Is a nice open area, gives the players choice. And it sets the stage for the expansion detail and artwork to come.

From there you’ll make your way into Candlemaker’s Workshop. This is essentially a part of The Underfoot that we’ve never explored before.

Initially, it does have a brown, dull visual that you would expect for The Underfoot.

But once you open up into the candle forest, that changes.

And first, let’s take a moment to appreciate the challenge of an artist designing a zone and elements made of wax. The Elder tree here, shorter and more gnarled than the others, was taken from real-world examples.

And from the zone, to the NPC models made of wax, it’s all very well-done.

But even from the initial concepts, you have to appreciate that the devs actually take time to flesh out the lore behind the wax creatures. Here’s Darkpaw developer Alan Vancouvering..

PLANE OF MAGIC

The next two zones are reimaginations of the Plane of Magic, originally from the Prophecy of Ro expansion.

First, there’s Arcstone, which is a part of the plane of Magic. But the explosion there has broken the original zone into shattered isles.

Each has its own vibe and creatures, and you’ll more commonly be dealing with the Magic Storms that you’ll find throughout the expansion.

These spheres will move around and supposedly can either help or harm you.

Such storms are a reasonable consequence when an explosion happens in a plane made up of pure magic.

But on beta most of the time they just seemed to either do nothing, or have a negative effect, and the biggest consequence seemed to be dropping your invis, which isn’t what you wanted when traveling through a zone.

From there you’ll move into Relic. This is the epicenter of the explosion. And it’s been ruined.

The zone has been torn apart. Pieces are flung about. The magic storms here are larger and more numerous.

Some of the scrykin who call this plane their home have survived, but are even more crazed than before.

And at the center of the zone is this….

THIS is the explosion.

And the next zone, is INSIDE that sphere…

It’s called The Vortex.

Initially, this just looks like some crazy, wacky developer experiment.

And you’re thinking who got high when they came up with this zone?

But the developers have explained, that there’s some really interesting lore happening here. What happens when an explosions or implosions occurs in a plane that has various doors to other places and realms. What happenswhen they’re caught up in that explosion.

This becomes a fascinating lore rabbit hole about if this connects our EQ with EQ2, or another EQ game or timeline, one that I won’t go into here….

But that I plan on going down in an upcoming episode about the timeline of the EverQuest universe…

So now’s a good time to have you click subscribe and ring the bell, so you’ll be alerted to each new episode of The EverQuest Show.

Technically, the zone is quite a feat. It’s a huge zone. There’s plenty of play areas. And it’s constantly making you wonder what’s going on.

There’s a cool jellyfish elevator, a giant feather explosion area where some giant bird creature would inhabit? What?

And what happens when there’s a magical explosion involving cloth?

This apparently. 

And that leads into the final zone for the expansion, The Labyrinth of Spite.

No surprise that Innoruuk is involved here as the zone has tons of throwbacks to the Plane of Hate.

You’ll find some Plane of Hate denizens that will be quite familiar.

And Labyrinth correctly describes the zone as I found it was easy to get turned around … or fall into the sewers.

And the the look and feel of this zone continue to showcase what I think is the absolute best thing about Shattering of Ro.

The Artwork.

Player after Player I asked in beta, when I asked what they thought about the expansion, said the artwork.

The environment art continues to get better and better each year…

But the NPC models get my vote for the highlight of the expansion…

From the initial new models for the centerpiece gods of the expansion, with amazing detail design…We got 4 NEW god models in Tunare, Mithaniel Marr, Solusek Ro AND Druzzil Ro…Those alone are heavy lift. Not only to create but to animate as well.

We also got a new Firiona (which I think may be an EQ2 import, but it looks great)…

To the new enemy NPC models like clocktopusses, jellyfish, Denizens of Ro, these tree constructs in the Scarred Growth and of course the candlefolk! These were easily a fan favorite…

Different sizes and shapes in various stages of burning down.

And their amazing animations…

And a few of the new NPC models are reserved for the raids in the expansion.

This giant Wax monster being one, with it’s huge NPC model and fist slamming animation, that occasionally splits into this lovely bag of skittles….

And this incredibly well done and creepy looking spider.

And while we’re on the subject of raids, let’s talk about them.

I had the chance to tag along on some of the raids to see and experience what the raiding players will have a chance to enjoy.

There are 9 raids altogether. In 3 tiers. These aren’t open initially at launch, but the developers have found great success in staggering these so that each tier opens in January, then February and March respectively.

GOOD AND BAD

Now that we’ve talked about the Good offered in the expansion, let’s talk about where I heard from players that they though could use some improvement.

The biggest gripe seemed to be navigation in the expansion.

Travel is quite linear, and traversing zones like Arcstone and Relic can be difficult and tedious.

A couple of counter points though, this was improved from the original beta versions that made it nearly impossible, especially with tons of see invis…

And I also think we may be spoiled a bit from the EZ mode of transport provided in recent expansions like Laurion’s Song where we had a central hub zone and all zones were immediately off of that.

The other gripe I heard was around raid length. Some thought they were too tedious or just lasted too long. But it’s not uncommon for raids in beta to be tweaked a LOT before they go live. And so this point may be mood when the raids are active a month into the expansion.

Overall though, a number of very VERY positive comments on the expansion.

With the art just really highlighting how good EverQuest is at this point, within the confines of what the aging game engine will allow.

And that art isn’t just a factor of environments and NPC models…

Let’s talk about the cool weapon designs!

There are essentially 3 set designs in the expansion…

With the first being my absolute favorite weapon set that I’ve seen in a long time. 

I’m a bit biased as I have tree hugger tendencies, but it’s clearly taking some cues from the Plane of Growth, with lots of leaves, and bark for shields…with many of the weapons having some floral influences.

Overall just gorgeous. And there are versions with and without the particle leafblower effects. 

The other two sets have a standard base part, with lots of bats and skulls for inspiration, clearly tapping into the Spite and Hate side of the expansion.

One set has the darker bats and shadow particle effects that look cool, but can be a bit annoying at times.

And the other is probably my second favorite, the Shattered set which was available as Pre-order ornamentations.

It’s just another aspect of the game that seems to get better every year.

The expansion does seem light on features.

Vah Shir druids are now possible. That may have some limited desire for TLP players to purchase the expansion for the ability to access them in Luclin.

And additional shared bank space is always nice but seems low on the desired list.

But there are 5 new levels that come along with the expected spells and AAs. So that’s lots of advancement for our characters.

I spent a lot of time in beta in preparation for this review, and one of the overwhelming comments I heard was how the developers interacted during beta. 

It seemed this year, the developers were significantly farther ahead than previous years, especially in raid content.

And also just more communication with the players, with developers embracing an open beta process and actively engaging players for feedback, opinions, ideas and collaboration.

Overall, for a game that is celebrating its unheard of 32nd expansion…

We’re in a great place for EverQuest, where the developers (and more importantly those that control the purse strings and time of the developers) understand that art is important too.

And feedback from the dedicated player base is important. 

Going a long way on those details, has its pay offs.

To use an oft quoted phrase…that I apply to the past, present and future of EverQuest…

People don’t remember what you say or do…They remember how you made them feel.