EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath

List Price: $14.99 Discount Price: $0.01

Features:

• You may have explored five continents of Norrath, its moon and even other dimensions -- but now you'll uncover Norrath's secret, long-forgotten history. The mystery that began in Broken Skull Rock leads you on a trip to forgotten dungeons, secret catacombs, and long-buried ruins.
• Experience dungeon crawls with new environments, objects and items in 40 new dungeons
• Interact with hundreds of NPCs and fight your way through deadly new monsters
• Learn hundreds of new spells & tradeskill recipes, and sicover amazing treasures like the Satchel of Abu-Kar

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Best of the Expansions [Posted on 2003-11-10]
I've been playing EverQuest(EQ) since the Ruins of Kunark release. I have all of the expansions available for EQ. Out of all the expansions this one takes the cake. Most players can only get to a handful of the zones offered in the other expansions without the aid of other players which makes them (other expansions) frustrating. In this expansion All the adventure zones are in the original released zones on EQ. People MUST group to do an adventure. The timer on each adventure adds to the excitement. Win or Lose Players are bound to have fun!
*please note that you must reach lvl 20 to enter an adventure. Oasis is a good place to work on your high teen lvls-High lvls are around to take down the giants and buff you up if you ask NICELY! (entrance to an adventure is in this zone)

EQ: Lost Dungeons of Norrath: Adds (some) new life to game [Posted on 2003-11-22]
This is a review strictly of EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath (LDoN). As this package does not include the basic game, and is only an expansion, this is not a review on the game as a whole.

While there is a lot of talk about how one can do many different things in EverQuest, for everyone but the most obsessive tradeskillers, it comes down to killing things and taking their stuff. The various expansions have let players do this in the jungle, on a frozen continent, do it on the moon, in a pirate stronghold, or in the homes of the gods themselves. In all of these locations, players move through areas shared with other players -- sometimes only a handful of other players, but in some cases up to 100 or more people interested in the same content.

This new expansion breaks that model for the first time, by creating content on the fly for players, in the form of dungeons for groups numbering 3 to 6, that ONLY exists for them. (Other players get their own instanced copies of these dungeons to explore.) While some players feel this flies in the face of the Multi-User Dungeon game tradition that EQ grew out of, it's a welcome change to not have to look over one's shoulder for other players at all times, or to have to compete over special "named" monsters and such.

The five LDoN dungeon "themes" (groups of different layouts in related dungeons) dynamically create content for groups from levels 20 to 65. The good news is that this makes the expansion potentially useful for the vast majority of players. In practice, however, it means players will be seeing a LOT of the same stuff, over and over again, as the creatures in a level 20 version of Deepest Guk are the same as in the level 65 version, just with different names and of a lot higher level.

The much-ballyhooed adventure points received for these adventures is something of a mixed bag as well. While it does allow players to save up for loot they want (in a codified version of a system a lot of player guilds have come up with on their own), the points were never really balanced for any characters other than the highest level ones -- it will take rougly 24 missions for a level 20 shaman to save up for a level 24 Spirit of Shrew spell (an indoor-useable movement speed increase spell that also allows its subjects to see in the dark -- quite a nice spell for low level characters), and by the time they've earned all these points, they will likely be level 29 or 30. Things get better after level 60, but prior to that, there is a great deal of this head-scratching lack of math on the part of the development team.

Likewise, the "interactive objects" -- chests and vases that players can open up and loot -- are better in theory than in practice. While they add a much-needed dimension to EQ, these items are relatively rare and almost are always trapped (including many with traps that can kill a group more or less instantly). In addition, two thirds of them require spells to deal with, and these spells are even more expensive than other low level spells, meaning most groups under level 60 simply won't be able to access this content. And, assuming all those hurdles are overcome, the loot inside ranges from OK (the same as any named NPCs in the dungeon might have had on them) to a mere handful of coins, calling into question as to whether the extraordinary efforts needed to open them were worth it after all.

Having said all that, the dungeons themselves are a great deal of fun, and offer 90 minute bursts of intense excitement, with rewards of several types awaiting successful adventurers. LDoN is not perfectly implemented (both Velious and the Planes of Power were far better designed and offer much more to a player), and is perhaps somewhat light on content for the cost, but overall has to be counted as a success, and is superior to both Legacy of Ykesha and the deservedly derided Shadows of Luclin expansion.

Recommended for EQ players between the levels of 20 and 65 who group up often and who already own Scars of Velious and the Planes of Power expansions.

Power Leveling [Posted on 2003-12-24]
A very well spent $25. No need to camp for good drops or loot anymore. The "instancing" of dungeons in the game for your party only ensures that you and your party are the only ones in the dungeon. It automatically adjusts the difficulty to the level of your party (so have highest level enter first for best loot and experience). The dungeons are supposedly for between 4-6 persons, but don't try it with only 4 unless your party members are "super-twinked" and experienced with good communication. Add the weight-reducing bag you get for doing the easy quest, and it makes sense to buy this retail version..with the "digital download" you don't get a bag. Don't forget to upgrade it to the 10 slot Giant bag by doing a bit more quest work. - Susy Whorton

Solid Everquest expansion [Posted on 2004-04-18]
Solid expansion to the MMORPG EQ - Basically you get a group of 3 or more and enter a Dungeon (5 themes, 8 random dungeons each) and a "quest" to do while in it. You get 90 minutes for a normal risk and i think 2 hours for a hard. You and your group go in, complete the mission, go back out and you get Adventure points which you can eventually use to buy NICE items from the merchants.

I suggest buying this only if youre over level 20

Corporate policies [Posted on 2004-05-29]
Problem with EQ is that Sony has decided to consider paying customers as a secondary concern. Here are some of the problems you will face in purchasing this product.

Firstly, if you don't have every expansion, then Sony will attempt to get you to buy that expansion with a pop up window. Never mind that you are already paying them to play their game. Friend of mine got all but the latest expansion and got harassed immediately the day he signed up. Current expansion (Omens of War) doesn't come out until August. They started harassing us 2 or 3 weeks ago about it. This will continue on a daily basis and there is no way to play the game without dealing with it. You can't ignore it or escape out of it. There is no way to turn the solicitation off. Not Sonys policy. Glad my playstation doesn't do the same thing.

Secondly, bugs can take weeks or never to be fixed. Sony has been prioritizing releasing expansions and making changes to the game instead of fixing the bugs that have been present for some time. For example, boats were a long standing problem (years) that never worked properly. Boats are a method of travel through zones and sometimes the only way to get into a zone. With Gates of Discord what do they add? MORE BOATS. Yup, these didn't work either. Go fig.

Customer service. Well if your having issues in game, it will take anywhere from hours to weeks to get assistance. The only way to receive help is to stay logged into the game until you get a response (and hopefully you will be looking at your screen at that time). If you log out, your request will be deleted. They tend to have many loopholes as far as player assistance is concerned. Like not having 'exact' verbage for example. Also, if you need outside technical help, the employees working for Sony will either tell you to petition in game (see the beginning of this paragraph for how effective that is) or tell you to check the online help file. In game help is a strictly volunteer basis (ie they are not paid employees) so they have no obligation to log in frequently.

Now if all those problems don't detour you, here are the benefits. Other people I have met online can be a joy to work with. EQ is a game designed for grouping and it is strongly encouraged. Many zones to explore with various mobs to fight. Quests are fun for items or faction (exp is always negliable). There is tradeskilling, which can be tiresome but also a good way to bring in income. It is a hack and slash game though. Don't you think otherwise. Thats the only way to get any exp to level.

Regarding this expansion, this is by far one of the best expansions they have come out with. If I had to recommend expansions it would be Planes of Power, Shadows of Luclin and this one. Everyone is doing adventures the problem is finding people to do adventures with that are within 7 levels of your characters level. Great expansion... too bad the customer service is sub par.

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