That is, if you consider "black" to mean "OMFG EXACTLY AS AWESOME AS WE HOPED IT WOULD HAVE BEEN"
This post on FoH forums confirms our recent beliefs that EQ2 would rise like the phenix we all know it is.
I never had a chance to mess around with the raid game, so I cant really comment on that, but if there was ever a time to start fresh, now is that time. Not really sure how to start, but i'll just throw a few things out there. Combat changes are in that other thread, so I wont mention those here.The 1-70 game is friggin awesome. The graphics and atmosphere in this expansion are rivaled only by WoW (and honestly, some area's in this expansion impress me more then anything in WoW). I have never had so many "omg thats cool" moments in 1 game. They seemed to have tweaked the blooming aspect, which looks alot more natural, although at times a bit TOO vibrant. The game in general seems to run alot better, with almost 0 hiccups that plauged the original game. The music is absolutly amazing. I simply cannot stress that enough, and it add's alot to the atmosphere. Definantly one of the most suprising aspects of the expansion. There is alot of re-tuned EQ1 songs in there, even down to the musical que's when you walk up to the spires.Content wise they definantly added more EQ1 flavor. The wiz spires in GFay are there, and they look just like their EQ1 counterpart. The outside area of crushbone feels just like the old crushbone, ak'anon is very much like the original, even down to the zoo. Butcherblock has the chessboard, dwarf outposts, aqua goblins, kobolds etc. LFay, while looking completely different, still shares alot of the same creatures that EQ1 had. The little fae drakes, brownie camps, and unicorns. Steamfront still has the windmills, and the mino caves. Loping planes, which is kind of like an extended front section to mistmoore, is really really cool. From anywhere in the zone you can see the outline of mistmoore castle looming on the hill. At the base of the castle, there's the little graveyard area from EQ1. This zone also has a cool mini city in the center, all very gothic and well done. And yes, there are a few Castlevania refrences, but i'll leave those up to people to find. =PBasically this expansion is everything that the original should have been. It has old EQ1 stuff in there, that looks like old EQ1 stuff, but you can tell the world has moved on, new people moved in, stuff was destroyed etc etc, but its not such a huge revamp that you cant tell it was based off of the original.Cloaks look really well done, and not nearly as cheesy as I thought they would. Most of them are fairly plain though, but its still a nice touch.With the addition of the new starting city, you no longer have to start on the isle, which is a huge plus in throwing you right into the world (unless you want to be evil.) If you were the type of person to complain about the whole game feeling to broken apart, youll be glad to hear that all 5 overland zones are connected, which make the whole thing seem HUGE. Theres no coastline running along the edge of the zones giving you that trapped feeling. You dont click on things to zone between them either, so its more seemless. This expansion feels more like a rerelease of the original game. The new starting area is great, and sort of follows WoW's way of starting out, where you start in a little side city off of Kelethen, doing a few quests in the immediate area, then as you get to about level 5-6 you branch out and get to the meat of Gfay, and up to kelethen. Or you can just run there at level 1. There are no more restrictions of again, feeling like your stuck in an area.Lastly, the Fae. What can be said about the Fae. Well, they have an exteremly overpowered ability compared to other races, but it makes them a ton o fun. Basically, they have permanent levitate, and can jump 4x as far as any other race. If you were the type of person who loved to go places using levitate that you werent supposed too, you'll love this expansion. I spent many days just flying around trying to get to weird places. Along with that you'll spend alot of time falling through the world, since the original game wasnt designed with levitate in mind. This also makes it real easy to get places that other characters cant. Soleseks eye for instance, you can just jump down the center tube and float all the way to the bottom of the dungeon, no clearing needed! Need to get down a cliff but heroic mobs in your way? Just jump off the edge and land below! We were told that tinkerers would be able to tinker a gnomish parachute for all races, so I hope thats in.Edit: And beliefs! Completely forgot. Didnt have a chance to mess around with them too much, but basically the belief system is kind of like the tribute system in EQ1. You can do quests to unlock different abilities, and turn in items for favor points, which you then spend on certain abilities. Some of them are good, others not so much, but it definantly add's flavor to the game. The abilities range from +dmg/+healing to 1 time use insta-DT's (on non raid mobs). Like the new AA's, their not amazing, game changing abilities, but they just help augment your character. Along with the god's granting you power though, all of them are in the game as raid targets. Funny thing of it is, is that you really shouldnt attack the god you follow. I never did it myself, but reports ranged from being TP'd out of the zone, to losing all points and abilities of that god and having to work your way back up. That gives a sort of tradeoff to raid guilds. Either follow the same god, and raid all the others, or follow different gods, but maybe having different teams, or following no gods and killing them all for phat lewt.All in all, this expansion is amazing. I really hope they do the free 30 day trial thing and give you access to EoF, because its way more catching then the "trial of the isle."
Bow down to the glory of EQ2 bitches.
p.s. the part about almost as good looking as WoW had me ROTFLMAOOL.
