Historic and long-running MMORPGs EverQuest and EverQuest 2 are respectively turning 25 and20 in 2024, and the developers have announced a full lineup of year-long events and new expansions to celebrate. The legendary franchise shows no signs of stopping, especially with EverQuest just having released its 30th expansion Laurion's Song in December.
Known as one of the most popular and influential MMORPGs ever released, EverQuest was released all the way back in 1999, while its sequel EverQuest 2 was released five years later in 2004. Despite technically being a series, both games are designed to run independently of one another as EverQuest 2 features an alternate-universe Norrath, the game's setting.
2024 marks the Year of Darkpaw in EverQuest and EverQuest 2, named after Fippy Darkpaw, an infamous gnoll character that spawns in one of the game's starting areas. The big highlights coming from the Developer Roadmap for this year include an unnamed expansion for both games coming in November (EverQuest 2) and December 2024 (EverQuest), notable special events such as the Anniversary Tower and Heroic Adventures happening every month, and event-exclusive mounts, just to name a few. Meanwhile, over in EverQuest 2, the Year of Darkpaw brings about the Masquerades of Divinity story event, along with various events.
Basically, there will be a lot of things to do in both games in this milestone year. While a good part of it looks like seasonal events, it should also be enough to tide players over until the new expansions arrive in the fourth quarter. The developers are currently tight-lipped about what's coming, but given their design philosophy of giving EverQuest players what they want, the new chapters will likely be worth the wait.
One of the secrets to EverQuest's longevity is the ability to cultivate its loyal player base and keep up with the times. One such example is the addition of the Personas system in Laurion's Song, which lets players try different classes on one character. This feature is very similar to Final Fantasy 14's job system, which solves a longstanding problem in MMORPGs, a genre that naturally comes with a wide variety of classes to encourage different playstyles. Though it's easy to point out that putting in that feature is directly copying another game, many players might feel that it's a welcome quality of life improvement that all similar titles should have, and EverQuest learning that lesson may be good for its success.
With 20 years of history to build on, EverQuest 2 developers are also working hard to make sure there's a lot for current players to enjoy. The game's 20th expansion, Ballads of Zimara, also released in 2023, and it brought with it changes and updates that make playing
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Though two Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera raid battles are already scheduled throughout the middle of February, trainers will soon have more to do, as Stonjourner, Eiscue, Armarouge, and Ceruledge join the lineup. These upcoming Tera raid battles in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will make these version-exclusive critters available to players regardless of the game played.
For those who want the best possible visuals, a modder has come up with a Tekken 8 configuration that allows for even better graphics than the game's ultra settings. A few weeks after its release, Tekken 8 has quickly become one of the most popular games to come out in 2024, proving to be another big hit for the legendary franchise.
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After years of waiting, fans can finally play Ubisoft's Skull and Bones during its open beta beginning on February 7th. The beta features exclusive rewards that will carry over to Skull and Bones' full release.
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Skull and Bones has been a game that continued to miss its intended release date. For some fans, it felt like this project was doomed to be stuck in development hell. But we’re finally inching closer to its official release date. Furthermore, marketing has continued to ramp up, highlighting the game and its launch this February. While there’s always the possibility of it being delayed yet again, we’re at least getting a new trailer today that highlights what we can expect for the title during its first year in the marketplace.
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