While attending GenCon this weekend I spent some time watching and listening to Brad McQuaid and some of the EQ development staff as they gave us a guided tour of the new island of Kunark and a few other areas.

We were given a brief history of the island.  Apparently long ago the Iksar came to the island and created quite an advanced and sprawling civilization (technologically equivalent to Rome).  All this came to an end when the dragons from the frozen continent of Velious took an interest in the Iksar and laid waste to their civilization.  The dragons then took up residence in Kunark.  The Iksar now struggle to survive from the ruins of their old civilization.

At GenCon there were only two zones up and running on the new island.  The first is Warslik's Wood.  It consists of a forest with a river gorge cutting through the middle.  There are large statues lining the river along it's length.  There is at least one bridge that crosses from one side of the canyon to the other.  Stones jut up out of the landscape with carvings and runes on them.

A large number of creatures inhabit the forest.  The goblins were very interesting. Each type of goblin (worker, shaman, warrior, etc.) had it's own unique clothing and armor.  The animation for the goblins is great fun to watch.  They walk with a funny loping gait (instead of the stiff legged approach other goblins use).  Their tongues hang out of their mouths and slabber around while they are in battle.  Little bits of cloth tied to arms whip around as the goblins move.  There is a new race of giants called the forest giant.  They look like a cross between their hill and sand cousins.  Giant misquitos buzz around much like the giant wasps.  Cockatrices are hard to miss with their bright orange, red and green bodies.  There is a creature that looks like a large orange (and very mean) baboon.  I saw a few giant leeches slithering around.  You also see the occasional Iksar roaming the forest.

The other zone is the Field of Bone, a rather desolate area with a large arena in the middle covered with the bones of dead creatures (including a dragon like that found in the Steamfont Mountains).  A very large tower lies on the edge of the field of bones.  We were unable to see the interior of the tower since it is in another zone which hasn't been added yet.  At one end of the zone is a cliff that overlooks the island's coastline.  There is at least one path leading down to the beach.  Underneath all this (but still in the same zone) is a large complex of caves.  Supposedly, once they are finished, this will be the home to a group of followers of Veeshan (the Guild of Scale?).  Entrances to the caves are hidden around the the upper level.

The only creatures I saw in this zone were in the field of bones itself.  It appears that the rest of the creatures that will populate the zone haven't been finished or haven't been added yet.  The best looking creature I'd have to say is the rhino.  The animation and skin is top notch.  It moves very much like its real world counterpart.  Many nice touches have been added.  The ears will occasionally twitch and the tail sways back and forth when the rhino is walking or fighting.  It raises its horn to gore its opponent in battle.  The demilich is also interesting.  When not fighting it resembles the bones of an Iksar whirling around like a small tornado.  It's only when it physically attacks that the bones briefly reform into a skeleton.  Very cool. There were also a few giant scorpions and Iksar wandering around the field.

I picked up a few details concerning the rest of the island's zones.  As others have stated, Kunark is going to be about twice the size of Faydwer in terms of land area with probably about 30+ zones.  The home city of the Iksar (which we were told will be impressive to behold) will be surrounded by at least 4 newbie zones in order to handle the expected large influx of new players wishing to play this race.  Since the island will be geared toward higher level players, the difficulty of the zones will increase the closer one is to the outer edges of the island so as not to overwhelm new Iksar players.  Visitors take note, once past the elven outpost on the coast, players will be met by the toughest creatures on the island.  Because of the dragon theme we were told to expect quite a few high level dragons to be scattered around the island, as well as other younger dragons.

In addition to touring Kunark, Brad gave some of us a special treat by giving a tour of the planes.  I'd seen screenshots of the Plane of Fear before, but it was interesting to see it for myself first hand. After that he took us to the Plane of Air.  This zone is a sight to behold.  It is made up of a group of floating stone islands.  Giant chains dangle from some of them.  Giant windmills sit atop the islands.  It's hard to put into words, but the view is breathtaking.  A friend of mine said travel between the islands would be done through teleporters like the ones in Erudin.  It might also be interesting to see if those with the levitate spell could drift down from some of the higher islands to the lower ones.  The last plane was the Plane of Hate, and it looked unlike anything else I'd seen in the game.  The whole plane is one large, gothic city.  The buildings are stunning.  There are carvings everywhere (dedicated to the Prince of Hate himself).  Innoruuk's tower lies in the center of the city rising above everything else.  Unfortunately, he was not in residence, nor were any of the other creatures.

There was also one new notable feature that is supposed to be added in the expansion.  For others like myself who have been bothered by the problem of pop-in graphics in EQ (distance objects just all of a sudden appearing), the game designers have decided to make the "fog" that causes this an adjustable option.  When the fog is turned off distant objects are viewable across the zone.  It give the game a much more realistic feel, but it comes at a heavy price.  When it was demonstrated on one of Verant's computers the game became very choppy.  I imagine only those with the newest, fastest 3D accelerators will be able to play the game this way.

Kalagar
High Elf Paladin
Solusek Ro