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Welcome to Necessary Evil!
When Rise of Kunark was initially announced, one of the first and most anticipated features announced for the expansion was the return of Epic Weapon quests. First released with the original Ruins of Kunark expansion for classic Everquest, epic weapons were considered the end-all and be-all of equipment for each of the classes of the day. Some of these rewards were considered class defining, and most were highly prized even years later long after other gear of Kunark became obselete.
Needless to say, it was a bit of a let down for many players when it became known that they were being delayed till after release. Along with most of the playerbase, we here at Clockwork Gamer were left with many questions about the epic weapons. Where were they? When could we expect them? What could we expect?
We set out on an epic quest of our own to find out. What we managed to find - or rather “who” we managed to find was none other than the new Senior Producer, Bruce “Froech” Ferguson. He agreed to help answer some of the queries we put to him, to hopefully shed a little light on what to expect when the epics do finally go live.
Clockwork Gamer: As I mentioned, it was a let down for many players when we learned that epics were being delayed. For those players wondering how long they have to wait before they can start the runs, what is the current ETA on when SOE hopes to finally start releasing the epic quests?
Bruce Ferguson: It was a bit of a let down for us as well. Fortunately, the situation that caused the delay (the fires in San Diego) didn’t impact us any more than it did, so we’re on target for Game Update 42, which will hit towards the end of January. I expect that you’ll find we used the extra time to full effect!
CWG: What are the plans for the release? Will all of the quests be released at once, or will we see some different epics being rolled out over time, similar to the class hats from Kingdom of Sky?
BF: At this point, not all of them have been through QA completely…which is to say we’re still tweaking them. However, we are planning on having them all come out simultaneously, rather than rolling them out over time.
CWG: How epic is epic? Could you describe the scope you’ve envisioned for these quests?
BF: That’s like asking how chocolaty is chocolate… These are, essentially, class based signature quests. They are intended to be more difficult than Signature quests, but the overall scope is in the same ballpark. We intend there to be some points in the quest where you may have to go to the community to figure out what to do next, or where. These quests are also epic in their storyline, each of these weapons has their own story tied to divine origins.
CWG: What about the rewards for the quests? Have you peppered the questlines with additional rewards over and above the final epic items?
BF: The quests are divided up into two parts, a group stage and a raid stage. At the end of each stage you’ll receive a reward, and you’ll have to turn in the reward from the first stage in order to get the reward for the second stage. Any other rewards you get along the way will only be cosmetic. Of course over the course of the quests you’ll be visiting places that will have other items dropping, so it shouldn’t be hard to get friends to help out.
CWG: Ok, let’s spill some beans here. What type of items are we talking about? What type of work went into making them…well, epic?
BF: Well it has been a pretty epic amount of work so far. Each of the items got hand concepts along with a story of the items origin. Then the concepts were all made in awesome detail (and a big shout out to our art folks, these are some of the best weapons I’ve seen in any game… Nothing to quack at for sure…). Plus our mechanics folks along with developers on the team who play the classes, came up with effect ideas, most of which are new and unique to epics. So in both appearance and power, these will be items like we’ve never made.
CWG: Are all of the epic items weapons? Are there shields or armors or other types of epic items out there?
BF: All of the epic quests will reward epic weapons, yes.
CWG: What about players who just end up not liking the epics or who eventually upgrade away from their epic items? Any plans to create house item versions of the epic items for players who just want to show them off without using them?
BF: In GU 42 we have a feature to allow you to display items in your house without having to change the item into something else. It is akin to putting a weapon on a pedestal, or a suit of armor on a mannequin. You’ll be able to get one of these display cases to display your epics. We decided not to turn them into house items so they could be adorned, plus the housing display cases are much more versatile.
12/12/2007 With the release of ROK everyone has been busy grinding to 80 by filling up their quest journal with all the new quests the ROK offers. If you are a quest happy player then this is an expansion you will love. The zone are beautiful and wide open and many soloable named for many to try their luck at in hopes of getting that rare master chest. 
12/11/2007 Welcome to Necessary Evil's website. Please pardon our appearence as we are in the middle of revamping our website and many of the features have yet to be edited. We are recruiting and if you are interested in joining NE please visit the "Apply to NE menu button on the left hand side and tell us a little bit about yourself. Kad or one of the officers will get back to you as soon as we can.
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