Reviewed: December 9, 2004
Reviewed by: Aaron Daigle
Publisher
Sony Online Entertainment
Developer
Sony Online Entertainment
Released: September 14, 2004
Genre: MMORPG
Players: Online
ESRB: Teen
8
9
7
9
8.4
System Requirements
Recommended System
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
After eight expansions you’d think the developers of the MMO mainstay EverQuest would be running out of ideas, but as the recently released EverQuest: Omens of War seems to demonstrate, there’s always room for improvement. Originally slated to ship six weeks before it’s actual release, Omens of War, was dismissed by players, who felt (rightly so) that the EverQuest had far too many existing problems that needed to be repaired before they started hawking a new set of content. SOE listened and now that I’ve spent some time with the game, I have to say they seem to have taken the players criticism to heart and addressed quite a few of the lingering issues that have plagued the game for some time.
Though it does cater to the hardcore set by raising the level cap, adding new Alternate Advancement abilities and most importantly for a lot of power gamers, Epic Quest 2.0, there is plenty here for the more casual player to get excited about. The new task system is great for people who like to play alone, and the fact that most of the new zones introduced in Omens are unlocked from the get-go, is a big improvement over the prohibitive unlocking headache that was Gates of Discord.
For those interested in what’s going on in the game lore with the release of Omens of War, here’s the cliff notes version: The Priests of Discord have been working some seriously arcane overtime and discovered a way to send adventurers to Kuua, a once pristine land warped by the forces of Discord. The main premise of the new Omens content seems to be journeying to Kuua and kicking the living crap out of pretty much everything for fun and profit.
Omens of War is still good old EverQuest, and love it or hate it, you’ll be spending a lot of hours hitting auto attack and working your way up and down your hot keys as you employ the same basic tactics that have been used to kill monsters essentially since the original launch of the game. The big new gameplay elements that Omens adds are mostly to the second level of play: the new Epic item quests, major overhauls to the Tribute system including new Guild Tribute, the Task system and the expanded character development afforded by the rise of the level cap to 70.
Taking them in that order, Epic 2.0 has been the buzz in the guyed I with for the last few months, never mind that I only run across a player with the item from the original Epic quests once in a blue moon, players are psyched about the new gear. The dev team has said they wanted the art work for the new items to look superior to anything else in the game to them I say mission accomplished. The new Epic 2.0 items are going to probably serve as major status symbols for much of the rest of EverQuest’s life span.
Anyone who has played around with the Gates of Discord expansion is probably at least passingly familiar the Tribute system. Basically by turning items and cash into a special NPC you can earn “Tribute Points” that you can spend on new abilities and stat bonuses. Now in Omens, you can donate items and Platinum to the good of your guild by dropping them off with a Tribute Master in the Plane of Knowledge. This addition allows guild leaders to pump up the stats of the guild in raid situations and the like, and after using it I have to say I like way it works a lot. It also gives me something to do with all of those crappy equipment drops I get all the time.
The Task system should have been implemented eons ago. How it works is you speak to one of the “Taskmasters” scattered across Norrath and you will be assigned a mission. Complete it in the specified time and cash and experience points are yours. In practice it works a lot like the Lost Dungeons of Norrath expansion, but with more common rewards instead of the occasionally useless “Adventure Points” and without the headache of having to gather up five other willing adventurers to fill out a party.
Tasks vary from scouting and locating various NPCs to killing x number of monsters of a certain type before the clock winds down. Prior to the release of Omens, one of the oft-heard complaints from casual players was regarding the lack of solo content for people who might only have an hour or so to play before heading back to the real world. In my opinion the Task system, as implemented at this point, is an ideal fit for the mid level (20-45) player that wants to do some level grinding or make a little cash lacks the time to find a group and go through the hassle grouping can bring.
The new Level 70 cap and Alternate Advancement abilities are features that cater primarily to the power gamers. They are exactly what they sound like, the maximum attainable level has been increased from 65 to 70 and a whole slew of new AAs have been added including one that adds an extra slot to your memorized spell-list, it’s one of the most lusted after AAs in the game now as far as I can tell.
While the action in the game is really nothing new in my opinion, the slew of new features have freshened things up quite a bit. How long this springtime fresh feeling will last is anyone’s guess, but these new features, coupled with a TON of beautiful (for EverQuest) new zones to explore including one of my new favorites, The Walls of Slaughter, should keep even hard core players coming back for quite a while.
While it’s not going to keep up with World of Warcraft or City of Heroes, Omens of War has brought some fairly substantial visual quality boosts to the world of Norrath. Texture resolutions have been given a big bump, most of the time when you hear that it’s something only videophiles will be able to appreciate. I kid you not after installing Omens of War, the difference was night and day. Crispy, crispy, crispy, like I said before, it looks revitalized to an extent.
The team also tossed some more eye candy into the mix with real-time shadows (if you’ve got a system can take it), and what appears to me to be a big rework of the spell effects and the water in more than a few places. While it looked kind of flat before, it seems to be a bit more natural, more dynamic and attractive now.
And once you talk to one of the Priests of Discord and head to Kuua, you’ll get to see some of the best looking zones in the game. Towering gothic fortresses, and construction with serpentine lines that just ooze evil, once you see some of the new areas you’ll understand why they bumped the texture res.
Nothing new here really, the sound effects are pretty average and the music is adequate but gets repetitive due to the fact it’s in a game that some people will play in 8-hour sittings. You now have the ability to setup voice macros, but this seems to be getting abused, and annoying sounds are being digitized and sent out instead of speech.
For me it seems like Omens of War is one of those products that only people already playing EverQuest are likely to appreciate. New players aren’t likely to appreciate the crispy new textures if they never had to spend hour after hour with the old ones burning their eyes. And honestly, other shiny new MMOs are likely to snatch up most of the newbies from here on out. However for those who are already stalking across the fields and forests of Norrath, I think you’ll find Omens of War indispensable.
From a purely practical standpoint, the Guild Tribute is a must have for anyone in a raiding guild and I found the Task System to be fairly effective in building up a lower level character fairly quickly. And let’s face it; being the only one who doesn’t have the latest expansion can be a serious obstacle in trying to find a group.
While it does cater primarily to existing players of newcomers, EverQuest: Omens of War is one off the strongest expansions since Scars of Velious. By listening to the players and remembering that not everyone is streaking for the end game as fast as they can, SOE has managed to release a well rounded expansion that offers significant improvements for pretty much every play style.
If you like to roam the wilds alone, you’ve got the task system, if you like to spend hours tearing it up with your guild, now your leader can use those crappy item drops to buy some more Tribute points. Maybe you want everyone to know that you are the greatest Blacksmith in Freeport, with the new custom titles you can make sure everyone does know. Basically Omens of War does what expansions are always supposed to do, improve the game.