Our double bill continues with yet another Q&A session. Alex von Minden, the Community Relations Manager at Sony Online Entertainment speaks to Joel Szerlip regarding their next online title, Everquest Online Adventures: Frontiers.

First can you please give us a brief description of what this new Everquest Online Adventures: Frontiers (EQOA: Frontiers) will contain?
EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers brings you all new lands to explore with the new continent of Odus, the Ogre homeland of the Rathe Mountains, the perilous Lavastorm Mountains and the realm of the great dragon Veeshan, the Plane of Sky. Besides new and varied landscapes to explore, Frontiers brings players new ways to expand their characters by upping the level cap from 50 to 60 and adding a Class Mastery System that allows characters to specialize in different aspects of their character.

For those starting a new character in Frontiers, you will have the added choice of the hulking Ogre race or the potion-tossing Alchemist class. Of course there will be many new monsters and creatures to challenge your avatar along with tons of great new items to discover and wield.

We are also expanding the immersive quality of Frontiers by pushing the graphical detail. Also we are by adding an all new audio system to heighten the gaming experience through streaming music.

What type of graphical updates are we going to find with the second edition?
Frontiers pushes the existing game to new heights graphically with several enhancements:

• Higher detailed regions: Our world builders are perfecting their craft in Frontiers. The new areas have more detail and variety and really look great.
  
  
• Environmental Effects: We are just now putting the finishing touches on a new environmental effects system. This system allows us to dynamically add things like fog, falling leaves under trees, beams of light glinting down from high windows, ashes or burning meteors falling from the sky and other great stuff.
  
  
• Redesigned character models: All of the playable race models are being redesigned to enhance detail. Also, existing players will have all new choices for how they want their character’s face, hair and extras to look. Players will also have the choice to change these features on the fly, so one day they could grow a moustache, the next a full beard and then decide to shave it all off.
  
  
• New creature models: The new creatures we are adding in Frontiers benefit from the model redesigns and they are looking really good.
  
  
• Radial Flora: We have a new flora system in Frontiers that fills in the foreground with small plants, rocks and debris appropriate for the region. We are also going through the existing land areas from the first edition of the game and adding in radial flora, ambient music and environmental effects to enhance these areas as well.

We have heard the game is going to contain new areas, what are these area’s and what will they entail?
Adventurers in EQOA:Frontiers will have access to four new regions: Odus, Rathe Mountains, Lavastorm and the Plane of Sky.

Odus: The continent of Odus is opened up for exploration by the Erudite people as they leave the main continent of Tunaria and its strife and turmoil behind. Ranging from the dense forest and lowland jungle of Toxxulia to the red rock arid regions of the Barren Coast to the granite plateau highlands, Odus holds many dangers as well as new treasures.

Rathe Mountains: Previously, cartographers of Tunaria referred to this regions as “The Great Unknown”. All avenues into this mountainous region were blocked and travelers attempting to break into it were never heard from again. Now, the Ogre race, have ventured beyond their mountain strongholds and in so doing have opened these lands up for brave adventurers to enter.

Lavastorm: The gnomes of Klick`Anon have tunneled their way into the craggy, basalt mountain region known as Lavastorm. Rivers of lava twist their way through this barren, inhospitable landscape. The inhabitants are less than friendly, but the Kilck`Anon Gnomes surely know there are veins of precious metals to be obtained, and other treasures, that make exploration here worth the danger.

Plane of Sky: The most brave and powerful, or perhaps foolhardy, adventurers will have the possibility of making their way to the realm of Veeshan, the Mother of all Wyrms. While Veeshan is so large to be all but incomprehensible by the mortal mind, her realm holds untold treasure for those who can travel to this altered plane of existence.

It is said there are going to be more quests added to the game, how many can we expect?
You can expect a myriad of new quests. We will have new level specific quests for characters 51 through 60, new quests in different regions and of course path quests available for the Ogre and Alchemist.

If you had to pick of the best new features added in this expansion pack Second Edition, what would it be and why?
That’s a tough one. There are so many great new additions to the game that picking just any one is tough. At this juncture I’m most excited with what our art and programming teams are putting together with Frontier’s new environmental effects. While this feature is still work in progress, the addition of fog, light rays, or falling ash and meteors – to name a few – coupled with the other graphical updates, really make the game shine.

There is a new character race to play with which are the Ogre’s can you tell us a little bit about the new race?
The Ogre is, well, a big hulking brute! The Ogre sprang into existence from Rallos Zek, the Warlord, God of War. They embodied the perfect warrior: cunning, powerful and strong. However, they were just a bit too good at their war making and came to the notice of the balance driven Council of the Rathe, rulers of the Plane of Earth. The Rathe cursed the Ogres to be as stupid as they were strong, and the Ogre civilization fell into ruin, their war magic all but lost and their society reduced to a tribal existence.

Now, if you choose the Ogre you will have the option to play as a Warrior, Shadowknight, Shaman or Necromancer. In whatever you choose, you are sure to be known as a strong arm.

There is also a new playable class the Alchemists what can we expect from this new class?
The Alchemist fits in with Wizards, Magicians, Enchanters and Necromancers in the Caster Archetype. Alchemists use strange concoctions and toxic brews to hurl at their foes, damaging them from afar. They also can bolster their group’s effectiveness through the use of salves and elixirs. All in all, it makes for an interesting twist on the traditional magic wielder.

When can we be expecting to see EQOA: Frontiers hitting store shelves and what price do you think it will retail for?
You can currently pre-order EQOA:Frontiers for $19.99 from many fine Internet game retailers with an expected ship date in November.