EverQuest: Secrets of Faydwer

Oct 12, 2007

You may have noticed that our first preview of EverQuest: Secrets of Faydwer didn't actually contain much in the way of concrete information about the game. It didn't stop us from writing a preview, but we thought you could use one more. Last time we tried to get a look at the game, most things were still under wraps, but this time we got to see quite a bit of the upcoming expansion.

While there will be varied scenery between the 15 new zones, the biggest new theme is a clockwork style world. We got a good look at the new flying fortress Mechanotus. It isn't flying yet (except in our demo), but when the game is released the fortress will rise up from the Steamfont Mountains, in what we're hoping will be a pretty cool in-game event. Once it's up there the only way to reach it will be by cannon - that's right, you get shot from a cannon onto a floating island.

Above: You can just make out the door on his right foot

The fortress was filled with steam-powered enemies, helpful steam-powered quest givers and even one enormous steam-powered spider walking around repairing damaged constructions. Most of the time this spider will leave you alone, but if attacked by a large group, it also functions as a raid boss.

Our favorite steam-themed guy was the hardest to miss. There is now a gigantic mechanical guardian walking around protecting Mechanotus. Think of The Iron Giant, or don't think of it and just look at the picture above this paragraph. He won't be directly attackable, but with the right raid quest, you can enter his foot and fight your way through him from the inside. Without the raid quest, you can approach his foot and get kicked to the other side of the map.