There are few zones In Everquest 2 where as much effort has been put into making them unique as the Estate of Unrest in Butcherblock Mountains. Last night myself and my guild (including Wodge and Ffaffner) ventured into this zone after a suggestion from myself as I needed the SoD statue.
Many of you will remember the Unrest from the original Everquest where if you went 5 minutes without hearing “TRAIN TO ZONE!!!!” something was wrong. I have fond memories of hunting beetles there from around level 12 and always enjoyed the zone, when I wasn’t on the wrong end of an undead stampede.
Unrest in Everquest 2 has had a bit of a boost, it seems in 500 years the inhabitants have grown a bit. The level 12 beetles are now 70/71 as are most of the other mobs in the zone. The layout is pretty much the same and a lot of the creatures in the zone are too, the experience however is more than a bit different.
Most instanced zones in Everquest 2 follow a similar model, go in complete the odd task and kill named as you go, until the final named and hopefully some nice loot. Granted there are quite a few where you need to take on named creatures in certain ways and often areas that have to be opened by keys or some other method.
Unrest in Everquest 2 takes all of this and expands on it much more than any other zone I’ve been into. Almost from the start your greeted with messages appearing on the screen from the big boss Garanel, warning you away and promising you and your group all kinds of pain if you proceed. The ambient sound in the zone is some of the best in Everquest 2 especially if you have headphones on, with sounds of screaming and wailing greeting you as you make your way around the Estate of Unrest. From the beginning you also have to collect certain items to allow progress which is done in a much more complicated and interesting manner than the other zones. To enter the house itself you need two halves of a key found in the grounds, this continues on with various chess pieces and other items to be collected including a can of oil and a ghostly hammer. You also have to play a piano, cook a meal, pull levers and watch out for a bomb in your inventory as you progress through the zone!
All of this does take time but as the instance is open for over a day you and your group can always go back in later to finish it off if you don’t manage it in one go. The time involved to complete the Estate of Unrest is worth it to complete one of the most interesting zones in Everquest 2.
Here’s hoping the SOE Dev’s come up with more zones like this as the game progresses!
With this in mind what is your favourite MMO zone? It can be from any MMO past or present, just let us know which area in a game has made you stop silently and thank the Dev’s for their effort.
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Unrest from EQ2 is pretty close to the top of my list, the designers seem to have outdone themselves with that place, seems they used all there imagination up on Unrest and let it dwindle elsewhere (Mistmoore Catacombs anyone? What a dull zone…)
As for favourite zones, pretty much all of the "Dark Side" of Luclin from EQ1; Shadeweavers Thicket, Hollowshade Moor, Grimling Forest, Tenebrous Mountains, Katta Catellum and finally, the best one, Twilight Sea. Dungeon wise, the revamped Nurga/Droga were a classic dungeon crawl, Hates Fury was even better, but was a bit too out of the way for most, same problem with Nurga/Droga, but as a Beastlord they were soloable.
The "Ship" area from Phantasy Star Online is also a Phantastic (sorry) area, very atmospheric music, with messages left from some chap/gal called Red Ring Rico, who you spend the main story quest following, which add immesurably to the feeling of impending doom, which cumilated in a phab (er… didn't really work as well as the other one) battle with some Large Evil Thing ™ called Dark Falz.
Saying that though, I don't think theres a zone in a MMO I've played thats as story driven as Unrest, takes me back to "Ye Good Old Days" of being a level 15 Paladin fighting beetles, avoiding trains from the dreaded basement…
Without wanting to sound passé, I think the Shire area of LOTRO is still very enchanting (hey, not that I'm biased!) and is to me one of the most accurate depictions of Middle-earth in the game. Also, the pre-searing area of Ascalon from the Guild Wars: Prophecies campaign will stay with me always as a delightful, immersive and enjoyable gaming experience.
//HoC