EverQuest II takes place in the same world as EverQuest I, but thousands of years in the future. Faydwer (a continent to the north of Norrath) is an immediately recognizable name to anyone who has played the original game and was the perfect choice for the goal of this expansion, Echoes of Faydwer. Thankfully, this entertaining package contains more than new content. It offers an entirely new path for leveling characters. It brings in enough content to create a new character and raise it all the way to level 70, without doing replaying quests.

Faydwer is home to many different creatures, most notably Elf, Dwarve and Gnome refugees. It's also home to Crushbone Orcs, a favorite rival and some new rivals as well. The Gnomish home of Steamfont Mountains is here in an altered form, as are the Butcherblock Mountains of Dwarven lore.

The most important addition, however, is the new playable race: the Fae. Small and frail looking, the faeries pack a wallop as spellcasters, scouts and even as warrior classes if played well. They look fantastic, as their wings can be customized into one of a dozen or so designs with intricate patterns and then colored to taste. They have custom hair, face and stature features just as the majority of races in EQII. They're extremely small, but since they never touch the ground, they don't receive falling damage. It is a little disappointing that Fae are of good alignment only, so players that prefer to play Neutral or Evil characters have no new race to play.

Their home, Kelethin, is the new starting city of Norrath and it should bring back memories for original EverQuest players. Kelethin is a city set very, very high in the trees and its constructors didn't believe in safety codes. There are no bars or rails to keep characters from tumbling hundreds of feet to their almost assured death. Unless they're playing a Fae, of course. Then it's just a nice glide to the forest floor. The town is somewhat confusing to navigate at first, but eventually, it becomes manageable. A serious omission to the town, however, is a crafting tutorial. When creating a Fae, there is no mentor to teach the basics of crafting. Furthermore, there aren't any low-level recipes to be found in Kelethin or The Nursery, the nearby Fae training ground.

Sadly, the expansion has some problems. While playing, it is possible to be slain and then pop up in a city never before explored. This is very disorienting, mostly because the player may not know how to return to their starting town.

A few bugs come packed in with all this new content, too. Some shiny collectables on the ground cannot be picked up regardless of how close the character is. More importantly, the game randomly crashes.

At least the quests will keep EverQuest II players busy, ranging from investigating a poisoned lake to taking out the growing Crushbone Orc infestation. In addition, learning enemy languages from documents found during the adventures is a very cool treat.. On the negative side, if you accept an item-collecting quest, the game will not credit you with items already found. When asked to gather Emerald Trout, it doesn't matter if on the way over you catch twenty of them. You will be forced to go spend more time fishing for another set of trout.

Echoes of Faydwer succeeds as a very appealing addition to EverQuest II. It packs a huge amount of content, with new dungeons for players of all level ranges and a new city to base all of your adventures. If you've been thinking about hopping into the world of EverQuest or looking to return, start here.

Related Links

EverQuest II at GameDaily

EverQuest II Official Site

Our Final ScoreGood

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