Remember, way back when, when the thought of paying $$$ TEN DOLLARS $$$ for a permanent mount was considered insane? Then Blizzard introduced their sparkle pony for $25. Suddenly, $10 didn’t look so bad, and $25 became the new industry standard. You want a cool mount, you forked over a couple of sawbucks with a Lincoln chaser.
The Blizzard sparkle pony would be as fast as the fastest mount you could ride; if you could ride a flying mount, then your sparkle pony would take to the skies where the stars in its wings would blend seamlessly with the stars glowing in the firmament above Azeroth. Better yet, when you bought the horse, all your characters could use it.
EverQuest has just announced its own version of the sparkle pony (at the industry standard price). These four mounts are “fast, and if you have another faster mount, it will match speeds with that mount”. The normal, store-bought mounts run more slowly than characters normally run. The fast mounts drop from raid bosses or are won from Legends of Norrath loot cards.
These new mounts also come with boosts to AC, mana and health, godsends to the casters who normally stay mounted when they can, trading mobility (remember, horses are slow) for the ability to med continually.
EverQuest also sent word of their new DPS mercenaries. With two flavors, melee DPS and magic DPS, these new mercenaries join the ranks of the previously introduced tank and healer mercenaries. This means that in many normal groups, any three classes could fill out any missing roles with mercenaries as needed, though you’ll still want to be flagged through the Seeds of Destruction to gain access to the good ones.
It’s no exaggeration that EQ would be a far lonelier place without mercenaries; it’s common to see them in every group, and nearly everyone has one ready to go if needed. They are useful, but not so useful that they can replace a real, live player. Though I hear some of the melee mercenaries can outdamage a normally geared player….
8 thoughts on “EverQuest goes all sparkle pony”
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I always find myself surprised by the graphics I see in EQ screenshots. I suppose that this is largely because I stopped playing before Luclin really, and haven’t had an overly extensive trip back since. Still, the second screen shot in this post looks surprisingly good for a 3D MMO that is over 10 years old now.
There’s still life in the old game yet. It’s still the most innovative MMO in SOE’s stable in a lot of ways, and the graphics in the newer zones can surprise you. This shot was likely taken in the Secrets of Faydwer expansion.
For my son’s birthday a couple of his friends got him two $25 Nexon Cards (they make the F2P FPS game ‘Combat Arms’ which all his friends play). I cautioned him about being careful with spending all his points in the Cash Shop only to discover all the good, permanent weapons cost approx. 25,000 Nx. And a $25 Nexon card comes with? Yep, 25,000 Nx.
This weekend we discovered the price of the permanent weapons went up by 1,000 points. He now has a 25,000 Nx card but to buy another weapon needs to buy at least a $10 card.
I know, nothing to do with SOE, or Sparkle Ponies, etc. Just thought I’d rant on a somewhat related RMT topic.
After all these years, Everquest is STILL the MMO in which I have the most fun. The mercenaries have been a wonderful addition, and the DPS mercenaries have added a whole new level to that.
I just wish a character could keep one of each type on hand. Not have them all in use together, that would be ridiculously overpowering. Just have the choice between them without having to pay the exorbitant re-purchase fee each time you want to change your cleric for a tank or DPS.
talking about spending money… i know you play alot of mmo’s 😉
my bro was telling me Steam has a sale for Champion’s Online for 6$ which apparently includes 1 month sub
I’ve always perceived EQ has having a more hardcore fan base than other mmos and as such wouldn’t be receptive to this kind of thing. Have you seen a lot of these mounts running around?
I haven’t seen any of these mounts. I went around looking so I could take my own screen shot, but eventually had to settle with one of SOE’s. The thing about EQ, is that personal accomplishment is the game’s only real achievement.