If you recall, I found it kind of funny (…funny weird, not funny “ha-ha”) that the NDA of Rise of Kunark was lifted a tad on the late side. Well, while surfing around today I came across this over at Scott Hartsman’s blog:

The beta NDA came down late last week. We took a little longer than usual to do so this time, and there were the standard predictions of both doom and gloom. The reason for the delay was pretty simple – For Kunark, I wanted the beta?s open issue count to be lower than any of our previous released products before the NDA came down. We blew past that mark to a record low count of open issues, then we opened the NDA.

So there you have it…they were getting the “issue count” down as low as they can. For those not familiar with the process, for every bug found (internally and externally) a “problem report” or “ticket” is raised for that bug. That ticket is then screened, prioritized and then forwarded off to a dev to be addressed. So, we know going into RoK that the issue count is lower than any other expansion, which is always a great thing to hear from the EQ2 dev team. I can guarantee you that little detail will make everybody happy…players, devs, and testers. Of course, this is all a relative thing, but it?s still an interesting metric. Also note that the fires probably did have an impact on the schedule a bit, so maybe the NDA would have been released a bit sooner had that event not happened.

So far, the buzz about the expansion has been positive. Of course, there are detractors, but you’d get people bitching about the color of water if you wait long enough. One of the changes I’m looking forward to is the ones being applied to crafting. If you want more details, you can find an excellent write up here:

Crafting has changed some what in the newest expansion due to release this Tuesday, all wonderful changes from my point of view but some folks may not like them. Pictured above ist he new crafting window. That?s right folks, your hotbars will no longer be cluttered with 6 hotkeys for crafting ? unless of course you are a creature of habbit, then you may want to. By default the buttons are 1-6 and become active when your crafting window is up. The 3 +durability are first and then the 3 +progress follow. It automatically uses the highest of each, so no more switching them around. However, if you?re used to your buttons being in a specific order, you may not enjoy the convenience offered here. I love it. to the bottom left is your recipe book icon, and to the right a stop botton (which switches to the repeat button if you?re done the recipe)

Honestly, I couldn?t be happier with that one, “little” change. My hotbars are really getting crowded, so anything they can do to reduce that clutter is greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow the expansion hits the shelves and I’ve already pre-ordered and my downloader is waiting to experience whatever pain/pleasure that may come. Looking forward to this one and so are the guys I’m playing EQ2 with. Have fun with it and I’ll give some impressions next week sometime.

D out.

Posted in EQ2 Editorial
1 Comment Posted by Darren