The graphics engine is a new proprietary engine. It boasts such recent technological jargon as per pixel lighting, dynamic environment mapping, as well as a fully programmable surface shader. Check out the screenshots to have that explained more fully. To demonstrate further, at E3 there was on show a real time fly-by through one of EQ2’s dungeons, Befallen. For those of you in the know, this was an area that also featured in the original. The new dungeon was incredibly detailed, both architecturally, and in terms of its skeletal inhabitants. The new engine allows far more detailed environments, and the end result is dungeons that seem far more organic and atmospheric than before. Character models have also been brought kicking and screaming into the new millennium. As a rough idea, EQ2 plans to have character models equivalent in detail to the latest generation of unreleased shooters like Unreal 2. Good enough for me.

EQ2 also plans to have an expertly crafted economy this time round. In the original, there was something of an unhealthy dichotomy, with newbies always strapped for cash and with high-level players having nothing to spend their fortunes on. For the sequel, Verant will attempt to solve this by having an entire skill tree branch devoted to trade skills – skills that will allow you to produce items for other players. The economy in EQ2 will therefore be much more player driven, with less of the artificial interference prevalent in other games.

It’s not all change, of course. EQ did a great many things right, and fans will be pleased to hear that Verant will retain its strengths. One of EQ’s major pluses was the world in which it took place – Norrath. This evolved to become an incredibly detailed and diverse fantasy world. Many of the locations in the original EQ will reappear in EQ2, but with changes to show the passage of time and events. Certain cities will return, others will not, but Verant hope to engender a feeling of skewed familiarity within EQ veterans. They have stated, however, that players will not be able to transfer characters from EQ over to the sequel – no doubt to avoid a glut of titans inhabiting neo-Norrath from day one. As a consolation, Verant are toying with the idea of allowing the descendents of long time EQ players to appear in the sequel. These descendents would have an illustrious ancestry – as the offspring of near-gods. It’s a very nice touch.

Also reappearing from the original is EQ’s zone system. Other MMORPG’s have tried to offer a more seamless environment, but Verant are convinced that the benefits of this are not all that great, and that a zone system makes design that much easier. I tend to agree. As long as the loading is short, a zone system makes the transitions between very different environment types very simple. Verant have said that zone’s will be larger than in the original, and they aim to make zone transition more of a choice than before – no more accidental stumbling across an in invisible line.