EverQuest Torment of Velious Pre-Orders Available

The upcoming Torment of Velious, the 26th EverQuest expansion, is now available for pre-order.

Coming in December

The description of the expansion, since at this point I cannot tell what is going on from the names anymore:

The lands and denizens of the continent of Velious are suffering. The icy landscape has seemingly come to life and is flowing oddly upward toward the sky. This restless ice is infecting and animating the inhabitants it touches, turning them into zombie-like beings with a strange icy infection that appears alive in its own way – moving and shifting over their bodies. What has caused this strange turn? And what could it mean? All adventurers are called upon to unravel the chilling mysteries that are the Torment of Velious.

I probably could have guessed that there was suffering in Velious.  Still, I have a little bit better idea.  As for what the expansion contains, the base description is:

• Level Increase to 115 [from 110] – Take your character to all new heights with our new level cap!
• 6 Expansion Zones – Uncover the mysteries in new zones on the continent of Velious. A new threat faces all and many creatures that have been familiar to Norrathians have been strangely transformed by living ice.
• New Raids, Quests, and Missions
• New Spells, Combat Abilities, and AAs
• New Collections

Standard stuff for an EverQuest expansion at this point.  Some new zones to conquer, more things to play with, more things to do, plus a level cap increase, which you get with every third expansion.  Oh, and you get all previous expansions as well, another standard part of the deal.  It is formulaic, but if it works you cannot really fault the team.

What is new is that there are now FOUR ways to buy the expansion, up from the three pricing levels to which we have grown accustomed, meaning I couldn’t just re-use the same pricing graphic I stick in these posts every year.  So I give you the four pricing levels.

The four prices of Velious

Comparing the levels from cheapest to most expensive:

• Standard – $34.99

You get the stuff listed out above… zones, raids, quests, missions… basically, the expansion.  Probably worth the price for another year of game play, especially since you’ll likely get the usual mid-year big game update with even more content.

• Collector’s – $89.99

For an extra extra $55 you get the following items:

• Froststone Crystal Resonator – Personal teleporter that sends you to Froststone Keep – per character
• Contract of the Restless Ry’Gorr – A new mercenary companion – per character
• Goblet of Adventure III – 4 hour 50% xp boost x2 – per account
• Perfected Augmentation Distillers – Allows the movement augmentations x10 – per account
• Velium Threaded Satchel – 40 slot 100% weight reduction bag usable on ANY server – per account
• Torment of Velious Painting – House item – per account
• Level 85 Heroic Character Boost – Level boost – per account
• Velious Snow Kitten Metamorph Wand – Pet – per account
• Restless Wolf Saddle – Mount – per account

I imaging the teleported will be useful and the new mercenary will probably be over powered… so also useful.  Pets, mounts, and house items, people love those.  The xp boost and augmentation thing, probably less so.  The bag is huge, though it will probably make the database team cringe if it lets people hoard even more stuff.

And then there is the heroic character boost.  Level 85?  Really?  I was writing about those back in mid 2014.  The level cap is jumping up to 110.  You would think that they could work out a booster that at least got you to level 100.  The EverQuest II team… which is the same team actually… has been able to increase their insta-level option over the years.  What is going on with the EQ version?

Insta-level lag aside, if I were into the game and kept current, I would probably be considering this package.  It isn’t as lavish as one might hope for $90, but it is probably enough.

• Premium – $139.99

What to buy if you have an extra $50 bill burning a hole in your pocket.

This gets you all of the above with the following additions:

• Froststone Crystal Echo – House or guild hall teleporter to Froststone Keep – per character
• Perfected Augmentation Distillers – Allows the movement augmentations x20 – per account
• Velium Threaded Satchel – 40 slot 100% weight reduction bag usable on ANY server x2 – per account
• Shared Goblet of Adventure III – 4 hour group 50% xp boost x2 – per account
• Tizmak Metamorph Wand – Pet – per account
• Saddle of the Restless Griffon – Mount – per account
• Guise of the Restless Coldain – Disguise – per account

More stuff, but is it $50 worth of more stuff?

• Family & Friends – $249

Here we get into new territory.  The price alone might make you recoil… a lifetime subscription was available for less last winter… but there are some twists here that might blur the lines for some people.

In addition to everything in the premium package you get the following:

• Velium Threaded Satchel – 40 slot 100% weight reduction bag usable on ANY server x3 – per account
• Shared Goblet of Adventure III – 4 hour group 50% xp boost x4 – per account
• TRADABLE Torment of Velious Standard Expansion Ticket – Basically a copy of the expansion you can give away (or sell I guess)
• TRADABLE Level 85 Heroic Character Boost
• TRADABLE Restless Wolf Saddle
• TRADABLE Restless Griffon Saddle
• Gnomish Legendary Bundle which includes:
  • Clockwork rhino mount
  • Gnomework illusion
  • Your choice of all three of the following [you get them all, or just one?]:
    • A full suit of gnomish appearance gear
    • A gnomish heritage teleporter
    • A gnomish heritage familiar
  • 40-slot bag
  • 2 shared 50% experience potions.

That is a lot of stuff, including a standard copy of the expansion is $35 right there.  And four 40 slot bags is enough to make the DBA start to cry I bet.

The recent producer’s letter indicates that people have been asking for something like this for a while now, with the idea that they have people they play with or multiple accounts and want to be able to hand off some of these items.

Still, $250 is a lot of cash.  You could buy the standard edition of Torment of Velious and standard editions of the next six expansions… assuming they stay the same price… for that kind of money.

But I have to give Daybreak and the Norrath team some credit for being willing to try out something new to see if people are really willing to go that far for an expansion, while at the same time keeping the base expansion price pretty reasonable, so far as it goes.

I am sure somebody is already penning a “greed” focused complaint on the forums, but nobody is making you but the big package.  I certainly wouldn’t buy it.  But if it serves the needs of enough people to be worthwhile, then let them have their thing.

We will see if the Family & Friends package is back for next year’s expansion.  That will be the test.

Anyway, if you are ready to pre-order you can find all the information here.  The expansion is expected to go live in December.