One of the features that I have been particularly looking forward to in the Rise of Kunark expansion is the new starting area of Timorous Deep. Neutral races and Sarnaks can begin their adventures in TD, however you will be limited to the evil classes if you choose to start there. So how do you get to Timorous Deep with your other toons? Good characters and the other evil races can make their way there quite easily by taking the carpet to Sinking Sands and then taking it again straight to TD. Fae will have a bit more work ahead of them, I believe, as the route I’ve heard they have to take involves running through Butcherblock Mountains and catching a Griffin over.
I couldn’t really be bothered with doing that on my first main character, so I decided to start a Kerra Bruiser. Given that I usually go by the name “Stray” on my main, it just happened to be a good fit. Stray began his adventures on Chrykori Beach, and was immediately tasked with slaughtering some of the local wildlife. I must say, as an admitted altoholic, I have played through the starting quests in every zone, and the EQ2 dev team just gets better and better with each subsequent release. The starting islands were sort of mediocre, Kelethin was a huge jump in quality and was what drew me to the game in the first place, and Darklight Woods was brilliantly straightforward while still keeping the quests interesting, but Timorous Deep blows them all out of the water in my opinion. The storyline is great, the quests are intuitive, there are some neat little surprises if you look for them, and the rewards are great. Without giving anything away, the opening storyline so far has sent me through 6 quest hubs, each one taking me closer and closer to the heart of the conflict and allowing me to right some of the wrongs inflicted upon the Sarnaks by some of their most hated enemies. The variety has been quite impressive, too. At level 16, I have already done pretty much every type of quest that I’ve ever encountered in an MMO. I have to say that this is pretty much my favorite starting area ever, in any MMO that I’ve played so far (which accounts for every pay-to-play MMO out there and a good number of free ones). It really is a shame that they don’t offer this starting area in the trial, I think it would really help them rope in subscriptions.
Of course, there is always some bad with the good. Fortunately, the negative of Timorous Deep is one that makes a marginal impact on your gameplay experience. The worst part about Timorous Deep is most definitely Gorowyn, the Sarnak city. Much like Timorous Deep is the best starting area experience I’ve had in any MMO, Gorowyn is the worst racial city experience I’ve had. The layout is terrible and counterintuitive, and that includes both the terrain and the NPCs. The graphics in the main area are pretty cool, but the outlying caverns seem fairly uninspired and actually remind me a LOT of EQ1. Thankfully, you only have to briefly pass through there a couple of times to complete quests and then you’re free to “betray” to Neriak or Freeport, both of which are far easier to navigate. Consider Gorowyn to be a tiny rowboat of Suck on the vast ocean of Awesome that is Timorous Deep. If the rest of RoK is anywhere near this enjoyable, I can’t wait to hit 70 and make my way back to Kunark. Kudos to the EQ2 dev team on a job very well done.
- Stray
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