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EverQuest 21st expansion hits today while EQ2 10th anniversary continues

EverQuest celebrates a major milestone today with its 21st expansion release, The Darkened Sea. Meanwhile, EverQuest 2 is in the middle of celebrating 10 years with the Heroes Festival, as well as its Altar of Malice expansion.

Ozzie Mejia

November 11, 2014 3:00 PM

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The EverQuest franchise has a lot that it's celebrating this week. Today marks a major milestone for one of the MMORPGs that started it all. The EverQuest is its 21st expansion called The Darkened Sea, re-visiting many familiar sights from previous EQ expansions.

The Darkened Sea will kick off a new storyline that sees the heroes of Norrath attempting to stop the latest machinations of the villainous Lanys T'vyl, who has kidnapped the Combine Emperor. Th new expansion will open up six all-new zones at launch, along with two re-imagined ones. They include the island along the Buried Sea known as the Arx Mentis, the pirate haven Brother Island, the submerged Caverns of Endless Song, the underwater Combine Dredge, the enchanted Degmar the Lost Castle, the city of Katta Castrum, the ravaged Tempest Temple, and the reptile-filled Thuliasaur Island.

The level cap will also increase to 105, while players get access to new spells, items, quests, and raids.

Those looking to celebrate a different EverQuest milestone can also jump into the ongoing EverQuest II 10th anniversary festivities. EQ2 recently launched its 11th expansion called Altar of Malice, which debuted an all-new playable race called the Aerakyn.

The winged wonders, former underlings of Kerafyrm, look to re-establish their culture amidst a world inherently distrustful of them. Customization options for the Aerakyn include horn types, skin color, scale color, hair, and eyes. They will earn special wings upon leveling up to 30, 60, and 85.

All EverQuest 2 players can also celebrate the Heroes Festival, which is running from now until Monday, November 17. Players will be able to jump in and search for a strange woman wandering Norrath, bringing patchwork versions of previous EQ2 bosses to life. Mischeva's Tribute currency drops can be collected and exchanged for special items.

Both EverQuest and EverQuest 2 are free-to-play on PC.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?