The Shadows of Luclin is the third expansion to EverQuest, Sony Online Entertainment's popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Sony announced the expansion on April 18, surprising many fans so soon after the release of the second expansion, The Scars of Velious, just last December. Thematically, visually, and technologically, The Shadows of Luclin represents the most ambitious addition to EverQuest since the original game was released more than two years ago. In fact, this expansion is informally known as EverQuest 1.5. The Luclin expansion is also the first to take place on another planet; Luclin is a moon of Norrath that is currently visible to players only from the Plane of Air. In addition, the expansion adds a new playable race and a new playable class to the game. Due to enhancements like these, it's definitely aimed at keeping EverQuest players involved with the evolving gameworld and story.

　　A Vah Shir warrior engages a young raptor in one of the starting zones. GameSpot recently visited the offices of Sony Online Entertainment and Verant Interactive to get a closer look at The Shadows of Luclin. Verant has indeed been working on this expansion since January, a month after The Scars of Velious was released, although the developer was cautious about revealing its existence right away. The Shadows of Luclin is scheduled to ship this December, and judging from its current progress, it looks like the expansion will successfully blend the familiar with the new. For instance, an entirely new gameworld, complete with more than 25 zones designed for all levels of characters, will be available for exploration and adventure. Verant's Luclin team has been creating all-new creatures, cities, outdoor environments, and character models that essentially change the look and feel of the game. Secondly, Verant has been reworking the game engine to support a few technologies that in turn allow for higher-detail textures, higher-polygon models, and more. In addition, one aspect of the all-new character models--facial animations--hasn't yet been highly publicized, but it's absolutely one of the most stunning visual enhancements to the game. And just as impressive are the new adventuring zones. While most of the zones aren't finished or populated yet, we did see a sample of several indoor and outdoor environments, which definitely look unlike anything seen thus far in the EverQuest gameworld.

　　Although The Shadows of Luclin is still six months away, the technological improvements are already in place and will enable the artists and game designers to continue to create and add new content in the months ahead. Let's take a closer look at this expansion and its unexplored territories.

The World of Luclin

　　Concept art of gremlinlike Luclin dweller. In the lore of Norrath, the great crystalline dragon Veeshan once scarred Norrath and deposited her brood. Shortly thereafter, the gods made a pact to divide up the lands, each wanting to stake a claim with creatures of their own creation. The god Luclin watched from the shadows while the other gods went about transforming their lands from the chaos. She saw the petty bickering and the power plays and ultimately chose to abandon Norrath for a barren and forgotten ringed rock that was orbiting the planet. Through the power of her will and her magic, she gave life to the moon that now bears her name.

　　The moon of Luclin remains in perfect balance--one side is forever lit and the other forever dark. And ironically, those of a good and honest nature made their homes in the darkness, and those of dark inclinations chose the light.

　　Closeup of a highly detailed male Vah Shir warrior. In addition to the creations of Luclin, also known as the Mistress of Shadows, the moon is home to several of Norrath's races. The once-powerful Combine Empire, the same empire that built the wizard teleportation spires that dot Norrath, exists on Luclin but is divided, a shadow of its former self. The Shissar, once the bane of Kunark, fled to Luclin. The cat-people race of Vah Shir (otherwise known pejoratively as Kerrans) was allegedly ported to Luclin by the Erudites in a disastrous test of a great weapon. This weapon was aimed at the Vah Shir home city and flung the entire city and its inhabitants through space. The remaining Vah Shir were banished to Kerra Isle, a small island off the coast of Odus. In essence, the story of the tension between the Vah Shir and the Erudites is fairly old but unclear: Once, the Vah Shir roamed the entire continent of Odus, but when the Erudites arrived, they brought sicknesses that wiped out many Vah Shir. Was this unintentional or part of a deliberate extermination? The reason is not certain, but much of the expansion's story expands that of the Vah Shir race.

　　The evil and good Combine, the Shissar, and the Vah Shir form the four basic factions on Luclin. Faction will work in very much the same way as in the rest of Norrath. Those who choose to play Vah Shir will be able to create their characters in a new starting city and will of course belong to the Vah Shir faction. It remains to be seen how existing characters will be aligned according to the four base factions; however, if your characters have previously killed a number of Kerrans, you can still gain positive Vah Shir faction on Luclin by fighting those with the opposing faction.

The New Race and Class

　　The Vah Shir

　　A Vah Shir warrior stays vigilant, as Norrath looms in the Luclin sky. As shown previously in our E3 coverage of the Luclin expansion, the Vah Shir are a strong and noble race of cat people. As such, they're close to nature, and they turn to spirituality and folklore for their worldview and daily practices. Their culture flourishes with shamans and poets, and it eschews written text and research as the sole path to knowledge. In addition, thanks to their feline traits, the Vah Shir have great agility and are able to fall great distances with little or no damage, and they have excellent night vision that lets them hunt perfectly on the dark side of the moon--however, they require large amounts of food. A Vah Shir may be any of five classes: beastlord, rogue, warrior, shaman, and bard. For the most part, these non-magic-using paths are delimited by Vah Shir culture and history. According to Verant, different styles of skin, like snow leopard or panther, will be available options. Currently, the Vah Shir are depicted with a tiger's coloring and stripes.

　　The Beastlord

　　In addition to a new race, The Shadows of Luclin will offer a new role-playing class. Beastlords are spiritual warriors first and foremost. The hybrid class bears a strong similarity to the shaman, as it has a deep affinity with the spiritual world as well as an uncanny relationship with animals. Beastlord spells will come primarily from the shaman line, but the class will have a set of unique spells for its pets, especially combat-enhancing spells such as haste, attack, and defense buffs. And like shamans and druids, beastlords will be able to summon animal companions or befriend and control them in combat situations. In fact, a beastlord's true power lies in his or her ability to use summoned animals that are strengthened by magical spells and buffs.

　　In addition to having a spiritual side, the beastlord is a warrior. In fact, beastlords may prefer to fight unarmed or with small weapons like daggers that represent claws or fangs because they'll receive an armor class bonus when fighting unarmed or with special beastlord-specific weapons. Furthermore, their fighting style is derived from wild animal attacks. High-level beastlords can learn disciplines such as brawling bear, frenzied tiger, swooping eagle, and striking snake. Disciplines are additional special skills that melee fighters receive at certain levels in the game; most disciplines are reserved for the 51-60 character level range and increase in effectiveness through use.

　　The Vah Shir's spiritual nature has led them to be the first to develop the skills and the knowledge of this class, but the beastlord will be an option for other races as well. Some of those will most likely include barbarians, ogres, trolls, and iksar, races that can already be shamans in Norrath.

Gameplay

　　At this point in development, a lot of the upcoming additions to gameplay have not been solidified, but in addition to a new race and a new class, there will be other advancement options for players who are continuing to level up their existing characters. It was mentioned at the E3 demonstration and more recently at the Minneapolis Fan Faire that players with level 60 characters may be able to trade some experience for additional skills or perhaps complete quests to acquire new titles and a new set of skills. Not much is known about this yet, as the development team has to determine how all the options will affect class and gameplay balance, but it would be a welcome addition to be able to individualize characters to a greater degree. Currently in EverQuest, it's rather difficult to really distinguish, say, one level 60 wizard from another other than differences in equipment. Also, more quests will be added for all levels of play, and there will be a new set of epic class armor in addition to the current three existing variations of epic quest armor found in Velious.

　　Casters will be able to focus their spells against monsters like these. In addition, the Luclin expansion will offer more options to the caster classes. Specifically, a whole range of caster focus items will be available from level 1 to 60; these items will actually focus caster abilities. A caster may find, for example, a robe that causes spells to do more damage, last longer, cast faster, or heal more hit points. Such items make casters more useful and more powerful much in the same way that currently existing pieces of special armor or particularly powerful weapons cast spells or have special effects for the melee classes. Currently in the game, certain fighter-usable items can cast damage spells or add permanent effects like haste, which allow melee fighters to attack more quickly, but there is no equivalent haste item for casters.

　　New spells will be available in The Shadows of Luclin. Each class, including hybrids (rangers, shadow knights, and so on), will receive 10 new, original spells starting at level 9. In particular, hybrids will receive their own unique spells--not the same spells as those of their parent class. Druids and wizards will get more than 10, as they will have additional transportation spells, and it's been mentioned at the fan faire that the priest classes--clerics, shamans, and druids--will receive some new cure spells, as there will be new debilitating effects on Luclin. Currently, debilitating effects include, for example, poison and disease, which may slow you down by a certain percentage or cause damage to your health over time.

　　Overall, The Shadows of Luclin can be compared to The Ruins of Kunark expansion. Whereas The Scars of Velious was intended for the 35-and-over population, Luclin zones are being designed with all levels of play in mind, and as on Kunark, there will be specific "newbie" areas and others for intermediate and high levels. There will also be epic encounters in the high-end game to challenge higher-level players.

Graphics

　　One of the most impressive features of The Shadows of Luclin will be its graphics. The Shadows of Luclin team has implemented specific technologies that allow for better-looking, higher-polygon character models, higher-quality textures, curved surfaces, and some others that won't be visible but will enhance performance greatly.

　　This troll looks quite smashing in his spiked armor. The all-new character models are one of the most-talked-about features of this expansion. Every existing playable race, including things that characters can become, will be getting a complete makeover from head to toe. The models are much more detailed due to a higher polygon count: Hands look more realistic, and legs are no longer polygonal blocks but have curves where you'd expect to see muscle. Feet also look more natural, whereas in the current game, they're angular blocks composed of a few polygons. Faces are also much more detailed than ever before. If you compare the old and new models, you'll see that the new faces contain at least three times the number of polygons. Producer Jeff Butler also mentioned that you'll be able to choose different hairstyles and facial hair types for your characters. In addition, there are new graphics for armor and weapons; in fact, many of these objects will have their own geometry, so items like pauldrons, bracers, or breastplates will be attachable and detachable on characters. Separate geometry for equipped items, such as shoulder pads and shields, will let the characters have spikes or other such decorations that add to the overall gameworld detail.

　　Comparison of an old male troll model with a new one from Luclin. More so than ever before, all eyes will be on the face. The Shadows of Luclin will introduce real-time facial animations. The eyebrows, mouth, and eyes have facial "bones," which means they will be able to move independently but harmoniously to represent basic emotions such as surprise, happiness, anger, fear, and even a flirtatious spirit. In addition to portraying emotions, facial animations will include eyes moving and rolling, which will definitely give the impression of lifelike characters. Moreover, during the demonstration, we noticed that the player models' chests were expanding and contracting to indicate breathing. Verant is also adding all-new, different animations for social emotes (waving, saluting, and so on) as well as for combat so that fighting with two bladed weapons will look different from fighting with a sword and shield. Facial animations will also appear in combat--you can expect some of the uglies to have particularly mean-looking facial expressions.

　　The game's environments are also receiving a very important upgrade. While we were touring a few of Luclin's outdoor environments, we were able to see 3D radial level of detail in action. Basically, a highly detailed field of 3D flora surrounds you, but the level of detail fades at a distance. In addition, objects, like trees, are reduced to 2D in the distance. You'll be able to adjust the radius, as well as the clipping plane, for your particular system's level of performance. With this option set to the maximum, plants, flowers, and trees are quite detailed even at a distance. The radial level of detail is not limited to just flora but includes other landscape details such as gravel, grass, and rock.

　　Curved surfaces, as shown in the city of Sanctus, make an appearance for the first time. For the first time in the EverQuest gameworld, geometry will be used to denote detail in the environments. In the current game engine, textures convey details. As we walked around in a few indoor environments and outside large buildings like Combine temples, we saw windows, beams, cornices, and so on, all of which had their own geometry. Building facades were no longer flat surfaces with trompe l'oeil textures; instead, they had 3D detail and greatly enhanced the overall look and feel of a particular cultural esthetic. Of notable interest were the curved surfaces, which were shown off by one very impressive-looking coliseum decorated in various marble textures. The sense of scale was quite impressive--even duels and other in-game events felt grander. The curved surfaces not only lent a quality of smoothness to the buildings and other structures, but also enhanced the some of the organic themes and imagery of the moonscape.

　　Zones are also being designed with the lunar theme in mind. Luclin's adventure zones will typically be smaller and more compact than Kunark zones but will be much more dense with detail. Some of the zones we saw exist only in base and color map form at this stage, but they are characteristically different in terms of vertical features. Peaks and valleys are not uncommon in Luclin, and you'll probably need a good levitation or two to navigate some of the higher elevations and dramatic drops. Also shown was a unique chasm near a Disneyland-like city zone. Such places in this gameworld add a sense of otherworldliness and can also present a gameplay challenge.

　　Last but not least, the particle system, which is represented by real-time spell effects, is receiving a makeover as well--expect to see new particle effects associated with the casting of different types of spells. Although we didn't get a chance to see any new particle effects during our visit, the Luclin team is currently working on them, and we hope to see them soon. According to Verant, Luclin's old user interface is being removed and will be replaced by something much more user-friendly. Specifically, the spellbook, which has always been kind of an annoyance, will hover at least in some transparent form in the middle of the screen.

　　This wireframe view shows all polygons, but the new engine will remove hidden polygons. In terms of graphics technology, a very important feature in Luclin is the incorporation of occlusion culling. With this visibility optimization technology, the game engine draws only the polygons representing visible objects in your view frustum. Currently, the game engine draws all objects into memory, which taxes computer and graphics card performance. Any player who has gone into zones heavy with swaying trees like Burning Woods has noticed the frame rate slowdown. However, with Luclin, game performance will improve despite the increase in polygon count because hidden surfaces and objects won't be drawn at all. Occlusion culling is used in first-person shooters and other games that typically have much more elaborate character and environment designs than massively multiplayer online games; thus, the implementation of this technology into EverQuest is an evolutionary step for the genre as a whole. Add to this the upcoming support for DirectX 8 and the use of hardware T&L (transform and lighting), and the visuals will look great on any recent graphics card with support for T&L.

　　In terms of its visual makeover, graphics technology, and expanding gameworld, The Shadows of Luclin represents a very ambitious upgrade to EverQuest. And given the previous experience of the development team, the expansion promises to keep devoted players interested in the game while expanding role-playing possibilities with a new class and the implementation of all-new emotes, socials, and animations. The Shadows of Luclin is scheduled for beta testing in August, and we'll have more coverage of the game in the months ahead.