:: Updated by Hannar @ 01/20/04 06:23 pm ::

5. EQII Races


Fri Aug 15, 2003 11:45 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=63671&highlight=#63671

Moorgard wrote:

Some races are good. Some races are evil. Some can be either. Still others are neutral. Gnomes and humans are examples of races that can be either. Iksar and trolls are evil. High elves and wood elves are good. Barbarians are neutral. These are traditions carried over from EQ, so I'm not spilling anything new or revolutionary here. Good people go to Qeynos, the evil go to Freeport.

Fri Aug 15, 2003 03:04 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=63808&highlight=#63808

Moorgard wrote:

For races that can be either (or neutral), the choices and allegiances you make will determine where you are welcome and where you are not. The sub-classes you end up in aren't necessarily based only around the ideas of good and evil. Some are structured that way (the paladin/shadow knight being obvious examples), but others are differenciated more by an order/chaos motif or even a difference in philosophy. The race/class combos in EQ2 have a lot of flavor and uniqueness to them. Also, bear in mind that some races may be taking the impact of the cataclysm harder than others, which may drive certain members of those societies to take some rather drastic behavioral twists.

Fri Aug 15, 2003 04:54 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=63931&highlight=#63931

Moorgard wrote:

Yes, the Ratonga are an evil race. But keep in mind, there's evil and there's evil. Evil can be a selfish, opportunistic type of bad, or it can be a "I want to wipe your entire species from the history of the planet" type of bad. The Iksar would typify the latter, whereas Ratonga are proving to be more of the former. Admittedly, the art team is having a lot of fun with our rat-like friends. You will be able to make them appear wicked if you wish via customization, but you'll also be able to make a cute little rascal if you so desire.

Sat Aug 16, 2003 03:10 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=64345&highlight=#64345

Moorgard wrote:

That's a dark elf male, yes. Not a very distinct one, though. My DE character is *way* cooler than that. I made him look like a dark Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire with huge ears and a very thin, angular face. He's quite creepy, but the ladies love him. You're going to get a heck of a lot of choices of skin tones with races that show skin, and lots of fur possibilities for those that have it.

Sat Aug 16, 2003 03:43 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=64357&highlight=#64357

Moorgard wrote:

Howling Mad Murdock wrote: no you didn't, the so-called "official" information does. it states both good and evil will play larger rolls in the game, then it lists off where all classes will be starting from, and now we hear that there are neutral races too. ALSO we hear that all starting cities from eq1 are in (from one of the more recent interviews) and we have Moorgard confirming thats its either Freeport OR Qeynos for starting cities. And god only knows whats goign to happen with the Half elves when it lists them in both freeport AND Qeynos. and WTF!! EVIL GNOMES?!? i know everybodys hates the little assgoblins but do you REALLY think they'd be capable of evil?? What interview said all starting cities from EQ are in EQ2? We've suggested that some may exist, just not in the same way they did before. Certainly no one was implying that you could start the game in any of those places. Just because the two main cities themselves have divided into polar opposites on the scale of good and evil doesn't mean every creature on the planet has done so. Neutrality is a longstanding roleplaying convention, and it makes sense in EQ2. Of course, neutral races will receive a somewhat different welcome from the more hard-lined inhabitants of the metro areas. And finally, gnomes have a well-established tradition of evil in EQ. There have always been gnome necros, including a rather famous fellow named Meldrath the Malignant, who made my life a living hell back in the day. They may be little, but they can be quite evil indeed.

Mon Aug 18, 2003 06:27 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=66231&highlight=#66231

Moorgard wrote:

If you're an evil race, only Freeport will accept you. If you're a race that can be either good or evil, then your choice comes down to which city you swear allegiance to. If you're neutral, then you'll be neutral, although you'll still have to swear allegiance to a city.

Mon Aug 18, 2003 07:28 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=66268&highlight=#66268

Moorgard wrote:

Mindblade wrote: What happens if an Evil race comes near Qeynos? Will he/she be killed or just unable to zone? Guess you'll just have to wait until you come near Qeynos and find out. Sirus Ebonlore wrote: hmm how would you be neutral if you have to swear to a city?.. if you swear to a good city than wouldnt you be good? if you swear to evil wouldnt that make you evil?.. or is there more depth to this whole good and evil thing The factions within the cities know basically how your race falls. They'll always have more respect (or disdain, depending on which city you're in) for someone who has clearly picked a side. Either will tolerate the presence of neutrals as long as they have sworn citizenship to that particular city. Neutrals who have sworn allegiance to the opposite city, however, will be seen as an adversary.

Fri Aug 22, 2003 01:05 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=69374&highlight=#69374

Moorgard wrote:

The Ratonga--like all our character models--have a *ton* of customization options. One of their fur patterns does have a black & white striped look to it, which is I guess where the confusion came from. Me, I'm more a fan of the monocles and eye patches you can give them. Pirate Ratongas? Oh, indeed! But those of you who want evil-looking rats can rest easy, too. We had an artist snap a pic of a Ratonga customized to look just plain mean, and the screenshot was quite successful. I need to get that sucker online so you can all see what I mean.

08-26-2003 at 07:49 PM
http://www.eqlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19151#post19151

Moorgard wrote:

Zuzka wrote: Hmm.... so iksars can be monks.... very interesting! That one's kind of a gimme. It's not like a startling revelation. Although it is true that some race/class combos from EQ will not exist in our game.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2003 05:26 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=73736&highlight=#73736

Moorgard wrote:

spockroyaltea wrote: i think you should still start in freeport, but be able to gain a lotta qeynos faction (and lose a lot of freeport) by doing a few hours of newbie quests or something. That would make our whole concept of the world meaningless. This is not EverQuest. Factions that you swear loyalty to cannot be abandoned at will so that you can in turn swear loyalty to your former enemies. In fact, "faction" is a very different concept in EQ2. While you can cite roleplay reasons why you might want to be the friendly troll or the kind Iksar, that's just not the direction we're going in our game. Your citizenship dictates whether you are good or evil. In some cases, your race determines where you can have citizenship. Don't think in terms of EQ where you can just do faction quests for a KOS city and earn safe passage inside. Our system has a lot more layers, and doing something like that simply won't be possible. If you're evil, Qeynos will always reject you. If you're good, Freeport will always try to destroy you. Yes, your race does determine what class paths you can take. It works that way in most fantasy games. If this delineation seems too absolute for you, consider the circumstances. The world as these people know it has all but fallen apart. Aside from the cities of Freeport and Qeynos, nobody knows for sure what's out there and how much of civilization remains. The races of Norrath are clinging to their only chance to survive. In Lucan's case, this is his opportunity to gain more strength and extend his dominion. For the Bayle family, this is their chance to nurture the goodness in the world and bolster the republic. You don't accomplish either goal by opening the gates to your enemies. Your city is your city. This design is at the very root of our game. While it does limit you in some ways, it also provides us an extremely rich context in which to tell a cool story.

08-27-2003 at 03:21 AM
http://www.eqlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19154#post19154

Moorgard wrote:

Paine wrote: Am I correct in assuming you can pledge alliegence to the opposing city if you wish/they wish to let you? Nope, you're not. As I said here: This is not EverQuest. Factions that you swear loyalty to cannot be abandoned at will so that you can in turn swear loyalty to your former enemies. In fact, "faction" is a very different concept in EQ2. While you can cite roleplay reasons why you might want to be the friendly troll or the kind Iksar, that's just not the direction we're going in our game. Your citizenship dictates whether you are good or evil. In some cases, your race determines where you can have citizenship. Don't think in terms of EQ where you can just do faction quests for a KOS city and earn safe passage inside. Our system has a lot more layers, and doing something like that simply won't be possible. If you're evil, Qeynos will always reject you. If you're good, Freeport will always try to destroy you. Yes, your race does determine what class paths you can take. It works that way in most fantasy games. If this delineation seems too absolute for you, consider the circumstances. The world as these people know it has all but fallen apart. Aside from the cities of Freeport and Qeynos, nobody knows for sure what's out there and how much of civilization remains. The races of Norrath are clinging to their only chance to survive. In Lucan's case, this is his opportunity to gain more strength and extend his dominion. For the Bayle family, this is their chance to nurture the goodness in the world and bolster the republic. You don't accomplish either goal by opening the gates to your enemies. Your city is your city. This design is at the very root of our game. While it does limit you in some ways, it also provides us an extremely rich context in which to tell a cool story.

Tue Aug 26, 2003 06:32 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=73777&highlight=#73777

Moorgard wrote:

You can group or be guilded with anyone regardless of race or citizenship.

Wed Aug 27, 2003 01:36 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=74065&highlight=#74065

Moorgard wrote:

Yes, races are restricted on what classes they can be, and the combinations won't necessarily be the same as they were in EQ.

Wed Sep 03, 2003 05:40 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=81362&highlight=#81362

Moorgard wrote:

Darn that William Frost! Here I wanted to save this announcement for later... oh well. Yes, the Erudites are going to look *cool*. I think the change adds a very exciting dimension to the race. As for the lore behind it, we'll explain it more fully in due time, but briefly, their metamorphosis illustrates what can happen when people become so completely focused upon the arcane arts. First they blew a gigantic hole in the ground and sent a whole tribe of kitties to the moon... now this!

9/5/03 11:46pm
http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=55862498&start=55958657

Moorgard wrote:

The term "epic" gets overused a bit in these games I think. We are currently using the term internally to identify major encounters, though personally I'd prefer to find a different word. The EverQuest meaning of "epic" (essentially the weapon obtained from the quest) is hard to shake. That aside, there will be high-end gear you might obtain that will be immune to the effects of item wear. We realize people love their phat lewt and don't want to worry about the best items in the game wearing out. As for specific racial abilities, there will be some, but they will not provide unbalancing advantages. We don't want people gravitating to certain race/class combinations because they feel they have to in order to make the "best" character.

Fri Sep 05, 2003 05:21 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=83850&highlight=#83850

Moorgard wrote:

colinmarsh00 wrote: it has been clearly stated that alignment will be more inflexible in eq2 that has been covered. what isn't so clear is how this applied to the neutral races. Neutral races cannot move between both. When you declare your citizenship--which you will have to do at a relatively low level--it sets up your faction system (for lack of a better term, because our system isn't the same as EQ's) and ties you to that city. Basically, it's not a case of turning in 800 muffins to an NPC so that you raise a faction that will then let you into the opposing town. We have an interwoven system that is more complex than that, and it prevents you from doing quests to gain favor with the other city. I'll explain it more fully at a later date. Probably the next big chunk of information that I'll supply will be some details on the five major factions of each city. Perhaps I'll do that next week.

Sat Sep 06, 2003 01:06 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=84181&highlight=#84181

Moorgard wrote:

Not all sub-class choices are a difference between good and evil. Some are better defined as order vs. chaos. There can be evil monks and good bruisers, for instance. So it's not like half the class tree goes to Qeynos and half to Freeport; it's much more mixed around than that. Additionally, we are including a select few race/class combinations that are more challenging because they blur the lines as to what roles would typically fit certain races. These won't be for everyone, because training will be more risky and more costly. Again, there's only a *few* of these. We didn't want to go too far with it because doing so would run the risk of compromising the game lore. But we think the way we're doing it adds some flavor and challenge for those who want to play (or roleplay) something a little bit different.

Sun Sep 07, 2003 02:36 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=85283&highlight=#85283

Moorgard wrote:

Athuzael wrote: knowing the lore and society of iksar, do you feel it`s a little far-fetched to say the least that iksar would be sharing the same livingspace as softskins? I'm glad someone finally asked this question. Keep in mind that the Shattering happened just over a decade ago. Every race except humans has been cut off from its people by the devastation. Refugees are flooding into Qeynos and Freeport not out of choice... but because they have nowhere else to go. Some races are more upset about this than others. The Iksar in particular detest having to coexist with softskins, but they really have no alternative. At least, for now. The fact that the proud Iksar have been forced into this situation has had a major impact upon their culture. To say they're bitter and resentful is an understatement. It's worth noting that the Iksar aren't the only proud race being corralled into a situation they aren't crazy about. High Elves may be noble and good, but they also have a great deal of pride--and perhaps snobbishness. Being forced to depend on a lesser race for survival is bound to take a toll on some of them.

Thu Sep 11, 2003 04:00 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=86928&highlight=#86928

Moorgard wrote:

Frogloks are indeed a playable race.

Mon Oct 13, 2003 05:39 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=113384&highlight=#113384

Moorgard wrote:

Cultural tradeskill recipes will most likely not be in at release. That's something we'll work on later. Half Elves have always been outcasts, forming a sort of fringe society. But after the Shattering, most everybody is an outcast of one kind or another. Suddenly the one thing that made Half Elves unique has been taken away. When you're perceived as an outsider, you kind of get used to that, and it defines you in a way--it becomes your culture. If everyone else ends up an outsider too, you feel like you've lost something you never realized you wanted. That's where our Half Elves find themselves--working to carve out their own niche in this very different world.

Fri Oct 24, 2003 08:54 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=123782&highlight=#123782

Moorgard wrote:

Flaming Arrow wrote: But thanks for putting my fears about the Iksar to rest. I did? Moorgard wrote: Not all races follow the same traditions as they did in EQ, however. Having your gods disappear and seeing your world broken into pieces will have that effect on you.

Thu Oct 30, 2003 03:14 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=127845&highlight=#127845

Moorgard wrote:

Cross wrote: How is it that the Wood Elves and the High Elves make it to Qeynos (being the good-aligned city) when they have to cross Freeport and the tainted lands of Antonica? Are the Wood Elves and High Elves that we get to play in the game even from Faydwer? The Elves that are on the remains of Antonica have been there for a very long time. Of course, Elves have extremely long lifespans, so they are indeed from Faydwer... they just haven't been home in ages. Or, more precisely, an Age. You'll probably want to wait on character backstories until we release the lore of what's happened in the last 500 years. Quote: So far I understand that Faydwer and Odus will not be in the game. Not at release, no. Think of the initial release of the game as chapter one of our story. This tale revolves around Antonica, or what's left of it. Subsequent chapters will tell what happened to other parts of the world. Some of the stories are not at all what you might expect, and you may be surprised by the order in which we tell them.

Thu Oct 30, 2003 03:24 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=127849&highlight=#127849

Moorgard wrote:

Half Elves have one parent that is Human and one that is an Elf--any of the three flavors of Elf. While Wood Elves are generally more... receptive to the idea of mating with a Human, even the prouder Elf races occastionally fall victim to Human charms. They're simply much less likely to acknowledge such a union, at least in public.

Fri Nov 07, 2003 12:28 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=132238&highlight=#132238

Moorgard wrote:

Legas wrote: when you played different races which have large variences in height you would hardly notice except in towns with small buildings. Racial height is quite noticable in our game. I typically play Human characters (old habits die hard, you know), but I've also messed around with some of the other races. As a Gnome I found it disconcerting to run through some of the tall stalks of wheat in the Commonlands because it felt like mobs were going to jump out and surprise me. And just yesterday I went through the tutorial with my Troll and found the experience to have a very different feel to it just based on how much farther from the ground I seemed. The boat captain had to bend his head back to look up at my large Troll face.

11-12-2003 at 12:37 PM
http://www.eqlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=34452#post34452

Moorgard wrote:

An MMOG of The Guns of Avalon would make me weep with joy. That said, we have no gnomish rifles in our game. As for barbarians, their culture has developed somewhat in the last 500 years, but their wild nature remains intact.

Wed Nov 26, 2003 01:12 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=144703&highlight=#144703

Moorgard wrote:

The Kerra (by the way, "Kerran" is an adjective; "Kerra" is the race) are not haughty at all. They're typically quiet and reserved around other races, unwilling to share too much of themselves with an outsider. This behavior is due to the fact that pretty much only bad things have resulted from interaction with other races--especially the Erudites, who not only stole their lands but infected them with a devastating plague and zapped an entire village to the moon. Such things tend to make one distrustful of others. Around their own kind, though, Kerra are outgoing and joyful. They are quite affectionate and caring to members of their own race.

11/26/03 2:24pm
http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=60224656&start=60225340

Moorgard wrote:

It's a wood elf. High elves do look different, notably in available skin tones. But I'll tell you a secret... the way to best tell elves apart is by the tips of their ears. When you see some of the more recent shots that should be showing up soon you'll understand my point, as it were.

12/3/03 9:42am
http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=60480863&start=60528627

Moorgard wrote:

Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite novels. In fact, I won an award in college for the paper I wrote on it. Oh, and barbarians can't be shadow knights or paladins. "Mistah Kurtz--he dead."

Wed Dec 03, 2003 03:24 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=149467&highlight=#149467

Moorgard wrote:

You'd be selling roleplayers short if you said that they have to know every detail of a race to play it well. I doubt everyone who RPs a dwarf or elf in EQ has bothered to digest every bit of game lore about our versions of those races, yet they can play them very successfully. Our character creation screen gives some of the history of each race, as well as info on their personalities. This should provide more than enough information for someone who wants to play a Ratonga. They are secretive about their origins. There is a reason for this. Just as there is a reason for where they are at this moment in time. One word best describes the Ratonga: opportunistic.

Wed Dec 17, 2003 10:56 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=158262&highlight=#158262

Moorgard wrote:

Hannar Stormwolf wrote: Wood Elves or Dark Elves. The differences between those two are obvious, though. Or are they??? Sorry, I just got back from RotK and I'm feeling dramatic. Hannar is correct.

12:24am
http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=63545144&start=63575151

Moorgard wrote:

Quote: "Moorgard said earlier, and don't take this as a direct quote, something to the effect of each Race will have a different max in each stat. Ogres will have a higher strength cap than lets say a gnome. That way each race is different, and Race matters besides just the special abilities of regen/not being to be stunned in the front/ ect." I never said that. Before I was hired someone apparently said something along those lines in an interview, but it wasn't me. It is unlikely we will have varying stat caps for the different races. While an interesting idea, it would end up making some races preferred for certain tasks in the endgame and could potentially make some players feel that they had made a bad decision during character creation. While we want variety in the races, we want that variety to be based on things that won't affect game balance or your perceived value at a given function.

Tue Jan 27, 2004 11:02 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=193734&highlight=#193734

Moorgard wrote:

It's a female gnome with the crossbow. If that shot were taken today, she could be wearing spectacles. I took the dark elf shot. I purposely wanted to show someone in a mishmash of armor colors. The human male is my shot too. I wanted to show the range of customizations available. You can make some really exotic/unusual looks. Not sure why the old, error-ridden thong shot is back though.

Thu Jan 29, 2004 12:27 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=195481&highlight=#195481

Moorgard wrote:

Shot #1 is a high elf female. She has long hair in back, you just can't see it in that shot. Shot #3 is a half elf female. Shots 5 and 6 are a wood elf male. Shot #7 is an orc skeleton. (Have we really not shown those before? They're a staple of every demo I run. ) Thu Jan 29, 2004 03:39 pm http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=195673&highlight=#195673 Moorgard wrote: Howling Mad Murdock wrote: now if only i knew for sure if barbs can be paladins now. They can. Quote: and a message to the screenshot taker peoples, can we get some pictures of some more , how shall i say, "standard" looking plate armor? like the armor worn in the movie excalibur for example. I guess we have tended to show armor that's fairly ornate. We have plenty of "normal" looks as well. Keep in mind that we have only shown the native appearances of these armor sets without any tinting (which of course will increase the variety of looks). And just between you and me, we have an entire line of amazing plate armor that we haven't shown yet. By the way, it is indeed a little girl in that one shot and she's chasing her pet cat around the village. We have a *lot* of little details like that in our game, including NPCs that interact with each other. For instance, there's a slightly eccentric elf that walks around one area pretending he's a guard, telling other folks what to do. The other NPCs make fun of him as he walks by. That's just one example of ways we're working to make the world feel natural and alive. Barbarians don't have a lot of customization options at the moment. When those are added in you'll be able to create a much more rugged looking character.

Sat Jan 31, 2004 09:39 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=198464&highlight=#198464

Moorgard wrote:

As I mentioned in another thread, the barbarian doesn't have any real customizations in at this point. When beards, woads, and aging are in, you'll be able to make much more interesting looking barbarian. The body itself will be tweaked a bit but isn't likely to be radically reworked. Several races will be seeing tweaks and minor changes before release, and all the art in general will be receiving a round or two of additional polish. As for height, Stuart just realized the other day that there was some kind of bug preventing some of the heights he set from working properly. So in fact some of the big races weren't showing as big enough, including the barbarians. In other words, the team already had plans to make changes but your suggestions have been noted and passed along.

Wed Jan 28, 2004 03:32 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=193997&highlight=#193997

Moorgard wrote:

Vision effects will be race-specific and they will be activatable rather than persistent. They don't look the same as they did in EQ--infravision is really infravision, for instance. Plus, there are more varieties of vision this time around. We are lighting the world so that you won't be stumbling around in utter darkness even if you don't have some special form of vision. Of course, some places are dark and spooky on purpose, but we agree that total blindness isn't fun.

Wed Jan 28, 2004 12:36 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=194250&highlight=#194250

Moorgard wrote:

Levien wrote: ever thought about alternative senses? like sonar! Why yes, we did.

Thu Jan 29, 2004 12:59 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=195497&highlight=#195497

Moorgard wrote:

Etoh The Mighty wrote: Frogloks... where are the frogloks...? The marketing department is keeping them all locked up in a giant aquarium. On the plus side, I hear they're being well fed.

2/1 12:24am
http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=63545144&start=63575151

Moorgard wrote:

I never said that. Before I was hired someone apparently said something along those lines in an interview, but it wasn't me. It is unlikely we will have varying stat caps for the different races. While an interesting idea, it would end up making some races preferred for certain tasks in the endgame and could potentially make some players feel that they had made a bad decision during character creation. While we want variety in the races, we want that variety to be based on things that won't affect game balance or your perceived value at a given function.

Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:55 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=208103&highlight=#208103

Moorgard wrote:

Behunts wrote: How do we know that all races will have the same base stats? They don't. Characters start out with lower base stats than they did in EQ. Additionally, we have an item creation plan to manage how +stat items enter the world. In other words, base stats will have a significant impact on your character's abilities. Thus I think that the truly oddball race/class combos will be rarer than a lot of people think, though the option is there if folks want to play them.

Tue Feb 10, 2004 02:06 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=208745&highlight=#208745

Moorgard wrote:

There is no plan to have race-based restrictions that preclude the use of common items for a given class. In other words, iksar can indeed wear plate. Racial restrictions on items will be minimal. The only plan for them at this point is for unique or flavor items. For instance, one might find a long-lost dwarven axe that only dwarves may use. If and when cultural recipes are introduced in the future there would likely be racial restrictions on the resulting items, but the vast majority of items you'll discover or create in the world will be usable by any race.

Tue Feb 10, 2004 02:37 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=208787&highlight=#208787

Moorgard wrote:

Good races and evil races don't have a choice about which city they go to. Both will have the chance to switch sides before they pick a sub-class, but until then their fortune lies with the only city that will accept them. Neutral races and those who can decide whether they will be good or evil will have the freedom to go into either city until they declare citizenship. At that point they essentially announce themselves as either good or evil. Again, they have a single chance to switch sides before declaring a sub-class. Some sub-classes will only be trained in Qeynos, some only in Freeport, and some will be in both cities. The general goal is to have about a third being exclusive to each city with a third of them being available in both. Which will go where? I'll let you debate that subject for a while.

Thu Feb 12, 2004 06:53 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=210934&highlight=#210934

Moorgard wrote:

Nope, not Kelethin. But elves do like to surround themselves with reminders of home.

Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:04 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=211249&highlight=#211249

Moorgard wrote:

Arcanevalor wrote: Correct me if im wrong, but is that a barb in the last picture or a human? A human. With a cat. As for the glasses, you will have several optional tints to choose from, including clear. I believe they're only for gnomes and ratongas.

Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:55 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=211228&highlight=#211228

Moorgard wrote:

Having just played dress-up with a female iksar today, I can report that they do not have the... usual features female mammals do. As for what I'm doing dressing up female iksar, there are some parts of my job you're better off not knowing about. The female iksar model is one that marketing wants to hold back for a magazine exclusive. Why? Because she's got a very cool and unique feature that the EQ version didn't have.

Thu Feb 19, 2004 12:18 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=216030&highlight=#216030

Moorgard wrote:

It's a gnome.

Fri Feb 20, 2004 10:47 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=217293&highlight=#217293

Moorgard wrote:

Yuffie wrote: We aren't sure just yet, but the vision abilities might actually be significantly useful. That's exactly our intent. Let's face it: in EQ, the only effect of infravision and ultravision was to make it so you could see well at night. At the high-end game, basically everyone had items that gave permanent ultravision anyway. There was nothing special or significant about it. We want vision types to be significant and very useful in certain situations. The biggest reason we don't have these abilities going all the time is that the game wouldn't look very attractive if you saw things like in the movie Predator all the time. But as an activated effect, it's pretty darn cool.

:: Updated by Hannar @ 03/08/04 10:46 am ::

Fri Feb 27, 2004 01:28 am
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=222557&highlight=#222557

Moorgard wrote:

Barbarian and wood elf.

:: Updated by Hannar @ 03/15/04 09:58 am ::

Tue Mar 09, 2004 12:17 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=232750&highlight=#232750

Moorgard wrote:

The cool part of the female iksar is that her frill only flairs up when she's agitated. When she walks around normally, she has a regular lizard-type head. In combat, it unfolds and animates.

:: Updated by Hannar @ 07/03/04 02:47 pm ::

03-23-2004 09:56 AM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=16456#M16456

Moorgard wrote:

Minotaurs will not be playable. We think 16 races is more than enough at this point.

03-23-2004 02:58 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=lore&message.id=312#M312

Moorgard wrote:

They were transformed by a mystical phenomenon of immense power, the exact cause of which may not even be known to most of the Erudites themselves. At least, not yet...

Mon Apr 05, 2004 10:07 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=251552&highlight=#251552

Moorgard wrote:

Just to make it perfectly clear, there is no change to the plans for good and evil races. Good races will start in Qeynos, evil races in Freeport, and others will have a choice. The only new element is that neutral races will likely have to choose to be good or evil at character creation instead of later as we originally planned. This will all be explained in character creation, which it isn't now. Keep in mind that it's easy to misunderstand or misinterpret things said in the chaos of FanFaire. After every single one, some things inevitably get posted that aren't completely accurate. This is just one of those cases.

04-08-2004 11:06 AM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=38620#M38620

Moorgard wrote:

1. If stats are hugely important to you, then yes, you might want to make a choice along those lines. 2. Correct. We intend for certain races to be better suited for certain roles. 3. Character creation isn't done yet. We wouldn't make people create and delete a series of characters just to see the stats. You will have the ability to see what you need to see in order to make an informed decision.

05-09-2004 09:35 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=84909#M84909

Moorgard wrote:

Brieza wrote: Because the Erudites are specifically from a place (Erud) while the humans, dwarves, etc are races of characters. It's the difference between someone being an American or a European and someone being a... well... human. You're on the right track. Erud was a person, not a place, but that is indeed why Erudite is capitalized. This was actually something we debated for a while, but we ultimately decided to follow EQ's standard and keep non-proper race names (human, dwarf, elf, etc.) lowercase. Note that the ancient names of the elf races (Feir'Dal, Koada'Dal, Teir'Dal) are capitalized.

05-16-2004 05:57 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=99777#M99777

Moorgard wrote:

From another world? No.

Fri May 21, 2004 10:16 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=284477&highlight=#284477

Moorgard wrote:

Ulrick28 wrote: If I were to hazzard a guess, I think erudites might fit the bill for a cool looking odd race (almost undead looking..but different). They might indeed. As for undead in EQ, sentient examples (vampires aside) are few and far between. There certainly isn't a mythos of a race, up to this point anyway.

:: Updated by Hannar @ 07/03/04 08:46 pm ::

05-25-2004 10:14 AM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=113479#M113479

Moorgard wrote:

And that is why all races will run the same speed.

05-25-2004 03:17 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=114020#M114020

Moorgard wrote:

There are no racial limitations on what someone can wear. As multiple pictures have indicated, the iksar can wear plate. It's amazing what you can learn after a few centuries of cataclysms, ain't it?

05-28-2004 12:32 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=news_announcements&message.id=13#M13

Moorgard wrote:

At long last, images of the Erudites have surfaced! What mystical force could have been responsible for such a startling physical transformation? These masters of the arcane arts have certainly changed over the last 500 years... Have a look and let the speculation begin!

05-28-2004 12:44 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=118032#M118032

Moorgard wrote:

Keep in mind these are only a handful of shots. More will be forthcoming that show the variations and options. With such a big change, I expect both negative and positive reaction. Most of the time people need time to get used to new ideas, especially when we change something they're familiar with. It's a new world, folks.

:: Updated by Hannar @ 07/03/04 09:59 pm ::

06-01-2004 10:44 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=122370#M122370

Moorgard wrote:

Kerra is the name of the race. As in, "The kerra are a proud people." "He is a noble kerra." Kerran is both an adjective and the name of their language. "She speaks kerran." "I saw the kerran shaman." It's one of the more confusing distinctions, especially if you compare it to the word human. "Look at that human over there." "We raided the human outpost last night." It functions as both a noun and an adjective. It may help to think of elves. The race is elf. "What a proud elf." "Those are powerful elves." Elven is an adjective. "She bears an elven sword." "The scroll is covered in elven runes." Admittedly, the distinction with kerra is easy to mess up, and nobody is going to sue you if you call them kerrans. To add even more confusion, Karan is the name of the subcontinent on which Qeynos sits. It is named after Karana. So the kerra on Karan speak kerran, and carry kerran crafts to Karana.

06-24-2004 11:08 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=art&message.id=2131#M2131

Moorgard wrote:

Glade wrote: This was discussed a bit ago, alot of the characters(races section) on the official site seem kinda off. Like the barbs top half looks normal but the legs look like it was taken at an angle(hard to explain) That's because all the renders on the website *were* taken at an angle. As for the build of the barbarians, that's intended. The lore of the race is that they're an earlier, less evolved type of human, which is the look we've gone for. While EQ barbarians look cool, they appear to be taller, more muscular humans and not necessarily more primitive.

Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:34 pm
http://www.eqii.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=306908&highlight=#306908

Moorgard wrote:

Valiant wrote: wonder if that means they have been enslaved again in Freeport No, not enslaved in Freeport.

:: Updated by Hannar @ 08/01/04 04:19 pm ::

07-17-2004 12:52 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=fighter&message.id=7867#M7867

Moorgard wrote:

MaineMan wrote: MaineMan wrote: Hello All.. Noob here lol Just acouple quick questions? 1) Do Iksars and Others Races have claws that can be used? 2) Is It something that might fall into a Brawler Class and beaing able to use your claws in Combat? 3) Is it possible to have a Bite Attack? Sorry If this all sounds dumb i'm a complete noob to Everquest can't wait thou allready preordered Claws are cosmetic only. There is no advantage for races that have them, nor do they get special attacks as a result. No, brawlers don't use claws. None of our races or classes have a bite attack.

07-20-2004 12:29 AM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=155271#M155271

Moorgard wrote:

As Faarwolf asked me via PM, why do interesting things always seem to happen whenever I take a couple days off? Renaisse wrote: When you add this into the already annoying - only letting certain magazines and sites release key information about the game, and on their schedule, which is 2-3 months we have had to wait for some things, I start to feel nervous. Giving magazines exclusive screenshots and information is a common practice in this industry. To land on the covers of important magazines, you have to give them details nobody else has so that they can sell the copies to justify giving you the cover. So the fact that we hold back certain images or details only shows that our marketing department has a plan to get EQ2 the most exposure possible. Dikamek wrote: There will be players and guilds dedicating themselves to keeping their server Froglock Free. Why will they do this? Because they can. They will take as much joy in stopping the efforts of others through sabotage and ruining events as the people who want to release the Frogloks. This event will be quest-based, and it isn't the kind of thing players will be able to grief each other over. You won't have to worry about someone trying to stop it from happening. It is unfortunate that the news of this event had to come out this way, as we had a better plan in mind for revealing it. I can understand why those who wanted to play frogloks right away might not be excited by this news, but the intent is for us to introduce a cool event that would let players feel they had a significant impact on the world. Even though the basic premise has been leaked, we don't want to reveal any details about the quest at this time.

07-22-2004 11:08 PM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=art&message.id=4357#M4357

Moorgard wrote:

oback18 wrote: from the outline of the frogloks on the cc disk, it looks as if they will resemble the eq models quite a bit. Yes, that is the intent of their design.

08-01-2004 12:20 AM
http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=Non-Gameplay&message.id=29914#M29914

Moorgard wrote:

Nope, it's an error. They should have said "ogre." Orcs are not playable, neither at launch nor through an unlocking event.