Rain of Fear

EverQuest's nineteenth expansion. Release date officially announced at SOE Live as November 28, 2012. The Rain of Fear Fear Shard Collection quest is now live.

Features

 * SOE Community Webcast: EverQuest - Rain of Fear
 * SOE: In Game Loot with the EverQuest: Rain of Fear Expansion

From EverQuest.com - Expansions Rain of Fear:
 * Level cap increase from 95 to 100 – Achieve a new max level of 100 and set a new standard of gameplay.
 * Hunter System – Gain special rewards and titles for defeating large numbers of foes.
 * Aggro Meter – A brand new tool to help better manage your aggro. You can now see your aggro level relative to your group.
 * Collection System – Discover items throughout Norrath and collect sets for exciting rewards and titles.
 * Improved Brokering System – Sell items in the Bazaar while being offline! More flexibility as a buyer to search and purchase from anywhere in the world.
 * New Linear Item Progression – Stats on armor collected will increase as you move up from one tier to another.
 * Customization with non-visible armor – All non-visible armor in Rain of Fear can be worn by all. You'll be able to customize your stats for every encounter.
 * Class-specific stat distribution – Collect items that are designed specifically for each classes' abilities.
 * More than 1800 New Spells (Ranks 1, 2 & 3) – Exponentially add to your spell arsenal.
 * More than 550 AAs – Elevate your power and abilities like never before.
 * More than 3500 New Items – Create your own identity with thousands of new items.
 * More than 3000 New Tradeskill recipes – Increase your value across Norrath by creating items only available by your craftsmanship.
 * More than 110 Quests – Challenge your skills and gather useful loot.
 * 13 Raids – Collect valuable rewards from all new adventures.
 * 9 Zones – Be the first to discover untouched lands of Norrath.
 * 19 Missions – Experience intriguing lore and immersive Missions.
 * Continued opportunity to kill off Halflings.
 * Legends of Norrath™ – 5 Digital Booster Packs.

Autonomous Brokering

 * Main article: The Bazaar

Autonomous Brokering is a system which allows you to sell items while off-line. It also includes being able to purchase items from anywhere in Norrath.

Collection
Collection items are found throughout every new zone in Rain of Fear. The items each fit into unique sets, and provide additional insight into the lore and stories of EverQuest: Rain of Fear. With four sets in each zone, and eight to ten items making up a complete set, there are tons of items to collect. There is even a "meta set" that is scattered throughout all of the Rain of Fear zones!

There are two ways to gather these collections. Some of the items are found through drops. Others are placed out in the open in the zone and "sparkle" in order to grab the adventurer's attention and promote exploration. The items and collections are themed to each area. For example, you may collect Beard Styles off of Coldain and Frost Giants.

While you might enjoy collecting these items just for the achievements they unlock, you'll also enjoy the rewards for completing each of the various collections. You will receive approximately 20% of the XP that would be necessary for the level each collection is intended for, as well as another 20% for completion of the entire zone. Some collections also come attached with items and titles!

Once you're done with your own collection, or if you just find yourself in need of a little plat, many of these collection items are tradable. There's likely to be a thriving market for the rarer pieces, so price yours accordingly!


 * A collectible item will have the "Collectible" tag in the item display window.
 * To collect an item, right click on the item. When collecting an item you'll receive a notification message. Collection achievements will then update.

Slayer
Most Norrathians might see a skunk wandering across Butcherblock and think, "I'll leave him alone. I have other things to attend to." That was before EverQuest: Rain of Fear! Now, there will be a reason to mercilessly slaughter the innocent (and not so innocent) creatures of Norrath: Achievements!

Now, every mob that you kill in Norrath has an achievement attached to it. The achievements compile based on the number of each type of mob that you kill. As Assistant Designer Chris "Dzarn" Black says, "There's never not a reason to kill something."

The primary rewards for this new system are new special AAs and titles. As you kill more and more of each type of mob, you begin to learn more about the weaknesses of each individual race. Once you've slain enough of a particular group of mobs you'll earn a special AA that deals damage to that particular race.

Here is a selection of some of the Achievements you can earn:


 * "It Stinks" – skunks
 * "Beetle Mania" – beetles
 * "Get The Broom" – spiders
 * "Stake Dinner" – vampires
 * "The Ambassador" – members of every playable race

There is also a premiere title you can earn for completing all parts of the hunter system. With 722 different mob types in game, this new system presents a massive wall of achievements to be earned!


 * When killing an NPC that is part of a Slayer achievement, you'll automatically get updated and your current kill counts can be viewed in the achievement window.

Tiers

 * The Corrupted Temple - Instanced raid zone version of the north wing of Temple of Veeshan.

Tier 1
 * East Wastes: Zeixshi-Kar's Awakening - This is a version of The Eastern Wastes.
 * Kael Drakkel: The King's Madness
 * Shard's Landing - Starting and hub zone. Accessible from Erillion, City of Bronze.
 * The Crystal Caverns: Fragment of Fear

Tier 2
 * Chapterhouse of the Fallen - This a new section of the Befallen zone.
 * Evantil, the Vile Oak
 * Grelleth's Palace, the Chateau of Filth
 * The Breeding Grounds
 * Valley of King Xorbb - End zone.

Getting to RoF
Hoof it

Note that in the Beta you could use the Find menu to locate these. Yet to be seen if that will work when it goes live.
 * Shard's Landing <> Erillion, City of Bronze: In Erillion, City of Bronze there is a tunnel in the northeast wall of the zone (loc 1830, -110). Going down the tunnel will take you to Shard's Landing.
 * The Harbinger's Staff, a RoF Pre-Order Item, provides transport once every 72 minutes to Erillion, City of Bronze.
 * Chapterhouse of the Fallen <> Commonlands: In the Commonlands outside of Befallen at loc -1000, 975 there is a purple crystal. Clicking it will take you to Chapterhouse of the Fallen.
 * Evantil, the Vile Oak <> Beasts' Domain: Climbing up a root in the southwest most part of the zone (location -6030, 3300), near where Tangledeath spawns, in Beasts' Domain will take you to Evantil, the Vile Oak.
 * Grelleth's Palace, the Chateau of Filth <> The Resplendent Temple: In the tunnels beneath The Resplendent Temple at Udgar the Brave (loc 2900, 100, -325) is a purple crystal. Clicking it will take you to Grelleth's Palace, the Chateau of Filth.
 * East Wastes: Zeixshi-Kar's Awakening <> Eastern Wastes: In the southeastern most part of Eastern Wastes is a purple crystal at loc -9100, -4180.  Clicking it will take you to East Wastes: Zeixshi-Kar's Awakening.
 * The Breeding Grounds <> Dragon Necropolis: In the eastern most part of Dragon Necropolis is a purple crystal at loc -70, -2725. Clicking it will take you to The Breeding Grounds.
 * Valley of King Xorbb <> Gorge of King Xorbb: On the north wall in the center of the Gorge of King Xorbb at Diggs Duggun is a purple crystal at loc 1275, -530. Clicking it will take you to the Valley of King Xorbb.

Guild portal

A "Stone of the Shard's Fall", on sale from the portal crystal NPC for 263pp, will take you to Harbinger's Outpost in Shard's Landing.

Druid and Wizard ports

Magus Burlshin in Shard's Landing at location -1450, -1100 sells druid and wizard port spells to Shard's Landing.

It is not known whether there will be any other druid and wizard ports in RoF.

Traveling around RoF
It appears that traveling around RoF will be much easier than other expansions.


 * In Shard's Landing there are several portals. Each portal has a Portal Tender which will give you a Portal Activation quest.  Take the "attuning crystal" they give you and click it in the zone the portal goes to and then you can use the Shard's Landing portals to travel there in the future.  See "Hoof it" above to get to the zones in order to complete the Portal Activation quests.

There are no portals to Kael Drakkel: The King's Madness, The Corrupted Temple and The Crystal Caverns: Fragment of Fear.


 * Kael Drakkel: The King's Madness is reached through a zone line in East Wastes: Zeixshi-Kar's Awakening.
 * The Corrupted Temple is reached through Western Wastes (Velious) at the entrance to Temple of Veeshan. You must have at least six in your group / raid to spawn a raid instance and enter.
 * The Crystal Caverns: Fragment of Fear is reached through a zone line in East Wastes: Zeixshi-Kar's Awakening.

Progression
Currently, it appears there is no group progression in RoF. There will be two tiers of group content. The difference appears to be in mob difficulty and loot.

Raid progression
As with Veil of Alaris, it appears that the raids are scaled up versions of group missions (or the group missions are scaled down versions of the raids:).

Spells
Information on Rank II and Rank III spells and Type 3 augs obtained from EQ Resource.

Rank I
You can go to various NPCs at p400, p75 in Shard's Landing and buy Rank I spells.

Rank II
Rank II spells are obtained by turning in "Dreadmote" items to Tomekeeper Kerkaz in Shard's Landing. These Dreadmotes drop in all Rain of Fear zones. Each named has a chance to drop one. Mission Chests also drop a single Dreadmote.


 * Level 96 - Minor Dreadmote
 * Level 97 - Lesser Dreadmote
 * Level 98 - Median Dreadmote
 * Level 99 - Greater Dreadmote
 * Level 100 - Glowing Dreadmote

Rank III
Rank III spells are obtained by turning in "Terrormote" items to Tomekeeper Kerkaz in Shard's Landing. These fragments drop from chests on RoF Raids.


 * Level 96 - Minor Terrormote
 * Level 97 - Lesser Terrormote
 * Level 98 - Median Terrormote
 * Level 99 - Greater Terrormote
 * Level 100 - Glowing Terrormote

Type 3 augs
All type 3 focus augs are available from Tomekeeper Kerkaz, who is located in Shard's Landing at the Harbinger's Outpost. The augs cost approximately 15.7k plat each.

Group
Master Armorer Synlaris in Shard's Landing sells an Essence Augmentor and a Rust-Tinged Box of Fear for making group armor.

Master Armorer Synlaris smiles, 'Greetings, Fanra. I am Diandra Synlaris. Should you need the components necessary to construct armor empowered from the essences from creatures you have defeated in the field then I will be happy to assist you. You may be pleasantly surprised in the way we have simplified the construction of these suits of armor.'

What will not pleasantly surprise you is the price of each of those items is (on Beta) 13k and 11k platinum respectively.

Raid
In addition to mob drops for raid armor, you should be able to use raid alternate currency to purchase it.

Alternate currency
There will be several types of alternate currency in Rain of Fear. Supposedly one type will be for group gear, requiring faction to unlock, much like Dream Motes. However, information is lacking, if it exists.

Expedient Delivery Vouchers are purchased with Station Cash and are used to have items delivered directly to your character after being purchased from a player trader.
 * Expedient Delivery Vouchers

Armorer Jean Wenlaris in Shard's Landing sells Tier 1 raid gear for this currency. You must complete a Tier 1 raids in order to earn Velium Shards and each raid will unlock different items.
 * Velium Shards

Ilana Sunmire in Shard's Landing sells Tier 2 raid gear for this currency. You must complete Tier 2 raids in order to earn Velium Shards and each raid will unlock different items.
 * Crystallized Fear

Lore
In Veil of Alaris, you and your friends destroyed the newly created god, The Triumverate, causing an explosion that rocked Norrath and released the stolen power of fear. This power is returning to Norrath, falling from the sky in the form of crystalline shards. Who will gain control of the essence of fear and bring balance between good and evil?

The Harbingers of Thule entreat you to gather the essence of their lost god before it falls into the hands of others. You will uncover the mysteries of the giant crystals that have fallen to Norrath, explore newly discovered lands, revisit the frozen wastes of Velious, and battle old foes empowered by shards, confront them and reclaim the power of fear.

SOE announcement
EverQuest celebrates an unprecedented 20th major game release with the Rain of Fear™ Expansion. Thirteen years after the initial launch of EverQuest and 19 expansions later, Rain of Fear™ continues an exciting storyline that started two years ago with the mysterious House of Thule™ Expansion, and continued in Veil of Alaris™.

You and your friends destroyed the newly created god, The Triumverate, causing an explosion that rocked Norrath and released the stolen power of fear. This power is returning to Norrath, falling from the sky in the form of crystalline shards. Who will gain control of the essence of fear and bring balance between good and evil?

The Harbingers of Thule entreat you to gather the essence of their lost god before it falls into the hands of others. You will uncover the mysteries of the giant crystals that have fallen to Norrath, explore newly discovered lands, revisit the frozen wastes of Velious, and battle old foes empowered by shards, confront them and reclaim the power of fear.

Along the way you will progress up to the unprecedented level of 100! We're pretty excited to see the first character reach level 100 in EverQuest, a true gaming landmark.

We will also be adding a few amazing features to this classic game. We will be adding a way to track your relative aggro level. Ever wanted to know when the bad guy was about to turn around and mash your rogue before it happened? With the new aggro meter if you get caught over-aggroing, you'll have no real excuse. There are also new Collection and Hunter Tasks; these will allow you to gather up various items all over Norrath as well as track your kills to gain new titles and new rewards. Want to become the Gnollslayer? Gnomeslayer? Now you can. We will also be making some major improvements to the brokering system. The Autonomous Brokering system (name may change if people continue to have issues pronouncing it...) is something that you have asked us for, something that we've wanted to make for you, for years. You will be able to turn off your computer and keep your trader up in Bazaar!

Pre-order
From EQ Community News: The pre-order for Rain of Fear is now available!

For a limited time only, order Rain of Fear and receive special bonus items upon release of the expansion. We have two great offers available:

Standard - $39.99

Included:


 * Harbinger's Staff (Only Available with Pre-Order)
 * Fear Corrupted Phase Spider Metamorph Totem (Only Available with Pre-Order)
 * Collector's Dimensional Case
 * Traveler's Rucksack
 * Idol of Cazic Thule
 * Holgresh Metamorph Totem
 * Contract of the Apparitional Alaran
 * Painting: Rain of Fear
 * Bracelet of the Severed Hand

Or go big with the Digital Collector's Edition - $59.99 (Normally $89.99)


 * Harbinger's Staff (Only Available with Pre-Order)
 * Fear Corrupted Phase Spider Metamorph Totem (Only Available with Pre-Order)
 * Collector's Dimensional Case
 * Traveler's Rucksack
 * Idol of Cazic Thule
 * Holgresh Metamorph Totem
 * Contract of the Apparitional Alaran
 * Painting: Rain of Fear
 * Bracelet of the Severed Hand
 * Collectors Only Collection Quest
 * Journeyman's Pocketed Rucksack
 * Evantil's Abode
 * Holgresh House Pet
 * Contract of the Fallen
 * Painting: Shards Landing
 * Thulian Bracelet of the Severed Hand

Go here to place your pre-order today!

We will publish images of all the in-game items from the Standard and Collector's Editions as soon as we have can – we're excited to see them too!

SOE Live All Access Pass purchasers
Those who purchased an SOE Live All Access Pass will receive the Standard edition at no extra cost. For an additional $20 they may pre-order the Digital Collector's Edition instead.

To order the Digital Collector's Edition, go to the RoF order page. Click on the Pre-Order Now! button and sign in. There you should see something similar to the image to the right. Just order the Digital Collector's Edition and as you go through the process, it will look like you're buying it for $59.99, but on the page where you select how to pay for it, is a tiny line of text way at the bottom, where no one would normally think to look, and it says SoE live attendees will only be charged $20 when it comes to the actual time to bill it.