The EverQuest II Beta is proceeding extremely well. We’ve been running the English, French and German beta servers and have been really happy to see the responses from not only the people in North America, but also our friends in the UK, France and Germany. Soon we’ll be opening up another English server, begin the open phase of our beta and lift the NDA.
On another note, we’ve almost nailed down the final number of CD’s (or DVD’s) for the retail box. It’s looking like EQ II is going to ship on between 9 and 10 CD’s or 2 DVD’s. There is just a massive amount of content. People have been asking whether or not we intend to patch voiceover on an ongoing basis. The answer to that is yes. We’ll be adding an optional “VO channel” to our patching system, so people that want to can receive constant VO updates as we add new quests to the game once it’s been launched. Our intention is to always add more VO to the game when we’re adding new quests.
Will this slow down adding live content? No... because we won’t let it. If the quests get ahead of our ability to deliver VO, that’s ok. But as it stands right now, we’ve been able to get our VO smoothly integrated into our quest creation process... and that’s helped the quality of writing tremendously. It’s really given a huge lift to the lore and fiction of EverQuest II and it’s been awesome to see the process of weaving stories into this incredibly deep world become something that’s really streamlined, including getting it recorded in English, French and German.
I look forward to seeing you in Beta!
John Smedley
President, Sony Online Entertainment