Yesterday, SOE put game update #35 on the live servers. In case you don't know what a live update is, because you don't play EQ2 yet, it is a fairly large update that is free. Nothing to buy. Game updates have added new zones in the past but for the first time they added a new starting city in the update. For veteran EQ1 players, you'll know the zone, Neriak. To go with the new starting city they added a new playable race - The Arasai. When I saw these updates I had to roll up a new character and take a look. ...

The first thing you notice is that the Arasai are the dark elves of the fae world. They are basically fae, with some different wing types, hair types and coloring possibilities. Fae are cool though and I had fun creating my new character.

When you log in your new character, you don't start in Neriak. Much like the Fae don't start in Kelethin, you start in a newbie area that is part of the other new zone that came with the update, Darklight Wood. Darklight wood is nice. The village you start out at has a somewhat medieval asian look to it. Other than that it is just a new zone with new things to look at. Of course there are lots of quests to get you leveled up quickly. Being who I am, I wanted to check out the tradeskilling amenities, so I made my way to Neriak.

Neriak is beautiful. In many ways it resembles Neriak of Old. There are some very familiar areas. Pictures are coming soon. SOE did a good job of making a dark and evil city without making it dismal. In case you are wondering, I did find the main tradeskilling area and quickly did quests to get my new character up to a level 9 artisan.

Since these new zones and new playable race are more than likely going to have people roll up new characters, Sony also gave each account an extra character slot. If you've got a station access acount you get two. Did I mention that this update was free? Thank you very much Sony.

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If you haven't played Everquest 2 and would like to try the game, Sony currently has a trial called Play the Fae. If you own a mac, check out this page that talks about using boot camp to play EQ2.