So I can tell you things the devs have not told anyone yet:
-Charmed pets damage will be increasing (the devs stated they want enchanters to use charmed pets in groups for dps as part of class balancing, which is now currently rare, and will be looking into more changes of unkown type down the road if this change does not accomplish that goal)
-All classes will get skill cap increases with new levels and the skill caps will be much greater than last level increase.
-A significant portion of the mobs in the new zones for all levels will be Animals and plants
-The new race the drakin will get a racial quest that will give them an ability to use a breath weapon (5 min reuse) in front cone AE, if it is not resisted it will give a DD, debuff and a DoT. The resist on it depends on the family of dragon the character choose to be from. The dot will increase with levels of the quest, limited by the character level.
-There will be new tradeskill charms the one for mastering one tradeskill (300) will be a 100 hp charm one aug slot, the 2100 club one will be 225 hps with 2 aug slots and will scale with your tradskill average.
-Some new gear will not be able to be dyed using old dyes.
-Resists will be using a new engine and code which will enable better scaling of resist chances. Exisitng mobs will have their resists adjusted so the % si the same as before. Players will notice a change in slightly more successes against higher levels. Mobs will gain the same benefit against you.
-No new MM this expansion
-You will receive 1 buff slot, free of charge, at level 72 and level 75.
-New Dragon Models throughout the game, and very impressive ones.
-Researchers will be able to make more spells from old expansions.
-There will be a new game wide quest that was not tested in beta, it will be hinted at in the lore you find along the way, it is supposed to be epic like for all though, and epic reward, no clue on level though.
-New resist called Corruption, only new gear will raise it.
-The 71-75 spells will include tier 1-3 of the same spell, with the higher tier overwriting the lower when you get it, and the higher being harder to get. The first tier will be easy to get so everyone will get spells easily when they level, but the upper better version of the spell will be harder to get.
-Level 75 Titles (tentative):
Warrior - Imperator
Cleric - Empyrean
Paladin - Holy Defender
Shadow Knight - Scourge Lord
Ranger - Huntmaster
Druid - Windwalker
Monk - Ashenhand
Bard - Muse OR Orator
Rogue - Infiltrator
Shaman - Dreamwalker
Necromancer - Infernal
Mage - Magister
Wizard - Pyromancer
Enchanter - Entrancer
Beastlord - Frostblood
Berzerker - Juggernaut
-The following foci will be upgraded:
Demiplane (to level 72) Last blood augs excluded
Deathknell (to level 72)
Epics (to 75)
Aura of the Muse (to 75)
Aura clickes from PoR (to 75)
Possible Postponed Changes:
-All classes will get up to skill 50 with forage by choosing a new AA, current forage classes will get +50 to forage skillcap with the same AA. (edit: now this might be postponed)
-{edit: Postponed =( } A new three tier invisibity will be introduced: 1) current regular invis, 2) new improved invis which will be exactly equal to the old rogue SOS, 3) will be the new rogue SoS and almost nothing will see thru it.
Overall Critique:
The new zones are very awesome, large and with great graphics and well tested pathing, with tons of new quests.
Many beta testers were calling this EQ 1.5 though I would not go so far as things like the soft cap on stats and resists was postponed as well as some other nice additions they did not have time for.
Edited, Sep 15th 2006 at 10:29pm EDT by fhrugby
Edited, Sep 15th 2006 at 11:05pm EDT by fhrugby