With Everquest 2’s Rise of Kunark expansion on the horizon less than 2 months away, a new quest has appeared to get players involved and excited. The Iksar far from the lost continent are attacking Norrathian boats and it’s your job to protect the next vessel going out to sea.

What’s interesting here is that this quest is set up in classic storytelling structure. Allow me to demonstrate.

The Setup - This is one of the first things you hear from the crew when the instanced event begins:

The Anticipation - When the Kunark pirate boat docks, you get an eyeful of the mobs heading your way:

The Build Up - You watch helplessly while the pirate party boards your ship and slaughters most of the crew:

The Fight - Finally you get to step in and lay the smack down. Since it’s instanced, the mobs are scaled to your level.

The Revelations - During this solo event, I got to see the new mob model as well as get a hint of who is behind this (we meet again, Venril!)

The Twist - The captain of the ship you saved was less than enthusiastic about your performance. It was a surprising departure from the usual congratulatory exclamations you get when saving people in these games.

The Reward - Another strength of EQ2 is trophies from major game events that you can place in your house to remember your journeys in Norrath.

Setup, ancticipation, big confrontation, the twist and the final reward. All very well done and the key components to any successful story. I can’t wait to be a part of the next chapter.