SOE has been pretty aggressive about updating EverQuest II (not to mention meticulously listing every such update to its playerbase). As such, it shouldn‘t come as a surprise to see a full-fledged expansion to the game so relatively soon after its release less than one year ago. Desert of Flames is the first retail expansion to SOE‘s flagship MMO, and in many ways, it matches the scope of some of the original EQ‘s most memorable ex-packs. On top of a plethora of game-system overhauls, the game adds a significant amount of new content -- enough so that it warranted an increase to the character level cap, from 50 to 60.

This is certainly good news for the game‘s most hardcore players, many of whom feel that they‘ve been stagnating at the endgame. The newly-added Isle of Ro will provide more than enough fodder to last them several months. This focus on high-level content, though, came at a cost, as frankly, there isn‘t a whole lot here for low-to-mid level characters. Oh well. At least they get adventure packs.

A Jewel in the Sands

The most visible addition that Desert of Flames brings to EQII is the landmass itself -- the Isle of Ro, wherein are found a multitude of hazardous locales in which to adventure, not the least of which is the city of Maj‘Dul. Veterans of the original EverQuest will know the area well; the Desert of Ro was one of the most popular adventuring zones in the original game, once upon a time, and many of its themes are still intact, post-cataclysm. There are still Sand Giants and dervish madmen running around, though luckily, the former can‘t be "trained" onto groups of unaware adventurers.

One thing to keep in mind: all the traditional content in the Isle of Ro is meant for fairly high-level players, so basically, if you‘re under level 45, you won‘t have much to do here (apart from arena PvP battles, but more on that later). Players within the level range will find all manner of things to do, however, all the way to the extended level cap of 60.

Logically, most of your adventures will start in Maj‘Dul. The city‘s political landscape is quite complex, and very much unlike any "civilized" area you‘ve previously visited. See, most of the NPCs in the city are attackable, and some of them even instigate attacks. You won‘t notice this much at first, when your reputations with the various factions in the city are at their default levels. At that point, the only people attacking you will be Maj‘Dul‘s rabble: enraged gamblers, thieves, and, of course, the "Carpet Police," should they catch you engaging in any melees when they happen to be flying about. Incidentally, if you receive a warning from these inconveniently omniscient law-bringers, it‘s best to halt your attack ASAP. They‘re powerful enough individually to instantly smite pretty much any character.

From gamespy.com