EverQuest's new lead designer on the future of SOE's venerable MMO

by Michael Zenke on Jun 28th 2008 10:00AM

Ryan Barker is the newly-dubbed lead designer for SOE's venerable EverQuest, and recently sat down with the folks at Curse to talk the state of the game - and even a bit about the game's future. Barker again confirms the team's pleasure at having more times to work on expansion packs, a subject covered well in our discussion with previous EQ lead designer Travis McGeathy. They also note their heavy enthusiasm at seeing players return for the Living Legacy event, something we've also discussed on the site.

Without a doubt the most interesting segment is the design team's reflection on their favorite encounter in the game's history. Barker and several members of the design group point out their favorite moments from the nine years worth of content the game has on offer. Says Barker, "For me it was definitely Lord Nagafen back in original release. I was part of the first raid that killed him on Rallos Zek. It was such a rush going back through the fire giant castle and seeing that dragon for the first time. I think I seriously jumped out of my chair the first time he stuck his head through the door and bit me."

Your turn, then: What's your favorite encounter/quest/monster from EverQuest?

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Tags: eq, everquest, fantasy, interview, lead-designer, living-legacy, ryan-barker, soe, sony-online-entertainment

Reader Comments (1)

My favorite encounter is a tie, mainly because my most memorable is so similar to Ryan Barker's.

I had been playing EQ for a couple of months, and had just hit level 50. My friends (who were a lot better than I was) were joking and talking about Naggy and Vox, so when I saw there was a Vox raid forming, I said what the hell and signed up. Of course, I lied and said I had been there before, so I get stuck in the first group. I had no idea what I was doing, and I almost got our group killed by spazzing out when I first saw we were rushing this gigantic ice dragon. Awesome moment that really would be hard to duplicate nowadays. Although, in EQ2, the first time I saw/got eaten by Venekor was pretty amazing.

My second EQ1 memory was definitely the first time I got in a group that successfully Emperor Crush. I was so happy that I had finally killed a "boss". Such a long time ago!