It has been said that developers have a very short window of opportunity in which to grab a player's attention and, most importantly, to keep it. To that end, MMORPG.com's Phil James has a review of the recently overhauled starter zone in Everquest II. Find out if Phil thinks the reworked starter zone in EQII is enough to capture and retain a player's interest.
Earlier this year, New Halas, the latest starter zone for EQII, went live. SOE described this as the best new player experience - a bold claim. It's not clear if this means it has everything that a newcomer to mmos needs to become hooked, or if it's the best of all the newbie zones from any MMO, or if it means that it has the best levelling progression of all EQII's zones. SOE is keen on pulling new players into the world of Norrath with the new free to play EQII Extended server, so I decided to investigate what new players would find upon washing up on their shores.