Rise of Kunark!
Rise of Kunark is due out tomorrow. Unfortunately this year I did not get the chance to spend as much time in the beta as I would have liked. I think I spent maybe a 10th of the time I spent in Kingdom of Sky and Echoes of Faydwer, but, from what I have seen, this is going to be an awesome expansion.
A few observations on the expansion:
The zone sizes are absolutely immense. The starting area for the Sarnak is gigantic, and without maps (as with beta) it is REALLY easy to get lost. Now, getting lost isn’t a bad thing at all, you end up finding all sorts of places to hang out and do stuff. The beginning quests are about what you expect to be able to outfit your newly created Sarnak without having to go drop massive amounts of coin or find a crafter. The quests are rather enjoyable, and you will level rather quickly just following the quest progressions. Mok Rent (the cave city for the Sarnak) is quite kewl itself. Coming up to it is quite an impressive sight.
There are plenty of griffons all over the place for fast travel on the starting island and the scenery is quite breath taking while you’re flying around. The island has a feel to it of being the ruins of a civilization, as well as having some established areas where the population thrives. The modeling for the Sarnak was done very well in my opinion. They’re hulking looking dragon type beasts, and very fearsome as well.
One day I got invited to run over to Sebelis. OMG, that was like a 20-day journey in itself. I got the chance to travel through vast expanses of the zones, and of course got completely lost. I’m glad someone came to get us, because we could have taken days just trying to find the place. The architecture in Sebelis was reminiscent of some of the raid zones in Kingdom of Sky, very impressive, but had it’s own unique flavor. Being 70, it was not a place for me to be running around without higher-level group members. From what it seemed, it would definitely be a good challenge for 75+. After running through Sebelis I logged for the night. When I got back on later, I spent a good 3 hours trying to find my way back to the docks in Kylong Plains. This was quite a little adventure in itself. I got a chance to see a bunch of the area surrounding Sebelis as well as endless expanses on the way back. I found if you follow the road, eventually you will find where you’re going, or at least get to something interesting enough to forget about where you intended to go.
I found a few places in Kylong where I didn’t get much of a chance to spend a whole lot of time, but they were indeed very interesting. There’s a race of giants out there that you can do some quests for and get access to their mender and merchants, much like Somborn in Loping plains. It seems everyone hates the Iksar out there and a lot of the story lines for quests involve helping one group or another with the Iksar, or against the Iksar. They are the majority of the population of Kunark, and while I didn’t get time to examine a lot of the back-story to it, it seems like the relation of the populations of Kunark was very well thought out.
There are a few areas where you will find the Iksar are non-aggro to a goodie-two-shoes like my paladin, and other areas where they are very aggro. I didn’t get enough time to find out the reasons behind this, but I’m sure they will most likely come out in the various quest lines Kunark has to offer.
The armor on the NPCs was absolutely stunning and made me quite jealous. I’m hoping a few tid-bits of some of the armor the Iksar are sporting make it into the player population. Even the Sarnak in the starting area look quite impressive in the garb they wear. It seems that most of the NPCs have the same quality, if not better than the ones released with Echoes of Faydwer. The eye candy hopefully won’t distract you enough for you to end up face down in the dirt though 
A few things about the environment struck me as being very kewl. Instead of the usual calm water you notice in all the previously released zones, you will actually see sea-spray on the rocks. This was a very nice addition to make the ocean come alive. I also noticed a lot more birds flying around, rather close, to the island where the Sarnak start as well. It definitely has a tropical island feel to it. In some of the zones you will notice a change in ambient light once you pass a certain area which sets the mood for the part of the zone you are entering. This was a very nice addition, considering almost all of the previously released zones pretty much had the same atmospheric quality to them. There’s one area in the Kylong Plains that has a giant tower (I found out later it was Kurn’s Tower, in Fens of Nathsar), where as you cross over from the plains down into the area surrounding it, the atmosphere takes on a gloomy “dead” quality. Definitely mood setting and gives you a feeling of impending doom if you dare to brave the tower. There are areas that have a pleasant, spring ambience to, where the trees and flowers are blosoming, there are dark, damp, dingy jungles that make your skin crawl and glorious cliffs and waterfalls.
Over all I am brimming with anticipation for this expansion tomorrow, and I can’t wait to hop on and go exploring as soon as I get home from work 
