Well, all right, we didn't actually presume to disturb one of the great dragons themselves, but Ngreth and I, along with a few others, traipsed through some of the areas that they had carved out for themselves, and even got a peek at one of the hatching areas.

As has been the case for the last couple of expansions, the graphics team outdid themselves yet again, and 'Mum, yet again, was so busy ooh'ing and ah'ing at everything she saw that she sort of wasn't paying enough attention to screen shots. Due to this fact, you'll get Ngreth's pictures paired with Niami's commentary. {grins} Before I join this little statue in singing about all the things we saw and heard, however, it's time to talk about the things most near and dear to tradeskillers. Tradeskills, of course!

One of the biggest things of note is cultural armor for everyone. Yes, each and every last one of us. There's armor for each and every race and class combination in the game, that can be made by tradeskillers of that race. Not just one set per, mind you, but four sets, split up by levels (20, 40, 60, 70). Once you have the basic armor made, there are then symbols that can be added, specific to your deity (plus one for the agnostic sorts out there, as there can be power in disbelief as well). These symbols are basically treated like special-slot augments that fit into your new cultural armor and give it some serious extra oomph.

Alchemists get many new concoctions to play with after cornering the potters for some new bottles. Fletchers get new bows and arrows to work with. Those interested in baking will find that Chef Chowderly of Abysmal Sea fame has discovered some new meats that work in some of the GoD favorites, as well as yummy new omelets, and baskets of goodies. Brewers get a hodge-podge of new brews built out of current drinks. Last, but not least, jewelers are able to work in a new metal, palladium, for a new jewelry set.

The new barter zone, while bogglingly immense, especially for someone as prone to getting lost as 'Mum is, is going to be very useful for tradeskillers. Looking for a specific item, such as a solstice robe, and have an item or items you'd like to offer in trade? No problem! Plug in the information on what items you're looking for, and what you've got to offer in return and then see if anyone's willing to wheel and deal. As with the bazaar, you have to be logged on and in the proper zone, but if nothing else, it lets you haggle in your sleep!

Guild halls will also be handy for tradeskillers who are tired of running all over the place trying to find a quiet place to craft. While the lobby (accessible from a portal in PoK) is open to pretty much anyone, guilds will have instanced access to their own guild area. This area not only has bankers (for easy access to your tradeskilling goodies), but a guild bank where members can drop off and pick up supplies (provided, of course, they've been given the right access for withdrawals by the guild leadership). Stationary tradeskill containers are available, though they've been given a serious graphical facelift from what you're used to seeing. There are also other goodies in there of use to the raiding types, including a nice area to regen, an area where you can have corpses summoned to if it's a REALLY bad wipe, and so on. Now, instead of having to deal with dozens of other folks trying to use the same brew barrel in PoK, as well as newbies begging for handouts and such, you'll only have to deal with fighting your guildmates for access to the equipment!

Potion belts and bandoliers will also have some interest for tradeskillers. With the potion belts, you'll no longer have to rummage through every bag trying to find your CHA potion, or your SoW potion, etc. Badaboom, badabing, easier to find the potions, and to use them! If I'm understanding the bandolier properly, it will allow you to set up "weapon sets" to swap between quickly. While you may wonder why that's of interest to tradeskillers, it sounds like it's for any primary/secondary combo, not just weapons. (i.e., CHA steins, GM trophies, epic weapons, etc.)

I mentioned that cultural was "one of" the biggest things to note in this expansion, and now we get to see how many of you are actually still reading this. Remember that tradeskill cap of 250 on tradeskills? Wave goodbye to it, and to the 1750 club, and try a new cap of 300 for all the tradeskills on for size!

All these tradeskilling goodies would make 'Mum a happy halfling - if only she could figure out how to put a saddle on one of these powerful kirin! Let's face it. Her faithful, but extremely bratty, Imp, Pony of Mischief, was great luck when doing troublesome high-trivial combines (and his antics tended to distract Bristlebane enough that he'd let 'Mum have some good combine luck), but he just doesn't pack the proper punch when faced with the higher-end stuff anymore. He's old, he's tired, and Bristlebane's mischief only goes so far. In fact, Mum's poor pony is likely to become a dragon appetizer if he's not careful!

I promised to come back to more about the rest of the expansion, as well as the lovely new eye-candy, but I don't want to drag this on for too long. I'm sure many of the news sites out there will do a far better job of covering it than I can, especially given that, until the tour we were given, I'd not really set foot outside of PoK during the beta. (As usual, I got sidetracked by the wide variety of tradeskill goodies to poke at!) So, here's a condensed version.

All the new zones look phenomenal, with new models and new art everywhere you look. We saw everything from new creatures to fight, to courtyards, fountains, gardens and libraries to explore and savor. As well as an impressive dragon stronghold inside a volcano, there were even lovely cushions just perfect for a tired 'Mum to curl up on when all the sight-seeing tired her out!

The new mission system provides more ways for folks to get into mischief and earn a chance at goodies, but with a few twists. Among other things, unlike LDoN adventure points, you earn shards that can be traded and sold to other players, making for some interesting chances for barter. Also (if I am understanding this correctly), unlike adventures, you won't be grabbing an adventure and zoning into your own private instance, but heading out into zones where others are, having special instanced content trigger for your party.

Some of the items mentioned here, like the barter zone, will be accessible to all and sundry, others will require that you purchase the expansion. As with other recent expansions, the tradeskill portion won't directly require the expansion, but it will be a lot easier if you can go out to the zones and collect components yourself.

The Dragons of Norrath expansion includes adventuring content aimed at the level 45+ crowd, and will be released on Tuesday, February 15.

Edit: Silly halfling forgot one other piece of news that is going to be added to the game during the DoN patch as free content. A messaging (email)system where you can send in-game messages to folks regardless if they're online or offline. Hubby already sent me a message via it!