EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath announced

Sony Online has officially announced the next retail expansion pack for its massively successful online RPG, EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath. The new expansion continues the storyline started in Broken Skull Rock (an area in the download-only extension Legacy of Ykesha released earlier this year) and will let players venture into previously unexplored dungeons. The discovery of the lost dungeons has triggered new competition among the EverQuest world's factions, which will employ mercenaries, adventurers, and their companions in an attempt to control the new areas.

The expansion will feature hundreds of new quests that will take adventurers through more than 40 diverse dungeons set in five new environments. Lost Dungeons of Norrath introduces a new dynamic dungeon system that tailors encounters for a given party's attributes and levels. The expansion will also introduce what Sony Online calls "adventure rewards technology" and an in-game interface that will let players track their progress in the dungeons.

Lost Dungeons of Norrath will be available this fall. The downloadable version will cost $24.99, and the retail boxed version will have a suggested price of $29.99. Lost Dungeons is the sixth expansion for EverQuest, which Sony Online says has more than 500,000 subscribers worldwide.