Scars of velious continues the Everquest tradition, but unless your in the upper levels, you might want to wait it out
Everquest scars of velious is an ice continent with snow on the side, it's made only for the classes that are about level 30+. Unless your even close to level 30 then stay clear of this zone, even powerleveling (having a very high level character level the lower level character in a zone suited for the lower level character) is pretty tough to do.
Still, if your in the higher level area then definitely pick this one up because it has a ton of stuff to offer you. For starters, you can now hunt monsters ane foes that are in the 70 and even 80 level range, meaning that you need a raid just to hunt these bad boys down. This is some tough work, especially since every zone in this new expansion is packed with monsters that want to tear you apart, regardless of level, but as you keep adventuring, zone after zone into Velious, you will notice that it keeps getting harder and harder until you reach the ultimate raiding zone.
Other new add on's to this expansion is another water zone that pretty much transports you from the original 3 continents to Velious. Just like the first expansion, you can be transported to this continent by being teleported by a druid or wizard. This entirely new continent also has new armor you can work on. Since the first expansion, Kunark, had the epics for yor Primary slot of your character, this one now has lots and lots of armor pieces that can be molded and made through smithing and other useful skills.
This expansion is really hard. I can't stress this enough. Everquest has never been an easy game and has always required teamwork for the win, but this expansion pretty much requires a raid for every mob you kill. The loot that you get from each mob or key mobs that you need a raid for has been upgraded quite a bit. This is the first expansion to really introduce something that Everquest players call: Uber gear. Basically, it's gear that is very high level and this is the first expansion to support this, since all of the items you pick up from raids and such can be molded and made into item pieces for specific characters, or just to sell.
Another big edition is being able to warp between zones. One big complaint is that Everquest is to huge and you can't travel from one continent to the other continent to well. So what SOE did was put one spire in each continent for you to travel between. They aren't in the most convenient places and actually the one located in Velious is the least conveniant, mainly because it's surrounded by mobs that are about level 30-40. Still, it's a great new addition and classes that can't teleport such as the Druid or wizard now can use this.
You also need certain keys to go into some zones. Some zones such as Sleeper's tomb you need a key to go into. Faction has also been upgraded. Until now, the only faction you really needed to worry about was your own hometown, but this time you need to worry about Giant faction. Basically, these are Ice giants that live in a certain zone, that if you befriend with, they will make it worth your while by letting you pass through and use that zone as somewhat like a city. Or you can just kill them and use it as a hunting area.
The graphics in the game have not been upgraded at all. As a matter of fact, on this cold new expansion continent, it all looks very drab. The snow only has one color and it almost hurts your eyes just to look at. The character models haven't been upgraded at all, but overall the graphics look pretty good. The sound is the same as the graphics, none of it has been upgraded, so be ready to have out your music or TV.
This is the expansion that high level characters have been waiting for. It's easily the best expansion if you have a level 50 or 60, but if you just started, you might want to pick this one up a little later on because there's no real reason for it until you reach level 30, still this expansion contains everything that made Everquest a great game and any fan of the game should pick it up.