Classic EverQuest’s 31st expansion, The Outer Brood, is live – and so is a brand-new EverQuest book

As promised, EverQuest’s 31st expansion officially launched last night, unleashing The Outer Brood on classic EQ players in its 25th year of existence. The expansion includes six new zones, raids, missions, quests, and collections. But the most exciting addition is the new Dark Elf Ranger class/race combo. In fact, you might be as surprised as I am to realize this combo took 25 years to add, at least if you were around in the early days of the genre and remember when every other person was using the name Drizzt.

“High in the sky over the hills of the long-ignored Hodstock looms a massive behemoth. A creature so large that it appears to have an entire castle fortress on its back. Terrifying monsters fly down from that fortress. Huge reptiles with massive, deadly claws, fangs, and too many limbs. These beasts wield magic never seen on Norrath nor by any Norrathian. These creatures, dubbed the Outer Brood by the elders of the Circle of the Crystalwing, speak a form of Elder Dragon that even the oldest of dragons barely understand. At first, they seem to have come to parley with the dragons of Norrath, but conversation quickly turns to contempt, and there seems to be no stopping the battles to come. A horde of powerful creatures prepares to assault Norrath to cleanse the world of what their herald calls “A clear failure to follow scripture.'”

Do note that the basic buy-in for the expansion is $35, up to $250 for the big mama bundle meant for multiple people (i.e., a family sharing).

If you need even more EverQuest in your life this week, Matthew S. Smith’s new book on the game is now out!

“Based on new interviews with EverQuest developers and veteran MMORPG developers, journalist Matthew S. Smith explores EverQuest’s unlikely creation at a studio built to develop sports games, a rocky release which overwhelmed the game’s ill-prepared datacenter, the enticing game loops that placed EverQuest in a media firestorm around gaming addiction, and the real-money black market for EverQuest items that foretold the future of digital goods.”

And finally, let’s not forget EverQuest II, whose latest expansion went live earlier this fall; this week, Daybreak patched in a long list of bug fixes as well as new housing iems.