EQ Expansion: The Planes Of Power
By late 2002, EQ was due for another expansion. This one was called The Planes Of Power. It offered a host of new zones and new monsters and new AA abilities. It also raised the level cap from 60 to 65 and added new spells and gear to go along with that. Some of the very top end encounters were designed to make even the strongest guilds team up with other strong guilds to defeat them.

One of the features of this expansion was a tiered system where there were multiple paths that each had to be completed to reach the overall end zone & boss. There were several Tier 1 planes (like the Plane of Disease) which led to Tier 2 zones which led to Tier 3 zones etc.. In most cases Verant had done away with key questing (although several key quests did exist and have to be completed) and replaced it with a system called Flagging. When you completed a quest or dialogue or combat you would get a Flag that enabled you to do something else. Sometimes that was to reach a new zone and other times NPCs reacted to you differently and opened up other quests.

The Syndicate dove head first into PoP. We set our guild goals on reaching lvl 65. We set goals to get members flagged first to enter Tier 2 zones and to Tier 3 etc.. As with all things Syndicate related, we did this as a team and we pushed forward as a unit. As some of the other large guilds around us experienced internal turmoil with mass departures and burnouts, we continued to push forward as a guild and overcome challenges.

PoP was a very fun expansion and The Syndicate conquered many of its challenges as a team. We grew stronger as a guild both internally in the game and as an overall guild entity.