SOE opened the pre-orders for the upcoming Age of Discovery expansion for EQ2.  Along with that they have announced what seems to be a change in plans.

Initially it had been advertised that the Age of Discovery expansion would include all previous expansions so a lot of folks probably thought they could save some money and get the Destiny of Velious when they purchased Age of Discovery.  Now it seems that SOE has changed their minds and Age of Discovery will not include any previous expansions.

It also seems that there is still some confusion as to when, exactly, this expansion will be launched.  The earliest word was that the expansion would be launched in early December (2011).  Then, shortly after that initial information the launch date was updated to be November 30 (2011).  Now, with the pre-orders started, that date has been changed yet again to a very vague statement of "Winter 2011".  I'm not sure what all that means but it really sounds, to me, like they are either a) having a lot of trouble getting it done and ready or b) They are so dis-organized at SOE that they can't even agree on a launch date for their product.  Either way, it's just one more thing that makes paying $40.00 (or $60.00 for the "Digital Collector's Edition") a very questionable choice.

What exactly do you get for that $40.00 they are asking you to hand over?  Well, most expansions will introduce many new quests, zones, items, group dungeons, raids, and all manner of other neat stuff.  Let's take a look at what AoD will be offering:

1. Dungeon Maker - A tool that will allow you to create your own dungeons for other players to run through and rate (think of the house rating system).  Of note on this one is that you cannot run your actual characters through these dungeons.  You will have to play a generic, "Fighter Bob", type of character.  Also of note is that these dungeons will reward you with a new form of micro-currency that you can use to purchase things from special vendors (think the Battleground tokens).
2. Beastlords - A long awaited and often requested new class.  Those that never played EQ1 may not know about the Beastlord class and those that did won't need an explanation.  If you're among the former, the Beastlord is a hybrid pet class that was fairly uber in EQ1 and were quite popular.
3. Mercenaries - NPCs you can hire to fill in your group.  Word is that you can only have 1 mercenary "active" at a time so no full groups of mercenaries.
4. Reforging - Allows you to change some of the stats on your items and add particle effects to them.  Now you can change up your gear a bit and make it all sparkly and stuff.
5. Tradeskill Apprentices - A new "pet" of sorts that will craft things for you and help you research some special items.  They are also supposed to let you learn special new recipes but there's no real word on what those are exactly.
6. AA increase - Another 50 AA points (I am assuming 50, though it doesn't officially say that) but no mention of new AA abilities.

So, that's it.  No new actual "content" per se and no new zones (unless you count the player made dungeons as new zones).  Overall it seems kind of underwhelming in terms of what you'll be getting for your hard earned cash.  That list really looks more like something that should be in the monthly live update notes as it really doesn't seem to add much to the game play experience.  However, whether or not it's worth the price of admission will be up to you.

You can see the expansion details as well as the pre-order bonus items on the SOE Pre-Order Page