Today’s update removes the need for Critical Mitigation from Velious overland zones, as well as Kael Drakkel: Throne of Storms and the Temple of Rallos Zek (non-challenge). From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Sullon, Tallon and Vallon x4 raid zones (challenge versions)

• Many of the adds in the boss encounters now have reduced health.

Sullon, Tallon and Vallon x4 raid zones (non-challenge versions)

• In the non-challenge instances of these raid zones NPC bosses now have less health and do somewhat less damage with their melee attacks and spells.

Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundations of Stone [Challenge]

• The damage from the breath weapons that the Statue of Rallos Zek uses is easier to mitigate. The statue of Rallos zek will wait a couple of seconds after it says its text before casting retaliation of zek on itself.

Tallon’s Stronghold [Challenge]

• General Aakita and Utehk have less maximum health.

Great Divide and Eastern Wastes

• Critbonus has been removed from all overland mobs. Critical mitigation is no longer required to survive.

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Reversing yesterday’s odd changes to the Zek and Drunder Breastplates, here Today’s Update Notes for September 28, 2011:

ITEMS

• Temple of Rallos Zek non-challenge BP mitigation values should be fixed.
• Temple of Rallos Zek non-challenge BP crit mit should be at 34%.
• Talisman of the Ethernauts should work for real this time.
• Fixed crit mit values on Elements of War caster legs and forearms.
• Fixed the stats on the Feinting Dagger of the Cunning Gambit and Feinting Blade of the Cunning Gambit.

Yesterday, Test received an update with these auspicious line items:

• Kael and Drunder group BPs have been modified to better fit within the progression.
• Temple of Rallos Zek Raid Hard mode BPs have had their power increased.

The result of these changes, however, has been less than desirable. The Mitigation (not crit mit, but the basic mitigation) of all the Breastplates (Robes, Cuirassen, Hauberks, Gis, Tunics, etc.) from Kael Drakkel: Fortress Spire and Drunder: Tower of Tactics has been reduced by over 90%.

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From the EQ2 Forums:

Beginning September 29, 2011 at 6:00 a.m. PDT subscription and commerce services will be unavailable for maintenance. We expect this maintenance to take approximately two and half hours. This may also cause some forum accounts to temporarily lose permissions, due to the inability to verify account status while the maintenance is taking place. This is only temporary and normal permissions will return automatically once the maintenance is complete.

We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

Time Zone Calculations:

PDT: September 29, 2011 at 6:00~8:30 a.m.

EDT: September 29, 2011 at 9:00~11:30 a.m.

BST: September 29, 2011 at 14:00~16:30

CET: September 29, 2011 at 15:00~17:30

From the EQ2 Forums:

HOUSE RATING SYSTEM

• The House Rating System has been modified to use the median value of all ratings instead of a simple average.
• This will reduce the effect caused by players leaving extremely low or extremely high values that are outside of the norm for that house.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Kylong Plains

• Gregor Footstomper, Warlord Di’Ouz, Gorguolatha and Widow Mistress Xalthira in Kylong Plains should now drop treasure.

Nektulos

• All Griffin flight paths in Nektulos will now function properly.

ITEMS

• Fixed an issue where the incorrect leg shader would appear when wearing kilts.
• The Deepwater Researcher’s Sigil can no longer be traded.
• Kael and Drunder group BPs have been modified to better fit within the progression.
• Temple of Rallos Zek Raid Hard mode BPs have had their power increased.
• Fixed the focus effect for Hard mode Illusionist robes.
• Simmering Odachi of Feverous Advance now properly displays as a Fabled item.
• Fixed crit values on Hard mode Drunder belts.
• Velious instance rare loot has been rebalanced.

From EverQuest2.com:

Brell Serilis is in search of more treasure to expand his vault!

He has selected some treasures from the EverQuest II Marketplace to add to the hoard of valuables locked in his vault deep underground.

Get select items now before Brell locks them away on October 2, 2011. Items placed in the Vault of Serilis won’t be available for purchase until at least sometime next year.

Visit the Marketplace and select Vault of Serilis to get these items now!

The list of items being mothballed put aside until 2012 can be read at EverQuest2.com or in-game in the Vault of Serilis.

UPDATE: EQ2 ZAM has a complete list of the items which are being removed from the Marketplace.

NOTE: This article contains no new information since August’s SOE Fan Faire 2011 event, but since these questions have been coming up more and more frequently, I thought I’d do a recap.

EverQuest II: Age of Discovery

With its promise of new features rather than new content, EverQuest II’s eighth expansion has the makings of an atypical release. EverQuest II: Age of Discovery is touted to have:

• Beastlords — The most frequently requested feature of EQ1 arrives with the Beastlord class. The 25th class will wear Brawler equipment but otherwise have an archetype of Scout. Will have a separate AA tree for their pet.
• Mercenaries — NPCs which can be hired to assist in questing, groups, and raids
• Tradeskill Apprentices — Little is known about these, but they use a new crafting table type and offer unique new recipes.
• Design Your Own Dungeon — Based on an updated version of the housing system, players can build dungeons using existing Zone styles, placing Items and Mobs picked up from around Norrath. They can then publish their Dungeon for others to play *using avatar NPCs* (you may not use your own character to run a DYOD). Rewards include gear for your main character, or items which can be used to build your own Design Your Own Dungeons.
• Item Reforging — Reshuffle some (but not all) of the stats on your items. You’ll also gain an in-game Particle Effect editor.

Read More»

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Drunder

• All Challenge mode raids have had overall health for non-boss NPCs decreased by 25%.

Sullon’s Spire x4 raid [Challenge Mode]

• Aaranae Acrimae: She no longer speeds up the recast of Force of the web as the fight goes on.

Temple of Rallos Zek x4 Raid [Challenge Mode]

• Supreme Imperium Valdemarr and the Statue of Rallos Zek now have significantly fewer hit points.

Vallon’s Tower Raid [Challenge Mode]

• Lichlord Skulldugger fight: Greater deathknights have less health. Maalus will not cast irrevocable death as often on players during his portion of the fight. Once you have completed the initial ring event, you only have to defeat Byzola on subsequent pulls. Gozak’s Essence now has less maximum health.

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From Zoltaroth on the EQ2 Forums:

LG Services should be back up and running.  Let us know if you run into any more issues.  Sorry for the delay.

and from SmokeJumper:

…LG is a third-party service. Coordinating with outside people is always more challenging, thus the delay.

We apologize for the delay, but it should be fixed now.

After a couple of false starts, it looks like EverQuest II’s Dungeon Finder feature will be hitting the Test and Test Copy servers today. It’s important to note that the EQ2 Dungeon Finder feature will NOT allow cross-server grouping when it goes live. That’s planned for a distant future update.

From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:

Hi, folks,

The GU 61 feature that got delayed, “Dungeon Finder” is coming to your Test server on Friday, 9/20, in the morning update.

Here’s an early peek at the release notes you see then. There are definitely still bugs in the system, but we need your help to shake out the issues.

Try it at different levels, if you can. Some of you may find that you rediscover forgotten content you haven’t seen for a long time.

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Here are your update notes for today, September 20th, 2011:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Fortress of Drunder: Citadel of V’uul (x2)

• Overall health of trash and boss encounters has been lowered.

PLAYER HOUSING

• Added a unique house ID number to saved house layout files. This can be used to identify a file from one house that has the same zone as another house.
• NOTE: Old version 5 files should still be loadable. New saved files will be version 6 and include the unique ID.

ITEMS

• Kingdom of Sky “Cloud Mount” questline rewards have had set bonuses re-added to them. This set bonus should work with the new and old quested items. Classes that cannot acquire the specific pieces have also been removed from each item.
• Elements of War weaponry should now have more lenient class restrictions.
• Son of Blades and Spreading Shadows should proc correctly.
• Brock’s Thermal Shocker is attainable in game once more. Players who have already completed the quest “Find Gingus” should be able to get the Thermal Shocker from the Shady Swashbuckler.
• The Soulshattering Band is no longer equipable by Fighters and Scouts.

QUESTS

• Quest Demonstration of Loyalty should now update properly in Nektulos Forest.

Ever since the San Diego power outage on which knocked out all SOE servers, players attempting to use the LiveGamer service to transfer/buy/sell items and characters on the Bazaar and Vox servers have been receiving the following error message:

Item not sent! Transfer Asset Failure

On September 13th, Bunji posted in a thread discussing this issue on the EQ2 Forums:

This issue is currently being investigated.

There were two followup posts from Bunji indicating that the service should be working, but whatever was fixed on SOE’s end did not resolve the situation, suggesting a problem on LiveGamer’s end.

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There are several options to upgrade your character’s Chest slot in Velious without raiding. There are now three questlines in Velious that offer Chestpieces, including the Othmir quests, the Flying Gryphon questline, and the new Thrael’Gorr quests introduced in Game Update 61. Public Quests have also offered a Chestpiece for those who are either extremely lucky or extremely patient.

Depicted at the top of this article is the power progression in Scout Chestpieces from Othmir quest gear all the way to Zek HM. Click the image to view all 11 items side-by-side.

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Looks like Dungeon Finder is just about ready to go to Test and Test Copy.

From Zoltaroth’s Twitter feed:

Just finished play testing Dungeon Finder for EQ2 again. It’s almost ready for test server, very exciting!

Friday September 16 UPDATE from SmokeJumper:

It should hit the Test server today. We have one last playtest to do this morning to be sure, and if it passes that, then to Test it goes!

EQ2 Associate Producer Domino has started a new thread in the public Test forum regarding some changes to Pathing in EQ2. It’s not clear if these changes are intended to address the Issues With Mob Warping which we have discussed in the past.

We have made a change to the way pathing works in a few zones on Test server, and would like your feedback.Have you noticed anything different? Better or worse?

Read More»

From the EQ2 Forums:

Hello Troubadors!

We have finally completed the first draft of our Troubador revamp and would like to get your feedback on these ideas. Our primary goal is to give Troubadors more options during combat that can have a clear effect on the fight. Viewed individually, some of the changes may be considered minor, but we hope all these small and moderate changes will add up to a much more dynamic and interesting class.

Read More»

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Plane of War

• Players may now enter the plane of war, once someone on the server has defeated all 3 demigods of war (Sullon, Vallon and Tallon Zek) in challenge mode.

Drunder x4 raid zones

• Players can now enter the challenge mode Drunder x4 raid zones without having killed the previous demi-god in challenge mode.

Sullon’s Spire x4 raid [Challenge Mode]

• Aaranae Acrimae: Her adds have less health. The rage devourer no longer casts the aoe multistrike.

Read More»

On Friday, September 16th, Jennifer “Isulith” Bridges, interim EQ2 Community Manager while Amnerys is on leave, will be hosting a Meet and Greet on the Test Copy and Freeport (EQ2X) servers at 4-5pm PDT and 5-6pm PDT respectively.

We’re anxious to see what mark she’ll leave on the EQ2 community during her tenure. The natives have been getting restless, and forum trolls seem to have gained a foothold. I’m personally hoping more for “Stand and Deliver” or “The Substitute” and less “Kindergarten Cop“!

The announcement from EverQuest2.com:

Read More»

From Kaitheel on the EQ2 Forums:

Nights of the Dead 2011 has been activated on Test and Test Copy!

Nights of the Dead once again brings goblins and ghoulies out from the shadows. Those inclined to celebrate the holiday through crafting will find a new book of recipes full of new house items being sold by official event merchants. And those feeling more adventurous can trick-or-treat within Qeynos or Freeport or investigate the multiple haunted locations! But be wary as the mysterious Setri Lur’eth has been spotted at the beach in Nektulos Forest and the headless guardsman has been rumored to be wandering the paths of the forest, too!

Read More»

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Kunark

• Creatures found within Kylong Plains, Kunzar Jungle, Fens of Nathsar and Jarsath Wastes are once again dropping items.

Stonebrunt Highlands

• Vreshana Kestral will no longer send characters to The Palace of Roehn Theer if they opt not to go.

Read More»

Gninja provided some great news on Friday for players carrying unadorned gear from Velious’ two x2 raid zones (Tower of Frozen Shadow and Tower of Vuul):

The X2 zones drop items with red adornment slots, so those are the shards that will start dropping once my change makes it to the current build.

Both X2 zones should be getting the pure primal velium shards dropping from all the named.

Providing the means to buy Red Adornments for items with red adornment slots is certainly a welcome change. And the more powerful War Runes retain their rarity as they still must be acquired via “flagging” (although as of a recent update they are now Heirloom).

Announced at Fan Faire and rolled out in late August, the long-awaited revamp of level 20-90 gear was staggering in its ambition. Some 7 years of items, numbering over 50,000, would go under the knife or be recreated entirely for the Revamp. Now just over two weeks since the launch of Game Update 61, it remains unclear just where we stand on the Great Reitemization of EverQuest II.

More than anything, players have wondered at the intent of the revamp, seeking out an overall vision of item progression that would flow from level 1 through to level 90 items. Thus far, there hasn’t been one. In fact, any kind of guidance whatsoever on this crucial Reitemization has been singularly lacking from both EQ2 Mechanics and Management.

While we applaud members of the EQ2 Design who have put in absurd hours trying to wrangle some sense of order to this monstrous undertaking, the chaos has been palpable. The lack of direction has led to conflicting announcements, and some items having undergone their fourth revision in just a few short weeks.

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In July, an Aether Flying Race was added to the Thundering Steppes on the Test server. Turns out, this was created specifically for the Community, Customer Service, and Guide teams as something they can turn on for specific events, weekends, etc. This unique Aether Race was activated today, September 10th, on all EQ2 servers. It will be activated next week on the EQ2X Freeport server.

Dellmon and Aliscious of EQ2Talk have been running the course like crazy trying to set an all-time track record. Although there is no unique title for completing the course within a specific time, there is a special flying appearance mount/ground mount for completing these.

UPDATE from Naylie (Community Relations Manager; Guide Liaison – Station Pass Games): The Community team Aether race track reward is a Gold C.R.A.S.H. Disk ( \aITEM 144820029 1111115652:[Gold C.R.A.S.H. Disk]\/a ). The Guide’s race track will reward a green pad and the Customer Service track offers the purple pad.

From the EQ2 Facebook page:

The Community Aether Races should now be up in game. You can find these in The Thundering Steppes. Isulith will be running them next Friday on the Freeport server.

EQ2 ZAM recorded a video preview of this track in July if you want to check it out. This event is being discussed on the EQ2 Forums.

SOE Games, Websites, and Services are back up after yesterday’s San Diego Power Outage caused by a faulty main supply line and some maintenance being performed in Arizona.

The Freeport (EQ2X free-to-play) server seemed to come up first, followed by most of the EQ2 servers. Nagafen experienced some database issues due to the power outage and required some additional work.

The Marketplace, Character Transfers, and Server Status pages all experienced some outages and additional glitches may occur for the next 24-48 hours.

The increasingly permeable barrier between Test and Live seems to be fluctuating. Someone call Fringe Division! A bullet point in yesterday’s update notes elicited widespread commentary on the EQ2 Forums, leading some to theorize that it was a typo. It wasn’t:

Critical chance should no longer appear on items below level 80.

The result was many items lost some or all Crit Chance, Crit Bonus, Reuse, etc.

Further, items from the new Elements of War heroic zone also got hit with the Nerf[TM] bat, seeing reductions from 42 Crit Chance to just 12%.

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