From the EQ2 Forums:

DUNGEON MAKER

You can now play as your character in Dungeon Maker dungeons! Furthermore these dungeons are “Level Agnostic” meaning that anyone of any level can group together and do them together! While the dungeons will be a bit more difficult for a lower level character than a higher level character, they will still be able to play together.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Skyshrine: Betrayal in the Underdepths

In the challenge mode Dozekar fight the Magmatic Elemental and infernal assassin adds will not spawn as frequently as before.

For those preferring a more descriptive rendition of just what we can expect in the upcoming Game Update 64 (previously presented as a bullet point list), Holly “Windstalker” Longdale has posted the July Update Plans for EQ2 which largely mirror what we know about GU64. From the EQ2 Forums:

Summer is finally here and the team is toiling away! We’ve got a few new faces added to the team and we’re going to introduce them with some awesome headshots.  On to what we’re working on…

QEYNOS RISES JULY 24

The new Qeynos is rife with intrigue and conflict as the city, Queen Antonia Bayle, and the Circle of Ten evolve and struggle to oversee the welfare of the goodly folk of Norrath. As is in most places in Norrath, power can tip the scales. The new racial quests, which are available at all levels, offer history and an introduction to your origins as well as a sense of your place within your race while experiencing the Qeynosian struggles. The new class and storyline quests, starting at level 20, drop you amidst the city’s strife with your brethren all the way to the high court.

We didn’t get a Game Update this week, partly due to E3, but we can now look ahead to Test to what’s coming next week. Highlights from the Test Update Notes on the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Withered Lands

• Named within Withered Lands should all respawn correctly now.

Challenge Mode Raid NPC?s (x4 epic)

• Challenge mode raid NPC’s have had their max health reduced.

The ‘Future of EverQuest II’ webcast has concluded, and we have been left with more questions than answers. The webcast at a glance:

• the Qeynos Revamp
• a hint of the Sleeper’s Tomb (GU65) and Kerafyrm (2013)
• the next Expansion (December?) — more levels, more Prestige Points, includes a totally new area of Norrath rather than revisiting a part of the original EverQuest
• Play-as-your-Character in Dungeon Maker (using a feature called Level Agnostic Dungeons)
• On-the-Fly Beta Testing
• using Quest Items from your Quest Journal instead of fishing around in your inventory
• the Scope of the Marketplace (even the EQ2 team admits that more items should be available or craftable in-game)
• Softball player questions about Progression server, Armor dyes, temporary NPCs, and the Meatbeast

In one of the most puzzling interviews we’ve seen on the EQ2 forums, EQ2 Community Manager Eric “Piestro” Cleaver interviewed tradeskill designer Brian “Omougi” Ferguson about the Tradeskill content in the recent Game Update 63.

While it’s expected that a Community Manager interviewing a designer or developer will softball the questions, the lavish praise on this paucity of content has truly raised the hackles of the EQ2 player community. Reaction from the Tradeskill community to Game Update 63‘s blink-and-you-missed-it Tradeskill content has been universal and unequivocal disappointment.

Specifically, the Withered Lands “tradeskill timeline” consists of just 6 quests. Meanwhile, the two new Tradeskill Apprentices require 18 days of waiting for each recipe (which requires 6 rare dropped materials). The raid Apprentice in particular requires some 1,500 platinum worth of crafting rares and materials just to create it, and each TS Apprentice raid recipe requires 6 rare raid-dropped materials. It would not surprise us if months go by before all of the TS Apprentice raid recipes are discovered.

With our unbridled skepticism out of the way, read the full interview after the jump…

Here are your Update Notes for Tuesday, May 15, 2012 from the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Skyshrine: The City of Dracur

• Malicor Kehrn will no longer fight his partner in crime Nefari Kwol.

PLAYER HOUSING

• The Vale of Halfpint Delight door will now display the correct destination.

Today’s update notes exclude any fixes for the top Game Update 63 issues. From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug where some characters would not be able to use a free respec on the tradeskill tree.

• Fixed a bug where F1 would not toggle between a beastlord player and his summoned warder if he had a different warder selected in his character window.

PLAYER HOUSING

Prestige Home: Storm Tower Isle

• A weather controller has been added to the home (the carving adjacent to the front door). The zone will always default to a thunderstorm, but now you may change it to a light rain or none at all, when you visit.

Barx of Antonia Bayle stumbled onto a quest while browsing their EQ2 Achievements window and confirmed its existence by finding a house item from the Claws of Veeshan faction merchant (in the pre-conflict City of Skyshrine) which is not for sale except to those who have completed said quest.

This quest (“Dreadscale Invasion of Dracur Prime“) is mentioned in a quest achievement as being an open quest (PQ?) and is also required to unlock a furniture item at the CoV faction armorer but despite having completed the entire instanced heroic questline I’ve not seen any evidence of it. Google also seems to turn up anything.

Is this quest in-game yet, or is this something planned for the future that didn’t make it live but was left with thise hooks to it?

Alternatively, has anyone complated all the dropped / clicky contested skyshrine starters and gotten to 50k CoV faction and seen this quest perhaps?

Cyliena of EQ2 ZAM has once again turned out comprehensive coverage of an EQ2 Game Update. This time around, we get full coverage of the zones and quests that make up Game Update 63: Skyshrine. You’ll find full walkthroughs of the Withered Lands quests and more information on this update.

Game Update 63 Coverage at EQ2 ZAM

Here are your official Game Update 63 Update Notes from the EQ2 Forums:

The Destiny of Velious saga continues as adventurers breach the barriers of the Withered Lands seeking entrance to Skyshrine, the glorious ancient dragon city!

The great citadel of Skyshrine has long housed the Claws of Veeshan dragons behind its massive walls and arcane protections.  Now, the unthinkable has happened — it has become besieged by powerful forces. Battle and befriend dragons and their wurmkin in the forbidden city of Dracur. Explore the past to unravel mysterious events that transformed the formidable draconic city into a battlefield full of daunting challenges, fearful foes and unimaginable treasures!

A new Game Update is upon us, which naturally means that Niami Denmother has been living and breathing Test, reporting bugs, trying out recipes, and preparing a veritable compendium of information for interested crafters!

• GU63: Crafting Preview @ EQ2Traders “Draggin’ and Puffin'”

• GU63: Carpenter Recipes @ EQ2Traders

• GU63: Withered Lands Crafting Quests @ EQ2Traders

• GU63: Skyshrine Elite Apprentices @ EQ2Traders

Commentary

Niami’s exhaustive coverage belies the dearth of crafting content in Game Update 63. In fact there are just six quests for each tradeskill class, 4 recipe books (Essentials 91 and 92, and Advanced 91 and 92), and 2 Elite Tradeskill Apprentices, one from the solo/duo or group instances, and one from the Underdepths raid zone.

All but the most leisurely crafters will complete GU63’s “crafting timeline” in less than an hour. There is also nothing new for adorners or tinkerers. If the Qeynos Revamp (GU64) doesn’t contain any crafting content, it’s going to be a long wait for more — November or December 2012.

Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, EverQuest Franchise Director of Development, steps up and hosts the second Game Update 63: Skyshrine Preview Webcast, with guests Holly “Windstalker” Longdale, EverQuest II Senior Producer, and Akil “Lyndro” Hooper, EverQuest II Lead Designer.

After the jump, notes about the Game Update 63: Skyshrine Part 2 Webcast, as well as hints about Prestige Classes, the Qeynos Revamp, and more!

Here is your Update Note for April 10, 2012:

DUNGEON MAKER

• Fixed a crash bug with loading layouts in player made dungeons.

And we thought they’d forgotten… From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• All single group instances now have a lockout of 90 minutes.

• Fixed a bug where lingering dot effects from dead and looted NPCs could start critting.

PLAYER HOUSING

• Marketplace housing deeds will now include the maximum number of placed items, prior to using house expanders, in the description.

• Increased item limit for Researcher’s Sanctum to 600.

ITEMS

• Drunder x4 priest breastplates (non-Challenge mode) can now proc Celestial Restoration III.

From the EQ2 Forums comes a recap of what we can expect in April. With the exception of a Double XP weekend over Easter, there’s little  new to of note except some vague comments about bug fixes. And no word on DOV Dungeon Timers being Reduced to 90 Minutes, which was promised for March.

Here are the April Update Plans for EverQuest II!

The Skyshrine update (GU 63) is taking the lion’s share of the team’s focus right now (launching in mid-April), but other things are still happening as we continue to smash bugs, improve systems, and look to the future of EQII!

The team is busy reviewing GU 63 feedback and making tweaks, fixing bugs, and still adding new goodies to the content – and there is a LOT of it – one of the biggest ever done on EQII! I want to say a big “Thank You” to the community too. We’re very grateful for the support and constructive feedback we’ve been getting on the Test Copy server and forums and ask that you not stop now! During this month we’ll be doing interviews and giving detail on what is being added to this monstrous update because there is plenty to say. The more we see the final touches the team is doing, the more excited we all get!

Holly “Windstalker” Longdale

Eric “Piestro” Cleaver interviewed Brian “Omougi” Ferguson on the EQ2 Forums about the upcoming Game Update 63:

As we continue on towards the release of Game Update 63: SKYSHRINE, I sat down with Game Designer Brian “Omougi” Ferguson to talk a little bit about tradeskills. Tradeskills are a big part of GU 63 and he had a lot of exciting information to share!

[Piestro] So tell us a little bit about tradeskills in GU 63. What can tradeskillers expect to see once the Game Update is released?

[BF] Game Update 63 contains the first step into the 10th tier of “normal” tradeskill recipes.  Higher quality Handcrafted and Mastercrafted versions of all the normal things you would expect are all included – spells, weapons, armor, food, poisons, potions, arrows, and of course new house items with themes centered around the Withered Lands and Skyshrine. The new gear will be level 91 and 92.

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• You will now be told to relinquish your player made dungeons before using the character transfer token.

TRADESKILLS

• Several new sets of housing building blocks have been added to existing “carpenter essentials” recipe groups.

• The maximum scaling size of all building blocks has been increased.

From Xelgad on the EQ2 Forums:

Prestige Points are basically Alternate Advancements that you earn automatically as you level. Details coming later this week.

We’re hoping to have a lot of people on test over the next month, and I think our community team is even working on some rewards for players who are able to make it over there.

To update your Test Client in Launchpad 4, click on the tools icon in your normal live launcher -> Select Game Version -> Public Test -> Apply. Looking forward to seeing what you guys think!

From EQ2 ZAM – EQII Players Rally around Terminal Child:

On the official EverQuest II Forums a player posted a sad plea:

My 6 yr old son has cancer and was recently given 6 – 12 weeks to live.

He has a frog that he likes to run around Tenebrous Tangle Island on; however, it is sparse and he has requested to add trees, fences, stairs, animals and all kinds of other  items to make his island fun and exciting.

Are there any decorators out there that would be willing to assist in adding these items (and any others their imagination poses) to help me make the island even more fun for him.  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to accomplish on my own while still providing him quality time to enjoy it.

The EQ2 community has rallied around Ribbitribbitt. A guild has been created and players of all types are grinding status to get him a Tier 3 guild hall by Saturday. Players have donated decorations and even status houses to give him his choice of playgrounds.

Many members of different large guilds on Guk have begun to form a community event this Saturday at 1pm PST on Mara Island. With the thoughtfulness of Zam and what looks to be the inclusion of EQ2 community team it should be a great thing for this family!

Hellzelves tells us “On Saturday we will get together to decorate everything and finish up the crafting at 4 eastern/1 pacific. End game raiders will be taking all comers for duelbets for the cause.”

Also featured on EQ2 Players.

Niami Denmother has turned pink at the prospect of the returning Brewday 2012 events. To find out what’s new with this year’s event, look no further than her Brewday 2012 Crafting/Housing Preview.

In other news, Omougi, EQ2’s new Tradeskill Developer has announced that carpenters will be gaining access to eleven (11) sets of Building Blocks to be crafted with common materials.

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug where if an item icon was on top of a warder spell icon that right clicking the item would result in getting the warder flayout instead of the radial menu for the item.

• Fix for Mozilla in-game browser crash when Flash is installed for non IE browsers and a flash site is viewed.

TRADESKILL APPRENTICES

• Decoration recipes now require Toxnettle Roots instead of Colossal Reactants.

From EverQuest2.com:

What’s better than the amazing Dungeon Maker system introduced with Age of Discovery? Cheaper Dungeon Maker items, of course!
Whether it’s getting the boss pack of spawners – reduced from 1800 DM (Dungeon Marks) to 150 DM — or one of the many cool Glass Weapons available from 100 to 750 DM, we want to make items purchased with Dungeon Marks more accessible to you! It doesn’t matter if you are looking for a specific consumable or a decorative piece of armor, there is something for everyone available via Dungeon Marks.

So starting today, February 27, 2012 jump in game and check out the new reduced prices!

From Calthine at EQ2 ZAM:

Good-bye, Domino!

Emily “Domino” Taylor, beloved Associate Producer of EverQuest II, announced on Facebook today that she’s leaving EQII.  “… today is my last day on the EQ2 team and it’s been nothing but the best times, the best of co-workers, and the best of players, all of whom I’ll miss ridiculously much,” she posted. Emily is best known for being the Tradeskill Developer who took Norrathian tradeskills from a harvesting and creation grind to a playstyle filled with lore, quests, and rich rewards. She made no mention of what she’ll be doing next.SOE Announced a new EverQuest II Producer, Holly “Windstalker” Longsdale, earlier this month.

Correction: It’s important to note that ZAM only reported that Domino had left the EQ2 team.

UPDATE: Emily’s Facebook page now states “Worked at Sony Online Entertainment (Associate Producer)”.

From Emily “Domino” Taylor’s twitter:

Let it be noted, @domino_eq2 is henceforth known as @pentapod. Same person, new challenges to face on a new game. Much <3 to EQ2 always!

Steve Merghart, EQII Senior Character Artist and Chris Myers, EQII Senior Animator, show off Honvar, a dragon who will be appearing in the upcoming Game Update 63 this April. Honvar roamed the Western Wastes in the original EverQuest. Steve and Chris are hoping that someone will make a plushie or maybe show up in costume at Fan Faire as Honvar, or as he seems to have been known internally “Lumpy”.

GamesRadar Exclusive: Watch as EverQuest II’s upcoming dragon is brought to life