EQ2 Panel #1 – Freeport and Beyond

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Daybreak Live (SOE Live/Fan Faire), Expansion News, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Live Events, Tradeskill

Starting the EverQuest II: Freeport and Beyond panel…

Pre-panel Buzz: EQ2Players is being replaced with a new site. Sometime this year, it’s a priority, which it hasn’t been before.

Dave Georgeson starting the panel. There’s so much info, they’ll be giving that first and then Q&A at the end.

Update: This is a video of EverQuest II Panel #1 “Freeport and Beyond” added on July 14, 2011.

   

Update Notes for June 24, 2011 — Leapers and Gliders

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds, Raiding

Today brings a substantial update with lots of fixes, tweaks, as well as the much-lauded introduction of Leaper and Glider mounts to EQ2 at levels 30 and 60. In a perplexing move, Ground, Leaper, and Glider mounts will all travel on the ground at speeds of up to 150%, making them as fast as any of the current Flying mounts, only lacking the differentiating ability of flight.

All servers will come down for an update at 7am PDT (3pm BST / 4pm CET) on Friday, June 24, 2011. U.S. servers are expected to be down for one hour. International servers should expect a two hour downtime.

EQ2Wire Guide to Heroic Velious Armor & Jewelry

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Grouping, Itemization, Tradeskill

Players who have explored the depths of Velious already know that crafters have a bigger role to play this expansion than in many years. In addition to saving players time and money, in Destiny of Velious, tradeskillers are integral to transforming raw materials looted in cellars, caves, and other dark places into the shiny new armament that players actually want.

Although most of this information has been posted on other websites, it hasn’t all been available in a single organized article, so that’s what I’ve set out to do here. We cover the biggest purveyors of armor and weapons in Velious — Thurgadin, Ry’Gorr, and Drunder — who via faction and crafter recipes offer a full selection of armor, jewelry, cloaks, charms, and weapons. The one thing excluded from Thurgadin, Ry’Gorr, and Drunder armor sets is Chest items. Fortunately, we have a Guide to Destiny of Velious Chest armor that covers those choices and where they drop.

Crafters: Before going any further, if you haven’t already explored Niami Denmother‘s EQ2Traders website, specifically her Special Armor guide, I highly suggest it. This article also owes its history to an article posted by Whilhelmina shortly after Velious launched.

On October 11, 2011, Primal Velium Shards were removed as a primary component from Thurgadin and Ry’Gorr armor. Also Drunder armor pieces now drop within Drunder zones. As a result, crafting Drunder armor is now optional and reserved for those with particularly bad luck. Fortunately for them, the materials used to make Drunder armor have been made much more prevalent. This guide has been updated to reflect these changes.

This is a multi-page article so please use the navigation below to select a section.

Jump To: Intro | Thurgadin Armor | Ry’Gorr Armor | Drunder Armor | Pattern Jewelry/Cloaks | Velious Chest Pieces

Traduction française à EQ2Artisans

On Test: Bard Rhythmic Overture Change Misses Mark?

Written by Feldon on . Posted in DGC Wants Feedback, Grouping, Raiding

tfetterman noticed a change in the June 13 Test Update Notes affecting the description and behavior of the Bard ability Rhythmic Overture.

Bard

  • Rhythmic Overture now applies as a buff to the bard. All damage inflicted by the bard will apply toward Victorious Concerto.

Lemilla of Permafrost described the change:

As it’s a buff on yourself instead of a debuff on the mob, it would mean that it will track damage inflicted upon multiple enemies instead of just one. This change makes it possible to charge a proper VC on fights where the mobs die within 10 seconds.

Same for the changes to Crusader’s Faith and Spirit Tap.

When asked if this would affect MultiAttack damage (which Dirges rely on), Spell Double Attack, Procs, etc., Xelgad dashed those hopes:

The same rules apply – so Multi Attacks, Spell Double Attacks, DoTs and Procs will not count toward the recorded damage.

In Brief: Velious Combines, No Airy Dojo, Kael Drakkel Contested, Standard Bearer

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Grouping, Tradeskill

Slow Combines

We understand that the completion times on those extremely tedious combines for certain Velious quests will get trimmed back to a normal time. Currently, they take as long as Coldain Prayer Shawl updates (up to 3 minutes per combine!).

Dojo Prestige House Not Getting Outdoor Area

From Gninja on the EQ2 Forums:

There are no plans to add an outdoor area to the personal Dojo, Sorry!

Kael Drakkel Contested Changes Delight Some, Bore Others

Some players were very happy, overjoyed even, at some changes to Kael Drakkel contested dungeon which reduce or eliminate some frustrating stuns and knockbacks. Other players feel that the changes went too far, with players now able to solo the giants or at least do battle with barely a click from a well-geared healer. For players desparately needing gems from Kael, the changes will certainly speed up the process, but has the challenge been removed?

More Options for Guild Hall Standard Bearer

Now that even heroic dungeons require 100’s of Crit Chance and Crit Mitigation just to either fully hit, or fully avoid hits from mobs, players are looking at every way to boost these numbers. Players posted a thread requesting Crit Chance and Critical Mitigation buffs as options from the Standard Bearer Guild Hall Amenity.

Gninja gave some positive news:

I plan to be adding more standards to this amenity with GU61 so keep the ideas going

SmokeJumper Tips Hand at E3: 25th Class, Expansion Strategy, Cross-Server Grouping

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Daybreak Live (SOE Live/Fan Faire), Expansion News, Grouping

Massively.com is in Los Angeles covering this year’s E3 and spoke to Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, Executive Producer of EQ1 and EQ2 about the future of EQ2. We have already heard some about the revamp of Freeport and Qeynos which will evolve these starting cities into full-fledged quest hubs that will drive character development from levels 1-90. The breaking news for today is that we can expect a 25th character class and the ability to group cross-server.

So what’s next for the game? Georgeson laughed when we asked this and said, “We’re going to start relying a lot less on expansion packs to create content for the game, and what we’re going to do is create lots and lots of content and put it out there on a quarterly basis for free.”

As we already learned in the last Producer’s Letter, Destiny of Velious will continue to be released/completed as free quarterly content updates rather than as a followup “part 2” expansion.

This means that the game’s next expansion will concentrate more on adding features to the game while the team will deliver the content through free updates. “People need new challenges on a regular basis,” he explained. He even speculated on a future model by which expansions are completely done away with, leaving players to purchase features on an individual basis.

June 7th 2011 Update Notes

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Raiding

Today’s update addresses numerous complaints about the difficulty of the Drunder heroic and raid zones as well as the Citadel of V’uul x2. In particular the Drunder group zones seemed to require Raid gear to attempt, yet lacked any progression of itemization from that gear. We also see some ease-of-use changes to Kael Drakkel contested.

The full notes after the jump…

Velious Solo Gear Options Grow With GU60

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization

Destiny of Velious provides many options for solo and duo players wishing to gear up without stepping into a heroic dungeon.

  • For starters, the Othmir and Snowfang quest lines reward gear that was unheard of except for raiders in Sentinel’s Fate.
  • Public Quests offer sets of gear, weapons, and more, with or without joining a group or raid provided enough players are present and successful.
  • A largely unknown solo/duo dungeon Crystalline Breaks provides additional gear up options.
  • And finally today sees the introduction of a Velious Solo Shard Quest to fill out player options for gearing up without a full group.

GU60: Surviving Drunder, Critical Mitigation is Serious Business

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization

Drunder and Critical Mitigation

The Shadow Odyssey introduced Critical Mitigation, a stat needed by players to survive the heavy hits of raid bosses and enemies. Sentinel’s Fate upped the numbers, but it was Destiny of Velious which rolled out Critical Mitigation to all group zones and even overland solo content.

The three new Drunder dungeons, new Citadel of V’uul x2 raid, and three new Drunder x4 raid zones are no exception and set alarming new standards for the amount of Critical Mitigation needed even to do heroic content.

Adding to the concern is that while mobs can be examined to see their Crit Bonus buff, this number has been traditionally 30-50% lower than the amount of Critical Mitigation actually needed to survive their attacks.

The high Critical Mitigation needs of Drunder are hardly a surprise as there was a lengthy thread on the Testing forums. Now that the Drunder zones are live, the discussion is playing out in two threads on the EQ2 forums.

After the jump, Kander and Gninja respond to player concerns and indicate that the number displayed when inspecting mobs will be adjusted to show the real Crit Bonus amount that players will need to gear up for.

Game Update 60 Goes Live Today

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds, Raiding, Tradeskill

Today, arguably the largest Game Update we’ve seen in years hits the live servers. Game Update 60 adds 4 new dungeons, 4 new raid zones, more crafting, more quests from a solo shard quest to a Heritage Quest, major changes to PvP from gear to itemization to mechanics, not only a new Battlegrounds lobby, but a 4th Battleground 18 vs. 18.

We are still waiting for the full list of Game Update Notes, but in the meantime, here’s just a quick bullet point list of what we can expect:

New Level 90 Dungeons and Raid Zones

The Crystal Caverns will naturally be familiar to those who adventured through Velious in EQ1.

The Fortress of Drunder consists of 3 new group dungeons, 3 new x4 raid zones with both regular and challenge modes, a new x2 raid zone, as well as a crafting zone. Drunder zones are only accessible via flying mount.

  • Drunder: Spire of Rage (group)
  • Drunder: Strategist’s Stronghold (group)
  • Drunder: Tower of Tactics (group)
  • Drunder: Citadel of V’uul (x2 raid)
  • Drunder: Sullon’s Spire (x4 raid)
  • Drunder: Tallon’s Stronghold (x4 raid)
  • Drunder: Vallon’s Tower (x4 raid)
   

Kander Asks: What EQ2 Zone Should Get a Heroic Version?

Written by Feldon on . Posted in DGC Wants Feedback, Grouping

If you follow EQ2 devs on Twitter, this is likely old news to you, but Kyle “Kander” Kyle Vallée has posed some questions:

What #EQII zone would you love to see revamped into new heroic content ?

Note, this would be an alternate version perhaps scaled up to level 90 as a “revisit” zone, just as  Nek Castle can be revisited at level 50 and 70. These changes would not affect the original zones. Here are some of his responses:

  • Estate of Unrest: “great the way it is”
  • Obelisk of Lost Souls: “not a bad idea”.
  • Rivervale: “does indeed need some love.”
  • Deathfist Citadel: “I think we need to do something “large” with the orcs!”
  • Overland Zones: “I was thinking more dungeon-y dungeon content, but I have seen a lot of requests for something in the overland style areas.”

In Testing: Game Update 60 Update Notes

Written by Feldon on . Posted in DGC Wants Feedback, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Raiding

Game Update 60 has finally reached Test and there is a lot of content here, including 3 new heroic dungeons, 3 new x4 raid zones, and a new x2 raid zone, a new Battleground, as well as major changes to PvP. Also look out for several changes and tweaks to classes, as well as a hard-to-miss huge nerf to Dirges, with Chimes/Cacophony of Blades no longer interrupting.

“The Children of War”

The Fortress of Drunder has emptied of Rallos Zek and his armies as they pass into the Plane of War to prepare for their eventual march on the Western Wastes. The Demi-Gods, Tallon and Vallon Zek, are subjugated within its towers, ignorant of Rallos’ grand scheme. Only Sullon Zek, the Maiden of Rage, is aware of what is to transpire. Trapped within her own tower, she has taken great risks to seek out worthy and daring heroes and guide them into the walls of Drunder.

Now it is up to you to grapple the Minions of Zek and battle your way through events that will gain you amazing allies and set into motion a war that will end all wars!

After the jump the full Game Update 60 Notes as they appear on Test (subject to change between now and May 17th):

Update Notes for April 28, 2011

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Raiding

Here are your update notes for today, April 28, 2011. They include the introduction of Multi-housing. Thanks to Cyliena over at EQ2 ZAM for the formatting:

HOUSING UPDATES

  • Each character can now own up to 10 houses of any combination (as long as he or she meets the house prerequisites).
  • House purchases are now based on alignment rather than citizenship.
  • The marketplace house item limit increasers now only apply to a single house. Additionally, the marketplace house item limit increaser will no longer stick with your house as you move from house to house, but it still stacks with the tradeskilled house item limit increaser.

More information and FAQ can be found here on the Official Forums.

GU60: Berserker Fixes, Persistent Buffs, Manaburn/Lifeburn Immunities

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping

According to Xelgad, we can look forward to some class improvements/tweaks with  Game Update 60. Here’s what we know so far:

Re: the Berserker class issues thread post Velious thread:

These changes should hit Test with GU60. There should be plenty of time to give feedback on them while they’re on the Test Servers.

Re: Persistent Buffs- Post-DoV Abilities thread:

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to push these changes through until GU60

Re: Manaburn / Lifeburn Immunities thread:

These have been removed for GU60.

Update Notes for April 12, 2011

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Live Events, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds, Raiding

Today’s Update for Tuesday, April 12, 2011 brings PvP Character Transfers to and from PvP servers, fixes for the Storm Gorge PQ, fixes bugs in instances and raid zones including Tower of Frozen Shadow which has been broken since a week ago Thursday preventing raid progression, and eliminates harassment of other server’s chat channels (players were able to join the 1-9 and other numbered chat channels of other servers).

After many years of requests, it is now possible to transfer characters from PvP to PvE and vice-versa on both regular and exchange-enabled servers (exchange-to-regular is still not allowed).

Doing the Math on Primal Velium Shard Gear

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Grouping, Itemization

When buying Heroic/Legendary shard armor with Primal Velium Shards, you now have three choices.

  1. If you’ve got the various gems that drop in different instances, and you have faction, then head to the Ry’Gorr camp in Eastern Wastes. Each piece of armor will cost you 52 shards.
  1. If you don’t have the necessary gem but want your armor anyway, and have faction, then head to Thurgadin in Great Divide. Each piece of armor has a cost ranging from 33-90 shards.
  1. And if you know a crafter who has acquired the two Far Seas recipe books to make this armor , then you don’t need faction and can spend 25% less shards.

Thurgadin Armor

  • Shoulders and Legs – 90 Shards from the Merchant / 69 Crafted
  • Cap – 71 from the Merchant / 54 Crafted
  • Shoes and Gloves – 52 from the Merchant / 40 Crafted
  • Bracers – 33 from the Merchant / 25 Crafted

Ry’Gorr Armor

  • All Slots – 52 Shards from the Merchant / 40 Crafted plus Gem

Thanks to Nindaene for putting these numbers together.

Test Update Notes Point to PQ Fixes, ToFS x2 Resolution

Written by Feldon on . Posted in DGC Wants Feedback, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Raiding

Good news if you play on Test or Test Copy! Several crucial fixes to Public Quests and the Tower of Frozen Shadow x2 raid, as well as the wayward Research button in the Knowledge window  made their way to the Test Servers yesterday.

Normally, we only glance at Test Update Notes to check for new features. No doubt many players on Live will be wishing that this is how the Live Update Notes for yesterday looked. It would have been great to go into the weekend with a lot of these issues tackled.

Here are the Test Update Notes for yesterday, Thursday April 7th. It’s unclear when these will go live, but possibly next Tuesday.

Devil in the Details: Velious Progression

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, Grouping, Itemization, Raiding

Destiny of Velious introduced an unparalleled strict progression to both its group and raid zones. Players wanting to group up in Velious instances have discovered that there are 3 sets of group zones which each require completing the one before it in progression before being granted access.

For instance, you must clear Tower of Frozen Shadow: Shadowed Corridors to gain access to ToFS: Umbral Halls, which must be cleared to gain access to ToFS: Haunt of Syl’Tor. And aspiring raiders must clear all 3 of these group zones in order to gain access to the Tower of Frozen Shadow x2 raid zone. And as we also saw in The Shadow Odyseey expansion, raiders who wish to take on the most difficult x4 Raid content in Velious must first acquire a clickable debuff item by clearing the Tower of Frozen Shadow x2.

With such a daunting interdependency on all Velious zones from group instances through x2 raid and onto the x4 raid zones, you would think that Progression Quests would have been fully tested through QA and ready for players on day 1 of the expansion. Alternately, you would expect that if bugs were discovered, some of these quests would have been passable through other means. Any MMO is going to have adjustments, tweaks, nerfs, etc. after the launch of an expansion. But it’s quite another to release content that MUST all work smoothly end-to-end, yet doesn’t.

Necretia the Widowmaker

Tuesday’s Update restored Necretia the Widowmaker, a boss of Tower of Frozen Shadow x2 nearly a week after she was removed from the game due to two problems. First, it was noticed several weeks ago that she could be killed and respawned. However it was when an extraordinary item on her loot table, the Necretia Bow of Webs was discovered that she was despanwed. This bow had inflated stats and effects such that it was equivalent to a “level 300 item”. However the issue here is one of progression. Tower of Frozen Shadow x2 cannot be completed without her.

It took several days to get this resolved, and guilds who had already started the zone must wait for their zone to reset and start over to get a chance at fighting her. Until then, certain guilds remain unable to raid Velious x4 content through no limitation of their own.

Storm Gorge PQ Participation Filter Being Worked On

Written by Kwill on . Posted in Grouping, Live Events, Raiding

The Storm Gorge Public Quests are currently denying eligible participants the ability to loot a chest, apparently as a result of the recent changes to weed out PQ slackers.   Gninja has acknowledged today there is a problem:

We are aware of the problem and are working to fix it.

In the meantime, players are reporting lag and the possibility you will not get to loot a chest even if you are participating fully. 


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