The announced removal of Critical Mitigation will coincide with the conversion of Yellow and Red Crit Mit adornments into Health adornments. So why will the replacement adornments have less Health (less than 250 points each) than White health adornments? According to Omougi, it’s because the EQ2 team thinks we should have other viable choices, like DPS. Adornments should be about choice!

From Omougi on the EQ2 Forums:

Our goal with these adornment and spell conversions is to give you guys something in the place of nothing essentially. Before, you were playing a zero-sum game if you had enough crit mit. If you didn’t have enough crit mit, you couldn’t do the encounters — period. All these adornments and spells did is bring you up to a threshold. If you were past that threshold, it does nothing for you.

Now, [while] these adornments and spells actually do increase your survivability at all times – equating the amount of crit mit lost to an equivalent form of HP doesn’t really work out, because any amount of HP is infinitely better than a threshold stat with no use. If you were slotting your adornments for survivability before, you are still slotting them for survivability with HP – the only change is the adornments have been made more powerful in their actual effectiveness with crit mit out of the picture.

This change equates to a free survivability gain across the board, and we need to be very careful with numbers at first to ensure things do not get drastically easier. Changing the difficulty of content is not the goal here – changing the accessibility of content is.

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From Silius on the EQ2 Forums:

Just to clarify some confusion.

• Crit mit as a mechanic is being removed.
• NPC crit bonus was countered by crit mit and we are reducing crit bonus to 0 across the board.
• Critical avoidance is staying around. Critical avoidance is an NPCs way of contesting your chance to critically hit them.
• Replacing the adornments with HP is not to compensate for anything. Since the critical mitgiation stat is no longer useful we are converting to a stat that benefits all players.
• The goal is for this change to not change the difficulty of the encounters. This is why we ask that you all take some time to log on to test once we push it there. We plan on having this on test by the weekend.

Note: NPC crit bonus may be used in the future on a case by case bases and will be considered in the balance of the encounter so that crit mit is not required.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to PM me.

Here are your Update Notes for January 31, 2012:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug where some characters wouldn’t show on character select.

ZONE PROGRESSION / POPULATION

Tower of Frozen Shadow (Raid)

• Tserrina’s spell “Wing Buffet” should no longer cause priests to become knocked back.

• Adds spawned from shadow doors should no longer spawn quite as quickly.

• The number of adds that spawn from shadow doors has been slightly reduced.

Tower of Frozen Shadow: Umbral Halls

• Demanti Sheda should no longer have issues resetting his encounter.

• Demanti Sheda’s spell “Paralyzing Fear” should now stun instead of fearing and has been reduced in duration.

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Here are your update notes for today, January 17, 2012:

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Extra Dungeon Mark Days are here from 17 January until 30 January! Dungeon Maker dungeon players and creators will receive 25% MORE tokens during this time period. To create and see listings of available dungeons, select Dungeon Maker from your EQ2 Menu button in game. Visit the Dungeon Maker category in the Marketplace to spend your tokens on items to equip your play character, as well as items to enjoy and build more dungeons.  Prepare to get your dungeoneering on!

GENERAL

• Fixed a UI bug on the mini-map window.

• Fixed a bug where if you had a single target maintained spell on a group member and logged out that the spell would still be there when you logged back in.

• Fixed an issue that prevented respec cards from working with beastlords.

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Here are your update notes for January 10, 2012 from the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug where you would have to recast buffs on group members every time you zone.

• Fixed random lighting bugs on characters and environments.

• Players will now receive achievement credit for earning hall of fame status if they are offline when awards are processed.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Sense of Urgency: Debone Bonewing should correctly update when defeating the zone boss in under 30 minutes from zone in.

DUNGEON MAKER

• Dungeon Maker creatures will no longer temporarily reappear when defeated while under the effect of a tier-adjusting object.

• Dungeon Maker adventurers should now show up in the Marketplace preview tab.

• Fixed a UI bug with the Dungeon Maker create window.

BEASTLORDS

• Fixed an issue that allowed “a drakonine guardian” to be tameable.

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From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:

Merry Frostfell, Norrath!

The team is about to fly off to their families, great food, and probably a hangover after the new year.

But before we go, we wanted to leave you all with a couple more updates (today and tomorrow) with some really good stuff in it.

Here’s the goodies, broken down by feature.

Dungeon Finder

• We are adding Contested Dungeons to the Dungeon Finder feature from levels 20 to 89. (Level 90 contested dungeons are *not* being added to DF because of itemization concerns.) You should see a lot more dungeons available to you now at the various levels of play.
• (The following update is occurring on Wednesday, 12/21) We’re increasing the rewards for using the Dungeon Finder system. We’re adding a daily quest you can get that pays out after you play with a Dungeon Finder group for 30 minutes or more. The mystery crates are the same type of crates offered as rewards in the Dungeon Maker marketplace category, so the rewards found there are great stuff!

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A few bits and bobs we wanted to bring attention to…

Throwing Weapons

Cyliena took the lead on some random changes with Game Update 62 affecting a variety of thrown weapons (sheaths, pouches, bandoliers, and satchels) which use throwing daggers, shuriken, and other such ammo. Some items were flagged Beastlord-only, some flagged anything-but-Beastlord, and yet others flagged Fighter, Priest, and no Scouts at all.

After some communications with Rothgar and Silius, this is going to be ironed out in the next update:

Just a heads up I that I have fixed the thrown items. Should be live with the next hotfix. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug with the 48 hour grace period for trade for some no-trade and heirloom items.

• Magic Carpet guild hall amenity now has Fens of Nathsar as a destination.

• Fixed a bug where loading a profile from your Mirror of Reflected Achievements would reset your AAs instead of loading the profile.

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Here are your Update Notes for Friday, December 9th, 2011 from the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Characters created before 12/6/2011 no longer have class or race pack restrictions.  Characters created after that date are still subject to your current membership restrictions, if applicable.

• Fixed a crash that could be caused by doing a raid with a large number of mercenaries.

• Fixed a bug that was preventing mentoring on PvP servers.

• Dungeon maker items in the marketplace that contain house items will now display previews in the paperdoll window.

• Fixed issues with Shader 3.0 causing client crashes.

The complete Update Notes after the jump…

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From the EQ2 Forums:

Age of Discovery is the eighth expansion of the groundbreaking EverQuest II franchise.

Age of Discovery offers never-seen-before features including user-generated content and the re-imagining of the Beastlord class from the original EverQuest release.  You can make your mark in-game by creating your very own Dungeon, hire some much needed help for your heroic battles, push tradeskilling research to new heights, customize your weapons at the forge, and of course, play as a Beastlord. There’s a lot to like about this expansion!

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From the EQ2 Forums:

• Fixed an issue with the 48 hour no-trade grace period.
• Fixed an animation issue with the Soga Human Female model riding on the Terrorbird mount.

With the first fix, it will, once again, be possible to simply collect all the loot during a group or raid and trade it to people at the end, or trade items within a group/raid (those who were present for the kill) in case of a looting mistake.

If you’re a Scout, a Fighter, and maybe even a Cleric, Druid, Enchanter, or Mystic in EQ2, and you push yourself to play the absolute best (even if you’re not geared the best), you’re probably already familiar with the concept of Autoattack.

Game Update 61 introduced a new type of Autoattack called Spell Autoattack for Mages and Priests. You might be tempted to jump on the DPS bandwagon, but before you run out and equip a Wand, there are some things you really ought to know!

UPDATE: This article has been updated thanks to feedback from Ferk, Anaogi, Barx!

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From the EQ2Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Temple of Rallos Zek [Challenge]

• Bosses should no longer get double buff packages.

Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundations of Stone [Challenge]

• During the Statue of Rallos Zek fight the automatons of escalation have reduced abilities and should be easier to handle. The statue itself will wait much longer after its final text before it activates retaliation.

Sullon’s Spire [Non-Challenge Mode]

• Hragdold the Frenzied: Ironclaw Priests now heal for less. Clawstorm mana drain is lessened, and it’s not cast quite so often.

Spire of Rage

• Spells that the Sullonites use now have longer casting times and they will start using them later in the fight as opposed to right away.
• Grolla Skullwielder will now say she is casting Sweeping Crash and it now has a longer casting time.

Strategist’s Stronghold

• Hypatia should now tell you when she will cast Fortification of Blades and it now has a 3 second cast time for her.
• War boars in Warmaster Korok Hai’s encounter should now stun a lot less.

Tower of Tactics

• Lady V’uul will only make her orbs vulnerable if she reaches 100% damage reduction. She should call out when this happens. All three orbs should be targetable and killable.

ITEMS

• Temple Guardian’s Shard of Illumination is now heirloom.
• Soul Touched Crystal Wand is now heirloom.

From the EQ2 Forums:

DUNGEON FINDER

• Dungeons are now broken into categories.
• If a player declines a DF offer, they must wait 15 minutes before they can queue again.
• The dungeon finder will now give an indication of how many players of each archetype are queued for each dungeon.
• Any member of the group can now set group options, but everyone in the group must vote on the changes before they apply.

LIVE EVENTS

Nights of the Dead

• The headless Horseman should once again be patrolling Nektulos Forest.
• An Essence of Fear and an Eerie Essence are now being offered to everyone correctly upon completion of the quest “The Troubling Truth”.
• An Essence of Fear and an Eerie Essence now have appropriate descriptions.
• The “Petrified Bone Tile” can now be scaled even larger.

ITEMS

• Titaniir, Aether Strike has been returned to a 4 second delay.

QUESTS

• The quest “Researching Lavastorm: Relics of Battle” once more rewards the Flame Researcher’s Robe.

With today’s update, the entirely optional Beastlord Prelude #2 quest goes live.  It provides an explanation for where Beastlords have been and why they’re now returning to Norrath. Don’t worry — whether you complete these brief lore quests or not, anyone who purchases the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion (when it goes on sale) will be able to create new Beastlords in November.

More controversial in today’s update is the removal of any “shard” cost from Thurgadin and Ry’Gorr armor.

You can expect crafters to be exceedingly busy today as they fulfill orders for full sets of Thurgadin armor as it is now essentially free minus the cost of common materials. Ry’Gorr armor also requires one of the tradeable gems listed below from Kael Drakkel zones. Don’t forget to tip your crafter!

If all crafters are currently assisting other customers, or you just prefer to go the Vendor route, Thurgadin and Ry’Gorr will be happy to sell their armor to allies with +40,000 faction, and a few plat. In the case of Ry’Gorr armor, you’ll also need one or more of the above gems from Kael Drakkel.

Check out EQ2Wire’s Guide to Velious Heroic Armor & Jewelry

Apparently any possible disruption this might cause to Progression or reduction in Tower of Frozen Shadow 1-3, Pools, Ascent, and Fortress groups hasn’t dampened the spirits of players excited to get free lootz for all their alts! Don’t worry, be happy!

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No sooner than we’ve posted a long-simmering article about Velious’ steep heroic progression than changes have hit Test which could turn EQ2’s heroic progression on its ear. Brace yourself. Everything you know about Velious shard armor is about to change.

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Are you spending much time in Kael Drakkel? Drunder? Elements of War? That’s ok, neither are most other people.

EQ2 has a storied history of challenging dungeons. Players who have been around since the Fallen Dynasty fondly recall Nizara for its breathtaking challenge. Echoes of Faydwer delivered the instant classic Estate of Unrest. Kunark followed up with the mid-summer release of Veksar 2 and Runnyeye 2 (both forerunners of so-called Hard Mode zones). The Shadow Odyssey had a pair of zingers — Ruins of  Guk and the Palace of Ferzhul. However no EverQuest II expansion has played host to as many difficult dungeons at one time as the Destiny of Velious.

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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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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.

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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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.

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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.

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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).