From the EQ2 Forums:

From EverQuest2.com:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Cobalt Scar

• Aerial collections in Cobalt Scar should no longer spawn in unreachable locations.
• Salton the Undying in Cave of Anguish will no longer wake and attack if player is on the tradeskill quest, “Hope Reborn” where the item, “Othmir Scouting Potion” is applied to the player’s character.

The Court of Al’Afaz

• Evac will now take you to the start of the instance instead of zoning you to Pillars of Flame.

Lesser Faydark

• Grand Master, Lu Sun will no longer meditate beneath the rock once you have returned to complete the quest given by him.

Freeport

• Cipius Abito the Provisioner will no longer check to see if you are on one of the good factions for some of the items that he sells you.

ITEMS

• The [eq2u]Brace of Corporeal Darklight[/eq2u] will no longer proc in pvp combat.
• The Freeblood mount spell Cloud of Bats is now a proper mount, accessed from the Mounts window. Additionally, the prerequisite quest is no longer required to access the flying mount. Flying is still limited to characters level 85 and higher.
• The [eq2u]Dagger of the Blind[/eq2u] will now show its proper appearance.
• [eq2u]Ethereal Robes of the Silver Reaper[/eq2u] now procs the 10% flurry on the wearer properly.

QUESTS

• Distraction and Destruction – Regaining the quest after blowing up barrels will no longer require players to wait before being able to blow up the barrels again.
• Potent Potables is now optional in the Cobalt Scar quest line. Should you choose to skip it, you will not be able to complete it again, however a repeatable version of the quest will become available from an othmir medic found near Salt Breeze Camp.

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Cobalt Scar

• End line collection rewards have been slightly improved and now have an additional effect.

CLASSES

Mage

• Absorb Magic will no longer be outright resisted.

Brigand

• Cuss will no longer be outright resisted.

Swashbuckler

• Tease will no longer be outright resisted.

Druid

• Serene Symbol will no longer be outright resisted.

Shaman

• Scourge will no longer be outright resisted.

Templar

• Unswerving Hammer’s damage now properly applies to epic targets.

Coercer

• Mind’s Eye is now a toggle ability and will grey out when active.

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Cobalt Scar

• Kelorek’Dar no longer stuns or interrupts players as a damage shield. He will instead damage player’s power pools slightly at the same frequency.
• Collections – Collectibles in Cobalt Scar should be more readily available

Chelsith

• Kuom’Ziki will no longer continue to speak when he is dead.

Jarsath Wastes

• Fixed a spawn point for collectible shinny that was below the surface at location -1619 183 1116.

Blackburrow

• The “Sabertooth Champion” should start spawning again. The respawn for him is around 20 minutes.

Sleepers Tomb

• Sleepers tomb raid – challenge mode ancient sentinel no longer heals itself with Touch of Velium II spell.

Nektulos:

• The Travelling Augur is adjusted to prevent the possibility of him falling beneath the dock.

Siren’s Grotto: Dissension

• The second respawn location should not be available until the doors to the second half of the zone are unlocked.

With Game Update 66 and the introduction of Siren’s Grotto, it’s now time to bump up the quality of heroic gear a bit. To do that, Drinal’s Steward as started offering Tier 2 heroic armor. From Amnerys on the EQ2 Forums:

Good news! The Steward of Drinal now has Tier 2 Heroic gear available. Platinum prices on the Tier 1 Steward gear have been lowered. Greater Spirits and essences have also had their drop rates increased.

This is indeed good news, as there is certainly room for growth and a need to provide an obvious upgrade over the Advanced Solo rare drops.

However there are a few hiccups too. On the EQ2 Forums, players have renewed their objections to needing to run the 15 hour Chains of Eternity Solo Signature Quest line on each of their alts in order to shop Drinal’s Steward’s wares. While we’ve been able to buy a Steward’s Key to share the Obol and Spirit love with our alts, this key has never unlocked the ability to buy from the Merchant. Thus far, the workaround for buying armor has been to swap characters around and trade it through the Shared Bank. However this won’t work with Tier 2 gear upgrades.

Despite protestations from Raid and Group Leaders, it seems the current itemization strategy of crazy-gluing desirable Yellow and Red Adornments to equally desirable items and leaving it to players to divide the child is here to stay.

An eternal optimist might say that leaving it up to players to decide whether to destroy the item to salvage the adornment is part of a longer term strategy to bring choice and hard decisions back to EQ2 itemization after years of streamlining.

While a growing number of Adornment Dislodgers have become available since the Chains of Eternity expansion launched, their cost has kept them out of reach for many players. Especially the obscenely expensive Superb Prismatic Adornment Dislodger which is one of the few types which preserves the item AND a choice of one adornment.

With today’s update, the aforementioned Superb Prismatic Adornment Dislodger will drop from 1,000 plat to 250 plat. Further, EQ2 designers have posted that some cheaper adornment removers are on the way.

Hopefully today’s update will finally and completely put the EQ2 Platocalypse to bed:

From EverQuest2.com:

GENERAL

• Click-to-cure should now use the robust remedies that are in your bags.
• Pet back off will now remove auto-assist.

MERCENARIES

• Quest mercenaries should no longer overwrite your hired mercenary if they die.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• The Triumph “Destiny of Velious Over Achiever” should once again be awarding to players who have already killed the required bosses.

GUILD HALL AMENITIES

• Bells should no longer require a 6 person group to zone to Cobalt Scar.

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug where not all of your points spent would load from an AA mirror.
• Granted a free respec on all trees to all players.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Sirens Grotto Raid

• Caella the Pearl encounter – Siren Controllers are slower to react after spawning and have less health. Entrancer Lisha now waits a while after casting Numb Senses to cast her Consume Vitae AOE.
• Entrancer Lisha will no longer charm pets with Siren’s Melody.

Siren’s Grotto: Alluring Embrace [Heroic]

• Health has been reduced on a number of NPCs.

Drinal’s Castle Raid

• Fitzpitzle should now properly advance to his rooms when defeated.

From EverQuest2.com:

All EQ2 Servers will come down on Tuesday, April 30, at 7:00 am Pacific Time* for Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened. The expected downtime is three hours. Part of this maintenance will occur at the same time as a SOE-wide maintenance.

Game Update 66: SCARS OF THE AWAKENED
Update Notes

Ever vigilant, Norrathians march united under the banner of the New Combine army, deeper into the perilous continent of Velious.

Finally, the army breaches the borders of a region known as Cobalt Scar – a majestic, lush, but tormented region. And from within dark passages in the surrounding mountains, the inhabitants of Sirens Grotto beckon to all.

The first news heard from Cobalt Scar concerns tribes of Othmir that succumbed to an unfortunate fate that now threatens everyone. Further examination into the area will reveal a foreboding presence of the Awakened Legion, a force of evil that decimated dragonkind in the legendary city of Skyshrine.

Nearby, in the watery depths of Sirens Grotto – unseen by landwalkers for the ages – it is said that the caverns hold secrets of their own. And the beguiling siren coven known as the Darkwater Sisters will not give up those secrets easily.

All the while, the Ages End Prophecy looms with its promise to see Kerafyrm – Norrath’s most evil, powerful dragon – bring a violent end to the world. Heroes from every corner of Norrath are called to explore this new land in Velious and fight for a future for all.

Wednesday’s sprawling two hour Critical Hit podcast with Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall is absolutely worth listening to, as Nathan goes into the best uses of design hours, what it takes to revamp zones such as Qeynos and Freeport, why the starting islands were removed, the importance of storytelling, and more.

But if you are a raider or otherwise into the mechanics and itemization of EQ2, and you listen to only one EQ2 podcast this month, it should be EQ2Talk Episode #63 with Kyle “Kander” Vallee. He goes into a lot of the thinking behind the upcoming update (and this fall’s expansion), has some refreshing vision towards the future of EQ2, itemization and content design, and is very candid about some of the missteps in Chains of Eternity as well as other past changes.

All comments below are paraphrased from Kander’s comments in the 1 hour 40 min podcast. Any errors in meaning are the fault of the editor.

Stat Consolidation

• If there is one thing Kander could go back and change about EQ2, he would never have gone along with Stat Consolidation (where each class has just one primary stat and then Stamina for increasing health).  The different benefits you got from each stat were some of the “meat and bones” of EQ2 and chasing different stats and having to make choices on which gear you equip added a lot of depth. We had a lot more choice itemization-wise. For example, building up Intelligence to increase poison damage for scouts.
• As far as Stat Consolidation, we’re actually planning to head back in that direction as far as the next expansion to provide more choices. Right now, itemization feels a little bit stale. Players should need to think about their gear.

More after the jump…

From the EQ2 Forums:

Last week, you got an inside look at Cobalt Scar on a tour with Haohmaru, ttobey, and Kaitheel. This week, we bring you an early look at the Siren’s Grotto! Join Tim “Haohmaru” Heydelaar, Chris “Chrol” Garlick, and Christopher “Phatkins” Atkins as they take you through this new dungeon, coming with Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened, which will be released on April 30.

Logo Mockup by EQ2Wire

In addition to the new content in Game Update 66, which hits Beta today and will go live on April 30th, there are numerous class tweaks. But instead of class balance (although there is some of that), the overriding theme of the class improvements in this update could best be summed up as “What Bugs Your Class Most?” All those things about your class that drive you crazy, like having to be directly behind the mob to use your biggest hits as a Dirge, or having to be exactly 5 meters from the mob to do both your Melee and Ranged CAs as a Ranger.

Read over the notes and give us your take. Are these great, long overdue changes, or does it almost go too far, making things a little too convenient? As a Ranger, I’m excited about the changes, but will I become even lazier now that I can stand pretty much anywhere in the room and do my maximum DPS? I certainly applaud a number of the changes which were things that “didn’t make sense” which have now been fixed.

After the jump, Game Update 66′s Beta Notes…

Not everyone has the time to watch a Twitch or Youtube video talking about upcoming Game Updates, Expansions, Features, etc. Some are not able to watch videos at work and would rather read a transcript. And there are a number of EQ2 players who are hearing impaired. So for you guys, I am happy to present another EQ2Wire exclusive Transcript of an SOE Webcast. This week’s session is about the upcoming Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened which lands on the Beta server next Tuesday and goes live April 30th.

Inside this transcript, you’ll find out…

• The Othmir make their way to Cobalt Scar to see what’s left of their homeland.
• New Tradeskill quest line.
• New Tradeskill Apprentice recipes.
• New overland zone with numerous quests at Advanced Solo difficulty.
• New Heroic zones. New Advanced Solo zones. New raid zone with internal progression.
• Itemization is an overlay for Chains of Eternity, not a gear reset.
• Gear upgrades will be in 7-8 slots and there are clear upgrades for all gameplay levels including solo, group, and raid.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Logo mockup by EQ2Wire

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums:

To all Norrathians,

The Velious saga continues! New lands and adventures will be uncovered on April 30 with Game Update 66 entitled EverQuest II: Scars of the Awakened!

Ever vigilant, Norrathians march united under the banner of the New Combine army, deeper into the perilous continent of Velious.

Finally, the army breaches the borders of a region known as Cobalt Scar – a majestic, lush, but tormented region. And from within dark passages in the surrounding mountains, the inhabitants of Sirens Grotto beckon to all.

One thing that made it into yesterday’s Update was a change to how loot drops in the Chains of Eternity Advanced Solo zones. Previously, after killing flattening laying to rest the boss of each zone, 1-3 Mystery Crates would be granted to the player, containing either Legendary jewelry, Fabled armor (very rare), or consumables like Research Reducers, temporary Adornments, or Food. Because the items were in a Mystery Crate, the items could not be traded to other players, even if you had done the zone with 2 players (rather than 1 player and a mercenary). Players reported a very high incidence of receiving items that they could not use for their class.

The bosses of all the Advanced Solo zones (except Wurmbone’s End HM) have these loot rules:

• 100% chance at two (2) Advanced Solo gear items – 50% Smart Loot
• 10% chance at a third Advanced Solo gear item – 50% Smart Loot
• 10% chance at a solo-level Spirit Stone
• 5% chance at a group-level Spirit Stone

Wurmbone’s End (HM) has these loot rules:

• 100% chance at four (4) Advanced Solo gear items – 50% Smart Loot
• 10% chance at a fifth Advanced Solo gear item – 50% Smart Loot
• 10% chance at a solo-level Spirit Stone
• 5% chance at a group-level Spirit Stone

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• You can now put a true/false parameter on the /hide_illusions command to force hide or force show instead of toggeling the hide illusions option. If you don’t use a parameter it will just toggle as before.
• The /hide command will once again default to /hide_illusions instead of /hide_guild_achievements.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Wurmbone’s End: Nox Incessit

• Prime Temple-Blocker Grudk now gives more time to kill his spider adds. Adds have less health.
• Wasp and bug encounters have been lowered in number to help reduce lag issues.

ITEMS

• The experience required to increase the level of a Spiritstone has been lowered in many cases.
• Potency has been added back to Trinket of the Grim Virtuoso, Nexus of Acid, and Gravedigger’s Mark.
• Prime Fortified Soul Trap will once again cap out at 60 Stamina at level 50.
• Rune: Greater Cyclical Battering II now has 11 multi-attack.

The Advanced Solo zones in Chains of Eternity drop some amazing loot, including a full set of jewelry upgrades as well as (somewhat controversially), the basic raid gear that drops in Chains of Eternity raid zones.

This has been nice for players who are either tackling them with a mercenary or a second player. However due to the way the loot in these Advanced Solo zones drop (in one or three mystery crates), most players end up with an item they cannot use. Worse, the items cannot be traded with group members. And more maddening still, the loot table includes the rather useless Dungeon Maker rewards such as [eq2u]Demonicus Steaks[/eq2u], temporary adornments, etc.

Fortunately, it looks like some changes are coming to how the loot will be granted from these zones. From Kander on the EQ2 Forums:

We are going to change the way advanced solo zones drop loot. Very soon.

From the EQ2 Forums:

ITEMS

• Fixed an issue with the adornments Prime Fortified Soul Trap, Nexus of the Bastion and Nexus of Flame. Unfortunately, this fix is not retroactive to those already missing their adornments. Please submit a customer service ticket for reimbursement of any lost adornments.

From the EQ2 Forums:

NEW RAID ZONES

• New x2 raid zone Wurmbone’s End: Nox Incessit (with normal and challenge versions). Entrance located in Jarsath Wastes.
• New x4 raid zone The Dreadcutter: The Pirate Kings. Entrance located in Obol Plains on the dock.

NEW BAG SORTING, SWAPPING AND DUMPING FEATURES
Bag Sorting:
Open up the Bag Options window from the button on each bag to access the filters that you’d like to set for a respective inventory bag. After setting your options, hit the “Sort” button on your Character window. This will send a command up to the server with “/sort_bags name”.

• In addition to sorting by “name”, you can type the sort_bags command yourself and put “level” to sort by level of the item instead.
• Any option that you set for filtering items will also affect which bag the item goes to upon looting!
• If you’d rather a bag not be sorted, feel free to mark the bag as a “Skip”.

On February 21st, SOE Podcast #143 was posted and it includes a brief interview between Colette “Dexella” Murphy, EQ2′s Community Manager, and Kyle “Kander” Vallee, EQ2 Lead Designer, Brian “Omougi” Ferguson, EQ2 Systems Design, and Kenneth “Terrogaunt” Roecks, EQ2 Programmer.

After the jump, we provide a transcript of the EQ2 part of the Podcast including:

• Wurmbone Crag: Nox Incessit [x2 Normal and Challenge Raids]
• Dreadcutter: The Pirate Kings [x4 Challenge Raid]
• Bag Sorting — one-click sort bags by Level or Name into 14 categories
• PvP Balance — continued tweaks
• PvP Blue Adornments — new slots
• PvP Guardian — buffed!
• confirmation of Cobalt Scar in Game Update 66 at the end of April

Download SOE Podcast #143 [15:31 mp3]

Although we’ve already been advised that the era of “Pre-Adorned Items” isn’t coming to an end any time soon, we can look forward to a new vendor being added next week in Game Update 65.5 which will allow us to purchase some of the more run-of-the-mill Red and Yellow Adornments for [eq2u]Obol[/eq2u] and [eq2u]Greater Spirit[/eq2u].

Greater Spirits -> Obols

If you happen to have an abundance of [eq2u]Greater Spirit[/eq2u] but are running short on [eq2u]Obol[/eq2u], you’ll be able to trade them in. A [eq2u]Crate of Obols[/eq2u] will also cost 7p and 1 Greater Spirit in exchange for 18 Obols.

NOTE: Greater Spirits drop from heroic zones. Obols drop from any Chains of Eternity zone including overland trash.

Game Update 65.5 Red and Yellow Adornments Vendor

A new NPC named Dulgur Bindmagic is being added next to Drinal’s Steward in the village of Cardin Ward in Obol Plains.

From the EQ2 Forums:

From the EQ2 Forums:

ABILITIES

• Player strikethrough can now go over 50%.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Chains of Eternity Raids

• Basepop armor tables have been weighted to drop less leather, priest chain. Scout and Mage drops should be slightly higher.

Tallon’s Stronghold Raid

• This zone now rewards the proper amount of adventure XP.

ITEMS

• The HEIRLOOM tag has been added to all items flagged APPEARANCE-ONLY from the adornment removal process.
• Planar Mender’s Aura now increases ward values properly.
• Drinal’s Castle: 4 Soul Drinal Ethereal Breastplates have had their effects improved.
• Amalgamon: Totality of Elements – Weapons dropped by Amalgamon have been upgraded to be more in line with the challenge.