The EQ2 Wire

EQ2 Prestige Home Poll — Neighborhoods

Feldon — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:28:34 +0000

We're a tad late on this one, but if you miss the Qeynos and/or Freeport neighborhoods which were gobbled up by last year's Revamps and wish you could make a home of them, there's an in-game poll you might want to give your input on.

Emily “Domino” (or Pentapod if you prefer) Taylor on EQNext Team

Feldon — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:20:33 +0000

It looks like Emily "Domino" Taylor has returned to the Sony Online Entertainment fold after the successful launch of Defiance for Trion Worlds. She is now a Producer on the EQNext team. For those who may not know Domino, she contributed substantially to Crafting and Housing in EverQuest II, specifically the addition of Epic, Heritage, and Signature quests for crafters.

From her Linkedin page:

Producer
Sony Online Entertainment

Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Computer Games industry

May 2013 – Present

Following the launch of Defiance, I rejoined the SOE team to work as a Producer on EQNext. Very excited to be back with a fantastic team on a really exciting game. Look for more information about the game in August!

her Twitter:

Well, guess the cat is out of the bag now. =)linkedin.com/in/pentapod/

— Domino (@pentapod) May 21, 2013

her Facebook:

For those who haven't heard already: last month I resigned from Trion, and accepted a producer role on SOE's upcoming project EQNext. I'm super excited about the project, and very touched and grateful that so many people seem so happy to welcome me back. I had no idea so many people even knew who I was, let alone would have so many kind words. ♥ I can't wait to help make this game amazing!

Update Notes: Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Feldon — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:26:06 +0000

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.

EQNext Reveal at SOE Live Set for August 2nd @ 11:00am

Feldon — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:09:20 +0000

From the SOE Live website:

SOE Live Exclusive: Get a First Look at EverQuest Next!

On Friday, August 2nd, attendees at SOE Live will witness the unveiling of the highly anticipated EverQuest Next! Be among the first to see game features and development plans during a keynote address by Director of Development Dave Georgeson and members of the EverQuest Next team. Following the keynote, SOE Live passholders will be able to ask questions and learn more in-depth information from the developers during a number of panels.

Whether you're a long-time EverQuest enthusiast or just curious about the next big thing in gaming, don't miss this exciting chance to get your first look at EverQuest Next. SOE Live is the only place for all the insider information, so register today!

as per the SOE Live schedule, Friday's keynote is scheduled for 11:00am:

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Keynote Address More details to be announced. You won't want to miss this! Celebrity Ballroom

SOE Live Early Bird Registration ends May 22nd and rises from $129.00 for the weekend to $149.00. NOTE: Anyone who registered in the past few days and was charged $149.00 will be refunded the difference.

EQ2U Adds Gear Reports for Characters, Guilds, and Alliances

Feldon — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:37:45 +0000

Imagine the ability to view a spreadsheet of your characters, your friends' characters, your guild, or your guild alliance, all with their most valuable stats and gear scores (Stamina). Now imagine being able to sort this view by columns, add characters, hide certain guild ranks based on participation or perhaps if you have a main or alt raid force. Or imagine you've just joined a group and want to see what gear they've got, what upgrades they'll be rolling for, or what areas you could help them improve on.

Today, EQ2U is happy to announce the introduction of the Gear Report!

We've heard from a number of guilds that hand-maintain such a spreadsheet, but there has been a growing desire to be able to automate such a view. Errrorr was the catalyst for this feature as he showed me a screenshot of the stats that their guild tracks for each character. Then I stumbled upon Soresha's EQ2 Data site where she has built quite a bit of this functionality for her guild. But we wanted to expand this idea outside of Guilds and allow any group of characters, even Guild Alliances, to build lists of characters and view their stats at a glance.

So how do you access this Gear Report feature?

On Test: Housing Leaderboards, Moonlight Enchantments, Quest Fixes, and Recipe Clutter?

Feldon — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:57 +0000

The Test server was updated last night with a number of tweaks, fixes, and improvements.

First up, the Housing and Leaderboards windows have been merged into a new megawindow. From Ahma:

We've added a new window: Housing and Leaderboards. This UI element, which can be accessed via the EQII menu and from the Housing and Leaderboards buttons to the right of the EQII menu, combines some old windows and allows easy access to many housing related features. It allows you to manipulate all your current houses, browse and buy new houses, visit houses associated with the current zone you are in, and view the current housing leaderboards. Please check it out and give us your feedback!

Next, the monthly Moonlight Enchantments event is gaining 2 new quests and 23 new item rewards:

"Comforting Confections" - Speak with Shasta Evergreen in the Enchanted Zygomyd Grotto

"Blooming Good Tea" - Speak with Odeyana in the Enchanted Fay Grotto

Drinal’s Steward Tier 2 Heroic Armor and Jewelry

Feldon — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:20:35 +0000

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.

Dislodging Adornments on a Budget

Feldon — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:26:12 +0000

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.

StationCash: Instant Travel — Click Map to Zone (on Test)

Feldon — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:55:10 +0000

A few years ago, travel within EQ2 was only slightly arduous. Players often had to travel to Nek Forest, Thundering Steppes, or Moors of Ykesha to then bounce off to places farther afield. EQ2Wire even published a World Travel Map (and gave away copies at Fan Faire) which suggested the easiest means of travel.

Then over time, recast times on Guild Hall and Call Home spells got shorter, and travel restrictions lessened. Then came a major streamlining which eliminated all bells (and carpets) in favor of a single universal World Travel Bell on almost every dock which will take you almost anywhere in Norrath.

Eventually, players were able to purchase stacks of five Portable Globe of Swift Travel that allow us to summon a World Travel Bell anywhere. If you thought the streamlining was finished, you'd be wrong. It looks like those portable globes are about to undergo "point of need" streamlining. On Test, you can now click on your Map and travel, for a fee.

From the EQ2 Test Forums:

Greetings Testers,

Today's Test update brings instant travel! You can now click on your map, click on the Quick Access Teleport button in the upper-right corner, and choose where you want to go.

This feature will cost Station Cash once it hits the other servers but it is currently free for you to check out on Test. Please play around with it and give us your feedback!

Thank you.

EQ2Wire Comment: Undoubtedly, the introduction of this feature will coincide with the removal of those Portable Globes, so I'd stock up now.

UPDATE from Ahma:

To clarify this, instant travel will only allow you to go to existing travel locations (druid rings, wizard spires, and bells). Beyond those, you will not be able to choose a specific location within a zone.

Update Notes: Thursday, May 16, 2013 — Cost Adjustments!

Feldon — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:43:14 +0000

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

COST ADJUSTMENTS

Drinal’s Steward has significantly reduced the Platinum price to purchase his wares.

Superb Green Adornment Dislodgers have been reduced in cost to 25p.

Superb Prismastic Adornment Dislodgers have been reduced in cost to 250p.

Trichromatic Adornment Dislodgers are now created with common materials instead of rares.

All reforging costs have been reduced by 33%.

Might Elixirs no longer use dropped components and use common materials instead. Completing a combine now rewards 1/5th as many elixirs.

Acerbic Elixirs no longer use dropped components and use common materials instead. Completing a combine now rewards 1/10th as many elixirs.

The plat costs for purchasing and upkeeping a guild hall have been reduced.

Mercenary hire and upkeep costs have been reduced.

Guildhall Amenity plat costs have been reduced by 50%.