Even as EQ2Wire is trying to find an artist or artists to help us tell humorous, interesting stories about EQ2, the development of MMOs in general, and the sometimes tumultuous relations between game developers and the players, we could not help but notice the “Notable Norrathians” contest currently running on the EQ2 Forums and posted by Kiara.

UPDATE: Deadline Extended to May 28th!

The New Artists

My favorite part of EverQuest II’s fleeting 5th Anniversary  “Heroes Festival” (during last year’s American Thanksgiving week) was the 10 Player-Designed In-Game Paintings. Initially, an art conteste, the top 10 winners became available as paintings from City Merchants. Some of these paintings possessed a very high quality and added some much needed options to the previously limited choice of paintings in EQ2.

The First Prize winning “Destroyer of Ordanach” by Citadelli.

Not all of the paintings were classics. Because the contest wasn’t widely discussed outside of Non-Gameplay Discussion, and because I don’t think it was clear to players that their submissions could become in-game paintings, there weren’t a lot of entries. And in the end, the paintings sold in-game came with some very restrictive terms. They were unable to be placed in guild halls, and required both a guild level of 30 and a sizable stack of status each to buy. Still, I ran out and bought 2 of each (even that, unique Yha-lei mayhem image that came complete with targeting UI elements! 🙂 ).

This time around, I’m hopeful that all aspiring artists and fans of EQ2 will give it their best shot and submit really stunning original artwork or in-game screenshots representing in-game characters or foes of note.

I believe anything that improves the in-game selection of paintings is a good thing, and it’s really cool that players get a rare chance to put some content back into the game.

And I am cautiously optimistic that we’ll see less restrictions on guild hall vs. house, guild status, and guild level when purchasing these new paintings.

DAZ Studio?

It’s worth mentioning that quite a few players of EQ2 who like to bring that extra bit of realism to their characters appearances, biographies, and conquests have discovered a program called DAZ Studio. It is a 3D character poser-type of program which has a toolbox of thousands of armor choices, clothing, weapons, races, accessories, and appearances.

An aspiring artist could spend months experimenting with this program.

Some of the coolest-looking signatures on the EQ2 Forums are EQ2 characters which have been reimagined in DAZ Studio. And thus far, some of the best-looking entries to this contest were created in this program as well.

NOTE: I do not work for Daz 3D nor do I make any money from mentioning their products here.

Three Weeks to Go!

UPDATE: Deadline Extended to May 28th!

Notable Norrathians Contest @ EQ2 Forums

EQ2Players is highlighting another team member, this time Jeff Jonas, player artist for EverQuest II.

My role on the EQII team is to create objects that our player characters use, wear, or ride. I am known as a “wearables” guy. A project like this needs thousands of items to make it fun and exciting. Wearables run the gamut from Barbarian helmets, to collector’s capes, and full vampire armor sets, to wieldables such as swords and staffs, to rideables like the hover discs I have created. Other wearables can be backpacks, or armbands.

What’s your favourite thing that you’ve done for EQII?

To keep things fresh we have incorporated ways to streamline and add to our character templates. Since we support over 50 male and female player characters, we need to be careful to change our templates. One way we have made things more interesting is our “snap-on” system that uses offset to add objects to existing templates.

The newest exciting technology we implemented was designed by Bill Yeatts, and coded by Brian Belfield. This cool system allows our backpacks to have items swivel and bounce around like real objects kind of do- without additional animator time. This allowed me to make a few popular backpack items such as the Frostfell backpacks of last year, and the latest Brewmeister barrel backpacks. Other backpacks are coming for other tradeskills as well. It’s a lot of fun to see the items bouncing along in our test viewer.

Do you have any special (or just super fun) projects you’re working on now for EQII?

I reckon the new backpacks I alluded to above are the most exciting things upcoming in my work path. Right now I’m focusing on warm garments for certain icy areas, and tinkering with some other items. EQII always has something interesting lined up for me down the trail.

You can read the complete interview as well as see additional screen shots of character artwork that Jeff has created at EQ2Players.

The tireless Niami Denmother of EQ2Traders has turned in another great preview, this time New Halas.

Free Item

Players logging into EQ2 in the days immediately following the launch of Game Update 56: Halas Reborn (specifically May 25 ~ 28) will receive a free item, a Frostpaw Kitten.

A new website has been added to EQ2Players with the skinny on Game Update 56: Halas Reborn, introducing the player city of Halas, as well as a new character starting area with level 1-20 content. Halas is essentially a neutral-good aligned city, as evil-aligned characters can visit and complete most of the same quests.

Game Update 56 includes substantial features and changes:

• Halas Reborn — new player city with new housing options (2, 4, and 6 room houses)
• Frostfang Sea — new level 1~20 starting area leading to Halas
• The Underfoot Depths — A new x4 level 90 raid zone added to The Hole
• Icy Keep: Retribution — A new x4 level 90 raid zone similar in theme to Permafrost and the Icy Keep.
• Storyteller System — Major quest lines within EQ2 which have widespread impacts on the characters and world of Norrath can now be followed in the Storyteller system.
• Druid Ring Live Event — An in-game event to rebuild some of the Druid Rings throughout Norrath which have fallen to neglect. This questline is slated to resolve some of the mysteries regarding the forthcoming Velious expansion.

Visit the EQ2Players GU56: Halas Reborn page for numerous details and
screen shots of this coming update!

Raid Targets in Sentinel’s Fate continue to receive nips and tucks in their behavior and strategies. Today’s change to the 3 Sages fight is not without controversy. Check out the discussion thread on EQ2 Forums.

Here are your Hotfix Notes for May 4th, 2010:

THE PALACE OF ROEHN THEER

• 3 Sage Encounter (Challenge Mode)- If the incorrect character class (according to the Idolic Stone that sage possesses) keeps agro on that sage for more than 3 secs after that sage has lost it’s prismatic sphere, that character will be hit by a bolt of slaying.

SANCTUM OF THE SCALEBORN

• The Trial of the Reaver no longer requires a Trial Stone to start. The statue that starts the event, “Rites of the Scaleborn,” now becomes usable right after it spawns.

The Halas Prelude event is now available on Live servers. Currently, this quest is only available from Guides (a sanctioned group of volunteer players), GMs, CMs, and other SOE staff. Stay tuned to open chat channels!

It’s a brief quest, dealing with the rediscovery of Halas. The quest rewards 2 books. We’ll post a link to a writeup of the quest soon.

How to Get the Quest

From Domino:

The Halas Prelude Event will initially be given out by Guides and SOE staff until shortly before the update launch.

Although there are no guides on PvP and exchange servers, the CS and Community staff are able to give out the quest on these servers. So keep your eyes open, you never know who might be around!

The last week before Game Update 56 launch, NPCs will be added to give out the quest on all live servers, since it’s not possible for guides, CS, and community to catch every last person who may want the quest.

image courtesy Jethal Silverwing

Come to the Faire: Freeport @ Kithicor.org

The first week of every month sees the arrival of a traveling City Festival. This month, the City Festival wraps its first tour of the five known cities of Norrath by visiting Freeport. Next month, the City Festival will no doubt make its first appearance in the newly-found New Halas.

While some players have shared their exasperation with the obviousness of the ‘content delivery system’ feel to these events (repeat a runaround errand-type quest dozens of times, or craft dozens of items, to earn enough tokens to buy a few house items), others look forward to the addition of new items each time the City Festival sets down in a new city.

We have been assured that each month, the cache of recurring rewards (available no matter which city hosts the event) will continue to grow even as new items are added specific to each new city.

New Halas Livin’

We are following New Halas (both the level 1-20 starting content, and as a new player city) on Test, and player comments about both the newbie experience, and how Halas works as a full-fledged city.

Living up to the  expectations and nostalgia of EQ1 veterans was an impossible task, but there has been a raft-load of comments on the EQ2 forums (and presumably through /feedback) and the art team is making some much-appreciated changes. First impressions of New Halas have regarded the buildings (inside and out) as some of the most impressive and realistic in the game, but the number and size of buildings both claustrophobic and sparse. Hopefully with the addition of more NPCs, adjustment of structures, and other accessories, the city can be given a more ‘lived in’ feel.

From Kaitheel on the EQ2 Forums:

The city of New Halas is under further construction and more NPCs are showing up. In the coming updates you will see more and more ambient life, as well as a few more merchants around the city. And with the addition of new buildings, some of the current city life will be moved around a bit.

European EQ2 players wanting to experience Battlegrounds have had to deal with a series of compromises. Battlegrounds are divided not only by language (French, German, Russian) but region (UK vs. US). As a result, some servers have had such a small pool of players to choose from, that 24 x 24 Battlegrounds have been impossible, locking players out of acquiring some 40% of the gear and rewards available for Battlegrounds.

Rothgar has given us the first bit of concrete good news about solutions to these issues:

I just wanted to let you guys know that we’ve been making some changes on the backend that will allow UK players from Runnyeye and Splitpaw to play on the same Battlegrounds servers as the North American servers. Since there is no language issue to overcome, this only leaves the problem of hotfixes and servers that are out-of-sync.

What will happen after the NA servers are updated, you’ll no longer be able to connect to battlegrounds until the UK servers are on the same version. Typically your update window is later in the day so hopefully this won’t be too impactful. Ideally you’ll have a better play experience 90% of the time due to the larger BG server but there will be times that battlegrounds will be down for you.

I don’t have an ETA on this change yet, but we’re shooting for having it ready by GU56, so near the end of May.

Further, as to what happens when US and UK servers are no longer in synch, Avirodar had this suggestion:

Is it possible to keep the Euro BG servers active, but make it the default choice for Euro players to connect to American BG servers. But if the client verisons are out of synch/different, it will force Euro players to connct to the Euro BG servers instead?

At least, something of that general principal. There are a lot of ways it could be done, a lot of ways the choices can be presented and given to players. It would provide a solution where BGs are never actually “down” for Euro players, there is just small periods of time where getting into a BG map can take longer to join (due to being Euro only) as a result of different client versions.

To which Rothgar replied:

We have been considering that exact solution, but it’s not without problems either. This means we have to have dedicated machines and maintenance on a set of servers that are only used 10% of the time (or less)

But the biggest issue is that stat tracking would be separate depending on which BG world you are connected to. So your games on the UK world would not count towards the stats that occur on the NA world. This will become a bigger issue when the seasons start and stats are used to calculate leaderboards and rewards.

Cronyn has jumped into the fray again with some further details about why the Isle of Refuge is being removed in GU56:

Heya folks.  I wanted to clear a couple of things up really fast, if I may.

As I said, we’re not abandoning Freeport and Qeynos themselves.  The existing content that is there will not be different with this change, and we are planning even more things for the cities going forward.  Players with citizenship currently in either city will retain it – we’re not removing housing, guild halls, the suburbs, or the quests that exist there.  They will continue to be hubs for live events, and we are still hoping to add even more reasons to have you visit the two major cities of our game.

For those who do not have citizenship in these cities, we’re making the path to changing citizenship much clearer.  If you want to change your citizenship from one of the starting cities to Freeport or Qeynos, you can speak with one of the <Change of Citizenship> NPC’s, who will offer information and get you started on your paperwork to switch over.  From there, you can use the new travel system to make your way to the city of your choice, then follow the steps to change your citizenship.  The newbie content within the cities themselves will remain, so you should still have access to that content, if you choose to use it.

Also, just to be clear, there is a lore reason for this as well.  The decision to turn off the islands is a functional one, to be sure, but it is also supported by storyline, which is something I am hoping to start giving out to you here soon.  There are NPC’s in place in both cities who should actually be handing out the first clues right now on Test, so if you’d like to start piecing together what is happening, you should be able to get started.

As far as removing content – yes, the Isle of Refuge are being disabled from character select.  However, we consistently add new content to the game, and will be continuing to do so – EverQuest 2 is a much larger game now than it has ever been, and we are looking forward to expanding and adding to the world even more.

Game Update 56 will be imbuing flying carpets, floating discs, and cloud mounts with the power to float. If you are thinking to yourself “Wait, didn’t they already do that?” read on…

Carpets, Clouds, and Discs have allowed players to peacefully float throughout Norrath, but only over flat, even, dry surfaces. As soon as the operator of these wondrous mounts attempted to traverse a vertical distance greater than 3 feet, they were suddenly rendered about as effective as concrete shoes. In short, carpets, clouds, and disc mounts have been a virtual death trap over mountainous terrain. I guess they just don’t make flying carpets the way they used to!

But wait… Kander has some news:

Carpets, Clouds and Discs having fay fall or glide should be in with 56.

The notes for upcoming Game Update 56 included this notation:

Many rare drops from the heroic Sentinel’s Fate Zones are now available by speaking to Kaliba Des’Sers in Moonfield Hamlet!

Once Game Update 56 was patched onto the Test Server, we were provided screen shots of some of this loot:

New Fabled Loot Vendor on Test

What’s on the Menu?

While a similar vendor was available during the Shadow Odyssey expansion, 150 void shards only gave you access to the most common Fabled drops from each zone (with the exception of the Mistmoore Battle Drums).

So this time around, the vendor is picking up all the current rare Fabled loot, but only because more powerful Fabled loot is being added to these zones at the same time. From Kander:

All of the current rare drops for the heroic zones have been added to a Manaar merchant for (Game Update) 56.

New rare drops have been also been added to all heroic bosses that will not be on the Manaar merchant. These new rare drops and the old rare drops are on separate tables, so you will have a chance at both.

You can see how a comprehensive Itemization article has been nearly impossible to write. We may resort to a Wiki or collaborative article on Itemization taking feedback from EQ2Wire readers.

On Tuesday, 27 April 2010, this tidbit made it into the update notes for test:

Mounts will now be temporarily suspended while in combat.

Basically, in outside zones, mounts would disapear as soon as you enter combat and re-appear a few seconds after combat ended.  This had a general negative response on the official EQ2 Forums and led to speculation on how this would effect buffs.  Gninja responded with some clarification on the matter:

You would not lose any stats or anything you would have normally had your character will just no longer be visually mounted during combat the buff remains. Think of it like when you enter water on a mount.

This led to a few pages of responses, mostly negative, about this change.  Many people were asking for a new /hidemount command. EQ2 Senior Producer  SmokeJumper decided to chime in with some additional info:

Well, I guess it’s time to stick my head in the dragon’s mouth. Here goes nuthin’.

Ebik’s Missing Parts

Over on the beach where the ambassadors are you will see a Gnome named Ebik Wooblecog. If you speak to him and click through his very long story he will ask you to find his 3 missing parts… hence the name of the quest ^_^. You will have to find the following:

• Size 7 clunker
  Copper-coated springer
  Triangle spinner

These items are rather large and kinda easy to find. The first one is located at:

Size 7 clunker is on top of the waterfall, just over the bridge. It is an area called Port View Bridge.

The second is at:

Copper-coated springer is located underwater. If you swim from the Gnome towards the starting beach you should find it. It is under water so just search between the two beaches.

The third is at:

Triangle spinner is located behind the tree house. The tree house next to the orc’s cave has big roots, and on the back of the tree between them you will see the missing part. However, the part is under a noxious cobra who is nestled in between two large roots. Kill the cobra and you can access the part!

Once you have found all 3 items return to Ebik to get the following reward:

Constructed Wrist Spanner

That’s it for Ebik, wave goodbye to the friendly little Gnome.

_________________________

Lasydia’s Call

This is second quest you’ll have where a damn shark is involved. To start the quest swim past where Bladefin spawns. You’ll see a rock with some crabs on it in front of a waterfall. Directly to the right of the waterfall is a statue of Lasydia. If you double click on it you are presented with the ability to breathe underwater and have an urge to kill the following:

• 10 Razortooth sharks

Since you can breath underwater just go to town slaughtering the 10 sharks before the ability wears off. I think the ability lasts 15 minutes which is plenty of time to kill them. Once you kill the 10 sharks you are presented with your reward:

Castaway Sash

That is all for Lasydia… leave her alone… seriously.. put the stick down…

_________________________

Stop the Saboteurs

To start this quest you have to kill one of the named goblins on the island, either the Siege Planner, or the Goblin Warmonger. When you kill them they will drop this note in a chest that tells you to go to the beach to kill them. I’d suggest taking at least a priest or another partner to kill them. They are on the beach across from the ambassador’s beach. Once you kill them you will receive the following reward:

Exceptional Goblin Crafted Helmet

That’s it once you’ve killed them and gotten your reward move on… no poking the dead bodies with a stick…

_________________________

Xaliea’s Request

This quest will lead to the last 3 quests on the island I’m going to cover. To start the quest find Priestess Xaliea and speak with her. She will ask you to retrieve the following:

• 3 bone chips

You can find bone chips on undead that are in the graveyard. The graveyard is in the top right hand corner of the map. Basically all you need to do is kill the skeletons until you get the 3 bone chips then return to Xaliea. She will give you the following reward:

70 Copper

Now I know what you’re thinking… I did all that for a few lousy copper… Well yeah but go to the next quests and you’ll understand.

_________________________

X Marks the Spot

To be able to get this quest you must have accepted Xaliea’s quest. Keep killing the skeletons until you get a chest with treasure map. Examine the map and it tells you to go to a tombstone next to a waterfall. The tombstone is around the corner from the orc’s cave. I’d suggest bringing a full group as this guy is nasty. Once you kill Rockbelly you will get the following:

33 Copper

Old Dirty Cutlass

If you examine the Cutlass you will be presented with another task to get it fixed. Take the Cutlass to the Mender beside the banker. Pay the 40 copper and receive the real reward for this quest:

Rockbelly’s Cutlass

That is all for this quest… go poke some gobs with your new sword.

Article found on everquest gold (dot) net

This quest writeup is a historical document of the Isle of Refuge. This zone was repurposed/revamped in Game Update 19.

Collection Quests

There are two collection quests on the island. You must be level 3 to have the harvest ability to be able to complete this quest. The first collection quest is on the beach. You’ll notice some gold sparkling ? marks. If you double click them you will harvest them and get a shell. The shell ? marks can only be found on the beaches of the isle. Upon examining the shell you can add it to your collection. You need the following shells to complete the shell collection quest:

Abalone shell
Clam shell
Conch shell
Mussel shell
Turtle shell

After you collect all 5 of the shells, go over to the second beach where the ambassadors are and look to your right. You will see an NPC named Rivicea Goldwind. When you speak with her, tell her you have a shell collection and she will give you the following:

Collected Shell Trinket

That is all for the shell collection. Now on to the feather collection quest. All around the woods you will see the same ? marks on the ground. They will have one of 5 feathers. The feather ? marks can be found anywhere in the woods. You need to collect the following 5 feathers:

Duck feather
Eagle feather
Falcon feather
Sparrow feather
Hawk feather

Once you have collected all 5 feathers return to Rivicea Goldwind and she will give you the following:

Collected Feather Necklace

This quest writeup is a historical document of the Isle of Refuge. This zone was repurposed/revamped in Game Update 19.

Arriving on the Island

After you exit the tutorial and hit the beaches of the island of a refuge, you’ll need to decide your profession. Head up to Garven who is standing up beside the dock. He’ll welcome you to your new home as a “refugee”, and ask your profession.

After answering his initial questions, Garven will request you “prove your worth” by killing one of the invading Goblins, which have suddenly plagued the Island of Refuge. Accept this quest without delay, and double click the weapons rack to grab a weapon and a few other items. Equip the weapon (likely the crude dagger) and bring up your map by clicking the “M” key.

The troupe of Goblins you’ll need to target to complete this first quest is a foolish bunch, mindlessly sprinting towards their deaths at the hands of the powerful guards manning the west entrance of town……where the action is! Head into town and then to the NW, heading out of the main western gate.

Run around, or jump over the wooden barricades and get a goblin in your sites, either by directly clicking on one, or by pressing tab until you have a suitable target in place. Once you have a target, run straight up to the poor sap and begin hacking away. These Goblins are extremely weak and are sure to drop in just a few hits.Once you’ve killed the Goblin, traverse your way back to Garven at the docks.

Garven Tralk awards you with your first free bit of armor, a sturdy pair of gloves, after you declare you’ve dropped your first slimy Goblin. Throw those bad boys on your digits and head into town to visit Braksan Steelforge.

Mr. Steelforge will be your main point of contact on the island for all Fighter quests on the Island. He hangs out at the forge just Northeast of the large tower in town. Bring up your local map by pressing “M”, and head up just NE of the tower.

Once you find Braksan double click on him to engage in a friendly chat, ignore any pointless spouting off at the mouth, and get him to offer you a quest.

Fighter Quest 1: Goblin Supply Raid

Braksan asks you to head west and take out 4 goblin supply runners. On your map, on the far east of the island (turn off fog of war on your map options) you’ll notice 6 tent. If you hover over them you’ll see they are “Goblin camps”. If you can’t hover over them check off the “fog of war” option on your map so you can tak a closer look at everything. The southernmost goblin camp is the one you’ll be targeting during this quest.

Head west out of town and navigate your way to this camp. When in range, pick out a goblin supply runner who is a safe distance away from other runners, and begin to bash his skull! Repeat this on 4 goblin runners, then head back to Braksan to collect your reward. Keep an eye on the quest dialogue box in the upper right hand corner of your screen to learn when you’ve dispatched enough of the slimy beasts.

Braksan will reward you with a fine pair of boots for your work, he has deposited them for you at the bank which is the building located just west of braksan’s workstation. However, before you go pick up your boots accept the next quest from Braksan.

Fighter Quest 2: Refugee Rescue

Time to take out 5 Gruttooth Aggressors! The refugees are located just NW of the Goblin Supply Runners. Head back west through the gate and up to the location of the human refugees, lined up pathetically on a natural stone wall. You won’t be able to miss them, they are surrounded by the very mobs you need to take out for this particular quest, Gruttooth Agrressors.

As you can guess by the name, they are indeed the first aggro mobs you’ll run into in the game. If you’re not familiar with the term “aggro” it’s MMORPG “speak” for aggressive, in other words they’ll attack you without provocation! So be careful. Only lure one Gruttooth aggressor at a time. Use your taunt skill, it’s great for this very purpose……..and pretty much required for this quest.

After dispatching the necessary amount of Gruttooths, head back to Braksan and you’ll be rewarded with a set of Footman Leggings along with a small amount of copper. Slip the pants on, and strike up another conversation…….Braksan immediately offers you yet another quest……

Fighter Quest 3: Striking Back at the Goblins

For this quest, Branson needs you to collect some Flint Head Spears for him. This is the most dangerous quest by far, and it is suggested you level up to at least Level 5 to be strong enough to ensure success. Once you are confident in your newfound abilities at level 5, head up to the very northwest of the map, where you’ll see 4 tightly packed goblin encampments. YOu’ll run into “Gruttooth Brutes” at the very entrance of these camps, and be warned……they are aggressive and they also assist one another!

Do your best to find some Brutes who have strayed from the pack and take them on 1v1. They aren’t horribly tough to defeat if you properly use your Taunt/Wild Swing special abilities. So head up north and begin taking out the Brutes. Keep a close eye on your life bar, as these initial quests are much more difficult for melee based characters opposed to mages who can take out the brutes from a distance using their spells and kiting. You’re up close and personal so you’ll encur much more damage.

Once you’ve killed enough Brutes to collect 4 flinthead spears, head back to Braksan for your reward. After you fork over the spears, Braksan hooks you up this time with a top of the line Footman Tunic. This is far better than your current “Threadbare Tunic”. Equip the newly acquired Tunic and strike up yet another conversation with Mr. Steelforge. Time for yet another quest………

Quest 4: Take out the Lead Orc!

This quest is available for all races/classes.

At this point, the in game host will notify you you are now ready to leave the island if you so wish. However, Braksan Steelforge offers you one final quest. This quest requires taking out a “Lead Orc” who is responsible for rallying all the Goblins on the Island. This specific quest requires teaming up with other players on the island, and aims to get you used to partying with other players.

Rest assured, you have collected the necessary equipment to continue leveling on the Isle of Refuge until Level 6, Level 7. Continue exploring the Island and speak to all the various NPCs in town and North of the Goblin encampments. Many of them will provide you with other simple tasks which can result in gobs of free equipment…..jewelry, new weapons and more!

Article found on everquest gold (dot) net

This quest writeup is a historical document of the Isle of Refuge. This zone was repurposed/revamped in Game Update 19.

Cellar Cleanup

The Cellar Cleanup quest is the artisan quest on the island. To start the quest go to Malvonicus’ Tower and speak with Assistant Dreak. You will know who he is, cause he will be bitching about the cellar being a mess. After agreeing to clean up the cellar turn to your left and you will see the door that leads to the instanced cleanup quest. You must do the following to complete the first part of the quest.

Move the table, chair, mirror, and bed.
Harvest the crushed rock, and fallen log.
Get rid of the burned barrel.

Once you do this go back to Assistant Dreak. He will thank your for cleaning the cellar and ask you to craft a tin spike to be used in his lock. If you accept he’ll give you a bag full of the materials you’ll need to craft the spike.

Once you get the bag with all the materials go back into the cellar, which now has all the different crafting devices. Go up to the forge and select Tin Bar. From here just hit create and let the crafting run its course. Once you have the Tin Bar, go back to the forge and select Tin Spike and again let the crafting sequence happen. Once you have your Tin Spike in hand, go back to Assistant Dreak. He will give you the following:

Dreak’s finely crafted bracelet
Note from Dreak

The bracelet must be attuned then equipped. The note just tells you where to go to find out more about crafting. That is all for the Cellar Cleanup.

Article found on everquest gold (dot) net

This quest writeup is a historical document of the Isle of Refuge. This zone was repurposed/revamped in Game Update 19.

EQ2 Allakhazam Writeup for the Isle of Refuge boat sequence:

Step 1: Captain Varlos
You’ll appear on the ship next to Captain Varlos, double click on the Caption to initiate a conversation. Navigate through the initial conversation, and the Captain will gradually explain where you are, how you got there, and where you’re headed.

At the end of the conversation, Captain Varlos will ask you to go speak to his First Mate Waulon, who is located just to the NE of the captain at the back of the ship.

Step 2: First Mate Waulon
Waulon mentions to you he’s lost his hat, and you agree to find it. This task will teach you some of the simpler tasks in the game. Run S down the steps of the ship and head to the boxes on the wall at the other end of the ship. Search all three boxes by double clicking them, until a “loot dialogoue” pops up on your screen. You’ll see a hat. Click “Loot all”, and return to waulon with his hat. A dialogue box will pop up stating Waulon as rewarded you the “Mariner’s Charm”, click the accept button and the charm will now be in your inventory. Click “i” at anytime to view your inventory.

After returning Waulon’s hat he requests you speak to Ingrid….she is located just down the steps to the SW.

Step 3: Ingrid
Ingrid details an issue she’s having with the merchant Vim on the ship. She states she desires an artifact (a piece of the “moon) from Vim, and asks you to buy it for her. Problem is you have no money. No problem time to cash in that Mariner’s charm Waulon gave you back in step 2. Head to the S up the stairs to Vim.

Step 4: Vim
Double click Vim, and the standard EQ2 merchant dialogue will appear. At this point, click the sell tab, and double click your “mariner’s charm” to sell. You’ll receive 42 copper for the charm.

Now, click the buy tab. The Shard of Luclin is what Ingrid so desired, so buy it for her! At this point you’ll have 42 copper in your coffers, and the shard of luclin will set you back 36. So just double click, and it’s yours! At this point head back to Ingrid and present her with her gift.

Captain Varlos calls you back up to the deck.

Step 5: Back to Varlos

Once you run back up to Varlos, the Captain will ask you to clear the ship of the rat infestation which has set upon them. This is a chance to get a little combat practice.

Accept the task, and be sure to “accept” the splintered club the caption offers you in the dialogue box. Once you click accept hit the “i” button to open your inventory. Near the bottom of the inventory screen, double click the splintered club. This will equip the club as your main melee weapon.

Now head down to the lower portion of the ship and target some rats for battle! To target a rat, simply click on it or click the TAB button and cycle around the different rats on the ship. Once you have one targeted, it’s time to attack! You’ll notice the action bar on the lower portion of your screen. It consists of 13 buttons, and depending on the race you chose 5-8 of them will be filled with options.

However, for all races slot 2 will be equipped with the “melee attack” function. Once the rat is targeted, you can click this button with your mouse cursor, or simply click the number 2 on your keyboard. All buttons are bound to numbers 1-0, and the – and = keys on your keyboard. So now, target that rat and hit the number 2 on your keyboard.

After you’ve dropped the first rat, double click the carcass to harvest it. After double clicking, “loot” the rodent meat from the putrid animal and head off down the ship to take out the next rat! After killing and harvesting the second rat, head back up to Captain Varlos.

Step 6: Kill the Goblin

After completing the rodent quest, a dragon type creature will attack the ship and free the goblin that was caged next to merchant Vim. Head down and kill that goblin!

After dispatching the green menace, head back up to the Captain, he’ll congratulate you and send your on your way to the Island of Refuge!

It seems we’ll be parting with two islands by May’s end. And while we’ll still be able to catch  John Locke, Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, and Kate in syndication, the Qeynos and Freeport starting islands seem destined for a more permanent fate. We are providing continuing (hopefully not excessive) coverage of the impending removal of the EQ2 starting islands.

Links to Isle of Refuge

I have done some Internet Archive and Google searches to try to find Writeups and history of the original Isle of Refuge quests. Here’s what I found:

• LISTEN to the Isle of Refuge/Queen’s Colony/Outpost of the Overlord theme music
• Read an old EQ2 Zam writeup about Isle of Refuge (on the Boat)
• Read an old writeup about Crafting on the Isle of Refuge
• Read an old writeup about Garven Tralk and the Isle of Refuge (Fighters)
• Read an old writeup about Collection Quests on the Isle of Refuge
• Read an old writeup about Other Quests on the Isle of Refuge

EQ2Players.com French Community Rep, Soffrina had a chance to interview Domino and ask a few questions.  Here are a few excerpts from the article:

How do you come up with a decision to add a new thing to the game? Do you listen to the community’s needs, is it a development decision depending on its importance or is it a combination of both? In other words, how do you initiate a project?

It is certainly a combination of things.  When I play, I’m always watching for things that might be needed or that would improve tradeskills (or indeed the game in general) and I have a list of things I want to do when time permits.  The community is also very proactive about suggesting things that they would like, and often these agree with the things I already want to do, or are appropriate to add to the list.  And sometimes there are changes “behind the scenes” that make it appropriate to include tradeskill content of a particular type.  For an example of the latter, when the Lavastorm zone was revised, it made sense to take advantage of the changes and put in a tradeskill quest line in Lavastorm at the same time.  Once I know what I want to do next, I just figure out about how long it will take and run it past the team leads to ensure they agree, then off to work I go.  It’s not a very formal process.

Will there be musical instruments coming soon to EQ2 for players housing?

There are already a reasonable number of carpenter-made musical instruments that can be placed in houses.  There aren’t any current plans to add more.

Will it be possible one day to have outdoor areas in houses so fans of decoration will finally be able to create a real garden?

It’s something that would be decided by our art team, in particular Haohmaru.  We know it’s something that many people would like, but I don’t know if there are any specific plans currently.

Are there any plans of creating brand new quests, like the epic crafting quest?

I am always hoping to add more tradeskill quests.  There are no current plans for another epic quest, but I’m sure there will be more quests of other types.

Check out EQ2Players.com for the full interview.

There seems to be some confusion in the In Testing Feedback thread regarding the removal of Qeynos and Freeport as starting choices. I stand by the original article I posted, but some clarification is worth mentioning.

Qeynos and Freeport Going Away?

Qeynos and Freeport are not being removed as cities. Furthermore to my knowledge, none of the level 6-20 quests in these city zones and surrounding suburbs are going away. Although further testing on the Test Server will be needed to confirm this.

Players wishing to experience the Qeynos and Freeport level 6-20 content would need to create a character in Kelethin or Halas, Neriak or Gorowyn and arrange travel to Qeynos or Freeport to do those quest lines.

It is also worth pointing out that changing Citizenship between Qeynos, Kelethin, and New Halas, or between Freeport, Neriak, and Gorowyn, is approximately a 15-30 minute process. It’s a single quest or short series of quests. It is nothing like Betrayal. Nor is changing your Citizenship required to play this content.

EQ2Wire would prefer if the islands are not removed, but de-emphasized from the Character Creation screen, with more options added on the Departure Boat to port the player to level 6-20 content in all 6 starting cities.

We stand by our belief that removing content is not necessary to improve the experience for new players.

The Promise of Battlegrounds

The promise of Battlegrounds has been the opportunity to meet players from other servers and challenge them in meaningful PvP combat. It has been a great time-killer while attempting to form up groups. It has been a fun exercise for guilds from different servers wanting to face off in battle. And it has been an opportunity (perhaps too good of one) to gear up. However this promise has largely gone undelivered to the European community.

Aside from localization issues (language, number and date formats), European servers almost always undergo software upgrades at a different time (and sometimes different date) than Stateside updates. If the software does not exactly match between two copies of EQ2, then these two players facing off in Battlegrounds could lead to character corruption or exploits. As a result of these concerns, Battlegrounds are isolated by language and country. Thus, the French, German, Russian, UK, and US Battlegrounds clusters cannot talk to each other.

The issues caused, and solutions posited on this subject can all be found in this prominent thread on the EQ2 Forums: Battlegrounds and EU Servers

In February, former EQ2 Senior Producer Alan “Brenlo” Crosby created a thread “What is the Golden Path?” It included this provocative passage:

The golden path is the first step in a larger revamp of our new player experience.   We took a look at the starting areas, other than Qeynos and Freeport as we plan to move away from those, and reworked content so that it had a better flow.  We wanted the quests in Darklight, Timorous and Greater Fay, to give you a better progression path.

When asked in the EQ2 ZAM Dev Chat to clarify this position, Brenlo responded further:

We plan to only allow new characters to start in the newer player areas. Timorous, Greater Fay, Darklight and soon Halas. The new player experience in Qeynos and Freeport are just not up to snuff anymore and do not provide as solid an experience when you enter the game for the first time.

Any hopes that this change would be canceled with the introduction of new EQ2 Senior Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, were dashed with his indication that he would “not be changing anything that was short-term” (short-term plans). So it seems this change was destined to go in one way or the other. Here are today’s Test Update notes which will not apply to Live Servers until Game Update 56 in mid- to late-May:

Test Update April / 27 / 2010
GENERAL

Qeynos and Freeport have been disabled as starting cities.

Today’s hotfix:

ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENTS

• Fiery Blast and Rhythmic Overture should no longer apply extra damage if cast by multiple people at the same time.

ITEMS

• Many items that had nude appearances have been corrected.

PERAH’CELSIS’ ABOMINABLE LABORATORY

• Arkatanthis’ benthic warlord adds will try and pick a more balanced group of 3 players when they spawn during the challenge mode encounter.

The nude appearance items were caused by a bug that slipped in last week which caused female characters to appear to wear nothing but pasties in the chest area.  (May want to exercise discretion when viewing that thread since it includes screen shots.)