Posts Tagged ‘battlegrounds’

On Test: PvP Test Event Tonight (July 13, 2012)

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

Want to give the Game Update 64 Battlegrounds changes, including Level Agnostic Battlegrounds a test drive and give useful feedback to developers?

From EQ2 Community Manager Duxella on the EQ2 Forums:

Level Agnostic Battleground testing from 5-7 PST – bring a character below level 35 to the Level Agnostic buffer, set up your character and then get into a battleground! Buffers will be located on the docks in Kylong Plains, and at the Champion’s Respite zone-ins in Qeynos and Freeport.

Level 92 testing from 7-8 PST – visit a level 92 PVP buffer, set up your character and then get into a battleground!

Time Zone Conversions

Level 1-89 Battleground Testing

  • PDT: July 13 @ 5-7:00pm
  • EDT: July 13 @ 8-10:00pm
  • BST: July 14 @ 1:00~3:00
  • CET: July 14 @ 2:00~4:00

Level 92 Battleground Testing

  • PDT: July 13 @ 7-8:00pm
  • EDT: July 13 @ 10-11:00pm
  • BST: July 14 @ 3:00~4:00
  • CET: July 14 @ 4:00~5:00
   

July 27, 2011 Update Notes

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

Today’s July 27, 2011 update notes address issues with the Spires and Dragon Ring Events on those servers where the events are still running. This update does not yet include a fix for servers that have already completed the events and those affected players who were present but didn’t get credit due to crashes, not having the right quest, or their mob despawning.

New 18 vs. 18 Battleground in Game Update 60

Written by Feldon on . Posted in DGC Wants Feedback, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

From Olihin on the EQ2 Forums:

Greetings,

With GU60, a new battleground will be added that will allow for a 18 vs. 18 combat setting.

We are currently working on possible additions to the achievements earned while in a battleground and we would like to hear some thoughts on what you may want to see.

We will also evaluate the current achievements and look for ways to reward those that have earned or are in the process of earning them. We believe that someone that can help control all the towers while at the same time having the highest kill streak should be acknowledged, for example.

Feel free to add your ideas and we will do what we can to make your experience while fighting more enjoyable and rewarding and perhaps even humorous at times…

Notes from Destiny of Velious Feb 11 Webcast #3

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Expansion News, Grouping, Itemization, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds, Raiding

Here are some notes from Friday night’s live Webcast of Rich Waters, Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson and Salim “Silius” talking about the upcoming Destiny of Velious expansion, including player-submitted questions. Getting into the mechanics and itemization changes, we get very close to a full transcription as there is a lot of detail and information here. We recommend listening to the webcast to get a complete picture of what was said.

Some bullet points:

  • The EQ2 team have the next year of Game Updates planned out with more group zones, raid zones, heritage quests, etc. The first Game Update will add more dungeons.
  • Items will become a lot more modular and straightforward, with procs largely moved to adornments.
  • Group players in Sentinel’s Fate should be able to jump right into grouping in Velious such as Tower of Frozen Shadow.
  • Casual raiders in Sentinel’s Fate may want to test the waters with the contested Kael Drakkel dungeon which falls right before the easier raid content.
  • High-level raiders who are already doing Underfoot Depths should be able to move into the easier raid zones in Velious without grouping, although Kael Drakkel is a good stepping stone.
  • Silius went into detail on the new Adornment scheme including a new type of adornment War Runes.
  • We won’t see new Battlegrounds gear or other PvP content until the Game Update after Velious.
  • A new mechanic on mobs (NPCs) called Critical Avoidance which means you’ll need well over 100% Crit Chance to succeed harder dungeons and raids. This effect reduces your crit (including healing!).
  • Flying mounts start at level 86.
  • On March 1st, everyone will be able to fly as a live event. The gnomes are putting in experimental test pilot tracks in Lavastorm, Tenebrous Tangle, and Butcherblock. You’ll be able to grab a tinkered craft and run through the race against time.

Everfrost Players Not Receiving BG Tokens

Written by Feldon on . Posted in PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

Everfrost players have reported that they are not receiving Battlegrounds tokens for either winning or losing Battlegrounds events, and also not receiving any updates on Battlegrounds Daily Quests. Rothgar has been made aware of the issue and it’s being looked into.

From the EQ2 Forums.

From Rothgar:

Ok, thank you for the info. It’s almost 11pm here tonight and there’s nothing we could do to fix it this late but I promise we will be on it first thing in the morning to determine the problem. Unfortunately its too early to tell if a fix will require a new build and downtime or something as simple as a configuration change.

I’ll keep you posted as I find out more information.

Battlegrounds Token Consolidation?

Written by Dethdlr on . Posted in PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

Want some Battlegrounds items but can’t stand some of the zones?  Having trouble getting into some of them as often as you’d like?  If so, then changes may be coming your way soon that will solve those problems.  It looks like soon you will be able to exchange your tokens for “Battleground Tokens” which can be used to purchase items instead of the three different types.

Bunji wrote over on the EQ2Players forums:

Test needs another update before the token exchange will be working correctly.  This should be in the next Test update:

You may now exchange your Gears, Ganak and Smuggler’s tokens for Battleground tokens by speaking to the Sisters of War.

I’ll try and update Test again tonight.

BG: Banishment From the Battlefield of Ganak?

Written by Feldon on . Posted in PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

If you’re familiar with the Battlefield of Ganak, the Capture-the-Flag arena for PvP/Battlegrounds, you’ll know that players have demonstrated an uncanny ability to collect the opposing team’s flag and then hide somewhere that the other team cannot reach. Various tools have been used, from in-game tinkered spring shoes, to 3rd party jump/hack/positioning software.

There was a thread soliciting feedback on how the EQ2 team could solve this problem.

Already, there is a Truancy system in place, where if enough players vote that a player has gone AFK simply to collect Battlegrounds tokens.

So how could this new problem of out-of-reach flag holders be resolved? Many solutions were proposed. As of last week, we have our answer:

If a player holds the flag beyond a designated amount of time without entering melee combat, they will see a message flash in red characters at the top of their screen “Get into Combat or be Banished!!“.

If you’d like to read player feedback on this issue and solution, check out the thread on the EQ2 Forums.

Olihin Addresses Raft of PvP Questions, Issues

Written by Feldon on . Posted in DGC Wants Feedback, Game Updates & Maintenance, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

Remember when Player-vs-Player was the red-headed stepchild of EQ2? Remember when there wasn’t even a PvP developer, but instead those tasks were delegated to developers who already had a full workload? Fast forward to today and one of the areas of the game getting the most attention is the PvP side, including those issues that extend into Battlegrounds.

So let’s go down the list of responses so far from PvP developer Olihin

Game Update 57 Notes

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Free-to-Play (EQ2X), Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Live Events, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds, Raiding, Tradeskill

Today marks the introduction of Game Update 57 to the live servers. Key features of this update include:

  • The EQ2 User Interface has received a facelift, with a new toolbar, a refresh of various windows, and a merged Character/Inventory/Profile window. The default theme is red, but easily switchable to blue by typing /loadui and choosing the Blue graphic set.
  • More character classes are now neutral and may start in either good or evil cities.
  • Spell animations and effects have been revamped.
  • Intrazone travel now supports path linking. Travel within Kingdom of Sky has been improved.
  • Erudin group instances (level 86-90) are now easier to reach.
  • New tradeskill quests have been added in the level 10, 20, and 30 tiers. These quests reward a mount as well as access to what have previously been overpriced Advanced recipe books.
  • Starting areas in Greater Faydark and Darklight Wood have received substantial revamps. Gorowyn has received further architectural rebuilding to improve navigation.
  • All classes have had some group-specific spells postponed until later levels to reduce the number of spells new players get in the first 20 levels.
  • Fighter heals will no longer critically heal.
  • The “Notable Norrathian” contest winning paintings are now available within Norrath but only during the monthly City Festivals (next is Sept 1-7). They are guild hall placeable.
  • Lucan D’Lere has returned to Freeport.
  • Today’s update contains no new dungeons or raid zones.

EQ2X

Also going live today is the public beta for EverQuest II Extended, the Free-to-Play alternative to a monthly EQ2 subscription. Game Update 57 will arrive simultaneously on both servers. EQ2X, as it’s being abbreviated, may be discussed on the separate EQ2X Forums.

PvP Feedback from Fan Faire to drive GU58 and Beyond

Written by Feldon on . Posted in DGC Wants Feedback, Game Updates & Maintenance, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

Sometimes people don’t believe it, but I know for a fact that developers at Fan Faire really do listen, or at the very least take extensive notes which they reflect upon when getting home.

Some changes are relatively easy and make a lot of sense when the context is explained interactively in a conversation with the developer. Of course big sweeping changes are unlikely while the developers are already in full press mode working on the next expansion, but it’s great when open discussion at Fan Faire can trigger a small but significant improvement. So enough of that…

Olihin (PvP and Battlegrounds dev) has posted a writeup of all the changes he is currently considering or outright planning for the future. He has already indicated that the earliest we might see some of these changes is Game Update 58, but there are no promises. Further, Olihin is requesting feedback on these changes. They are far from going live, so now is your chance for constructive conversation.

Game Update 57 Update Notes for Test/Test Copy

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

Game Update 57 is now up on  the Test and Test Copy Servers and we’ve got the Update Notes. We’ve already taken some new screen shots of the new default interface including the new pictorial tutorials for new players.

  • User Interface – One of the touted features of Game Update 57 is the revamped User Interface. The Persona and Inventory windows have been merged into a Character window. The XP bar has become a sort of “dock” at the bottom of your screen. All buttons and window corners have been rounded off. And for the most part, everything that was blue is now red! No doubt UI modders will come out with a classic re-skin to turn everything back to blue. We will be posting a preview of the GU57 Interface Changes soon. Discussed Here
  • Map Points of Interest – Many points of interest have been added to the default map, including quest locations. This will provide some of the functionality of EQ2Maps.
  • Additional Travel Revamp – There have been additional revamps to Travel. With path linking, you can now choose the ultimate destinations of any inter-zone travel and it will “connect the dots” to get you there. All transport pads in Kingdom of Sky connect to all others, and travel between the three Kingdom of Sky zones is much easier.
  • Character Creation & More Neutrals – The Character Creation screens have been revamped, and several more classes have become neutral, including Assassin, Ranger, Templar, Inquisitor, Coercer, Illusionist, Monk and Bruiser.
  • Extraneous Spells/CAs Removed from Levels 1-15 – Many spells and combat arts that new players generally did not use at level 1-20, such as Taunts, De-Agros, Agro-reduction, etc. have been postponed until level 15+ to decrease the number of new spells/CAs that players are exposed to in the increasingly brief sprint from level 1-20. First Discussed Here
  • Spell Effects Visual Revamp which was rumored for GU55 is now on Test. This is an update/revamp of the animation which plays for each beneficial and hostile effect cast by characters.
  • Lucan D’Lere has returned!
  • Additional Tradeskill Quests have been added at level 20 and 30.
  • Starting Zone Conflicts – Frostfang Sea (New Halas) and Greater Fay starting zones are now under attack by invaders, adding an additional level of interest to these zones. In addition, Gorowyn has received yet another architectural revamp to hopefully improve navigation.
  • General – You can also expect the usual array of tweaks and bugfixes to raid zones, battlegrounds, AA lines, Quests, and Items. Most classes got some kind of benefit here.

As this is all on Test and Test Copy, the EQ2 team are really looking for bug reports, feedback, and comments on everything that’s been added.

Complete Game Update 57 Notes after the jump…

   

UK-US Battlegrounds, Tinkerfest, Class Balance

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Live Events, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

We’ve got a rollup post of news from the weekend on a few different topics.

UK-US Battlegrounds might be finally getting the necessary kick in the butt to start working tomorrow. There might be a solution in the pipeline for players on distant servers unable to acquire Smuggler’s Den Tokens. Tinkerfest is coming to Test with new quests and rewards. And finally, a new Class Mechanics forum has mysteriously appeared on the EQ2 Forums.

Servers Back Up after Extended Maintenance, US-UK Battlegrounds Bridge

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

At 11pm PDT on June 9th, 2010 (7am GMT on June 10th, 2010), several EQ2 servers were brought down for maintenance:

Befallen, Permafrost, Crushbone, Mistmoore, Oasis, Runnyeye, Splitpaw, Innovation, Valor, Storms, Battlegrounds UK, Battlegrounds DE, and Battlegrounds FR

The original announcement indicated that maintenance would take 7 hours. All servers were up after ~13 hours, with a total downtime of ~15 hours for Runnyeye, Innovation, and some of the Battlegrounds servers.

So what was this maintenance all about? And did it include the US-UK Battlegrounds bridging we’ve been hearing about?

UK (Splitpaw/Runnyeye) and US Battlegrounds

Written by Feldon on . Posted in PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

UK and US Battlegrounds Playing Nice Together (or not!)

At the end of April, Rothgar posted news that a future update will allow players on UK servers (Splitpaw and Runnyeye) to join U.S.-based Battlegrounds (provided client-server versions are in sync). Here’s his post back then:

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.

Although originally planned for GU56, and then a week after GU56, this change is planned to go live with tomorrow’s (June 8th) hotfix.

June 8th (Tuesday) is when we are shooting for turning this on, assuming everything is working correctly.

UPDATE: This hotfix has slipped to Thursday, June 10th.

UK Players (Splitpaw & Runnyeye) on US Battlegrounds?

Written by Feldon on . Posted in PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

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.

Playing With Yourself — The European Battlegrounds Conundrum

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Itemization, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds

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

Game Update 56 Hits Test: Travel Revamp, Warfields, New Raid Zone

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

Game Update 56 is looking to be a huge update, with many tweaks and adjustments throughout Norrath. In brief…

  • a substantial Travel Revamp
  • more quests in Stonebrunt Highlands to hopefully fill that level 87-90 solo questing gap
  • a new Storyline feature
  • a new Icy Keep x4 Raid
  • Shaders 3.0 Graphical Revamp
  • Research Assistants can help all your characters
  • Blue PvP Adornments
  • Yellow Adornments on T9 Mastercrafted gear
  • Level 90 Character Traits
  • PvP Warfields
  • new Training Dummy options in your guild hall (solo, group, raid, and AE group)
  • and of course New Halas

Also of note, is that a vendor has been added to Moonfield Hamlet selling some of the rare Heroic drops from Sentinel’s Fate zones. It will be interesting to see if this is like the vendor added late in the release of The Shadow Odyssey, where only the lesser Fabled items were available, and for a whopping 150 shards/marks each.

With the Test Server being updated nearly a month before we are estimating Game Update 56 will hit live servers, hopefully there will be plenty of time to test out all the changes.

End-of-the-Week News

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

The focus this week has been on new EQ2 Senior Producer Dave Georgeson, and EQ2 Server Performance, which has been a persistent black cloud over EQ2 for the last 2 months.

Test Copy

Test Copy is getting some major use as it is where PvP and Battlegrounds changes are tested.

Gninja advised us:

We will be working out a schedule as to when the test_copy server will be pvp vrs pve. We are working it out now and will get back to you guys shortly.

Stuck at Character Select

An issue with being stuck at Character Select on Thursday was caused by a Configuration issue which has been corrected. EQ2 Forums

Adventure/AA/Tradeskill XP Weekend

The e-mail and EQ2Players announcements for this weekend’s Bonus XP event neglected to mention that Tradeskills will also see a bonus. We have not yet been informed what % the bonus will be, but 30% is a good guess.

Zone Start End
Pacific US Friday, April 23 @ 3:00pm Sunday, April 25 @ 11:59pm
Eastern US Friday, April 23 @ 6:00pm Monday , April 26 @ 2:59am
GMT Friday, April 23 @ 22:00 Monday , April 26 @ 06:59
Copenhagen Saturday, April 24 @ 00:00 Monday , April 26 @ 08:59

Game Update 56 Goes to Test Soon

We don’t have an exact date, but Game Update 56 will be moving to Test and Test Copy soon. When we know exactly what content will appear on Test and Test Copy, we’ll let you know. It would not be surprising if New Halas is not in the first build. EQ2 Forums

Thundering Steppes Revamp Mothballed

Gninja has confirmed the news we speculated about earlier this year.

Unfortunately we will not be making drastic changes to Thundering Steppes this time around. That doesn’t mean there will be no changes but we are not considering it being revamped. GU56 will be full of cool stuff though (Including but not limited to New Halas and some new raids) you should see it hitting test servers in the not too distant future.

A revamp of Thundering Steppes seems to be completely off the development radar at this point, with Butcherblock Mountains stepping in as the “place to be” for level 20-35 content.

Although subject to change, our understanding is that, just like Timorous Deep, level 20 players will be offered a quest guiding them from New Halas to the Butcherblock docks to begin level 20-35 content.

Level 82 Mastercrafted Armor

It seems the strength of level 80 Tier 1 and Tier 2 Shard armor from The Shadow Odyssey was always destined to overshadow Level 82 Mastercrafted armor. But that doesn’t mean the EQ2 team haven’t given up on it yet! Domino has managed to land some additional upgrades to the Level 82 set:

Look for some changes coming to level 82 mastercrafted armor with GU56 (for a start, it should all be level 82 now …) including the addition of yellow adornment slots and some resists. We are also in the process of discussing the possibilities of some stat tweaks.

It now seems even less likely that any of the Tier 1 Marks of Manaar gear will be an upgrade to any player. Note that Tier 2 Marks of Manaar gear (which has Critical Mitigation and better stats) must be sought out in Moonfield Hamlet in Stonebrunt Highlands.


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