A few (22) hours behind schedule, EverQuest II has launched their Age of Discovery expansion, which includes the Beastlord class, Item Reforging, Tradeskill Apprentices, Mercenaries, and the Dungeon Maker. Today also marks the introduction of a revamped Freeport, with new questlines starting at level 20 and every 10-20 levels until level 80. Also, EverQuest II has now gone entirely free-to-play. The Freeport server joins the other EQ2 servers as a regular server, and players can start on any server they like, either at the Free, Silver, or Gold levels. Heck even Frostfell goes live today.

If you are an EQ2 subscriber, then NOTHING changes for you.

LAUNCHERS: If you are using any of the older launchers such as the original EQ2.exe launcher in the Retail box, the blue-grey Station Launcher, or Launchpad 3 (either regular or streaming), you must upgrade to either the regular or streaming version of Launchpad 4 before you can patch in and play EverQuest II. If you point the installation at your current EQ2 directory, you will only need to download approximately 2.4GB of data. See our Launchpad 4 Patcher article for more info.

VETERAN REWARDS: If you are not able to see Veteran Rewards in your Claim windows, this will be fixed in tomorrow’s hotfix!

GUIDES:

• If you are looking for guides to the new features in Age of Discovery, or where to find all the new quests in Freeport, check out Cyliena‘s helpful guides at EQ2 ZAM.
• Niami Denmother has posted her Age of Discovery Preview as well as her Frostfell 2011 Guide.
• If you have reached level 10 on your new Beastlord and are looking for a new pet, look no further than EQ2Wire’s Beastlord Warder Guide.
  

See you in the game!

From EverQuest2.com:

Game Update 62: Freeport Reborn

Starting on Wednesday, November 30th Thursday, December 1st the following launchers/launchpads/patchers will no longer update EQ2 but instead automagically update themselves to Launchpad 4:

• Original EQ2.exe (Retail Launcher)
• Station Launcher (multi-game launcher)
• EQ2 Streaming Launcher (LP3 Streaming)
• EQ2 Launchpad 3 (LP3 Full)

From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:

Hi folks,

As you know, there’s a ton of new stuff coming to you soon. And soon starts now!

The first step is a LaunchPad upgrade. Starting on Wednesday (November 30, 2011) Thursday December 1st, LaunchPad will be updated automatically for you when you log in. We’re doing it now so it’s out of the way and not an issue before we launch GU 62 (“Freeport Reborn”) and the new expansion, “Age of Discovery.”

From EverQuest2.com:

The Overlord’s Return

The city stirs under a newly revitalized sky. The clouds that once choked the horizon have parted, revealing a powerful presence, now returned. The tall, jagged towers and looming citadels, at once breathtaking and ominous, are lit up by massive, fiery braziers. The Overlord has returned and Freeport is reborn.

I too have returned to the city. I return to reclaim my rightful home. My family has lived here for generations. When violence erupted, we were forced to seek shelter elsewhere, sundered from our homes and scattered across Norrath, waiting for the Overlord’s return.

PC Gamer has been given an exclusive new trailer with the first footage of the upcoming Freeport Revamp. Here is their tongue-in-cheek description for the video:

Freeport. That’s a nice name. It conjures up warm feelings of boundless possibility – and maybe a bunny or two. It’s like a verbal hug. Now, though, it’s almost hilariously un-apt, because Freeport’s the most puppy-kickingly evil it’s ever been. I’m talking jagged spiky towers, ominous red skies, and batteries that run on souls. Seriously. The revamp’s coming to EverQuest II in Game Update 62, and you can find out all about it by watching the above video.

The video also features brief interviews with Jonathan “Prathun” Caraker, Design Lead for Freeport Revamp, Tim Heydelaar, Environment Lead for EQ2, Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall, EQ2 Designer, and Dave “Covic” Brown, Lead Character Artist.

So we’ve just posted our transcript of last night’s Freeport Revamp webcast. If you don’t want to read the whole thing and just want the top five items you should know, here you go:

and a sneak about Beastlords:

Last night’s SOE Community Webcast talked about EverQuest II’s Freeport Revamp.

Present were Linda “Brasse” Carlson, Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (EQ2 Lead Designer), Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall (Designer), Jonathan “Prathun” Caraker (Designer), with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (EverQuest franchise Executive Producer).

And here’s a transcript of most of the Webcast:

Thursday, November 3, 2011 brings a new Webcast about the upcoming Game Update 62, specifically the Freeport revamp. If you have a Facebook account, you can Submit Questions for this Webcast by posting here. Those of us who refuse to get a Facebook account can apparently pound sand. 😉

From EverQuest2.com:

Host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations) will interview Jonathan “Prathun” Caraker (EQ2 Game Designer) and Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (EQ2 Lead Designer) and learn all about the upcoming changes to Freeport. Are you wondering what this historic city will look like, what new quests are on the way, or how our designers come up with it all? You won’t want to miss this exciting webcast!

Also, don’t forget to check out this recent article on the Freeport Revamp, which interviews Timothy “Haohmaru” Heydelaar (EQ2 Art Director) about the aesthetic changes to Freeport.

Join us on Thursday, November 3, 2011, at 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time, as we live stream this webcast on the SOE channel on Stickam! You can also tune in through the Stickam tab on our Facebook page. The webcast is expected to last about 20 minutes.

As Europe is no longer on summer/daylight savings time, here’s the conversion:

PDT – Nov 3rd, 4:30-4:50pm

EDT – Nov 3rd, 7:30-7:50pm

GMT – Nov 3rd, 23:30-23:50

CET – Nov 4th, 0:30-0:50