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.

Holly “Windstalker” Longdale has posted on the EQ2 Forums:

Hello again intrepid Norrathians,

We are inching closer to our February 26 Update and we have some news to share.

In my Producer Letter in our forums on Feb. 5, I listed the features we had planned for our Feb. 26 update. One of them I referred to as a Loyalty Program that centered around daily, weekly, and monthly objectives. We have been working on the feature and don’t feel it’s up to snuff yet. We want more time for testing, feedback, and iteration to ensure it’s fun. That in mind, we are going to hold this back for a while.

That said, we hope to have an unexpected addition to the February Update!

Guilds, take notice! We are introducing Guild Achievements to track and reward your guild’s accomplishments. In the new guild Achievements window, we list raid targets and their point value and we will track — including time stamps down to the second – the achievements for your guild. And if your guild wants to participate by including its achievements in our data feed, the information will be shared with the community at large. We are working on solutions for displaying the data and sharing this news with the fan sites.

Sincerely, as always,

Holly Longdale
Producer, EQII

From EverQuest2.com:

A mini-game update is coming on Tuesday, February 26. Included in this update are a number of tweaks, changes, and updates coming to PvP! Colette “Dexella” Murphy chatted with Brian “Omougi” Ferguson about what players will see and experience after the update.

Colette “Dexella” Murphy: In her Producer’s Letter, Holly “Windstalker” Longdale mentioned new blue adornments. How will these blue adornments work? How will they differ from other adornments?

Brian “Omougi” Ferguson: We are adding blue adornment slots to Imperial PVP charms, necklaces, cloaks, belts, and weapons. New blue adornments to fill these slots will be available for purchase in Champion’s Respite.
These new blue adornments can add a passive effect, like a regenerating ward, or an active effect, like a lifetap proc, to your gear. Many of these blue adornments will increase in power if you equip multiples of them in different slots, so you’ll want to mix and match to find the sweet spot for your character’s build. These effects will only activate in PVP combat.

UPDATE: This article has been corrected to state that this is not Game Update 66, which is expected later this spring, but a mini-update which is internally being called Game Update 65.5.

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale, Senior Producer of EverQuest II on the EQ2 Forums comes news of a game update which we can expect on February 26th, 2013.