Game Update #48

Game Update #48 sees the introduction of a preview version of a new level 80 dungeon — Veksar — located off Fens of Nathsar at the bottom of the Lake of Ill Omen.

World Events
Two new world events have been added:

• A harvesting quest — Guild Hall Construction — to assist the construction of the guild halls. Rewards include personal and guild status as well as a certificate, statue, and character title after completing the quests 10, 20, and 30 times.
• A murder mystery — Brittle Chips Ahoy — is playing out which requires players to collect bone shards to solve the mystery! Once a certain number of shards have been collected server-wide, the next part of the quest will be unlocked!

Veksar Loot! — Even during testing, some screen snapshots of example loot that drops in Veksar were posted about halfway down this page (once you scroll past all the whining):
Veksar Feedback Thread

The Void Storms quests have come to a close, or are at least on hiatus until they make themselves known in the release of The Shadow Odyssey with a whole Void zone to call their own. Appreciation Notes can now be turned in for nearly ALL of the rewards that were available during the last two quests.

A Guild Member Points system has been added which guilds may choose to use or ignore. It’s another attempt by SoE just like the integration of voice chat to make EQ2 a one-stop shop, freeing raid guilds from the need to depend upon separate DKP (Dragon Kill Points) tracking websites. Some guilds will continue to use their DKP websites, others will migrate to the built-in system. Either way, every EQ2 player who logs in and sees that row of bright yellow zeroes on the Member List is going to ask lots of nagging questions that their guild leaders may not yet be ready to answer!

Everfrost has seen a substantial revamp. Another tunnel has been added to ease travel, 50 new quests have been added, and heroic content has been rearranged to have a more logical progression. Hubs have been added with banking and other amenities as well.

Travel received a significant upgrade. At long last, travelers to Nek Forest and Thundering Steppes can return to the docks near their home cities via bells. More importantly, betrayal of Kelethin citizens to Qeynos due Greater Faydark’s extreme isolation and lack of travel options should be reduced due to the introduction of a Sinking Sands carpet on the ramp leading out of Kelethin (near the Butcherblock entrance). The introduction of a bell from Kylong Plains to Gorowyn will provide an alternate means of transport to and from Kunark zones than waiting for the boat (although zoning 3 or 4 times may not be significantly faster!).

Tradeskill Writs now reward more faction points. 300 for rush orders, 200 for standard work orders. The appearance of crafted cloth and leather items from various levels have received a revamp, as have the stats and properties of the entire range of crafted armor from level 1-59. Many missing items in lower tiers have been added and are now imbuable.

Game Update #48 Release Notes for the complete details.