What I have noticed in the last 3 days is that folks have a LOT of questions — more so than we saw with the release of The Shadow Odyssey. Between itemization changes, stat consolidation, AA revamps, tranmuting/adornments changes, the number of factions, etc. it seems what’s really needed is a central Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) which points to the resources out there on the web to help you get quick answers to all these questions. So here we go…
Sentinel’s Fate
How do I buy Sentinel’s Fate in the U.S. and Canada?
You may purchase a retail copy of Sentinel’s Fate either at a retail store (GameStop, Best Buy, EBGames, etc.) or online (Amazon.com, GameStop.com, BestBuy.com), or the digital download.
How do I buy Sentinel’s Fate outside the U.S. or Canada?
Outside the U.S. and Canada, you may purchase Sentinel’s Fate as a Digital Download and play immediately. We recommend ordering it from
Steam or
Direct2Drive.
The lack of options and last-minute announcements have led to a great deal of drama and strife over the international release strategy of the Sentinel’s Fate expansion.
General
How do I travel to the new zones (Odus, Sundered Frontier, Stonebrunt Mountains, The Hole)?
The quickest way to get to the new zones is to take the Ulteran Wizard Spires to
Sundered Frontier. The quickest path to a Wizard Spire may be to take a Druid Ring to Antonica, and run uphill towards the Spires and click the swirling portal over the spire.
You’ll gain access to the Sundered Frontier 80-85, Stonebrunt Mountains 86-90, and The Hole contested dungeon 81-90.
How do I get off Spire Island? How do I get started doing quests in the City of Paineel?
When you arrive at the
Spire Island, you will find one path that leads to a teleporter to the
City of Paineel. There you will find a quest giver who introduces you to the 3 factions within Paineel and gets you started questing.
Sundered Frontier Quest Timeline
Are there any new quests for low levels 20-70? What is the Golden Path?
Yes there are!
Already, the XP curve has been smoothed out from level 20-70 (see this article), but Game Update 55 adds several new quests especially in the level 60-70 range to try to smooth out progression. The EQ2 Dev Team have been working hard to make sure there is a logical, smooth quest progression from level 1-90. 1-20 and 70-80 were already pretty trouble free.
- The Golden Path is a new quest series called The Legend of Roger Goldie. It ranges from level 25-70.
- Tenebrous Tangle, Barren Sky, and the Bonemire have each received new quests.
- A series of 24 quests have been added in Tenebrous Tangle which award a permanent Cloud Mount.
- The underused Kaladim dungeon has been scaled to a level 30’s zone.
- Butcherblock has received some tweaks and changes to its quest lines
- Sanctum of Scaleborn has had the first few rooms made accessible by solo players (the rest of the dungeon remains a heroic experience).
What is the Hole (contested) Can I reach level 90 in Sentinel’s Fate by grouping?
We’ll be writing an article specifically about The Hole in the near future, but this is a contested (open) dungeon with a large amount of content ranging from level 81-90. There are some pretty substantial rewards, quests which reward a lot of XP, and 3 different wings each with a different difficulty range and different factions to impress with your abilities. With Sentinel’s Fate, you can quite easily level from 80-90 entirely by grouping.
Have you got a list of Dungeons in Sentinel’s Fate sorted by Level and Difficulty?
Do the Shadow Odyssey dungeons scale to level 90?
Shadow Odyssey dungeons which were scaleable from level 50-80 including the 3 Befallen, 3 Everfrost, and 2 Najena’s (Lavastorm) zones are scaleable to level 90. From level 77-87, they will award level 80 loot. From level 88-90 they will award level 90 loot. If the dungeon is set to level 87-90 upon entry, then the boss of each dungeon will drop one of the new Marks of Manaar tokens to buy SF token armor.
Why can’t I do grey/mentored shards anymore?
Are there any new Guild Hall Amenities?
Game Update 55
Where are the Update Notes for Game Update 55 (which coincided with Sentinel’s Fate)?
What’s up with the new Quest Journal and Quest Helper?
What about Shaders 3.0?
The Shaders 3.0 revamp has been pushed back indefinitely.
Shaders 3.0 was originally intended as a graphical revamp. That’s how it was pitched, designed, developed, and demonstrated to the players. Enough people complained through /feedback or whatever that the project was repurposed into a graphical Optimization. The scope of the project doubled as Ryan was tasked with revamping the Shaders 1.0 engine to make it run more smoothly on existing graphics hardware. And oh by the way if Shaders 3.0 looks great on good cards, so be it. So his project was doubled in complexity after it had already been announced and publicly demonstrated.
What about New Halas?
New Halas has slipped to Game Update 56 in May.
More InfoWhat about the Thundering Steppes Revamp?
The Thundering Steppes revamp has been delayed indefinitely. Originally, New Halas was going to be the new starting zone, leading into a revamped Thundering Steppes with new quest hubs, moved Griffon towers, etc. Instead, Darklight Wood and Timorous Deep continue to serve as quest zones for level 1-20, with a revamped Butcherblock serving as the level 20-35 quest path.
Leveling, Stats, Itemization
Why am I not leveling at all?
Check to make sure you have adjusted your AA Conversion Slider (press L) to 0%. Otherwise you are converting all XP into AAs. Also make sure you entered the Sentinel’s Fate product key correctly into the Station.com website.
How are people reaching level 90 so fast?
Some players saved up 50-80 or more collections to turn in on expansion day. But the biggest causes have been
Refer-a-Friend (+200% XP bonus),
XP Potions (+55%),
Vitality Potions (station cash), and
Vitality clicky (veteran reward) have allowed hundreds of players to reach level 90 within
hours of the launch of Sentinel’s Fate. Just 3 days after the release of the expansion, entire guilds are now level 90.
Why is this a problem?
By having it so fast to level, before February is over, the required level to play group content in EQ2 will be level 90. Who is going to be willing to group up from 80-89 in that situation? And once again, players who are leveling alts or even leveling their first toons will be forced to solo from 1-89, ill-preparing them for grouping at level 90.
A healthy game has a spread of players across at least 10 levels. EQ2 Developers went out of their way to make sure that the Sentinel’s Fate dungeons are a full range of levels from 81-90.
What’s is Stat Consolidation? What is Potency? What is Ability Mod? What is Toughness?
Many stats on equipment (weapons, armor, charms, jewelry) have been consolidated in Sentinel’s Fate.
Previously separate abilities such as Spell Damage Crit, Melee Crit, Ranged Crit, Taunt Crit, Double Attack, Ranged Double Attack, Base Damage, as well as all the different resists like vs. Arcane, vs. Magic, vs. Mental have been merged to simpler forms. Consolidated Stats
Also, certain archetypes such as Predators, Druids, Bards, Crusaders, Brawlers, Clerics, etc. have benefitted from multiple skills. Predators wanted Strength and Intelligence. Crusaders wanted Stamina, Strength, and Intelligence, etc. The Stats have been reshuffled such that Scouts derive all of their damage abilities from the Agility stat, Priests draw both their damage and healing abilities from Wisdom, etc. Primary Character Stats
This will allow developers to produce items that are applicable to a larger number of classes. Currently, entire sets of gear have to be created specific to each class. The Shadow Odyssey alone had nearly 60 sets of armor (T1, T2, T3, and T4) all with unique effects.
What is the new cap on stats like Strength, Intelligence, Stamina, Agility, and Wisdom
The cap on these abilities was previously 1220. However these caps have been removed. When you increase your archetype’s primary stat (AGI for scouts, INT for mages, WIS for priests, STR for fighters) over 1200, you will start to increase your base damage (Potency).
How do I upgrade my Fabled or Mythical Epic Weapon in this expansion?
In Sentinel’s Fate you can still use your Mythical or Fabled weapon, and it is still useful. However when you reach level 90, you will be tempted to upgrade to new weapons. Fortunately, you can complete two quests —
Fiery Jewel of the Underfoot (85) and
Epic Repercussions (90).
The reward for this questline (available whether you have the fabled or mythical version) is an Enervated version of your Mythical weapon (all the special abilities have been stripped off), one or more zero concentration Spells are added to your Knowledge book which give you your Mythical special effects, and a House Item version of your Mythical weapon. You can upgrade to new weapons and still retain those unique special abilities granted by your mythical weapon.
More Info @ EQ2Wire
Alternate Advancement (AA)
What’s changed with the AA (Alternate Advancement) system?
Tradeskills
What has changed in Tradeskilling in existing zones?
There is just a ton of information on changes in Tradeskilling in the Sentinel’s Fate expansion. The best place for that info is
EQ2Traders. We can report that those long-sought after recipe books to make TSO Shard Armor are now available on the Isle of Mara vendor for those with Far Seas Supply Division faction and tokens. The reward for running TSO Tradeskill Group Instances now is the recipes to make Battlegrounds Mastercrafted armor.
How do I get started with the new Tradeskill quest lines in Sentinel’s Fate?
When you first reach the Sundered Frontier (via a Wizard Spire), find the path out of the basin and head towards the City of Paineel. You’ll find the hapless Felice Adae (who mysteriously keeps switching race, but would be a lot funnier if she were a Kerra) who needs your help! Follow her questlines to earn faction not only with the 3 factions of Paineel but also the 3 factions of the outlying islands of the Kerra, etc.
EQ2 Traders has a great writeup!
You’ll want to earn faction to be able to buy Advanced artisan recipes for much less than they are appearing on the broker!
Complete Tradeskill coverage at EQ2 Traders.
What rare materials are used to make Spells and Combat Arts in Sentinel’s Fate?
Priest and Scout spells are made from
ulteran diamonds. Fighter and Mage spells are made from
kaborite clusters. As always, Alchemists make fighter combat arts, Jewelers make scout combat arts, and Sages make mage and priest spells.
Sorry for the mixup. (see the
State of the Tradeskills)
Loams are no longer a part of tradeskilling in level 80-90 crafting. Level 80 spells and combat arts have been moved to the new Tier 9 materials.
Adornments & Transmuting
What’s changed with the Adornments and Transmuting System?
Adornments were previously made by all 9 tradeskill classes, as well as the secondary tradeskill classes of Transmuter and Tinkerer. Starting with Sentinel’s Fate, only players who choose the secondary tradeskill ability of Adorning will be able to make player-made adornments (now called White Adornments). Any character may be an Adorner, Transmuter, and Tradeskiller all at the same time.Transmuting has always had a split personality. From skills 1-100, it was leveled by breaking down items. From 100-400, skill levels were raised by making mostly worthless adornments.
With the expansion, Transmuting becomes just another harvesting ability that every player gets (More Info). Transmuting now goes from skill 1-450 entirely by breaking down items.
To pick up the Adorning ability, head to Butcherblock Mountains docks. There are 2 vendors, one sells the recipe books, the other sells you the reaction arts. You skill up Adorning from 1-450 by making adornments. Players who were previously a Transmuter of, for example, skill 250 will retain their Transmuting skill of 250 and get the Adorning ability also at 250.
Transmuting and Adorning now have a higher chance of skill ups from breaking down items or making adornments. Also, the adornments are much more powerful and useful in their level range of 16-86. Adornments Preview
Is there a website where I can compare White Adornments?
Where do I get Red Adornments?
Red Adornments are exclusively available for Sentinel’s Fate Raid Gear. They are purchased from a vendor in the City of Paineel for tokens. We intend to post a more detailed article on Red Adornments soon.
For Sentinel’s Fate, the developers expanded the Adornments system to eventually accept up to 5 slots on each item (except Charms).
Battlegrounds
Battlegrounds is expected to launch on February 23rd. For now, they are available on the Test Copy server.
How do I get into Battlegrounds?
To access Battlegrounds, press Alt-Z to bring up the
revamped Zones window. Choose Battlegrounds, pick a battleground (or leave it to first available) and then Queue Self.
Battlegrounds are cross-server, and playable between PvP and PvE opponents. You may choose to join a pick-up Battlegrounds group by choosing to Queue Self, or you may form a pre-made group or raid first before choosing to Queue Group or Queue Raid.
How do I get Battlegrounds tokens?
Battlegrounds tokens are specific to the zone you participate in.
Battlegrounds Armor screen shots | Battlegrounds First Impressions | Balancing Battlegrounds | Battlegrounds Promo Video
Feldon
Just a small correction. The TSO zones when scaled to 90 award a single mark of Manaar from the final named. Or at least this was the case with crucible and Hollow tower.
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=470445
Several of the instanced dungeons from Shadow Odyssey now scale up to 90, and their bosses wil drop the new tokens if you fight them at this level. Zones that didn’t scale before (like Guk and the Void or Nu’Roga. So the ones that do scale up include al the Befallen, Miragul’s, Mistmoore and Najena singl group instances
“before February is over, the required level to play group content in EQ2 will be level 90”
Let’s say that SOE doubled exp required to level across the board. That would delay the deadline you’re threatening to mid-March. Let’s say they quadrupled it. Mid-April. If the next expansion comes out in February of 2011 and raises the cap (neither of which is certain), it would take a factor of 26 to keep the more casual group players from hitting 90 before then.
Of course, this assumes that players continue to play the game instead of canceling when the exp requirements increase dramatically without a similar increase in amount of content available in which to gain exp, and that experience requirements that high would not deter alts or new players. EQ2 would be the laughingstock of the industry if you had “kill 260 rats” quests (or repeat kill 10 rats 26 times, same effect), and there simply wouldn’t be any other model that would support that much exp to level. Don’t take my word for this, look at SOE’s actions in fixing the gaping void of solo content in the KOS zones that existed until GU 55 hit.
No matter how long it takes to level, players will eventually cluster at the game’s level cap. The real problem is that there is zero incentive in game for players to ever complete any group content other than the most advanced content available to them. If high end group players rush to the level cap in a matter of hours, refuse to backtrack, and, when they do, refuse to group with “ill-prepared” newbies until someone else trains them for group content, I don’t see how that’s the fault of the exp curve.
I don’t think it’s possible to prevent players from reaching level 90 at a rapid pace. And I would not want to see a return to the solo quest grind of Kunark. But really, I’m surprised when someone feels that this leveling pace is ok. The fastest from 70-80 was 40 hours in Kunark. Sentinel’s Fate is looking like 4 hours from level 80-90. How long will it take in the expansion after Velious? 30 minutes?
It’s already an uphill battle for us to re-educate people that grouping is just as good a way to level as solo questing. People forgot how fun it was to level by grouping in Sanctum of Scaleborn, Nest of the Great Egg, Den of the Devourer, etc. Having all these bonuses effective from level 80-90 doesn’t help.
In the early going, the solo leveling pace looks about the same as it did in the 70’s. Group players demanded a faster path, because only a faster path would make group content worth doing, so that’s what SOE delivered. The total length of the exp curve got constrained by how much solo leveling time SOE was able to support (using half as many overland leveling zones as ROK had at launch).
And yes, it is unfortunate that all of the bonuses combined to further decrease the leveling time in an already-short expansion. Unfortunately, SOE is now in the business of selling these boosts directly for cash, so they would literally be leaving money on the table by not allowing them to work on the expansion. I suppose we should just be glad that they are not (yet) balancing the exp curve assuming paid exp boosts.
“Battlegrounds are cross-server, and ….”
This is not totally correct. International non English Server can only play with servers with the same language as they are, but also the international English servers are not able to cross over to US servers. This is very limiting for all international customers 🙁 . I was hoping that at least the internationl english ones could join in the fun with US players.
This information was given by Brenlo during the UStream Event.
thank you for this 🙂
“Alchemists make fighter combat arts from kaborite clusters. Jewelers make scout combat arts from ulteran diamonds. Sages make mage spells with ulteran diamonds, and priest spells with karborite clusters.”
This is incorrect. Priests and Scouts from ulteran diamonds. Fighters and Mages from karborite.
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=419064 (There are no new loams)
I’ve corrected the kaborite vs. ulteran diamonds. Thanks!
Basic gear guide.
The best source of jewelry i’ve found for leveling chracters is the lvl 84 faction bought tiems from paineel, kerran isle and hua-mein vendors.
Most of the heroics drop level 88-90 gear which are only slight improvements over them stat-wise. 50-70 gold per heirloom item.
For the 1st character into the expansion this can mean a lot of work doing the main questlines (as it should be imo) but it has made gearing up secondary characters refreshingly simple, by level 84 their wearing sufficient jewelry to cover anything the expansion can throw at them (until the tougher instances at least).
Armour wise the T2 TSO armour’s still the best around for casual players until 90 but their cost in shards is prohibitavley expensive (~140 shards is about a months solid work for one set assuming people run 2-3 TSO instances daily to recieve 5 shards per day, possible now, but not exactly fun), i’m hoping that the GU56 change will reduce their prices as well as remove the need for the previous teir’s armour in their crafting. SF “marks of manaar” thankfully are a lot easier to obtain.