In Case You Missed It: Housing, Graphics, and Network Status

In the run up towards Game Update 60, there are several things of note regarding Player Housing and Graphics that we’ve been meaning to cover. These include House Item Limit Expanders, Prestige Houses, the Network Status Page, and also a tip of the hat to Ryan “Imago-Quem” F. who has moved on to PlanetSide 2 and incoming graphics guru Alex “GermInUSA” who continues to polish up the EQ2 graphics engine while adding new features.

With the ability to own more than one house headed our way in Game Update 60, Domino has let us know that House Item Limit Expanders will see a price drop, seeing as one is needed per house:

Once multiple homes are introduced, the expanders will apply per house; so, if you have two houses and want extra house items in each, you’ll have to buy separate expanders for each, just like the carpenter-made ones.

However, since many decorating fans will no doubt want to maximize the item count of every house you own (don’t deny it! I know who you are! ) we plan to significantly lower the price of the Station Marketplace expanders once multiple houses are introduced, to make it much more affordable if you do want to go crazy with your house item count. So there is your answer.

And before someone asks, still no firm date on the multiple houses, but our fabulous code team is hard at work and we’re all eager to get it out there as soon as it’s ready.

It may surprise you to know that some of the Prestige Houses we’ll see in Game Update 60 were originally created 3 years ago! From Domino on the EQ2 Forums:

[I’ve] also checked a couple of the other prestige homes and adjusted [spawn points in those] too, although you guys haven’t seen those yet. (These particular prestige homes were made so long ago — 2007 if you believe it — that the person who set those zone in points does not even work here any longer! We’ve been wanting to do multiple homes for all that time, but it’s taken this long and Smokejumper‘s dedication to the housing to turn multiple homes into a reality.)

It was REALLY HARD on the code side. Fortunately, we have awesome coders (Zoltaroth has been working wonders on this one) and an awesome producer in Smokejumper who was able to justify spending all the code time needed to get this working!

Earring of the Solstice

This change actually went live about 2 weeks ago, but the Earring of the Solstice, earned by completing the Tradeskill Epic,  now reveals red tradeskill shinies even from your bags or bank vault! Hopefully some day this same change can be made to the various blue shiny collection glasses/items (three at last count!). Domino again:

Mortalus had time to make this change today, as I was busy on other things; we’re changing it so that as long as you possess the earring (doesn’t have to be equipped, but in your bags, bank, etc) you will be able to see the tradeskill collectibles. This will allow even people who recently respec’d tradeskill class to continue collecting.

The Othmir Dance

An interesting tidbit regarding Fan Faire and the Othmir from ttobey:

Anyone going to Fan Faire this year, study the Othmir /shimmy and /dance. There will be a contest!

As we discovered during the Velious Beta, Ryan “Imago-Quem” F., who introduced GPU Shadows, GPU Flora, and Shaders 3 to the EQ2 engine, has moved on to PlanetSide 2:

Hey thanks everyone.

I’m really glad to hear you guys/gals are enjoying my last 3 graphical features for EQ2. I am currently working on PlanetSide 2. I’d love to see you all at launch as well.

Thanks Alex for getting these features shipped out and optimized!

PS. I still hop in on some EQ2 dev sometimes. I’ll stay in touch.

EQ2’s new Graphics Guru is Alex “GermInUSA“, whose background is in console games and knows a thing or two about squeezing the best graphics out of limited hardware and a limited graphics engine. What’s he working on? How about HDR (High Dynamic Range) lighting?

I would like to eventually switch to an HDR solution which should make things like bloom and reflections much prettier.

Higher priority are optimizations and bug fixes though.

Also kudos to Ryan for doing the initial implementation of the [Sunshafts, Ambient Occlusion, and Depth of Field] effects. I mostly maintained them and optimized them a little.

More eye candy to come in the following weeks!

Server/Network Status Page Update in the Future?

From Rothgar on the EQ2 Forums:

We’ve decided to start consolidating the server status page. We didn’t feel that having a drop-down option for just AB made a lot of sense, and for people that played on multiple servers, it required more effort than should be necessary to view all servers. Listing them under different headers or by showing the tags next to their names, but keeping them on the same page is what we’re moving towards.

No word on whether the logic behind these pages will be improved and become a better gauge of the actual status of the servers.