Feldon
And that’s our LAST post this weekend barring any breaking news. We’ve posted almost a ridiculous amount of information since Thursday and you guys (and gals) need the weekend to digest it all. We’ll be back on Monday with more, including maybe some thoughts about the F2P transition!
Month: November 2011
From the EQ2 Forums: EverQuest II: Free-to-Play Webcast Recap On Thursday, November 10, 2011, we had a very special webcast going over the big announcement: EverQuest II going free-to-play! This week’s webcast featured EverQuest II Executive Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson and EverQuest II Associate Producer Emily “Domino” Taylor. The two were interviewed by SOE’s Director of Global Communication, Linda “Brasse” Carlson. We learned about many of the specifics associated with the free-to-play conversion and a bit about the new expansion “Age of Discovery.” At the end of the video, screenshots of the Collector’s Edition items were also shown. After...
So there will have been a lot of myths and “the sky is falling” posts since Thursday’s announcement of EverQuest II going Free-to-Play and eliminating the “separate but equal” EQ2X service. Let’s see if we can knock out a few… 1 The price of my EverQuest II subscription is going up. According to SmokeJumper, “nothing is changing”. An EQ2 subscription will continue to be $14.99/month and will continue at that pricing for the foreseeable future. In fact, you’ll be able to pay your account with StationCash. If you stockpiled SC (up to the annoyingly low limits allowed), then you...
SmokeJumper has answers for four of the biggest questions regarding the changes announced this week with EverQuest II becoming a Free-to-Play game rather than having a separate EQ2X service. Okay, folks, We promised you answers to four big questions that kept coming up on the forums yesterday. (We promised info by early next week, but we’re ready with the info now, so here ya go.)
You’ll likely remember last year’s EverQuest II: Extended Trailer. It had great music, good editing, and was quite attractive to watch. Now that EverQuest II is going Free-to-Play without a separate service, that trailer has been remixed with some new clips. We provide the new trailer below with the new motto “EverQuest II Free to Play. Your Way!™”.
Traditionally, when an item has been placed in a Guild Hall, that item has been considered as “donated” by the person placing it. As there is no cash value to items acquired in-game, donation seems an appropriate paradigm. However with the introduction of furniture and other placeable items to the StationCash Marketplace, you are entering the realm of items with cash value. The ability to place items purchased with StationCash in Guild Halls has been inconsistent at best, mostly because of the Customer Service implications of thousands of players asking for their StationCash money back (or items) if they...
So the biggest kerfuffle about today’s announcement about EverQuest II going fully free-to-play was an unexpected one for me. A larger-than-expected number of players have multiple characters on both the EQ2 and EQ2X services and they are concerned that they’ll get locked out of some of those characters when the transition completes and will be forced to buy character slots to continue playing those characters. A player asked: I have 12 slots on live full and 14 on eq2x.. when the merge what happens to all the characters? do I need to delete toons before hand that I don’t...
From an e-mail I just received! NOTE: For most players, you do not need to do anything, as this entitlement will automatically be added to your account, but check your SOE.com account over the next week or so to make sure this is added.
One tantalising bit of information from tonight’s AoD/F2P Webcast was that the Age of Discovery Beta may start allowing Fan Faire attendees in tonight. It’s unknown how quickly others will be brought into the beta. Also, we were told that while Beastlords, the Freeport Revamp (a GU62 feature), Mercenaries, Tradeskill Apprentices, and Reforging would be in the Beta now (or soon), Design Your Own Dungeon won’t hit Beta until next week, to focus testing attention on the previously mentioned features. UPDATE: We have it on good authority that Fan Faire attendees are now receiving invites to the Age of...
The “Very Exciting News” Webcast (which with today’s revelation of EverQuest II going fully Free-to-Play was naturally on that subject) finished a little while ago on Twitch.tv. The new webcasting service produced a MUCH more reliable video picture and better sound quality as well. The webcast included Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, Emily “Domino” Taylor, and Linda “Brasse” Carlson. Lots of questions were asked from SOE’s Facebook page, including a question I submitted and heck I even won some StationCash for submitting a question. In case you’re wondering, my question was: When is the new EQ2Players site being launched? and the...
I have to give props to SOE for doing a solid job putting together all the FAQs, Announcements, and information being posted today (even if some of it has frustratingly changed at the last minute). It has been a lot clearer than past announcements. That said, we can’t help but notice three different answers to a simple question: What’s the release date for EverQuest II: Age of Discovery? Pre-Order Announcement — Winter 2011 EQ2 CM Announcement — November 30, 2011 SmokeJumper’s Producer’s Letter — early December If you’re confused, trust me, you’re not alone. UPDATE from SmokeJumper: We are...
If you’ve been waiting to buy EverQuest II: Age of Discovery and were expecting to get Destiny of Velious included, get ready for a surprise! Here’s the original announcement about the Age of Discovery Pre-Order: Digital Collector’s Edition The Digitial Collector’s Edition is a Station Exclusive and is specially priced at $59.99 for pre-order only. This version includes the base game, all seven expansions, a Cloak of the Truespirit, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #1, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #2, Armored Flying Pegasus Mount, Unique Beastlord Warder Pet, Lavastorm Prestige Home, Custom Dungeon Maker Map Layout, and a...
Here is the updated Free-to-Play Frequently Asked Questions page from EverQuest2.com. You may also go straight to the Membership Comparison Grid which compares Free, Silver, and Gold subscription levels. 1. When will I be able to play EverQuest II for free? We do not have an exact date at this time, but we are anticipating releasing EverQuest II as Free-to-Play early December 2011. 2. How much does EverQuest II cost to play? Basic access in EverQuest II is free! This includes access to a large portion of the game. However, there are also paid memberships that grant access to...
From EverQuest2.com: Pre-Order EverQuest II – Age of Discovery Today!EverQuest II – Age of Discovery is now available for pre-order! This exciting new expansion to the world of Norrath will be released on November 30, 2011. Digital Collector’s Edition $59.99 The Digitial Collector’s Edition is a Station Exclusive and is specially priced at $59.99 for pre-order only. This version includes the base game, all seven expansions, a Cloak of the Truespirit, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #1, Dungeon Maker Unique Monster Spawner #2, Armored Flying Pegasus Mount, Unique Beastlord Warder Pet, Lavastorm Prestige Home, Custom Dungeon Maker Map Layout,...
EverQuest Executive Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson has unveiled the news that EverQuest II is fully going Free-to-Play on all servers, and the segregation between EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended (F2P) is going away (as is the ‘powerful cash shop’ and the LiveGamer service). From EverQuest2.com: Many of you reading this letter are long-time EverQuest and EverQuest II players. You’ve been part of the SOE family for a long time (earlier this week was EQII’s 7-year anniversary!) and our aim is to take care of you and keep you entertained for years to come. Part of caring for our...
If you’re a Scout, a Fighter, and maybe even a Cleric, Druid, Enchanter, or Mystic in EQ2, and you push yourself to play the absolute best (even if you’re not geared the best), you’re probably already familiar with the concept of Autoattack. Game Update 61 introduced a new type of Autoattack called Spell Autoattack for Mages and Priests. You might be tempted to jump on the DPS bandwagon, but before you run out and equip a Wand, there are some things you really ought to know! UPDATE: This article has been updated thanks to feedback from Ferk, Anaogi, Barx!
Are you ready for some concrete info about Beastlords? The decision to bring Beastlords to EverQuest II was made less than a month before Fan Faire according to an SOE source, and a lot of things were said at Fan Faire, including what type of armor and weapons they’d use, what class they’d be, and how Warders would work. Now that the team has been working on them for four months, there have, not surprisingly, been a few changes. Here is EQ2’s Lead Designer Akil “Lyndro” Hooper talking about Beastlords on EverQuest2.com: Q. What is a beastlord? What makes...
On Saturday we reported that some players had started receiving their 8 Year Veteran Rewards. Of particular note in this collection of loot was an item called “Veteran Revival” that would allow you to revive your group once every 24 hours. However when players tried it, they immediately discovered that it only worked if you (the caster) were still alive, greatly reducing the value of the item. SmokeJumper initially posted that the item was “being fixed”, however he later responded with this: Sorry for the confusion, but the item is currently working as intended. It cannot be used while...
From EverQuest2.com comes this notice about ‘very exciting news for EverQuest II’: Come check out this week’s EverQuest II Webcast! Host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations) will interview Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (EQ2 Executive Producer) and Emily “Domino” Taylor (EQ2 Associate Producer) to talk about some very exciting news for EverQuest II! You won’t want to miss it! Join us on Thursday, November 10, 2011, at 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time*, as we live stream this webcast on the Twitch TV! The webcast is expected to last about 20 minutes. Note that SOE has switched live stream services from...
It looks like any kind of big news affecting EverQuest II: Age of Discovery might have to wait until tomorrow Thursday. Here’s SmokeJumper‘s announcement of the Eight Year Veteran Rewards (which we covered on Saturday) and a free Lucan D’Lere Statue: Huzzah and yippee-ki-ay! We’re seven! The EverQuest franchise is near and dear to our hearts here at SOE and we really appreciate all of you that have also grown to love Norrath over the years. As a small token of our appreciation, and to tie in with the “Freeport Reborn” game update coming up soon, there is a...
From the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Challenge Mode NPCs Several challenge mode NPC effects that were incurable are now curable as curses. These include Paralyzing Venom, Mesmerizing Web, and Corrosive Residue in the Aaranae Arcimae fight. Combat Madness in the General Aakita fight. Deathtouch in the Lichlord Skulldugger fight and several others. Cooperative Strike is no longer always fatal each tick, it does about half your max health in focus damage with each tick now. Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundations of Stone [Challenge] Greater warboars during the statue of rallos zek fight have less maximum health. Tallon’s...
A growing number of players on the Splitpaw, Valor, and Storms servers (located in Amsterdam and serving the UK and English-speaking Europe) have been reporting unplayable gameplay lag and connection delays. Some players are reporting no problems while others are experiencing 5-6 second cast delays. Further confusing matters, there seems to be no geographic pattern to the problems, as some living in close proximity to Amsterdam are reporting the biggest problems while those far away are getting fast responses. UPDATE: We’ve updated this article to address the Valor and Storms servers. In the absence of further information, this would...
It seems that SOE has also been caught up in the difference between when the US goes off Daylight Savings Time (changed in 2007 to the first Sunday in November) and Europe which goes off Daylight Savings on the last Sunday in October. It’s now 1 hour and 20 minutes past the scheduled time for SOE’s Bonfire Night celebration on the Splitpaw server and there’s no sign of an event happening. Hey it could happen to anyone…
A tip of the hat to Rixan of Antonia Bayle for bringing this to our attention. After hearing that there might or might not be an eight year vet reward at Fan Faire, it looks like we are getting a doozy of a set. We’re talking a once-every-24-hours group resurrect (20% health and power), a 150% flying disc mount, a 110% XP potion, and an equippable illusion that adds a green glow around your eyes. You also get a “the Veteran” player title. UPDATE: According to several sources, players will get a choice of several different 150% flying disc...
Yesterday we received an e-mail from SOE informing us of a 25% discount on their SOE Authenticator keyring security fobs licensed from Vasco. These devices can be ordered from the SOE Station Store for $7.49 plus shipping and handling. This promotion ends November 17, 2011 at 8:59am PDT (11:59am EDT; 16:59 GMT; 17:59 CET). Note the free SOE Mobile Authenticator app for iPhone and Android is still listed as ‘Coming Soon’. You can read the SOE Authenticator Frequently Asked Questions at SOE.com.