Feldon
We’re now just 5 weeks away from SOE Live in Las Vegas and news of different sorts are starting to trickle in. New this year are Player Panels, and the creators of EQ2Wire and EQ2U have submitted 2 panels which we hope to participate in. That’s in addition to the wall-to-wall coverage that only EQ2Wire can provide. Fan Faire Forever!
Month: September 2012
If I was a bit harsh in my “Let the Sleeper’s Tomb Testing Begin! Group & Raid Zone” article, it’s only because I believe content should be thoroughly tested before it is pushed to the Live servers. Players have memorized every pixel in Skyshrine and are thirsty for new enemies to “punch and take their stuff”, so it seems smart to get Sleeper’s Tomb so bug-free, balanced, and itemized smoothly that players feel the wait for new content was worth it. Holly “Windstalker” Longdale has posted a news update about when we can expect Sleeper’s Tomb, and the first...
Nearly every EverQuest II expansion has included some kind of new feature, yet we tend to associate expansions with their content. Think of any EQ2 expansion and our recollections are of the continents, solo quests, group and raid zones, and level cap raises contained within each update. So what happened with Age of Discovery? It’s no secret that the original plan was to release two expansions — Velious I and Velious II — and charge for both of them. However it must have been felt that players would react negatively to a “Velious double-dip”. So Age of Discovery was...
This month will see the introduction of the Sleeper’s Tomb group and x4 raid zones. So when can players test these zones? Oh, really any time. Some astute players noticed late last week that the EQ2 Beta server was accessible from the Launchpad. We received confirmation last week that the Test Copy server was morphing into the Beta server. That’s great, but there was no clarification or announcement of whether anything was ready to be tested. Until today… From Gninja: Currently the beta server has the next update on it (Prelude). It has been getting some focused testing in...
In addition to some much-needed Itemization tweaks, the big ticket item in today’s patch is a revised Merchant Window. The new window allows filtering the item list to only include items of your level, class, and which you can equip. There is also a new interactive Search filter box which limits the results to matching items. And finally, for those who sell a lot of items to merchants, a “Double Click to Sell” checkbox. It’s nice to see all these new features and usability tweaks to the EQ2 UI such as the Player Casting Bar, Autoattack Timing window, Auto-attack...
Here are today’s update notes from the EQ2 Forums. New options have been added to the Merchant window: You can now ‘Hide Unusable’ items, ‘Hide Outleveled’ items, and show ‘My Class’ useable items within any merchant window via checkboxes. A text field has been added which allows you to filter items in a merchant’s list. There is now a ‘Double Click to Sell’ checkbox in merchant windows that once checked will allow you to double-click on items in your bags to quickly sell them. You can also auto enable ‘Double Click to Sell’ in the options under User Interface...
Today brought a double helping of news for players of EverQuest II, and I wanted to share a few thoughts I’ve got on each subject. EverQuest II: Chains of Eternity After a features expansion, and then a “guspansion”, Chains of Eternity puts us back on track with a content expansion. This time around, we’ll see Guild, Tradeskill, and Adventuring Level Caps all raised to 95. We’ll also see more expansion in the Prestige AAs tab with new abilities for each Subclass. Also new in the expansion will be Prestige Tradeskills for crafters wanting to specialize their trade. A truly...
If you will be at SOE Live (formerly Fan Faire) and have an interest in hosting a Player Panel, either as a Lecture or Discussion Panel, you have until September 14th to submit an application. From the EQ2 Forums: We know you come to SOE Live to hear us rabbit on about our various areas of expertise, but I bet you’d just love a chance to get up behind a microphone yourself, to offer advice, information, share your opinions and help out your fellow players. This year, we’ve set aside a room that holds up to 76 people and...
From EverQuest2.com: Death is rampant across Norrath. Citizens are suddenly falling dead as their spirits are torn from their bodies. No one on Norrath seems to understand why the souls are being pulled from the mortal plane, but all signs point to a massive disturbance within Ethernere, the realm of the dead. The heroes of the world must travel to Ethernere to find the cause of the unbalance in the Grey Wastes, and discover what has become of its caretaker – the mysterious being known as Drinal. If the heroes can return balance to Ethernere, the siphoning of souls...
From EverQuest2.com: EverQuest™ II players are some of the most dedicated, emotionally invested players in any virtual world. For the first time, EverQuest II players have the opportunity to create parts of our world by designing new in-game items. Player Studio™ is a new program that invites (initially US-based) players to download sample geometry, learn how virtual items are constructed, and try designing items. You can try your hand at writing a creative name, item description, and rationale for how it fits into the ongoing storyline. Selected items will be offered for sale in the SOE Marketplace alongside items...
From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums: Greetings Norrath! The time has come! We are very proud to announce our next expansion, EverQuest II: Chains of Eternity! The team is hard at work developing our ninth – yes, our ninth – expansion and implementing the finer details, several of which I will go into here. When the expansion launches, Norrathians will pass into Ethernere, the realm of the afterlife, where all spirits pass after death on their way to their final resting place. Recently, something has gone horribly wrong in Ethernere and it is bleeding through in the mortal plane. ...
SOE President John Smedley has teased two announcements, one Thursday, one Friday, on Twitter: We have two HUGE announcements. One tomorrow. One Friday. Tomorrows announcement is a complete and fundamental shift for SOE that is going to change our industry. We think it’s going to be a big shift for SOE and I believe a lot of others in our industry will follow. Meanwhile, Holly “Windstalker” Longdale has tweeted: Putting the final touches on my Producer’s Letter for tomorrow morning! Update from Brasse: EQ2, EQ & Station Live sites will be down for approx 10-15 min for web changes...
As was hinted last month, players will see new raid content in the month of September, specifically the Sleeper’s Tomb. It’s our understanding that the difficulty of this zone will stop short of the Plane of War. Meanwhile, there have been sightings of new ETHEREAL Charms over the long weekend. It’s unclear if the charms have replaced or simply augmented the ETHEREAL weapons which first appeared in August. Remember folks, Ethereal items have an equal chance of dropping from any enemy — they do not have a higher chance of dropping from named encounters. From the EQ2 Forums: It’s...
From the EQ2 Forums: ITEMS Many NO TRADE adornments are now HEIRLOOM. Forged Claws of Drelkuma now have a 4 second delay. The Rift Guardian armor set for Wardens now has wisdom in place of strength. Plane of War: Blade of Universal Conflict – Indestructible Being now procs 15 crit bonus instead of 15 potency. Plane of War: Petrified Skull of a Bygone Emperor now has the appropriate amount of multi-attack. Plane of War: Writ of Destruction now has the appropriate amount of multi-attack. Ethereal Charms: Rallosian Warforged Axe Shard is now tradeable. Ethereal Charms: Rallosian Warforged Shield Strap...