Feldon 
US Servers: 7:00~8:00am PST | 10:00am~11:00am EST | 15:00~16:00 GMT | 16:00~17:00 CEST
EU Servers: 9:00~10:00pm PST | 12:00~1:00am EST | 05:00~06:00 GMT | 06:00~07:00 CEST
- Stormhold & Deathtoll – Approx downtime three hours for Kingdom of Sky content prep. We’re estimating that these servers will open at 10AM PST.
- Maj’Dul – Approx downtime three hours for server maintenance
Tonight is the last night of Frostfell until later this year, while tomorrow sees the unlocking of Kingdom of Sky on the Time-Locked Expansion servers. Meanwhile on live servers, in addition to a number of content fixes, we will also see a potentially significant change to AAs. Abilities that used to grant Crit Bonus will now grant Potency instead.
Finally we must say goodbye to a feature that has worked inconsistently at best for many years but must have proven too difficult to fix. With tomorrow’s update, the PvP Arena feature will be disabled in EverQuest II, with the rewards from that content, including unique house pets, being moved to the Loyalty merchant.
From the EQ2 Forums:
TIME-LOCKED EXPANSION SERVERS
General
- All encounters received a global balance update that can be adjusted dynamically by development.
- Level 20+ encounters now mitigate damage based on level and tier.
- All blue stats have been unlocked with the exception of crit bonus.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Freeport / Qeynos
- Arena Champions merchant house pets now available from the Loyalty Merchant, Noble Tark Validus, in Freeport and Qeynos.
- Sumixum the Arena Master has retired.
- Arena Champions entrances within Freeport, Qeynos, and Muj’Dul have been closed.
Kingdom of Sky
- Hoo’Loh has returned to perching upon a chain on the Isle of The Watchers in Barren Sky!
- The Broodmatron watching over the breeding grounds in Tenebrous Tangle now gives AA.
Kralet Penumbra: The Master’s Chosen
- Corrected an issue that caused disruptive tutors to spam their resurrection buff.
Kralet Penumbra: The Master’s Chosen [Heroic and Agnostic]
- Shadowed Tutors should no longer cast their “Break Down” spell as often.
Kralet Penumbra: The Hive Mind [Raid]
- Ynonngozzz’Koolbh should no longer drop the Thalumbrite Channeling Crystal and instead drop the Mindstone Crystal.
Maldura: Bhoughbh’s Folly [x2 Raid]
- Corrected an issue that occasionally caused the final chest for Bhoughbh Nova Prime to not set access correctly.
ITEMS
- Casting Speed and Reuse Speed have been removed from most items below level 90
- All Kingdom of Sky items dropped from encounters, rewarded by quest, or tradeskilled have been updated.
- Many raid jewelry items and weapons for Terrors of Thalumbra have been re-itemized. [Editor’s Note: These are new items with the same names]
ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Kingdom of Sky
- KoS era Alternate Advancement abilities that previously granted crit bonus, now grant potency.
QUESTS
- Power to the Tower should more reliably update when defending the Tower of Umber.
- The timed mission, Shell Shock, will now reward 3 Coins of the Eternal Queen.
Claymore quest line polish:
- Burglars Afoot – Deletion of quest now removes the following objects from player’s inventory:
- Droag Note
- Scaleborn Temple Note
- a map
- unseen hand card puzzle
- Burglars Afoot – Drippy Darkpaw now locks on the player when spawned. Breaking the encounter now despawns him, too. Players that have broken his encounter can now respawn him immediately.
- strongbox no longer gives “a map” if player has “Whole Lotta’ Holes” currently or has completed it.
- Soul Survivor – Scorchprow the Builder now also counts as a sentinel builder.
- A Scalding Hot Encounter – The scalded dread knight skeletons no longer have health, or spins when hailed or searched.
- A Scalding Hot Encounter – Scaleborn scalders encounters now lock on the player when spawned. Breaking the encounter now despawns them, too. Players that have broken their encounter can now respawn them immediately.
- A Scalding Hot Encounter – Deletion of quest now removes the “Three Ceremonial Daggers of the Scaleborn” from player’s inventory.
- Trading Information – Deletion of quest now removes “a transcribed coded map” from player’s inventory.
- Trading Information – Can now only interact with the ceremonial rack on these specific steps of the quest.
- Riddle of the Vault – The ceremonial darslayers will no longer be seen after being gathered.
- Riddle of the Vault – The ceremonial darslayers now have a consistant appearance.
- Riddle of the Vault – Placing the ceremonial darslayers is more eye-catching now.
- Riddle of the Vault – Clicking the pedestal is now easier.
- Riddle of the Vault – The dragon switches are now colored as described in the quest journal.
- Learning from theCrystalfor Murrar – The Voice of the Palace can now only be seen by players on the quest.
- Learning from the Crystal – The Voice of the Palace can now only be seen by players on the quest.
- Egg Hunt in the Nest – The chronicle eggs can now only be seen and gathered by players on the necessary quest step.
- The Visage of Aeristok – The eyes of Aeristok will no longer be seen after being gathered.
- The Visage of Aeristok – the Visage of Aeristok is easier to interact with now.
- The Visage of Aeristok – the Visage of Aeristok now locks on the player when spawned. Breaking the encounter now despawns him, too. Players that have broken his encounter can now respawn him immediately.
- The Visage of Aeristok – There is no timer associated with this stage any longer.
- A Star to Unlock – First Shard of Aaryonar is now easier to see and a color that makes sense for his spirit.
- Six O’Flock High – Deletion of quest now removes “a large ornate egg” from player’s inventory.
- Six O’Flock High – Deletion of quest now removes “the egg key” from player’s inventory.
- Six O’Flock High – Cracking open egg safe now results in an onscreen message specifying “Inside the egg safe you find another Fang of Aaryonar!”
- Six O’Flock High – Second Shard of Aaryonar is now easier to see and a color that makes sense for his spirit.
- Six O’Flock High – Now if the player chooses to threaten the Second Shard of Aaryonar during the conversation, Aaryonar kills the player, as intended.
- An Audience with Aaryonar – Placing the feathers on the statues can now only be attempted while the player is on that particular step.
- An Audience with Aaryonar – Placing the books on the bookcases can now only be attempted while the player is on that particular step.
- An Audience with Aaryonar – Gathering the Aaryonar Heart Gems can now only be attempted if the player has not gathered from that particular bed yet.
- An Audience with Aaryonar – Aaryonar is now easier to see and a color that makes sense for his spirit.
- The Riddle of Razorwing – Quest is now level 76 to match the challenge of the mobs it requires you to kill.
- The Riddle of Razorwing – Placing the gems within the Effigy of The Slashing Talon and Effigy of The Flapping Wing is more dramatic and cleaner now!
- The Riddle of Razorwing – The gems of the flapping wing can now only be seen while on this particular step.
- The Riddle of Razorwing – The claws of the slashing talon can now only be seen while on this particular step.
- Feeding the Flames – Throwing the Doomwing horns into the basins now results in a visual.
- Obscuring Knowledge – Sealing each of the lexicons can now only be done on their particular step.
- Obscuring Knowledge – Quest is now level 72 to match the challenge of the dungeons it sends you to.
- Reclaiming the Totems – Quest is now level 72 to match the challenge of the mobs it requires you to kill.
- Beyond Death’s Door – Quest is now level 78 to match the challenge of the mobs it requires you to kill.
Even though the Arena has been broken so long most everyone has forgotten about it, it’s still kind of sad that they’re just closing it down. 🙁
I agree, I have fond memories of running around the Arena with my friends =/
More removal of what was once great content. 😡
Loved the arena pets it was really fun while it was a big thing. Shifter was a beast worked hard to get him and a few others sad to see it go
Since Maj’dul already has KoS , why is it down 3 hrs on Frostfell’s last day? Bad planning? Kind of pointless to say an event lasts until 10 am PST and then be down from 7 AM to 10 AM PST.
It says right in the note “server maintenance”.
Frostfell was scheduled to end at 7am Pacific, that is what the calendar has said for me for a long while, at least on HoF, AB & Test.
Why didn’t they just push the maintenance 3 hrs later or put on the calendar 7 am pst ending for Frostfell?
Ugh and the march to removing Crit Bonus from the game continues.
I never spent much time at all in the Arena, so no feelings about it going. I AM HOWEVER, wondering why they spend so much time fixing 70th tier when almost everyone on server starts with a level 90 toon these days. Maybe better spent fixing bugs we’re all currently running into in the 90’s and 100’s. The current expansion is still full of frustrating and continuing bugs not yet addressed.
Still curious why, there’S no public statement about the reason.
Crit bonus is a mechanic who’s time has come and gone. The original concept of critical hits was 0-100% value and if you didn’t crit, then you didn’t get the bonus. So, there was meaning to the value. Now that you always crit (with a chance to multiply on legendary+ hits), it is simply another multiplier, and really does not have any meaning.
It is too bad that the concept lost it’s original meaning. I wish they could have scaled it back so the chance was yes/no rather than the legendary+ multiplier. But there has been so much stat increase in the time that it has existed that if you wanted to scale it back then your lowest level pieces would need to have maybe 0.05% crit chance in order to have a relevant number.
I would prefer if the developers would be more open about where they stand on this and express some thoughts on their future direction. But with the history of how badly they get flamed when they speculate without having firm plans in place, I can see why they aren’t talking as much about this as I prefer.
I agree, in particular, with your last paragraph. Over at Guild Wars 2, dev communication and the forums turned adversarial early, and it’s simply grown uglier over the years. This is all too tricky, full of damned-if-you-do/don’t. Battle choosing, I suppose. Around here, cramped budgets probably make everything triage.
Still nothing about the “added later” meta collection rewards for those who completed early. Devs too stretched with TLE issues?
“Casting Speed and Reuse Speed have been removed from most items below level 90”
This has me scratching my head.