EQ2Players has a preview up about the housing in New Halas. Andres Rodriguez is the artist responsible for designing the new houses and he took the time to answer some questions and share some pictures. The houses will be available in two, four and six room layouts and there will also be access to T1 guildhalls. They will include some built in bookshelves and even a fireplace. And all the houses in New Halas will include windows with a view to the sea.
In a break from the stock answer that has been given in regard to server merges for the last few years, Rothgar says server merges are something they are considering a little down the road. The EQ2 world isn’t exactly in the best shape it’s ever been in at the moment with zoning issues, instance lag, contested named fight lag, and broker lag so the dev team has a few issues to take care of before they can move forward with this idea. But this tells us that the idea is at least back on the table.
Rothgar writes:
We are considering server mergers but they would be a little down the road. Before we consider any more mergers, databases need to be upgraded and general server performance needs to be addressed. These are things we are working on and when we feel that we’ve achieved some of these goals we will seriously look at what is best for the EQII population.
And in response to someone claiming that Server merges = Dieing population, Rothgar responded with:
This is most definitely not the case. Our subscription numbers are on the rise.
The addition of easier character transfers through the Station Marketplace has made population numbers more liquid than in the past. We are seeing players migrate towards higher population servers like Antonia Bayle and Crushbone. In fact I’d be willing to bet that AB currently has a higher population than it has ever had in the history of EQII.
In order to stabilize the population, we’d like to increase the numbers across all servers and the easiest way to do that would be to merge some of the lower population servers making more “super servers” like Antonia Bayle.
This would also make better use of our server resources and allow us to re-purpose some of that hardware to better serve the larger worlds. When you think about the minimum requirements for each world, we need all static zones up and running at all times. This includes all of the city zones and most of the overland zones. On some worlds maybe those zones have < 20 people in them when they can easily support much more. By combining worlds we lower the total number of zones that need to be running by putting more people in them. So, the hardware that is freed up can be put to use servicing instanced zones which is where players are currently seeing the most server lag.
It’s a win-win for us and for players. We just can’t do it until we can be sure that your experience will be improved by the process.
As always, EQ2Wire will stay on top of this story and let you know as new developments occur.
Since Sentinel’s Fate went live, many people have been reporting issues with Guild Events not showing properly. Some report guild levels not showing up in the guild log and AA points from 201+ not being announced and/or logged. Those days may be behind us.
On 4/12/2010, Bunju from Quality Assurance posted on the EQ2 Forums:
A fix for this issue went in with the last Hotfix. Are you all seeing the 80-90 ts/adv level and 200-250 AA event notifications now? Thanks.
Hopefully this is now fixed.
EQ2Players checked in with Amanda McNair this week with another Artist Highlight. Amanda worked on the artwork for the Shard of Love and the Battlefield of Ganak, the capture the flag Battlefields zone. Here are some excerpts from the article:
What do you draw from for inspiration for your art in EQII?I tend to draw my inspiration from everyday life and what is going on around me. When I visit museums, watch movies, or even flip through catalogues, I’m always checking out architectural elements and trying to decide how it was built, or taking pictures so I can use it for reference for my environments. For instance, the new movie Alice in Wonderland has some awesome visuals and is currently inspiring me with what I am working on for the next expansion.What’s your favourite thing that you’ve done for EQII?I recently completed the art for one of the Battleground maps—Iksar Ruins (capture the flag). It was really fun to work on because while I was in game testing everything out, I imagined that I was running around with a flag on my back, trying to avoid being killed by the other players. I also created the zone, Shard of Love. I was given a lot of creative freedom on this zone as far as creating the look and feel and I’m really happy with how it turned out.Do you have any special (or just super fun) projects you’re working on now for EQII?I am working on a new dungeon – top secret as of now 😉 – that will be really unique and interesting. It’s really pushing me creatively to think outside the box.