In my time covering EverQuest II, we’ve had three really great Community Managers — Christine “Kiara” Renzetti, Margaret “Luperza” Krohn, and Racheal “Afista” McKenny.

Yesterday as part of their Daily Grind column, MassivelyOP asked “What Makes a Really Great MMO Community Manager?”

When Funcom hired new community managers a few weeks ago, some readers questioned why we’d cover it. Big whoop, community managers are glorified retweeters, right? Yeah, not so much. A talented community manager can work a playerbase and keep everyone happy even in dark times. “Sinking, panicking games dump their CMs overboard first, not realizing their CMs are the best at bailing,” I argued at the time. “Hiring good CMs is a good sign in a lot of ways.”

Comments can sometimes be painful to read, but I found some interesting answers to the question posed…

Good communication and consistency. Don’t lie to players and expect them to respect you after. Things change, we get that and though we might not like it we can accept it.

Keep your game community up to date with what’s going on with the game and the company. Post replies to threads on the forums giving whatever bits of info you can (or even saying you have no info). Post threads of your own with important updates.

EQ2 Lead Designer Kyle “Kander” Vallee is not usually one to tweet, but he dropped an interesting note this afternoon! For those thinking that the Time Locked Expansion servers would receive no attention going forward, you couldn’t be more wrong. Now that expansion 12 is out the door, work begins on the 13th expansion. We might also get a spring content update (fabled zones, perhaps?).

Today we start planning for TLE tweaks, early spring content [hopefully] and Exp13. Anyone got ideas for where they want to go? I do…

— Kyle Vallée (@EQII_Kander) December 1, 2015

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

Fr0m the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Kralet Penumbra

• Reduced the random chance to get multiple scouts in Kralet Penumbra encounters which will reduce the overall amount Dark Assault is being cast.

Kralet Penumbra: Tepid Depths

• Reduced the damage on Mental Detonation and Aberrant Assault. Lowered spell dps on Mind-Rippers and Spell-Eaters.

Maldura: Algorithm For Destruction [Agnostic]

• Electro-charged reinforcements now drop electro-charged batteries.
• X-O Arachmech now drops an X-Electro-charged battery.

Maldura: Bhoughbh’s Folly [x2 Raid]

• When speaking to Bhoughbh to turn in his requested items the quest “G.W.A. Gnemlin With Attitude” should update for all members of the raid.

Maldura: Forge of Ashes [Raid]

• Kyrus will no longer death touch players who are returning to collect their soul shard.
• The Forge Golem has been increased in difficulty.

From the EQ2 Forums:

There will be a brief general maintenance at 5:00AM PST* on Tuesday, December 1, 2015.

During this maintenance, logins may be intermittently impacted.

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a game-specific maintenance. There will be no update or patch notes.

Thank you for your patience.

~The Team at Daybreak

A few months back, Mercenary Packs were made available from the EQ2 Marketplace, giving players a chance to acquire their mercenary of choice. They are made available in packs of 3 or 7. This weekend, these packs are now on sale. From the EQ2 Forums:

From 12:01AM on Friday, November 27th through 11:59PM on Sunday, November 29th, all Mercenary Packs will be on sale in the EverQuest II Marketplace for 50% Off! Don’t go into holiday battles alone; have a merc by your side!

Read More on the EQ2 Forums, including details of today’s 25% off StationCash sale.

Players who are continuing to soldier on with end-of-life operating systems like Windows XP and Windows Vista have been struggling to use the in-game EverQuest II Marketplace, especially over this Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend. EQ2 Developer Maevianiu has posted that he will shoehorn a fix in for these operating systems, although they will have some functions limited due to the lack of security offered by these versions of Windows:

 Vista is no longer supported, but I am working on a fix. Our next scheduled update is Thursday of next week so it should be out with that. In the meantime Vista and XP users will not be able to use the marketplace. Additionally, Vista and XP users will have limitations on what they can do in the marketplace due to security issues with those operating systems once the fix goes live.

For those players affected, they can still purchase the 25% discounted Daybreak Cash from the website. From Jamiss on the EQ2 Forums:

You can purchase Daybreak Cash from the shop at https://www.everquest2.com/shop.

For those rare few of you who got Daybreak Games’ e-mail about the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals (I did not, and one other person I spoke to only got ONE e-mail despite having 7 accounts), this will be old news. For everyone else, it looks like Daybreak Cash will be 25% off on Black Friday (November 27, 2015) and you’ll be able to get three months of All Access for just $29.99 on Cyber Monday (November 30, 2015).

There have been some clarifications posted by EQ2 Community Manager Roshen on the Free Character Transfers which will be usable from December 3rd til the 10th…

Some people are asking if our normal rules for transfers can be relaxed during this free transfer window. For our transfers during Dec 3 – Dec 10:

• Your account must be at least 30 days old
• A character must be level 5 to transfer
• You can move more than two characters per day. An account will be able to move up to 100 characters (although each character can only move for free one time).
• You still need to be an All Access member to transfer

and finally…

REMINDER: you will need to remove items from the broker before you’re able to transfer. To transfer, you must have no items listed on the broker (including boxes, crates, display cases, and coins)

From the EQ2 Forums:

CENSUS

• Added infusion stats to census output.
• Added prestige flag to census output.
• Added infusable flag to census output.
• Added relic flag to census output.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
General

• Beastlord and Channeler Trainers have returned to Freeport and Qeynos.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Hail Norrathians,

Now that server merges are complete, we want to give you the option to move your characters to a server where you can play with your friends. Starting on at 10AM PST* onThursday, December 3, and running until around 12PM PST* (noon) on Thursday, December 10, 2015, players will have the option for one FREE server transfer for each of their characters, between the following servers:

• Antonia Bayle
• Halls of Fate
• Maj’Dul
• Skyfire

How Do I Transfer for Free?

A seemingly random selection of  people who have not played or subscribed to EverQuest II in a while are noticing a “Nov15 Winback” entry on their accounts and the granting of 14 days of All Access membership, without receiving an e-mail informing them of this Winback Promotion. Others received the e-mail but have not noticed All Access having been turned on for their accounts. Another hush hush marketing promotion.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Table of Contents

• So what’s new in the expansion?
• How do I get started with the new expansion content?
• What do I get for completing ALL the quests in the expansion not just the Signature line?
• What is there to know about Tradeskills in the expansion?
• What’s up with the new Harvesting materials/rares?
• Help! There was some really important information on the Terrors of Thalumbra beta forums but they’ve disappeared!
• What itemization changes have there been in the ToT expansion?
• What are RELIC and PRESTIGE items?
• What’s up with Weapon Delays this expansion?
• What is the new Deity window in Terrors of Thalumbra? Are there any new Deities we can worship?
• What’s Infusing?
• Can you really spend 500,000 Platinum to Infuse one character’s items?
• Are there any new Adornments in Terrors of Thalumbra?
• Have you got a list of Heroic Dungeons arranged by Difficulty?
• Is there a Contested Heroic Zone? What’s the best way to level?
• How do I get to Terrors of Thalumbra Zones?
• Is there a labeled Zone Map for Thalumbra?
• Is it true that Quest Regions of Interest no longer marked on the map?
• Which UI Modifications are still compatible with Terrors of Thalumbra?
• How do I see what expansions or account features I’ve got on my account?
• Where can I download a high resolution version of the Terrors of Thalumbra poster art?

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed an issue causing houses to think you have less house vault slots than you should.
• Fixed a bug where the three center deity window abilities would overlap slightly with the gold rings around them.
• The stack count now shows on infusers in the infusion window.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Thalumbra

• Aberrants in Thalumbra no longer drop Amygdalan loot.

EverQuest II‘s twelfth expansion Terrors of Thalumbra is now LIVE and accessible to all who purchased it. We are currently working on updating EQ2Wire with an extensive Frequently Asked Questions as well as adding support to our EQ2U Players site for the new features which have been added. Some quick links while you are waiting:

• EQ2 Wikia: Terrors of Thalumbra
• EQ2Traders Guide to Terrors of Thalumbra
• Caith: Deity and Infusing Systems Guide
• Konofo’s Guide to Infusing
• A Zone map of Thalumbra created by player Amaitae
• Dungeon List: Stygian Threshold
• Dungeon List: Kralet Penumbra
• Dungeon List: Maldura
• Harvesting in Terrors of Thalumbra

Help! The Terrors of Thalumbra Beta forums are gone! Don’t worry — We have archived them here!

From the official EverQuest II Youtube channel:

First up we were pleased to note that today, EverQuest II has “taken over” MMORPG.com with a fully wrapped advertisement!

We also noticed that MMORPG has published a fascinating “Dev Journals: Top Tourist Destinations in the Terrors of Thalumbra” preview of the new zones we will encounter in EverQuest II’s Terrors of Thalumbra expansion:

During EverQuest week, we’ll be talking about all types of topics related the two titles and will learn about some of the best things yet to come. In the EverQuest II: Terrors of Thalumbra expansion, there are several key locations that no player “in the know” will want to miss. See what they are in this exclusive look ahead.

Forge of Brell

• This magnificent forge in the heart of Maldura is said to be imbued by the power of Brell Serilis himself. Whether that’s true or not, it’s clear that the dhalgar and gnemlin residents of Maldura consider the forge to be the traditional heart of the city. Although the mighty forge area is not as busy as it was in the height of the underground trade routes, it is still capable of creating the finest ores and metalwork.
• While visiting the area: stay well back from the forges themselves, as they can cause serious injury to the unwary.
• Things to do: visit Redthel the supply merchant nearby for samples of local Thalumbra flora to display in your home or guildhall.

Continue Reading Dev Journals: Top Tourist Destinations in the Terrors of Thalumbra at MMORPG

Tomorrow is the launch of Terrors of Thalumbra, EverQuest II’s twelfth expansion!

From the EQ2 Forums:

All EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 at 7:00AM PST* for the Terrors of Thalumbra expansion update. Estimated downtime is approximately five hours.

EverQuest II: Terrors of Thalumbra is scheduled to unlock to players at noon pacific** on Tuesday, November 17, 2015.

Time Zone Conversions

• PST: November 17 @ 7:00am – Noon
• EST: November 17 @ 10:00am – 3:00pm
• GMT: November 17 @ 15:00 – 20:00
• CEST: November 17 @ 16:00 – 21:00

and your Update Notes from the EQ2 Forums:

TERRORS OF THALUMBRA
Deep underneath Norrath lies a realm on the edge of the Plane of the Underfoot, known as Thalumbra. This expansive, subterranean domain is home to fabled races and ancient terrors!

When the dark shroud upon this land is pierced by Lanys T’Vyl, the recently resurrected demigoddess of Malice, it spells doom for all! You are a hero on the stage of Norrath. Will you play your part and protect Norrath from those who seek to destroy it? What mysteries will your torch uncover deep beneath the surface? Can you withstand the terrors of Thalumbra?

Terrors of Thalumbra Beta will go down at 10:00pm PDT tonight to make way for the expansion release tomorrow morning/middayish. No we don’t have an official source for this.

Buying the new deity miracles in Terrors of Thalumbra requires “Tithe”, which is a percentage of XP you earn. Even if you are level capped, you will be killing enemies to gain XP to gain Tithe to buy miracles. If you want to gain more Tithe for the same amount of gameplay, you’ll want the Altar of the Ancients house item, and PRE-ORDERING Terrors of Thalumbra before the expansion launch is the ONLY way to get it!

From the EQ2 Forums:

Altar of the Ancients is the pre-order bonus item for purchasing the 12th expansion for EverQuest II: Terrors of Thalumbra. Players will no longer be awarded with this bonus item after 11:59PM PST on Monday, November 16, 2015.

EverQuest II: Terrors of Thalumbra is scheduled to unlock to players at noon pacific* on Tuesday, November 17, 2015.

Don’t miss out on this altar of mysterious origin for houses that grants a daily scaling benefit to adventurers and tradeskillers. The buff from this item is a stackable bonus to all tradeskill, adventure and AA experience gain. Upon expansion release, the daily bonus to experience will ALSO include tithe, the new deity experience type.

If you haven’t pre-ordered yet, don’t forget that All Access members get 10% OFF the price of ANY version of the Terrors of Thalumbra expansion. If you haven’t purchased yet, you can learn more about this expansion and buy now here.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Hail Norrathians,

This is a quick update to let you know that the vote to unlock Kingdom of Sky did NOT pass on either Stormhold (PvE) or Deathtoll (PvP) in November 2015.

Don’t worry if you’re one of the players that was excited about Kingdom of Sky content, because the vote will become available again in 30-days.

If you’re looking for more information about voting and Time-Locked Expansion servers, see the FAQ here.

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on Twitter:

Standard servers in #EQ2 have double XP (AA/TS/Adventure) activated from now until the expansion launch on Nov. 17! (TLEs don't receive it.)

— Holly Longdale (@TheWindstalker) November 12, 2015

All servers in #EQ2 have double XP (AA/TS/Adventure) activated from now until the expansion launch on Nov. 17!

— Holly Longdale (@TheWindstalker) November 12, 2015

From the EQ2 Forums a few minutes ago:

Hello all,

We’ll be performing maintenance on UCHAT throughout the evening, Wednesday, November 11, 2015. There will be periods of time that this is unavailable to players.

Keep an eye on the EverQuest II forums and social media for news if additional downtime is needed.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and their support!

and Twitter:

We're performing maintenance on UCHAT throughout the night. There will be periods of time that this is unavailable to players.

— EverQuest II (@everquestii) November 12, 2015

From MMORPG.com:

EverQuest II will be growing soon with its twelfth expansion, Terrors of Thalumbra. We had a chance to chat with the team behind the expansion to find out more about its systems, features and new zones.

MMORPG: What is Thalumbra and why is it important?

EQ II Team: Deep underneath Norrath is a realm on the edge of the Plane of the Underfoot known as Thalumbra. This expansive, subterranean domain is home to fabled races and ancient, unimaginable terrors born within the oppressive, dank, and dismal darkness of the dark depths!

The tenuous struggle between hunter and prey in this aggressive land has reached new heights with the arrival of Lanys T’Vyl, the recently resurrected demigoddess of Malice! Maldura, an ancient city, expertly carved out of the deep stone by dwarven masons and adorned with magnificent gems and metals by gnomish artisans is being threatened. Through the actions of heroes and manipulations of a goddess, players find themselves as the principle actors in a play that threatens deity and mortal alike in the world of EverQuest II.

Read the entire article at MMORPG including interview questions with with the EQ2 team.

EverQuest II’s twelfth expansion comes in not two but three editions, including a spendy Premium edition at $139.99. This higher level option adds an Equipment Upgrade bundle (the equivalent of six “gems” or whatever the equivalent in the expansion is), a Weapon Adjustment bundle (change the damage type or delay of up to 3 weapons), and a Darkhaven Cavedrifter mount which, through gameplay, can be upgraded. A recent update to the Terrors of Thalumbra beta, currently ongoing for those who pre-ordered any version of the expansion, has revealed the in-game Achievement which upgrades this mount.