All Servers: 7-10:00am PDT | 10:00am-1:00pm EDT | 15:00-18:00 BST | 16:00-19:00 CET

All EverQuest II Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, May 9th, 2017 at 7:00 AM PT (14:00 UTC) for an update. Estimated downtime is less than 3 hours.

From the EQ2 Forums:

NEW KUNARK ASCENDING HERITAGE QUEST

• Interested adventurers should search within Obulus Frontier for clues on how to begin this new quest. Good hunting!

FAMILIARS

• Experts in the mysterious menagerie have discovered a subspecies of creatures that have been found to increase the master’s ability to channel greater power.
• You can access the Familiar window via a tab in your character UI.

PROVING GROUNDS

• This update includes two new cooperative competition zones (Battle upon the High Seas and Battle for Felwithe) that allow groups of up to six to compete against each other in timed races to see who can complete the zones’ challenges first.
• Only one zone is available at a time, and the fastest times for each round, currently set for seven days, will be recorded on a leader board accessible from within the Proving Grounds.
• To keep things competitive, stats granted from gear are not added to the character in the Proving Grounds.
• All heals and wards are percentage based while in the Proving Grounds, scaling off of spell tier and level.

 Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
General

• Fixed a bug that could cause some overland zones and popular dungeons to crash.

Vaedenmoor: Realm of Despair [Raid]

• Raenha, Sister of Remorse should now allow a little extra time to defeat her.

ASCENSION
Adjusted the minimum time required to gain ascension levels to account for the four extra scrolls granted to all characters.

US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET
EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PDT | Midnight~2:00am EDT | 05:00~07:00 BST | 06:00~08:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed an issue where a character’s backpack appearance would reset after zoning in certain situations.

ITEMS

• Equipment drops from Karnor’s Castle have been brought back down into progression.

US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET
EU Server: 9:00~11:00pm PDT | Midnight~2:00am EDT | 05:00~07:00 BST | 06:00~08:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed an issue causing the command /loadui to hang.

ZONES / POPULATION
Agnostic Dungeons

• Reduced the damage on several attacks from mobs in agnostic Kralet Penumbra zones.

Zek, The Scourge Wastes: The Siege [Raid]

• Fergul’s Dust Blind spell no longer requires line of sight to Fergul to be cast.

AMENITIES

• The druid ring hireling is now available in the Highhold Guild Hall.

US Servers: 7:00~11:00am PDT | 10:00am~2:00pm EDT | 15:00~19:00 BST | 16:00~20:00 CET

EU Servers: 7:00~11:00am PDT | 10:00am~2:00pm EDT | 15:00~19:00 BST | 16:00~20:00 CET

Update from RadarX:

A few technical issues have delayed this update an additional 2 hours. We’ll update you if an additional delay is necessary!

From the EQ2 Forums:

ZONES / POPULATION

• Scourge Keep: The lockout timers for Scourge Keep [Heroic] and Scourge Keep [Advanced Solo] have been reduced to 3 hours.

Zek, The Scourge Wastes: The Siege [Raid]

• Santifier Goortuk should no longer increase his resolve values as if he was in challenge mode without Fergul the Protector being present.

QUESTS

• Justice for JoJo? – Coltang will appear even if your mercenary or pet helps you along the way.

HOUSES

• Fixed an issue causing house portals to stop functioning.

 

US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET
EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PDT | Midnight~2:00am EDT | 05:00~07:00 BST | 06:00~08:00 CET

Some nice updates today. Fixes for Amenities placed in the Premium Highhold Guild Hall. The Scourge Keep daily mission has been made less painful (no longer requires 100 kills). Spellbook resetting should come to an end. And those who use Jesdyr’s Layout Editor for arranging items in their houses and guild halls will no longer require a workaround step for loading and saving layouts. From the EQ2 Forums:

ZONES / POPULATION
Scourge Keep [Both Versions]

• The damage shield component of Banshee Skin cast by Rinis the Everslaved can now be bypassed by pets and mercenaries if their owners meet a specific requirement.

HOUSING

• Fixed a bug where the Unique house ID would get saved out improperly.

GUILD

• The Grotto Sailing Ship guild amenity may now be moved after purchase.
• Corrected an issue with amenities in the Highhold Guildhall being placed in an odd location.

QUESTS

• The ethereal daily mission for Scourge Keep, Sanctify or Die, will only require the death of either Sanctifier Maknok or Sanctifier Yegigoth.

SPELLBOOK

• Fixed a bug where characters who had a lot of spells in their spellbook would have it get jumbled when zoning, or logging back in. After this patch. Sort your spellbook once to your liking, then zone to make sure it saves out and you should be good to go!

TLE

• Avatar of Growth’s health has been reduced.

EVENT SERVER

• Merchant Rilsk in the Kylong Plains has a sneak peek of many rewards soon to be available during the Race to Trakanon!

From EverQuest2.com:

Norrathians – it’s time to team up with your guildmates to unlock access to the new Highhold Guild Hall and Skyshrine Capital Guild Hall!

These two guild halls may be earned by purchasing guild tickets from the Marketplace [for $1 or 100DBC each]. Anyone within a guild may purchase and make use of these guild tickets. Each ticket increases the count on the guild medal, and once 350 (for Highhold) or 400 (for Skyshrine Capital) total tickets have been used, the medal is granted and the guild will have access to purchase that guild hall from the guild bells in Antonica or Commonlands. Both guild halls also require a guild of level 30 or above.

Grabbed too many guild tickets? They can also be sold on the broker or sold for status!

PLUS, the Skyshrine Capital Guild Hall has a bonus amenity available – the chrono echo of a dragon! Members of the guild that owns the hall may find that she grants a special bonus to them.

Lendiniara

Update: Bloodguts has posted what the reward is:

For anyone wondering what the special bonus item you get from being an owner of the Skyshrine Guild Hall, it’s a Filled Experience Vial (200,000 Adventure Experience)

Instead of being no-value only, it’s Lore/No-Value/No-Trade version. That can only be picked up we believe is every 24 hours once. Not worth the $400 dollars it took to purchase.

NOTE: Unlike all other prestige housing, these two new guild halls require the full upkeep cost of a regular guild hall, plus any amenities.

From Kaitheel on the EQ2 Forums:

Moonlight Enchantments is active on the Test server!

Why, you ask? Because there are 25 new items available through the different grotto merchants!

Jump in and get a sneak peek at these new items available now on Test, before they are live on 6/20. Please post any feedback you might have pertaining to them in this thread.

Moonlight Enchantments runs on live servers the 20th-21st of every month.

Niami Denmother of EQ2Traders has updated her website with a preview of the new items!

US Servers: 8:00~10:00am PDT | 11:00am~1:00pm EDT | 16:00~18:00 BST | 17:00~19:00 CEDT
EU Servers: 8:00~10:00am PDT | 11:00am~1:00pm EDT | 16:00~18:00 BST | 17:00~19:00 CEDT

* fan-made logo

From the EQ2 Forums:

THE SIEGE OF ZEK
The Orcish Wastes have been invaded! The Green Hood and Deathfist clan have been routed by a new breed of orc, The Scourge, who are preparing their armies to advance beyond the wastes. They must be stopped, or Norrath will be ruled by the tyrants of The Hounds of War!

• Zek, the Scourge Wastes [Heroic]: Story Progressed Heroic Overland Zone
• Zek, the Scourge Wastes [Solo]: Story Progressed Solo Overland Zone
• Signature Quests – Special quests for max level Adventure players! Check your mail for how to get started!
• Level Agnostic Shard of Love – Version of Shard of Love: Moment in Valor dungeon that scales for players 20-100!
• Heartbound: Become heartbound to that special someone to gain a nifty new title and bonuses for playing together!
• New stat “Resolve” which NPCs and players alike can raise. Matching your opponent’s resolve will keep you from incurring added damage from the adversary and make it easier to keep your outgoing damage at its full potential. All Terrors of Thalumbra items have gained the resolve stat to help get you started!
• Equip 2 Relic Items AND 1 Greater Relic item

The Norrathian Spotlight is an opportunity for the EQ2 Community to recognize one player per month who contributes to the player community in some measurable way. The last official nomination was in January 2015 when I was featured. I’m overjoyed to announce that fellow EQ2 players take up the mantle of identifying one player per month and interviewing them about how they make Norrath just a little bit better for everyone else.

From Suka on the EQ2 Forums:

Hi everyone.

Starting this month, we will try to spotlight one person a month who contributes to our experience in Norrath. You can nominate people for us to spotlight in this thread.

This month, we have chosen Jerry Dechant for our spotlight. A talented designer, he has made a lot of wonderful items for Player Studio. He is also no slouch when it comes to decorating houses. We will give a few sneak peaks at some of his items that have been submitted recently and in the reply, we will also show some screenshots of his houses. As usual, we are limited to 10000 words so if we go over it, we will use the reply feature to get it all in.

Suka:How did you get started in designing?

Jerry: When I was very young, I wanted to be an artist and/or teacher, but my parents didn’t encourage me to follow that path in life. Even so, I’ve always enjoyed art while in school and beyond, I’ve been being creative in various ways throughout my life. I had downloaded Blender quite some time before SoE announced the Player Studio Program, but I hadn’t really done much with it before then. So when I started making stuff for Player Studio, I was really a total newbie to 3D art. I continue to learn as I go.

Suka: Where do you get inspiration from?

Jerry: Initially, I wanted to make stuff that I wanted to use in my own decorating efforts, but eventually, I turned to the other decorators via in game chat and the Homeshow Forum and Facebook Page for suggestions for things they’d like. Most of the stuff I make now is by someone’s suggestion. I look around on the web for ideas on how stuff looks, them make my own version(s) of that.

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

From the EQ2 Forums:

Erollisi Day went live on Thursday, February 4th and will run until Wednesday, February 17th. From Roshen on the EQ2 Forums:

Love is in the air, fair Norrath, and with good reason – it’s time for Erollisi Day!

And this year, our hearts are bursting because we’ve got NINE new achievements, two new quests, and a new tradeskill book full of delightful new things to craft!

From Thursday, February 4th through 11:59PM PST on Wednesday, February 17th, you can experience the fun and frivolity of the Erollisi Day holiday! Enjoy your favorite returning quests (how IS your romantic reputation doing?) and try your hand at the new quests for handsome rewards. And keep racking up those achievements! Who will help the Doomed Lovers if not you, dear hero?

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.

EverQuest II has one of the most advanced decorating systems of any MMORPG. It likely has more house items than any other game, as evidenced by the frequently updated, screen-busting fansite EQ2Furniture which allows players to see a spinning preview of all 16,325 house items in Norrath. However this paradise of customization has become a huge data storage problem for the EQ2 team and players alike.

Although the Dungeon Maker feature never lived up to its hype or even the lowest expectations due to the anemic customization and storytelling options it offered, it provided mass storage and an almost unbelievable scale for house decorators. All told, each EQ2 character can own 25 houses and 20 dungeons. With an average limit of 1,000 items (plus 1,000 books, plus 1,000 building blocks), that’s an eye-watering 135000 house items per character.

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

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• The /summon_chest command can no longer be used while on a transport.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Maldura: Palace Foray [Heroic]

• Dragoon Z’Koz will always drop a treasure chest.

Kralet Penumbra: Temple of the Ill-Seen [Advanced Solo]

• Should now spawn shinies properly.

Kralet Penumbra: The Master’s Chosen [Heroic]

• Necromantic Concentration buff can now appropriately be dispelled.

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?

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?

Early this morning, the “Malicious Threat” prelude event was activated on all EQ2 live (non-TLE) servers. This event will undoubtedly tie current events into this fall’s upcoming expansion, while giving some hints of what we can expect later this year. The prelude event was tested on the Test server and is now live until September 16, 2015.

Good players can start the “Malice in the Glade” quest in Greater Faydark while Evil players should start the “Malice in the Woods” version in Darklight Wood. Both quests start in Greater Faydark. These quest writeups are by Sigrdrifa. When the quest is completed, you may continue defeating Primordial Malice mobs to get arcane Malice baubles which are a currency to buy special House and Appearance items. Niami Denmother of EQ2Traders has posted a Guide to the event and screenshots of all the in-game items which may be purchased.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Will you confront malice in Norrath?

The mage house of Kelethin’s House of Falling Stars and Neriak’s Disciples of Innoruuk have both felt something disturbing a nearby location. They are looking for adventurers willing to investigate and help them uncover a threatening campaign being carried out. Players welcome in Neriak should speak with Virun D’Xyafin in Darklight Wood, while those that are welcome in Kelethin should speak with Miriel Tawnyglade in Greater Faydark.

This in-game event runs until Wednesday, September 16, 2015.

From the EQ2 Forums:

It’s the Gnomeiest time of the year in Norrath (and, yes, Gnomeiest is totally a word) – Tinkerfest has returned once again! Grab your gadgets, wind up your wrenches, and get ready for an EXPLOSIVE good time this summer! Our good friends at Gnomeland Security are ready with new and returning favorite features.

Make sure you try this year’s new quest, We Can Rebuild. Look for Tinker Thermald in the Steamfront Mountains to get started. While you’re questing, returning quests will have new rewards this year, and new items are also available to purchase from Myron, the Tinkerfest Merchant.

Would you rather get your hands greasy as you craft your own holiday-themed wares? Pick up the New Tinkerfest Blueprints 7.0 and put your tradeskilling to good use. There are plenty of widgets to work with.

Check to see your watch is wound, and don’t delay! Tinkerfest festivities will be in Norrath from Friday, July 17th throughMonday, August 3rd.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Pirates are SO in right now! Here’s the Rum Cellar-themed items that have sailed into the harbor with the recent update.

The atmosphere of the Rum Runners Cove Prestige House is perfect location for a relaxing topical getaway or a rowdy hangout for your favorite privateers.

From the EQ2 Forums:

US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 7:00AM PDT* for an update. Estimated downtime is approximately one hour.

EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 9:00PM PDT* for an update. (Approx. 5:00AM London Time on May 28, 2015). Estimated downtime is one hour.

Alle deutschsprachigen Server werden um 6:00 CET am 28.05.2015 zwecks einer Serveraktualisierung heruntergefahren. Die vorgesehene Stillstandszeit wird etwa 1 Stunde(n) betragen.

Le serveur de langue française sera arrêté à 6:00 CET le 28-05-2015 pour une mise à jour du serveur. Le temps d’arrêt sera d’environ 1 heure.

and from the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
F.S. Distillery: Stowaways [All Versions]

• The barrels used against Sir Wharfie should always respawn and be visible should the encounter against the armored rat reset.

F.S. Distillery: Distill or Be Killed [Heroic]

• The achievements, Like a Bull in a Pirate Shop and Crowd Control, are now achievable.

USER INTERFACE

• Fixed a bug where some attribute values were exceeding the maximums displayable in the UI.

TRADESKILLS

• The recipe for Smite Corruption II (Grandmaster) may now be crafted.
• The recipe for Unflinching Will V (Grandmaster) will now correctly return Unflinching Will V (Grandmaster) when crafted.

ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Conjuror

• Plane shift will now grant chance to proc pet’s primary quick attack.

Necromancer

• Undead Knight IX appearance is now that of a Jun’Rah.

Last summer, EQ2 player Errrorr created a thread championing a new type of player mount — ducks. For forty-three pages, hilarity ensued. However the thread was put to bed by lead animator Tom “ttobey” Tobey in January of this year when it became clear from higher ups that we’d likely never get such a mount. Theories were bandied about that sales of the bunny mounts had not been sufficient to justify their development effort. It may have been felt that these more frivolous and genre-bending mounts just didn’t resonate with players. Personally I stick with flying appearance mounts so I don’t lose the stats of my primary flying mount. Equipping a bunny mount would cost me significant benefits for my character. Further analysis of the timing of events would suggest another possible reason why duck mounts were initially shot down. But either way, fast forward three months and duck mounts are now a reality!

NOTE: Yellow duck mounts will ONLY be available for two weeks (until May 19th, 2015).

From the EQ2 Forums:

What’s quackin’, Norrathians?

It’s been a long time coming, but the moment many of you have been waiting for has FINALLY hatched… duck mounts are now available in the Marketplace!

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Phantom Sea

• T’Kaela should no longer have an incorrect Rum Cellar requirement.

F.S. Distillery: The Rum Cellar [Solo]

• At no time will death result in being stuck in the storeroom.
• The damage inflicted by Aerial Attack has been slightly increased.

F.S. Distillery: Distill or Be Killed [Heroic]

• The cannon used against The Red Corsair will no longer be stuck in operation by another member of your party when it shouldn’t be.
• Charanda will no longer be stuck immune in either the normal or challenge mode encounters.
• Brokenskull Rum Party – No more than 20 Brokenskull pirate zipliners should spawn when the mission starts, and they should all remain on the Rum Run should they not be added to anyone’s hate list when they land.
• Pets or mercs can no longer be targeted by Portia Rumuffin.

UPDATE: What was supposed to be a one hour downtime this morning has turned into an all day event of stumbling servers, uppity login servers, and unexpected downtime:

• Server Downtime April 21st
• Unable to Connect to Login Servers (created by Caith to let players know there’s a problem)
• General Discussion forum (numerous EQ2 servers have come down and back up)

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Brokenskull Bay: Fury of the Cursed [Raid]

• Corrected an issue in the Captain Krasnok encounter that allowed the Spirit of Gluttony to be killed when it shouldn’t be.

Ssraeshza Temple: Echoes of Time [Raid]

• Each of the Grimling bosses should no longer cast curses on players if they have been killed.

ITEMS

• The Ssraeshza Sword Sentinel house item can now once again be scaled up to its previous maximum size. The default scale remains small enough to fit inside a room.

Just can’t get enough of the upcoming flying duck mounts? There’s an EverQuest II update on Facebook for you. For the rest of us who don’t use Facebook much, here’s the update…