Here’s our final video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Content and Zone Design”.
If you’d like to view the transcript from this panel, check out our EQ2 Panel #6 – Content and Zone Design writeup.
TenTonHammer Interviews Dave Georgeson
TenTonHammer, like other Press sites covering SOE (EQ2Wire is a designated ‘Fan Site’ so airfare, hotel, etc. is up to us) made the trek to Fan Faire 2011 to cover EQ2 and other SOE games being showcased. Although TTH hasn’t featured EQ2 all that much in the past few years, they did score exclusive screenshots of Destiny of Velious plus a Dave Georgeson interview. The only other premier multi-MMO site still putting EverQuest II news on their front page these days seems to be Joystiq’s Massively.
When TenTonHammer announced their EQ2 Leapers and Gliders Giveaway, with an increased chance of winning for TTH members ($9.95/yr), I scrutinized their website to see how they’ve been covering EQ2. As it turns out, TenTonHammer did an extensive interview with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson at Fan Faire, including a LOT more detail, explanations, and reasoning about the features announced for Game Update 61 and the Age of Discovery expansion than were given during the EQ2 Panels. This is an interview I haven’t seen linked anywhere (including EverQuest2.com or the EQ2 Forums) and it’s worth a read.
Hot off the presses, er patcher, here are the Game Update 61: The War of Zek Update Notes from the Test Patcher. Game Update 61 is expected to reach the Live servers near the end of August.
Game Update 61: “The War of Zek”
PLANE OF WAR
The time is near for the great Fortress of Drunder to reveal its true purpose to all. The very bedrock of the Eastern Wastes shudders and rocks as a massive planar portal rips itself open within the fortress walls. The sounds of war echo through its halls as the God of War himself prepares his innumerable armies to march across the frozen face of Velious and seize control of the lands of Norrath for all eternity.
The Plane of War is a normal and challenge mode raid.
Elements of War is a normal and challenge mode heroic experience.
Bunji dropped the news that Game Update 61 is hitting Test today:
We plan to push the current GU61 content to Test tomorrow morning.
GU61 (or most of it) is scheduled to hit Test around 7-8am PST tomorrow morning, 7/28.
What’s in Game Update 61?
The disclaimer above makes it clear that not all of Game Update 61 will be on Test today, but we’re anxious nonetheless. Read more about Game Update 61 in the Fan Faire EQ2 Panel.
Note: The Freeport Revamp, Tradeskill Apprentices, Item Reforging, Mercenaries, Design Your Own Dungeon, Beastlord Class, etc. are all part of the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion to be released this November.
If you have been hoping for an empty lot to build a house from the ground up, that moment has finally arrived, with the Tenebrous Tangle Island Refuge! She’s not much of a looker unadorned, but with a soft item limit of 800, and a hard limit of 1,100 items with both expanders, it will be interesting to see what players come up with. Although there’s been nothing official, we suspect that the Felwithe Mansion will land in the next week or two.
From EverQuest2.com:
Ready to move on up? The Tenebrous Island Refuge lets you live on your own private island in the skies. A tiny island hovers above and provides a beautiful little waterfall into your own private pond. The grounds are lush and ready for you to build on! It’s rent-free, but remember that adventurers may only own one Tenebrous Island Refuge per character. Pick up your Deed of Ownership today for 1350 SC on the Marketplace.
Here’s our third video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Tradeskills and Housing”.
If you’d like to view the Slides from this panel in higher quality, check out the updated EQ2 Panel #3 – Tradeskills and Housing writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.
While we don’t have a definite date when the Dragon Ring and Wizard Spire Rebuilding events will be coming back, there have been a series of updates and questions about them which is worth consolidating into one place.
Due to the Spires event running every 30 minutes instead of the planned hourly interval, and some underestimation of players’ desire to participate, the event had been nearly completed on several servers less than 18 hours after it began. Perhaps the availability of Velium Shards on the vendor was a stimulating factor. Either way, the event was suspended and the devs put their heads together on the best way to bring the event back. Domino, new Associate Producer of EQ2, provided this update on Friday:
he current plan is that when the event is resumed, any servers below 50% progress when the event was suspended will resume progress where they left off. However, due to some of the issues that are being addressed currently, some servers had progressed further than intended in the time the event was active. Servers that had over 50% progress will be reset to 50%. This should extend the life of the event and allow more people to participate. This looks to be the following servers: Antonia Bayle, Butcherblock, Crushbone, Everfrost, Freeport, Guk, Permafrost, and Splitpaw.
As mentioned, the event will NOT reactivate this [July 16-17] weekend, so relax and enjoy your weekend doing other things. We’ll announce next week when it will be reactivated, and provide more details at that time. We will be sure to give at least a day’s notice in advance so you can plan appropriately.
Thanks for your patience, watch for more details next week, and we look forward to seeing you at the rebuilding sites!
Here’s our second video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Art and Animation”. New this year are Kilts, Animation Retargeting, a New Outfit, and new flying mounts including a Flying Squirrel.
If you’d like to view the Slides from this panel in higher quality, check out the updated EQ2 Panel #2 – Art and Animation writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.
I’ve posted our first video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Freeport and Beyond” which is an overview of everything we can expect from the EQ2 team until November 2011.
If you’d like to view the Slides from this panel in higher quality, check out the updated EQ2 Panel #1 – Freeport and Beyond writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- Fixed a bug where you could relinquish your home and cause your guild hall to be relinquished too!
MOUNTS
- Gliding mounts will no longer port up into the air after using certain teleports.
- Players using leapers and gliders should appear to move smoother when viewed on other player’s clients.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
- The normal mode x4 raid zones (Temple, Throne, Kraytoc’s and Drunder zones) require less critical mitigation than before. Players with less critical mitigation should have a better chance for survival.
(left is just the Kilt, right is the entire outfit)
If you followed our live blog of the EQ2 Art & Animation panel from Fan Faire 2011, you know that Kilts is something the team has been working on and off for the last 18 months. It’s been a long road to get them done! So it is not a surprise that, at least the first kilts will be on the StationCash Marketplace.
The first Kilt choice is the Clan Icereaver set and costs 950SC ($9.50 or $3.17 if you still have Triple SC leftover). When you buy it, you get a crate with a whole outfit, although some players will likely choose to just use the kilt and matching cap and further customize with other items.
EverQuest2.com Announcement (once the site is back up)
So which character are you going to put your Kilt on?
EQ2 and EQ2X servers are back up after an SOE-wide maintenance window. The window was planned for 7 hours, so 9 hours isn’t too bad. 😉
As for whether there were any changes/patches specific to EQ2, unfortunately EverQuest2.com remains down, so we’re unable to view the EQ2 Patch Notes. we noticed a ~25MB patch before we were were able to login, with most of the patched files being character files, so maybe SmokeJumper‘s suggestion that we’d see Kilts on Tuesday (today) will come to pass. We’re keeping an eye on the Marketplace.
More as we have it…
Starting the EverQuest II: Content and Zone Design panel…
Jonathan “Prathun“, Paul “Cronyn” Molina, Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall, Carlos “Gninja” Mora
Flying Squirrels (Glider), Fire Gryphons, and… is that Zarrakon?
Tom Tobey (and Chris Meyers) are always working on new and more complex mounts. The Flying Squirrel glider was particularly impressive due to how the character is mounted to it, yet the range of motion the squirrel can do. It crawls on all fours, leaps, glides, and all 26 races stick to it like glue. 🙂
UPDATE: Tom corrected us about Chris Meyers animating the Flying Squirrel glider.
The Fire Gryphon was no less impressive, with wisps of flames trailing behind it as the entire mount is engulfed in flames. It’s both a particle system and animated textures.
We also saw the infamous Ratonga riding a T-Rex mount, and finally, a mount which may or may not be headed for the game, a mount that looks to my eyes like Zarrakon, a boss of The Shadow Odyssey.
Starting the EverQuest II: Tradeskills and Housing panel…
Paul “Frizznik” Carrico, Greg “Rothgar” Spence, Nandy “Zoltaroth” Szots, Emily “Domino” Taylor, Salim “Silius” Grant
Update: This is a video of EverQuest II Panel #3 “Tradeskills and Housing” added on July 24, 2011.
Starting the EverQuest II: Art and Animation panel.
Dave Georgeson and David Brown are wearing KILTS!!!
Update: This is a video of EverQuest II Panel #2 “Art and Animation” added on July 16, 2011.
Starting the EverQuest II: Freeport and Beyond panel…
Pre-panel Buzz: EQ2Players is being replaced with a new site. Sometime this year, it’s a priority, which it hasn’t been before.
Dave Georgeson starting the panel. There’s so much info, they’ll be giving that first and then Q&A at the end.
Update: This is a video of EverQuest II Panel #1 “Freeport and Beyond” added on July 14, 2011.
We haven’t done one of these articles in a while and with the lull before the storm, we thought we’d post about some new items. More and more, it is possible to create a house entirely from a blank slate. The choice of floor tiles, wall materials, items to make stairs, platforms, etc. it’s no wonder that more players are asking for empty lots.
Next month’s Tinkerfest will add yet more deck plating options and ceiling fans. The upcoming Dragon Ring and Spires Rebuilding events will bring back the much-desired Housing Teleportation Pads as well as many familiar and new items. Every month more items are added to the Moonlight Enchantments events, as we saw with last month’s rolling fog and other wall and floor tiles. As we reported last month, the Root Beer crafting quest became infinitely repeatable, so instead of shuffling all your alts around to different zones, you could grind tokens all in one place. Finally, the City Festivals continue to pick up new items as players noticed when all the City Festivals were operating simultaneously after the downtime.
Today I logged in to see that just in time for Fan Faire, a full lineup of Casino-themed items are now available on the Marketplace. There are two sets of Gaming Tables and accessories for 450SC each ($1.50 if you got triple SC), and a set of pool balls for 50SC (16 cents). If you drop the whole 1000 SC ($3.33 if you got triple SC), you get two full sets of gaming tables and accessories, a slot machine, and a pool table including rack, cues, two sets of 9 striped and solid billiard balls.
Leapers and Gliders have come to EQ2 as per Today’s Update Notes., taking advantage of a tremendous effort by the EQ2 animators and programmers to allow mounts to be more quickly added to the game. With the “killer app” of flying mounts at level 86, we’ve been wondering if something would be done about the hodgepodge array of mounts at lower levels. During the week where we could have free flying mounts on all our characters, I certainly took the opportunity to knock out a bunch of quests that would have easily taken twice as long to complete on foot.
Leapers and Gliders
So let’s take a look at the new mounts.
As previously reported, Leapers are mounts which are able to jump very high, and glide for a reasonable distance. They are available at level 30 via either an Adventure or Tradeskill quest, or via the Marketplace. Gliders are mounts which are able to not only jump a remarkable height, but then glide a great distance, possibly across entire zones. They are available at level 60, also via either Adventure or Tradeskill quests.
What’s important to note here is that unlike the 5 day “waiting period” for flying mounts, Leaper and Glider mounts can be acquired through a quest that only takes about 20 minutes.
Today brings a substantial update with lots of fixes, tweaks, as well as the much-lauded introduction of Leaper and Glider mounts to EQ2 at levels 30 and 60. In a perplexing move, Ground, Leaper, and Glider mounts will all travel on the ground at speeds of up to 150%, making them as fast as any of the current Flying mounts, only lacking the differentiating ability of flight.
All servers will come down for an update at 7am PDT (3pm BST / 4pm CET) on Friday, June 24, 2011. U.S. servers are expected to be down for one hour. International servers should expect a two hour downtime.
So as we reported yesterday in our article Side Benefit of Multi-Housing — Multiple AA Mirrors? , the introduction of multiple houses has inadvertently allowed players to install and use multiple AA mirrors.
In fact, several readers made a point of rubbing our nose in the fact we didn’t figure out this trick sooner. Well, daring goes before wisdom and if I’d been apprised of this capability, I still probably wouldn’t have bothered because knowing SOE, they’ll eventually get around to closing said exploit, probably right after I spend a whole day getting 2 different AA setups perfectly configured.
So anyway, Cloudrat pushed the issue to get a dev response one way or the other and we got one from Rothgar:
This was an unintended side-effect of the multi-housing change. As far as I know we aren’t planning a fix at the moment, but we may re-evaluate the policies surrounding AA respecs in the future.
My interpretation of this is — they’re gonna let it ride — but we may see some changes in the future. But just as easily, a “patch” could be figured out that would prevent players from using multiple AA mirrors. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Multi-classing would be a great addition for EQ2 but in the mean time, making AA swapping easier seems like a smart move to me. Only a few classes really benefit from it anyway.
So if you plan to take advantage of multiple AA mirrors, you’ll probably want to spend some time playing with Beetny’s AA Calculator for EQ2.
Cloudrat of Test has discovered that players can place an AA mirror in each of their houses and thus save more than one AA setup.
Today I put a second AA mirror in a second home of mine and saved another AA setup. I am thinking now with mulit housing I can fine tune my saved AA setups with one for soloing , grouping , raiding, harvesting and one for crafting. I will just need to have a house for each setup to hold the mirror and have to pay for several resets to get them all into place.
With so many changes and strategies combos based on what you are doing as the game grows this is an exciting new aspect
Now maybe there will be more raiders looking into the housing market and portals to them
This is a happy bonus to owning more houses.
So far, EQ2 developers have taken extraordinary measures to prevent more than one Mirror of Reflected Achievements from being used per character, despite the obvious benefits (and parallels to multiclassing games like Rift). AA mirrors are LORE NO-TRADE, preventing players from crafting them for their alts or using more than one in a house, but with multi-housing, who knows what the EQ2 dev team will do. I would wait a few days to see if there is a reaction before tracking down a crafter to make you a spare mirror.
If this side benefit is allowed to stand, maybe raiders will complain a bit less about the development hours spent on getting Multi-housing working? 😉 Ok, not very likely…
Slow Combines
We understand that the completion times on those extremely tedious combines for certain Velious quests will get trimmed back to a normal time. Currently, they take as long as Coldain Prayer Shawl updates (up to 3 minutes per combine!).
Dojo Prestige House Not Getting Outdoor Area
From Gninja on the EQ2 Forums:
There are no plans to add an outdoor area to the personal Dojo, Sorry!
Kael Drakkel Contested Changes Delight Some, Bore Others
Some players were very happy, overjoyed even, at some changes to Kael Drakkel contested dungeon which reduce or eliminate some frustrating stuns and knockbacks. Other players feel that the changes went too far, with players now able to solo the giants or at least do battle with barely a click from a well-geared healer. For players desparately needing gems from Kael, the changes will certainly speed up the process, but has the challenge been removed?
More Options for Guild Hall Standard Bearer
Now that even heroic dungeons require 100’s of Crit Chance and Crit Mitigation just to either fully hit, or fully avoid hits from mobs, players are looking at every way to boost these numbers. Players posted a thread requesting Crit Chance and Critical Mitigation buffs as options from the Standard Bearer Guild Hall Amenity.
Gninja gave some positive news:
I plan to be adding more standards to this amenity with GU61 so keep the ideas going
Today, arguably the largest Game Update we’ve seen in years hits the live servers. Game Update 60 adds 4 new dungeons, 4 new raid zones, more crafting, more quests from a solo shard quest to a Heritage Quest, major changes to PvP from gear to itemization to mechanics, not only a new Battlegrounds lobby, but a 4th Battleground 18 vs. 18.
We are still waiting for the full list of Game Update Notes, but in the meantime, here’s just a quick bullet point list of what we can expect:
New Level 90 Dungeons and Raid Zones
The Crystal Caverns will naturally be familiar to those who adventured through Velious in EQ1.
The Fortress of Drunder consists of 3 new group dungeons, 3 new x4 raid zones with both regular and challenge modes, a new x2 raid zone, as well as a crafting zone. Drunder zones are only accessible via flying mount.
If you just can’t get enough of Thurgadin, City of the Coldain Dwarves in Velious, and wish you could take some of it home with you, take heart. The Thurgadin Grand Hall joins the Kromzek House as one of two new houses now on the Test and Test Copy servers.
The voluminous Thurgadin Grand Hall will make you wish indoor flying were possible, as the new house contains both the Remembrance Park and an enlarged version of the Mercantile area of the city of Thurgadin.
