Feldon
Even if you don’t personally use Twitter, it’s worth following people in the EQ2 community to get their instant impressions on different subjects… Arkenor: Anyone with a character on a European server has just been sold to a company they’ve never heard of, without their permission. MMOYeti: SOE have once again thrown up the finger to Europeans. Our US guild member who played on euro times can not now join us in eqnext… we now have a US guildie that (if we play) eqnext he will be unable to join us. MMOYeti: @j_smedley Ah you always give me a...
Commentary
The news that SOE will be dividing the EQ2 community by Region, in order to secure a lucrative distribution deal with ProSiebenSat.1’s Alaplaya gaming division, has gone over like curry-flavoured ice cream. Besides the outrage at splitting up a community whose strength has been players hailing from all over the world, SOE seems to have neglected some of the more mundane technical and historical details. We’ve collected a few: U.S. players who play EQ2 during the daytime have always had the option of grouping with players on Splitpaw (UK) where it’s afternoon/evening. European players paid upwards of 30 Euros...
Last week the news broke that Holly Longdale, who previously developed for the original EverQuest was returning to SOE to take the role of Senior Producer of EverQuest II. We were, of course, curious what her background and approach to game design might be. Fortunately the answer to some of those questions fell into our lap when we discovered Kwill, occasional EQ2Wire scribe, had interviewed her in 2006. The interview focuses almost entirely on the design and development of specific zones and dungeons, so it will be interesting to see what her high level outlook on the game and...
A funny thing happened when I was chatting with some folks about today’s news of Critical Mitigation being completely removed from EQ2. A few of them were surprised when I reminded them that Crit Mit has been part of EQ2 for over 3 years. Critical Mitigation was introduced in November 2008 with The Shadow Odyssey expansion. At first, it played no part in solo quests or group zones, thus many people weren’t even aware of it at the time. But anyone who was into raiding x4 (24 person) zones, and later, Ward of Elements x2 raids, has been collecting...
If you like posting on the EQ2 forums, you’ve probably been seeing a lot of the above screen. Over 2 weeks ago, the SOE forums lost the ability to store login information using cookies. In other words, anyone who was not actively browsing an SOE forum or website was logged out after 15 minutes of activity. At the time, this was explained as a temporary glitch. However last week, EQ2 Community Manager Amnerys (who returned to work at SOE in early January) had this unbelievable update on the issue: The forum auto logout has been changed to 3-hours now....
During Fan Faire 2011’s “Freeport and Beyond” panel led by EQ2 Exec Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, a slate of exciting plans was laid out. The announcements outlined Game Update 61 (War of Zek), GU62 (Freeport Reborn), GU63 and GU64 which would each contain new Destiny of Velious content, and Game Update 65 slated for August 2012 which would bring about the revamp of the City of Qeynos. Here’s a transcript of SmokeJumper‘s Fan Faire 2011 presentation (watch video here) from 13:58 to 14:36: What we’re concentrating on is making sure that we have not just new content to chew...
In a stream of responses to two threads discussing Mercenaries, Gninja answered several questions and provided useful information about the current and next waves of mercenaries. With a recent update, the number of mercenaries has increased to twenty (20) and mercenaries are now avilable in all 6 cities. Although they lack some of the innovative features and options of EverQuest Mercenaries, they are still one of the more popular features of the recently released Age of Discovery features expansion. Mercenaries New & Old Let’s take a look at the list of Mercenaries by class. This was posted by Slayacissa...
Yesterday, SOE President John Smedley issued a series of tweets about EverQuest II: We are seeing some amazing growth in EQ2. 40% increase in daily logins since going f2p. 300% increase in new players. And 200% increase in Item sales. Plus we have added a lot of new subs. All during the time that some really good competition hit the market Some players have opined that a 200% increase in item sales might not be much of an indicator considering the Free-to-Play conversion coincided with an e-mail campaign encouraging tens of thousands of players who had quit to try...
Last Thursday we noticed a curious tweet and Facebook post from EQ2’s Community Manager Isulith regarding the Freeport server and Free-to-Play players: Just as a friendly reminder for Facebook users on the EverQuest II FB page: please do not use the term “freeps”. If you have been playing on PvP servers for a while (especially back when there was more than one) you probably wondered how “freep” could be offensive, since it has traditionally referred to players aligned with City of Freeport faction.
News will be a bit light over the next few days, so we wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Whether you’re spending time with friends, family, or your in-game family, we hope you have a good holiday. EQ2Wire has a huge year planned, including tackling the Dungeon Maker, delving further into Beastlords and Mercenaries, covering the new Velious content in February and May 2012, building a new site on the Data Feeds, and more. Remember Double StationCash is still running through tomorrow and Double XP is December 30th to January 2nd. Frostfell runs through...
Paying for your EQ2 subscription has gotten more flexible over the years, leading many to migrate from providing their credit info to SOE to using 30-day game cards. But before you make the jump, realize there are a few drawbacks to consider: First, month-to-month players don’t get the 500SC monthly stipend which is now given to all Gold subscribers. Second, to use the in-game Character Transfer Tokens require an account to be on a recurring subscription. UPDATE: You can /petition customer service to initiate a Character Transfer. Third, if perchance you forget to renew your subscription at the end...
Press & Fan Sites If you’re wanting to get the word out about your MMO’s upcoming expansion, you’d be a turkey to not focus your attention on multi-game MMO websites. Employing correspondents that attend gaming expos around the globe, these “Press” sites have come to expect a certain degree of red carpet treatment. If I told most game publishers that I could guarantee a scribe from a popular website would show up to their event and write something (anything) about their game, and all it would take is throwing in airfare, hotel, press passes, and maybe an exclusive meet-and-greet...
Some of you may be familiar with Adam “Ferrel” Trzonkowski, if not by name than from reading his gaming perspective site EpicSlant.com or from hearing the “A View From the Top” podcast which he co-hosted with Massively’s Karen Bryan, or perhaps his current Multiverse Podcast. What you may not know is that Adam is also a published author! Earlier this year, Adam put down into words his many years of experience as a guild leader in a How To guide called The Guild Leader’s Companion. Containing tips, suggestions, and humorous anecdotes, it’s a virtual manual for running a guild...
“All level 90 characters are created equal, but some are more equal than others.” Nobody likes to be picked last for a team, yet the days where any player with level-appropriate gear could contribute in a meaningful way to the majority of dungeons introduced in an EverQuest II expansion are long gone. The straightforward turn-and-burn fights up to and including Kunark zones have given way to heavily scripted 6-person mini-raids. All but the easiest Velious dungeons have substantial checks on Gear, Alternate Advancements, and Skill. I’ve talked to several players over the last week about Dungeon Finder and the...
Yesterday, Test received an update with these auspicious line items: Kael and Drunder group BPs have been modified to better fit within the progression. Temple of Rallos Zek Raid Hard mode BPs have had their power increased. The result of these changes, however, has been less than desirable. The Mitigation (not crit mit, but the basic mitigation) of all the Breastplates (Robes, Cuirassen, Hauberks, Gis, Tunics, etc.) from Kael Drakkel: Fortress Spire and Drunder: Tower of Tactics has been reduced by over 90%.
On Friday, September 16th, Jennifer “Isulith” Bridges, interim EQ2 Community Manager while Amnerys is on leave, will be hosting a Meet and Greet on the Test Copy and Freeport (EQ2X) servers at 4-5pm PDT and 5-6pm PDT respectively. We’re anxious to see what mark she’ll leave on the EQ2 community during her tenure. The natives have been getting restless, and forum trolls seem to have gained a foothold. I’m personally hoping more for “Stand and Deliver” or “The Substitute” and less “Kindergarten Cop“! The announcement from EverQuest2.com:
Announced at Fan Faire and rolled out in late August, the long-awaited revamp of level 20-90 gear was staggering in its ambition. Some 7 years of items, numbering over 50,000, would go under the knife or be recreated entirely for the Revamp. Now just over two weeks since the launch of Game Update 61, it remains unclear just where we stand on the Great Reitemization of EverQuest II. More than anything, players have wondered at the intent of the revamp, seeking out an overall vision of item progression that would flow from level 1 through to level 90 items....
Dethdlr
Tank and Spank vs. Complex Scripting vs. Fun In recent years, I’ve seen numerous posts from people complaining about how the different group/raid encounters work. A lot of the complaints say that they don’t want simple “Tank and Spank” encounters. But they also don’t want encounters with complex scripting, fail conditions, cure fests, etc. They want encounters that are fun and challenging without any of those things. So it got me wondering, how do you do that? How do you make an encounter without complex scripting, fail conditions, cure fests, etc. without turning it into a tank and spank...
We have received several reports that EQ2Flames.com was hacked late this afternoon and had been serving malware. The account currently displays as Suspended. If the hackers were profiteering script kiddies, only able to inject malicious code but gaining no further access. then the damage may be minimal. However if the hackers gained access to eq2flames’ MySQL database then they would be able to browse everything, including hidden forums and Private Messages. vBulletin forum software does not store plaintext passwords so it is unlikely we will see identity theft. UPDATE: EQ2Flames is now back online. UPDATE #2: EQ2Flames seems to...
From EverQuest2.com: Hail and well met, fellow gamers! My name is Jennifer “Isulith” Bridges and I’m the newest addition to the SOE Community Team. I have to say, it’s truly an honor to be here.
I could write 50,000 words about the disappointing Game Update 61, with referenced links to the nearly 100 forum discussions about its flaws, plus countless player and developer quotes. But what difference would it make? Despite a 2-day delay, and despite pushback from both Developers and Testers warning that the update still needed weeks, possibly a month of work to meet any reasonable measurement of build quality, Game Update 61 was released Thursday, August 25th. It was clear on Monday the 22nd that there was no way the Reitemization of EQ2 would be completed in time for Game Update...
As we reach August’s midway point, we are potentially in the “home stretch” on Game Update 61. If internal schedules hold true, we could see the next update pushed to live servers in 2 weeks. This is usually the point where player anxiety levels are highest, as what’s on Test seems incomplete and not ready for prime time. Although it’s a well-worn cycle, the question is always “Will it be ready?” Will 2 weeks of dev crunch time result in a solid Game Update 61? Level 20-80 Reitemization We’d caught hints, but Fan Faire brought confirmation that level 20-80...
Have you participated in a Plane of War group or raid zone on Test? Care to share some comments/impressions about the zone for inclusion in a future EQ2Wire article? Send us an e-mail or in-game message on Butcherblock.Feldon.
Massively’s Larry “Shaddoe” Everett is looking to trial some different MMOs and, perhaps, bring more attention to them. For the next six weeks he’ll be trying out MMOs based on a voting system. Included in his list are EverQuest II and another SOE property: FreeRealms. Choose My Adventure is a chance for Massively readers to guide one member of the writing staff on an adventure in a game of the readers’ choosing. For the next six weeks, I want you to choose my adventure for me. I have tried nearly every major title in the last decade, but I...