We promise we’re not late on posting this! The video appeared on Youtube on December 6th but it was not promoted on EQ2’s Facebook page until last night…
Note: Contrary to the video’s implication, you cannot tame elephants.
When EQ2 went Free-to-Play two days ago, emails were sent out to people who had played in the past but were not current subscribers. The emails mentioned the conversion to F2P and that they would be able to return and play at the Silver level for free. But when a lot of these players made it back, they were hit with quite a surprise.
After installing 14 gigs worth of game files (for those that didn’t choose the streaming client) they headed to the character select screen. That’s when they were kicked in the teeth. Unless they got really lucky and picked a race/class combination that was free, they were staring at a list of locked characters. In order to play, they would have to pay for race/class unlockers. If they wanted to create a new character, they would have to delete all but three of their old characters since silver membership only has four slots. The only other choice was to create a new account that wouldn’t have silver access. This was not a good way to welcome back returning players.
SmokeJumper agreed. Today this announcement was posted:
Hi, folks,
We’ve been listening to you since we launched the Free-to-Play service across all servers. One of the most frequent issues is from folks that used to play EQII Live and are now coming back to the Silver membership level and becoming very confused because they’ve never played under those restrictions. “Why can’t I play my characters? Why are they locked?”
Of course, the reason is because those players are returning to a Silver membership (which is free of charge) and those older characters are often locked behind the Silver membership race/class restrictions. There are two easy ways to get around those restrictions: Upgrade to Gold, or buy the race/class packs.
But, we don’t really want to force those decisions on returning players. It’s not a fun experience to come back to something that seemed exciting (F2P) and then get hit with a bill as soon as you arrive, just for the privelege of using your current characters.
Jump to EQ2Wire’s Beastlord Warders Guide >>
This Guide is would not be possible without Whilhelmina‘s fantastic Beastlord FAQ she wrote during Beta.
Introducing Beastlords
Beastlords really are a very different class, which means we get a whole new set of UI elements. This includes a Beastlord Bar, a Savagery Bar, a new tab in the Character window for keeping track of all your Warders (pets), and a large blue Weakness paw icon which comes up whenever your Warder pet is ready for you to fire off an coordinated attack.
If all of this were available at level 1, you’d be overwhelmed, so these features are unlocked as you level up. There’s also an in-game tutorial specifically for Beastlords.
At level 1, you get your first warder (based on your race). At this point, it really just acts as a basic pet and you can’t do any special abilities with it.
A few (22) hours behind schedule, EverQuest II has launched their Age of Discovery expansion, which includes the Beastlord class, Item Reforging, Tradeskill Apprentices, Mercenaries, and the Dungeon Maker. Today also marks the introduction of a revamped Freeport, with new questlines starting at level 20 and every 10-20 levels until level 80. Also, EverQuest II has now gone entirely free-to-play. The Freeport server joins the other EQ2 servers as a regular server, and players can start on any server they like, either at the Free, Silver, or Gold levels. Heck even Frostfell goes live today.
If you are an EQ2 subscriber, then NOTHING changes for you.
LAUNCHERS: If you are using any of the older launchers such as the original EQ2.exe launcher in the Retail box, the blue-grey Station Launcher, or Launchpad 3 (either regular or streaming), you must upgrade to either the regular or streaming version of Launchpad 4 before you can patch in and play EverQuest II. If you point the installation at your current EQ2 directory, you will only need to download approximately 2.4GB of data. See our Launchpad 4 Patcher article for more info.
VETERAN REWARDS: If you are not able to see Veteran Rewards in your Claim windows, this will be fixed in tomorrow’s hotfix!
GUIDES:
See you in the game!
From the Everquest2 Facebook Page:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Trolls…
We have just evaluated the status of the current update and have come to the conclusion that we can either unlock servers and risk broken content, or ensure that we provide the best experience possible and delay the update to tomorrow morning.We have to do it RIGHT. For all of you and for all of us.So please, bear with us, relax overnight, and let us sortie into the new day together. Community will be in office at 7:00am PST and will immediately review status and give you all an update. We are aiming for morning and working as hard as we possibly can.Yer faithful Dwarf,Brasse
Update:
Friends,
A final update this evening… Smed would like us to share that with the Platform Team working all night to complete the maintenance, we expect to be up at 10:00am PST.
Again, the Community Team will be in at 7:00am and will get you a status update.
Thank you, once more, for hanging in there with us. We are honored and appreciate your support of our efforts to make Norrath more enjoyable for all!
Brasse
If you’re getting an error message saying that you need to setup a subscription, please do not be alarmed! We have not fully finished our maintenance yet. We will let you know when this is complete. Thank you! -Isulith
We have an update on the server status: we are unlikely to launch until 8:00 PM PST or later. We are terribly sorry that this maintenance has taken so long and we greatly appreciate your continued patience! – Isulith
While EQ2 servers are down or being merged, join us in Zam’s chatroom. Click one of the buttons below to chat with us during the downtime. There’s always someone in the chatroom during US or EU-friendly times.
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For instructions on how to connect to the chat using mIRC, Trillian, or other chat client, check out the detailed instructions at EQ2 ZAM. |  |
If you are not able to run chat software at work, or you just want to jump into the chat through your web browser, you can chat here using the Java applet. |
Dethdlr here. No news to report but if you’re looking for something to do during the downtime, check out the web series Journey Quest. Watch all seven episodes for free. Pretty funny stuff.
And now the Producer’s Letter promised for today.
NOTE: We can assure you, there is NOTHING in this Producer’s Letter that has not already been publicly known and widely discussed.
From the EQ2 Forums:
Hello again, Norrathians!
It gives me great pleasure to raise the curtain on a new chapter in our game’s history.
Today, we stop requiring any sort of payment. There are no upfront download costs and memberships are no longer required. Everything is voluntary now. If we’re doing a good job of entertaining you, then you can help support the game you love with purchases or memberships, spending as much or as little as you choose to spend as you play.
We have a fired-up dev team. We believe that EQII is the best MMORPG in existence and we intend to keep making it better so that everyone else has to admit it. What we’re doing today keeps us on that path.
This is your world, and we’re committed to making it more and more your world as we keep growing.
From the EQ2 Forums:
Age of Discovery is the eighth expansion of the groundbreaking EverQuest II franchise.
Age of Discovery offers never-seen-before features including user-generated content and the re-imagining of the Beastlord class from the original EverQuest release. You can make your mark in-game by creating your very own Dungeon, hire some much needed help for your heroic battles, push tradeskilling research to new heights, customize your weapons at the forge, and of course, play as a Beastlord. There’s a lot to like about this expansion!
From Brasse on the EQ2 Forums:
For those of you concerned about your account status, character slots, etc., please don’t panic yet. Accounts migrations are still in progress while servers are down.
When servers come back up, if things are not 100% correct on your account, STILL please do not panic. Proceed directly to our Customer Service team, who will be very happy to help sort things out for you, I promise: http://www.soe.com/support/ (no, not now – see previous paragraph about migrations still in process).
Now, let’s all go back to watching and waiting in antici…… pation.
Brasse
From the EQ2 Forums:
DOWNTIME EXTENSION:
We have encountered some unforeseen issues that we want to address before unlocking Accounts and Commerce, to ensure that we provide the best possible experience for all our customers. At this time, we expect Accounts and Commerce to come back online this afternoon. We regret that the unlock on EQII servers will also be delayed to this afternoon.
While we have no solid eta at this time, we will continue to update you as quickly as we can as more info becomes available!
I know, I know… I want to build a dungeon with my reforged Beastlord of Doom too!
;-)# Brasse
Last week you heard that all the old Launchpads including the original EQ2.exe that came in the retail box for EQ2, as well as the Station Launcher and Launchpad 3 (both regular and Streaming) were being replaced with Launchpad 4. Well, for whatever reason that didn’t quite happen.
Today, December 6th, with the introduction of Age of Discovery and the merger of EQ2 and EQ2X, the new launcher is being rolled out to everyone, including EQ2X players. If you have any trouble, just download the appropriate launcher below and make sure to point it to your EQ2 directory.
CAUTION
If you don’t point the new Launchpad 4 installer to your current EQ2 folder, the entire 14GB game will be re-downloaded. Read the Tutorial
UPDATE: Webcast has started!! The webcast concluded about 20 minutes ago.
From the EverQuest II twitter feed:
Don’t forget! Our Launch Day webcast starts at 8:00 AM PST (in 30 minutes!) on TwitchTV! http://bit.ly/u8cvs4 – AoD, F2P, & GU62! [Isulith]
http://www.twitch.tv/sonyonlinetv/
Time Zone Conversion
From EverQuest2.com:
We’re just hours away from Age of Discovery, Game Update 62: Freeport Reborn and EverQuest II going free-to-play! There’s a lot of exciting stuff going on so naturally, we’ll be having an extended downtime.
Important: This is an estimate of our anticipated downtime; please keep an eye on the forums and Facebook for any changes and updates!
All EQII and EQ2X servers will come offline at 12:01 AM PST* on Tuesday, December 6th, to prepare for this massive transition and content update. We anticipate game servers will be back online before 12:00 Noon PST*. Due to the volume of data involved, international servers will experience extended downtime.
In addition, SOE account management and commerce services will be offline in all games during the transition period. Forums may also experience periodic outages. Remember that the EQ2X forums will be locked tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM PST*. We warmly welcome all EQ2X forum users to take this time to register anew on the EQII forums; you can start posting there now!
We are proud to announce that you’ll also find a shiny new website when EverQuest II comes back online. We hope you enjoy our new, streamlined look!
Don’t miss our “Countdown to Age of Discovery” launch day webcast, beginning at 8:00 AM PST* on Tuesday morning! We’ll interview bleary-eyed, hardworking members of the EverQuest II team, provide live status updates – we’ll even have some opportunities to win EQII shwag! We’ll be on the air until 9:45 AM PST*, so tune in on TwitchTV for the webcast while you wait for the servers to come back online.
Finally, look for a Producer’s Letter from Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, bright and early tomorrow morning, to usher in a new era for EverQuest II!
If you haven’t yet bought your Age of Discovery expansion, there’s still time to pre-order! Pre-orders end on December 5, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST*. If you pre-order the game, you can lock in special savings and get a unique pre-order item. Click here to get it now!
From EverQuest2.com:
EverQuest II Behind the Scenes Video: Freeport QuestsReady for another behind-the-scenes video? Check out our latest sneak peak on quests in the all-new Freeport, available Tuesday, December 6, 2011 with Game Update 62!
Jason “Fyreflyte” Woerner gives us a sneak peek into one of the upcoming quests in EverQuest II’s newly revamped Freeport quest line!
On last night’s EQ2Talk Podcast, Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson shared his thoughts about the importance of player feedback. We provide a transcription of the segment from 7:55~12:15.
In the past, we’ve been a little heavy handed on a few things. I admit that. We’re trying to be really serious this year about getting you guys [all the players] involved in a lot of stuff. Traditionally, the game has been… you know we try to communicate on the forums, but you know what the forums are like. It’s a challenge. The trolls enjoy their game. And it’s tough to fight them because if you pay attention [to them], you lose. The forums are tough to get really good feedback from so we have to rely on things like Fan Faires and talking to people individually and Customer Service Reports and those sorts of things.
That’s why I want to start putting in in-game polls. I suspect that there’s a lot of really good information, a lot of opinions we’re not hearing at all. [To Dellmon:] You’re a broadcaster, so you’re familiar with the concept that if somebody calls you, you have to figure there’s a hundred or a thousand other people with the exact same opinion out there, but didn’t bother to call. There’s a lot of people out there that are basically not voting.
A late night tweet from Domino indicates that the last batch of players who signed up for the Age of Discovery beta and signed the NDA are now welcome to try out the beta. There was a glitch with some of the invite emails but if you fit the above, download the Beta patcher anyway and give it a try!
Everyone who registered can get into beta but some emails were delayed 🙁 The last should be catching up now. Patcher: ow.ly/7NH4i
EQ2 Beta Launcher
EQ2 Beta Streaming Launcher
Note: Once the patcher starts, you should copy the paks and music folders from your live installation of EQ2 to your EQ2 Beta folder. The patch should take about 30-45 minutes if you do this.
From the EQ2 Forums:
EverQuest II Behind the Scenes Videos: Beast Lord Warders & Mercenaries
We’ve got a special treat for you! Check out our two new EverQuest II behind-the-scenes videos, covering two of the awesome features coming with the new expansion: Age of Discovery! That’s right – we’re be taking an inside look at beast lords and mercenaries!
Beastlord Warders by Akil “Lyndro” Hooper
Mercenaries by Carlos “Gninja” Mora
Direct Links: http://youtu.be/AOhi4_g82oM & http://youtu.be/vCt4sI-Hcps
We are happy to present our EQ2Wire Exclusive: Beastlord Warders Guide. Check it out!
As of 6:20pm PST last night (3:20am my time), an announcement (also here) indicating that the Age of Discovery NDA has lifted.
As we found out last year, this doesn’t actually mean the whole NDA has been lifted. Due to a Survivorship clause, in fact just two passages of the two page document have been rescinded. We are allowed to talk about what we experienced in Beta. The gag order is lifted. We get our voice back. But anything else such as quotes from the Beta forums, screenshots, videos, etc. are still verboten.
Now there’s a noble goal behind this and that’s to prevent really ugly screenshots which don’t represent the final product getting plastered all over the Internet. The information, screenshots, and videos people are posting should reflect how the Age of Discovery expansion will look when it’s released, not how it looked a month ago. Developers also need to be able to have free and unfettered communication with players. If they knew that their every off-hand comment on the Beta forums might get broadcast to the world, they might be more cautious about posting.
We will have some articles today, although the restriction on screenshots and videos naturally hampers what we can do.
From EverQuest2.com:
We are extremely pleased to bring you the new Dungeon Maker feature set. For the first time, you and your fellow players can create new content for the game, play through a constantly changing list of player-created dungeons, and get rewards whether you are a dungeon builder, adventurer, or both!
We recently ran groups of press folks through a “tour” of the Freeport revamp and the AoD feature set. We ended each tour with a demo of Dungeon Maker and what it could do, and we were met with a lot of excitement about the potential once players get their hands on this stuff.
There’s a lot to be excited about, and if you aren’t currently involved in the beta testing (at present about 4000 of you *are* involved), then you haven’t seen much about Dungeon Maker yet. So here’s a preview so you know why this feature will be fun, as either a builder or an adventurer.
From EverQuest2.com today, December 1st:
Last week, several news outlets participated in the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery and Freeport Reborn Game Update Beta Press Tours. They got sneak previews of the exciting features and content that are coming out with our newest expansion and game update, all set to release on December 6, 2011.
With the lifting of the Press Embargo promptly on November 29th @ 4:00pm PST, Press sites are now posting their previews of the upcoming EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion which releases on December 6th, 2011.
From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:
I’ve said this before, but it gets lost on these boards, so I’ll throw it out there one more time. Warning: This isn’t short.
The second half of Velious was designed to be a separate expansion pack. We fully intended *and started* to create “Velious Part II” so we could launch it next year.
But we decided it would be a lot cooler, and honestly, a lot better business, to release new content constantly throughout the year, so that you always have something new to look forward to and to play, rather than race through one set of content once annually and then sit around waiting for the rest of the year.
But content takes time to create. LOTS of time. (We have many parallel developments going constantly here, with staggered release schedules.) The art team has been banging on Withered Lands, Skyshrine, Cobalt Scar, Siren’s Grotto, and a lot more, some of it for over six months now. That art starts wrapping up soon so it can move over to design and they can start making it breathe…and there’s still more to do (like remaking Qeynos) before the art team starts making other content beyond that.
SOE are getting quick posting their Webcast videos. Below, find the video from tonight’s SOE Webcast for the upcoming Age of Discovery expansion:
The SOE Webcast has just completed with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (Executive Producer), Greg “Rothgar” Spence (Lead Programmer), Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (Lead Designer), and Emily “Domino” Taylor (Associate Producer), along with host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations).
It was brief, to say the least, mostly because it was immediately followed by a DCUO webcast (whose audience showed up during the EQ2 webcast and trashed everyone including SOE and demanded that the DCUO webcast start immediately).
During the entire webcast, Brasse’s microphone was subject to bursts of static and wind noise making it very difficult to hear. We’ll look forward to the Youtube video so we can clarify some points.
After the jump, some updated bullet point notes from the Webcast…
From the Society for the Preservation of Superlatives EverQuest2.com:
Let’s journey down the path to the Age of Discovery! Join Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (Executive Producer), Greg “Rothgar” Spence (Lead Programmer), Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (Lead Designer), and Emily “Domino” Taylor (Associate Producer), along with your host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations), to learn all about the thrilling features due in EverQuest II’s next expansion, Age of Discovery. We’ll also share a little insight into the Beta process, how the team has been using your feedback, and what changes are being made!
Join us on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, at 4:00 p.m. US Pacific Time*, on Twitch TV! The webcast is expected to last about 20 minutes.
Be there for a very special announcement!
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