From the EQ2 Forum Header:

Status: 6/27/2017 13:48 PDT – EQ2 is coming down at 2 pm pacific for an emergency hotfix. Estimated downtime is 1 hour.

All servers are coming down for a brief maintenance to address an outstanding issue. Downtime is anticipated to be less than 90 minutes.

— EverQuest II (@everquestii) June 27, 2017

Time Zone Conversions

• PDT: 2:00pm-3:00pm
• EDT: 5:00pm-6:00pm
• BST: 22:00-23:00
• CEDT: 23:00-24:00

From EQ2 Twitter:

The Fallen Gate server launch at Noon PT has been delayed for a bit. We'll update you as we have more information!

— EverQuest II (@everquestii) June 27, 2017

All Servers: 7-9:00am PDT | 10:00am-Noon EDT | 15-17:00 BST | 16-18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Vaedenmoor: Heart of Nightmares [Raid]

• Territus should no longer cause the spell “Mark of Nobility” to damage ally pets.
• Baliath should now take longer to start regenerating after he leaves the playable area and returns.
• Corrected an issue where if you had the Golden Recognition spell on, you could not execute that part of the script the spell implies.

Chamber of Rejuvenation [Raid]

• Trakanon no longer forces a tank swap. Swapping tanks is now fully up to the fighters engaged in the encounter.
• Detonators should now auto-engage the raid instead of waiting till they are damaged.

 

Arcanna’se Spire: Order and Chaos [Raid]

• Added messaging to Shanaira the Prestigious’ spell combo phase for feedback purposes. Correctly countering her powerful magic should now point out which spells were used as well as who completed the combo.

ABILITIES

• Completed the first pass on an overall damage output adjustment for all classes. These changes have a separate modifier on live, time-locked, and Proving Grounds servers, so that they can be separately adjusted.

Fallen Gate

• Channeler heals heal for a percentage of the targets max health on the Fallen Gate server. Percentage heals are increased by the spells level and tier, but do not benefit from caster stats.

QUESTS

• The Shining Metallic Robe should now be correctly referred to as “Shining” in all instances.
• Will of the Stormhammers – Brelaine will now break the dwemer for those who may have died or lost connection between approaching the Stone of Kaladim and watching her work her magic.
• A Mind of My Own – Yapsnarl kobolds are drawn to the bowl of Terratrodder chuck much sooner now.
• Secrets of Runnyeye – Players that do not yet know Goblish are now able to spawn and fight the Book of Baylzuthak.
• Secrets of Runnyeye – Players that do not yet know Goblish are not able to read the Book of Baylzuthak, but are given direction to learn the language.
• A Clockwork Snoop – Gnome Observatrons are removed from the player’s inventory when the quest is deleted.
• A Water Tight Case – The underwater chest now provides text when players have “A Water Tight Case” but not “A Crusade to Faydwer.”
• A Stealthy Guarding – Quest now updates consistently for the group when the mob of Blackscale terror attackers are defeated.
• Return of the Light – The Lucanic Knight Initiate can no longer be damaged until a certain event transpires.
• Kaesora: Xalgozian Stronghold [Heroic and Solo]: Spirit Shepherd – The lost spirits will more reliably follow you.
• Claiming the Goblish Tongue – Goblins in Runnyeye: The Gathering, Nu’roga, and Twark now have a chance to drop a Goblin Territory Marker.

Time-Locked Servers

• Lian Augren’s mail entitled “A Gathering Obsession” will now only be sent once the Isle of Mara is available.

ITEMS

• Heritage items have been rebalanced across the board. In addition to new stats, several heritage quests that offered rewards only to specific classes now offer a selection of rewards.
• Damaged items in an equipment set will now have the damaged back-glow appearance instead of the equipment set back-glow.
• Two-handed weapons should now have double the stat bonuses of one handed weapons of the same level and quality.
• Velious: Several collection rewards have been updated so that their stats are in line with progression.
• Velious: Several collection rewards have been updated so that their stats are in line with progression.
• Corrected an issue with Sarya Val’Sara that prevented her from selling the Drake of the Grove and Burnie.
• Corrected an issue with Celestial Gate that could prevent it from activating after dying until the caster zones or un-equipped and re-equipped the rune.

All Servers: 7-9:00am PDT | 10:00am-Noon EDT | 15-17:00 BST | 16-18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Platinum amounts over 1 million should be displayed better.

PROVING GROUNDS

• Fixed an issue with proving grounds where loyalty points could be reset.

The Underdepths [Proving Ground]

• Corrected an issue with damage variance on several Skyshrine Guardian and Skyshrine Infiltrator abilities that allowed them to hit for higher then intended amounts.

Daybreak has scheduled a company-wide maintenance which will impact primetime gameplay in most of the US and Europe. From the EQ2 Forums:

Daybreak Games will perform a general maintenance across all games Thursday, June 15th, beginning at 1 PM PDT (20:00 UTC) which will impact logins, account management, and purchasing. This maintenance is anticipated to last approximately 5 hours.

Time Zone Conversions

• PDT: June 15 @ 1:00-6:00pm
• EDT: June 15 @ 4:00-9:00pm
• BST: June 15 @ 9:00pm – June 16 @ 2:00am
• CEDT: June 15 @ 22:00 – June 16 @ 3:00

From EverQuest2.com:

Are you ready to relive your epic journey in EverQuest II? Heed the call of adventure and return to the Isle of Refuge once again on the new Time-Locked Expansion Server! The Fallen Gate server is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, June 27, 2017.

What’s New About Fallen Gate?

This will be a time-locked expansion server where expansions unlock automatically. In addition, Fallen Gate will have a new twist on Heritage Quests. Completing a Heritage Quest on this server will not only provide the quest reward – but an additional reward on EVERY server you play on.

All Races. All Classes.

Ever wanted to play a Beastlord or Channeler in classic EverQuest II? You can on Fallen Gate! All classes and races will be available when it launches!

Special Note: Players will still need the class/race features to play premium race and classes. Channeler and Beastlord Epics and certain class specific quests will only be available when the corresponding expansion content has unlocked on Fallen Gate.

All Servers: 7-9:00am PDT | 10:00am-Noon EDT | 15-17:00 BST | 16-18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

PUBLIC QUESTS

• Item rewards from Shade of the First Brood, Battlement Bound, Ill Omen, and Long Live the Emperor are now only acquired by looting a chest that spawns near the public quest.
• You will have 5 minutes to loot your rewards from these chests after the public quest ends.

From the EQ2 Forums:

PROVING GROUNDS

• Defiler Crystallized Soul, Necromancer Dark Heart, Conjurer Shard of Essence and all priest summoned resurrection baubles should now function in Proving Grounds.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
All Raids

• Minor adjustments to incoming damage to players in raid boss encounters

Chamber of Rejuvenation [Raid]

• Corrected a situation where the ritual barrier did not block the “Basilisk Bite” spell.

Vaedenmoor, Realm of Despair [Raid]

• Vhaksiz the Shade should no longer wipe out the raid if the “panic” script is triggered.

Vaedenmoor: Heart of Nightmares [Raid]

• Corrected an issue with Baliath’s enrage timer causing the duration to become additive over the course of the encounter.

All Servers: 7-9:00am PDT | 10:00am-Noon EDT | 15-17:00 BST | 16-18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

PROVING GROUNDS
Battle upon the High Seas

• Cap’n Ketch can no longer be pulled via AoEs unless he’s targeted.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
General

• Many boss charm spells have been changed to stuns.

Chamber of Rejuvenation [Raid]

• Bursting Spores can no longer be resisted.

Presumably…

All Servers: 7-9:00am PDT | 10:00am-Noon EDT | 15-17:00 BST | 16-18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• You can now hide your ‘Not For Sale’ items when at a merchant.
• You can now filter the broker by Ascension Classes.

PROVING GROUNDS

• Most cleric reactive heals have been increased in the Proving Grounds by 30-40%.

From EverQuest2.com:

From 12:01AM PDT (Midnight)/7:00 UTC on Friday,May 26th, 2017 through 11:59PM PST (Midnight)/7:00 UTC on Monday, May 29th, 2017, all servers will have bonus experience! This will be applied to Adventure, Tradeskill, and AA.

If that’s not enough, you will also receive double Tithe and Status as well, so you can level up your Guild or bank some Status Points for a rainy day!

Note that for Adventurers, this is 100% bonus XP. If you have absolutely no potions running, vitality, or veteran bonus characters, then that would make it “Double XP”. This bonus XP does not apply to Dungeon or Mission Completion which is where the vast majority of XP from Kunark Ascending zones comes from. This XP weekend has little effect on people playing current content. It also does not apply to Proving Grounds.

We’re going to assume:

All Servers: 7-9:00am PDT | 10:00am-Noon EDT | 15-17:00 BST | 16-18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

PROVING GROUNDS
General

• The “All Hands on Deck” and “Nature’s Fury” incrementing buffs cast by many of the non-boss NPCs in Battle upon the High Seas and Battle for Felwithe now apply 5.0% strikethrough per increment.

Battle upon the High Seas

• Corrected an issue that granted extra hit points to human Brokenskull pirate’s on the blue side.
• The number of pirates answering Cap’n Ketch’s calls has been reduced.
• Turbulent spirits (drakes) will no longer attack groups not engaged in combat.

FAMILIARS

• Five new familiars are now available from different merchants around Norrath: Sarya Val’Sara, and Scribbleclaw in Obulus Frontier, Jasper Sodtiller in Kelethin, Naris T’Vaska in Neriak, Durbain in Thalumbra, and Far’Saethe Dom in the Proving Grounds lobby.
• The Hordemother Vespid Familiar’s deaggro proc will no longer trigger on fighters in defensive stance.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Fixed an issue that prevented non-members from entering the following zones after the membership restrictions were lifted.

• City of the Nayad [Advanced Solo]
• City of the Nayad [Heroic]
• Scourge Keep [Advanced Solo]
• Scourge Keep [Heroic]
• The Fabled Antechamber of Fate [Raid]
• The Fabled Cavern of the Crustaceans [Raid]
• The Fabled Chamber of Immortality
• The Fabled Nizara
• The Fabled Nizara
• The Fabled Ruins of Varsoon
• The Fabled Sanctum of Fear
• The Fabled Temple of Cazic-Thule
• The Fabled Xux’laio’s Roost [Raid]
• Zek, the Scourge Wastes [Heroic]
• Zek, the Scourge Wastes [Solo]
• Zek, the Scourge Wastes: The Siege [Raid]

Chamber of Rejuvenation [Raid]

• If the Reet Ritualist gets removed from the encounter a warning message is now generated to avoid confusion.
• When Massive Jawing is removed any debuff components applied by the spell are also removed.
• Trakanon’s eyesight has been improved so he no longer attempt to kill already dead players and spam the raid with the message.
• Players chosen for the specific challenges involved in the Trakanon encounter should more reliably be able to do damage to their respective targets.
• Trakanon’s summoned challengers should no longer be permanently rooted.
• Descriptions have been added to Fetid Cloud and Toxic Tempest.
• Poison Spray should now grow in damage quicker.
• Using teleport to target type spells or abilities on Trakanon should no longer result in teleporting under the world.
• Adds in the Trakanon encounter have had their health rebalanced for recent buff package changes.

ABILITIES

• Ulla’s Resolution will no longer heal hostile targets.
• Most fighter threat snaps are now unresistable.
• Corrected an issue with wards that allowed some ward types to reduce damage without losing ward amount.
• Increased critical damage across the board for both Sorcerer classes by between 8% and 17%.

ITEMS

• Enchanted Slobberjaw Eye may now be used from inventory.
• Glomalin Divining Rod will now equip automatically when double clicked.
• Prestigious Wand of Power no longer requires ammo.

Stormhold

• Several of the red focus adornments available from Kal’Jeketh can now be added to additional equipment slots.

QUESTS

• Toxxulian Flora collection pieces are now spelled correctly.

All Servers: 7-9:00am PDT | 10:00am-Noon EDT | 15-17:00 BST | 16-18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

PROVING GROUNDS
Battle upon the High Seas

• Poxy can now be damaged.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Chamber of Rejuvenation [Raid]

• The Reet Ritualist should now despawn when encounter resets.
• The entrance door should no longer require 18+ players to enter.
• The exit door should now allow use.
• Basilisk Bite should no longer overwrite itself when attempting to apply it twice.

Any change to Proving Grounds (PvE Battlegrounds?) likely requires patching both US and EU servers, so we’re going to go out on a sturdy limb and guess…

All Servers: 7-9:00am PDT | 10:00am-Noon EDT | 15-17:00 BST | 16-18:00 CET

Also it looks like EQ2 Developer Snark has now leaked into the update notes. From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed an issue where guild events may not display the most current events after a server restart.

PROVING GROUNDS

• Increased most heals in Proving Grounds.
• Each member of the winning team will now receive their bonus tokens after completing the final objective.
• The final zone bosses are now immune to Verdict. Mayong smiles.
• Trash encounters and some boss adds will now apply a group-wide negative damage reduction debuff. This debuff stacks and cannot be cured.
• Trash encounters will now set their Bleedthrough percentage to 100 if your group is attacking more than 6 at a time, but will drop back to 75% when fighting 6 or less. Bosses will remain at 75% Bleedthroughout. (That’s “Bleedthrough throughout” for the lazy.)
• All bosses will have an ability that will either outright kill a group member if that group does not have a fighter, or aggro a group member with the fewest hitpoints if that group does not have a fighter.
• Bring a fighter.

From the EQ2 Forums:

US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET
EU Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET

From the EQ2 Forums:

PROVING GROUNDS

• Rewards are now granted upon leaving a match if any were earned by completing objectives.
• When the 2nd objective is completed (on either team), neither teams’ numbers can be reinforced by anyone outside the match.
• After the first team completes the final objective, the opposing team’s group count will be checked periodically. If their group total falls below 3, the match will end.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Vaedenmoor: Realm of Despair [Raid]

• You should no longer occasionally get spammy messages regarding progression within the zone.

Coinciding with today’s launch of Game Update 103, Kyle “Kander” Vallee, Tony “RadarX” Jones, and Chris “Chrol” Garlick held a livestream on Facebook to walk through some of what players can experience in the update going live today. This is not an exact transcription of the livestream but a rough outline. The Livestream, which requires a Facebook account, can be viewed here.

Proving Grounds

We’re now seeing a demo of the new Proving Grounds which takes place in an instance of New Tunaria. As with the Battlegrounds server, characters are copied to the Proving Grounds server and participate in a group event which takes about 30 minutes depending on players’ knowledge of the boss strategy. You and the opposing group do not directly interact, but you can do things that affect the other group.

• 1 zone to start, Battle of Felwithe
• 1 zone to be added later (Pirate ship themed)
• Gear is equalized, should be able to “Jump in and play” as a level 100. Skill-based.
• Cross-server. Group up and compete across server! Editor’s Note: Proving Grounds works like Battlegrounds — characters are copied there and must wait for events to start to participate.
• Will take around 30m-1hr to complete
• Timed group challenge, you compete against another group. You can see the other group’s progress but you can’t interact.
• Earn token currency, receive double if you’re a member.
• Each boss kill earns a token, last boss is 2 tokens, 3 tokens for winning (double for members)
• Proving ground lobby is old Battleground lobby. Merchants available for gear purchases with earned tokens.
• Upgraded white (wantia) adorns will be available.
• New orange slotted gear (ring, pants, and more)
• Proving Ground teleporters are in your home city.
• Missions are available, including a weekly mission for familiar crates.

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.

From EverQuest2.com:

Are you ready to test your mettle in this round of the Proving Grounds? Will you begin the work to form lifelong bonds with mysterious menagerie creatures? Jump in to GU103: The Menagerie – available now!

Cooperative Competition Zones

For a limited time, get in and compete against other players to fight to the finish first!

In our first two Cooperative Competition Zones, two groups of up to six to compete against each other in timed races to see who can complete the challenge first. The fastest times for each round are recorded on a leaderboard. Each time there is a different challenge, the fastest group in that round could possibly win an extra set of rewards. Participating in these limited time events is your way to earn rewards like powerful orange adornments, unique titles, new familiars, and more.

From the EQ2 Forums:

The GU 103: The Menagerie stream will start on Tuesday, May 9th, 2017 at 10AM PDT (17:00 UTC)and we would like to invite YOU to join us!

We’ll be doing this stream from Facebook Live, and you can tune in here:www.facebook.com/EverQuest2

Join members of the team as they explore this new content and talk more about Proving Grounds and Familiars!

What’s in this update you ask? Check out Kander’s Candor to see what’s coming up for EverQuest II.

We look forward to hanging out with you next week!

A large portion of Game Update 103: The Managerie is now available for Testing on the Test server. Please note that it is not possible to COPY characters to the Test server. This will present an obvious roadblock to most for testing level 100 content unless you happen to have one of the 189 level 100 characters which has been active on Test in the last four months.

Here are some highlights from the Test Update Notes for May 2, 2017 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.
• The fastest times for each round, currently set for seven days, will be recorded on a leader board.

Removed the Membership requirement from the following zones:

• City of the Nayad [Advanced Solo]
• City of the Nayad [Heroic], Scourge Keep [Advanced Solo]
• Scourge Keep [Heroic], The Fabled Antechamber of Fate [Raid]
• The Fabled Cavern of the Crustaceans [Raid]
• The Fabled Chamber of Immortality
• The Fabled Nizara
• The Fabled Nizara
• The Fabled Ruins of Varsoon
• The Fabled Sanctum of Fear
• The Fabled Temple of Cazic-Thule
• The Fabled Xux’laio’s Roost [Raid]
• Zek, the Scourge Wastes [Heroic]
• Zek, the Scourge Wastes [Solo]
• Zek, the Scourge Wastes: The Siege [Raid]

There are quite a few more test notes which can be found on the EQ2 Forums.

From the EQ2 Forums:

All servers will be restarted at 7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC) to address a small technical issues. Downtime is anticipated to be less than one hour.

Hail Norrathians,

We’re grateful for your patience as we worked through some technical issues with our servers. While our fixes seem stable so far, we want to take more time to test and verify our changes before launching GU103: The Menagerie. Since we want to ensure that the launch of our next game update is as smooth and stable as possible, we’ve decided to move the launch of GU103: The Menagerie to Tuesday, May 9, 2017.

To thank you for your patience and support, we’ll be activating Triple XP (AA, Adventure, Tradeskill) for ALL players and ALL servers starting now. This will run until Sunday, April 30, 2017 at 11:59PM PDT (07:00 UTC).

In addition, we’ll be activating Double Ascension Scrolls starting on Monday, May 1, 2017 at 12:01AM PDT (7:00 UTC). This will run through Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 11:59PM PDT (07:00 UTC).

—

We’ve updated the dates of GU103: The Menagerie, our next stream, our AMAs, and the level 100 character boost promotion.

• Our next stream will be the morning GU103 launches, Tuesday, May 9 @ 10AM PDT (17:00 UTC). We’re streaming on www.facebook.com/EverQuest2
• For an updated list of AMA dates/times, see the post here.
• The Level 100 Boost Bauble offer will begin on Tuesday, May 9 around noon PDT (19:00 UTC) and end on Monday, May 22, 2017 at 11:59PM PDT (07:00 UTC).

 

We’ve also updated dates in these posts. If you haven’t seen these posts about what we have coming up for EverQuest II, check them out here:

• Producers’ Letter – April 2017
• Kander’s Candor – What’s Coming Up in 2017

 

In the meanwhile, while we continue to monitor the performance of our servers, if you have any issues with servers please report them in the thread here.

Here are the chat logs for the EverQuest II Developer “Ask Me Anything” in-game chat events. Click a server below to go to that server’s page.

From EverQuest2.com:

We’re grateful for your patience as we worked through some technical issues with our servers. While our fixes seem stable so far, we want to take more time to test and verify our changes before launching GU103: The Menagerie. Since we want to ensure that the launch of our next game update is as smooth and stable as possible, we’ve decided to move the launch of GU103: The Menagerie to Tuesday, May 9, 2017.

To thank you for your patience and support, we’ll be activating Triple XP (AA, Adventure, Tradeskill) for ALL players and ALL servers starting now. This will run until Sunday, April 30, 2017 at 11:59PM PDT (07:00 UTC).

In addition, we’ll be activating Double Ascension Scrolls starting on Monday, May 1, 2017 at 12:01AM PDT (7:00 UTC). This will run through Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 11:59PM PDT (07:00 UTC).