Dethdlr
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...
Game Updates & Maintenance
Feldon
Fr0m the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL Gold and Platinum members can once again claim veteran rewards. The preorder reward Cloak of the Truespirit should now be claimable in the /claim window. Fixed a bug where pets would not generate aggro when fighting a locked encounter. You no longer get an “Edit Button” when you enter a house where you have trustee access. Instead, you get a tutorial popup the first time you enter explaining what edit mode is and to use CTRL-E to toggle. Guildhall hireling race and gender should now be customizable and persistent. DUNGEON MAKER Fixed missing appearances...
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...
From Rich Lawrence on the EQ2Forums: Hi folks, this is Rich Lawrence, CTO with SOE. Some of you probably remember me from original Planetside as “Twist”. TR rules, but I digress. I must apologize for the extended down time of EQ2 while we get everything in order for free to play. Obviously we didn’t anticipate it being this long. I know how important it is for the game to be available when you want to play, and what it means to miss a raid you were looking forward to, or check out new features. In this case the issues...
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...
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...
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!
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. DOWNLOAD...
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 PST: 8:00am-10:00am EST: 11:00am-2:00pm GMT: 04:00~06:00 CET: 05:00~07:
From EverQuest2.com: Game Update 62: Freeport Reborn
From the EQ2 Forums: IMPORTANT: NEW DATE! The new Launcher will go to Beta tomorrow (Wednesday, November 30), and to Live on Thursday, December 1, 2011
With tomorrow’s Launchpad 4 rollout, we’re still going to lose the ability to Select a Character from the launcher, it won’t offer Text and Voice Chat or a Friends list, and it won’t provide Background Updates, but that doesn’t mean these features aren’t planned. With the removal of Flash and reliance for Internet Explorer, the new launcher should boast better security. And according to a detailed FAQ provided by Dan Kinney, it looks like there are some workarounds to keep some of that Station Launcher functionality for the time being. From Dan Kinney on the Launchpad Forums: While I...
Well, we’ve been ready to post this for a few hours now and have just been waiting for the Update Notes. But the servers just went down and there are still no notes. From the EQ2 Forums: All U.S. servers will come down for a hotfix at 7am PST on Tuesday, November 29, 2011. The expected downtime is two hours. From Isulith on the EQ2 Forums: I am terribly sorry that someone did not post the patch notes. Just to explain a bit, since this has come up in the past – someone on the development side usually posts...
Starting on Wednesday, November 30th Thursday, December 1st the following launchers/launchpads/patchers will no longer update EQ2 but instead automagically update themselves to Launchpad 4: Original EQ2.exe (Retail Launcher) Station Launcher (multi-game launcher) EQ2 Streaming Launcher (LP3 Streaming) EQ2 Launchpad 3 (LP3 Full) From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums: Hi folks, As you know, there’s a ton of new stuff coming to you soon. And soon starts now! The first step is a LaunchPad upgrade. Starting on Wednesday (November 30, 2011) Thursday December 1st, LaunchPad will be updated automatically for you when you log in. We’re doing it now so...
The US Servers will come down on November 22, 2011, at 7:00 am PST for an update. The expected downtime is two hours. From the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL Assets can no longer be listed for auction on Live Gamer servers. It seems unlikely that 2 hours of maintenance on every server are needed to push a change to two servers. Perhaps some database maintenance/changes are making made, or some other preparation for the upcoming expansion.
From EverQuest2.com: The Overlord’s Return The city stirs under a newly revitalized sky. The clouds that once choked the horizon have parted, revealing a powerful presence, now returned. The tall, jagged towers and looming citadels, at once breathtaking and ominous, are lit up by massive, fiery braziers. The Overlord has returned and Freeport is reborn. I too have returned to the city. I return to reclaim my rightful home. My family has lived here for generations. When violence erupted, we were forced to seek shelter elsewhere, sundered from our homes and scattered across Norrath, waiting for the Overlord’s return.
PC Gamer has been given an exclusive new trailer with the first footage of the upcoming Freeport Revamp. Here is their tongue-in-cheek description for the video: Freeport. That’s a nice name. It conjures up warm feelings of boundless possibility – and maybe a bunny or two. It’s like a verbal hug. Now, though, it’s almost hilariously un-apt, because Freeport’s the most puppy-kickingly evil it’s ever been. I’m talking jagged spiky towers, ominous red skies, and batteries that run on souls. Seriously. The revamp’s coming to EverQuest II in Game Update 62, and you can find out all about it...
On November 17, 2011 at 7am, all US servers mysteriously went offline. No patch notes were released and no announcement was made other than a “We’re working on it” until shortly before the servers came back online. 7:00am PST – Servers go offline 8:45am PST – Servers were showing as Locked 8:55am PST – Servers are back online.
From the EQ2 Forums: Fixed an issue with the 48 hour no-trade grace period. Fixed an animation issue with the Soga Human Female model riding on the Terrorbird mount. With the first fix, it will, once again, be possible to simply collect all the loot during a group or raid and trade it to people at the end, or trade items within a group/raid (those who were present for the kill) in case of a looting mistake.
Network routing issues continue to plague the Splitpaw, Storms, and Valor servers, rendering raiding, grouping, and yes, even crafting neigh impossible. Although these issues aren’t within the SOE data center in Amsterdam, they still need to be addressed with the responsible parties (ISPs) to provide a playable experience for those subscribers. After initially (and non-constructively) locking threads about Splitpaw, Storms, and Valor Routing issues and directing people to open individual /petitions, an EU Server Performance (November 2011) thread has been created in the Tech Support: Connection Support area where this issue can now be collaboratively addressed. From Joshua M:...
EverQuest Executive Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson has unveiled the news that EverQuest II is fully going Free-to-Play on all servers, and the segregation between EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended (F2P) is going away (as is the ‘powerful cash shop’ and the LiveGamer service). From EverQuest2.com: Many of you reading this letter are long-time EverQuest and EverQuest II players. You’ve been part of the SOE family for a long time (earlier this week was EQII’s 7-year anniversary!) and our aim is to take care of you and keep you entertained for years to come. Part of caring for our...
If you’re a Scout, a Fighter, and maybe even a Cleric, Druid, Enchanter, or Mystic in EQ2, and you push yourself to play the absolute best (even if you’re not geared the best), you’re probably already familiar with the concept of Autoattack. Game Update 61 introduced a new type of Autoattack called Spell Autoattack for Mages and Priests. You might be tempted to jump on the DPS bandwagon, but before you run out and equip a Wand, there are some things you really ought to know! UPDATE: This article has been updated thanks to feedback from Ferk, Anaogi, Barx!
From the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Challenge Mode NPCs Several challenge mode NPC effects that were incurable are now curable as curses. These include Paralyzing Venom, Mesmerizing Web, and Corrosive Residue in the Aaranae Arcimae fight. Combat Madness in the General Aakita fight. Deathtouch in the Lichlord Skulldugger fight and several others. Cooperative Strike is no longer always fatal each tick, it does about half your max health in focus damage with each tick now. Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundations of Stone [Challenge] Greater warboars during the statue of rallos zek fight have less maximum health. Tallon’s...
A growing number of players on the Splitpaw, Valor, and Storms servers (located in Amsterdam and serving the UK and English-speaking Europe) have been reporting unplayable gameplay lag and connection delays. Some players are reporting no problems while others are experiencing 5-6 second cast delays. Further confusing matters, there seems to be no geographic pattern to the problems, as some living in close proximity to Amsterdam are reporting the biggest problems while those far away are getting fast responses. UPDATE: We’ve updated this article to address the Valor and Storms servers. In the absence of further information, this would...
Yesterday we received an e-mail from SOE informing us of a 25% discount on their SOE Authenticator keyring security fobs licensed from Vasco. These devices can be ordered from the SOE Station Store for $7.49 plus shipping and handling. This promotion ends November 17, 2011 at 8:59am PDT (11:59am EDT; 16:59 GMT; 17:59 CET). Note the free SOE Mobile Authenticator app for iPhone and Android is still listed as ‘Coming Soon’. You can read the SOE Authenticator Frequently Asked Questions at SOE.com.