The EverQuest II keynote ended just over an hour ago here at SOE Live 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we were given some great hints of things that will be expounded upon more tomorrow in the three EQ2 panels — Mechanics, Expansion, and Itemization Evolves. (please check our list of panels we’re covering)

First up, this fall’s expansion is Tears of Veeshan. It’s a high level expansion with a huge overland zone and 9 massive dungeons. Each of the dungeons in the expansion will have quests and storylines.

Dragons AA Tab —  The Dragon’s tab has 4 lines to choose from which vary by Archetype. Depending on your archetype, the AA tab will have a different label — Dozekar, Yelenak, Woushi, and Trakanon. (This is just flavor text). With the expansion, the Alternate Advancement cap is going up to 340 points.

What can I say about tomorrow’s Itemization Evolves panel? (without being hunted down by Georgeson?) Not much, but just imagine me with duct tape over my mouth, two thumbs way up, and smiling. In Kander‘s EQ2Talk interview a few months back, he told us that linear, static, and boring itemization is going out and player choice is coming in. I am very excited about this panel and hope you don’t miss our Liveblog of it!

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• If the quest helper is toggled off, completing your Daily Objectives will no longer toggle it back on.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Fabled Clefts of Rujark

• Corrected an issue that prevented the base population in The Fabled Clefts of Rujark from dropping loot.

ITEMS

• The Fabled Battleborn Bracers can no longer be equipped by scouts.
• Armbands of the Northlands once again go in the appearance shoulder slot and provide an alternative appearance to the Shoulderpads of the North.
• The Battle Bred Meatbeast can now be converted back into a mount from its plushie form.

These were posted just a few minutes ago on the EQ2 Forums:

DARKNESS DAWNS

The oracles still see chaos and uncertainty on the horizon even with victory for the New Combine army in Cobalt Scar. Join Field Marshal Vishra at Scarstone as he tirelessly guards the newly found Tear of Veeshan – an artifact that could turn the tides of war forever in this time of delicate peace. Is it the key to preventing the end of the world foretold in the Ages End prophecy? Those that have completed “Tear in the Grotto” are being summoned to find out!

FABLED DUNGEONS

• Fabled Clefts of Rujark (accessed from Sinking Sands and Pillars of Flame)
• Fabled Scornfeather’s Roost (accessed from Sinking Sands and Pillars of Flame)
• Fabled Djinn Masters Prism (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
• Fabled Pedestal of Sky (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)

NEW CONTESTED AVATARS

• Three New Contested Avatar Raids: Pit yourself against three new contested avatars in the overlands – Prexus, Solusek Ro, and Drinal!

ARENA OF THE GODS

• The Arena of the Gods is a raid instance that allows 24 players to challenge any of the 9 avatars that are in game (includes the new contested avatars released in this GU). Once you kill an avatar and are rewarded, you can continue to practice the encounters as much as you want (there is a 3-day lockout timer for rewards). Entrances to the Arena of the Gods can be found in the cities of Freeport and Qeynos.

At one time, Mounts in EQ2 increased your run speed, oh and they looked nice. Over the years, faster mounts were introduced, then we began to see mounts with some very minor stat boosts to harvesting or weapon skills. Nowadays, it is just expected that ground, leaper, glider, and flying mounts all have some sort of buff which is beneficial in combat situations. Essentially, mounts have become a 25th item slot.

Search for Mounts on EQ2U

With Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns, we will see the ability for players to store up to three Alternate Advancement profiles on their character and swap between them immediately. The concern raised by certain players was, switching AA Profiles causes all buffs to drop, including mounts. While the buffs from mounts persist after zoning, most zones do not permit re-casting your mount once you’re inside the zone.

Players who wanted to switch their AA spec and retain the benefits of the mount would then need to zone out, re-cast their mount, and then zone back in, which is really not any more convenient than zoning to their home, using an AA mirror, and then recasting their mount. Over time, we’ve seen more flexibility on how mounts are cast, specifically hiding mounts (even flying ones) when grounded. My suggestion was to simply allow casting any mount anywhere, and just hide its appearance if you are inside a zone that does not permit mounts.

To address this concern, Lyndro has posted this update:

In an upcoming beta update (Next couple days), mounts will be castable in any zone. You just won’t get the mount/speed portion.

https://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/index.php?threads/gu67-cat-feedback-thread.537088/page-6#post-5943150

Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns has now hit the EQ2 Beta server and here are the Update Notes. Game Update 67 is expected to go live July 23, 2013.

Fabled Dungeons

• Fabled Clefts of Rujark (accessed from Sinking Sands)
• Fabled Scornfeather’s Roost (accessed from within Fabled Clefts of Rujark)
• Fabled Djinn Masters Prism (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
• Fabled Pedestal of Sky (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
• Three New Contested Avatar Raids: Pit yourself against three new contested avatars in the overlands – Prexus, Solusek Ro, and Drinal!

Arena of the Gods

• The Arena of the Gods is a raid instance that allows 24 players to challenge any of the 9 avatars that are in game (includes the new contested avatars released in this GU). Once you kill an avatar and are rewarded, you can continue to practice the encounters as much as you want (there is a 3-day lockout timer for rewards).

What can we expect in the upcoming Fabled dungeons in Game Update 67? You’ll recall this announcement from Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums about Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns which included a list of dungeons:

1. Fabled Dungeons: We’ve taken some dungeon favorites from the very first EQII expansion “Desert of Flames” and created additional versions of them with current high-level content and loot. You can experience Clefts of Rujark, The Djinn Masters Prism, Scornfeather’s Roost, and Pedestal of Sky at a high level range!

As posted by Kander on the EQ2 Forums:

The Fabled zones have been raised to current level and re-itemized with new current versions of everything that used to drop in them, with some surprises. There are items of all tiers for all play styles in the Fabled zones.

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]

• Overlord Talan Challenge Mode: The Psionic Defiler and Psionic Guardian adds have less health.
• Overlord Talan: Adds no longer do trauma based melee damage, they do arcane damage instead.
• In all fights the crippling aura/cripped armor debuff is less potent per counter. Overlord Talan Challenge Mode : The Psionic Guardians do less damage.

ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Enchanter

• Sever Hate will now properly apply if the target ally is casting a spell when Sever Hate is cast.

ZONES
Wurmbone’s End: Nox Incessit

• Overall outgoing damage from zone bosses and base pop has been slightly reduced.

ITEMS

• [eq2u]Leather Tunic of the All Swarmer[/eq2u] now has riposte chance.
• [eq2u]Breastplate of the All-Blocker[/eq2u] now has riposte chance

 

From the EQ2 Forums:

We are pleased to announce our next Game Update titled “Darkness Dawns” coming on July 30! For our 67th game update we have great stuff in store for you!

We are really excited about a new story quest line that will pick up from our last game update in April (GU66: Scars of the Awakened). We can tell you that there is an EPIC event brewing in Cobalt Scar that could turn the world on its head and YOU are the catalyst.

SPOILER: At the end of GU66, players uncovered an artifact of power — a Tear of Veeshan — that will lead into the story quest line in Darkness Dawns. The events you will experience are jaw-dropping and the team has been pouring its energy and passion into making this very special — from art to dialogue. You, our hero, will be central to the story that will change the world!

Here are some of the features we have lined up for Darkness Dawns!

From the EQ2 Forums:

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Cobalt Scar

• Kelorek’Dar no longer stuns or interrupts players as a damage shield. He will instead damage player’s power pools slightly at the same frequency.
• Collections – Collectibles in Cobalt Scar should be more readily available

Chelsith

• Kuom’Ziki will no longer continue to speak when he is dead.

Jarsath Wastes

• Fixed a spawn point for collectible shinny that was below the surface at location -1619 183 1116.

Blackburrow

• The “Sabertooth Champion” should start spawning again. The respawn for him is around 20 minutes.

Sleepers Tomb

• Sleepers tomb raid – challenge mode ancient sentinel no longer heals itself with Touch of Velium II spell.

Nektulos:

• The Travelling Augur is adjusted to prevent the possibility of him falling beneath the dock.

Siren’s Grotto: Dissension

• The second respawn location should not be available until the doors to the second half of the zone are unlocked.

With Game Update 66 and the introduction of Siren’s Grotto, it’s now time to bump up the quality of heroic gear a bit. To do that, Drinal’s Steward as started offering Tier 2 heroic armor. From Amnerys on the EQ2 Forums:

Good news! The Steward of Drinal now has Tier 2 Heroic gear available. Platinum prices on the Tier 1 Steward gear have been lowered. Greater Spirits and essences have also had their drop rates increased.

This is indeed good news, as there is certainly room for growth and a need to provide an obvious upgrade over the Advanced Solo rare drops.

However there are a few hiccups too. On the EQ2 Forums, players have renewed their objections to needing to run the 15 hour Chains of Eternity Solo Signature Quest line on each of their alts in order to shop Drinal’s Steward’s wares. While we’ve been able to buy a Steward’s Key to share the Obol and Spirit love with our alts, this key has never unlocked the ability to buy from the Merchant. Thus far, the workaround for buying armor has been to swap characters around and trade it through the Shared Bank. However this won’t work with Tier 2 gear upgrades.

Hopefully today’s update will finally and completely put the EQ2 Platocalypse to bed:

From EverQuest2.com:

GENERAL

• Click-to-cure should now use the robust remedies that are in your bags.
• Pet back off will now remove auto-assist.

MERCENARIES

• Quest mercenaries should no longer overwrite your hired mercenary if they die.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• The Triumph “Destiny of Velious Over Achiever” should once again be awarding to players who have already killed the required bosses.

GUILD HALL AMENITIES

• Bells should no longer require a 6 person group to zone to Cobalt Scar.

From the EQ2 Forums:

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug where not all of your points spent would load from an AA mirror.
• Granted a free respec on all trees to all players.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Sirens Grotto Raid

• Caella the Pearl encounter – Siren Controllers are slower to react after spawning and have less health. Entrancer Lisha now waits a while after casting Numb Senses to cast her Consume Vitae AOE.
• Entrancer Lisha will no longer charm pets with Siren’s Melody.

Siren’s Grotto: Alluring Embrace [Heroic]

• Health has been reduced on a number of NPCs.

Drinal’s Castle Raid

• Fitzpitzle should now properly advance to his rooms when defeated.

From EverQuest2.com:

All EQ2 Servers will come down on Tuesday, April 30, at 7:00 am Pacific Time* for Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened. The expected downtime is three hours. Part of this maintenance will occur at the same time as a SOE-wide maintenance.

Game Update 66: SCARS OF THE AWAKENED
Update Notes

Ever vigilant, Norrathians march united under the banner of the New Combine army, deeper into the perilous continent of Velious.

Finally, the army breaches the borders of a region known as Cobalt Scar – a majestic, lush, but tormented region. And from within dark passages in the surrounding mountains, the inhabitants of Sirens Grotto beckon to all.

The first news heard from Cobalt Scar concerns tribes of Othmir that succumbed to an unfortunate fate that now threatens everyone. Further examination into the area will reveal a foreboding presence of the Awakened Legion, a force of evil that decimated dragonkind in the legendary city of Skyshrine.

Nearby, in the watery depths of Sirens Grotto – unseen by landwalkers for the ages – it is said that the caverns hold secrets of their own. And the beguiling siren coven known as the Darkwater Sisters will not give up those secrets easily.

All the while, the Ages End Prophecy looms with its promise to see Kerafyrm – Norrath’s most evil, powerful dragon – bring a violent end to the world. Heroes from every corner of Norrath are called to explore this new land in Velious and fight for a future for all.

Wednesday’s sprawling two hour Critical Hit podcast with Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall is absolutely worth listening to, as Nathan goes into the best uses of design hours, what it takes to revamp zones such as Qeynos and Freeport, why the starting islands were removed, the importance of storytelling, and more.

But if you are a raider or otherwise into the mechanics and itemization of EQ2, and you listen to only one EQ2 podcast this month, it should be EQ2Talk Episode #63 with Kyle “Kander” Vallee. He goes into a lot of the thinking behind the upcoming update (and this fall’s expansion), has some refreshing vision towards the future of EQ2, itemization and content design, and is very candid about some of the missteps in Chains of Eternity as well as other past changes.

All comments below are paraphrased from Kander’s comments in the 1 hour 40 min podcast. Any errors in meaning are the fault of the editor.

Stat Consolidation

• If there is one thing Kander could go back and change about EQ2, he would never have gone along with Stat Consolidation (where each class has just one primary stat and then Stamina for increasing health).  The different benefits you got from each stat were some of the “meat and bones” of EQ2 and chasing different stats and having to make choices on which gear you equip added a lot of depth. We had a lot more choice itemization-wise. For example, building up Intelligence to increase poison damage for scouts.
• As far as Stat Consolidation, we’re actually planning to head back in that direction as far as the next expansion to provide more choices. Right now, itemization feels a little bit stale. Players should need to think about their gear.

More after the jump…

From the EQ2 Forums:

Last week, you got an inside look at Cobalt Scar on a tour with Haohmaru, ttobey, and Kaitheel. This week, we bring you an early look at the Siren’s Grotto! Join Tim “Haohmaru” Heydelaar, Chris “Chrol” Garlick, and Christopher “Phatkins” Atkins as they take you through this new dungeon, coming with Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened, which will be released on April 30.

Logo Mockup by EQ2Wire

In addition to the new content in Game Update 66, which hits Beta today and will go live on April 30th, there are numerous class tweaks. But instead of class balance (although there is some of that), the overriding theme of the class improvements in this update could best be summed up as “What Bugs Your Class Most?” All those things about your class that drive you crazy, like having to be directly behind the mob to use your biggest hits as a Dirge, or having to be exactly 5 meters from the mob to do both your Melee and Ranged CAs as a Ranger.

Read over the notes and give us your take. Are these great, long overdue changes, or does it almost go too far, making things a little too convenient? As a Ranger, I’m excited about the changes, but will I become even lazier now that I can stand pretty much anywhere in the room and do my maximum DPS? I certainly applaud a number of the changes which were things that “didn’t make sense” which have now been fixed.

After the jump, Game Update 66’s Beta Notes…

Not everyone has the time to watch a Twitch or Youtube video talking about upcoming Game Updates, Expansions, Features, etc. Some are not able to watch videos at work and would rather read a transcript. And there are a number of EQ2 players who are hearing impaired. So for you guys, I am happy to present another EQ2Wire exclusive Transcript of an SOE Webcast. This week’s session is about the upcoming Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened which lands on the Beta server next Tuesday and goes live April 30th.

Inside this transcript, you’ll find out…

• The Othmir make their way to Cobalt Scar to see what’s left of their homeland.
• New Tradeskill quest line.
• New Tradeskill Apprentice recipes.
• New overland zone with numerous quests at Advanced Solo difficulty.
• New Heroic zones. New Advanced Solo zones. New raid zone with internal progression.
• Itemization is an overlay for Chains of Eternity, not a gear reset.
• Gear upgrades will be in 7-8 slots and there are clear upgrades for all gameplay levels including solo, group, and raid.

From Dexella on the EQ2 Forums:

Hey everyone,

We’ve seen a few posts recently about daily missions/quests not disappearing once they are completed and expired. We are aware of this and have a fix scheduled to go in next week. In the meantime, if you click on the daily in your journal, it will make it go away.

Thanks!

~Dexella

From EverQuest2.com:

MEMBERSHIP UPDATES
The following restrictions have been removed on Free and Silver accounts:

• Class selections (Beastlord still requires Age of Discovery)
• Race selections (Freeblood still requires purchase)
• Bag slots
• Shared Bank slots
• Active journal quests allowed

GENERAL

• There is no longer a broker fee for buying Krono from the broker.

Logo mockup by EQ2Wire

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums:

To all Norrathians,

The Velious saga continues! New lands and adventures will be uncovered on April 30 with Game Update 66 entitled EverQuest II: Scars of the Awakened!

Ever vigilant, Norrathians march united under the banner of the New Combine army, deeper into the perilous continent of Velious.

Finally, the army breaches the borders of a region known as Cobalt Scar – a majestic, lush, but tormented region. And from within dark passages in the surrounding mountains, the inhabitants of Sirens Grotto beckon to all.

A number of players have been reporting an issue over the last two weeks that leaves them in a “phantom group”, lumped together with ghost players or mercenaries who aren’t actually grouped with them. As a result, these players are unable to join any other group, despite trying /leave, /disband, or even /camping to character select. Some have only found relief from server reboots.

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

Big apologies to folks dealing with group issues. We are trying to fix a historic bug and it has exposed other problems. We are on it! #EQ2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) March 11, 2013

From Zoltaroth last Tuesday on the EQ2 Forums:

We’ve added some code to help fix this problem in yesterdays hotfix. If you guys continue to have issues post in this thread and we will continue to look into more fixes. This is another one of those “cannot reproduce internally” bugs that has been driving us crazy because we all see it happen on live.

From the EQ2 Forums: