From the EQ2 Forums:
Greetings Fellow Norrathians!
Just stopping by to give everyone some information on what we have coming this year and some insight on the direction we are going.
Cooperative Competition: Co-opetition!
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET
EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PDT | Midnight~2:00am EDT | 05:00~07:00 BST | 06:00~08:00 CETFrom the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Vaedenmoor: Realm of Despair [Raid]
- The number of adds in the Raenha, Sister of Remorse encounter should no longer grow for each successful threshold passed.
- The number of adds in the Raenha, Sister of Remorse encounter required to be killed if the script is failed should no longer grow.
- Deaths in the Raenha, Sister of Remorse encounter still affect add numbers.
- Respawn speed on adds in the Raenha, Sister of Remorse encounter are no longer affected by reuse debuffs (in players’ favor).
- All adds in the Raenha encounter now count toward the add count mechanic.
Ruins of Kaesora: Ancient Xalgozian Temple [Raid]
- Xalgoz should now send a warning message for his event at 5%.
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET
EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PDT | Midnight~2:00am EDT | 05:00~07:00 BST | 06:00~08:00 CET
From the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Raids
- Adds in most tier 4 encounters have had their combat mitigation reduced.
Vaedenmoor: Heart of Nightmares [Raid]
- Adds in the Warden of Nightmare encounters have had their respawn timers corrected to intended values.
- Corrected an issue that occasionally caused 4 adds per round instead of the intended 3 in the Warden of Nightmares encounter.
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 14:00~16:00 GMT | 15:00~17:00 CET EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PDT | Midnight~2:00am EDT | 04:00~06:00 GMT | 05:00~07:00 CETFrom the EQ2 Forums:
ZONES / POPULATION
- Encounters from Kunark Ascending should no longer periodically remain stuck in a stunned or rooted state.
Castle Highhold [All Versions]
- Defeating Gudre Blackhand too quickly will no longer prevent him from dying by chandelier.
Lost City of Torsis [All Versions]
- Meld of Vapor will no longer chain cast Spell Diffusion.
From EverQuest2.com:
The dungeons and raids of Kunark Ascending are now even more dangerous! Today, with the introduction of Expert dungeons and raids, players will be able to experience a more challenging version of this great content.
Speak to Prissaia, the Expert Dungeon Portal Summoner, within Crusdaers’ Cave in the Obulus Frontier zone to begin an Expert instance.
The following dungeons are now available in Expert Mode:
- Arcanna’se Spire: Vessel of the Sorceress
- Arcanna’se Spire: Forgotten Sanctum
- Arcanna’se Spire: Repository of Secrets
- Kaesora: Tomb of the Venerated
- Kaesora: Xalgozian Stronghold
- The Ruins of Cabilis
- Crypt of Dalnir: Wizard’s Den
- Crypt of Dalnir: Ritual Chamber
- Crypt of Dalnir: Baron’s Workshop
- Lost City of Torsis: The Shrouded Temple
- Lost City of Torsis: Reaver’s Remnants
- Lost City of Torsis: The Spectral Market
The following raids are also now available in Expert Mode:
- Arcanna’se Spire: Order and Chaos
- Crypt of Dalnir: The Kly Stronghold
With greater risk comes greater rewards, and each of these dungeons/raids will provide better loot drops for their completion. Begin your adventure today and see if you have the expertise to face these new challenges.
I’d heard some of this information from the Discord chat but I’ve been asked not to repost said information here until it’s official. So, here’s the official thingy from the EQ2 Forums:
ASCENSION
Members now receive five bonus Guided Ascension scrolls per week from the Ascension masters. When these bonus scrolls are claimed you will be not be able to receive any more bonus scrolls for six days and 20 hours.
Ascension Masters will now continue to grant Guided Ascension scrolls until all four Ascension classes are level 10. You are still limited to one scroll per day.EXPERT ZONES
Expert zones are more challenging versions of all current Kunark Ascending heroic zones, as well as the tier one, two, and three raid encounters in the Crypt of Dalnir: The Kly Stronghold and Arcanna’se Spire: Order and Chaos raid zones. Expert zone encounters drop more powerful items. All current heroic missions will update within the appropriate expert zones and grant an extra reward if completed utilizing an expert zone.Speak to Prissaia <Expert Dungeon Portal Summoner> within Crusaders’ Cave in Obulus Frontier to venture to these new instances.
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CET
EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PST | Midnight~2:00am EST | 05:00~07:00 GMT | 06:00~08:00 CET
From the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Arcanna’se Spire: Forgotten Sanctum [Heroic]
- Sabellah’Xen, Keeper of Fire’s adds now despawn when he is defeated or when his encounter is reset.
- Caelan’Gael, Keeper of Growth’s adds now despawn when he is defeated or when his encounter is reset.
- Lachina, Defender of Magics’ adds now despawn when she is defeated or when his encounter is reset.
Kaesora: Xalgozian Stronghold [Heroic]
- General Janosz’s adds now despawn when he is defeated or when his encounter is reset.
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- A filter has been added to the missions list in the quest journal.
ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Mystic
- Replaced a dropped digit in the adept Strength of the Ancestors.
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CET EU Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CET Update Notes from the EQ2 Forums posted as of 8:00am PST:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
- All raid encounters above tier 1 now have a base mitigation increased based off of expected mitigation debuff values.
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CET EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PST | Midnight~2:00am EST | 05:00~07:00 GMT | 06:00~08:00 CETFrom the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Lost City of Torsis: Reaver’s Remnants[Challenge Heroic]
- Neh’Ashiir has had her max health reduced.
Monolith Of Wrahzul
- Reduced the control immunity on Fathad Zastim.
ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
- Spell Weapon Damage Bonus and Weapon Damage Bonus have been consolidated into one stat, Weapon Damage Bonus.
- Corrected an issue with Glacial Freeze that would cause the targets to heal after returning to their natural level.
- Pass Judgement will now correctly grant a Fervor component to Heretic’s Destruction instead of Fervor Overcap.
- Targets of Oration of Sacrifice may now trigger Fierce Combat for the entire duration of the effect at a maximum of once per 1.5 seconds.
- Unfetter will now correctly remove the stealth component to Hidden Assault.
- Corrected an issue with Shadow Trickery’s fervor effect not applying correctly. Added the amount of fervor increased to the examine of Shadow Trickery.
From the EQ2 Forums:
All US EverQuest II Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, January 26th, 2017 at 2:00PM PT (10 PM UTC) for an update. Estimated downtime could be up to
4 hours.All EU servers will come offline at 9:00 PM PT (5 AM UTC January 27th) for this update. Downtime is anticipated to be approximately 2 hours.
From the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
General
- Ikile Harmonia <Tradeskill Tutorial> and Ralika Mekkila <Crafting Trainer> in Kelethin should no longer fall to the forest floor.
- Lama Mukhlisah in The Stonebrunt Highlands should no longer fall through the floor.
- Proctor Talnisk <Representative of Dominus Rile> in Fens of Nathsar should no longer fall through the floor.
- Monsters and Bosses in Kunark Ascending dungeons all now see stealth and invis.
ITEMS
- Brought the [eq2u]Ring of Pursuing Sagas[/eq2u] and [eq2u]Band of Pursuing Sagas[/eq2u] into the correct item progression.
- [eq2u]Gossamer Blade[/eq2u] and the [eq2u]Blade of the Naya’Patel[/eq2u] will now accept cyan adornments.
- Corrected the stats and effect on Gossamer Blade.
- Removed the 2 extra resolve and predicated effects that were added to the wrong tier of some raid armor.
QUESTS
- Nonsense is Better Than no Sense at All – Certain elements of the coin quest now require the completion of specific quests to pick up the coins.
- Awakening Bonds: …Is Whole Again – Corrected an issue that prevented the seeress from fully updating the quest for some players.
Plus whatever emergency glitch/exploit needed to be patched in such a hurry.
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CET EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PST | Midnight~2:00am EST | 05:00~07:00 GMT | 06:00~08:00 CETFrom the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Vaedenmoor: Realm of Despair [Raid]
- High end difficulty encounters have had their “Panic” mechanic made a bit more lenient toward the beginning of the encounter.
- Vhaksiz the Shade has had his health adjusted.
Ruins of Kaesora: Ancient Xalgozian Temple [Raid]
- Xalgoz has had his health adjusted.
- Xalgoz’s Staff of Control should now correctly be able to be used on Xagloz but is still not a required item to defeat his encounter.
- The Strathbone Runelord should no longer remain immune to damage at low health for an extended amount of time.
Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CETA bunch of Update Notes, but the one you’ll probably be hearing the most about appears, at first glance, to rein in the incredible power of items such as Ethereal Onslaught, Ethereal Conduit, Ire-Dread (the hammer), Spine of Ancient Terror, Spine of the Deep One, which can Reset the Reuse of some or all of a character’s abilities sometimes several times a minute. This effect has been the subject of much debate on the forums for the last year and a half.
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- Added Resolve as a searchable stat on the broker.
- Fixed a bug where switching your warder in the warder UI would not update the abilities displayed.
- Fixed an issue where tool-tip information would not display correctly on some Deity abilities above rank 12.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
General
- Adds for Captain Vhankmin and Tabor’Zaai should now despawn when the encounter is defeated.
Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CETFrom the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
General
- Fixed a bug that could cause some overland zones and popular dungeons to crash.
Vaedenmoor: Realm of Despair [Raid]
- Raenha, Sister of Remorse should now allow a little extra time to defeat her.
ASCENSION
Adjusted the minimum time required to gain ascension levels to account for the four extra scrolls granted to all characters.
Servers: 7:00~10:00am PST | 10:00am~1:00pmEST | 15:00~18:00 GMT | 16:00~19:00 CET
Servers were up after 1 hour 8 minutes. Woot!
From the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Obulus Frontier
- The shadeweave bud will no longer lock to the first person that starts to harvest.
Lost City of Torsis: The Spectral Market [Heroic]
- The Algae Fiend should no longer target pets with his curse.
Vaedenmoor: Realm of Despair [Raid]
- Raenha, Sister of Remorse should no longer cause the zone to crash.
- Raenha, Sister of Remorse will now reset her health triggers if the script is failed.
MERCENARIES
Fixed a rare case where gear would no longer load on a mercenary. Items in this state will be reimbursed to the character’s overflow upon login.ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Corrected an issue with pets not benefiting from resolve class buffs.ITEMS
Corrected an issue that caused wands to have a minimum range.
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CET EU Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CETFrom the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Lost City of Torsis: The Spectral Market [Heroic]
- Adds in the Merchant Caniz encounter should respawn slightly slower.
Crypt of Dalnir: Baron’s Workshop [Heroic and Solo]
- Placing the Main Valve Lever and pulling it to open the slime grate will no longer cause smaller races to be stuck with a MAIN VALVE LEVER IN THEIR HEADS.
Kaesora: Xalgozian Stronghold
- Colonel Gozier should no longer port you out of the world.
Lost City of Torsis: Ashiirian Court [Raid]
- Lord Ghiosk will now be guarding the library once again.
From the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Lost City of Torsis: Reaver’s Remnants [All Versions]
- You should no longer be able to kill the Spirit Flames in the Tzirathk encounter.
Kaesora: Tomb of the Venerated [Advanced Solo]
- Icicle Storm no longer reduces potency.
All Servers: 7:00~9:00am PST | 10:00am~Noon EST | 15:00~17:00 GMT | 16:00~18:00 CETFrom the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Obulus Frontier
- Sarnak Infiltrators are no longer quite as hearty.
- Players who have not completed “Kunark Ascending: Opportunity ‘Noks” will now evac inside the Crusaders’ Cave.
- Banker, broker, collector, and other service NPCs in the Greenmist Crusader caves no longer require you to speak sathirian.
From the EQ2 Forums:
KUNARK ASCENDING
Norrath remains in danger from Lanys T’Vyl, God of Malice, and her pursuit of power! Return to Kunark and adventure through unexplored lands full of strife as a powerful force of iksar plan to overthrow the lich emperor, Venril Sathir. Uncover dungeons long sealed or lost, amassing power and piecing together the history long buried, in an attempt to keep the last Chaos Stone out of Lanys’ evil clutches!
It will take great courage to stand against the coming darkness and stop her from ushering in a new age of dominance by the gods. When the Tenets of Hate ascend to godhood, will you stand against them?
Kunark Ascending is the 13th EverQuest II expansion and brings new and exciting adventures to Norrath.
Journey to Obulus Frontier in North Kunark where you’ll explore the ruins of Kaesora, fight through the Crypt of Dalnir in Warslik Woods, traverse the City of Mist, and adventure through more areas both familiar and undiscovered!
One of the proudest achievements in my EverQuest II history was acquiring my Eagle’s Talon epic weapon while Kunark was still fresh, challenging content. It took many months to find groups to get all the various group updates, many of which required defeating the hardest enemies in the game. Other updates required faction grinding (urrrgh Reet!), collection quests, and other solo side quests. Sadly I could not find a screenshot of when I received the fabled Eagle’s Talon, but I do have the above screenshot of when I acquired the mythical version during my brief flirtation with raiding.
When the Epic Weapon 1.0 quests went live in February 2009, nothing about them had been revealed as there had been no public beta test. They were a complete mystery. Players had to band together and use their knowledge of Lore to seek out the quest starters and find the updates and requirements themselves. Some classes took over a week to find their quest starter. Many of the quests had NO quest feather to help and some had extensive prerequisites requiring hours of gameplay to even start the quest. Fast forward to today, and most quests in EQ2 are expected to be straightforward and obvious, with few if any prerequisites.
Not surprisingly, the announcement that EverQuest II’s upcoming thirteenth expansion Kunark Ascending would have some requirements and prerequisites from older content before players would be allowed to start the new stuff has been met with surprise and searing feedback. After much forum strife, one requirement was dropped: You no longer need to have done the Terrors of Thalumbra Signature quest before you can zone into Obulus Frontier, the expansion’s new overland zone. That’s not to say all requirements have been dropped.
From Kander on the EQ2 Beta Forums:
We are no longer requiring the ToT Signature quests to start the Kunark Ascending questlines for beta or when it goes live. These changes should be in ASAP. We’ll make sure it gets in the patch notes.
and Kander on the Discord chat:
The Ethereal Merchant is staying up indefinitely. After some very heated discussion, we have decided to make the Ethereal Runes heirloom when the expansion launches. After some even more heated discussion, we have decided to make the ethereal coins heirloom when the expansion launches.
From EverQuest2.com:
Gear Up, Level Up has returned to Norrath! Gear Up, Level Up is when special weekly bonuses are available to be found throughout your adventures as you prepare for the upcoming expansion, Kunark Ascending.
Beginning at 12:00PM PT (Noon) on Friday, October 7, 2016, ALL players (not just members!) will be able to get TRIPLE ETHEREAL COINS during this final week of the Summer Ethereals event!
That’s right: Summer Ethereals end next Friday, along with this bonus promotion! So, make sure you participate before 12:00PM PT (Noon) on Friday, October 14, 2016,because that’s when both the Summer Ethereals event and the triple coin bonus end!
Original notice:
US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PDT | Midnight~2:00am EDT | 05:00~07:00 BST | 06:00~08:00 CET US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET EU Servers: 9:00~11:00pm PDT | Midnight~2:00am EDT | 05:00~07:00 BST | 06:00~08:00 CETFrom the EQ2 Forums:
BATTLEGROUNDS
- Corrected an issue that allowed adornments to apply in Battlegrounds.
- Many consumables have been reduced in power while in a Battleground match.
- Increased the amount of tokens rewarded from the Battlegrounds Quests.
- Battleground missions are now repeatable quests, and no longer subject to mission timers.
ABILITIES
- Joust now has a range of 35
- Fixed an issue with Accuracy from Strength that prevented it from applying.
ITEMS
- Fixed an issue that prevented Aura of Immolation from applying.
- Mastercrafted food and drink should once again apply it’s bonuses on Time-Locked servers.
Players on the subscription-required Race to Trakanon and Stormhold (Time Locked Expansion) servers have been requesting changes to itemization which would bring Heroic and Raid gear (specifically the iconic Mythical weapons that conclude the Kunark storyline) above the level of Solo and Crafted gear. We got an answer of sorts on that question today from RadarX on the EQ2 Forums:
You are taking a few liberties with this statement but to reiterate Kanders post and to ensure there aren’t concerns this hasn’t at least been communicated, there are no plans to do further itemization on current content. As with each expansion the team will work on what they feel is the most important and impacting gear but a complete overhaul is unfeasible.
While we can appreciate the concern and passion, but our next itemization focus will be on the next expansion.
Acquiring Mythical weapons and the defeat of Trakanon on the Race to Trakanon server seems designed to dovetail into this EverQuest II’s thirteenth expansion — Kunark Ascending — expected this November — which is rumored to include an Epic Weapon 2.0 questline.