Feldon
So far, at least from the in-game comments I’ve seen, Altar of Malice has been well-received. Not everyone agrees about the difficulty of the heroic zones, but there’s a clear progression that players can strive towards. With any expansion, there will always be balance tweaks needed and a bug fix or two. We saw such a fix just last night with the missing textures in Zavith’loa zones turning parts of the zone black or white. This has been addressed with a client patch. Some other fixes and features coming up soon: Scout Poisons overwriting each other Weekly Heroic/Raid Gems...
Grouping
Amongst a few other fixes, today’s update largely focuses on Level Agnostic Dungeons. While at least one confused poster thought that LADs were supposed to present a “challenge” for a stacked group, in fact LADs are specifically designed to address the lack of grouping in low levels by allowing low and high level characters to group together on somewhat of an even playing field. Stats are brought up or down as needed so that a level 20 healer can keep a level 94 tank alive. As part of today’s update, Afista has posted a featured article on the subject:...
There’s a certain logic in most of the scout weapons coming from a land of Dinosaurs, Pterodactyls, and tar pits being clubs. However less-than-enthused players have been looking daggers at the EQ2 team and pointedly commenting about how there just aren’t enough piercing weapons to go around. Worse, the few piercing weapons available to scouts have stats like Ability Recovery Speed and Reuse Speed which scouts acquire in spades from other item slots. A quick look at Item Discoveries of scout-usable weapons on EQ2U bears out our concerns. Fortunately, the EQ2 team intend to deliver an update in February that should solve this...
From the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION General Raid encounters that dropped 2 armor patterns and 1 accessory or 1 armor patterns and 2 accessories will now always grant 2 armor patterns and 1 accessory. Ossuary: Cathedral of Bones [Raid] Sacrificer should once again react to players who have the “Sanguine Spray” effect on them. The Marrow Sapper has had its health decreased. Ossuary: Choir of T’Vyl [Event Heroic] Legion of Many should no longer retain his increased damage when he resets.
From the EQ2 Forums: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Thursday January 15, 2015 at approximately 7:00AM PST. Estimated downtime is 1 hour. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Thursday, January 15, 2015 at approximately 7:00AM PST. (Approx. 3:00PM London Time on January 15, 2015) Estimated downtime is 2 hours. and: HEROIC CHARACTERS Heroic characters now start at level 90 with 320 AAs! For more information: https://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/index.php?threads/heroic-characters-level-up-to-90.556133/
From the EQ2 Forums: ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT SYSTEM CHANGES Up to 280 AAs will be granted as part of leveling up. Every level after 10 until level 90 characters will receive 3 AA points. Every 5th level characters will receive an additional 2 AA points, for a total of 5. Once a player reaches 280 AAs, all AA grants will cease. If characters are not at 280 AA points upon reaching level 90, they will receive additional points to reach 280. All existing characters will be grandfathered their missing additional AA points. For example, in the new system a level...
Have you taken the EverQuest II: Altar of Malice expansion survey? If not, head here: Personally as someone who has dedicated some time to writing good survey questions, this has to be one of the most generic surveys I’ve seen. On one hand, there is an entire page dedicated to the six raid zones in the expansion, yet the entirety of the tradeskill and heroic content are each distilled down to a single 1-10 rating question. What if you love the zones, animations, populations, humor, and the music, but you dislike difficulty, how would you rate that? It’s pretty...
Here are your update notes this week. Of course the biggest change is Dungeon Maker being nerfed into oblivion. Also don’t forget that there will be a 3 hours of e-commerce and voice chat maintenance today coinciding with the patch. From the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL Corrected an issue where coin would vanish when deposited into the shared bank as an exile. DUNGEON MAKER The Dungeon Maker feature is now available to all players. Dungeon Maker dungeons no longer grant experience or rewards. Players can still spend existing tokens in the Marketplace. Most avatars and toolbox objects are available to...
In a long-awaited change that should come as a surprise to none, Dungeon Maker XP and rewards are being removed as of December 16th. Here’s EQ2 Senior Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s announcement on the EQ2 Forums: Greetings Norrathians, Three years ago, we added the Dungeon Maker system to EverQuest 2. During that time you all have used it to create some amazing dungeons to explore, creating your own spins on the world of Norrath within your private instances. We could not be happier with the fantastic creativity that’s been shown and that’s exactly why we added the feature to the...
From the EQ2 Forums: The weather outside might be frightful, but the Norrathian streets are decorated and the citizens are so delightful! The Gigglegibber goblins and Frostfell elves are spreading cheer throughout Norrath this season and encouraging players to visit the Frostfell Wonderland Village. You can access the Wonderland through the Magic Closets in Qeynos Province District, Freeport, Haven, Kelethin, Neriak, Gorowyn and New Halas. In addition to the return of your favorite Frostell festivities, you can also look forward to plenty of exciting new content this season!
It’s Bug Bash (and Altar of Malice heroic zone rebalancing) time! From the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL — BUG BASH WEEK Fixed an issue where you could lose your grandmaster spell if you betrayed. The tooltip and examine window information will now correctly display the damage type of missile weapons. Rejoice! Exiles can now use the shared bank! Exiles can now change suffix titles! SOE Live Request: Added the command /dump_items_to_log, which, true to its name, will write the contents of your inventory to your log. Please note that only items known to your game client will be logged; as...
Looks like this week’s Bug Bash update slipped from its Tuesday slot (Windstalker on Twitter): We are having to postpone tomorrow's update for the time-being due to some technical weasels. We'll update you soon. #eq2 — Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) December 9, 2014 But for those who have been taking a beating in Altar of Malice’s heroic zones, I’m happy to announce that the chiropractor is in town and some adjustments are being made. From Kander on the EQ2 Forums: Our current view of the Altar of Malice Heroic Zone progression is a bit skewed. We will be toning down...
From the EQ2 Forums: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PST. Estimated downtime is 1 hour. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, December 3 , 2014 at approximately 9:00PM PST. (Approx. 5:00AM London Time on 12/04/2014). Estimated downtime is 2 hours. From the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL Fixed a bug where mercenary names would show as gibberish on non-english servers. POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Zavith’loa: The Lost Caverns [Advanced Solo and Heroic] Fixed a bug that caused Beastmaster Kau’mua to heal for more than intended. Fixed...
In order to institute Quality of Life tweaks and changes to Itemization, Class Balance, and overall gameplay, the EQ2 team launched Focused Feedback threads a few weeks back on a number of topics. We still have time to post our comments in these threads: Focused Feedback – Fighters Focused Feedback – Priests Focused Feedback – Mages Focused Feedback – Scouts Focused Feedback – Tradeskills Focused Feedback – Itemization Focused Feedback – UI and General Gameplay Focused Feedback – PvP From Caith on the EQ2 Forums: Update: We will be keeping all focused feedback thread open until January 5th, 2015...
First up, starting at 10:00am PST tomorrow (1:00pm EST, 18:00 GMT, 19:00 CET), Free-to-Play EQ2 players will be able to buy and start playing the Altar of Malice expansion. Now for the downtime announcement… US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PST. Estimated downtime is 1 hour. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at approximately 9:00PM PST. (Aprox. 5:00AM London Time on 11/26/2014) Estimated downtime is 2 hours. All accounts will also be able to purchase and play our new expansion, Altar of...
From the EQ2 Forums: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PST (15:00-16:00 GMT). Estimated downtime is 1 hour. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at approximately 9:00PM PST (19th Nov 5:00~7:00 GMT). Estimated downtime is 2 hours. From the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL Elite mercenaries Kenny, Matri Dut, and Perrin should now despawn after 5 minutes of being first hired. Fixed an issue where Kylong Plains was at the wrong location on some Fast Travel Maps. Removed the Burned Woods entrance from the...
UPDATE: EQ2 Servers are back up and accessible after just 40 minutes of downtime. Go play! Assuming we don’t have three hours of company-wide firewall shanigans like we did yesterday… US EverQuest II US Live Servers will be brought offline on Thursday, November 13, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PST. Estimated downtime is 1 hour. EU EverQuest II EU/RU/JP Live Servers will be brought offline on Friday, November 14, 2014 at approximately 5:00AM GMT. Estimated downtime is 2 hours. and from the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL Aerakyn Beastlords will be granted a Reptile Warder when logging in and during character creation.
EQ2Wire was fortunate enough to interview EQ2 Lead Designer Kyle “Kander” Vallée for today’s Altar of Malice expansion launch to talk about a broad spectrum of topics including: The building blocks of MMORPG content design and how collaboration between artists, animators, musicians, and designers makes it possible for a cohesive expansion with a strong theme and storyline. The new Altar of Malice zones as they fit into Solo, Adv Solo, Heroic, Event Heroic, and Raid playstyles How Altar of Malice builds on the Itemization bedrock laid by Tears of Veeshan A hint of what we can expect in next year’s content-focused...
From the EQ2 Forums: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PST. Estimated downtime is 1 hour. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at approximately 9:00PM PST. (Aprox. 5:00AM London Time on 11/13/2014). Estimated downtime is 2 hours. and from the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Castle Highhold [Solo and Advanced Solo] Va’Tak Telaris’ relic of power can always be seen once it spawns.
Table of Contents So what’s new in the expansion? How do I jump into the new expansion content? Why am I not gaining levels?! Are the new overland zones and dungeons re-skinned/re-textured versions of existing zones like we got in the past? Is there a new harvest tier for the expansion, or does level 90-100 become a tier? What material do I use to make Grandmaster spells? Are there new Alternate Advancements (AA’s) or Prestige Points in the expansion? What’s up with the new Ancient spells? How much better than Grandmasters are they? What new Contested Heroic zones can...
EQ/EQ2 Community Manager Ry “Roshen” Schueller interviews designers Jeffery “Extemper” Bard and Carlos “Gninja” Mora as they give us a sneak peek of the stunning The Tranquil Sea and elaborate Brokenskull Bay, two new zones in the upcoming Altar of Malice expansion releasing next Tuesday for All Access members and November 25th for everyone else. The Tranquil Sea is the first overland zone players encounter in the Altar of Malice, and contains the Isle of Refuge, Alla’thoa, and much much more. Brokenskull Bay is a swashbuckling instance styled after Tortuga and will be available in a few different heroic versions, an advanced...
UPDATE from Afista on the EQ2 Forums: These are the correct scheduled server down times for each server. I am looking into why there was a delay and will update you all whenever I have the information. ALL servers are supposed to be patching at the same time. Here’s the announcement from the EQ2 Forums: All US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 at 7:00 AM PDT. Estimated downtime is 1 hour. All EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, October, 2014 at 7:00 AM PDT. (3:00 PM London Time). Estimated downtime is 2...
Have you been missing x4 Etyma currency (x2 for F2P) ever since this summer’s “Level Up, Gear Up” promotion ended? You’re not the only one… From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter: Tomorrow at 12pm PDT we start our Get Ready for 100 bonuses! For members, includes 25% XP (AA/Adv/TS) & 4x Etyma. F2P get 2x Etyma. #EQ2 — Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) October 6, 2014 Also: Also starting tomorrow until the new expansion, all 2014 Summer Ethereals (Weapons & Jewelry) have a chance to drop in ToV Missions. #eq2 — Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) October 6, 2014
The first five level-agnostic dungeons, open to level 20-89 players, as well as the availability of Grandmaster spells at all levels and tiers, is expected this Thursday. Racheal “Afista“ has posted an in-depth preview of what we can expect on the EQ2 Forums: We’re excited about Level Agnostic Dungeons and Grandmaster Spells coming to EverQuest 2 on Thursday, October 2, 2014! So what exactly are these dungeons and why should you check them out? Level Agnostic Dungeons Level Agnostic Dungeons are instances in which characters between levels 20-89 have a chance to group together, regardless of the difference in their...
It’s time for another zone preview from this fall’s expansion Altar of Malice, this time the overland Phantom Sea. From Nathan “Kaitheel“ on the EQ2 Forums: Unswayed in their quest to find Captain Greymast, the heroes sent by the Overlord of Freeport and by the benevolent Queen of Qeynos, arrive in the Phantom Sea, a body of water peppered with mysterious islands that have not been seen by eyes outside of the Far Seas Trading Company since the Age of Cataclysms. The island of North Dshinn shares a great many commonalities with its southern sister in Tranquil Sea, but...