Feldon
ITEMS The Meathook from Sinking Sands is now a piercing weapon. Illusionists: The Shifting Visions 6-piece set bonus properly adds damage to Dynamism again. The Stick of the Sootfoot Boomer now triggers correctly off of offensive spells. The Great Horn of Drelakor can no longer be wielded by priests. The Purple-Saddled Mistrunner Horse can now be turned into a house plushie. KURN’S TOWER Kurns Tower (x2) has been tuned a bit and the bosses are not so stingy.* Ilenee’s Despair and Betrayal now teleport less frequently. Kurn now has an additional spell to help make transitions between controllers smoother....
Itemization
Some of us who have made significant progress in Ward of Elements and have wanted to sink our teeth into some new x2 content have ventured into Kurn’s Tower x2 raid zone and found the challenges to be formidable, but the rewards not so much. Perhaps the biggest concern about the zone was that no set patterns dropped. Timetravelling has chimed in with some big news. He has made substantial changes to the loot table including: The common items from the first 3 bosses have been removed and moved to a basepop (trash) table Ione can now drop up...
Here are some less concrete things that were discussed at Fan Faire. Race change is something a LOT of people are asking for. EQ2 devs asked for a show of hands of how many people would like this feature and half the room raised their hands. It IS being looked at. Yes, there was some resistance for lore reasons, and betrayal/alignment/quest issues are substantial, but it’s certainly possible with enough development time. The amount of money they’d make off this would more than make up for it. You can scratch “never” out of your vocabulary for this one. Heck,...
I present the EverQuest II Expansion & Game Update News from Fan Faire in a rollup post. This is partly based on the Fan Faire 2009 Consolidated News by Kalyyn. I started with Kalyyn’s great writeup and have built upon it, adding dozens of new details and minor corrections based on everything I observed at the 2009 Fan Faire EQ2 event in Las Vegas. I’ve archived the individual news posts I submitted over the weekend. If you still want to read them, they’re [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] And now, without further ado,...
A week without news, some of you might be getting jittery. 🙂 GU52 is still on Test, getting nipped, tucked, and tested out. I believe they are on track to get it onto live servers perhaps as early as June 16th (my estimate, arrived using my advanced degree in EQ2ology). I know they really wanted it to be on Live before Fan Faire. I’ve already documented the broad strokes of Gu52 in my earlier posts. If you haven’t seen a preview of player made Books, upgraded Hex Dolls and Ranged Weapons, or new furniture coming to EQ2, check out...
One of the biggest complaints about the otherwise fantastic Ward of Elements x2 raid zone is that by upgrading a few pieces of armor to T3, fighters and mages lost huge 5-piece bonuses from their T2 armor. An undocumented fix in GU52 is that these bonuses are now distributed over the set bonuses in such a way that 3 pieces of T2 and 3 pieces of T3 will yield a similar bonus to having 5 pieces of T2. This is fantastic news, as it seemed this would be a long-term fix based on the Zam devchat. Glad they could...
That’s a lot of notes to read, so I will distill some of the key points. Procs If you read Bruce Ferguson’s parting comments, and you generate a good potion of your DPS from gear with effects like Goblin Bane, Void Bane, or Vampire Bane, or if you are an Assassin wearing Soul Lancer armor, you might want to read the relevant section again: We’ve discovered that with the items that we released with The Shadow Odyssey, that proc additional damage, the amount of damage being caused has grown considerably, and we need to adjust it. So, in the...
Posted by Kander: So there are two percentages that are set on master drops. There is the drop percentage, which means monster X has an X% chance to drop a master spell. Then there is the smartloot percentage, which means aside from the drop rate, if a master drops what percentage chance is it that someone will need it. So a boss mob that has a 10% chance to drop a master and it has 33% smartloot, means that when it drops, there is a 33% chance that its a spell someone in your group needs. If you think...
On May 14th, there was an EQ2 Dev Chat hosted by Zam. Bruce (Froech) – Producer Jennifer (Kirstie) – Mechanics Supervisor Ryan Favale (ImagoQuem) – Graphics Roger (patherpanchali) – Raid content Nick (GlipSOE) – Associate Producer Brett (timetravelling) – Associate Game Designer Greg (Rothgar) – Sr. Programmer Emily (Domino) – Tradeskills Chris (Aeralik) – Class Balance/Combat Jason (Fyreflyte) – Itemisation Nathan (Kaitheel) – Events and Quests Complete chat logs of that event can be found at EQ2.Zam.com, however some people might like to get the highlights that I think my readers might be most interested in… My question about...
Ok, actually it’s Game Update 52: Monument and Might. GAME FEATURES Player-written books Research Assistants Spell Naming Conventions — As spells upgrade through tiers rather than entirely new names, each subsequent spell will have a roman numeral increment afterwards. For instance Ice Comet and Ice Comet II. Rather than Apprentice I, II, IV, Adept I, Adept III, and Master I, Master II, spells will progress such as Apprentice, Journeyman, Adept, Master, Grandmaster, etc. The end result of this will be spell names such as Ice Comet II (Adept). Level 80 characters currently have their Combat XP converted into Achievement...
ITEMS The Bane Warding line can no longer be stacked by wearing three pieces of two different sets. All Bane Warding spells now deal less damage and cannot trigger more than once per second in PvP combat. The Combat Art damage displayed on the Assassin’s Thirst abilities now matches the bonuses they give. MUNZOK’S MATERIAL BASTION Yzlak Encounter – The clone adds of player priests now have reduced health. Yzlak Encounter – The clones themselves will remain longer before becoming a Yzlak Presence. Yzlak Encounter – Yzlak Presence adds can now be affected by all classes, not just the...
This is my 4th posting on Research Assistants. If you have not read all 64 pages of the marathon topic, you may have missed some info. SoE wants to add Research Assistants to EQ2. These will be NPCs which will take one of your existing spells and upgrade its tier after a specified amount of time. That time varies by the tier of the spell. If you have an Adept III version of a Tier 8 spell, then the Master version of that spell might take a month or more to research. What is known about these Research Assistants...
Posted by Kiara: GENERAL The friends list on the welcome screen will now ignore offline friends if that option is enabled on the community window. ITEMS The 4-piece bonuses on the Paladin, Monk, Berserker, and Defiler Shadow Odyssey raid sets have been improved. The Lycanthrope Bracelet’s effects in PVP combat have been slightly lowered. QUESTS One of the lists of names for the Task “Hidden Agenda” could appear in an unreachable spot on a bookshelf. This has been fixed. WARD OF ELEMENTS Elemental bosses in Ward of Elements now drop non-stacking encrusted gems. The encrusted gems can be unpacked...
GENERAL Players will now see a new Welcome Screen upon login. The Welcome Screen can be disabled by adding cl_show_welcome_screen_on_startup 0 (that’s a zero) to your eq2.ini. You can now ctrl+left click the armor crates in the Station Marketplace window to see all of the armor pieces in the dressing room at once! MUNZOK’S MATERIAL BASTION A mysterious and powerful void entity has made its presence known on Norrath. Although its motives aren’t clear, its powerful presence has sent shivers through even the most powerful denizens of the realm. This zone represents its stronghold and should prove a challenge...
There have been concerns about having spells with a roman numeral and then spell qualities within a tier having roman numbers (App I, App IV, Adept I, Adept III, Master I, and Master II) as far as difficulties with Broker searching or confusion among new players who have to deal with a spell named, for instance Shadow Leap II (Apprentice II). Careful reading of Aeralik’s posts had led many people to believe that this spell renaming was just the first step in a bigger process. Naysayers, looks like you just got served. 😉 We got our hint on what...
GENERAL An issue that was causing UI icons or elements to look blurry and low-quality has been resolved. An issue that was causing low-quality textures on player characters after switching from third person to first person view has been resolved. EVERNIGHT ABBEY Marcus Thex should turn aggro now once all five clan leaders have been slain. ITEMS The Dancing Satyr has learned how to dance and is anxious to show off his new moves. Bite of the Wolf will now trigger properly and apply to the warden. Restitution Master 1 should no longer drop from spell tables. The Signet...
As expected, the “Spell Naming Convention” thread is getting a lot of attention. Currently, Summoner (Conjuror / Necromancer) pets have distinctive names. I can see where folks are coming from when they say that having just one name for all of them would be a step backwards. Also, some of the spell names are pretty good through the tiers. If only the less imaginative spells were renamed that would make more sense. Finally, there have been folks suggesting either an Adjective system where all the spells have the same name, but a new adjective is added to the front...
I admit it. I can sometimes be pretty nostalgic. I grew up on Final Fantasy II for the SNES (which was actually Final Fantasy IV in Japan). I loved the game. The storyline, the gameplay. I was really excited when Final Fantasy III came out (actually Final Fantasy VI in Japan), and I made it about halfway through and then things came up in life. But I really enjoyed the Final Fantasy series. Years later, I bought a Playstation (the original) on the strength of Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasy VII. I didn’t get very far...
Editor’s Note: This was later declared to NOT be an exploit and that no further action would be taken. In a shocking about-face, after 4 1/2 months of tolerance, EQ2 devs have reversed course and now consider mentored Void Shard runs to be an exploit and intend to patch the game so shards cannot be acquired in this manner. Presumably with the addition of daily solo shard quest, EQ2 devs now intend to close this loophole. From Kiara: This is an exploit and we are currently working on a fix for it. I’d suggest not doing it. Whilst you...
GAME UPDATE 51 March / 31 / 2009 FEATURED Weapon Appearance Slots Players now have access to primary, secondary and ranged appearance slots. The wield style (one-handed, two-handed, shield) of the weapons must match the weapons that are currently equipped. Bristlebane’s Day (3/31/2009 – 4/8/2009) Jesters, thieves, bards and fans of mischief are invited to enjoy the festivities that surround Bristlebane’s Day! You never know what laughs and pranks are to be found, during this enjoyable time of year. Celebrators are present in every home city, and the oddest of objects have been spotted in Antonica, The Commonlands, Darklight...
Here is the new Tier 3 Void Shard Armor. NEWLY REVISED FOR 3/4/09 — T3 Set Bonuses have been adjusted. Note: Just in case it’s not clear, I have Photoshopped out the Set Bonuses from all but 1 item in each screen shot. Every T3 Void Shard Armor set has set bonuses for having (2), (3), (5), and (7) pieces from the set. Bard, Enchanter, Predator Druid, Rogue, Cleric Summoner, Sorcerer, Shaman* * You know those whacky Shamans… always running around buck naked wearing just twigs and funny hats. 🙂 Actual screen shots BTW. Crusader, Brawler, Warrior [placeholder] Bard/Shaman,...
Ok, I hopped over to Test and got the scoop on how the T3 Void Shard Armor seems to work. There are two NPCs: Assilus Poisonbolt <Elemental Pattern Quartermaster> Borden Chargehammer <Elite Void Shard Armor Quartermaster> As you run the new x2 Raid Zone “The Ward of Elements”, one or more Molds will drop from raid bosses. To buy your T3 Void Shard Armor Pattern from Assilus, you must have the necessary Mold and the requisite number of Void Shards. Borden will take your Pattern and the requisite T2 Void Shard Armor piece and turn it into a T3...
Originally posted by Kirstie at EQ2 Forums: We have some exciting new features in the works for EQII! One of the first we’ll be talking about is Research Assistants. These hardworking researchers will help you acquire upgrades to your spells and combat arts while you’re off adventuring in the deepest darkest dungeon or asleep in your own warm cozy bed. Even though they’re hardworking, they’re not a speedy service and they are limited in how much they’ll help you. Because this kind of research is complicated, they’ll only be able to work on one spell or combat art for...
Recently players noticed that they were unable to start Commisioned crafting of void shard items if the crafter was in possession of the void shard. Emily “Domino” Taylor, EQII Tradeskill Developer, responded on the Official Forums: “The transfer of no-trade items (including void shards) via commission crafting was unintended. Going forward, you can expect that this kind of transfer will not be possible. A recipe that requires a no-trade item to make and produces a no-trade product, should require all of those no-trade components to be held by the person who is going to end up with the final...
GENERAL The Legends of Norrath Museum is now open for visitors! Talk to Angie Patterson in South Qeynos or Angus McPhergin in West Freeport to gain entry. Once inside you can follow the guided tour given by Mott Muttle. Dispersion, Displacement, and Transposition no longer stack with each other. Additionally, their power increases have been lowered slightly. HALLS OF THE FORSAKEN Hapless prisoners were spawning much too frequently and gating a quest in this zone. They have been sacked. ITEMS The Eye Mounted Ring received an effect that was out of progression for the zone and intended for the...