Feldon
Gninja wanted to get the word out that the quest Tending to Toxxicology will be getting a revamp which will result in quest progress being reset by anyone still on the quest. If you are on this quest, get it completed before Game Update 56 hits (late May). Or you can just wait until the change when the quest requirements will be reset to resolve the bugs people have been facing in trying to complete it. We are aware of the issues with the quest in Sundered Frontier “Tending to Toxxicology” becoming gated if someone summons Sherra prior to...
EQ2
Today’s Hotfix grants Research Assistants the ability to research for all of your characters at once, instead of just one per account. Also included are tweaks to the UsabilityOnPlayer macro command, some adjustments to the Labs SF raid zone, and a change to the Focus: Death March adornment so that its effects are different between PvP and PvE. We’ve been advised that some Database maintenance will be performed at the same time, so the Hotfix and associated downtime may exceed 1 hour.
It turns out yesterday’s news on changes to the Training Dummies guild hall amenity was just the beginning. Xelgad has updated us with news that one of the choices on the menu when summoning a Training Dummy (in addition to Solo, as well as Heroic and Epic which are new to GU56) will be an Encounter: We’ve added a new set of dummies for GU56 that come as a linked encounter of a total of eight heroic training dummies. Enjoy! This should provide many more options for players wanting to work on what order they cast spells and/or combat...
In addition to the bigger content additions, Game Updates always include smaller, but no less desirable changes and tweaks. Research Assistants Learn to Multitask UPDATE: Oops! Despite appearing in the headline, this item somehow got left out! UPDATE #2: This feature is in the April 20, 2010 Hotfix. Bunji, member of the EQ2 QA Team, has posted this info on the EQ2 In Testing Feedback forums: With the new Test server build, each character on an account can research a spell at the same time (this should not affect existing research). Research times are also being tweaked (lowered). Floating...
Dethdlr
Did you start a guild years ago and and give it a silly name as a goof? Did the guild manage to survive and now has lots of members but still has a silly name? Ever wish you could change the name? Help is on the way! shotens recently posted a request on the EQ2 Forums: So what I ask is for the Dev team to put out a product that we can spend our hard earned money on that allows us to change a guild name. and got this startling response from Rothgar: It’s done and should be...
EQ2Players has a new video showcasing Halas Reborn. Check it out below. And in case you missed it, here are Screenshots of Halas Reborn Housing.
Game Update 56 is coming soon to the Test and Test Copy servers, and in addition to the expected New Halas starting zone and city, which will have 2, 4, and 6 room housing as well as Tier 1 Guild Halls (unknown if it will be the same or different artwork), and in addition to a new raid zone, some substantial changes are happening to Battlegrounds and PvP combat in general. Battlegrounds in particular are being expanded from level 80-90 to level 30-90. timetravelling gave this Battlegrounds preview: Brand new 1st Campaign armor sets and accessories Many of the...
Linda “Brasse” Carlson, Senior Community Manager for SOE has posted this update on the EQ2 Forums: After many years of service, Alan “Brenlo” Crosby has decided to leave SOE to pursue other opportunities. And while it is sad to see him leave, we wish him the best of luck in his new endeavors. At this time, we’d like to take a moment to introduce EverQuest II’s new producer, Dave Georgeson. Dave is excited to join the EQII Team and will be posting an introduction in the near future. According to EQ2 Zam, Dave’s resume includes SOE’s Planetside and Free...
From EQ2 Zam: Astute fans of Sony Online Entertainment noticed Alan “Brenlo” Crosby changed his job status on Facebook this afternoon. His Recent Activity says “Alan removed his job as Senior Producer – EverQuest II at Sony.” A query to Christine “Kiara” Renzetti, EQII Community Manager, resulted in a polite “no comment.”We will report details as they become available. Wherever Alan is going, ZAM and the EQII Community wish him the best. He said this to Massively: Yeah after working together for 10 years, it was my time to move on. Was a great ride and I am going...
Guild halls have an amenity available that allow a person to click on a chest and recieve a training dummy in their inventory. Right clicking and choosing “use” places the dummy in the guild hall as an attackable object. This is useful for trying out different casting orders, AA specs, gear, etc. to see what parses better. The problem is that the training dummies don’t have enough hit points. If the training dummy dies in 15 seconds, it doesn’t give you much time to determine anything. Some people have used the training wall in Kunzar Jungle instead since it has more...
When Sentinel’s Fate was released, it introduced a change in the way the /target_previous command functions. This change broke some cure macros. Lets take a cure macro that did this: /target_group_member 3 Cure spell /target_previous If you had group member 1 targeted and clicked the macro for group member 3, all would be fine. The macro would target group member 3, cast the cure, then go to the previous target which would be group member 1. All is well. If you had group member 3 targeted and clicked the macro for group member 3, problems occured. The macro would...
EQ2Players has a preview up about the housing in New Halas. Andres Rodriguez is the artist responsible for designing the new houses and he took the time to answer some questions and share some pictures. The houses will be available in two, four and six room layouts and there will also be access to T1 guildhalls. They will include some built in bookshelves and even a fireplace. And all the houses in New Halas will include windows with a view to the sea. New Halas Housing @ EQ2Players
Here are your hotfix notes for today, April 13th, including adjustments to group and raid zones, as well as spell resists in PvP combat. After the jump:
In a break from the stock answer that has been given in regard to server merges for the last few years, Rothgar says server merges are something they are considering a little down the road. The EQ2 world isn’t exactly in the best shape it’s ever been in at the moment with zoning issues, instance lag, contested named fight lag, and broker lag so the dev team has a few issues to take care of before they can move forward with this idea. But this tells us that the idea is at least back on the table. Rothgar writes:...
Since Sentinel’s Fate went live, many people have been reporting issues with Guild Events not showing properly. Some report guild levels not showing up in the guild log and AA points from 201+ not being announced and/or logged. Those days may be behind us. On 4/12/2010, Bunju from Quality Assurance posted on the EQ2 Forums: A fix for this issue went in with the last Hotfix. Are you all seeing the 80-90 ts/adv level and 200-250 AA event notifications now? Thanks. Hopefully this is now fixed.
We wrap up another week in Norrath with some posts from the EQ2 forums from developers and players alike which you may have missed. Also, although no date has yet been announced, work on Game Update 56 has likely reached a feverish pace and we’ll start hearing more about it soon. Waiting for Zone Info The EQ2 and SOE teams have been putting in long hours trying to resolve the database and server lag/performance issues since the expansion. Zoltaroth has weighed in with this update: We are also internally testing some additional updates that should furthur improve zoning (specifically...
EQ2Players checked in with Amanda McNair this week with another Artist Highlight. Amanda worked on the artwork for the Shard of Love and the Battlefield of Ganak, the capture the flag Battlefields zone. Here are some excerpts from the article: What do you draw from for inspiration for your art in EQII? I tend to draw my inspiration from everyday life and what is going on around me. When I visit museums, watch movies, or even flip through catalogues, I’m always checking out architectural elements and trying to decide how it was built, or taking pictures so I can...
We continue to follow progress on the Shaders 3.0 update. Imago-Quem (Ryan) has continued to work tirelessly on this project and we have an update of sorts. Originally intended as a graphical bump to improve the appearance of the game in existing and new zones, Shaders 3.0 was expanded and re-prioritized into a sweeping optimization of the EQ2 graphical pipeline engine first, and a graphical improvement second. Part of this process was Imago-Quem providing tools to the EQ2 zone and character art developers so that all new content they create for this and future expansions is fully compatible with...
Rothgar has been working closely with the Database folks trying to solve the Server Performance Issues, specifically Server-side Lag, and extremely long Zoning times which have become a major problem facing EQ2 since Game Update 55, the Sentinel’s Fate expansion, and the introduction of Battlegrounds. These Database and Server Lag issues have been so disruptive, that they have largely drowned out discussion on other issues facing EQ2. Fortunately, Rothgar brings us an update on the situation regarding some long-needed caching being added to how character data is transmitted and stored: Right now we are addressing the database-related issues and...
An unintended consequence of today’s Hotfix seems to be that certain players have been unable to equip their Mythical weapons. Players affected include those who have not progressed in the Epic Repercussions quest. Xelgad has posted this comment: We’re aware of the issue and looking into a fix. In the meantime, please use the /petition command to contact Customer Service if your weapon cannot be equipped. They’ll be able to fix your weapon for you. UPDATE: This issue is related to the Balanced Ayr Stone adornment which used to provide +3% Parry and was applicable to weapon slots. On...
Today’s Hotfix include some anticipated tweaks to Itemization and Battlegrounds, such as resists and fixes to adornments. It also includes a cutback in the amount of damage put out by the 3-headed dog in The Vigilant: Final Destruction x2 raid zone. Even during the Beta, this particular mob was completely out of progression for the difficulty of the zone, gear players are expected to have at this point in the expansion, and intended audience of the zone. The complete April 7, 2010 Patch Notes after the jump:
We missed this EQ2Players post from Friday but considering the excitement leading up to New Halas, we thought we’d post it. Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall has posted some of the Lore about what we can expect from New Halas and the twists and turns of the storyline. Meanwhile, Stacey Norman, Zone Artist, posted about her experiences in designing the city of New Halas. New Halas Lore @ EQ2Players By the way, this EQ2Players writeup has a thumbnail image of some of the concept art for New Halas. We wrangled up a link to a large version of this image.
Over a year ago, the EQ2 Guild window gained a new column — Guild Points. This often misunderstood feature allows your guild leader and management to award points for anything they (or the guild) decides to track. Some guilds award players who earn a certain amount of status, help level the guild, assist other players, or any number of ‘gold star’ type measurements of players. Of course, some guilds don’t use Guild Points at all. DKP in-game or website? Raid Guilds have the unique challenge of divvying up the limited amount of Loot acquired each night to 24 (or...
Ah… I remember the days… When low-level Adept spells and Treasured gear could be had for a mere 4-5 gold from the nearest broker. Those were the Salad Days (mmmm…Grilled Chicken Caesar). Then the Transmuters came. Like the Others on the far side of the island, a new wave of Adorners and Transmuters, desparate for raw materials, have unwittingly jacked things up for the rest of us. When everyone can be an Adorner, and only Adorners can make the cool toys, the market has, not surprisingly, shifted. And inflation, it turns out, is not just for bicycle tires and...
Been saving up your T8 shards for armor? Soon you’ll need less than you do today. Frizznik writes on the EQ2 Forums: Tier 1 will cost the same amount of shards as it did before (38 shards crafter-made, 44 shards vendor-bought) Tier 2 will cost the same amount of shards as it did before (112 shards crafter-made, 126 shards vendor-bought). It will also cost around 5 platinum. It will no longer require the tier 1 armor piece. Tier 3 will cost the raid dropped mold, the same void shards it did before, and around 9 platinum. You will no...