What I have noticed in the last 3 days is that folks have a LOT of questions — more so than we saw with the release of The Shadow Odyssey. Between itemization changes, stat consolidation, AA revamps, tranmuting/adornments changes, the number of factions, etc. it seems what’s really needed is a central Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) which points to the resources out there on the web to help you get quick answers to all these questions. So here we go…
The phase of the moon is just right and the mushroom rings will be active again for a short time.
There are more house items and other rewards than ever for the Moonlight Enchantments event this time around.
The event will turn on at 12:01am PDT on February 20th and run until 11:59pm PDT on February 21st. These times apply directly with no time conversion to all servers.
The EQ2 Developers are looking for players to help load test the Battlegrounds over on Test Copy before putting them on live servers on the 23rd. Join developers in playtesting Battlegrounds at 2pm PST today, Friday Feb 19th.
Here are your Hotfix notes for today, February 19th, after the jump…
Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. 🙂
There are some fantastic writeups and coverage all over the web regarding Sentinel’s Fate and Game Update 55. However I do see an opportunity to answer some of the questions I have been receiving in-game over the last 2 days in a sort of Mega FAQ.
Let me tell you, I have been having a LOT of fun in The Hole. Although at first glance the quests and faction earning are a bit confusing. It will undoubtedly become old hat for people, but I’ll see about providing some more information on this subject soon.
Some players are reporting sporadic results patching into the European EQ2 Servers. There have been numerous issues and delays with the Patcher. At this point, the Station Launcher is not successfully patching for most people, so we are recommending the standard EQ2 Launcher.
Players are reporting that they are starting to receive those product keys from DLGamer. DLGamer did not buy enough keys from SOE to fulfill demand.
We have received word that Battlegrounds have been delayed until February 23rd.
EU Servers have actually been up for some time now, BUT nobody can get patched because the software on the EU Patch servers (3 different servers in 3 different languages) is not up-to-date. It is unclear why this download didn’t start earlier.
The current estimate is that folks in the EU will be able to play roundabout 12:30AM GMT.
More as we have it.
It’s 4 hours since the launch of Sentinel’s Fate, and we are already hearing widespread reports of players who have reached level 85, 87, and even some level 90 characters. So there you have it, no longer is questing a required way to level.
Unfortunately I wonder how many players will completely skip the contested version of The Hole with as easy as it is to level. I really hoped we’d see a return to form of Kingdom of Sky with people leveling via a combination of dungeon crawls, heroic quests, etc. rather than just pressing the Easy button . I hope I’m wrong.
Sentinel’s Fate is now available for purchase from Steam for anyone outside the U.S.A. and Canada. Meanwhile DLGamer is currently working with the SOE Marketing Dept to get more product keys.
We have heard from Kiara that Direct2Drive has been authorized to sell Sentinel’s Fate to anyone outside the US and Canada. Specifically Australia. So if you have tried and received an error message, try it again:
As soon as we hear from DLGamer or Steam posts the expansion, we’ll let you know!
We were thrilled to notice that Kanga‘s awesome EQ2 Adornments site is being updated for Sentinel’s Fate. Check it out!
These will likely be the #1 and #2 questions today.
How do I get to Odus?
By far the fastest way to get to the expansion zones is to take a Druid Ring to Antonica, and then run uphill to the Ulteran Spires and take the Spires to Sundered Frontier. Any Wizard Spires in the world will take you to the Sundered Frontier. You can also purchase the new Wizard Spires guild hall amenity. 🙂
What’s up with my AAs?
When you login, your AAs will be completely reset.
Helpful Hint: If you forgot to take a screen snapshot of your AAs before the update, you can view your AAs on your EQ2Players Profile.
Kingdom of Sky AAs (Main Class – Enchanter, Cleric, Druid, etc.)
The Kingdom of Sky trees have changed substantially since TSO.
INT, STR, AGI, WIS, and STA are now folded into the top line. And you only need to spend 1 point in that top line to start spending points on abilities. You must spend 22 points to get the original KoS end-of-line ability. However instead of being limited to 8 points per, you can now spend 10 points per ability.
Once you have spent 70 points, you can start spending points in the new Sentinel’s Fate AA abilities. Although the Sentinel’s Fate AAs fall directly under the original lines, you do not need to spend points above those abilities to get them. After spending 16 points in the Sentinel’s Fate abilities, you can get the SF end-of-line ability.
lines added for effect
Echoes of Faydwer AAs (Subclass – Illusionist, Inquisitor, Fury, etc.)
Spend 70 points in the original Echoes of Faydwer AAs and then you may start spending points in the Sentinel’s Fate line at the bottom. Once you have spent enough points, you can get the end-of-line ability.
Apparently DLGamer has been randomly giving keys to those who purchased Sentinel’s Fate, instead of in the order they were purchased.
From Kiara:
UPDATE: DL Gamer issue. We are going to be providing them more keys. They will NOT be selling anyomore until they have satisfied the people who have already purchased. If you ordered and are waiting on them you will get your key TODAY.
DLGamer are now reporting that they have received more keys and will be making them available in approximately 1 hour.
Notes from the UStream Chat
In a future update, Ratongas and others will see a breast size decrease. 😉 It was not intended for gigantic breasts.
Battlegrounds will be usable level 50-90 in May. Usable at level 10-90 in a later update.
We would like to do Flying Mounts, but we don’t want to do it unless we can make zones that don’t have restrictions on where you can fly.
We want to fix Antonia Bayle. One option is offering free server transfers off Antonia Bayle, but we would rather fix the issues.
Battlegrounds is running on its own server. Specifically the old Venekor server.
Sentinel’s Fate is now ONLINE on U.S. Servers. EU servers won’t be up for a bit longer.
Steam will be selling Sentinel’s Fate in approximately 20 minutes. Good news since DLGamer didn’t ask for enough keys. O.o
From Kiara:
US servers are Good to Go and should be coming up very shortly.
EQ2 ZAM has coverage of Game Update 55 including the Golden Path questline, revamp to Butcherblock, etc.
And here are your massive Game Update 55 Notes from EQ2 Forums. After the jump…
DLGamer seems to have run out of Sentinel’s Fate product keys and Steam has not yet listed Sentinel’s Fate. Kiara is aware of both issues.
More news as we have it.
In addition to the ~175 of us in the #EQ2 Chatroom I linked here, the UStream Sentinel’s Fate Launch Event is going on as well. There are nearly 400 visitors in that chat and live video event.
You can find EQ2Wire in either chatroom as Feldon30. 🙂
Ryan O’Sullivan at AdventuresofTaas.com was able to obtain the Sentinel’s Fate Collector’s Edition and thought some might be interested in seeing the contents. His Sentinel’s Fate Collector’s Edition Unboxing.
From Kiara:
On February 16th, EverQuest II’s sixth expansion: Sentinel’s Fate will launch the retail headstart! We’re all very excited, and hope that you share our enthusiasm. We want to give a brief overview of what to expect on the 16th.
We’ll be bringing the servers down at midnight on February 15th to begin patching to the live servers. Fan Faire attendees will be flagged at this time.
Starting at 6am PST and running until 8am PST, Zatozia will be running a Ustream event.
Kiara will be on the Official Forums and in Zam’s IRC chat to provide updates until the servers come up.
We plan to have the servers back up and ready to go by 9am PST.
EQ2Wire will also be present in the EQ2 ZAM chatroom if you’d like to tug our ear on any issues or offer suggestions.
Alan “Brenlo” Crosby, Senior Producer of EverQuest II has posted this Producer’s Letter:
Happy Valentine’s Day All!
Here we are, perched on the precipice of another big launch for our beloved game, EQII. Next week is a big week for us and for you, the players of this grand game. You will finally be able to log into the new areas of Odus and explore, level and play in the new area that the team has spent nearly a year putting together. Characters can now advance to level 90 as adventurers and tradeskillers. More items, more spells, more AA’s and we hope lots more fun.
As many have noticed, Halas is not going out with the expansion, many have asked why and the reasoning is twofold. We have three pretty decent starting areas already. Darklight, Greater Faydark and Timorous Deep. We know they are not perfect and so the team has done considerable work in reworking those areas, streamlining the progress path to make for a better experience. We believe that you will find the experience in those zones to be far better than it had been. So, we went to work on higher level content for this launch, which we have with the expansion content and the new Battlegrounds.
Additionally we really want new Halas to be something special. We want more time to polish the area and make sure the progression path is fun and smooth. We also hope to get kilts in there. Currently we are looking to have Halas out with the Halas Reborn update later in the year.
With this release, we are proud to open up the Pre-Season of EQII Battlegrounds. Three zones will be available, each with a different playstyle. They will have progression and items and we hope add a whole new element of fun to the game. Unfortunately we didn’t quite get as many players as we had hoped on the server to give it a proper test, so we are going to use this pre-season phase to iron out any kinks and tweak the balance a bit more beyond the testing phase. When we are ready, we will begin Season 1 and the mayhem will begin in earnest. You will be able to work towards the new Chaos Armor during the pre-season, which might be the best looking armor we have added to the game.
With a game like EQII, it is evergrowing and everchanging, on occasion we find the need to adjust items, spells etc. . . and some mythicals had their power reduced with the release of the expansion. With each launch, we have to look at the items released previously and decide if they are perhaps too high to encourage players to look for upgrades. EQII is, at its core, a game driven by itemization. The constant desire to get the next biggest, baddest piece of gear. So on occasion we have to make some difficult decisions. This was one of them. For those who feel their mythical was devalued, I offer my apologies.
Next Tuesday is the retail head start, so to get you all ready, we are turning on Bonus XP from now until the servers come down for the update Tuesday morning. I hope you all login and enjoy. We look forward to seeing you on the Battlegrounds and running around Odus. Mostly, we thank you for playing EQII.
Alan “Brenlo” Crosby
Senior Producer EQII