And here’s the official announcement as of 11:00am PST:

Hey players! Do you like collecting various types of Norrathian… like Far Seas Ferrin? Well, then you’re in luck because until11:59PM PST on Sunday, March 1, 2015 you’ll earn DOUBLE alternative currency.

Note: This is in addition to the bonuses to alternative currency that All Access members get every day when they play EverQuest 2. That means that All Access members will get double DOUBLE tokens during this promotion.

This is a great opportunity to stock up on [eq2u]Far Seas Ferrin[/eq2u] or any other alternative currency you’ve been collecting in-game. We’re excited to offer this to our players, and we’ll see you in-game this weekend!

There was an update from Holly on twitter about the event on EU servers needing to be extended, but then it turns out EU servers patched this morning, so NEVAH MYND! 😉

We’re waiting for an official announcement, but we know from a forum post by EQ2 Lead Designer Kander that this weekend will be a Double Currency weekend to make up for the AoM Mission Givers going absent this week.

We’ve confirmed in-game that the event is currently running a wee bit early!

As of now, all players will receive double the normal amount of currency for completing quests or doing in-game content that returns a token or currency of some kind. And yes this stacks with the Double Currency that All Access subscribers already receive, so any quest that rewards Far Seas Ferrin or Far Seas Supply Division Tokens should reward quadruple tokens this weekend!

If past events are any indication, then this event will likely run until Sunday at midnight, but when we have an official announcement, we’ll post it!

From Gninja on the EQ2 Forums:

Mission givers have returned in AoM zones. Enjoy!

Further clarification from Kander:

Mission givers are back up. We will be running a double Ferrin weekend this weekend for all.

Sorry guys, the back end stuff we have been doing for the DB changes coming, messed with the OS time and caused a few problems. We are glad we caught it quickly too.

Also from Holly “Windstalker” Longdale’s twitter yesterday, we might see a Double Ferrin event this weekend!

Still looking at some funk with the missions givers for #eq2. We're planning a Double Ferrin weekend assuming we fix it (and we should).

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) February 25, 2015

We’re still dead in the water as far as Altar of Malice daily and weekly missions for Overland, Solo, Adv Solo, Heroic, Event Heroic, and Raid content, however there are some other updates happening tomorrow which will be great when we get our NPCs back.

Update from Gninja last night:

This update does include the fix to the missions but they will not immediately be turned on after the servers come back up. The mission givers should return shortly after all the servers are back up and we have double checked them on live servers.

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Zavith’loa: The Hidden Caldera [Advanced Solo]

• Pterotrainer Yu’Lua’s adds will no longer stifle.

Brokenskull Bay: Fury of the Cursed [Raid]

• Increased the leash range of the Barin and Morin encounter.

Ossuary: Resonance of Malice [Advanced Solo]

• Elder Senistus’ “Persecute” spell has had its damage lowered.

Ossuary of Malevolence [Contested]

• Ostiophobe will no longer cast Toxic Ruin constantly. Toxic Ruin may now be interrupted.

From the EQ2 Forums:

US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Thursday, February 26, 2015 at approximately 4:00AM PST for an update. Estimated downtime is one hour.

Both the Antonia Bayle and Oasis servers will be unavailable for approximately four hours for additional maintenance. 

EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Thursday, February 26, 2015 at approximately 9:00PM PST for an update. (Approx. 5:00AM London Time on February 27, 2015). Estimated downtime is 1 hour.

Alle deutschsprachigen Server werden um 6:00 CET am 27.02.2015 zwecks einer Serveraktualisierung heruntergefahren. Die vorgesehene Stillstandszeit wird etwa 1 Stunde(n) betragen.

Le serveur de langue française sera arrêté à 6:00 CET le 27-02-2015 pour une mise à jour du serveur. Le temps d’arrêt sera d’environ 1 heure.

We are anxiously awaiting a fix and a return of the Altar of Malice mission givers. Until that time, it is not possible to pickup Solo, Adv Solo, Heroic, Event Heroic, Contested, or Raid missions on either a Daily or Weekly basis, not to mention timed overland Solo Missions. A fix seems unlikely today, but we’ll keep hanging on until the solution is found and applied.

Here’s Gninja with a couple of updates to say the team are working on it:

It is getting fixed and it is getting fixed right. We would rather get it right the first time and take an extra day to put in the needed testing than to rush it out and potentially make things worse. Sorry for the inconvenience.

and:

It is a new bug and we are getting it fixed asap. It is top priority. We know it sucks that they are missing and we want them to not be missing as well! We will get it resolved as quickly as we can with putting in the testing time to make sure its fixed right so we don’t have to bring them right back down.

Update from Windstalker on Twitter:

Still looking at some funk with the missions givers for #eq2. We’re planning a Double Ferrin weekend assuming we fix it (and we should).

NOTE: No EQ2-specific news/commentary in this article.

Kotaku has an interesting article from Anthony Burch who used to write for Destructoid and then at Gearbox Software. He reflects on the perception of game design from the outside vs. the reality of being on the inside and why there is such a gulf between the two. I know as I’ve learned more about game development and the maddening complexity of it, I’ve tried to dial back my own vitriol to something a bit more reasonable.

Before I joined Gearbox Software, I worked at Destructoid as a features editor. I worked there from 2006 to 2010 and specialized in highlighting indie games and spewing vitriol at big-budget games I didn’t like. It turns out there were a shitload of things I didn’t know about games development.

I was an atrocious blogger so I’m probably just speaking more to my personal ignorance during that time than anything else, but jeez is everything about game development more complicated and difficult than I thought.

Continue reading at Kotaku…

Out of an abundance of caution, all Altar of Malice mission quest givers have been despawned on all EQ2 servers. This started earlier this evening with Skrit, the Tradeskill daily mission giver but is now affecting all mission givers of all gameplay styles.

Update: The in-game MOTD has been updated with this message:

A bug has caused an issue with mission givers in Altar of Malice. All mission givers have been removed from the game. We will have them back as soon as possible.

More as we have it…

Remember last July when SOE didn’t pay a domain registration bill? It was funny for a few minutes, but then we put together an article helping people Manually Map their DNS to access SOE Games, Websites, and Forums. When we posted this article, we asked everyone to PLEASE REVERT THE CHANGES AFTER 3-4 DAYS. Alas, people didn’t do that and have been experiencing trouble connecting to Daybreak servers lately.

If you made changes to your Hosts file last July, please follow these instructions:

• Open your c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ folder.
• Drag the “hosts” file to your desktop.
• Open the “hosts” file with Notepad, and REMOVE any entries like you see below:

64.37.171.24 lp.soe.com
64.37.170.20 lvs-recap-01.station.sony.com
64.37.169.11 manifest.patch.station.sony.com
69.174.202.136 account.station.sony.com
69.174.204.11 forums.station.sony.com
64.37.171.32 assets.soe.com
63.140.62.141 smetrics.soe.com
64.37.171.29 auth.station.sony.com
64.37.171.22 planetside2.com
64.37.171.22 www.planetside2.com
64.37.171.45 everquest2.com
64.37.171.45 www.everquest2.com
93.184.215.248 eq2.patch.station.sony.com
64.37.171.39 census.soe.com
64.37.171.15 data.soe.com

• Save your changes to the hosts file and then move it back to where you found it in the first step!

You should now reboot your computer and have no further issue connecting to Daybreak websites, forums, or ecommerce sites.

First up, this morning’s login server maintenance just passed hour four of its scheduled three hour window. The latest tweet indicates that there is no new ETA predicted…

The general maintenance impacting logins is still in process. We do not have a new ETA for completion. Thanks for your patience.

— EverQuest II (@everquestii) February 24, 2015

Also, those fancy new weapons we got with today’s update seem to have a few surprises. First, at least two of the spell autoattack Wand items lost their green stats somewhere along the way. Second, the new weapons have two white adornment slots which is not in line with current itemization plans. Kander has responded:

Its a bug, they should not have two slots. The second slot sneaked back on there. We will fix it and the wands ASAP.

If you’ve done the Shattered Seas signature quest line on a character or two and just don’t see yourself repeating it again, but yet you really want the ability to pop off adornments on your alt characters with the [eq2u]Adornment Reclamation[/eq2u] spell, you’re in luck.

Three months after the launch of the Altar of Malice expansion, it’s now possible for a character who has completed the Shattered Seas signature questline (you must have earned the related achievement) to buy an HEIRLOOM version of this spell for their alts from the Ferrin Merchant in the tower near the Phantom Seas docks. If you still want the [eq2u]Indomitable Pteranodon[/eq2u], [eq2u]Anchor of Wanderer’s Dock[/eq2u], and the ability to travel to the Phantom Sea from any world bell, you’ll still want to do the Signature line. Plus, all but the best -geared ToV characters can benefit from the increased mitigation and resists on the Signature line gear. And if the stats are unappealing, you can buy gear with different stats as you complete each quest.

Today’s EQ2 Update Notes were posted yesterday afternoon, however a specific downtime notice for EQ2 was never provided. Meanwhile, a Daybreak-wide three hour maintenance notice was posted for 7-10am PST. Apparently we were assuming when we figured that US-based EQ2 servers would go down during the same time window as the Daybreak-wide maintenance.

It’s possible that if you remain logged into EQ2 before 7:00am PST, you can stay logged in during the maintenance.

PST:

• US-based EQ2 servers downtime — 4:00 ~ 5:25am
• Daybreak-wide login/account maintenance — 7:00 ~ 10:00am 10:30am ?

EST:

• US-based EQ2 servers downtime — 7:00 ~ 8:25am
• Daybreak-wide login/account maintenance — 10:00am ~ ?

GMT:

• US-based EQ2 servers downtime — 12:00 ~ 13:25
• Daybreak-wide login/account maintenance — 15:00 ~ ?

From the EQ2 Forums:

Attention players: we will perform a general maintenance beginning at 7:00AM Pacific* on Tuesday, February 24th. The current estimated downtime for this maintenance is up to three hours.

This maintenance may impact the following Daybreak services across all games:

• Commerce functions, including purchases, for all games
• Game logins
• Web and forum logins for all Daybreak sites, including account creation

Time Zone Conversions

• PST: 7:00am ~ 10:00am
• EST: 10:00am ~ 1:00pm
• GMT: 15:00 ~ 18:00
• CET: 16:00 ~ 19:00

and from the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
General

• Altar of Malice [Heroic] Dungeons now have a chance to spawn an extra encounter once the zone boss has been defeated.
• Hit points for all Altar of Malice Solo, Heroic, and Contested zones have been slightly reduced.

These issues have been resolved..

EQ2 Senior Designer Kaitheel has posted an update explaining today’s delayed start to the Moonlight Enchantments event:

Unrest was not the only server affected. It turns out that the server maintenance that occurred this week for Butcherblock, Everfrost, Freeport, Nagafen, and Unrest removed all scheduled activations and deactivations.

The affected servers have had the following events rescheduled:
Erollisi Day now concludes on 2/20/15 at 11:59pm Pac.
Moonlight Enchantments began on 2/20/15 at 9:45am and will last through 2/22/15 at 11:59pm Pac.

EQ2 Player TrulyVexed has been working on a fantastic EQ2 fansite with information for players of all skill levels wanting to succeed in the Altar of Malice expansion. The new EQ2Stuff.com site includes a variety of guides, from Altar of Malice Heroic Zone strategies, to Altar of Malice gear and adornment selections, to lists of which shinies drop in which AoM instances, to useful (but not required!) ACT triggers, there is a lot of valuable information all in this one website. TrulyVexed announced the site on the EQ2 Forums a few weeks ago and we’ve been meaning to feature the site but some other news got in the way!

Originally launched at www.mad-as-toast.co.uk, the site is now available at EQ2Stuff.com!

Members of the EverQuest II team took to Twitch today to reassure players about the direction and future of the game given last week’s stunning takeover and layoffs. While it was great to hear some of the team’s overall plans for the near future, it would have been great to start out with an acknowledgement of what happened, some high level broad strokes about how the team has pulled together to continue to give us content. I’d have also mentioned the expansion (Even if a date is unknown) as there is a doubt as to whether there will be one. For a monthly “here’s what we’re working on” this was perfectly fine, but with expectations as high as they were, we really needed a Home Run and this was more of a base hit.

The livestream included EQ/EQ2 Executive Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale, Lead Designer Kyle “Kander” Vallee, EQ2 Designer Chris “Chrol” Garlick, EQ2 Senior Designer Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall, and EQ2 Animator Tom Tobey.

First up, Holly talked about how the EnterpriseDB migration is still under way. This is a lot of back end work to upgrade EQ2’s game servers which will have huge benefits once it’s complete, including Cross-Server Dungeons. The servers have been getting updates this week (thus the 4 hour maintenance windows) with an OS upgrade which is part of this process.

EQ2 Senior Designer Kaitheel has posted the news that the popular Brewday Festival is now on Test and the developers are seeking testing and feedback:

Brewday Festival is now active on Test!

Make this Brewday Festival a memorable one! Follow the shouts of rowdy patrons located near every player city to the festival’s official brew house, The Bar of Brell. Once inside, grab a stein and celebrate Brewday with the holiday themed rewards, crafts, and adventures, both new and familiar. But don’t let the celebration stop there, the ale keeps flowing throughout the bars and drinking holes of Norrath this Brewday! Otengard Brauer’s Beer Garden in the Butcherblock Mountains seems to have attracted some unwanted patrons, and there’s news of goblins stirring trouble in the Enchanted Lands, too!

New Features for ’15!

• 7 New Merchant Items sold by Balin Copperfoot in Bar of Brell
• New Quest – Bog Mountain’s Eruption
• New Tradeskill recipe book, “Brewday Accoutrements to Craft VI” sold by Balin Copperfoot in the Bar of Brell.

This event content is currently set to run 03/05/2015 at 12:01am PST through 03/16/2015 at 11:59pm PST on the live servers.

Read the whole announcement on the EQ2 Forums!

From EQ2/EQ2 Community Manager Ry “Roshen” Schueller on the EQ2 Forums:

Both the Everfrost and Butcherblock servers will be brought offline on Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 4:00AM Pacific* for server maintenance. This server is estimated to be unavailable for approximately four hours.

Keep an eye on the EverQuest II forums and social media for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

From EQ/EQ2 Executive Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

@Cyliena @everquestii nope, next week. Rare bosses added to AoM.

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) February 18, 2015

A reminder that there’s a Twitch livestream today about EverQuest II’s future. From the EQ2 Forums:

Hello all,

The team will be hosting a Twitch stream on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 3PM PST*. This stream will be hosted on www.twitch.tv/everquest2.

As mentioned in Windstalker’s letter to the EQ2 community here, we’ll be using this stream as a time to talk directly with YOU the players. As we prepare for this stream, please feel free to share any questions and topics you’d like to hear discussed as replies to this thread. We’ll get to as many of these as possible during the stream.

We’ll also have a replay of this stream available on the EverQuest 2 YouTube channel.

We look forward to chatting with everyone who is available to join us for this EverQuest 2 stream!

From EQ2/EQ2 Community Manager Ry “Roshen” Schueller on the EQ2 Forums:

The Unrest server will be brought offline on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 4:00AM Pacific* for server maintenance. This server is estimated to be unavailable for approximately four hours.

Keep an eye on the EverQuest II forums and social media for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

Conjurors and Necromancers have yearned for a rewrite to their Pet AI for several years, and it looks like we’re about to get our wish. On Test, we’re now able to see what Xelgad had been working on with his complete rewrite of the Fighter, Scout, Mage, and Priest summoner pets. Once the changes have been thoroughly tested by players, they’ll be promoted to the live servers.

From the EQ2 Test Notes:

ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Summoners

• Summoners can now right-click their pet and use the “Change Appearance” functionality. The summoner and their pet must be out of combat. The appearance list is generated based upon the caster’s knowledge book.
• Possession is now Flash Cast. For a short duration, the summoner’s next primary pet spell will have no cast time, reuse time or recovery time. The second pet summoned will have a reduced cast time. Flash Cast itself has no cast time or recovery time and has a 120 second reuse. It terminates after two pets are summoned.
• Summoner Pets now use a new AI system and cast their spells more reliably.
• All Summoner Pets now gain the effects of Doublecast.
• Summoner Scout pets now are immune to AE Auto Attack.
• Summoner Fighter pets now hold aggro more reliably off of the summoner. They are also focused exclusively on encounter damage and effects.
• Summoner Mage pets now focus exclusively on encounter damage.
• Summoner Alternate Advancement priest pets are now single target pets that function similarly to scout pets. They have longer range, reduced damage and heal the group.
• Necromancer Undead Knights no longer can ride horses due to systematic changes to how pet appearances work.

There are also a number of helpful changes to Quests, Tradeskills, and one to an Altar of Malice raid zone. Continue reading…

SOE is not the only company in the MMO ecosystem world that has undergone a radical transformation over the last two weeks. Massively, the AOL/Joystiq-owned news site that covered all manner of MMORPG news and commentary was unceremoniously shut down despite being highly profitable and having an enthusiastic audience.

Through hard work, planning, and a lot of behind-the-scenes discussion, the Massively folks have performed a phoenix-like rebirth of the site on Kickstarter as newly independent Massively Overpowered. In just 48 hours, they met their $50,000 goal and that amount is still climbing. For independent, non-sponsored, well-written analysis of games in the MMOspace without a bazillion popup ads, there’s really no other site that comes close. Thankfully, a quick look at their roster of writers reveals that they were able to bring over virtually all the staff from the old site.

Amusingly, AOL had so little interest in Massively that they didn’t bother to change the Twitter accounts, making it possible to point the site’s existing readers in the direction of the resurrected site, rather than potentially losing a large chunk of the audience.

After the jump, MJ Guthrie brings back her Tattered Notebook column under a new name and gives her first impressions of the devastating news from Daybreak Games…

A handful of bored teenagers decided their celebrity status on Twitter is more important than us being able to play on DBG servers or participate in the forums this morning. I guess the job title of selling car insurance was already filled, so these reptiles are just wasting everyone’s time instead.

UPDATE — Noonish PST

DBG servers, games, and forums seem to be accepting connections reliably again, so we’re going to mark this one resolved!