Feldon
Yesterday, two Press sites posted their articles about the upcoming Aerakyn race. At 8:00pm, the official news dropped on the EQ2 Forums: Are you ready to start an adventure with a unique new player race? Get ready, because Aerakyns will soon be available for you to customize and start your journeys! Players will be able to purchase the new Aerakyn race from the EverQuest II Marketplace beginning November 11, 2014. Want to learn more about the Aerakyns? Well, we’ve got the information ready for you! The Aerakyns were once the unwilling soldiers of the great Prismatic Dragon, Kerafyrm. Now...
EQ2
We are now seven months past the “End of Life” date for Windows XP, but you wouldn’t know it from the number of players reporting issues with the Altar of Malice beta. While the crashes being reported are far from exclusive to any particular version of Windows, it’s a little frightening how many EQ2 players are still running a version of Windows which is not receiving any type of security updates and which is limited to just 3GB of memory (with a scant 2GB of that being made available to EQ2). No game developer wants to release an expansion that...
ZAM Managing Editor Cyliena recently interviewed EQ/EQ2 Creative Director Akil “Lyndro” Hooper and Holly “Windstalker” Longdale about the new Aerakyn race which will be available for purchase on November 11, 2014. She got the inside scoop and plenty of details about the new race and the different pricing tiers which will be available. As previously announced, the Aerakyn race will not be included in either the Standard or Collector’s Editions of the Altar of Malice expansions, but is instead being sold as a a standalone item. From the EQ2 ZAM article: Aerakyn will be available on the Marketplace [on November 11, 2014] through...
Tomorrow, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of EverQuest II, the 11-year Veteran Reward will become available to all EQ2 players who have been around since day one. Why 11 years? The first four expansions (Desert of Flames, Kingdom of Sky, Echoes of Faydwer, and Rise of Kunark) each granted 90 days of bonus time, so add it up, and you get 11-year Veteran Rewards for a 10 year old game! From Afista on the EQ2 Forums: It’s been ten years since some adventurers first came ashore on the Isle of Refuge. For some, there’s nothing more...
From the EQ2 Forums: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, November 4, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PDT. Estimated downtime is 2 hours. It will include additional Database Maintenance. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, November 4, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PDT. (Aprox. 3:00PM London Time on 11/04/2014). Estimated downtime is 2 hours. Time Zone Conversions PST: Nov 4 @ 7:00am ~ 9:00am EST: Nov 4 @ 10:00am ~ Noon GMT: Nov 4 @ 15:00 ~ 17:00 CET: Nov 4 @ 16:00 ~ 18:00 Here are the patch notes from the EQ2...
From Akil “Lyndro” Hooper on the EQ2 Forums: Deep within Kithicor, the Primordial Malice, resides a cult devoted to the Demigoddess Lanys T’Vyl. As a show of dedication to their fallen matriarch, members of the Primordial Malice worship the state of undeath. They desecrate their bodies with bone piercings and intricate tattoos, flaying their skin to the muscle, in an attempt to ride the line between life and death. The Ossuary of Malevolence is the pinnacle of that devotion. The Ossuary of Malevolence is a massive cathedral built with bones as brick and mortar, constructed to harness and focus...
Not sure how we missed this, but Massively posted their sneak preview of the Altar of Malice expansion on October 14th. From MJ Guthrie on Massively.com: When EverQuest II’s next expansion, Altar of Malice, was announced at SOE Live in August, we heard about upcoming features, perused concept drawings, and even saw some screenshots. As exciting as all that can be, nothing compares to actually getting in the game and seeing the living breathing world of Norrath. And that’s exactly what I got to do last week on a tour with Senior Producer Holly Longdale and Creative Director Akil Hooper....
EverQuest II Senior Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale is now ready to go out for Nights of the Dead as a Dark Elf after undergoing the ministrations of the makeup effects folks at KBZFX. You can follow this link over to Massively to see the other games which got the makeup treatment including EverQuest, DCUO, H1Z1, and Planetside 2.
Sales/Marketing set a price of $90 for the Altar of Malice Collector’s Edition which has led to some concerns. So the EQ2 team — now currently between a rock-and-a-hard-place — are trying to make lemonade by adding some stats to the Pterodon mount which will ship with the Collector’s Edition. Here are the stats as per Afista on the EQ2 Forums: Striped Savage Pterodon Mount Each level 85 character on your account will be eligible to use this flying mount which grants 100% ground speed and 150% flying speed. At level 95 this mount will give its rider the...
From the EQ2 Forums: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PDT. Estimated downtime is 2 hours. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PDT. (Aprox. 2:00PM London Time on 10/28/2014). Estimated downtime is 2 hours. Two hour downtimes are atypical, as is patching the European servers at the same time as the US ones, yet only a single update note was provided on the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL Beta mounts* should no longer spam a failure when zoning if you are below...
In a promotion that is sure to confuse more than a few players, I’ve just received an e-mail from SOE for EverQuest II: If I’m reading this correctly, then all EQ2 players with inactive accounts (no idea what qualifies as inactive but presumably a few months without logging into EQ2) are being temporarily granted All Access membership until November 10th, 2014, as well as receiving two 4 hour 100% XP potions and one 2 hour 50% Group XP potion just for logging in in the next 14 days. This promotion looks to expire the night before the Altar of Malice expansion launches...
From Akil “Lyndro” Hooper, Creative Director for EverQuest and EverQuest II on the EQ2 Forums: Overlooking the Phantom Sea, in the shattered mountains above Kithicor forest, sits Castle Highhold. For many years, Castle Highhold has served as the heart of the Far Seas Trading Company on Norrath. The walls of the castle have protected the vaults within from countless attacks from the Brokenskull Pirates and other foes. However, now it is besieged by a new adversary, the Akheva. The Akheva, the four-armed children of Luclin, are battering the walls of the castle with spell and sword. They hope to...
From the EQ2 Forums: Attention players: we will perform an SOE-wide maintenance beginning at 7:00 AM PDT* on Monday, October 27, 2014. We expect this maintenance to take approximately two hours. Game, web, and forum log-ins may be impacted while the maintenance is underway. Thanks for your patience. Time Zone Conversions PDT: October 27 @ 7:00am ~ 9:00am EDT: October 27 @ 10:00am ~ Noon GMT: October 27 @ 14:00 ~ 16:00 CET: October 27 @ 15:00 ~ 17:00 AEST: October 28 @ 1:00am ~ 3:00am NOTE: The United States (as per a 2005 law which went into effect in...
Dethdlr
Update: This issue has now been resolved. Having issues loading the non-streaming Altar of Malice Beta? You’re not alone. Starting about 6 hours ago people have been experiencing an error when trying to patch the non-streaming client for Beta. Holly “Windstalker” Longdale just confirmed on Twitter that they are aware of the issue and are testing a fix. She’s also written this on the forums: “True, true. Sorry folks. We are updating a lot of code to handle memory issues better. There were a few unexpected results…which were bad, obviously.” If you can’t wait for the fix, the streaming...
If EverQuest II: Altar of Malice were a brand new game coming out today, then a $90 price for the Collector’s Edition would be completely justifiable. We’ve seen this price point with Founder’s Packs in Landmark, and in other highly anticipated new games from Trion and other developers. But Altar of Malice is not a new game. It is an expansion — nee a DLC — for a ten year old MMORPG. Technically, EverQuest II’s last four expansions (ToV, CoE, AoD, and DoV) have carried a sticker price of $89.99. However this price has only gone into effect after a generous...
It looks like Marketing is getting started earlier this year as EQ2 ZAM has already released their Altar of Malice expansion preview with some nice screenshots. No doubt Massively, TenTonHammer, and MMORPG won’t be far behind with their own press tour writeups. Altar of Malice marks the 11th expansion for EverQuest II. First announced at SOE Live 2014, the expansion will add two new overland zones as well as several new Advanced Solo, Heroic and Raid dungeons. The level cap will increase from 95 to 100 for adventuring, tradeskill and guild levels, and both tradeskillers and adventurers alike can enjoy a variety of...
Confirming speculation after the pricing for EverQuest’s own The Darkened Sea expansion was recently revealed, today the EverQuest II team have unveiled the pricing for their own Altar of Malice coming this November. As previously mentioned, there will be no Pre-order for this expansion. It’s believed that the team is hoping to avoid the kind of pre-order snafus that players have experienced in the past by just opening the door to purchases on launch day. All Access customers may purchase one of these two versions of Altar of Malice starting NOVEMBER 11th, 2014: Altar of Malice Standard Edition —...
From Afista on the EQ2 Forums: Who needs a mailbox? Not you, if you’re an All-Access Member! Are you tired of adventuring in far-off places and wondering what treasures are sitting in your mailbox at home? Do you want to be able to loot something awesome and send it to a friend immediately, without having to make the long journey to the mailbox? Well, beginning Tuesday, October 21, 2014, All-Access Members will be able send and receive mail attachments from anywhere in Norrath! That’s right Norrathians; you’ll never have to find one of these again! Starting tomorrow, All-Access members will...
From Bunji on the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL All Access members can now send and receive mail attachments from almost anywhere. Added an option to default applying Adornments to manual selection. You can find this option under User Interface – Game Options – Manually Select Items to Adorn. Rewards earned in the Altar of Malice Beta may now be obtained via /claim. TRADESKILLS Grandmaster recipe for Winds of Velious IV now requires the correct master component. Corrected several issues with Conjuror Grandmaster recipes above level 80.
From Afista on the EQ2 Forums: Beta testing for the Altar of Malice expansion is in full swing and now open for everyone to try out! Joining the Beta server for testing is a great chance to take a look at all of the incredible things coming with Altar of Malice, and also an excellent opportunity to give us your feedback about the expansion before it launches on November 25, 2014. In addition to seeing these gorgeous lands before launch, you can also take some loot home to your live characters just for participating in the Beta action! Take a...
From Racheal “Afista” McKenny on the EQ2 Forums: Next month, on November 8, 2014, adventurers across Norrath will be celebrating the 10th Anniversary of EverQuest 2. It’s a time when players can come together and rejoice in their triumphs obtained over the years and celebrate the friendships they’ve made along the way. There have been some epic journeys over the past ten years that have taken adventurers through the most amazing lands in Norrath. As we prepare to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of EverQuest 2, let’s take a look at ten of the memorable lands adventurers have traveled through over the...
From Twitter approximately 30 minutes ago: We're aware of some connectivity issues with our forums & logins. We'll be back online as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience! — EverQuest II (@everquestii) October 15, 2014 UPDATE from Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on twitter: There's a network problem being investigated for all SOE games atm. Sorry if it's affecting any of you. 🙁 #eq2 — Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) October 15, 2014 Everything should be back online and accessible now. October 15, 2014 Apparently this was a network issue at SOE’s ISP and not something they had control over.
Shortly after the Skyshrine Gu-spansion (a game update that raised the level cap, added a new overland zone, 3 advanced solo zones, 4 heroic zones, and 2 raid zones), a reward was added to the advanced solo versions of the Skyshrine zones — Research Time Reducers. Previously these had only been available as a reward from completing Dungeon Maker zones. Research Time Reducer items reduce the time it takes to research a player Spell or Combat Art to its next quality tier, such as from Adept to Expert or from Expert to Master. They ranged from a savings of 6 hours...
From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter: Open Beta for everyone starting tomorrow after our update! #eq2 — Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) October 14, 2014 UPDATE: At 5:00pm PDT last night, the Altar of Malice beta finally opened for all players, whether Free-to-Play or All Access subscriber. From the EQ2 Forums: Everyone can now join the Beta server and experience Altar of Malice before it launches. Are you interested in what’s become of the Isle of Refuge? Do you long to discover the treasures hidden in the Phantom Seas? Beta testing is a great opportunity for you to try out the features...
From the EQ2 Forums: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, October 14, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PDT. Estimated downtime is 1 hour. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Tuesday, October 14, 2014 at approximately 7:00AM PDT. (3:00PM London Time). Estimated downtime is 2 hours. UPDATE #5: Issues with Valor have been resolved as of 12:30pm PDT. UPDATE #4: Hot off the presses, here are the Update Notes for this morning’s update: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Cut-Me-Own-Tail Ssstibbler will now grant the wrinkled, crumpled note from his merchant inventory to players that...