From the moment we added a Forum Signature feature to EQ2U, we always intended to add additional looks and styles. However to date, all our signatures still look like this:

In the last months, we have refactored our Signature code, and we can now support signatures that look a whole lot better. But to really go all-out on the look and style of these signatures, we need your help as we are not graphic artists!

What Are We Looking For?

• We are looking for player-submitted signature designs that are visually appealing, and language-appropriate, which provide a clear space where the character’s Name, Server, Guild, and Stats can be overlaid legibly.

• The graphical “style” or genre is up to the artist, and may be classical, architectural, modern, comic (Cheesepirate!) or whatever suits the design.

• Contest participants may enter as many designs, themes, and variations as they wish. Judging is based on the cumulative entries of a player. This means you may submit a single exemplary design, or take a chance and submit several different great ideas which either make a “set” or are just unrelated concepts.

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Temple of Veeshan: Guardian’s Edifice

• Fixed an issue with the winter juggernauts.

We are proud to announce that EQ2U has been updated with a new “Recipes” tab which allows you view Known Recipes and Known Recipe Books for EQ2 Characters!

When viewing Recipes, the Item, Book, and Level columns can sorted or reverse sorted by clicking the column headers or spinner ().  To keep web browsers from exploding when trying to display 6,500 recipes, we’ve broken this data out into Tiers (0, 1-9, 10-19, 20-29, up to 90-95). Recipes can also be quickly filtered from the Category menu.

From the EQ2 Forums:

QUESTS

• The Channeler Epic Quest is now available for all level 95 Channelers.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Vesspyr Isles

• Zaszae’s Armor Exchange in the Falinpol area of Vesspyr Isles will allow you to convert any Cryptic, Arcane, or Potent armor that has not been upgraded with a gemstone into a Token specific to that tier and slot. Seven of these tokens can then be used to purchase a piece of armor from Zaszae.
• Anex and Onerind Fe’Dhar in Vesspyr Isles no longer turn toward players hailing them.

Accursed Sanctum (Raid)

• The tomes unlocked around the zone should be available again after the player using the ability leaves the zone.
• The Legionnaires should more predictably cast their respective curses.
• The legionnaire curses now persist through death.

Temple of Veeshan: Guardian’s Edifice

• Kigara and Kelana should no longer summon players when they are able to chase them.
• Derig’s adds have had their health reduced but also must now be killed in a timely manner.
• Fireshots in the Grendish encounter have had their outgoing damage reduced and now hover closer to the ground.
• Winter Juggernauts in the Grendish encounter must now be killed in a timely manner.
• When Grendish is defeated the door to the second wing should be opened!

One of the most intriguing things about the recent Tears of Veeshan expansion is, there are at least seven different “Stat Packages” for quested and dropped gear. Not only are these items intended to have their stats fiddled with through Reforging, but most restrictions on equipping items have been dropped, save for the armor’s material (Cloth, Leather, Chain, Plate). This plethora of choice has been a blessing for most, but a curse for some with unlucky dice.

When an Advanced Solo or Heroic mission is completed, each player receives an Ornate Chest with an item having one of the following “stat packages”:

DPS with AoE Spec, DPS with MA Spec, DPS with Haste Spec, Main Tank Spec, Off Tank Spec, Potency/Reuse (Caster), Potency/Ability Mod/Health (Melee Caster)

Depending on your luck with the magical dice, some players are positively swimming in gear that does not fit their stat and growth needs, especially tank/mitigation items for Clerics and Druids, caster items for Scouts, and, melee battle priest type gear for healers who prefer to go the spell route.

This has been a frequent topic of discussion on the EQ2 Forums, with a chorus of players asking for a Heroic Equipment Exchange Merchant. Great idea, but putting in one-for-one exchange merchant would completely short circuit the progression of the expansion and let players run just 7 zones to get a full set of Arcane or Potent gear.

From Erin Oakley on the EQ2 Forums:

The weather may be wintery, but the denizens of Norrath are full of holiday cheer! The annual celebration of Frostfell features gift giving, fabulous feasts, holiday crafts, and of course, Santa Glug and his helpers.

Interested in joining the fun? Travel to the Frostfell Wonderland Village by finding a magical wardrobe in Qeynos Province District, Freeport, Haven, Kelethin, Neriak, Gorowyn, or New Halas.

Frostfell will begin December 12, 2013, and run through January 9, 2014, so bundle up and join the fun!

What if someone could take a screenshot of every item that could be placed in a House, Guild Hall, or Dungeon, and then provide information about where that item is acquired, either from a Merchant, Recipe, or Quest.

Well you don’t need to wish any longer because such a site exists. Lera’s EQ2Furniture.com is a comprehensive catalogue of every house item in EQ2, with screenshots from multiple angles, as well as data on how to acquire each item. The vast majority of this information was hand-entered, so this has surely been a monumental undertaking.

Frostfell this year has new quests, new crafts, and more things to do and acquire from the daily Gifts, Quests, and Crafting. Niami Denmother of EQ2Traders has once again covered them all in exquisite detail. First up is a revamped Frostfell Winterland Village (it’s no longer merely a clone of North Everfrost). Read her detailed article here:

<< Frostfell 2013: Snowy Facelift @ EQ2Traders >>

There is also a new Frostfell-themed Prestige House. Follow Niami as she goes on a detailed tour of this new arctic wonderland:

<< Frostfell Dwelling Tour @ EQ2Traders >>

Finally, a much-requested feature of diehard crafters and lovers of all things Frostfell, permanent Frostfell Crafting Stations. If you want to discover these on your own, then don’t read the article below!!

<< Shiny Boxes All Do Hide @ EQ2Traders >>

From EQ2 ZAM:

The season of giving and cheer has arrived! Frostfell will begin following the downtime on Thursday, December 12, and this year brings about a festive season of change.

This year Frostfell introduces one new quest, A Deepice Mystery, which explores the altered Frostfell Wonderland Village and must be completed before several older quests may be obtained. Many new craftables are available to tradeskillers this year, resulting in items such as Gingerbread Plushies and a Glacier building block set. Several returning quests have new reward choices or tokens added to them.

Players with extra “gifties” from the Gigglegibber Gifty Storehouse can exchange them for Frozen Tokens of E’ci on the Enchanted Lands dock. Santa Glug can be found with his bag of goodies inside the Frostfell Wonderland Village for players to receive their daily presents. Crafters can finally rejoice as they obtain the first ever Permanent Frostfell Crafting Stations!

ZAM is pleased to offer alt-a-holics an updated Frostfell Quest Tracker. Print it out and chart up to 15 of your characters’ progress. We also have an image gallery of the new zone which you can see by clicking on the image below. Happy Frostfell!

<< Jump to ZAM’s complete Frostfell Guides >>

view the Frostfell 2013 Gallery @ EQ2 ZAM

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Temple of Veeshan: Guardian’s Edifice [Raid]

• Derig Cinderaxe’s adds will now despawn if he is defeated.

The Nexus Core [Advanced Solo and Heroic]

• The Maligned Gyro’s spiral ripper adds now move more slowly.

High Keep: The Pickclaw Depths

• You can escape from prison much sooner after being captured by Bigz the Big.
• Bigz the Big no longer becomes immune to damage when drinking his potion.

More after the jump…

If you’re playing a Channeler and wonder when EQ2’s 26th class will get their very own Epic Weapon quest, you don’t have much longer to wait. From Kander on the EQ2 Forums:

We are shooting for December 17th for the Channeler Epic. I should be able to give you 100% solid date next week.

Epic Weapon quests have always been a mystery which players need to work out. When these quests appeared shortly after Kunark was rediscovered, players worked tirelessly, combing the depths of class lore to figure out where these quests started and how to complete them.

So when asked if players could know what some of the prerequisites of the quest were, Kander stuck to secrecy with a:

Nope. Sorry.

However he did throw a bone:

Oh and just to be nice. Since I am really very nice. You do not need Raincaller. How about them apples?

From the EQ2 Forums:

If you are excited about EQNext Landmark, or just absolutely have to have every EQ2 in-game house item, then you’ll want to pick up the current issue of PC Gamer (January 2014, 248US).

By redeeming the PC Gamer-included EQNL Beta key, you’ll be granted [eq2u]EverQuest Next Portrait Bundle[/eq2u], specifically these paintings:

• [eq2u]Portrait of Firiona Vie[/eq2u]
• [eq2u]Portrait of Keeshar[/eq2u]
• [eq2u]Portrait of Jalena[/eq2u]
• [eq2u]Portrait of an Adventurer[/eq2u]

We have this info thanks to a player who discovered this item and graciously answered our questions.

If your Fighter was feeling a little impotent after this morning’s game update, you weren’t alone.

Fighter classes discovered that, regardless of their choice of stance — Offensive, Defensive, or Recklessness — the moment they engaged in combat, their Potency was cut to 0%. This has been fixed with a second update this afternoon.

From the EQ2 Forums:

From the EQ2 Forums:

Frostfell is active on Test!

There’s plenty of Frostfell cheer throughout Norrath this season! Gigglegibbers and Frostfell elves are busy celebrating the holiday within the player cities, and encouraging everyone to visit the Frostfell Wonderland Village, accessed through the Magic Closets in Qeynos Province District, Freeport, Haven, Kelethin, Neriak, Gorowyn and New Halas. There you can assist Candice Cheriweth, Gardy Ex-Giftgiver, Mr. McScroogle, Queen Bunny, and Snarf Frostfoot with some holiday tasks, but only after you release them from their deep freeze! For those that have a talent for crafting, you can help Sogs Frostfoot, or gather presents to craft wondrous new Frostfell goodies for yourself. Don’t forget to log in each day and claim your extra-special Frostfell present from everyone’s favorite Frostfell Gigglegibber, Santa Glug!

Frostfell will hit live servers December 12th and end January 9, 2014 as per Kaitheel:

This event content is currently set to run 12/12/13 at 8am PST* through 01/09/14 at 7am PST* on the live servers.

Kaitheel also posted some interesting stats on Twitter:

#Frostfell 2013 content has been submitted. So far, it’s 740 design files touched, 389 of which are new! 101 hours of design time. #EQ2

— Nathan McCall (@kaitheel) December 4, 2013

From the EQ2 Forums:

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

For those curious, here’s a look at the new winter prestige home coming with Frostfell. So cool. 😛 *cough* #eq2 pic.twitter.com/ajzYrZ53ZP

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) December 4, 2013

View the full image after the jump..

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

Ethereal jewelry and adornments are dropping in Tears of Veeshan dungeons from today until Jan. 3! Good luck! #eq2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) December 3, 2013

UPDATE: Looks like these new Ethereal items are not present in Census. Hopefully with the next hotfix/update, we’ll get a new export.

From the EQ2 Forums:

From the EQ2 Forums:

The US EverQuest 2 Servers will come down on Tuesday, December 3rd at 7:00AM Pacific Time* for an update. The expected downtime is approximately one hour.

All EU Servers will come down at 5:00 PM PT (2:00 AM CET) on December 4th for a brief update. Downtime is anticipated to be approximately 2 hours

Looks like there will be a Cyber Monday sale after all.

Announcement posted by RadarX:

There has never been a better time to move on up to a new Prestige Home in EverQuest 2! Stop tripping over weapon racks and give your pets more room to roam in. Between now and Noon PT December 3rd, you can grab a house for 15% off!

Don’t settle for a simple five room when you can own Personal Grotto! Head to the Marketplace and get yours while you can!

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

Prestige Houses are 15% off until noon tomorrow PST! #EQ2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) December 2, 2013

The Marketplace section of EQ2U has been updated to reflect this sale.

As we’ve discussed in the past, Sony Online Entertainment got itself into a huge pickle with their unintentional devaluation of their StationCash currency. An overeager Marketing Dept held numerous Double and Triple StationCash promotions which devalued much of the StationCash entering SOE’s economy to just 1/4 of its value.  This created an untenable situation and at SOE Live, SmokeJumper was heard to say “We were losing our shirts”.

Compound this with the fact that Walmart demands special incentives from their vendors to carry product. The popular 1500 StationCash cards with 500 SC bonus further amplified the devaluation effects.

We are just speculating at this point, but we’re going to call August 2013’s Best Buy Double StationCash deal to be SOE’s last such weekend. This is frustrating due to how few locations bothered to stock the cards.

From the EQ2 Forums on November 26, 2013 @ 11:00am PST (2:00pm EST, 19:00 GMT, 20:00 CET):

All servers are coming down for an unscheduled update as soon as possible to address an outstanding technical issue. Downtime is anticipated to be approximately one hour.

UPDATE: Plus or minus 20 minutes…

UPDATE: Plus or minus 40 minutes…

UPDATE: Plus or minus 60 minutes…

UPDATE: Servers are going down at 12:15pm PST (3:15pm EST, 20:15 GMT, 21:15 CET).

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Currency can no longer be moved directly to the shared bank from the Currency tab. You will need to move it to a bag first and then to the shared bank.
• Corrected an issue where a player would not receive Ornate Crate of Goods if their group loot options were set to Fabled+.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
General

• Ground mounts can now be used in Sleeper’s Tomb: The Forgotten Catacombs and Chelsith: The Ancient Vault.

Vesspyr Isles

• Many named NPCs in this zone were adjusted to have more health and less melee damage. Additionally, several of their non-functional spells were fixed.

Accursed Sanctum: Guardian of Adherence

• Lowered health of sanctum enforcers.
• Increased the variance of which these adds will mem-wipe so that there is less chance of them doing it all at once.
• Lowered damage output of custodial architect.

UPDATE: 1:47pm PST We’ve got word that the Login server instability has been solved!

As of 4:30pm EST, 1:3pm PST, 0:30 GMT, 1:30 CET, Dexella has reported a momentary issue with the SOE login servers which affect Game and Forum logins…

Hey folks! We’re looking into issues with both the website and forums right now. Thanks for your patience. [Dexella]

— EverQuest Next (@everquest_next) November 25, 2013