From EverQuest2.com:

He patted the envelope in his left breast pocket. It was still there, as it always was, but old habits die hard.

The letter within was penned what felt like ages ago. It was looking likely that he would take as long to send it as he did to write it. There was always something—the wrong time, the wrong place, the wrong mood, the wrong company.

Satisfied that the letter was still safe in its envelope, albeit more weathered and wrinkled than it was the day before, Vishra began the process of strapping on his armor. Greaves first. Left, then right. His hafling squire orbited around him like a dutiful moon. The best squires were shadows, always present, always near, but never in the way. Tipple was one of the best.

His plate hung heavier today than it usually did. Truthfully, it wasn’t just the plate. It was weight of the years, the weight of the coming battle, the weight of the damn letter. He’d faced the worst Norrath could throw at him and here he was, a nervous little boy too meek to tell a woman the truth. This was one of those things that time never made easier—except to make excuses.

Although vague, we now have a little more info about the EQNext and EQ2 panels at this year’s SOE Live convention. Dexella has posted an update to the SOE Live 2013 Schedule which moves the Maxwell Drake panel, as well as adding names for the EQ2 and EQNext panels…

First up, EverQuest II will have panels about the game’s 10th Expansion, Mechanics (Systems), Itemization, Art & Animation, an informal Coding & YOU! panel (ie the Geek panel), and more, as well as two panels that allow players to test a new Secret feature:

The EQ II team will be doing a full reveal on the new secret project that they’ve been working on for the Expansion. Developers will be showing off a currently unannounced feature, and gathering feedback from folks who have had a chance to play during one of the open play sessions. If you’re an EverQuest II player, you don’t want to miss this one!

EQ2U and Dragon’s Armory are proud to be presenting the first EverQuest II panel of the weekend (right after the EQNext reveal!) about our sites, unveil some new features, and talk about our plans for the future!

Speaking of EverQuest Next, it will have panels for Showing Off Your Creativity, Classes, Lore, Q&A part one, Q&A part two, as well as an unknown panel on Sunday at 1pm. This is, of course, in addition to Friday morning’s two hour worldwide reveal of EverQuest Next starting at 11am.

With so many panels overlapping, and the EverQuest II Q&A panel taking place on Sunday after I’ve already left, time travel technology and/or human cloning can’t be invented soon enough.

From the EQ2 Forums:

PvP COMBAT

• Attacking a player will now force them into combat.

If there are any other changes in this update, we will update this article!

Tomorrow’s brief update is starting at the crack of dark as all US servers (and Sebilis in Japan) will come down at 5:30am PDT (8:30am EDT, 13:30 BST, 14:30 CET). Freeport, Nagafen, and Antonia Bayle servers will stay down for 3 hours, while the other servers will be up after the usual hour. Hopefully someone is running Defrag. 😉

From EverQuest2.com:

The US EverQuest 2 Servers will come down on Tuesday, July 9, at 5:30 am Pacific Time* for an update. The expected downtime for Freeport, Nagafen, and Antonia Bayle is three hours; the expected downtime for the remaining US servers is one hour.

The EU EQ2 Servers will come down on Tuesday, July 9, at 9:00 pm Pacific Time*, and the expected downtime is two hours.

P.S. Yes we know that last time we were told that only some servers would come down, they all came down. I’ve been told that this announcement is accurate.

Not to be confused with today’s GU67 Beta notes, tomorrow we can expect a small update. Here are the notes from the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Furnace of Ages [Challenge Duo]

• Mastersmith Naghig Dakgu‘s Unmake effect is now more reliable and less streaky. The average effectiveness is unchanged.

Antechamber of the Automaton [Challenge Duo]

• K’zan‘s color attunements now show the icons for a more accurate period of time. The actual functionality has not changed.

Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]

• Overlord Talan: Crippled Armor now properly displays the damage reduction it is removing. This is a display issue only, the damage reduction has not been adjusted further.

ITEMS

• Psionic Conversion now properly drops when the target dies, rather than switching to the caster.

Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns has now hit the EQ2 Beta server and here are the Update Notes. Game Update 67 is expected to go live July 23, 2013.

Fabled Dungeons

• Fabled Clefts of Rujark (accessed from Sinking Sands)
• Fabled Scornfeather’s Roost (accessed from within Fabled Clefts of Rujark)
• Fabled Djinn Masters Prism (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
• Fabled Pedestal of Sky (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
• Three New Contested Avatar Raids: Pit yourself against three new contested avatars in the overlands – Prexus, Solusek Ro, and Drinal!

Arena of the Gods

• The Arena of the Gods is a raid instance that allows 24 players to challenge any of the 9 avatars that are in game (includes the new contested avatars released in this GU). Once you kill an avatar and are rewarded, you can continue to practice the encounters as much as you want (there is a 3-day lockout timer for rewards).

From the EQ2 Forums:

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

Want to help out? We are updating our Test server with GU67 content next Monday, July 8! #EQ2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) July 2, 2013

Looks like I’m not the only one who was concerned about Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns bumping up against SOE Live. As a fan site operator, I had a number of concerns about trying to report on and cover a Game Update while also trying to keep up with EverQuest II‘s 10th expansion and EverQuest Next which will both be making a splash in Vegas on August 1st through 4th, just 2 days after GU67 was slated to hit. Also, last time we had a Game Update just hours before SOE Live, there were some game issues that couldn’t easily be fixed as most of the EQ2 team were in Vegas.

GU67: Darkness Dawns is coming early on July 23! Also, we're adding Daily Objectives to the features! See http://t.co/bApH6gJbcO. #EQ2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) July 2, 2013

Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns, expected to launch just hours before SOE Live 2013 officially begins, will introduce an indoor “Arena of the Gods” featuring instanced versions of the nine Avatars which have been roaming Norrath since Avatars returned as contested content. These avatars will be of the same difficulty as the open world equivalents, but provide rewards of a reduced quality. Presumably you’ll only be able to defeat one avatar per trip, although it would certainly be amusing if you could do all of them on one visit.

There have been some changes to the SOE Live 2013 schedule, including some reshuffling of LoN, DCUO, and Dragon’s Prophet panels. Most notably, the addition of 3 2 new panels:

• Friday 5-6pm — EverQuest II: Super Secret Testing Session 1
• Saturday 2-6pm — EverQuest II: Super Secret Testing
• Sunday Noon-1pm — EverQuest II: Super Secret Testing Feedback Panel

When the SOE Live 2013 schedule was released, I started reading. And reading. Before long, shock set in. Two hours later, I was discovered in the fetal position, mumbling something about sleep and time paradoxes. Despite consultation with a number of scholars, including Dr. Samuel Beckett, Dr. Emmett L. Brown, and the Doctor, as well as consulting the writings of Ray Bradbury, Mrs. Helena Wells, and so forth, I am no closer to a solution to attend ALL of the EverQuest II and EverQuest Next panels. However, I will make every effort.

One panel I certainly won’t miss is the “EQ2U & Dragon’s Armory – Leveraging EQII Data Feeds” panel hosted by Dedith of Dragon’s Armory and myself. I’m proud to say that our little panel was called out not only on the SOE Live Blog, but on the EQ2 Forums!

Gather your guildmates, divide up the roles, and get ready for a seriously epic encounter. No, it’s not a raid: it’s the sheer volume of awesome panels just announced for SOE Live 2013. With this much must-see content, you’re going to have to divide and conquer to make sure you get all the juicy details!

Full panel descriptions are still in the works, but based on these titles, there’s something for everyone. Here are just a few of your options:

For the Norrathians: Players of EverQuest and EverQuest 2 have a lot of enticing choices this year. Be the first to learn about the newest content at the EverQuest and EverQuest II: Expansion panels happening on Friday. For those interested in game mechanics, EverQuest II Tradeskills & PvP and the EQ2U & Dragon’s Armory – Leveraging EQII Data Feeds player panel both sound intriguing. For the crafters, there’s the EQ/EQII Crafting & the SC Marketplace player panel. Those who want to boost their RL crafting skills should pre-register for Metal Embossing with Brasse: So Easy an Elfink Can Do It.

For everyone: Admit it, you’re curious about EverQuest Next. No matter which SOE game you call home, get a front row seat to gaming history at the EverQuest Franchise Keynote Address on Friday morning. Various EQN panels are scheduled throughout the weekend, but SOE is keeping the topics secret for now, so keep an eye out for updates after the big reveal.

For a complete list of panels, check out the SOE Live Lineup page and start making your schedule today!

Here are the update notes for July 2, 2013 from the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed an issue with the housing and dungeon leaderboards.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]

• Overlord Talan will no longer gain double crit avoidance if he levels up in challenge mode.

Antechamber of the Automaton [Challenge Duo]

• Fixed a bug that would occur when K’zan attuned both players in the duo to a color over the course of the fight.
• Zone now drops coin. Temp adornments are now 100% drop rate.

Furnace of Ages [Challenge Duo]

• Zone now drops coin. Temp adornments are now 100% drop rate.

Abyssal Aqueduct [Challenge Duo]

• Zone now drops coin. Temp adornments are now 100% drop rate.

ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Enchanter

• Sever Hate can no longer be resisted.

MARKETPLACE

• House items purchased off the marketplace can now be placed in guildhalls.

ITEMS

• Heirloom tags now propagate from adornments.

NOTE: The Heirloom tags/adornments line is a late entry posted at 10:00am today PDT.

StationCash Items in Guild Halls

That last note will probably lead to much excitement and rejoicing in the EQ2 decorator community, as the inability to place most StationCash Marketplace items in Guild Halls has been a point of consternation. However I see the flipside of the issue — people will place $100 or more SC items in a Guild Hall, then have a falling out with the guild leader, or the guild simply falls apart, and next thing you know, they’re kicked from the hall with no access to said items.

I’ve always believed that items placed in a House or Guild Hall by a friend are a donation, but it’s a different story when real money is involved.  And I always felt that Marketplace items in Guild Halls shouldn’t happen until some kind of interface is provided to retrieve said items, even if you have been banished from the guild hall they have been placed in.

The time has arrived at last. The SOE Live 2013 schedule including all the events, announcements, official Developer, AND Player Panels has been released.

New Venue, Player Panels, No Problem!

Not only is SOE Live taking up a new venue this year at Planet Hollywood (SOE Community and Events team folks were in Vegas this week enduring 117°F/47.2°C temperatures to scope the place out and ensure that the events go smoothly), but this year is only the second year of the highly popular Player-run Panels. Not only is SOE Live unveiling a totally new game — EverQuest Next — but organizing these Player Panels so that they do not overlap Developer panels that those same players absolutely cannot miss is like a jigsaw puzzle inside a Rubik’s Cube.

I will once again be hosting a Data panel to talk about EQ2U, and I am proud to share the stage with Dedith who will be talking about his site Dragon’s Armory. We are both feverishly working on new features for our sites as well as collaborating on a feature which will hopefully blow everyone’s socks off!

EverQuest II and EverQuest Next

EverQuest II will, of course, be talking in depth about its 10th expansion coming this fall which should have some very interesting announcements for all play styles.

EverQuest Next has been a complete mystery, other than the 11:00am reveal which we’ve been told to expect on Friday, August 2nd, we didn’t know until today how many panels we might expect. The Events team have worked hard to try to mix up EQ, EQ2, and EQN panels so that even players of all 3 will be able to get something from all of them, but conflicts were inevitable. We don’t know the names of the EQN panels, but now we know there will be a whopping SEVEN of them.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to the SOE Live 2013 Schedule and start putting together your own personal list of the panels for your favorite games!

What can we expect in the upcoming Fabled dungeons in Game Update 67? You’ll recall this announcement from Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums about Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns which included a list of dungeons:

1. Fabled Dungeons: We’ve taken some dungeon favorites from the very first EQII expansion “Desert of Flames” and created additional versions of them with current high-level content and loot. You can experience Clefts of Rujark, The Djinn Masters Prism, Scornfeather’s Roost, and Pedestal of Sky at a high level range!

As posted by Kander on the EQ2 Forums:

The Fabled zones have been raised to current level and re-itemized with new current versions of everything that used to drop in them, with some surprises. There are items of all tiers for all play styles in the Fabled zones.

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• The /feedback command should work correctly now.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]

• Overlord Talan’s doppelganger will no longer attack instantly when it is summoned and will delay casting spells for a short duration.
• The combine elite adds summoned by Overlord Talan memwipe less frequently and are now immune to area of effect abilities unless directly targeted.

ITEMS

• Dulgur Bindmagic now sells armor runes that reduce the resistibility of all spells.
• The cost of red and yellow adornments sold by Dulgur Bindmagic have been reduced.

Players on Butcherblock and Antonia Bayle, two of the servers which were not supposed to be affected by this morning’s 5:30-7:00am maintenance, were unable to enter housing, group, or raid zones (instances), and began receiving Server Announcements indicating that their servers were coming down at 5:30am:

Originally, only Guk, Everfrost, Crushbone, Permafrost and Oasis were scheduled to be brought down for extended maintenance. But it looks like someone didn’t get the memo as now ALL EQ2 servers are down and login servers are not responding:

We can only guess that all EQ2 servers will be down through 8:00am PDT (11:00am EDT, 17:00 BST, and June 26th @ 1:00am AEST).

From the EQ2 Forums:

Most US EverQuest 2 Servers will come down on Tuesday, June 25, at 7:00 am Pacific Time* for an update. The expected downtime is one hour.

The Guk, Everfrost, Crushbone, Permafrost and Oasis servers will have an extended downtime, coming down earlier at 5:30 am Pacific Time.

The EU EQ2 Servers will come down on Tuesday, June 25, at 9:00 pm Pacific Time*, and the expected downtime is two hours.

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]

• Overlord Talan Challenge Mode: The Psionic Defiler and Psionic Guardian adds have less health.
• Overlord Talan: Adds no longer do trauma based melee damage, they do arcane damage instead.
• In all fights the crippling aura/cripped armor debuff is less potent per counter. Overlord Talan Challenge Mode : The Psionic Guardians do less damage.

ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Enchanter

• Sever Hate will now properly apply if the target ally is casting a spell when Sever Hate is cast.

ZONES
Wurmbone’s End: Nox Incessit

• Overall outgoing damage from zone bosses and base pop has been slightly reduced.

ITEMS

• [eq2u]Leather Tunic of the All Swarmer[/eq2u] now has riposte chance.
• [eq2u]Breastplate of the All-Blocker[/eq2u] now has riposte chance

 

If you are a member of a Guild, then over the last few months, you’ve gained the ability to pay your rent on all of your houses, visit them with one click, and also visit the houses of friends and guildmates, all without having to venture beyond the confines of your guild hall. Now, these abilities have come to those who are between guilds or simply prefer to adventure on their own.

With this new window, you can travel directly to any of your houses anywhere in Norrath as long as you are within a city zone. You can also pay rent upkeep, and view stats about your house. When you are inside your house, you can of course rename it and take up to 2 screenshots which will appear on Housting Leaderboards for others to view.

From EverQuest2.com:

If you’re a Gold Member this summer (June 21 – September 21), you will have access to a special daily spell that provides bonus coin loot (increase of 15%), an experience bump (increase of 10%), and additional mount speed (increase of 5%)! This spell grants these benefits for four (4) hours each day, all summer long! This is in addition to all of the other perks you receive with Gold membership.

You will find this spell in your hot bar or in your spell book under abilities. Look for “Gold Rush.”

For more about membership levels in EverQuest II, visit our membership matrix.

Go for the gold this summer, and enjoy!

From EQ2 Zam:

POST-PATCH UPDATE: If you are receiving a “MainHUD Map2_clone_0” UI error, it is because you are running custom maps. EQ2Map users can run the auto-updater to fix this error. Other solutions are checking over on EQ2Interface for further updates, /loadui default, or copy the default map UI files to your custom directory.

This update is needed to support the new “Instant Travel” functionality which replaces the [eq2u]Portable Globe of Swift Travel[/eq2u] purchasable from the Marketplace. Instead of buying the travel Globes in stacks of 5, now you can navigate to any map in EQ2 and travel to certain demarcation points through the point-of-need interface.

Instant Travel  is the latest example of “point of need” interfaces and was discussed on the Testing forums.

From the EQ2 Forums:

PLAYER HOUSING

• Added a new window, “Housing and Leaderboards”. This window, which can be accessed via the EQII menu and from the main menu bar, allows easy access to many housing related features. It allows you to manipulate all your current houses, browse and buy new houses, visit houses associated with the current zone you are in, and view the current housing leaderboards.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Furnace of the Ages [Challenge Duo]

• Fire Thief now has custom text to clarify how the effect works.

and after the jump, almost every class’ has had at least one ability adjusted to use spell skills like Ordination, Disruption, Subjugation, and Ministration…

Looks like there might be some update notes for tomorrow’s extended downtime after all.

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

Our new housing UI will go live in our update tomorrow! Home sweet home… #eq2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) June 20, 2013

The new combined Housing / Leaderboards window hit Test on May 15th and received mostly positive reviews, although some players expressed frustration at the addition of another zoning step for touring houses. This extra zoning happens between each house your tour, so touring houses will take twice as long. Still, the rest of the new features have been positively received.

NOTE: This is not the Player Studio House-selling feature.

From the EQ2 Forums:

All EverQuest 2 Servers will come down on Thursday, June 20, at 4:00 am Pacific Time* for an update. The expected downtime is four five hours. There are no game update notes associated with this downtime.

Time Zone Conversions

• PDT: June 20 @ 4:00-8:00am 9:00am
• EDT: June 20 @ 7:00-11:00am 12:00pm
• BST: June 20 @ 12:00-16:00 17:00
• CET: June 20 @ 13:00-17:00 18:00
• AEST: June 20 @ 9:00pm ~ June 21 @ 1:00am 2:00am