Feldon
From Windstalker on the EQ2 Forums: Howdy Norrathians! The team has been brainstorming ideas that would ease the re-entry back into the game and soften the learning curve for returning players as well as creative options for a Refer-a-Friend program. What would float your boat if you are, or were, a returning player at some point? Creative suggestions? And do you have ideas that would make you excited to not just refer a friend, but play with them too? Post your thoughts and ideas here. Answer one or both if you like!
EQ2
Have you taken on the group or raid versions of the new Sleeper’s Tomb found in the Eastern Wastes? If so, why not take our Sleeper’s Tomb Survey below. If you have not yet run the zone, please come back and take the poll when you do. Results will be posted in a week or so depending on response rate. UPDATE: There was a problem with the Survey Answers not matching up with the Survey Questions. I have RESET the Survey, so if you took it yesterday morning, please RE-TAKE the Survey! Thanks and I apologize for the inconvenience.
Some players exploring the heroic version of the Sleeper’s Tomb will encounter a chance named “The Overseer”. But instead of dropping armor or weapons, he drops equally valuable Tradeskill Raid materials. As posted by Kander: The Overseer is a bonus named, if you spawn him. He only drops TS components. As to why the Sleeper’s Tomb does not reward white Velious shards, Kander again: This instance is linked to the storylines for Chains of Eternity. It will not have shards from Velious. It is 500 or 600 years in the past. Lots of other instances to run to get...
From the EQ2 Forums: TRADESKILLS Writs should no longer call for upgrades to the spell Blood Rage. QUESTS Unexpected Consequences You should now be able to spawn a new raven if you somehow lose yours. Ravens will now only respond to the adventurer who spawned them. No more raven poaching! Qeynos Province District Murrar Shar now directs players that have completed the quests “Blood Ties” and “A Body to Die For”, and are level 75+, but have not completed their archetype class quests, to speak with Standar Yorden.
After a small hiccup where Jorlak’s portal had to be activated, players have started exploring the group and raid versions of the Sleeper’s Tomb and nervously eyeing the Avatars of War (Vallon, Sullon, and Tallon Zek) which have popped up in the Eastern Wastes. From EverQuest2.com: Outside of the Sleeper’s Tomb in Velious’ Eastern Wastes, an aged Draconian chronomage named Jorlak awaits intrepid adventurers daring enough to begin a perilous quest. Also throughout Velious, Avatars known as the Hounds of War have returned! These representations of the gods have been sent to the plane of mortals to challenge those...
From the EQ2 Forums: Sleeper’s Tomb, Chapter 1 Begins! Norrathian’s will find Jorlak, an aged Dracurion chronomage, outside of the Sleeper’s Tomb in Velious’ Eastern Wastes. He will launch a quest that gives adventurers access to world-changing events in Norrath’s history, including the rituals of the heralded warders who kept the great prismatic dragon, Kerafyrm, asleep for many ages. Start Your Chains of Eternity Adventure! Level 92 players should be on the lookout for a message from Erus Dal’viv, the Swordbearer. He has a mission for adventurers that will help the Duality’s research into the Age’s End Prophecy… a...
Thanks to Polish EQ2 player Kinya who has provided us with some screenshots of the visually stunning Sleeper’s Tomb group zone. The EQ2 Art Design team have really outdone themselves this time. UPDATE: The Sleeper’s Tomb, which opens next Tuesday, offers two variations: Sleeper’s Tomb: The Awakening (group) Sleeper’s Tomb: A Temporal Leap (raid)
If I was a bit harsh in my “Let the Sleeper’s Tomb Testing Begin! Group & Raid Zone” article, it’s only because I believe content should be thoroughly tested before it is pushed to the Live servers. Players have memorized every pixel in Skyshrine and are thirsty for new enemies to “punch and take their stuff”, so it seems smart to get Sleeper’s Tomb so bug-free, balanced, and itemized smoothly that players feel the wait for new content was worth it. Holly “Windstalker” Longdale has posted a news update about when we can expect Sleeper’s Tomb, and the first...
Nearly every EverQuest II expansion has included some kind of new feature, yet we tend to associate expansions with their content. Think of any EQ2 expansion and our recollections are of the continents, solo quests, group and raid zones, and level cap raises contained within each update. So what happened with Age of Discovery? It’s no secret that the original plan was to release two expansions — Velious I and Velious II — and charge for both of them. However it must have been felt that players would react negatively to a “Velious double-dip”. So Age of Discovery was...
This month will see the introduction of the Sleeper’s Tomb group and x4 raid zones. So when can players test these zones? Oh, really any time. Some astute players noticed late last week that the EQ2 Beta server was accessible from the Launchpad. We received confirmation last week that the Test Copy server was morphing into the Beta server. That’s great, but there was no clarification or announcement of whether anything was ready to be tested. Until today… From Gninja: Currently the beta server has the next update on it (Prelude). It has been getting some focused testing in...
In addition to some much-needed Itemization tweaks, the big ticket item in today’s patch is a revised Merchant Window. The new window allows filtering the item list to only include items of your level, class, and which you can equip. There is also a new interactive Search filter box which limits the results to matching items. And finally, for those who sell a lot of items to merchants, a “Double Click to Sell” checkbox. It’s nice to see all these new features and usability tweaks to the EQ2 UI such as the Player Casting Bar, Autoattack Timing window, Auto-attack...
Here are today’s update notes from the EQ2 Forums. New options have been added to the Merchant window: You can now ‘Hide Unusable’ items, ‘Hide Outleveled’ items, and show ‘My Class’ useable items within any merchant window via checkboxes. A text field has been added which allows you to filter items in a merchant’s list. There is now a ‘Double Click to Sell’ checkbox in merchant windows that once checked will allow you to double-click on items in your bags to quickly sell them. You can also auto enable ‘Double Click to Sell’ in the options under User Interface...
Today brought a double helping of news for players of EverQuest II, and I wanted to share a few thoughts I’ve got on each subject. EverQuest II: Chains of Eternity After a features expansion, and then a “guspansion”, Chains of Eternity puts us back on track with a content expansion. This time around, we’ll see Guild, Tradeskill, and Adventuring Level Caps all raised to 95. We’ll also see more expansion in the Prestige AAs tab with new abilities for each Subclass. Also new in the expansion will be Prestige Tradeskills for crafters wanting to specialize their trade. A truly...
From EverQuest2.com: Death is rampant across Norrath. Citizens are suddenly falling dead as their spirits are torn from their bodies. No one on Norrath seems to understand why the souls are being pulled from the mortal plane, but all signs point to a massive disturbance within Ethernere, the realm of the dead. The heroes of the world must travel to Ethernere to find the cause of the unbalance in the Grey Wastes, and discover what has become of its caretaker – the mysterious being known as Drinal. If the heroes can return balance to Ethernere, the siphoning of souls...
From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums: Greetings Norrath! The time has come! We are very proud to announce our next expansion, EverQuest II: Chains of Eternity! The team is hard at work developing our ninth – yes, our ninth – expansion and implementing the finer details, several of which I will go into here. When the expansion launches, Norrathians will pass into Ethernere, the realm of the afterlife, where all spirits pass after death on their way to their final resting place. Recently, something has gone horribly wrong in Ethernere and it is bleeding through in the mortal plane. ...
SOE President John Smedley has teased two announcements, one Thursday, one Friday, on Twitter: We have two HUGE announcements. One tomorrow. One Friday. Tomorrows announcement is a complete and fundamental shift for SOE that is going to change our industry. We think it’s going to be a big shift for SOE and I believe a lot of others in our industry will follow. Meanwhile, Holly “Windstalker” Longdale has tweeted: Putting the final touches on my Producer’s Letter for tomorrow morning! Update from Brasse: EQ2, EQ & Station Live sites will be down for approx 10-15 min for web changes...
As was hinted last month, players will see new raid content in the month of September, specifically the Sleeper’s Tomb. It’s our understanding that the difficulty of this zone will stop short of the Plane of War. Meanwhile, there have been sightings of new ETHEREAL Charms over the long weekend. It’s unclear if the charms have replaced or simply augmented the ETHEREAL weapons which first appeared in August. Remember folks, Ethereal items have an equal chance of dropping from any enemy — they do not have a higher chance of dropping from named encounters. From the EQ2 Forums: It’s...
From the EQ2 Forums: ITEMS Many NO TRADE adornments are now HEIRLOOM. Forged Claws of Drelkuma now have a 4 second delay. The Rift Guardian armor set for Wardens now has wisdom in place of strength. Plane of War: Blade of Universal Conflict – Indestructible Being now procs 15 crit bonus instead of 15 potency. Plane of War: Petrified Skull of a Bygone Emperor now has the appropriate amount of multi-attack. Plane of War: Writ of Destruction now has the appropriate amount of multi-attack. Ethereal Charms: Rallosian Warforged Axe Shard is now tradeable. Ethereal Charms: Rallosian Warforged Shield Strap...
From the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL When you unattune an item with no-trade adornments those no-trade adornments are now destroyed. Chests should no longer spawn in midair. POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Skyshrine Contested Creatures involved with the Kildrukaun the Ancient battle in Skyshrine Contested should no longer cause the encounter to reset as quickly when pulled away from their spawn point. Qeynos Capitol District Added a collector to Qeynos Capitol District. Seek out Flitia Veel in Maile’s Exchange for all your collection needs! ITEMS The Opalescent Prowler plushie will now allow itself to be converted for use outdoors. Skyshrine: The...
All In Moderation The official support forums for any product must, by their very nature, present a good impression to potential customers. The forums should put the company’s best foot forward. The EQ2 forums have had their fair share of technical issues. But if customers criticize the product, this should be seen as an opportunity for Community Management, Developers, Designers, and Management to respond to these issues and show that customer feedback is valued. To avoid misunderstandings, Community Management can be a great liaison between developers and players.
From the EQ2 Forums: GENERAL The Auto attack Timing window can now be resized. POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Withered Lands Talapatook’tei should no longer get in a state where he is completely damage immune if damaged too quickly. ABILITIES The effectiveness of riposte damage now diminishes as it gets higher and is now a rating stat rather than a direct percent increase. ITEMS Solidified Blood of Rallos Zek now grants 50 crit bonus instead of 100 Multi-attack. Focused Will of the Warlord now grants 50 crit bonus instead of 100 Multi-attack. QUESTS The Crushbone Water should now have its...
Today was the “EQ2 Dev Team TweetChat” which saw EQ2 developers respond to a number of questions posed via Twitter and Facebook. EQ2 Zam now has the transcript of this “developer chat” available. Admittedly, there are few revelations but it is always good to see developer communication.
From the EQ2 Forums: MERCENARIES The Ancient Construct mercenaries from Skyshrine should now be smaller once summoned. QUESTS The Lovebird’s Roost – Ferink no longer thinks Jojo is in Stonestair Byway.