UPDATE: Webcast has started!! The webcast concluded about 20 minutes ago.
From the EverQuest II twitter feed:
Don’t forget! Our Launch Day webcast starts at 8:00 AM PST (in 30 minutes!) on TwitchTV! http://bit.ly/u8cvs4 – AoD, F2P, & GU62! [Isulith]
http://www.twitch.tv/sonyonlinetv/
Time Zone Conversion
From EverQuest2.com:
We’re just hours away from Age of Discovery, Game Update 62: Freeport Reborn and EverQuest II going free-to-play! There’s a lot of exciting stuff going on so naturally, we’ll be having an extended downtime.
Important: This is an estimate of our anticipated downtime; please keep an eye on the forums and Facebook for any changes and updates!
All EQII and EQ2X servers will come offline at 12:01 AM PST* on Tuesday, December 6th, to prepare for this massive transition and content update. We anticipate game servers will be back online before 12:00 Noon PST*. Due to the volume of data involved, international servers will experience extended downtime.
In addition, SOE account management and commerce services will be offline in all games during the transition period. Forums may also experience periodic outages. Remember that the EQ2X forums will be locked tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM PST*. We warmly welcome all EQ2X forum users to take this time to register anew on the EQII forums; you can start posting there now!
We are proud to announce that you’ll also find a shiny new website when EverQuest II comes back online. We hope you enjoy our new, streamlined look!
Don’t miss our “Countdown to Age of Discovery” launch day webcast, beginning at 8:00 AM PST* on Tuesday morning! We’ll interview bleary-eyed, hardworking members of the EverQuest II team, provide live status updates – we’ll even have some opportunities to win EQII shwag! We’ll be on the air until 9:45 AM PST*, so tune in on TwitchTV for the webcast while you wait for the servers to come back online.
Finally, look for a Producer’s Letter from Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, bright and early tomorrow morning, to usher in a new era for EverQuest II!
If you haven’t yet bought your Age of Discovery expansion, there’s still time to pre-order! Pre-orders end on December 5, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST*. If you pre-order the game, you can lock in special savings and get a unique pre-order item. Click here to get it now!
If you have any Questions, Comments, Bug reports, or Feedback about EQ2U, please fill out the Contact Us form below. If you had a problem on a specific page, PLEASE include the link to that page or the steps to reproduce the problem you had and we will take a look at it!
It is important that you use a real e-mail address so we can contact you with followup questions, troubleshooting, etc. We spend a lot of time reading and responding to your comments. Submissions with a fake e-mail address will be deleted.
From EverQuest2.com:
EverQuest II Behind the Scenes Video: Freeport QuestsReady for another behind-the-scenes video? Check out our latest sneak peak on quests in the all-new Freeport, available Tuesday, December 6, 2011 with Game Update 62!
Jason “Fyreflyte” Woerner gives us a sneak peek into one of the upcoming quests in EverQuest II’s newly revamped Freeport quest line!
On last night’s EQ2Talk Podcast, Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson shared his thoughts about the importance of player feedback. We provide a transcription of the segment from 7:55~12:15.
In the past, we’ve been a little heavy handed on a few things. I admit that. We’re trying to be really serious this year about getting you guys [all the players] involved in a lot of stuff. Traditionally, the game has been… you know we try to communicate on the forums, but you know what the forums are like. It’s a challenge. The trolls enjoy their game. And it’s tough to fight them because if you pay attention [to them], you lose. The forums are tough to get really good feedback from so we have to rely on things like Fan Faires and talking to people individually and Customer Service Reports and those sorts of things.
That’s why I want to start putting in in-game polls. I suspect that there’s a lot of really good information, a lot of opinions we’re not hearing at all. [To Dellmon:] You’re a broadcaster, so you’re familiar with the concept that if somebody calls you, you have to figure there’s a hundred or a thousand other people with the exact same opinion out there, but didn’t bother to call. There’s a lot of people out there that are basically not voting.
A late night tweet from Domino indicates that the last batch of players who signed up for the Age of Discovery beta and signed the NDA are now welcome to try out the beta. There was a glitch with some of the invite emails but if you fit the above, download the Beta patcher anyway and give it a try!
Everyone who registered can get into beta but some emails were delayed 🙁 The last should be catching up now. Patcher: ow.ly/7NH4i
EQ2 Beta Launcher
EQ2 Beta Streaming Launcher
Note: Once the patcher starts, you should copy the paks and music folders from your live installation of EQ2 to your EQ2 Beta folder. The patch should take about 30-45 minutes if you do this.
From the EQ2 Forums:
EverQuest II Behind the Scenes Videos: Beast Lord Warders & Mercenaries
We’ve got a special treat for you! Check out our two new EverQuest II behind-the-scenes videos, covering two of the awesome features coming with the new expansion: Age of Discovery! That’s right – we’re be taking an inside look at beast lords and mercenaries!
Beastlord Warders by Akil “Lyndro” Hooper
Mercenaries by Carlos “Gninja” Mora
Direct Links: http://youtu.be/AOhi4_g82oM & http://youtu.be/vCt4sI-Hcps
We are happy to present our EQ2Wire Exclusive: Beastlord Warders Guide. Check it out!
As of 6:20pm PST last night (3:20am my time), an announcement (also here) indicating that the Age of Discovery NDA has lifted.
As we found out last year, this doesn’t actually mean the whole NDA has been lifted. Due to a Survivorship clause, in fact just two passages of the two page document have been rescinded. We are allowed to talk about what we experienced in Beta. The gag order is lifted. We get our voice back. But anything else such as quotes from the Beta forums, screenshots, videos, etc. are still verboten.
Now there’s a noble goal behind this and that’s to prevent really ugly screenshots which don’t represent the final product getting plastered all over the Internet. The information, screenshots, and videos people are posting should reflect how the Age of Discovery expansion will look when it’s released, not how it looked a month ago. Developers also need to be able to have free and unfettered communication with players. If they knew that their every off-hand comment on the Beta forums might get broadcast to the world, they might be more cautious about posting.
We will have some articles today, although the restriction on screenshots and videos naturally hampers what we can do.
From EverQuest2.com:
We are extremely pleased to bring you the new Dungeon Maker feature set. For the first time, you and your fellow players can create new content for the game, play through a constantly changing list of player-created dungeons, and get rewards whether you are a dungeon builder, adventurer, or both!
We recently ran groups of press folks through a “tour” of the Freeport revamp and the AoD feature set. We ended each tour with a demo of Dungeon Maker and what it could do, and we were met with a lot of excitement about the potential once players get their hands on this stuff.
There’s a lot to be excited about, and if you aren’t currently involved in the beta testing (at present about 4000 of you *are* involved), then you haven’t seen much about Dungeon Maker yet. So here’s a preview so you know why this feature will be fun, as either a builder or an adventurer.
From EverQuest2.com today, December 1st:
Last week, several news outlets participated in the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery and Freeport Reborn Game Update Beta Press Tours. They got sneak previews of the exciting features and content that are coming out with our newest expansion and game update, all set to release on December 6, 2011.
With the lifting of the Press Embargo promptly on November 29th @ 4:00pm PST, Press sites are now posting their previews of the upcoming EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion which releases on December 6th, 2011.
From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:
I’ve said this before, but it gets lost on these boards, so I’ll throw it out there one more time. Warning: This isn’t short.
The second half of Velious was designed to be a separate expansion pack. We fully intended *and started* to create “Velious Part II” so we could launch it next year.
But we decided it would be a lot cooler, and honestly, a lot better business, to release new content constantly throughout the year, so that you always have something new to look forward to and to play, rather than race through one set of content once annually and then sit around waiting for the rest of the year.
But content takes time to create. LOTS of time. (We have many parallel developments going constantly here, with staggered release schedules.) The art team has been banging on Withered Lands, Skyshrine, Cobalt Scar, Siren’s Grotto, and a lot more, some of it for over six months now. That art starts wrapping up soon so it can move over to design and they can start making it breathe…and there’s still more to do (like remaking Qeynos) before the art team starts making other content beyond that.
From the EQ2 Forums:
IMPORTANT: NEW DATE! The new Launcher will go to Beta tomorrow (Wednesday, November 30), and to Live on Thursday, December 1, 2011
If you thought all the bases had been covered on Character Slots with November 12th’s announcement about the Free-to-Play conversion of EQ2, there was one group who still had questions. These players are in the unique position of having characters on both the EQ2 and EQ2X servers AND having also bought character slots.
If you feel a math headache coming on, feel free to run away. To quote SmokeJumper “This situation only affects players that have characters *both* on Live server(s) and EQ2X.If you don’t have characters on Freeport, then this is a non-issue.”
SOE are getting quick posting their Webcast videos. Below, find the video from tonight’s SOE Webcast for the upcoming Age of Discovery expansion:
The SOE Webcast has just completed with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (Executive Producer), Greg “Rothgar” Spence (Lead Programmer), Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (Lead Designer), and Emily “Domino” Taylor (Associate Producer), along with host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations).
It was brief, to say the least, mostly because it was immediately followed by a DCUO webcast (whose audience showed up during the EQ2 webcast and trashed everyone including SOE and demanded that the DCUO webcast start immediately).
During the entire webcast, Brasse’s microphone was subject to bursts of static and wind noise making it very difficult to hear. We’ll look forward to the Youtube video so we can clarify some points.
After the jump, some updated bullet point notes from the Webcast…
With tomorrow’s Launchpad 4 rollout, we’re still going to lose the ability to Select a Character from the launcher, it won’t offer Text and Voice Chat or a Friends list, and it won’t provide Background Updates, but that doesn’t mean these features aren’t planned. With the removal of Flash and reliance for Internet Explorer, the new launcher should boast better security.
And according to a detailed FAQ provided by Dan Kinney, it looks like there are some workarounds to keep some of that Station Launcher functionality for the time being.
From Dan Kinney on the Launchpad Forums:
While I am no longer working on the LaunchPad project, I have more than a passing understanding of how it works. The team is pretty slammed right now getting the final touches on the release for tomorrow for EverQuest II, so I will try to help resolve any issues or concerned.
There have been several posts by our studly community and CS folks, but I’d like to chime in on this forum which has always had more detailed discussions around the LaunchPad.
Is this the version with the Flash-ectomy?
Yes. No Flashes were used or harmed during this production or operation of this LaunchPad. [One of the biggest roadblocks to moving from Launchpad 3 has been rewriting all of the functionality provided by Flash]
Well, we’ve been ready to post this for a few hours now and have just been waiting for the Update Notes. But the servers just went down and there are still no notes. From the EQ2 Forums:
All U.S. servers will come down for a hotfix at 7am PST on Tuesday, November 29, 2011. The expected downtime is two hours.
From Isulith on the EQ2 Forums:
I am terribly sorry that someone did not post the patch notes.
Just to explain a bit, since this has come up in the past – someone on the development side usually posts the patch notes and I post the downtime notification for players. That is why they are separated. I will check with them and see what the patch notes were and get some info posted for everyone.
An update from Bunji:
There were no player facing changes with this downtime which is why no patch notes were listed. The downtime was for some database maintenance. I can put up patch notes that mention this in the future to prevent confusion.
Starting on Wednesday, November 30th Thursday, December 1st the following launchers/launchpads/patchers will no longer update EQ2 but instead automagically update themselves to Launchpad 4:
From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:
Hi folks,
As you know, there’s a ton of new stuff coming to you soon. And soon starts now!
The first step is a LaunchPad upgrade. Starting on Wednesday (November 30, 2011) Thursday December 1st, LaunchPad will be updated automatically for you when you log in. We’re doing it now so it’s out of the way and not an issue before we launch GU 62 (“Freeport Reborn”) and the new expansion, “Age of Discovery.”
Press & Fan Sites
If you’re wanting to get the word out about your MMO’s upcoming expansion, you’d be a turkey to not focus your attention on multi-game MMO websites. Employing correspondents that attend gaming expos around the globe, these “Press” sites have come to expect a certain degree of red carpet treatment.
Press sites are one of the smartest places to drop a few bucks for a potentially big return. People have decried the lack of advertising in EverQuest II, while Press sites like TenTonHammer and Massively get thousands of eyeballs on their sites every day. There’s always a chance that an article about EverQuest II could bring back old players, or attract the interest of a gamer new to MMOs. Some would call this kind of quid pro quo a necessary evil, but these days, it’s just the cost of doing business. Last week, we saw plenty of that business with a series of tweets as these sites went through the Age of Discovery dog-and-pony show that is the Press Tour.
This Thanksgiving, we wanted to take a moment to be thankful for those EQ2 Fan Sites that didn’t go on Press or Beta Tours, yet continue to support the EQ2 community not just once or twice a year, but every day. Although Fan Sites don’t bring new gamers to EQ2, a vibrant supportive community can sure help to retain existing players.
Some of you may be familiar with Adam “Ferrel” Trzonkowski, if not by name than from reading his gaming perspective site EpicSlant.com or from hearing the “A View From the Top” podcast which he co-hosted with Massively’s Karen Bryan, or perhaps his current Multiverse Podcast. What you may not know is that Adam is also a published author!
Earlier this year, Adam put down into words his many years of experience as a guild leader in a How To guide called The Guild Leader’s Companion. Containing tips, suggestions, and humorous anecdotes, it’s a virtual manual for running a guild and dealing with the interpersonal conflicts that inevitably arise. The Guild Leader’s Companion was self-published in hardcover form on Amazon and as an e-book.
Now Adam has written a new book — The Raider’s Companion — but he needs your help!
After the jump, an explanation and further backstory on the project…
From the Society for the Preservation of Superlatives EverQuest2.com:
Let’s journey down the path to the Age of Discovery! Join Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (Executive Producer), Greg “Rothgar” Spence (Lead Programmer), Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (Lead Designer), and Emily “Domino” Taylor (Associate Producer), along with your host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations), to learn all about the thrilling features due in EverQuest II’s next expansion, Age of Discovery. We’ll also share a little insight into the Beta process, how the team has been using your feedback, and what changes are being made!
Join us on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, at 4:00 p.m. US Pacific Time*, on Twitch TV! The webcast is expected to last about 20 minutes.
Be there for a very special announcement!
Time Zone Conversions:
So I wanted an EverQuest II: Age of Discovery wallpaper for my desktop. I change wallpapers often, and thought hey, I’d like to get in the mood. Usually by this point, we’ve received some promotional material for the upcoming expansion, namely high resolution wallpapers, screenshots, etc.
Since I haven’t seen hide nor hair of anything like that, I put together my own 16:9 widescreen EverQuest II: Age of Discovery wallpaper using key art provided to Zam. This is an unofficial wallpaper, but if you’d like to adorn your desktop, feel free to download!
Download Age of Discovery Wallpaper
(1476 x 830 in 16:9 format)
The US Servers will come down on November 22, 2011, at 7:00 am PST for an update. The expected downtime is two hours.
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- Assets can no longer be listed for auction on Live Gamer servers.
It seems unlikely that 2 hours of maintenance on every server are needed to push a change to two servers. Perhaps some database maintenance/changes are making made, or some other preparation for the upcoming expansion.
