From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:

Hey, folks,

We’ve listened to feedback and there were four areas we agreed needed to be improved to make the feature more useful. Below the list of those four major improvements:

1) The problem: People were joining the DF queue as “Random” and then declining group after group until they got the dungeon they wanted. The solution: If you queue and then receive a group invite…and then decline it…you will then suffer a 15-minute time penalty before you can re-queue again. This solution has no effect on people using the DF normally, but penalizes those that are trying to exploit the +25% bonus XP element.

From Rothgar on the EQ2 Forums:

Thank you for all the feedback you guys have been giving. I'm sorry I haven’t come back and posted a response before now. I’ve been skimming the feedback and talking it over with other members of the team. The purpose of this post was to get a general feeling from you guys on what we need to look at and address in the future. We’re deep into our expansion cycle right now so it’s too early to give dates about when we can make additional changes, but I wanted to start the discussion as early as possible.

Continue to discuss these issues and know that we are reading your feedback. As soon as we have more info to post we will let you know.
Thanks again for the feedback and thank you for your patience.

Here are your update notes for today, October 12, 2011:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

All Drunder x4 raid zones

• Sullon’s Spire, Tallon’s Stronghold, and Vallon’s Tower: The named boss NPCs do less damage and have slightly lower health.

Tallon’s Stronghold x4 raid zone [non-challenge]

• The banners that spawn during the Tyrax Terrolus fight now have less health.

With today’s update, the entirely optional Beastlord Prelude #2 quest goes live.  It provides an explanation for where Beastlords have been and why they’re now returning to Norrath. Don’t worry — whether you complete these brief lore quests or not, anyone who purchases the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion (when it goes on sale) will be able to create new Beastlords in November.

More controversial in today’s update is the removal of any “shard” cost from Thurgadin and Ry’Gorr armor.

You can expect crafters to be exceedingly busy today as they fulfill orders for full sets of Thurgadin armor as it is now essentially free minus the cost of common materials. Ry’Gorr armor also requires one of the tradeable gems listed below from Kael Drakkel zones. Don’t forget to tip your crafter!

If all crafters are currently assisting other customers, or you just prefer to go the Vendor route, Thurgadin and Ry’Gorr will be happy to sell their armor to allies with +40,000 faction, and a few plat. In the case of Ry’Gorr armor, you’ll also need one or more of the above gems from Kael Drakkel.

Check out EQ2Wire’s Guide to Velious Heroic Armor & Jewelry

Apparently any possible disruption this might cause to Progression or reduction in Tower of Frozen Shadow 1-3, Pools, Ascent, and Fortress groups hasn’t dampened the spirits of players excited to get free lootz for all their alts! Don’t worry, be happy!

Here are the results of our Wednesday survey EQ2Wire Asks: Will You Use Dungeon Finder? Results are as of Oct 10, 2011 01:00 PDT.

Do you think the Dungeon Finder will be popular?

Total Votes: 1185

This week we’ve seen the introduction of the Dungeon Finder, and what may be the end of “Shards” (Void Shards, Marks of Manaar, and Primal Velium Shards), at least for acquiring sets of armor.

Primal Velium Shards

First, let’s tackle the removal of Primal Velium Shards from the “shard armor” equation. The EQ2 team continues the minimalist approach to discussing and announcing mechanics changes, with this reactionary explanation from Gninja:

The Thurgadin, Ry’gorr, and Drunder armor sets are direct upgrades to each other. They should scale in difficulty to obtain and that difficulty was off. That was one of the reasons the Thurgadin armor was rarely purchased. If its easier to obtain better armor somewhere else then why get that armor to begin with? With these changes the lower tier armors are a bit easier to obtain making the chase be more for the Drunder armor sets rather than having to do the shard grind repeated for each tier.

SOE has been exceedingly tight-lipped about the upcoming EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion, now just 5-6 weeks away by our estimates. In the process of searching for any kind of official press releases, we found two sites which covered EverQuest II at Fan Faire that we hadn’t seen mentioned before.

Did you know that MMORPG.com interviewed Dave Georgeson about the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion during Fan Faire?

Did you know GameTrailers did a 4:54 interview with Dave Georgeson at this year’s Fan Faire where he talks about Design Your Own Dungeon?

Here are your Update Notes for Friday, October 7, 2011:

DUNGEON FINDER

• You will no longer lose infamy (a PvP stat) when joining a dungeon finder group.
• The dungeon Cauldron Hollow should now be listed as a 30-40 dungeon instead of 30-45.

Meanwhile on the Test and Test Copy servers, a new feature which will help with Dungeon Finder:

Sentinel’s Fate and Destiny of Velious dungeons now have mission givers located within the entrance of the zones.

EQ2Wire wants to know… Will you use the Dungeon Finder? Will your friends? Take the reader survey and we’ll publish the anonymous results soon!

From EverQuest2.com:

You asked for it – we delivered! The Dungeon Finder matchmaking system for EverQuest II is finally here! No longer will you have to scour the Looking for Group, Trade, or Auction channels to find a dungeon group. We’ve developed an amazing tool that does the work for you. All you need is to come prepared with your best adventuring outfit and rations.

Tomorrow’s Update brings us a positively reviewed revamp to the Troubador class, as well as a nerf rebalancing of the Dirge mythical effect. However the biggest feature in Thursday’s patch is the widely anticipated Dungeon Finder group-forming tool. Dungeon Finder will be isolated to each server at first, becoming cross-server at some point in the future.

This update does not include the controversial removal of Primal Velium Shards from heroic armor. That change will likely go in next week.

From EverQuest2.com:

Beginning October 6, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. US Pacific login for all servers, subscription and commerce services will be unavailable for maintenance. We expect this maintenance to take approximately an hour and a half. This may also cause some forum accounts to temporarily lose permissions, due to the inability to verify account status while the maintenance is taking place. This is only temporary and normal permissions will return automatically once the maintenance is complete.

No sooner than we’ve posted a long-simmering article about Velious’ steep heroic progression than changes have hit Test which could turn EQ2’s heroic progression on its ear. Brace yourself. Everything you know about Velious shard armor is about to change.

From Rothgar on the EQ2 Forums:

What are your current concerns with the state of PvP in EQ2?

Separation of PvP/PvE stats?
PvP Mechanics?
Warfronts?
Battlegrounds?
Flying Mounts?
Population?
Something else?

Feel free to prioritize them in a list such as the one above.

Rothgar‘s thread has also served as a great literacy test. Most players have responded with novel-length feedback.

Are you spending much time in Kael Drakkel? Drunder? Elements of War? That’s ok, neither are most other people.

EQ2 has a storied history of challenging dungeons. Players who have been around since the Fallen Dynasty fondly recall Nizara for its breathtaking challenge. Echoes of Faydwer delivered the instant classic Estate of Unrest. Kunark followed up with the mid-summer release of Veksar 2 and Runnyeye 2 (both forerunners of so-called Hard Mode zones). The Shadow Odyssey had a pair of zingers — Ruins of  Guk and the Palace of Ferzhul. However no EverQuest II expansion has played host to as many difficult dungeons at one time as the Destiny of Velious.

Today’s update removes the need for Critical Mitigation from Velious overland zones, as well as Kael Drakkel: Throne of Storms and the Temple of Rallos Zek (non-challenge). From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Sullon, Tallon and Vallon x4 raid zones (challenge versions)

• Many of the adds in the boss encounters now have reduced health.

Sullon, Tallon and Vallon x4 raid zones (non-challenge versions)

• In the non-challenge instances of these raid zones NPC bosses now have less health and do somewhat less damage with their melee attacks and spells.

Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundations of Stone [Challenge]

• The damage from the breath weapons that the Statue of Rallos Zek uses is easier to mitigate. The statue of Rallos zek will wait a couple of seconds after it says its text before casting retaliation of zek on itself.

Tallon’s Stronghold [Challenge]

• General Aakita and Utehk have less maximum health.

Great Divide and Eastern Wastes

• Critbonus has been removed from all overland mobs. Critical mitigation is no longer required to survive.

Reversing yesterday’s odd changes to the Zek and Drunder Breastplates, here Today’s Update Notes for September 28, 2011:

ITEMS

• Temple of Rallos Zek non-challenge BP mitigation values should be fixed.
• Temple of Rallos Zek non-challenge BP crit mit should be at 34%.
• Talisman of the Ethernauts should work for real this time.
• Fixed crit mit values on Elements of War caster legs and forearms.
• Fixed the stats on the Feinting Dagger of the Cunning Gambit and Feinting Blade of the Cunning Gambit.

Yesterday, Test received an update with these auspicious line items:

• Kael and Drunder group BPs have been modified to better fit within the progression.
• Temple of Rallos Zek Raid Hard mode BPs have had their power increased.

The result of these changes, however, has been less than desirable. The Mitigation (not crit mit, but the basic mitigation) of all the Breastplates (Robes, Cuirassen, Hauberks, Gis, Tunics, etc.) from Kael Drakkel: Fortress Spire and Drunder: Tower of Tactics has been reduced by over 90%.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Beginning September 29, 2011 at 6:00 a.m. PDT subscription and commerce services will be unavailable for maintenance. We expect this maintenance to take approximately two and half hours. This may also cause some forum accounts to temporarily lose permissions, due to the inability to verify account status while the maintenance is taking place. This is only temporary and normal permissions will return automatically once the maintenance is complete.

We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

Time Zone Calculations:

PDT: September 29, 2011 at 6:00~8:30 a.m.

EDT: September 29, 2011 at 9:00~11:30 a.m.

BST: September 29, 2011 at 14:00~16:30

CET: September 29, 2011 at 15:00~17:30

From the EQ2 Forums:

HOUSE RATING SYSTEM

• The House Rating System has been modified to use the median value of all ratings instead of a simple average.
• This will reduce the effect caused by players leaving extremely low or extremely high values that are outside of the norm for that house.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Kylong Plains

• Gregor Footstomper, Warlord Di’Ouz, Gorguolatha and Widow Mistress Xalthira in Kylong Plains should now drop treasure.

Nektulos

• All Griffin flight paths in Nektulos will now function properly.

ITEMS

• Fixed an issue where the incorrect leg shader would appear when wearing kilts.
• The Deepwater Researcher’s Sigil can no longer be traded.
• Kael and Drunder group BPs have been modified to better fit within the progression.
• Temple of Rallos Zek Raid Hard mode BPs have had their power increased.
• Fixed the focus effect for Hard mode Illusionist robes.
• Simmering Odachi of Feverous Advance now properly displays as a Fabled item.
• Fixed crit values on Hard mode Drunder belts.
• Velious instance rare loot has been rebalanced.

NOTE: This article contains no new information since August’s SOE Fan Faire 2011 event, but since these questions have been coming up more and more frequently, I thought I’d do a recap.

EverQuest II: Age of Discovery

With its promise of new features rather than new content, EverQuest II’s eighth expansion has the makings of an atypical release. EverQuest II: Age of Discovery is touted to have:

• Beastlords — The most frequently requested feature of EQ1 arrives with the Beastlord class. The 25th class will wear Brawler equipment but otherwise have an archetype of Scout. Will have a separate AA tree for their pet.
• Mercenaries — NPCs which can be hired to assist in questing, groups, and raids
• Tradeskill Apprentices — Little is known about these, but they use a new crafting table type and offer unique new recipes.
• Design Your Own Dungeon — Based on an updated version of the housing system, players can build dungeons using existing Zone styles, placing Items and Mobs picked up from around Norrath. They can then publish their Dungeon for others to play *using avatar NPCs* (you may not use your own character to run a DYOD). Rewards include gear for your main character, or items which can be used to build your own Design Your Own Dungeons.
• Item Reforging — Reshuffle some (but not all) of the stats on your items. You’ll also gain an in-game Particle Effect editor.

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Drunder

• All Challenge mode raids have had overall health for non-boss NPCs decreased by 25%.

Sullon’s Spire x4 raid [Challenge Mode]

• Aaranae Acrimae: She no longer speeds up the recast of Force of the web as the fight goes on.

Temple of Rallos Zek x4 Raid [Challenge Mode]

• Supreme Imperium Valdemarr and the Statue of Rallos Zek now have significantly fewer hit points.

Vallon’s Tower Raid [Challenge Mode]

• Lichlord Skulldugger fight: Greater deathknights have less health. Maalus will not cast irrevocable death as often on players during his portion of the fight. Once you have completed the initial ring event, you only have to defeat Byzola on subsequent pulls. Gozak’s Essence now has less maximum health.

After a couple of false starts, it looks like EverQuest II’s Dungeon Finder feature will be hitting the Test and Test Copy servers today. It’s important to note that the EQ2 Dungeon Finder feature will NOT allow cross-server grouping when it goes live. That’s planned for a distant future update.

From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:

Hi, folks,

The GU 61 feature that got delayed, “Dungeon Finder” is coming to your Test server on Friday, 9/20, in the morning update.

Here’s an early peek at the release notes you see then. There are definitely still bugs in the system, but we need your help to shake out the issues.

Try it at different levels, if you can. Some of you may find that you rediscover forgotten content you haven’t seen for a long time.

Here are your update notes for today, September 20th, 2011:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Fortress of Drunder: Citadel of V’uul (x2)

• Overall health of trash and boss encounters has been lowered.

PLAYER HOUSING

• Added a unique house ID number to saved house layout files. This can be used to identify a file from one house that has the same zone as another house.
• NOTE: Old version 5 files should still be loadable. New saved files will be version 6 and include the unique ID.

ITEMS

• Kingdom of Sky “Cloud Mount” questline rewards have had set bonuses re-added to them. This set bonus should work with the new and old quested items. Classes that cannot acquire the specific pieces have also been removed from each item.
• Elements of War weaponry should now have more lenient class restrictions.
• Son of Blades and Spreading Shadows should proc correctly.
• Brock’s Thermal Shocker is attainable in game once more. Players who have already completed the quest “Find Gingus” should be able to get the Thermal Shocker from the Shady Swashbuckler.
• The Soulshattering Band is no longer equipable by Fighters and Scouts.

QUESTS

• Quest Demonstration of Loyalty should now update properly in Nektulos Forest.

There are several options to upgrade your character’s Chest slot in Velious without raiding. There are now three questlines in Velious that offer Chestpieces, including the Othmir quests, the Flying Gryphon questline, and the new Thrael’Gorr quests introduced in Game Update 61. Public Quests have also offered a Chestpiece for those who are either extremely lucky or extremely patient.

Depicted at the top of this article is the power progression in Scout Chestpieces from Othmir quest gear all the way to Zek HM. Click the image to view all 11 items side-by-side.