Today’s update is all about taming the difficulty of Zek and other Velious group and raid zones (challenge and normal modes).

From the EQ2 Patch Notes:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Sullon’s Spire, Tallon’s Stronghold, and Vallon’s Tower x4 raid zones (NOT challenge mode)

• Several of the encounters in the zone have been made less powerful so that the challenge from these zones is more in line with the rewards.  In particular boss npcs will tend to melee attack for less damage, and many of their aoe spells will also do less damage, as well as be more mitigateable.

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a crash that could occur when taking screenshots.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Vallon’s Tower Raid Zones

• All players may now enter the normal, non-challenge Vallon’s Tower x4 raid zone.  Players can enter the challenge mode of Vallon’s Tower raid only after someone on the server has defeated Tallon Zek in Challenge mode.

Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundation of Stone [Challenge Mode]

• The greater warboars that spawn during the statue fight now have less health.  Their combat madness taunt spell no longer persists through death.

Strategist’s Stronghold

• When Shini-Zon Livia summons the Winds of Zek, you now have more time to move away from them. The damage of Winds of Zek has been reduced.

Hot off the presses, er patcher, here are the Game Update 61: The War of Zek Update Notes from the Test Patcher. Game Update 61 is expected to reach the Live servers near the end of August.

Game Update 61: “The War of Zek”

PLANE OF WAR

The time is near for the great Fortress of Drunder to reveal its true purpose to all. The very bedrock of the Eastern Wastes shudders and rocks as a massive planar portal rips itself open within the fortress walls. The sounds of war echo through its halls as the God of War himself prepares his innumerable armies to march across the frozen face of Velious and seize control of the lands of Norrath for all eternity.

The Plane of War is a normal and challenge mode raid.

Elements of War is a normal and challenge mode heroic experience.

Bunji dropped the news that Game Update 61 is hitting Test today:

We plan to push the current GU61 content to Test tomorrow morning.

GU61 (or most of it) is scheduled to hit Test around 7-8am PST tomorrow morning, 7/28.

What’s in Game Update 61?

• Dynamic Dungeon: Silent City [60~90]
• Dynamic Dungeon: Djinn Master’s Prism [60~90]
• Plane of War: heroic dungeon (normal and challenge)
• Plane of War: x4 raid (normal and challenge)
• Reitemize Level 20-90 dropped, quested, and crafted Items
• Alternate Advancement (AA) Revamp, especially Subclass (Monk, Templar, Paladin, etc.) tree.
• Tradeskill AAs [25 pts]
• House Rating System
• Dungeon Finder — Dungeons of any level, same-server only
• Fae/Arasai Flying
• New content in Eastern Wastes
• Beastlord Prelude Event for Good or Evil (Exile may choose one)
• Velious Signature Quest continues

The disclaimer above makes it clear that not all of Game Update 61 will be on Test today, but we’re anxious nonetheless. Read more about Game Update 61 in the Fan Faire EQ2 Panel.

Note: The Freeport Revamp, Tradeskill Apprentices, Item Reforging, Mercenaries, Design Your Own Dungeon, Beastlord Class, etc. are all part of the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion to be released this November.

Here’s our sixth video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Mechanics”.

If you’d like to view the transcript from this panel, check out our EQ2 Panel #5 – Mechanics writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.

Here are your update notes for July 26, 2011 from the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug that would cause /camp login to sometimes go to character select even if a character was given.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Sullon’s Spire and Tallon’s Stronghold x4 raid zones (NOT challenge mode)

• Several of the encounters in these zones have been made less powerful so that the challenge from these zones is more in line with the rewards.

QUESTS

Heritage

• It should no longer be possible to create a situation where the Head Usher in the Tower of Frozen Shadow cannot be spawned for the Skinning Knife subquest Unhappily Ever After.

The Fanged Sea

• The valkyrie event in The Fanged Sea can once again be completed.

LIVE EVENTS

Dragon Ring Rebuild Event

• Kreegar Krikneck should no longer require challenge mode debuffs to complete the encounter.
• Attacking NPCs should no longer despawn while in combat.

Wizard Spire Rebuild Event

• Attacking NPCs should no longer despawn while in combat.

Today’s Update includes numerous tweaks to the harder Velious dungeons, further reducing the difficulty of many zones, as well as the aforementioned reduction in the cost of Velium Shard armor (Ry’Gorr armor is now 25 shards per piece, 20 if crafted). A glitch with Leaper or Glider mounts and pets (especially Coercer pets) has also been resolved.

I’ve posted our first video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Freeport and Beyond” which is an overview of everything we can expect from the EQ2 team until November 2011.

If you’d like to view the Slides from this panel in higher quality, check out the updated EQ2 Panel #1 – Freeport and Beyond writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug where you could relinquish your home and cause your guild hall to be relinquished too!

MOUNTS

• Gliding mounts will no longer port up into the air after using certain teleports.
• Players using leapers and gliders should appear to move smoother when viewed on other player’s clients.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

• The normal mode x4 raid zones (Temple, Throne, Kraytoc’s and Drunder zones) require less critical mitigation than before.  Players with less critical mitigation should have a better chance for survival.

Starting the EverQuest II: Itemization, Class Balance, Mechanics panel…

Salim “Silius“, Carlos “Gninja” Mora, Greg “Rothgar” Spence, Paul “Frizznik” Carrico, Mike “Xelgad” Ganz

Today’s update adds additional tweaks to Velious dungeons, increases the overlooked Gnomish Hoverpads to 130% runspeed, re-allows Crit Chance adornments in all the slots they were previous allowed in, a few quest glitches, and also corrects a few issues with the new Leaper and Glider mounts.

Today brings a substantial update with lots of fixes, tweaks, as well as the much-lauded introduction of Leaper and Glider mounts to EQ2 at levels 30 and 60. In a perplexing move, Ground, Leaper, and Glider mounts will all travel on the ground at speeds of up to 150%, making them as fast as any of the current Flying mounts, only lacking the differentiating ability of flight.

All servers will come down for an update at 7am PDT (3pm BST / 4pm CET) on Friday, June 24, 2011. U.S. servers are expected to be down for one hour. International servers should expect a two hour downtime.

As we reported last week, raid zones have been ‘freaking out’ with players suddenly doing massive amounts of damage while all other players on the raid are frozen. Rothgar‘s on the case from this post on the EQ2 Forums:

We have a fix for this problem and it should be going out soon.

There is one downside to this fix going in: Brigands won’t be doing 400k DPS with a mysterious unexplained tank pet.

It’s now 2 weeks since players have been reporting some strange glitches with Velious raid zones. There seem to be 2 problems. The first is zones “crashing” and resetting back to their default states. This means all trash mobs must be killed again. The second issue seems involve players suddenly becoming all powerful and casting spells their class is not capable of, doing hundreds of thousands of points of damage, all while the entire raid force is frozen in place. It’s truly a bizarre bug to hear explained and yet several have reported it in 3 different threads:

• Very odd glitch since GU60
• Foundations of Stone
• Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundations of Stone

Cloudrat of Test has discovered that players can place an AA mirror in each of their houses and thus save more than one AA setup.

Today I put a second AA mirror in a second home of mine and saved another AA setup. I am thinking now with mulit housing I can fine tune my saved AA setups with  one for soloing , grouping , raiding, harvesting and one for crafting.  I will just need to have a house for each setup to hold the mirror and have to pay for several resets to get them all into place.

With so many changes and strategies combos based on what you are doing as the game grows this is an exciting new aspect Now maybe there will be more raiders looking into the housing market and portals to them

This is a happy bonus to owning more houses.

So far, EQ2 developers have taken extraordinary measures to prevent more than one Mirror of Reflected Achievements from being used per character, despite the obvious benefits (and parallels to multiclassing games like Rift). AA mirrors are LORE NO-TRADE, preventing players from crafting them for their alts or using more than one in a house, but with multi-housing, who knows what the EQ2 dev team will do. I would wait a few days to see if there is a reaction before tracking down a crafter to make you a spare mirror.

If this side benefit is allowed to stand, maybe raiders will complain a bit less about the development hours spent on getting Multi-housing working? 😉 Ok, not very likely…

tfetterman noticed a change in the June 13 Test Update Notes affecting the description and behavior of the Bard ability Rhythmic Overture.

Bard

• Rhythmic Overture now applies as a buff to the bard. All damage inflicted by the bard will apply toward Victorious Concerto.

Lemilla of Permafrost described the change:

As it’s a buff on yourself instead of a debuff on the mob, it would mean that it will track damage inflicted upon multiple enemies instead of just one. This change makes it possible to charge a proper VC on fights where the mobs die within 10 seconds.

Same for the changes to Crusader’s Faith and Spirit Tap.

When asked if this would affect MultiAttack damage (which Dirges rely on), Spell Double Attack, Procs, etc., Xelgad dashed those hopes:

The same rules apply – so Multi Attacks, Spell Double Attacks, DoTs and Procs will not count toward the recorded damage.

Today’s update addresses numerous complaints about the difficulty of the Drunder heroic and raid zones as well as the Citadel of V’uul x2. In particular the Drunder group zones seemed to require Raid gear to attempt, yet lacked any progression of itemization from that gear. We also see some ease-of-use changes to Kael Drakkel contested.

The full notes after the jump…

All U.S. servers will come down for a hotfix at 7am PDT on Thursday, June 2, 2011. The expected downtime is one hour. The Splitpaw server will have its hotfix at 5am London Time on Friday, June 3, 2011. Estimated downtime is 2 hours.

After the jump, your full Game Update 60 Notes for today, May 31st, 2011…

Today, arguably the largest Game Update we’ve seen in years hits the live servers. Game Update 60 adds 4 new dungeons, 4 new raid zones, more crafting, more quests from a solo shard quest to a Heritage Quest, major changes to PvP from gear to itemization to mechanics, not only a new Battlegrounds lobby, but a 4th Battleground 18 vs. 18.

We are still waiting for the full list of Game Update Notes, but in the meantime, here’s just a quick bullet point list of what we can expect:

New Level 90 Dungeons and Raid Zones

The Crystal Caverns will naturally be familiar to those who adventured through Velious in EQ1.

The Fortress of Drunder consists of 3 new group dungeons, 3 new x4 raid zones with both regular and challenge modes, a new x2 raid zone, as well as a crafting zone. Drunder zones are only accessible via flying mount.

• Drunder: Spire of Rage (group)
• Drunder: Strategist’s Stronghold (group)
• Drunder: Tower of Tactics (group)

• Drunder: Citadel of V’uul (x2 raid)
• Drunder: Sullon’s Spire (x4 raid)
• Drunder: Tallon’s Stronghold (x4 raid)

• Drunder: Vallon’s Tower (x4 raid)

We’re still 1 week away from Game Update 60 and Today’s update fixes a few outstanding bugs, specifically a Public Quest Participation loot bug, as well as handing out those five 7-day Research Potions to make up for the Research Assistants going on holiday while the servers were inaccessible.

The full Update Notes after the jump…

Game Update 60 has finally reached Test and there is a lot of content here, including 3 new heroic dungeons, 3 new x4 raid zones, and a new x2 raid zone, a new Battleground, as well as major changes to PvP. Also look out for several changes and tweaks to classes, as well as a hard-to-miss huge nerf to Dirges, with Chimes/Cacophony of Blades no longer interrupting.

“The Children of War”

The Fortress of Drunder has emptied of Rallos Zek and his armies as they pass into the Plane of War to prepare for their eventual march on the Western Wastes. The Demi-Gods, Tallon and Vallon Zek, are subjugated within its towers, ignorant of Rallos’ grand scheme. Only Sullon Zek, the Maiden of Rage, is aware of what is to transpire. Trapped within her own tower, she has taken great risks to seek out worthy and daring heroes and guide them into the walls of Drunder.

Now it is up to you to grapple the Minions of Zek and battle your way through events that will gain you amazing allies and set into motion a war that will end all wars!

After the jump the full Game Update 60 Notes as they appear on Test (subject to change between now and May 17th):

Here are your update notes for today, April 28, 2011. They include the introduction of Multi-housing. Thanks to Cyliena over at EQ2 ZAM for the formatting:

HOUSING UPDATES

• Each character can now own up to 10 houses of any combination (as long as he or she meets the house prerequisites).
• House purchases are now based on alignment rather than citizenship.
• The marketplace house item limit increasers now only apply to a single house. Additionally, the marketplace house item limit increaser will no longer stick with your house as you move from house to house, but it still stacks with the tradeskilled house item limit increaser.

More information and FAQ can be found here on the Official Forums.

Today’s Update for Tuesday, April 12, 2011 brings PvP Character Transfers to and from PvP servers, fixes for the Storm Gorge PQ, fixes bugs in instances and raid zones including Tower of Frozen Shadow which has been broken since a week ago Thursday preventing raid progression, and eliminates harassment of other server’s chat channels (players were able to join the 1-9 and other numbered chat channels of other servers).

After many years of requests, it is now possible to transfer characters from PvP to PvE and vice-versa on both regular and exchange-enabled servers (exchange-to-regular is still not allowed).

Good news if you play on Test or Test Copy! Several crucial fixes to Public Quests and the Tower of Frozen Shadow x2 raid, as well as the wayward Research button in the Knowledge window  made their way to the Test Servers yesterday.

Normally, we only glance at Test Update Notes to check for new features. No doubt many players on Live will be wishing that this is how the Live Update Notes for yesterday looked. It would have been great to go into the weekend with a lot of these issues tackled.

Here are the Test Update Notes for yesterday, Thursday April 7th. It’s unclear when these will go live, but possibly next Tuesday.