Dethdlr
For a while now, there have been items that give a bonus to mitigation. These bonuses are shown as the blue stat on gear that says +x% Mitigation Increase. Apparently, for a long time now, there has been a bug with how this bonus is calculated which has been granting more of an increase than intended. A fix for this has crept its way onto the test server which is lowering the mitigation of most tanks. So, on the test server, if you have any of this gear and yesterday you were barely able to survive during a given...
Raiding
Here are your hotfix notes for September 1, 2010 after the break:
Feldon
What’s on Test this weekend? Here are just a few items: UI: The XP bar will now stay put between logins. UI: Designers of custom UIs can now set the XP bar to not “snap” to top/bottom. UI: The Character window has seen multiple improvements. UI: The Implied Target arrow now reflects the ‘con’ color of the enemy, and can have its opacity adjusted. Items: 2-handed Weapons and Ranged Weapons have had their damage ratings increased. Ranged weapons will also have a bit of a damage penalty in PvP to compensate. The Guardian class has had over 25 changes...
When you target another player (say your group’s tank, or the raid Main Assist) to channel your damage through, it is sometimes helpful to not only see the Target Arrow (who you have selected), but the Implied Target Arrow (the enemy which your target has chosen). This can be especially important for scouts. So players have asked for a way to customize or more easily distinguish the color and opacity of the Implied Target Arrow. Rothgar’s comments after the jump…
From Silius on the EQ2 Forums: Hello again, I just wanted to update everyone on the situation. We will be unable to get this fix live until Tuesday. Once again I am sorry for the inconvenience but I offer some assistance. If you are unable to get into the same instance please do the following: 1. Have your raid leader petition so their is only one petition generated for the raid. 2. Place the petition in the stuck character category. The CS team is aware of this issue and they will do their best to promptly assist by pulling...
The hits keep coming for GU57, and we don’t mean critical heals. Some quick updates on GU57 from the overnight dev responses all in one handy post…
Players on a variety of servers (in two different threads) have reported that yesterday’s change to how players reach the Palace of Roehn Theer, requiring each player to individually click on the zone-in, instead of a raidwide zone-in, is resulting in multiple separate instances. Currently there seems to be no fix, as even players who zone in one-at-a-time are still ending up in separate instances and must wait 30 minutes before their timers reset.
Xelgad has responded to a detailed thread on Illusionist Class Issues: Hey guys, long time no see! We got some good feedback at Fan Faire which I wanted to share. I agree that Time Warp ended up being more annoying than it is fun or rewarding. Unfortunately, it was one of those things that looked okay on paper but didn’t work in practice. We have it changed internally so that there is no longer an immunity timer associated with the spell, and it now grants the Illusionist the buff as well as the target. This should be coming to...
In response to a detailed list of issues with the Monk Class, Xelgad has provided an unexpected commentary: Thanks for the up to date thread! I can’t give an ETA, but we are looking for ways to make Monks more viable in AE-oriented content, especially with heroic content in mind. If the change benefits both brawlers, all the better. In that light, Crane Twirl would seem like a great candidate for a change, but I think the advancement is, at worst, balanced compared to other alternate advancements in the slot, and forcing everyone to take that one would not...
Xelgad has posted a flurry of responses to specific class issues today. This one, in regards to Critical Heals which have been removed from all fighters. For some fighter classes, critical heals might have been overpowered, but for Paladins (joshingly referred to as Healadins), losing all crititical heals has had class altering effects not only in solo situations (which this nerf was intended to fix) but in group and raid setups.
We’ve been hearing about some ranger love for about 3 expansions now, but at Fan Faire, we heard the first concrete info. Xelgad has elaborated on just what we can expect in an update falling between GU57 and GU58 (hopefully 4-6 weeks from now: Greetings, Mighty Forces! AE Auto-Attack and Flurry are indeed on the way for bows. We’re also removing the 20% damage penalty for bows, and we’re increasing the damage rating on all 81-90 bows (along with throwing weapons) by about 10%. The intent is to allow you guys to get full benefit from buffs and gear,...
On the EQ2 Forums by Kander: Changes to Zaalax, Xaalax, Saalax and Yaalax: * They no longer mitigate significant amounts of elemental damage. * The strength of the knockback on Zaalax’s Crushalanche spell has been reduced. * Call of the Underfoot curse now lasts longer before going off * Players now have more time to move away from Zaalax’s fissures before being hit by a seismic shock * The splits off Zaalax now have lower maximum health. Incidentally, the X,Y, Z encounter does indeed have loot. and… We are hoping for tomorrow with these changes. Watch for the patch...
Today marks the introduction of Game Update 57 to the live servers. Key features of this update include: The EQ2 User Interface has received a facelift, with a new toolbar, a refresh of various windows, and a merged Character/Inventory/Profile window. The default theme is red, but easily switchable to blue by typing /loadui and choosing the Blue graphic set. More character classes are now neutral and may start in either good or evil cities. Spell animations and effects have been revamped. Intrazone travel now supports path linking. Travel within Kingdom of Sky has been improved. Erudin group instances (level...
Here is the 6-part Question & Answer panel for EQ2 from Saturday at Fan Faire 2010. [EQ2Wire] Fan Faire 2010 – EQ2 Q&A Saturday Panel (playlist)
I have just posted all 6 parts of the EQ2 Mechanics / Class Balance panel from Fan Faire 2010. [EQ2Wire] Fan Faire 2010 – EQ2 Mechanics Panel (playlist)
Apologies for any typos. They jacked up the AC in here!! Remember folks, lots of EQ2 t shirts, hoodies, and polos.
EQ2 Mechanics and Class Balance panel. Rich Waters, Greg “Rothgar” Spence, Paul “Frizznik” Carrico, Mike “Xelgad” Ganz. Update: As of 2:00AM CDT I have made some cleanup and additional information added to these notes based on memory. There are 3-4 missing questions which will get filled in after the video is reviewed.
Live blog from Fan Faire with q&a on EverQuest II.
Here are your update notes for Wednesday, 28 July 2010: UNDERFOOT DEPTHS Energized Taehric Construct (challenge mode): The Construct will try and cast Crippling Judgment on his main target whenever possible, rather than a random fighter. The construct will try and cast Curse of Befuddlement on priests in separate groups, whenever possible, avoiding casting it on two priests in the same group whenever possible. ITEMS The Twisted Alloy Wristlet’s proc, Torturous Paths, has had its damage increased and its proc chance raised. Many mage items within Underfoot Depths have received pet effects. TINKERFEST The Tinkerfest quest “Great Balls of...
Game Update 57 is now up on the Test and Test Copy Servers and we’ve got the Update Notes. We’ve already taken some new screen shots of the new default interface including the new pictorial tutorials for new players. User Interface – One of the touted features of Game Update 57 is the revamped User Interface. The Persona and Inventory windows have been merged into a Character window. The XP bar has become a sort of “dock” at the bottom of your screen. All buttons and window corners have been rounded off. And for the most part, everything that...
Here are your hotfix notes for July 22, 2010: LON MOUNTS Legends of Norrath mounts have all been upgraded to a standard 65% run speed. PERAH’CELSIS’ ABOMINABLE LABORATORY Arkatanthis the Destroyer: The Benthic adds that challenge group members will try to challenge players unaffected by benthic freeze wherever possible.
Xelgad has been paying close attention to feedback on his Guardians: Requesting Feedback thread on the EQ2 Forums. His response to this feedback includes some additional tweaks we might see as a result of ideas submitted by players. These changes are expected after Game Update 57. You can read his comments after the jump…
Xelgad has taken another measured step towards collecting player feedback. Last month, it was a shoutout for Top End Guilds to post some of their highest parses. Today’s request appears to be some light finally being shone on guardians after nearly 2 years at the lower middle of the “fighter” pack in tanking ability. Greetings Guardians! First off, allow me say that we understand that the class is being outshined at the moment, and we’re working on it. It’s going to take more than just one change to get Guardians back to working as a strong class again. I’m...
CORRECTION: Ikik is still on the Vanguard team. Today we learn from EQ2Flames just who was laid off from the EQ2 team. Timetravelling designed some of the more interesting raid encounters in the Sentinel’s Fate expansion, including Roehn Theer: I wanted to pop in and thank you all for playing EQ2 for the last few years. You helped make it an absolute joy of a job, and I’m sorry to be moving on, but I suppose that thems the breaks. Please keep on keepin’ on, having fun, and kicking the crap out of all of the encounters us poor...
Aidis Darvidas
The most difficult part of a raid encounter can be managing the Adds or additional enemies that come at predefined moments during the fight. EQ2 has a storied history of people trying different methods to manage, crowd control, confuse, or completely reset Adds during challenging fights. Clearly, the desire to beat more difficult enemies is a powerful temptation to cheat. Manipulating the outcome of a fight through timely brawler death feigns or leashing certain mobs by fighting at a distance are tactics which have existed in EQ2 from the very beginning. Such exploits were very publicly documented in Veeshan’s...