Welcome to the EverQuest II: Systems panel from SOE Live 2013. Panelists are Michael “Xelgad” Ganz, Brian “Omougi” Ferguson, and Kyle “Kander” Vallée.
Disclaimer: All things discussed about the expansion are subject to change!
Itemization will be discussed in our next systems panel: EverQuest II: Itemization Evolves.
More slides after the jump…
Welcome to the EverQuest II: Systems panel from SOE Live 2013. Panelists are Michael “Xelgad” Ganz, Brian “Omougi” Ferguson, and Kyle “Kander” Vallée.
This is a LIVE BLOG hosted by Blyve:
http://blyve.com/event/f936f951ce62705701000000
The EverQuest II keynote ended just over an hour ago here at SOE Live 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we were given some great hints of things that will be expounded upon more tomorrow in the three EQ2 panels — Mechanics, Expansion, and Itemization Evolves. (please check our list of panels we’re covering)
First up, this fall’s expansion is Tears of Veeshan. It’s a high level expansion with a huge overland zone and 9 massive dungeons. Each of the dungeons in the expansion will have quests and storylines.
Dragons AA Tab — The Dragon’s tab has 4 lines to choose from which vary by Archetype. Depending on your archetype, the AA tab will have a different label — Dozekar, Yelenak, Woushi, and Trakanon. (This is just flavor text). With the expansion, the Alternate Advancement cap is going up to 340 points.
What can I say about tomorrow’s Itemization Evolves panel? (without being hunted down by Georgeson?) Not much, but just imagine me with duct tape over my mouth, two thumbs way up, and smiling. In Kander‘s EQ2Talk interview a few months back, he told us that linear, static, and boring itemization is going out and player choice is coming in. I am very excited about this panel and hope you don’t miss our Liveblog of it!
Even as the EQ2 team puts the finishing touches on their presentations for the upcoming 10th expansion of EverQuest II, some are working late, continuing to chip away at the frustrating lag which is affecting certain raid zones such as Dreadcutter and Harrow’s End.
From Kander on the EQ2 Forums:
We’ve been looking at Freeport. We are making some config changes on the current raid zones to see if we can fix the issue. This does not require a patch. Keep us posted how the rest of the evening goes please.
These were posted just a few minutes ago on the EQ2 Forums:
DARKNESS DAWNS
The oracles still see chaos and uncertainty on the horizon even with victory for the New Combine army in Cobalt Scar. Join Field Marshal Vishra at Scarstone as he tirelessly guards the newly found Tear of Veeshan – an artifact that could turn the tides of war forever in this time of delicate peace. Is it the key to preventing the end of the world foretold in the Ages End prophecy? Those that have completed “Tear in the Grotto” are being summoned to find out!
FABLED DUNGEONS
- Fabled Clefts of Rujark (accessed from Sinking Sands and Pillars of Flame)
- Fabled Scornfeather’s Roost (accessed from Sinking Sands and Pillars of Flame)
- Fabled Djinn Masters Prism (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
- Fabled Pedestal of Sky (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
NEW CONTESTED AVATARS
- Three New Contested Avatar Raids: Pit yourself against three new contested avatars in the overlands – Prexus, Solusek Ro, and Drinal!
ARENA OF THE GODS
- The Arena of the Gods is a raid instance that allows 24 players to challenge any of the 9 avatars that are in game (includes the new contested avatars released in this GU). Once you kill an avatar and are rewarded, you can continue to practice the encounters as much as you want (there is a 3-day lockout timer for rewards). Entrances to the Arena of the Gods can be found in the cities of Freeport and Qeynos.
At one time, Mounts in EQ2 increased your run speed, oh and they looked nice. Over the years, faster mounts were introduced, then we began to see mounts with some very minor stat boosts to harvesting or weapon skills. Nowadays, it is just expected that ground, leaper, glider, and flying mounts all have some sort of buff which is beneficial in combat situations. Essentially, mounts have become a 25th item slot.
With Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns, we will see the ability for players to store up to three Alternate Advancement profiles on their character and swap between them immediately. The concern raised by certain players was, switching AA Profiles causes all buffs to drop, including mounts. While the buffs from mounts persist after zoning, most zones do not permit re-casting your mount once you’re inside the zone.
Players who wanted to switch their AA spec and retain the benefits of the mount would then need to zone out, re-cast their mount, and then zone back in, which is really not any more convenient than zoning to their home, using an AA mirror, and then recasting their mount. Over time, we’ve seen more flexibility on how mounts are cast, specifically hiding mounts (even flying ones) when grounded. My suggestion was to simply allow casting any mount anywhere, and just hide its appearance if you are inside a zone that does not permit mounts.
To address this concern, Lyndro has posted this update:
In an upcoming beta update (Next couple days), mounts will be castable in any zone. You just won’t get the mount/speed portion.
Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns has now hit the EQ2 Beta server and here are the Update Notes. Game Update 67 is expected to go live July 23, 2013.
Fabled Dungeons
- Fabled Clefts of Rujark (accessed from Sinking Sands)
- Fabled Scornfeather’s Roost (accessed from within Fabled Clefts of Rujark)
- Fabled Djinn Masters Prism (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
- Fabled Pedestal of Sky (accessed from the ‘Fabled Dungeon Portal’ in Pillars of Flame)
- Three New Contested Avatar Raids: Pit yourself against three new contested avatars in the overlands – Prexus, Solusek Ro, and Drinal!
Arena of the Gods
- The Arena of the Gods is a raid instance that allows 24 players to challenge any of the 9 avatars that are in game (includes the new contested avatars released in this GU). Once you kill an avatar and are rewarded, you can continue to practice the encounters as much as you want (there is a 3-day lockout timer for rewards).
Here are the update notes for July 2, 2013 from the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- Fixed an issue with the housing and dungeon leaderboards.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]
- Overlord Talan will no longer gain double crit avoidance if he levels up in challenge mode.
Antechamber of the Automaton [Challenge Duo]
- Fixed a bug that would occur when K’zan attuned both players in the duo to a color over the course of the fight.
- Zone now drops coin. Temp adornments are now 100% drop rate.
Furnace of Ages [Challenge Duo]
- Zone now drops coin. Temp adornments are now 100% drop rate.
Abyssal Aqueduct [Challenge Duo]
- Zone now drops coin. Temp adornments are now 100% drop rate.
ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Enchanter
- Sever Hate can no longer be resisted.
MARKETPLACE
- House items purchased off the marketplace can now be placed in guildhalls.
ITEMS
- Heirloom tags now propagate from adornments.
NOTE: The Heirloom tags/adornments line is a late entry posted at 10:00am today PDT.
StationCash Items in Guild Halls
That last note will probably lead to much excitement and rejoicing in the EQ2 decorator community, as the inability to place most StationCash Marketplace items in Guild Halls has been a point of consternation. However I see the flipside of the issue — people will place $100 or more SC items in a Guild Hall, then have a falling out with the guild leader, or the guild simply falls apart, and next thing you know, they’re kicked from the hall with no access to said items.
I’ve always believed that items placed in a House or Guild Hall by a friend are a donation, but it’s a different story when real money is involved. And I always felt that Marketplace items in Guild Halls shouldn’t happen until some kind of interface is provided to retrieve said items, even if you have been banished from the guild hall they have been placed in.
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- The /feedback command should work correctly now.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]
- Overlord Talan’s doppelganger will no longer attack instantly when it is summoned and will delay casting spells for a short duration.
- The combine elite adds summoned by Overlord Talan memwipe less frequently and are now immune to area of effect abilities unless directly targeted.
ITEMS
- Dulgur Bindmagic now sells armor runes that reduce the resistibility of all spells.
- The cost of red and yellow adornments sold by Dulgur Bindmagic have been reduced.
From the EQ2 Forums:
PLAYER HOUSING
- Added a new window, “Housing and Leaderboards”. This window, which can be accessed via the EQII menu and from the main menu bar, allows easy access to many housing related features. It allows you to manipulate all your current houses, browse and buy new houses, visit houses associated with the current zone you are in, and view the current housing leaderboards.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Furnace of the Ages [Challenge Duo]
- Fire Thief now has custom text to clarify how the effect works.
and after the jump, almost every class’ has had at least one ability adjusted to use spell skills like Ordination, Disruption, Subjugation, and Ministration…
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- Fixed an issue with pet auto assist related to click-through targeting.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]
- Gen’ra: Stinging urchins spawn less frequently in the Gen’ra fight.
- You are no longer able to use the Conch of Reverberating Echo if Gen’ra has been killed in either version.
- Using the Conch of Reverberating Echo no longer despawns Diviner Gelerin. Normal progression will still need to be maintained as if the zone were a new zone for any bosses after Gen’ra.
Challenge Duo Zones
- You must be grouped with your partner when fighting the Duo Bosses or bad things will happen!
Abyssal Aquaduct [Challenge Duo]
- Tuatog the Tidal Lord now properly attacks targets who try to break line of sight.
From the EQ2 Forums:
We are pleased to announce our next Game Update titled “Darkness Dawns” coming on July 30! For our 67th game update we have great stuff in store for you!
We are really excited about a new story quest line that will pick up from our last game update in April (GU66: Scars of the Awakened). We can tell you that there is an EPIC event brewing in Cobalt Scar that could turn the world on its head and YOU are the catalyst.
SPOILER: At the end of GU66, players uncovered an artifact of power — a Tear of Veeshan — that will lead into the story quest line in Darkness Dawns. The events you will experience are jaw-dropping and the team has been pouring its energy and passion into making this very special — from art to dialogue. You, our hero, will be central to the story that will change the world!
Here are some of the features we have lined up for Darkness Dawns!
From the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]
- Gen’ra Challenge Mode: The Phantasmal Conduit adds near the end of fight do less damage, and have less health.
The Lost Village of Kugup
- Players should now be able to use the portal stone at the zone start to exit out the village at any time.
QUESTS
- Lost in the Woods – Field Marshal Vishra will now complete the quest, even if you have already accepted or completed “The Voice in theForest.”
From the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Cobalt Scar
- Kelorek’Dar no longer stuns or interrupts players as a damage shield. He will instead damage player’s power pools slightly at the same frequency.
- Collections – Collectibles in Cobalt Scar should be more readily available
Chelsith
- Kuom’Ziki will no longer continue to speak when he is dead.
Jarsath Wastes
- Fixed a spawn point for collectible shinny that was below the surface at location -1619 183 1116.
Blackburrow
- The “Sabertooth Champion” should start spawning again. The respawn for him is around 20 minutes.
Sleepers Tomb
- Sleepers tomb raid – challenge mode ancient sentinel no longer heals itself with Touch of Velium II spell.
Nektulos:
- The Travelling Augur is adjusted to prevent the possibility of him falling beneath the dock.
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension
- The second respawn location should not be available until the doors to the second half of the zone are unlocked.
Hopefully today’s update will finally and completely put the EQ2 Platocalypse to bed:
COST ADJUSTMENTS
- Drinal’s Steward has significantly reduced the Platinum price to purchase his wares.
- Superb Green Adornment Dislodgers have been reduced in cost to 25p.
- Superb Prismastic Adornment Dislodgers have been reduced in cost to 250p.
- Trichromatic Adornment Dislodgers are now created with common materials instead of rares.
- All reforging costs have been reduced by 33%.
- Might Elixirs no longer use dropped components and use common materials instead. Completing a combine now rewards 1/5th as many elixirs.
- Acerbic Elixirs no longer use dropped components and use common materials instead. Completing a combine now rewards 1/10th as many elixirs.
- The plat costs for purchasing and upkeeping a guild hall have been reduced.
- Mercenary hire and upkeep costs have been reduced.
- Guildhall Amenity plat costs have been reduced by 50%.
From the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Alluring Embrace (both versions)
- Shyneera will no longer become unkillable.
Oakmyst Forest
- Using escape in Oakmyst now places the player at the Oakmyst Forest dock.
Steamfont
- Mort Gimblesquee, an ammunition merchant, has set up shop in Gnomeland Security in the Steamfont Mountains.
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- Fixed a bug where not all of your points spent would load from an AA mirror.
- Granted a free respec on all trees to all players.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Sirens Grotto Raid
- Caella the Pearl encounter – Siren Controllers are slower to react after spawning and have less health. Entrancer Lisha now waits a while after casting Numb Senses to cast her Consume Vitae AOE.
- Entrancer Lisha will no longer charm pets with Siren’s Melody.
Siren’s Grotto: Alluring Embrace [Heroic]
- Health has been reduced on a number of NPCs.
Drinal’s Castle Raid
- Fitzpitzle should now properly advance to his rooms when defeated.
From EverQuest2.com:
All EQ2 Servers will come down on Tuesday, April 30, at 7:00 am Pacific Time* for Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened. The expected downtime is three hours. Part of this maintenance will occur at the same time as a SOE-wide maintenance.
Game Update 66: SCARS OF THE AWAKENED
Update Notes
Ever vigilant, Norrathians march united under the banner of the New Combine army, deeper into the perilous continent of Velious.
Finally, the army breaches the borders of a region known as Cobalt Scar – a majestic, lush, but tormented region. And from within dark passages in the surrounding mountains, the inhabitants of Sirens Grotto beckon to all.
The first news heard from Cobalt Scar concerns tribes of Othmir that succumbed to an unfortunate fate that now threatens everyone. Further examination into the area will reveal a foreboding presence of the Awakened Legion, a force of evil that decimated dragonkind in the legendary city of Skyshrine.
Nearby, in the watery depths of Sirens Grotto – unseen by landwalkers for the ages – it is said that the caverns hold secrets of their own. And the beguiling siren coven known as the Darkwater Sisters will not give up those secrets easily.
All the while, the Ages End Prophecy looms with its promise to see Kerafyrm – Norrath’s most evil, powerful dragon – bring a violent end to the world. Heroes from every corner of Norrath are called to explore this new land in Velious and fight for a future for all.
Wednesday’s sprawling two hour Critical Hit podcast with Nathan “Kaitheel” McCall is absolutely worth listening to, as Nathan goes into the best uses of design hours, what it takes to revamp zones such as Qeynos and Freeport, why the starting islands were removed, the importance of storytelling, and more.
But if you are a raider or otherwise into the mechanics and itemization of EQ2, and you listen to only one EQ2 podcast this month, it should be EQ2Talk Episode #63 with Kyle “Kander” Vallee. He goes into a lot of the thinking behind the upcoming update (and this fall’s expansion), has some refreshing vision towards the future of EQ2, itemization and content design, and is very candid about some of the missteps in Chains of Eternity as well as other past changes.
All comments below are paraphrased from Kander’s comments in the 1 hour 40 min podcast. Any errors in meaning are the fault of the editor.
Stat Consolidation
More after the jump…
The EverQuest II servers send a lot of data to the game client, especially when a player is grouped with 23 others, all decked out in top end gear, adornments, and running potions, all triggering and multiplying heals, damage, and so forth. Years ago, this came to a head with Procs (built-in effects on items). They were critting, magnifying each other, and just creating a cascading mess of combat events which put a strain on servers and player’s computers alike.
Fast forward to 2013 and while Procs have still been largely kept in check, the addition of more AAs, more Prestige abilities, and just more of everything has once again put us in a situation where the more powerful the raidforce, the more their computers choke on thick data milkshake of endless combat events.
From the EQ2 Forums:
Last week, you got an inside look at Cobalt Scar on a tour with Haohmaru, ttobey, and Kaitheel. This week, we bring you an early look at the Siren’s Grotto! Join Tim “Haohmaru” Heydelaar, Chris “Chrol” Garlick, and Christopher “Phatkins” Atkins as they take you through this new dungeon, coming with Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened, which will be released on April 30.
From EverQuest2.com:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Harrow’s End [Raid]
- Drinal should no longer have a chance to cast more than one curse on the raid force at the same time.
- Drinal should no longer drop hate on targets in the first half of his encounter.
- Spiritual Exhaustion should no longer hit the entire raid 4 times. Instead the person in group that has to react will affect only their specific group with the damage. This damage has been made unable to be AE blocked.
- Concussive Mindmeld can no longer be AE blocked.
- Drinal should no longer occasionally cast spells on dead players.
From Gninja on the EQ2 Forums:
Just thought I would drop a few notes in here before everyone starts asking.
Q: How can I access the new raid zones?
A: The raid content in this update is closed beta. You will not be able to access this content as general population.Q: How can I join the closed beta?
A: Feel free to shoot myself or one of the other developers a private message on what sort of raid content you would like to test and what you can offer in terms of times and players/classes. If we feel you are good fit we will extend the invite. Keep in mind not everyone will be accepted.Q: Are the any X2 zones in this update?
A: Short answer, no. Long answer, There are two contested X2 encounters out in Cobalt Scar but no full X2 zones.
UPDATE from Gninja on why Siren’s Grotto Raid Beta Testing is private, and a count of the number of names within the zone:
There are 7 main bosses and 2 sub bosses. Yes trash drops loot. The zone buff packages are tougher then normal mode stuff in CoE all the way up to hardest in game for the challenge mode (of which there are 3) We are limiting this to invite only because we do not want folks in there just learning the fights. Instead we will be testing the different aspects of the fights with different guilds to make sure everything is working.
Logo Mockup by EQ2Wire
In addition to the new content in Game Update 66, which hits Beta today and will go live on April 30th, there are numerous class tweaks. But instead of class balance (although there is some of that), the overriding theme of the class improvements in this update could best be summed up as “What Bugs Your Class Most?” All those things about your class that drive you crazy, like having to be directly behind the mob to use your biggest hits as a Dirge, or having to be exactly 5 meters from the mob to do both your Melee and Ranged CAs as a Ranger.
Read over the notes and give us your take. Are these great, long overdue changes, or does it almost go too far, making things a little too convenient? As a Ranger, I’m excited about the changes, but will I become even lazier now that I can stand pretty much anywhere in the room and do my maximum DPS? I certainly applaud a number of the changes which were things that “didn’t make sense” which have now been fixed.
After the jump, Game Update 66’s Beta Notes…
Not everyone has the time to watch a Twitch or Youtube video talking about upcoming Game Updates, Expansions, Features, etc. Some are not able to watch videos at work and would rather read a transcript. And there are a number of EQ2 players who are hearing impaired. So for you guys, I am happy to present another EQ2Wire exclusive Transcript of an SOE Webcast. This week’s session is about the upcoming Game Update 66: Scars of the Awakened which lands on the Beta server next Tuesday and goes live April 30th.
Inside this transcript, you’ll find out…
