Feldon
The first Flying Squirrel mount, first premiered at Fan Faire, has been introduced to EverQuest II. It’s been added to the StationCash Marketplace for 1950SC ($19.50 or $6.50 if you stocked up during a triple SC weekend). Despite the name, the Flying Squirrel is a glider and thus available at level 60. We presume that there will be other color choices in the future, perhaps a darker brown, red, or even silver. According to Tom “ttobey” Tobey, this mount was modeled by Steve Merghart and animated by Chris Myers. After the jump, a bit less fanciful screenshot of the...
General
If you’ve ever wondered why EU patches and Game Updates always seem to take twice as long as US ones, you’re not alone. We’ve never been able to understand why the files aren’t sent earlier, or some steps taken ahead of time to make the update more quickly. Apparently there is some work being done. From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums: The international team has developed a way to parallel process some of the update in the future, so we should hopefully see an update speed increase for non-US servers. Taylen of Splitpaw asked: Does that mean we would...
From EverQuest2.com: With the new Legends of Norrath set, Priestess of the Anarachs, scheduled for release Tuesday, August 23, 2011, we knew folks were going to be awfully curious about its contents. In his Producer’s Letter last week, Mark Tuttle previewed the Drachnid Bloodknight and Prestidigitation cards from the upcoming set, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Not only do we have two more of the cards to show off, but we also have a preview of the in-game EverQuest and EverQuest II loot available with this set!
Dethdlr
Having used my adornment calculator for a while now, there have been a few times where having the short descriptions in the drop down lists instead of the name of the adornment has been frustrating. Usually, this is when I’m trying to put in what I currently have adorned, rather than starting from scratch. The descriptions work well when you’ve never adorned a particular slot, but there are times when you don’t need them and would rather see the adornment names. For example, if I wanted to send a link to someone that shows my current adornments, I would...
SmokeJumper mentioned changes to the Veteran Rewards system at Fan Faire and touched on them further today on the EQ2 Forums: I can’t get you a solid ETA yet, but yes, we’ll have a revamp coming. The design is outlined and we’re committed to the concept. Basically, we’ll make a system by which you get a token or credit (or something) every day that you play (for subscribers, including Gold & Plat) and other metrics (for Silver & Bronze folks). Then we’ll create a category of things which are “veteran rewards” that all have costs associated with them. You...
From August 12-18th, SOE is offering a modest 30% off all StationCash purchased in-game or at SOE.com. Note this DOES NOT APPLY to retail-purchased StationCash refill cards, SMS purchases, or 30 day game cards. Between Friday, August 12 and Thursday, August 18, 2011, get a 30% discount* on purchases of Station Cash! Plus, check participating games for Marketplace item specials throughout the week. Check back later in the week for more details on game-specific items! Please note that the 30% discount* is on purchases of Station Cash and does not impact the redemption of SC cards. * Offer not...
SOE Security Authenticators are now available from SOE.com for $9.95 including domestic shipping and handling. They may be used on one or more Station accounts. Pricing compares favorably to the WoW Battle.net security fobs which cost $6.50 plus shipping. Plus, you may use one SOE Authenticator on multiple Station accounts, a feature the Battle.net devices lack as of October 2010. Note: Only after entering your credit card information does international shipping or handling rates appear. We’ve seen several reports that international shipping is more expensive than the security fob itself. In the range of $10-13 US, 10 Euros, $13...
SOE’s annual Fan Faire event is moving to autumn next year, well into the school year for many parents and children, but otherwise staying put in Las Vegas and the now familiar Bally‘s hotel. The three dates on offer this time around are: September 13th – 16th, 2012 September 27th – 30th, 2012 October 18th – 21st, 2012 Voting for one of the above three dates for Fan Faire 2012 is only open until August 19, 2011. If you’re wondering why Fan Faire seems locked to Las Vegas and hasn’t traveled to the Midwest or East coasts in many...
From Gninja on the EQ2 Forums: We will be allowing these events to continue after GU61 goes live. We had originally planned to take them down with GU61 but in order for some of the less populated servers to complete the event we have decided to keep the event running. The merchant will remain for all servers regardless of completion or not but the ground spawns will stop spawning once the event is completed on each server respectfully (After GU61) The ground spawns will remain for servers that have not completed the event until the event is completed.
Here’s our final video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Content and Zone Design”. If you’d like to view the transcript from this panel, check out our EQ2 Panel #6 – Content and Zone Design writeup.
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...
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.
From EverQuest2.com: This coming weekend, from 12:01 am PDT on Friday, July 29, until 11:59 pm PDT on Sunday, July 31, we will be running a true Double XP promotion (+100% XP). Take advantage of these three days and watch those XP bars fill up! The bonus applies to AA, tradeskill and adventure experience gained this weekend. Our French, German, Japanese, Test and EQ2 Extended servers will also be enjoying the increase in XP gain. Happy adventuring! Double XP Weekend Dates and Times: Friday, July 29th 12:01am PDT ~ Sunday, July 31st 11:59pm PDT Friday, July 29th 3:01am EDT...
If you have been hoping for an empty lot to build a house from the ground up, that moment has finally arrived, with the Tenebrous Tangle Island Refuge! She’s not much of a looker unadorned, but with a soft item limit of 800, and a hard limit of 1,100 items with both expanders, it will be interesting to see what players come up with. Although there’s been nothing official, we suspect that the Felwithe Mansion will land in the next week or two. From EverQuest2.com: Ready to move on up? The Tenebrous Island Refuge lets you live on your...
Today’s July 27, 2011 update notes address issues with the Spires and Dragon Ring Events on those servers where the events are still running. This update does not yet include a fix for servers that have already completed the events and those affected players who were present but didn’t get credit due to crashes, not having the right quest, or their mob despawning.
Niami Denmother has turned in another entertaining preview of this year’s Tinkerfest Event. More recipes, more quests, and more house items adorn this perennial favorite. Check out her writeup at EQ2Traders. Tinkerfest 2011 runs July 29th through August 8th.
As borne out in several different threads on the EQ2 Forums, starting with the original Dragon Ring and Wizard Spire Event Feedback Testing thread created on May 15th, all has not gone smoothly during the Spires and Dragon Ring Events. These events are still running on most servers, although the lucrative Spires event has been completed on many. So what were the biggest problems? Let’s spell them out and address them one by one. UPDATE: We have corrected several mistakes from the original version of this article which erroneously attributed the need for x2 Fighter Debuffs to Ulbrow in...
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...
Here’s our fifth video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “Programming for MMOs”. If you’d like to view the transcript from this panel, check out our Geek Panel: Programming for MMOs writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.
EverQuest2.com has taken a moment to recognize the MMO and EQ2 Fan Sites which were on the ground covering this year’s 2011 SOE Fan Faire. EQ2Wire.com covered all 7 EQ2-specific panels, plus the MMO ‘Geek’ Panel with EQ2 devs. Coverage of the rest of Fan Faire, including live webcasts, podcasts, the Tournaments, Live Events, and the Costume Contest were covered by a variety of websites. If you missed Fan Faire this year, we’ve got you covered. Because EQII has the best fansites and podcasts around, we have a ton of links to share with you, both from our in-game...
Here’s our fourth video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Questions and Answers #1”. If you’d like to view the transcript from this panel, check out our EQ2 Panel #4 – Questions and Answers #1 writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.
Here’s our third video from SOE Fan Faire 2011 “EverQuest II: Tradeskills and Housing”. If you’d like to view the Slides from this panel in higher quality, check out the updated EQ2 Panel #3 – Tradeskills and Housing writeup. We’ll upload an HD version of this video soon.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a post-game analysis of the Spires and Dragon Ring live events which are now complete on many servers. But in the meantime, here’s a response from EQ2 Associate Producer Domino on the EQ2 Forums: Hi folks The first servers have completed both events, congratulations! And as you’re aware, there were a number of unintended issues that occurred. We’re sorry that this event didn’t run as smoothly as we would have liked, and apologize for your understandable frustration. We didn’t want to postpone this anticipated event any further, especially as we had already planned another...
Butcherblock x4 Spires Raid Just over 17 hours after the Spires and Dragon Ring Rebuilding events were restarted on all servers, the Freeport (EQ2X) server has now completed their Wizard Spire rebuilding. These overachievers now turn their attention to rebuilding their Dragon Ring (already at 69% completion). Not that it’s a competition, but the presumed frontrunner Antonia Bayle server is currently at 97% completion on their Spires. Domino was surprised at the pace of this Live Event: Looks like the first servers are likely to finish the first rebuilding event today (my goodness, some of you are working hard!)
The Spires and Dragon Ring Rebuilding events have relaunched, albeit reluctantly on some servers. For servers that had already surpassed 50% progress when the event was taken offline last week (Antonia Bayle and Freeport had reached 99%), they were rolled back to 50% to give other players on the server a chance to complete it. But it looks like this week’s changes to the events may not have done enough. After 12 hours, Antonia Bayle has already reached 69% completion on Spires. So what changes were made to these events while they were offline?