There were some technical difficulties during the first 10 minutes of the EverQuest II: Altar of Malice keynote which was livestreamed from SOE Live last week.  Instead of clearly hearing the producer and designers of our game hyping their hard work, audiences at home mostly heard frustrated AV techs trying to get things working. Fortunately, we recorded the keynote in person and are now able to provide the complete event for those who missed it!

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

We’ve decided to run a members-only Double XP Weekend for Adv, TS, AA xp starting noon PDT tomorrow thru Sunday 11:59pm PDT! #eq2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) August 22, 2014

UPDATE — Due to the DDoS attack against SOE/PSN/Blizzard/LoL, the EQ2 team are extending Bonus XP until Tuesday:

Based on this mornings issues, the Members Double Experience weekend will be extended until Tuesday. Enjoy! [RadarX]

— EverQuest II (@everquestii) August 24, 2014

Here are the slides presented by the EverQuest II team specifically the mechanics/systems guys. Akil “Lyndro” Hooper, Kyle “Kander” Vallee, Michael “Xelgad” Ganz, Robert “Caith” Fouts, Dave “Maevianiu” Kish, and Douglas “Endymion” VanDerveer were presenting.

Now it’s time for the EverQuest II Systems panel. Akil “Lyndro” Hooper, Kyle “Kander” Vallee, Michael “Xelgad” Ganz, Robert “Caith” Fouts, Dave “Maevianiu” Kish, and Douglas “Endymion” VanDerveer are presenting. We’re liveblogging this panel as well as recording a video of this panel in 720p HD.

Liveblog begins at 1:00pm PDT and ends at 2:00pm PDT on Saturday August 16th.

Fix for Stealth and AE Abilities

New Spell Qualities

• All spells go to Grandmaster
• Certain spells go to Ancient

Battleground 6v6 Balance of Theer

• Deathmatch
• Penalty for dying
• Tiles to stand on and get buffs/debuffs

We’ll be posting videos of the two EverQuest II Q&A panels next week, but here are some cool highlights that we got in yesterday’s panel. We’ll update this article tomorrow when the other Q&A is under our belt.

Stored Gear Sets confirmed for @everquestii expansion. Save different gear sets. MT tank, off tank, or appearance.

— EQ2Wire (@EQ2Wire) August 15, 2014

Wardrobe system for appearance gear next year? “Eats the items” #eq2

— EQ2Wire (@EQ2Wire) August 15, 2014

Wardrobe system would not use space in your #eq2 inventory. It becomes like a character flag.

— EQ2Wire (@EQ2Wire) August 15, 2014

Now it’s time for the EverQuest II: Altar of Malice expansion panel with nearly the entire EQ2 team. We’re liveblogging as well as recording a video of this panel in 720p HD. This panel is also being livecast on Twitch.

Liveblog began at 12:00pm PDT and ended at 1:00pm PDT on Friday August 15th.

Holly “Windstalker” Longdale to the stage. Tim Heydalaar and Dave Brown to the stage.

Showing PlayerStudio items.

Looks like Press gets a healthy headstart on posting expansion news for EverQuest and EverQuest II this year. After their private meetings with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson and EQ2 Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on Tuesday, they’ve had time to draft their articles and now, they’re available for all to read. My issue is, people at home have more information than those at SOE Live who may not yet have read these articles. Some Press sites (notably excluding Massively and ZAM) get a full boat ride from SOE, paying for hotel and sometimes even airfare, dinners, etc.). EQ2Wire covers EverQuest II all 365 days a year, and we do it without VIP treatment.

Anyway, enough politics. On to the news! These are the sites we’ve found so far:

• Massively
• ShackNews
• Destructoid
• GameZone
• EQ2 ZAM
• MMORPG
• MMO Attack

The totally kickass key art is at the top of the article. And now the bullet points:

• Level 100 increase for Adventure, Tradeskill, and Guild levels.
• 14 Dungeons
• 6 Raids
• 6 Advanced Solo Zones
• 2 Contested Dungeons
• 2 Massive Overland zones created with the new unbelievable Layout Editor. I’ve heard that the new zones are so stunning that players will hardly believe they are running in the EQ2 engine.
  • Tranquil Sea: composed of the devastated Isle of Refuge, Deathweave Isle, and the Pygmie-and-dinosaur-inhabited Island of Dichen
  • Phantom Sea: composed of the haunted forest of Kithicor, the trading company’s home base Highhold, and Grimshales, an island made from a shard of Luclin
• 4 new Avatars

More after the jump…

EQ2Wire is providing a Liveblog of the 2014 SOE Live Welcome Reception on August 14, 2014. This reception is also being broadcast on Twitch:

The #SOELive Welcome Reception and Keynote Address is STARTING NOW!!! http://t.co/LvaL2TCwsb [Hats]

— EverQuest II (@everquestii) August 15, 2014

Here’s the Twitch Livestream schedule for SOE Live this year. Keep in mind that EQ2Wire will be recording all EQ2 panels, several Player panels, and even a few EQNext panels if Curse doesn’t show. All times are in Pacific Daylight Time, and all broadcasts are on SOE’s Twitch channel.

Thursday, August 14:

7:00 – 9:00 PM: SOE Live Welcome Reception and Keynote featuring President John Smedley

Friday, August 15:

9:00 – 10:00 AM: Landmark Keynote

10:00 – 11:00 AM: EverQuest Next Keynote

12:00 – 1:00 PM: EverQuest II Keynote

1:00 – 2:00 PM: EverQuest Keynote

2:00 – 3:00 PM: DC Universe Online Keynote

3:00 – 4:00 PM: H1Z1 Keynote

4:00 – 5:00 PM: PlanetSide 2 Keynote

If you read EQ2Wire, can’t live without EQ2U, depend on Dragon’s Armory, or participate in the EQ2 Raid Council, come hang with us at Planet Dailies on Thursday afternoon at 4:00-pm-5:30pm before the Welcome Reception. Dethdlr, Feldon, Dedith, Kander, and Gninja will be in attendance.

Time moved to 5:00-6:15pm because I’m a noob!

We’ve updated our SOE Live Schedule App for Android, Windows phone, etc. It’s actually quite tricky to get the app to load its new data, as we designed it to not require an internet connection once it’s loaded. I suggest deleting the SOELive Daily app from your home screen and then visit http://dev.eq2wire.com/m/ on your phone and redo the “Add to Home Screen” step, you should get the new version. The correct version should show version 1.25 with update date of August 12, 2014.

Ashlanne has posted a list of confirmed Vendors at SOE Live this year which may be of interest to attendees wanting to pick up swag for SOE or other similar genre games:

Here is the list:

• The War of Memory Project
• Shirts on Site
• Silver Sun Systems LLC on behalf of MilitaryGamers.com
• Gwydhar Enterprises
• Sanford Brown College

Larry will be at Gencon this year. Due to Planet Hollywood’s busy schedule and our busy event schedule these 2 events unfortunately fell on the same weekend.
The SOE Store will also be set up with lots of stuff for purchase including items from J!NX.

Also, you may have heard, but this year, the number of options for Friday night has grown from the usual one (a Pool Party) to three:

• SOE Zombie Prom Party – 8:00-11:30pm – The London Club
• Zombies Can’t Swim (Ten Ton Hammer) – 7:00-11:30pm — PH Pleasure Pool
• Game Room — The gaming area located on the Planet Hollywood Mezzanine will remain open until 11pm.

There have been some late additions to the schedule including an EQNext Lore panel. I’m currently in San Diego having way too much fun and will be heading to Vegas on Tuesday. Stay tuned to EQ2Wire!

Amnerys has posted an announcement on the EQ2 forums about exclusive items which SOE Live attendees will receive. It’s being presented in a rather peculiar way as a “$35 Loot Card” but really, it’s just a way of allowing SOE attendees to get the in-game rewards on the account they want, plus we’ll be able to buy these loot cards for friends. For in-game item for EQ2 players is a 66-slot bag with a Tears of Veeshan appearance.

No word on whether we’ll get the EQ and EQ2 expansions for going to Vegas this year. According to the letter sent out to premium SOE Live badge purchasers, the regular edition of the EQ and EQ2 expansions will be granted to our accounts.

The list of in-game items can be viewed here.

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale’s twitter:

We're experimenting with a new Group XP potion on our marketplace starting today. Pricey, but stacks up to 250%! #eq2 pic.twitter.com/LIZYCwZm15

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) August 8, 2014

SOE Live Schedule for iPhone/iPad

If you are an iPhone/iPad user and attending SOE Live, then you’ll want to head to the App Store to download Greg “Rothgar” Spence‘s SOE Live Schedule app.

Greg developed this iOS app four years ago and, in his extremely limited spare time has maintained it every year for SOE Live. This year, Josh “Autenil” Kriegshauser chipped in to get it updated. The SOE Live schedule app has a “My Schedule” feature which lets you choose which panels should appear on your schedule, as well as tabs about Dining, News, and Travel.

SOE Live Schedule for Android, Windows Phone, Palm, Symbian, Blackberry by EQ2Wire

Our own Dethdlr, Lead Programmer for EQ2U, saw the need for an Android app and stepped up to develop a web application which works on nearly all smartphones, even in airplane mode! Starting last year, the app also supports a “My Schedule” feature, allowing you to pick your panels and view them in a single page.

The EQ2Wire SOE Live Schedule “web app” is really just a skinned jQuery Mobile website using the same data as the official SOE Live app.

From the EQ2 Forums:

A large group of you have been sending your status wishes to Tunare, and the EverQuest II Development Team has been working behind the scenes to make it happen.

We’re happy to announce the FIRST ever double status experience weekend, starting Friday, August 1st, 2014 at 12:00 PM PDT and ending Sunday, August 3rd, 2014 at 11:59 PM PDT.

Enjoy and don’t forget to send us screenshots of your adventures on the forums, Facebook, Twitter andGoogle Plus!

From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale‘s twitter:

Countdown to members-only Double Status weekend starting at noon to Sunday at 11:59pm PDT! #eq2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) August 1, 2014

Editor’s Note

• Since you will be getting twice the normal status, and your guild always gets 10% of your status (11% if you have that LoN item), then by definition, this should be a Double Guild XP weekend.

Confirmation from Caith:

This event doubles the base status earned by defeating encounters, or rewarded from quests. Guild status is rewarded from that base amount, so yes it is in effect doubled.

Time Zone Conversions

• PDT: Aug 1 @ Noon ~ Aug 3 @ 11:59pm
• EDT: Aug 1 @ 3:00pm ~ Aug 4 @ 2:59am
• BST: Aug 1 @ 21:00 ~ Aug 4 @ 7:59
• CET: Aug 1 @ 22:00 ~ Aug 4 @ 8:59
• AEST: Aug 2 @ 5:00am ~ Aug 4 @ 4:59pm

AT&T Service @ SOE Live

Fantastic news for SOE Live attendees who were hoping to blog/text/email/tweet/facebook without having to run out to the hallway every time. This news comes via Brasse:

Cell reception at #SOELive – Planet Hollywood has just upgraded their AT&T service throughout the hotel – LET’S TEST IT OUT!

— Brasse (@Brasse) July 31, 2014

Shirts

Meanwhile, it looks like JiNX may have had babydolls in mind when they sized their women’s shirts for SOE Live as their women’s 2X this year is dwarfed by this year’s men’s XL:

@Brasse Good to hear. This picture shows a ladies 2X being dwarfed (no pun intended) by a mens XL. Exchanges needed. pic.twitter.com/Zlt0vzHiSQ

— Dethdlr (@DethdlrEQ2) August 1, 2014

Brasse is on the case and it looks like they’re going to reprint replacements without the miniscule dimensions:

LADIES O’ #SOELIVE – if yer shirt is a wee thing & ye aren’t, we’re arranging fer larger ones to ship to the event fer exchange. Breathe! — Brasse (@Brasse) July 31, 2014

SOE Live Mobile App

Finally, it looks like Josh “Autenil” Kriegshauser is working on updating Greg “Rothgar” Spence‘s SOE Live Schedule app for iPhone this year:

Work on the 2014 #SOELive app is nearing completion. Have to submit to Apple soon! pic.twitter.com/49Nl73D4Kw

— Joshua Kriegshauser (@autenil) August 1, 2014

Don’t panic if you have Android, Windows Mobile, iOS, or even Blackberry as EQ2Wire will once again offer our own mobile webapp which works on all of these. We’ll be adding a warning to remind users to choose “Add to Home Screen” as otherwise your schedule will NOT be saved.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Starting Friday, we will be updating our billing processes and the Direct Debit option will be temporarily unavailable. This will affect some players in Germany, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands who have chosen this as their method of billing.

To prevent the loss of All Access Membership status during this time, we will be granting one free week of time to all affected accounts who are signed up for Direct Debit billing for an All Access Membership plan and whose next billing date falls during this period.

During this time, the ability to add funds to your Wallet via Direct Debit will also be unavailable. Players who use Direct Debit to make in-game purchases may want to add Station Cash to your Wallet ahead of time, to prevent delaying purchases. Alternately, the PaySafe and PayPal options will remain available.

We will resume normal service as quickly as possible.

Tinkerfest goes live tomorrow and EQ2ZAM and EQ2Traders have been updated with the new crafted goodies, house items, new quest, and a totally new prestige house which have been added this year!

From EQ2 ZAM:

Tinkerfest, the Norrathian celebration of all things Gnomish, starts Friday! Your EQII ZAM staff has the scoop on the awesome new additions to this player favorite. 2014 brings back all the old activities and adds more rewards, house items, and recipes! There’s a new quest and new achievement. If you didn’t do so last year, be sure to unlock your tinkered mercenaries!

Tinkerfest 2014 will start July 25th and run through August 11th. Keep track of all your alts and every quest with our convenient Tinkerfest Quest Tracker!

From EQ2Traders:

It is after 2 a.m. – so just what is Mum still up to at this time of night? Well, Tinkerfest went onto Test in mid-afternoon, and I have been testing and writing, and writing, and re-verifying facts, and having my brains leak out my ears, and other fun stuff. I figured there would be zero way, with my fibro sleep issues, of getting to sleep before writing up the preview. With my luck, I would end up tossing and turning while mentally working on the story, so I might as well be up writing the story, right? Hopefully the story makes more sense than I do right now! Without further ado, here is Tinkerfest 2014: Skimming Along

EQ2 Wikia has not yet been updated for this year’s event.

As announced on this week’s EQ2 Insider webcast, this is a Double Guild XP Weekend! The event will run through 11:59pm Sunday night Pacific Daylight time.

EQ2 characters who complete writs, tradeskill work orders, completing certain quests, kill certain NPCs, or turn in status items receive Personal Status on their Character. 10% of that amount is also given to the character’s guild. For this Double Guild XP weekend, that amount doubles to 20%! Note that there is a rare Legends of Norrath-looted item which increases your normal amount to 11%. It’s unknown if that stacks this weekend.

Today’s EQ2 Insider Episode #3 is now available for watching on YouTube. You can read our summary of the webcast here.

Just mentioned on EQ2 Insider…

Double Guild XP Weekend! July 18 @ Noon until July 20th at Midnight

From the EQ2 Forums:

By: Margaret “Luperza” Krohn

Yesterday, on EverQuest II Insider, the EverQuest II Development Team announced that they are having a double experience weekend for All Access members from Friday, July 11th, 2014 at 12:00 PM PDT until Sunday, July 13th, 2014 at 11:59 PM PDT! This will include adventure, AA and tradeskill experience. In the future, we’ll run more double bonus experience weekends of different types, so stay tuned!

Also, the Development Team heard your cries for an extension on the much loved “Gear Up! Level Up!” goodness, so they have extended it throughout the month of July! This means it’ll end on Thursday, July 31st, 2014 at 11:59 PM PDT, so take advantage of the offer while it lasts! What does this offer entail?

From the just-finished EQ2Insider livecast (of which you can read our transcript here), Holly “Windstalker” Longdale confirmed two exciting bits of news. First, Double Etyma has been extended through the end of July. Second, the upcoming weekend will be a Bonus XP weekend from July 11 at noon until Sunday night at midnight.

Updated with tweet:

Gear Up, Level Up promotion extended thru the end of July! Also, Double XP for Adv, AA, TS experience this Fri noon – Sun 11:59pm PDT! #eq2

— Holly Longdale (@WindstalkerEQ2) July 9, 2014

From the EQ2 Forums:

Norrathians!

Don’t forget! Today (7/9/2014) from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM PDT at Twitch.TV/ EverQuest2 we’ll be doing our LIVE July Q&A EverQuest II Insider episode! We’ve compiled your questions from the forums, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus!

Can’t make it? Don’t worry! It’ll be up on our YouTube shortly after, so be sure to subscribe to us over there!

On today’s show will be EQ2 Community Manager Margaret “Luperza” Krohn, EQ2 Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale, EQ2 Game Designer Mike “Xelgad” Ganz, and EQ2 Lead Designer Kyle “Kander” Vallee.

From EQ2 Community Manager Margaret “Luperza” Krohn on EverQuest2.com:

With the warmth of the sun and the blessing of Tunare, the EverQuest II Development Team brings you fun summer sales!

From July 3rd, 2014 at 12:00 PM PDT until July 8th, 2014 at 11:59 PM PDT, all items except for Heroic Characters and Expansions will be available for a 40% rebate sale. This sale is available to all EverQuest II player (free and members). For those of you who are members, you’ll be provided an additional 10% rebate upon checkout!