We didn’t get a Game Update this week, partly due to E3, but we can now look ahead to Test to what’s coming next week. Highlights from the Test Update Notes on the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Withered Lands
- Named within Withered Lands should all respawn correctly now.
Challenge Mode Raid NPC?s (x4 epic)
- Challenge mode raid NPC’s have had their max health reduced.
While they aren’t glamorous, Content and Itemization are the meat and potatoes of the modern MMO. The thankless job of adding and maintaining these core items may not elicit splashy E3 announcements or garner press attention, but neglect them for a moment, and players will arrive at your gates brandishing pitchforks.
Players have been unable to ignore the skewed armor distribution of Skyshrine. In particular, the new solo, group, and raid zones all seem to heavily slant towards priests and fighters. Normally we would be able to confirm this data using Zam’s drop information statistics which they periodically receive from SOE, but they are still awaiting their Skyshrine GU63 data dump. Without definitive proof, I have been forced to make a guess at how Skyshrine loot has been distributed.
It seems that the laundry list of bugs which arrived with the untested Poet’s Palace Dungeon Maker layout has gotten some attention. Brasse made this post on the EQ2 Forums:
First off, thank you for all the detailed /bug reports, and Cyliena’s excellent summary. These have been invaluable for our Dev Team, and the epitome of constructive feedback. Simply telling us we suck, on the other hand, is not particularly helpful. =P
Sorry for not posting earlier, but the EQII Devs have been actively looking into these issues since Piestro and I got into office this morning, diligently examining the issues. As you know, EQII does regular hotfixes, so stay tuned and we’ll let you know as soon as we have an update!
Here are your update notes for today, Wednesday May 30, 2012:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Skyshrine
- All Solo instances in Skyshrine are now a 90 minute lock out, same as heroic instances.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- The achievements “Rallos’ Chosen” and “Vindicator Soren’s Demise” should now update for all members of the raid force that kills him regardless of range. This change should also be retroactive if you have ever defeated him and were not awarded the achievement.
ITEMS
- Dozekar’s Head is no longer lore.
Coinciding with the launch of Game Update 63 was the introduction of the Poet’s Palace ‘Dungeon Maker’ layout. Much to the consternation of testers, this layout went straight to the live servers without any player testing. The end result, is over a dozen moderate-to-severe bugs which make using this dungeon layout challenging for designers and hazardous to adventurers. As this dungeon layout is the key to a contest to drum up interest in the lacklustre Dungeon Maker feature, it’s hard not to see this as another stumble towards player-made content.
Cyliena has posted a detailed thread discussing these issues on the official forums.
From the EQ2 Forums:
Dungeoneers pick up your tools and get ready to rumble!
Dungeons made by EverQuest II players have impressed, inspired and amazed us. We can hardly wait to see what you will do with the recently released Poet’s Palace Dungeon layout. To offer everyone a chance to show off their dungeon decorating skills, we?re pleased to announce the Poet’s Palace Dungeon Maker Forum Challenge!
We have had a lot of fun with Dungeon Maker and hope that you are enjoying it as well! Our team is committed to developing it further over time, with initiatives such as playing as your own character. We outlined a few of the things we’re working on in the May Update Plans for EQII article, so check it out! Creating new ways to enjoy EQII is one of our driving goals!
The Poet’s Palace Dungeon Maker Forum Challenge is a decoration and design challenge. Participants can build their dungeon on any Live Server or the Test Server, subject to the rules below. The Poet’s Palace dungeon layout can be purchased on the Marketplace for the low price of 75 Station Cash or 100 Dungeon Marks!
EQ2Wire Asks
As we first posted here, at long last, an Autoattack setting is being added to EQ2. This will benefit some Mages (Enchanters in particular) and virtually all Priests (Druids, Clerics, and Shamans) whose Alternate Advancement lines heavily favor Melee autoattacks. With this change, players will now be able to equip either Symbols or the newish Focus Ranged “Wand” items and still prefer Melee combat and its inherent benefits. Oh, and Rangers will now be able to set Ranged attacks at all times without the use of kludgy macros. Yay!
Autoattack Setting available in the Character/Persona window under Options.
Here are your Update Notes for May 24, 2012 from the EQ2 Forums:
COMBAT
Players can now select their preferred method of autoattacking using the /setautoattackmode command (0 for default, 1 for melee, 2 for spell/ranged) or by the drop-down setting in the Character UI options under ?Auto Attack Mode?.
Some exciting news for players who have been wanting a setting for Autoattack during combat in EQ2! On the Test server, a new option has been added to the Character/Persona/Inventory window under the Options panel:
This option should allow Rangers to set “Forced Ranged” and never need to use kludgy macros to ensure they are always doing ranged autoattacks. A ranger never wants to be doing melee autoattacks and we have relied on macros with the command /auto 2 for years.
Further, this will be a sigh of relief to Mages and Priests who will now be able to use their choice of either Focus/Ranged ‘Wand‘ items or traditional Symbol items and still choose whether they want to use the new Spell Weapon Autoattack, or stick to Melee combat. This change will be of particular benefit to Enchanters, Druids, Mystics, and Clerics, all of whom have Alternate Advancement lines that require melee combat for their best effects to apply. This will also allow healers to work around a bug with some cures and buffs which place them into ‘spell combat’.
Here are your Update Notes for Tuesday, May 15, 2012 from the EQ2 Forums:
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Skyshrine: The City of Dracur
- Malicor Kehrn will no longer fight his partner in crime Nefari Kwol.
PLAYER HOUSING
- The Vale of Halfpint Delight door will now display the correct destination.
Here are your updates for May 10, 2012. The quest All You Need is Time in Withered Lands should now be fixed as well as the ratio of Tier 10 precious metal rares.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Withered Lands
- Hexapola: players outside the raid should no longer cause the raid to reset if they agro raid insects.
Skyshrine x4 raid zones, challenge mode
- Belkreiz Blazeclaw will no longer spam messages about reckless adds unless an add actually spawns due to the Time Vortex Curse.
- Belkreiz Blazeclaw will no longer spawn Ancient Dracurian Seer’s if there are already 3 or more of them present in the zone.
Here are your update notes for 8 May, 2012. There is a fix for the quest “All You Need is Time” currently on the test server but it hasn’t made it to the live servers yet. If you are stuck on that quest, Gninja says to /petition it. He has given customer service steps on how to fix it.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Skyshrine x4 raid zones, challenge mode
- Belkreiz Blazeclaw will no longer spam messages about reckless adds unless an add actually spawns due to the Time Vortex Curse.
- Belkreiz Blazeclaw will no longer spawn Ancient Dracurian Seer’s if there are already 3 or more of them present in the zone.
Skyshrine: the Underdepths
- Sevalor’s Deathless now has a 35 second duration, rather than permanent.
From EverQuest2.com:
We made it! Whew! The Skyshrine Game Update went live and was well tested thanks to the community at large as well as the internal teams. We are all really proud of it and it seems like a good bunch of you are enjoying it too.
While we are still watching Skyshrine and responding to any issues that come up, we are obviously marching onward to our next big projects. Also, as we’ve said many times, we are looking at the existing game and how to make improvements to what we have. We’ve jotted down a few things below that are in progress this month to give you an idea of just some of what we’re working on right now.
We hope to release them in May but won’t until they are ready:
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- Fixed a client crash that could happen when trying to examine an item in certain situations.
- Skyshrine: the Claws of Veeshan faction will now be in the Destiny of Velious category along with all other DoV factions.
From the EQ2 Forums:
ITEMS
- Scaling dungeons from The Shadow Odyssey expansion should now be dropping loot if the player is level 91+.
- The charm rewards for “The Path of the Crusaders” should now be in line with comparable quest rewards, and have stats that are more appropriate.
- Fixed a bug where Dozekar’s head would not convert to currency properly.
- Fixed a bug that could cause the focus effect for scout legs to stop working.
QUESTS
Skyshrine: The City of Dracur
- The quests “Disc of Binding Ruined”, “Temporal Gem Hunt”, and “Final Item for Jorlak” should now appropriately reward bruisers and beastlords.
It’s one week since Game Update 63: Skyshrine launched, and overall, the update was rather polished with no show-stopping bugs, especially compared to Destiny of Velious and Game Update 61. There are always going to be a few issues that slip through in an update of this size, and already we’re seeing 2 big fixes today with Class Focuses and 40% Haste on Scout/Fighter/Priest gloves.
We’ll update this list as they are resolved:
Today’s update adds Haste to quested Scout and Fighter gear in Skyshrine and the Withered Lands, as well as hopefully fixing the Class Focus effects on items. Prior to the patch, if you equip more than 1 item with a “Class Focus”, only the last item equipped has its effect applied.
From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- You can now properly join group members in Skyshrine instances.
POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Greater Faydark
- Reanimated Nexus Scion and scorched skeletal wizards respawn reliably now.
From the EQ2 Forums:
LEGENDS OF NORRATH
Fall of Estarim items are now on display at the LoN Museum.
ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
- Updated the login message for alternate advancement point conversion to only show if you actually gained points and how many points you have gained.
- If you have maximum alternate advancement points and you are not max level, you will automatically be set to 0% alternate advancement conversion rate the first time you gain experience.
NOTE: If you set your alternate advancement conversion slider back up after that first time it will stay and not be reset automatically again.
EQ2Wire is proud to present our Game Update 63: Skyshrine Frequently Asked Questions guide.
UPDATED April 24, 2012.
After the jump, find out how to reach the Withered Lands and Skyshrine, what kind of solo, group, and raid content is available, a bit more about Prestige Points, and how to get started in Game Update 63 regardless of your play style!
Here are your official Game Update 63 Update Notes from the EQ2 Forums:
The Destiny of Velious saga continues as adventurers breach the barriers of the Withered Lands seeking entrance to Skyshrine, the glorious ancient dragon city!
The great citadel of Skyshrine has long housed the Claws of Veeshan dragons behind its massive walls and arcane protections. Now, the unthinkable has happened — it has become besieged by powerful forces. Battle and befriend dragons and their wurmkin in the forbidden city of Dracur. Explore the past to unravel mysterious events that transformed the formidable draconic city into a battlefield full of daunting challenges, fearful foes and unimaginable treasures!
Tomorrow is the big day for the release of Game Update 63 : Skyshrine.
Last week, EverQuest II Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale and Designer Carlos “Gninja” Mora led a number of MMO press sites on a tour of Game Update 63: Skyshrine. It looks like the Press Embargo was lifted at midnight:
Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, EverQuest Franchise Director of Development, steps up and hosts the second Game Update 63: Skyshrine Preview Webcast, with guests Holly “Windstalker” Longdale, EverQuest II Senior Producer, and Akil “Lyndro” Hooper, EverQuest II Lead Designer.
After the jump, notes about the Game Update 63: Skyshrine Part 2 Webcast, as well as hints about Prestige Classes, the Qeynos Revamp, and more!
So if you’ve clicked on this article looking for a transcript of last month’s Game Update 63: Skyshrine Part 1 webcast, we have a last minute change. This won’t be a transcript but a summary. If this seems like bait-and-switch, realize that we tuned into the webcast to see:
and there was a slight change in the guest list to:
After the jump, what we were able to take away from Kander and SmokeJumper in this first preview webcast about Part 2 of Velious, the first current-tier EQ2 Game Update since August 2011.
NOTE: We’ll be back later today with notes from Skyshrine Webcast #2!
From EverQuest2.com:
With all the new Heroic and Raid content being released in Game Update 63: SKYSHRINE, we just had to go over and get the inside scoop from Assistant Lead Designer Kyle “Kander” Vallee.
Piestro: How difficult is the heroic and raid content available in Game Update 63: SKYSHRINE? Is this targeted at only the more advanced players or will this content be suitable for every skill level?
Kander: We are really making an effort to see that heroic content is broadly accessible to everyone and try to cover every play style, from the causal solo player to the group player who wants a real challenge. As far as raid content is concerned, we have something for all levels of raiders. We are proud of the depth of the content we are offering in this GU and we have taken a lot of time to create events that not just challenge players, but also tell stories of the region and its inhabitants at all levels.
If you’ve been concerned about how much AA XP grinding you’ll have to run this upcoming Double XP weekend to prepare for Game Update 63, it looks we’re about to be graded on a curve.
As per a Test Update Note and discussion thread on In Testing Feedback, it looks like the AA Experience Curve is being flattened:
We have modified the AA XP tables reducing the amount of experience necessary for advancement levels 1 to 280. When you log in your character they will be converted from the old tables to the new tables this will cause most characters to get bonus advancement points. Enjoy!
EQ2 Lead Designer Lyndro had this to say:
Yes, the experience to reach 280 AA has been reduced. This change will go live with the game update. All existing players will have the AAs converted to the new tables, so you’ll probably be granted a few points when you first log in. Since the amount of experience it takes to earn a point is different depending on how many points you have, how many points you get will vary.
And we thought they’d forgotten… From the EQ2 Forums:
GENERAL
- All single group instances now have a lockout of 90 minutes.
- Fixed a bug where lingering dot effects from dead and looted NPCs could start critting.
PLAYER HOUSING
- Marketplace housing deeds will now include the maximum number of placed items, prior to using house expanders, in the description.
- Increased item limit for Researcher’s Sanctum to 600.
ITEMS
- Drunder x4 priest breastplates (non-Challenge mode) can now proc Celestial Restoration III.
