Back: Carlos “Gninja” , Holly “Windstalker” , Akil “Lyndro”
Front: Kyle “Kander” , Nandy “Zoltaroth” , Mike “Xelgad“

Welcome to the EverQuest II: Itemization Evolves panel from SOE Live 2013. Panelists are Michael “Xelgad” Ganz, Brian “Omougi” Ferguson, and Kyle “Kander” Vallée.

Disclaimer: All things discussed about the expansions are subject to change!

More slides after the jump…

Welcome to the EverQuest II: Itemization Evolves 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/5138f951143e787b3a000000

Welcome to the EverQuest II: Tears of Veeshan Expansion panel from SOE Live 2013.

This is a LIVE BLOG hosted by Blyve:
http://blyve.com/event/dc37f951bddea0042f000000

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!

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.

Not to be confused with today’s GU67 Beta notes, tomorrow we can expect a small update. Here are the notes from the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Furnace of Ages [Challenge Duo]

• Mastersmith Naghig Dakgu‘s Unmake effect is now more reliable and less streaky. The average effectiveness is unchanged.

Antechamber of the Automaton [Challenge Duo]

• K’zan‘s color attunements now show the icons for a more accurate period of time. The actual functionality has not changed.

Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]

• Overlord Talan: Crippled Armor now properly displays the damage reduction it is removing. This is a display issue only, the damage reduction has not been adjusted further.

ITEMS

• Psionic Conversion now properly drops when the target dies, rather than switching to the caster.

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.

What can we expect in the upcoming Fabled dungeons in Game Update 67? You’ll recall this announcement from Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums about Game Update 67: Darkness Dawns which included a list of dungeons:

1. Fabled Dungeons: We’ve taken some dungeon favorites from the very first EQII expansion “Desert of Flames” and created additional versions of them with current high-level content and loot. You can experience Clefts of Rujark, The Djinn Masters Prism, Scornfeather’s Roost, and Pedestal of Sky at a high level range!

As posted by Kander on the EQ2 Forums:

The Fabled zones have been raised to current level and re-itemized with new current versions of everything that used to drop in them, with some surprises. There are items of all tiers for all play styles in the Fabled zones.

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:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Siren’s Grotto: Dissension [Raid]

• Overlord Talan Challenge Mode: The Psionic Defiler and Psionic Guardian adds have less health.
• Overlord Talan: Adds no longer do trauma based melee damage, they do arcane damage instead.
• In all fights the crippling aura/cripped armor debuff is less potent per counter. Overlord Talan Challenge Mode : The Psionic Guardians do less damage.

ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT
Enchanter

• Sever Hate will now properly apply if the target ally is casting a spell when Sever Hate is cast.

ZONES
Wurmbone’s End: Nox Incessit

• Overall outgoing damage from zone bosses and base pop has been slightly reduced.

ITEMS

• [eq2u]Leather Tunic of the All Swarmer[/eq2u] now has riposte chance.
• [eq2u]Breastplate of the All-Blocker[/eq2u] now has riposte chance

 

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:

From EverQuest2.com:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Cobalt Scar

• Aerial collections in Cobalt Scar should no longer spawn in unreachable locations.
• Salton the Undying in Cave of Anguish will no longer wake and attack if player is on the tradeskill quest, “Hope Reborn” where the item, “Othmir Scouting Potion” is applied to the player’s character.

The Court of Al’Afaz

• Evac will now take you to the start of the instance instead of zoning you to Pillars of Flame.

Lesser Faydark

• Grand Master, Lu Sun will no longer meditate beneath the rock once you have returned to complete the quest given by him.

Freeport

• Cipius Abito the Provisioner will no longer check to see if you are on one of the good factions for some of the items that he sells you.

ITEMS

• The [eq2u]Brace of Corporeal Darklight[/eq2u] will no longer proc in pvp combat.
• The Freeblood mount spell Cloud of Bats is now a proper mount, accessed from the Mounts window. Additionally, the prerequisite quest is no longer required to access the flying mount. Flying is still limited to characters level 85 and higher.
• The [eq2u]Dagger of the Blind[/eq2u] will now show its proper appearance.
• [eq2u]Ethereal Robes of the Silver Reaper[/eq2u] now procs the 10% flurry on the wearer properly.

QUESTS

• Distraction and Destruction – Regaining the quest after blowing up barrels will no longer require players to wait before being able to blow up the barrels again.
• Potent Potables is now optional in the Cobalt Scar quest line. Should you choose to skip it, you will not be able to complete it again, however a repeatable version of the quest will become available from an othmir medic found near Salt Breeze Camp.

From the EQ2 Forums:

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Cobalt Scar

• End line collection rewards have been slightly improved and now have an additional effect.

CLASSES

Mage

• Absorb Magic will no longer be outright resisted.

Brigand

• Cuss will no longer be outright resisted.

Swashbuckler

• Tease will no longer be outright resisted.

Druid

• Serene Symbol will no longer be outright resisted.

Shaman

• Scourge will no longer be outright resisted.

Templar

• Unswerving Hammer’s damage now properly applies to epic targets.

Coercer

• Mind’s Eye is now a toggle ability and will grey out when active.

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.

With Game Update 66 and the introduction of Siren’s Grotto, it’s now time to bump up the quality of heroic gear a bit. To do that, Drinal’s Steward as started offering Tier 2 heroic armor. From Amnerys on the EQ2 Forums:

Good news! The Steward of Drinal now has Tier 2 Heroic gear available. Platinum prices on the Tier 1 Steward gear have been lowered. Greater Spirits and essences have also had their drop rates increased.

This is indeed good news, as there is certainly room for growth and a need to provide an obvious upgrade over the Advanced Solo rare drops.

However there are a few hiccups too. On the EQ2 Forums, players have renewed their objections to needing to run the 15 hour Chains of Eternity Solo Signature Quest line on each of their alts in order to shop Drinal’s Steward’s wares. While we’ve been able to buy a Steward’s Key to share the Obol and Spirit love with our alts, this key has never unlocked the ability to buy from the Merchant. Thus far, the workaround for buying armor has been to swap characters around and trade it through the Shared Bank. However this won’t work with Tier 2 gear upgrades.

Despite protestations from Raid and Group Leaders, it seems the current itemization strategy of crazy-gluing desirable Yellow and Red Adornments to equally desirable items and leaving it to players to divide the child is here to stay.

An eternal optimist might say that leaving it up to players to decide whether to destroy the item to salvage the adornment is part of a longer term strategy to bring choice and hard decisions back to EQ2 itemization after years of streamlining.

While a growing number of Adornment Dislodgers have become available since the Chains of Eternity expansion launched, their cost has kept them out of reach for many players. Especially the obscenely expensive Superb Prismatic Adornment Dislodger which is one of the few types which preserves the item AND a choice of one adornment.

With today’s update, the aforementioned Superb Prismatic Adornment Dislodger will drop from 1,000 plat to 250 plat. Further, EQ2 designers have posted that some cheaper adornment removers are on the way.

Hopefully today’s update will finally and completely put the EQ2 Platocalypse to bed:

From EverQuest2.com:

GENERAL

• Click-to-cure should now use the robust remedies that are in your bags.
• Pet back off will now remove auto-assist.

MERCENARIES

• Quest mercenaries should no longer overwrite your hired mercenary if they die.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• The Triumph “Destiny of Velious Over Achiever” should once again be awarding to players who have already killed the required bosses.

GUILD HALL AMENITIES

• Bells should no longer require a 6 person group to zone to Cobalt Scar.

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.