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.

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:

• TenTonHammer — EverQuest II Game Update 63: Skyshrine – A Visual Tour
• Massively — A land corrupted and a city under seige: A look at GU63 with the EQII team
• EQ2 ZAM — Preview: EverQuest II Game Update 63: Skyshrine
• MPOGD — EverQuest II: Game Update 63: Skyshrine Preview
• MMORPG.com — placeholder
• GamesRadar — EverQuest II Skyshrine update will cater to all, dabble in time travel

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:

• Holly “Windstalker” Longdale, EQ2 Senior Producer
• Akil “Lyndro” Hooper, EQ2 Lead Designer
• Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson, EverQuest Franchise Director of Development

and there was a slight change in the guest list to:

• Kyle “Kander” Vallee, Assistant Lead Designer
• Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson

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.

Continue Reading at EverQuest2.com

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.

A recurring controversy in EverQuest II is the ability to sell or gift looting rights to a player who was not present at the time the mob died. This could be an alternate raider who was sitting out, a player who went linkdead at the crucial moment during the fight, or it could be a player who “buys” the item in auction.

Last night two forum topics were created on the EQ2 forums suggesting that SLR had become impossible on Test, and that only players who had been present at the time of the kill could loot items from chests. I was immediately suspicious due to the lack of details. No raid zone or mob was mentioned. The actual error message was not provided. And it was an infrequent poster with a vague “I just found out in test”. So I held off on an article until some kind of confirmation one way or the other could be had. Looks like we’ve all been masterfully trolled.

Lyndro posted:

We’re taking a look now to see if this is an issue. If this happened it wasn’t an intentional change. If we were to make a change like this, we wouldn’t do it in secret.

and then:

Looks like the looting rules are the same on test as they are on live.

and from Zoltaroth:

Since not everyone goes to the test forums, let me state it here as well:

If this is indeed happening on Test, it is a bug and will be fixed.

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug where some NPCs were still critting on players.

• Charmed players will no longer crit at all.

From the EQ2 Forums:

CRITICAL MITIGATION REMOVAL

• Critical Mitigation (the stat) has been removed from the game.

• NPCs no longer use Critical Bonus to add to critical damage.

• Buffs and debuffs that had Critical Mitigation elements to them have had those elements replaced with other elements instead, so that those buffs/debuffs do not lose effectiveness.

• Critical Mitigation values on adornments have been replaced with maximum health bonuses.

• NOTE: This change has no effect on PvP game play. The “PvP Critical Mitigation” stat is still useful for game balance in PvP play and is not being changed.

From Holly “Windstalker“ on the EQ2 Forums:

Hey folks,

I noticed there had been questions on exactly when Critical Mitigation will be removed from PvE items and Crit Bonus removed from NPCs. We have decided to push the change live with the Hotfix tomorrow.

If anything changes on this front, I’ll stop in, but tomorrow’s the day!

P.S. PvP Crit Mitigation will still exist on items.

SOE has laid their cards on the table for Game Update 63. First up, a level cap raise to level 92. No, that’s not a typo. As of April 17th, players will be able to gain 2 more levels, as well as a new form of player advancement called ‘prestige points’. GU63 brings the promised Destiny of Velious content of new group and raid instances, a variety of solo content includind a new overland zone and more! Also Age of Discovery owners will be able to tame new Beastlord warder types.

Game Update 63 hits Test on Thursday, March 15, 2012!

From the EQ2 Forums:

The Destiny of Velious saga continues! 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 behind its massive walls and arcane protections.  Now, the unthinkable has happened — Skyshrine is under siege! Battle and befriend dragons and their wurmkin in the forbidden city of Dracur. Explore the past to unravel the mysterious events that transformed the formidable draconic city into a battlefield full of daunting challenges, terrifying foes and unimaginable treasures!

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• The beastlord bar will now use the tooltip delay for hotbars rather than the default tooltip delay.

ZONE PROGRESSION / POPULATION

Vallon’s Tower [Non-Challenge]

• Normal Mode Vallon Zek should now drop 2 breastplate patterns.

Sullon’s Spire [Non-Challenge]

• Normal Mode Hragdold the Frenzied should now also drop 2 bracer patterns.

This week, we’ve heard things crashing and crumbling down from all directions in the EQ2 community, so it was easy to miss an in-game barrier being shattered. We’re talking of course about the Plane of War!

On August 25, 2011, Game Update 61 arrived, bringing with it the challenging Drunder and the War of Zek which rages inside it. It has taken six months for the first raid guild to clear the towers of Sullon, Tallon, and finally Vallon Zek on challenge mode, and thus unlocking the Plane of War on the Antonia Bayle server.

We took a moment last Tuesday to speak with Arabel, leader of the Equilibrium guild about this accomplishment. This interview was written on Tuesday, but then held back due to all the ProSiebenSat news so it would not get drowned out. Anyway, read on for a glimpse into what it takes to be a world-first raid guild.

EQ2Wire: For those who are unfamiliar, please tell us about yourself and what is your history with previous guilds before leading Equilibrium?

Arabel: I’ve been in game since 2004, and raiding since the Splitpaw adventure pack. Like most people I just slowly worked myself up through guilds over time as my original main, a Wizard named Arabel. I started out on Faydark, going through a few guilds. Clan of Shadows and Eternal Chaos in EoF when I really started to get in to raiding. I then went to Saints of Norrath, and not long after to Second Dawn, also during EoF. I was an officer when we merged and made Confirmed. I left Confirmed when my life changed and I couldn’t raid, I also sold Arabel on the Bazaar at the time to make a little extra money. I couldn’t quit though, and ended up playing around on my SK and Templar is some PST guilds on Oasis.

Believe it or not, time marches on and there are still semi-weekly updates to talk about, so…

MERCENARIES

• Mercenaries should do much less damage in PVP combat.  This should have no affect PVE combat.

ZONE PROGRESSION / POPULATION

Plane of War

• The Enraged War Boar now stands guard near the zone entry.

Vallon’s Tower [Challenge]

• During the final Vallon Zek fight, The Vallonite Volley Commander will limit the locations he spawns at.

You may be wondering what in the world those last 2 line items are about.

MMO Design Suggestion: If you are designing a raid progression zone, and you add trash mobs that drop awesome items, make sure that killing those trash mobs trigger a zone lockout requires more than one group. 😉

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• This update includes a speculative fix for the issues causing some assets, like NPC quest icons, not to appear correctly.

Update: Alas, this has not resolved the problem.

MERCENARIES

• Mercenaries using the spell “Solar Flame” should no longer cause players to not be able to cast “Solar Flare”

ZONE PROGRESSION / POPULATION

• Fixed a bug where an NPC could “double cast” a spell.

Vallon’s Tower [Challenge]

• During the final Vallon Zek fight, only 2 Vallonite Aces will spawn per wave of adds.  Fighters will no longer be hit with Tactical Dilema during the fight.  Combat Doubt will no longer daze players.

Icy Keep: Retribution

• Epic X3 and lower encounters found throughout the zone should no longer grey out when fought with a full raid force. This applies to the Statue of Ice Maiden, Statue of Tundra Beast, Frozen Corrival, and Ice Maiden D’Ina encounters.

ITEMS

• When turning in relic patterns and gems from Kingdom of Sky raid zones beastlords should no longer be told the incorrect components.

QUESTS

The City of Freeport

• “Jezranaz’s Hideous Locket” can again be completed.

• Tarakh will now show quest icons over his head for the quest “Natasha’s Note.”

• “The Unfortunate Earth” can again be completed.

A fix has been found for the AoE Double Casting that many Velious raid mobs have been guilty of. This required in-depth analysis of the logs which have been generated especially to determine why these mobs were exhibiting this behavior. From Maevianiu on the EQ2 Forums:

We were finally able to reproduce this and a fix for it will be in the next hotfix. Thank you for the detailed descriptions when it happened it really helped dig into the logging to find the cause. It was related to people dying and rezzing. Accepting a rez while he is casting the AE is a great way to make it happen nearly every time… probably not a good idea to do that even after the fix, rezzing into a brutal AE hurts!

From the EQ2 Forums:

ZONE PROGRESSION / POPULATION

Vallon’s Tower [Challenge]

• Players should get the correct message when entering the blue shielded dome in the Vallon Zek fight.

• During the final Vallon Zek fight, only 2 Vallonite Aces will spawn per wave of adds.  Fighters will no longer be hit with Tactical Dilema during the fight.

DUNGEON MAKER

• Fixed an issue with vitality not applying correctly in dungeon maker instances.

ITEMS

• Gnomish Anti-Camo Goggles can now be equipped by any class.

LIVE EVENTS

Erollisi

• Hearts a’Flutter: Antonica – The Essences of Erollisi should no longer spawn within unreachable tree roots or branches in the Central Farmlands.

QUESTS

Betrayal

• Betrayal popup warnings should more accurately describe what happens to your spells and combat arts when you betray.

Not included in the notes, so this is in my own words:

CENSUS / DATA FEEDS

A checkbox has been added to the Persona window under EQ2 Share allowing players to Opt-in some or all of their characters to be discoverable when viewing their character’s Alts.

From the EQ2 Forums:

GENERAL

• Travelling from Great Divide to Eastern Wastes via the Griffon mount should no longer drop players randomly into the water.

• Travelling to Kylong Plains using the Global Travel Bell should no longer drop players randomly into the water.

• Fixed a bug where the client could get stuck in a “sending mail” mode making it impossible to send additional mails until restarting the client.

ZONE PROGRESSION / POPULATION

Vallon’s Tower [Challenge]

• Adds that spawn during the final Vallon zek fight spawn less frequently and have less health.  Warlord’s Fury and Siphon cast during the final Vallon Zek Fight no longer clear players current target.

From Zoltaroth on the EQ2 Forums:

We are working on the memory issues, though they are not memory leaks.  There was actually a change that went live on Tuesday that should help with the memory footprint increase we saw with AoD.  There are some other fixes as well still in the pipeline.

Pathing should be coming to live fairly soon.  It was enabled on test for certain zones but not all zones had the new pathing built for them yet.  There were also some issues we found on test that we want to fix before it goes live.  They are being worked on and should be done in the near future.

From Maevianiu on the EQ2 Forums:

I have a “speculative” fix for the double cast. Our QA team cannot make it happen, so it is a shot in the dark. I also added even more logging in to try to help track it down.

Players were unable to login with Authenticators yesterday. This has been fixed according to Amnerys:

The issue with authenticators has been resovled. Please let us know if you continue to have any problems.

From EverQuest2.com:

GENERAL

• You can now access your mail without a mailbox!  You can either click the mail buff in your buff window, select mail from the EQ2 menu, or use the /start_mail command! (NOTE: You will only be able to send and receive items and coin by actually clicking on a mailbox in the world.)

ZONE PROGRESSION / POPULATION

Tallon’s Stronghold [Challenge]

• Players have more time to defeat Decorin Deathbringer in the Tallon Zek fight before Tallon empowers him.

Vallon’s Tower [Challenge]

• Players have more time to defeat Kulaxis in the Vallon Zek fight before Vallon empowers him.

The announced removal of Critical Mitigation will coincide with the conversion of Yellow and Red Crit Mit adornments into Health adornments. So why will the replacement adornments have less Health (less than 250 points each) than White health adornments? According to Omougi, it’s because the EQ2 team thinks we should have other viable choices, like DPS. Adornments should be about choice!

From Omougi on the EQ2 Forums:

Our goal with these adornment and spell conversions is to give you guys something in the place of nothing essentially. Before, you were playing a zero-sum game if you had enough crit mit. If you didn’t have enough crit mit, you couldn’t do the encounters — period. All these adornments and spells did is bring you up to a threshold. If you were past that threshold, it does nothing for you.

Now, [while] these adornments and spells actually do increase your survivability at all times – equating the amount of crit mit lost to an equivalent form of HP doesn’t really work out, because any amount of HP is infinitely better than a threshold stat with no use. If you were slotting your adornments for survivability before, you are still slotting them for survivability with HP – the only change is the adornments have been made more powerful in their actual effectiveness with crit mit out of the picture.

This change equates to a free survivability gain across the board, and we need to be very careful with numbers at first to ensure things do not get drastically easier. Changing the difficulty of content is not the goal here – changing the accessibility of content is.

From Silius on the EQ2 Forums:

Just to clarify some confusion.

• Crit mit as a mechanic is being removed.
• NPC crit bonus was countered by crit mit and we are reducing crit bonus to 0 across the board.
• Critical avoidance is staying around. Critical avoidance is an NPCs way of contesting your chance to critically hit them.
• Replacing the adornments with HP is not to compensate for anything. Since the critical mitgiation stat is no longer useful we are converting to a stat that benefits all players.
• The goal is for this change to not change the difficulty of the encounters. This is why we ask that you all take some time to log on to test once we push it there. We plan on having this on test by the weekend.

Note: NPC crit bonus may be used in the future on a case by case bases and will be considered in the balance of the encounter so that crit mit is not required.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to PM me.

In what may go down as the best decision in EQ2 history, or a total overreaction to a problem that could have been solved with a 15-20% reduction across the board, Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson has announced that in the very near future, the Critical Mitigation stat will be COMPLETELY GOING AWAY.

First introduced in The Shadow Odyssey, greatly expanded in Sentinel’s Fate, and then becoming the most important stat within Destiny of Velious as an alternative form of progression to raising the level cap (which is technologically challenging), here’s the announcement of this revelation from the EQ2 Forums:

We’ve listened to all of your conversations since Critical Mitigation was originally introduced. The dev team has extensively debated about it internally. (Very extensively.) But ultimately, we decided that the right move for EQII is to remove Critical Mitigation entirely from the game.

Critical Mitigation initially seemed to do what it was designed for, but it has always suffered from a complete lack of intuitiveness for players, and it’s not a forward-extensible system. Ultimately, it doesn’t add any fun factor to the game.
So we’ve decided that a complete removal of it is by far the best solution for all concerned.