Game Update 100 “The Scourged Wastes” has been under invite-only beta for the last three weeks and tonight it will hit the Test server to allow for a bit of public testing prior to its April 28th launch. Bugs should be reported on the EverQuest II Bug Tracker. The full Test Update Notes can be read here, but we’re going to cherry pick a few interesting points…

This update is heading to test later tonight, ETA ~10pm PST.

GENERAL

• GU 100 is now available on Test server. Level 100 players should expect to receive an in game mail directing them further.
• Removed the embedded Legends of Norrath (LoN) client from the EverQuest II client. If you wish to continue playing LoN, please download and use the standalone client available at www.legendsofnorrath.com.
• Characters on Thurgadin have been granted legacy server titles.
• Fixed a bug where it would take a long time for your Daybreak Cash balance to show in the marketplace window.
• Fixed a bug where players could lock other players out of Kralet Penumbra.

From EverQuest2.com:

We’re less than a week away from GU 100! Are YOU going to be ready to venture in to the new adventures that await you in the scourge wastes and beyond? Spend the next few days getting yourself (and maybe some of your alts!) prepared with MEMBERS ONLY bonuses:

• Bonus XP
• Double Guild Status
• Double Personal Status

These bonuses will begin at 12:00PM (Noon) PDT on Friday, April 22 and will run through the weekend and into next week, until 12:00PM (Noon) PDT on Wednesday, April 27. The launch of GU100 is scheduled for the next day, Thursday, April 28!

These bonuses are available for members only, and this upcoming content release is for members only. So if you’re not a member yet, what are you waiting for? Don’t miss out on all that’s coming to Norrath in the next few weeks. Become a member today at www.everquest2.com/membership.

From Chris “Chrol” Garlick on the EQ2 Forums:

Timed treasure hunts return for GU100 – this time in Zek, the Scourge Wastes! Search the solo version of the Wastes for the solo level timed treasure hunts, or bring friends to the heroic wastes and take your chances with the heroic level timed treasure hunts. But be forewarned – the heroic versions of these quests are tough, and time won’t be on your side!

You’ll be rewarded for your efforts! Completing the heroic level timed treasure hunts grants a dirty key that has a chance of rewarding a more valuable key when cleaned. And what do these valuable keys open? Why, treasure chests of course! These all new valuable keys open a new set of treasure chests scattered throughout the Wastes. So get out there, collect those keys, and find your treasure – there’s no time to Waste!

As of 9:00am PDT this morning, the consolidation of the Splitpaw, Storms (FR), and Valor (DE) servers is under way. The newly combined server, Thurgadin, will be an English language EQ2 server operating out of the Level 3 datacenter in Amsterdam. While chat in French and German will be possible, no translations of Quests, Items, Recipes, Spells, etc. will be available. The maintenance is expected to last 24 hours.

The detailed announcement can be read here: Server Consolidation: Splitpaw, Storms, & Valor – Monday, April 18 @ 9AM PDT

From Laylaih, Communications Coordinator, on the EQ2 Forums:

We’re getting even closer to the members-only launch of GU 100 on Thursday, April 28, 2016. If you haven’t seen our other preview articles yet, make sure you catch up on everything that’s been unveiled so far:

• The Island of Zek Scourge Wastes
• Fabled Zones
• Scourge Keep (Raids)
• Experience Vials

And now, we’re going to talk about Collections & Heritage Collections!

From Kyle “Kander” Vallee on the EQ2 Forums:

For GU 100, we will have over 40 new collections for you to seek, spread throughout all of the new content in the update, including both solo and heroic versions of Zek, the Scourge Wastes, and both advanced solo and heroic versions of Scourge Keep. You will also find new collections within each of the new fabled zones: The Fabled Temple of Cazic-Thule, The Fabled Ruins of Varsoon, The Sanctum of Fear and the Chamber of Immortality. All of these collections for the update must be sought out in order to complete the rare meta-collections and receive the final rewards.

One of these many zones from GU 100 will also contain a secret rare collection which we are calling a Heritage Collection, as it contains bits and pieces from the heritage quests for the Short Sword of Ykesha and the Shiny Brass Shield. Both of these quests were featured in the original Orcish Wastes and these collections are homage to those infamous heritage quests. Upon completing these collections you will have a choice between a fabled version of these items that have new updated effects.

Players have been reporting issues with trying to login to the Antonia Bayle server since last night yesterday morning. Specifically, their Antonia Bayle-based characters are missing from the Character Select screen, or they are dropped when zoning. We’ll update when we have more information. As of 7:00pm PDT, issues continue with players unable to Zone or login all their Antonia Bayle characters.

Update as of April 16th: This issue seems to have returned as players are reporting it again.

At 10:21am PDT on April 15th RadarX posted:

We’re still working on this issue and don’t have an ETA at this time. We know it’s frustrating for you guys and it’s just as frustrating for us I assure you. We hope to have this resolved really soon.

From Suka on the EQ2 Forums:

Ok, I know, I said on Facebook that I would only put these out on Wednesdays. But this one is special in a number of ways. First this is about a very special person and second, I intend to try something new in the post.

We have a person on our forums and in the game who has made a major difference to all of us. For the past few years she has been someone we have looked up to, have been in awe of her abilities, and it is a special privilege and honor to be able to present her in a spotlight. I personally have loved seeing her homes and have read her articles and guides on ZAM, EQ2Wire and other sites. Without further ado, let me introduce you to one of most interesting and talented persons we have in the game. I am sure a lot of you are very familiar with her already.

I present to you Cyliena:

Continue reading the interview after the jump…

From  Dexella on the EQ2 Forums:

The launch of GU 100 is just around the corner! So far, we’ve unveiled The Island of Zek Scourge Wastes, the new Fabled Zones, and the raids in Scourge Keep. Today, to get you ready for the anticipated Thursday, April 28th launch, we’re going to introduce you to the new Experience Vial system!

While the content for GU 100 will be released only to All Access Members, this new Experience Vial system is accessible in the Marketplace and usable by all players! Who will you share your experience with first?

Want to get your hands on everything GU 100? Then become a member! Find out more at www.everquest2.com/membership.

UPDATE: An EQ2 player Aivet has put together an XP Vial Spreadsheet with these estimates based on 200,000 XP vials:

• 1 vial will get you from level 1 to level 31
• 9 vials to get from level 99 to level 100
• 88 vials to get from level 1 to level 100

UPDATE from Dexella:

We’ve clarified with Dev. These will not be available on Stormhold.

From Robert “Caith” Fouts on the EQ2 Forums:

Ever wish you could bottle up your hard-earned experience and share it with your friend or guildmate? Wait no longer, and allow me to introduce the new Experience Vial system!

Experience Vials will allow players to purchase empty vials off of the EverQuest 2 Marketplace for Daybreak Cash; these vials can be used to “bottle” experience points as you earn them. Once you fill up an empty vial, you will be able to claim a full vial which you can give to a friend or alt, sell on the broker, or even save for yourself for later.

Here is how the system works:

Because we have awesome devs, and through some game archaeology, the EQ2 team have been able to bring back one of the original Avatars to coincide with today’s unlocking of the Echoes of Faydwer expansion on the Stormhold Time-Locked Expansion server. If this devilishly difficult Avatar  proves popular, additional avatars of that era might conceivably be brought back as well. The initial versions of these avatars were complex, requiring a tightly coordinated strategy. From the EQ2 Forums:

Do YOU have what it takes to defeat the Avatar of Growth, Tunare? This contested raid is now available on Stormhold, our Time-Locked Expansion server!

Note: This is the only avatar that is currently available on Stormhold.

After today’s scheduled Account maintenance, players are noticing that their accounts are showing an Account Age of 0 days. This has resulted in Veterans Rewards disappearing from Claim windows in-game. Presumably when the problem is resolved, the Account Ages will revert to the correct number of days/years.

This is being discussed on the EQ2 Forums.

From the EQ2 Forums:

US Servers: 7:00~8:00am PST | 10:00am~11:00am EST | 15:00~16:00 GMT | 16:00~17:00 CEST EU Servers: 9:00~10:00pm PST | 12:00~1:00am EST | 05:00~06:00 GMT | 06:00~07:00 CEST

From the EQ2 Forums:

From the EQ2 Forums:

Attention players: we will perform a general maintenance beginning at 3:00AM PDT* on Tuesday, April 12th. The amount of downtime may vary, depending on the service. If the downtime extends beyond six hours, we will update this thread.

This maintenance may impact the following Daybreak services across all games:

• Game logins for all Daybreak games
• Forum & Web logins for all Daybreak games
• Commerce and account management for all Daybreak games

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a game-specific maintenance. There will be no update or patch notes.

Thank you for your patience as we complete this maintenance.

Time Zone Conversions

• PDT: April 12 @ 3:00am – 9:00am
• EDT: April 12 @ 6:00am – Noon
• BST: April 12 @ 11:00 – 17:00
• CEDT: April 12 @ Noon – 18:00

From the EQ2 Forums:

Splitpaw, Storms, and Valor servers are being consolidated into a new server named Thurgadin. The server consolidation will start on Monday, April 18, 2016 at 9AM PDT (17:00 CEDT). This downtime is expected to take 24 hours, and Thurgadin is scheduled to unlock to players at Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 9AM PDT (17:00 CEDT).

Important Notes for Players:

• Players should pick up No-Trade items from shared housing (such as Guild Halls) BEFORE this downtime. This will prevent losing ownership of placed items during server consolidation.
• When the consolidation is complete on Tuesday, players should delete their “logincache-eu” folder or else LaunchPad character logins may fail.

We appreciate all of our players’ patience and support during server consolidations. If you have additional questions, you can find out more in our most recent FAQ here.

Two pieces of news from yesterday and today.

From Gninja on the EQ2 Forums:

We are looking into the issue. For now we have locked the BG server so no more folks get stuck loading.

If you have a character stuck send me a Private message with server/character name and I can see what I can do.

Meanwhile Roshen has an update about delays in Krono redemption…

Hello all,

We’re aware of an issue with krono purchases, which is causing long delays between when a purchase is made and when krono is delivered. It seems like krono delivery is currently taking up to 48 hours. Our team is aware of this issue, and it currently working towards solving this.

Thank you for your patience!

US Servers: 7:00~9:00am PDT | 10:00am~Noon EDT | 15:00~17:00 BST | 16:00~18:00 CET
EU Servers: 9:00~10:00pm PDT | 12:00~1:00am EDT | 05:00~06:00 BST | 06:00~07:00 CET

Tomorrow morning, the Echoes of Faydwer expansion is unlocked on the Stormhold Time-Locked Expansion server. The update includes some other TLE-related items. From the EQ2 Forums:

STORMHOLD

• Echoes of Faydwer has been activated with this update!

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION
Tenebrous Tangle

• The Droag Liftfinger in the Hurricanus encounter should no longer break encounter causing failure conditions to trigger.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Flawless: Sevalak of Storms’ Demise should now update correctly.
• Flawless: Ikatiar’s Demise (Challenge) should now update correctly.
• Shorthanded: Ikatiar’s Demise (Challenge) should now update correctly.
• Ikatiar’s Demise (Challenge) should now update correctly.
• Vanlith should now properly award achievements when defeated.

ITEMS
[eq2u]Zantril’s Great Staff of the Kin[/eq2u] has had its stats reduced to the appropriate level for a one handed item.

From Laylaih on the EQ2 Forums:

We’re getting close to the launch of GU 100! This Members-Only content is planned to be released on Thursday, April 28th, and we’re continuing to preview the exciting new and updated content that will be available in it. If you missed the first two, you can read them here and here.

Now it’s time to venture in to Scourge Keep!

From Chris “Chrol” Garlick on the EQ2 Forums:

Deathfist Citadel. It was once the stronghold of the great orc emperor, Fyst, and his savage Deathfist clan, who held sway over all the lands known as Zek, the Orcish Wastes. But that was the past. The grip the Deathfists had upon the land has been completely severed by the coming of a new breed of stronger, more intelligent orc, known simply as The Scourge.

After rising up from what was once known as Blood Ore Valley, The Scourge spread devastation throughout the wastes, swiftly taking the citadel for themselves and renaming the fortress Scourge Keep, and the valley from which they were born The Siege, where their leaders machinate against anyone who would oppose them.

This would include the Green Hoods, who have been at the forefront of the battle against the Deathfist Empire. With the aid of heroes from throughout Norrath, they kept the Deathfist contained within the wastes. Now, with this new orc threat, the Green Hoods look again for help from beyond the wastes, and know that this time – if gone unanswered – not only will their time on Norrath be at an end, but so too could the rest of the world with the release of the Scourge horde.

The Time-Locked Expansion servers Deathtoll and Stormhold will come down tomorrow morning in order to merge Deathtoll with it’s PvE-only sister server Stormhold.

Time Zone Conversions

• PDT: April 5 @ 2:00am – 2:00pm
• EDT: April 5 @ 5:00am – 5:00pm
• BST: April 5 @ 10:00 – 22:00
• CEST: April 5 @ 11:00 – 23:00

Here’s the official announcement from the EQ2 Forums:

Both Splitpaw and Deathtoll servers will come down for maintenance beginning at 2:00 AM PT (9:00 AM GMT) for an update to merge servers as mentioned here. Downtime is anticipated to be at least 12 hours to perform this operation.

Commentary

After today, EverQuest II will have no more Player-vs-Player servers other than the Battlegrounds server.

NOTE: Contains no EverQuest II content.

If you just can’t get enough lore and you’ve never read the EverQuest Next stories, we’re providing links to them below. These are in chronogical order from and after the Age of Empire and during the Age of Exile. Also included is the Lords of EverQuest comic by Michael Turner. The comic was presumably created for the single-player game of the same name released in 2003.

From Carlos “Gninja” Mora on the EQ2 Forums:

Remember going into Ruins of Varsoon and making that leap into one of the side tunnels? Lace up your boots, as this is one of the zones we are giving the “Fabled” treatment this time around. The dungeon will be leveled up to current content of level 95+ and given new and exciting loot to chase. Chamber of Immortality, Temple of Cazic-Thule, and Sanctum of Fear are also being made available as “Fabled” versions.

This new content should have some of your favorite parts of the dungeons made appropriate for the most seasoned adventurers. Even Venekor himself is rumored to make an appearance within the Fabled Temple. Ruins of Varsoon and Temple of Cazic-Thule will both be contested dungeons set to low minimum limits to spin up new instances, so that if the zone gets too crowded you can enter a new one where you might have more luck hunting down those specific named creatures you are looking for. Chamber of Immortality and Sanctum of Fear will also have interesting new boss loot waiting to be discovered. All of these zones will be available to subscribers with the upcoming GU100 release.

Bristlebane Day is still underway, and tomorrow is April 1st: The Highest of Silly Days! One-day only events can be found during this special day.

• Gather from superior gardens, which have harvests from any holiday event, in Enchanted Lands
• Use the Frostfell crafting tables near Rivervale in EL or at the Sinking Sands airship dock
• Complete the Bristlebane Bunnies achievement (locations here)
• Visit the sphinx, Imenand, for his three riddle quests (new dice rewards, walkthroughs here)
• Unknown if this will make a return: the a’capella loading music

It’s time to grab some white marble – the Qeynos City Festival returns to Antonica from April 1-7! Spend City Tokens on local specialties, generic festival goods, appearance clothing, or food & drink. Make sure all your characters have finished the Qeynos Postage Collection, speak to Kella Swampfoot to assist with festival quests, and achieve 134 seconds or less in the local Aether Race to earn the Bridge Buzzer title.

WHEN: 12:01am PT on April 1st – 11:59pm PT on April 7th
WHERE: Antonica, outside North Qeynos, /loc 6, -14, -61
QUESTS: Special Delivery, Special Order Crafting, Special Order Gathering
ACHIEVEMENTS: Delivery Ahoy, Harvesting Hoopla, Kella Caffeinated, Requisition Acclamation
MERCHANT ITEMS: EQ2 Traders | EQ2 Furniture

All Servers: 5:00~9:00am PDT | 8:00am~Noon EDT | 14:00~18:00 BST | 15:00~19:00 CEDT

From the EQ2 Forums:

Attention players: we will perform a general maintenance beginning at 5:00AM PDT* on Thursday, March 31st. The amount of downtime may vary, depending on the service. If the downtime extends beyond four hours, we will update this thread. This maintenance may impact the following Daybreak services across all games:

• Game logins for all Daybreak games
• Forum & Web logins for all Daybreak games
• Commerce and account management for all Daybreak games

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a game-specific maintenance. There will be no update or patch notes.

Thank you for your patience as we complete this maintenance.

~The Team at Daybreak

The Amsterdam-based Splitpaw server will come down this afternoon in order to merge with the Russian servers Barren Sky (PvE) and Harla Dar (PvP).

Time Zone Conversions

• PDT: March 30 @ 2:00pm – March 31 @ 2:00am
• BST: March 30 @ 22:00 – March 31 @ 12:00
• CEDT: March 30 @ 23:00 – March 31 @ 13:00
• MSK: March 31 @ 0:00 – March 31 @ 12:00

Here’s the official announcement from the EQ2 Forums:

The Splitpaw server will come down for maintenance beginning at 2:00 PM PT (9:00 PM GMT) for an update to merge servers as mentioned here. Downtime is anticipated to be at least 12 hours to perform this operation.

Commentary

After today, all Russian translations of EverQuest II become inaccessible and the game can only be played in English. Characters and Guilds will need to be renamed. In-game chat can still be performed in Russian once players make the necessary changes to their Game Settings. Also, Subscriptions and Expansions must now be purchased at full US Dollar prices. Due to cost-of-living adjustments and exchange rates, US goods and services are typically sold in Russia at for 60-70% less. These changes have been elucidated in the Russian EQ2 FAQ  (Росси́я) prepared by Akella Online, EQ2’s publisher in Russia for many years.

The merger of Russian servers with Splitpaw was announced on 29 February of this year and the discussion thread on the Russian EQ2 forums (Росси́я) has reached 61 pages. If Google Translate is not your cup of tea, the EU Server Consolidation FAQ is in English although it lacks much of the humor and pointed discussion being made on the Akella forums.

Anyway, looking at cost-of-living and exchange rates, here’s how the numbers break out: