Feldon
It’s now been three months since the very public acquisition of Sony Online Entertainment by investment firm Columbus Nova. In the aftermath, John Smedley, President of the renamed Daybreak Games, has spoken to gaming press about the benefits of the changeover and the freedom now afforded to developing on platforms other than PC and Sony’s Playstation consoles. Earlier this month, Daybreak President John Smedley and Laura Naviaux, senior VP of global sales and marketing, decided it was time to get their message out about the future of the new company. They spoke to a number of sites including PC Gamer, Venture...
UPDATE: Here’s the official announcement: We’ll be streaming on Thursday, June 4, 2015 starting at 1PM Pacific* on the EverQuest 2 Twitch channel. Join Holly “Windstalker” Longdale, Robert “Caith” Fouts, Kyle “Kander” Vallee, and Ry “Roshen” Schueller for this stream as we show off just a few of the things coming up for EverQuest 2, and chat with players live via Twitch chat. Join us for this stream, and log into Twitch to chat with us and other players. We look forward to talking with YOU during this stream! From Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on twitter: We have lots of news for #eq2 next week...
From the EQ2 Forums: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 7:00AM PDT* for an update. Estimated downtime is approximately one hour. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 9:00PM PDT* for an update. (Approx. 5:00AM London Time on May 28, 2015). Estimated downtime is one hour. Alle deutschsprachigen Server werden um 6:00 CET am 28.05.2015 zwecks einer Serveraktualisierung heruntergefahren. Die vorgesehene Stillstandszeit wird etwa 1 Stunde(n) betragen. Le serveur de langue française sera arrêté à 6:00 CET le 28-05-2015 pour une mise à jour...
From the EQ2 Forums: Attention players: we will perform a general maintenance beginning at 7:00AM PDT* on Wednesday, May 27th. The current estimated downtime for this maintenance is two to five hours, depending on the service. This maintenance may impact the following Daybreak services across all games: Commerce functions, including purchases, for all games Game & Web logins for all Daybreak sites Forum access (login, posting, and viewing abilities) for all Daybreak games. Thank you for your patience as we complete this maintenance. ~The Team at Daybreak
Today marked the launch of EverQuest’s newest time-locked Progression server, Ragefire. This server adopts many if not all of the designs and rules of the game as it existed at launch in 1999. According to reports on twitter, things have not all gone according to plan as players quickly reached high levels and other glitches. Regardless, the idea of progression servers reinforces the idea that nostalgia doesn’t fade away when brought into the light. In celebration of the Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night kickstarter, I re-played Castlevania: Symphony of the Night through to 200.6% completion for the third time...
From the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION F.S. Distillery: Distill or Be Killed [Heroic] A stuck rum bottle during the encounter with Grogmogo can now be interacted with. ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT Beastlord Feral Stance will now apply final ability damage to pets when over level 96. Paladin Corrected an issue with Amends III that caused it to lose effectiveness when upgrading from expert to master. Master and Grandmaster are now more potent. Conjuror Earthquake will now also interrupt. TRADESKILLS The recipe for Unyielding Will (Grandmaster) is now located in Fighter Grandmaster Recipes Volume IV. ITEMS Pure Malice...
Dethdlr
From the EQ2Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION General Werner Thunderleg will now cast Total Domination correctly. F.S. Distillery: Beggars and Blighters [Raid] Kildiun the Drunkard has had his health increased. MERCENARIES Katastra Vilehex now has a more tank focused buff package. ITEMS Corrected an issue with Offensive Focus effects that prevented them from working for some classes. Sigil of Defiance will now grant melee skills and defense instead of casting skills.
One of the more interesting features teased at the Altar of Malice systems panel at SOE Live 2014 last summer was the concept of Adornment Set Bonuses. As described, players who applied adornments from the same set would receive a lucrative bonus effect or set of stats. However when the Altar of Malice expansion arrived, the set bonuses were found to be relatively limited and even nonsensical, leading most players to ignore them and freely mix-and-match adornments to min/max their characters. Players guessed that an interesting idea on paper hadn’t turned out to be compelling enough to require another...
From the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Phantom Sea Werner Thunderleg can now be found hanging out in Kithicor Forrest in the Phantom Sea. F.S. Distillery: The Rum Cellar [Solo] Fixed a crash in the Rum Cellar solo instance. ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT Scouts Scout Offensive stances will no longer spam requires level 96 when zoning. Warden Dawnstrike Strike, Icefall Strike and Whirl of Permafrost now do more damage. Inquisitor Strike of Flames, Invocation Strike, Strike of Corruption now do more damage. Druid Howling with the Pack will now heal mercs.
Last summer, EQ2 player Errrorr created a thread championing a new type of player mount — ducks. For forty-three pages, hilarity ensued. However the thread was put to bed by lead animator Tom “ttobey” Tobey in January of this year when it became clear from higher ups that we’d likely never get such a mount. Theories were bandied about that sales of the bunny mounts had not been sufficient to justify their development effort. It may have been felt that these more frivolous and genre-bending mounts just didn’t resonate with players. Personally I stick with flying appearance mounts so...
From the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Phantom Sea T’Kaela should no longer have an incorrect Rum Cellar requirement. F.S. Distillery: The Rum Cellar [Solo] At no time will death result in being stuck in the storeroom. The damage inflicted by Aerial Attack has been slightly increased. F.S. Distillery: Distill or Be Killed [Heroic] The cannon used against The Red Corsair will no longer be stuck in operation by another member of your party when it shouldn’t be. Charanda will no longer be stuck immune in either the normal or challenge mode encounters. Brokenskull Rum Party – No...
As we reported earlier this week, Daybreak Games President John Smedley recently gave an interview to GamesIndustry.biz which included the following comments: “I firmly believe the days of the WoW-style MMO are over,” Smedley said. “And that means we have to change with the times. Luckily, we were kind of early on that bus as opposed to late. But we’re changing what we’re making. Look at H1Z1. Is it an MMO? Sure, by definition, but I would consider it a session-based online game with a lot of people. And I say that because the average life expectancy in H1Z1...
Here are your update notes for Thursday, 30 April 2015: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION F.S. Distillery: The Rum Cellar [solo] Fixed a crash that would occasionally happen in the rum cellar solo zone. The radius in which some of the guards will see you along the Rum Run and near Kildiun before sending you to jail has been slightly reduced. Portia Rumuffin should no longer be stuck with her secret recipe buff. F.S. Distillery: Distill or Be Killed [Heroic] Any party members still within the sugarcane press will be freed upon defeating Yipnik. ITEMS The Fishbone Earring’s water breathing...
NOTE: No EverQuest II content I’ve been a huge fan and supporter of emulators for years, despite the totally unwarranted slight against them that they somehow constitute “theft”. Developers and players of emulators are typically the most passionate of played who have purchased these games many times and want to play them on a different platform. Some games are long forgotten and hard to acquire, so emulation is the best solution. Recently, MassivelyOP has been extensively covering the popular SWGEmu with several live casts and interviews. Players who miss EverQuest as it existed shortly after launch had no option...
My apologies for this one being a bit late. Here’s the note about today’s downtime: US EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at 7:00AM PDT* for an update. Estimated downtime is approximately one hour. EU EverQuest II Live Servers will be brought offline on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at 9:00PM PDT* for an update. (Approx. 5:00AM London Time on April 30, 2015). Estimated downtime is one hour. *Time Zone Converter Along with today’s update notes: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION F.S. Distillery: The Rum Cellar [solo] The zone entry warning message will now...
As of noon Pacific, the Rum Cellar update has launched on US EQ2 servers. Information on the new Downloadable Content (DLC) know as the Rum Cellar can be found on EQ2 Zam and EQ2Traders. Class balance tweaks for Summoners, Scouts, Fighters, and other quality of life features such as spending and un spending AA points are included in Game Update 70 and do not require the purchase of the Rum Cellar. Europe? EU servers unlocked at around 2:45 pm PDT (21:45 GMT). RU servers are apparently up now as well. Rum all around!
Here are the patch notes for 28 April 2015 which include the notes for the new downloadable content (DLC), the Rum Cellar Campaign: RUM CELLAR CAMPAIGN NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE 2 Solo Zones (1 Solo and 1 Advanced Solo) 3 Heroic Zones (1 Heroic, 1 Event Heroic, 1 Event Heroic-Challenge) Raid Zone with 10 Bosses Lots of Loot, including drops of a Rare Elite Mercenary and a Zeppelin Mount New Achievements and Titles New Adornments and a new adornment set bonus tier 30 New Collections Merchant who accepts Far Sea Ferrin (who also sells a Zeppelin Mount!)
Update: “Unlocking US live servers now.” – Bunji Update: Downtime is now expected to extend until Noon Pacific time. However, the link to purchase the Rum Cellar Campaign is now active, so we can pretend that’s the pre-order time window. 🙂 Today marks the launch of the Rum Cellar Campaign which can be purchased here. For those that haven’t been following along, the Rum Cellar Campaign is the first attempt at delivering Downloadable Content (DLC) for a price, rather than through traditional expansions (not counting the old Adventure Packs that were meant to be in addition to expansions, not...
Today, Daybreak Games unveiled the new redesign of their website, DaybreakGames.com. Along with the new site design, they also revealed their new logo and the new name for Station Cash: Daybreak Cash. We are unsure of how long it will be before this gets changed in-game. Here’s a screenshot of one of the five screens that cycle through on the new homepage. Update: As part of the celebration for the launch of the new website and logo, EQ2 players can take advantage of the following: EverQuest II All Access members are in for a boost this week with Double...
MJ Guthrie over at Massively Overpowered has put together a pretty impressive guide to the dungeons available in Everquest II. It shows the different original story lines as well as the “golden path” and includes level ranges and type of dungeon. Certainly worth checking out.
From the EQ2 Forums: Attention players: we will perform a general maintenance beginning at 7:00AM PDT* on Monday, April 27th. The current estimated downtime for this maintenance is three to five hours, depending on the service. This maintenance may impact the following Daybreak services across all games: Commerce functions, including purchases, for all games Game logins Web logins for all Daybreak sites, including account creation Forum access (login, posting, and viewing abilities) for all Daybreak games. Thank you for your patience as we complete this maintenance. ~The Team at Daybreak Maybe we’ll finally see Daybreak Games new logo? The company has existed without an...
From Windstalker on the EQ2 Forums: Dear Norrathians, We have launched a poll for players on the Antonia Bayle server asking if they would be interested in a free move to a lower population server. We didn’t add more details than that because we won’t go into planning until we get the community’s vote on the subject overall. This is in part to gauge the interest in a move option for one of our highest population servers and to assess this alternative as a tool to move the populations around to different servers when we see an opportunity. We’ll...
From Roshen on the EQ2 Forums: Earlier this month, the EverQuest II team unveiled plans for campaigns! The first new campaign, Rum Cellar, will be available on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Rum Cellar comes with six new instances (solo, heroic, and raid content) with lots of loot, collections, and achievements. Here’s a list of the features that are included in the Rum Cellar campaign: 2 Solo Zones (1 Solo and 1 Advanced Solo) 3 Heroic Zones (1 Heroic, 1 Event Heroic, 1 Event Heroic-Challenge) Raid Zone with 10 Bosses Lots of Loot, including drops of a Rare Elite Mercenary and a Zeppelin...
UPDATE: What was supposed to be a one hour downtime this morning has turned into an all day event of stumbling servers, uppity login servers, and unexpected downtime: Server Downtime April 21st Unable to Connect to Login Servers (created by Caith to let players know there’s a problem) General Discussion forum (numerous EQ2 servers have come down and back up) From the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Brokenskull Bay: Fury of the Cursed [Raid] Corrected an issue in the Captain Krasnok encounter that allowed the Spirit of Gluttony to be killed when it shouldn’t be. Ssraeshza Temple: Echoes...
Fulfilling a promise to not let 6 months go by between episodes, Dellmon and Osgz have once again taken to the airwaves to record another thrilling episode of the EQ2 Talk podcast! EQ2 Talk in conjunction with Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum – To Life, Love, and Loot – – – is pleased to announce that Episode #79 was recently released and is available for download. “Pack to the Future” is available via iTunes and other RSS download services. Get yours TODAY! Daybreak has announced that its next content release will be a purchaseable campaign called the Rum Cellar. Dellmon...