Axe
From RadarX at 8:48 Pacific, 11/3/11 on the EQ2 Forums: We are currently investigating login issues with Launchpad and apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience as we resolve the problem. UPDATE: This issue was resolved approximately 30 minutes after the above status post.
Feldon
If you use Twitter, you’re probably following EverQuest II. EQ2’s new Community Manager Isulith has been making use of the service largely by posting questions to readers. We found Yesterday’s question to be most interesting: What are your most used fan sites? If you’d like your opinion to be heard, reply on Facebook. UPDATE: 33% of 71 respondents said they read EQ2Wire. Thanks for your support!
Tuesday’s update seems to have disabled the 48 hour grace period for trading loot/items between the members of a group or raid. This change was pushed straight to Live with no testing. And now it may be that the reasoning for this “fix” was to stop a low-priority “exploit”. From Crismorn of Nagafen: SoE tried to fix Contested Kael quest pieces from being traded between group members and thought it was so important and such a huge issue that breaking the entire ability to trade any type of dropped loot would be an acceptable loss, or they [did] just...
As a matter of course, we have left the marketing of StationCash Marketplace items to the forums, EverQuest2.com, and the Welcome window when logging into EQ2. However this week’s haul includes a set of in-game paintings, something players have been requesting for quite some time. We got a giggle out of the title of this painting ‘Seeking the Burned Woods’. If you don’t know the backstory on that, read the story. Maybe the next bunch of paintings will include Fansy the Bard. These 5 paintings are $2.50 each (.83 cents each if you got triple SC).
Thursday, November 3, 2011 brings a new Webcast about the upcoming Game Update 62, specifically the Freeport revamp. If you have a Facebook account, you can Submit Questions for this Webcast by posting here. Those of us who refuse to get a Facebook account can apparently pound sand. 😉 From EverQuest2.com: Host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations) will interview Jonathan “Prathun” Caraker (EQ2 Game Designer) and Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (EQ2 Lead Designer) and learn all about the upcoming changes to Freeport. Are you wondering what this historic city will look like, what new quests are on the...
From EverQuest2.com: With the Everquest II: Age of Discovery expansion just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to give players the inside scoop on what exactly is going on with the Freeport re-design. EverQuest II Community Relations Manager, Jennifer “Isulith” Bridges got the chance to sit down with Timothy Heydelaar, Senior Artist for EverQuest II. He was able to give a great overview of what to expect and why the changes to Freeport were made. … The Freeport City revamp is coming winter 2011 with Game Update 62, which is coming out at the same time as the...
From EverQuest2.com: We will perform maintenance on all games and services beginning at 4:00 a.m. US Pacific Time on November 1, 2011. You may experience the following: Logins for all games, websites, and forums may be unavailable between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. US Pacific Time. Commerce transactions, including purchases on our websites and in-game marketplaces, may be unavailable between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. US Pacific Time. We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed. This maintenance window corresponds to 11:00-13:00 GMT or 12:00-14:00 CET.
From the EQ2 Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Strategist’s Stronghold Severed Windpipe is now curable. Tallon’s Stronghold [Non-Challenge mode] During the Tallon Zek fight Decorin Deahbringer will cast Deathbringer’s Touch and Impending doom less frequently. Tallon’s Stronghold [Challenge mode] During the Lieutenant Klaatuus fight the aviak trooper adds have less health, no longer memwipe, and will always spawn at the bosses feet. Vallon’s Tower [Challenge Mode] During the Gindan Commander Angler fight the Diaku Deceptors will wait a while before casting their stunning strike spell. Kael Drakkel All dropped quest items that were previously flagged no-trade now consume the...
If you’ve been following the somewhat unfortunate adventures of the Gnoob the Gnome character, you’ll recall he had a big part to play in the introduction of Mercenaries to the original EverQuest when it was faced with its own problem of no new blood to help new or returning players leveling up alts. There have been over a dozen Gnoob videos in the past but this one touches on the upcoming Age of Discovery and its Mercenaries feature. It’s worth a watch and comes with a laugh. From EverQuest2.com:
The upcoming Age of Discovery expansion will include the Mercenaries feature. These player-controlled (or perhaps just guided, depending) NPCs will help players in groups or raids, for a small fee. You can read a lore-based/mock interview with one of these upcoming mercenaries at EverQuest2.com: Recently, we have caught word that mercenaries will start to offer their services in Norrath come the end of the year. We were lucky enough to grab an interview with one of these soon to be job-seeking mercenaries! Her name Vittia Direshadow and she is a Teir’dal Shadowknight. She’s quite scary-looking but assures me she...
Dethdlr
From Everquest2.com: SOE Trick-or-Treat Event is Here! It’s time to trick-or-treat in your favorite games*! Today through October 31, 2011, get treats and tricks when you visit your participating games each day. For EverQuest® II and EverQuest® II Extended, check the mailbox for your tricks and treats! For more details visit www.soe.com/trickortreat. Participating games include: EverQuest EverQuest® II,;EverQuest® II Extended, Free Realms®, Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™, PoxNora® and Magic : The Gathering – Tactics™ Note: This actually started on Friday, Oct 28, 2011
From Everquest2.com: Trick-or-Treat! Double Your Treats on 10/29/11! What better way to fill your Halloween goody bag than with DOUBLE STATION CASH®! Get Double Station Cash on Saturday October 29, 2011 starting at 12:01 AM PDT when you redeem any SOE Pre-Paid Game Card or buy Station Cash*. Plus, we have more tricks and treats in participating games throughout the SOE Trick-or-Treat Event! For more details visit www.soe.com/trickortreat. *Offer runs October 29, 2011, 12:01 AM PDT through 11:59 PM PDT; excludes purchase by mobile/SMS. Participating games include: EverQuest® EverQuest® II,;EverQuest® II Extended, DC Universe™ Online, Free Realms®, Star Wars®:...
Smokejumper responded to a thread from nine days ago on the EQ2 Forums asking for a clear answer to what exactly is Age of Discovery. He basically said what we already knew about the content included in Age of Discovery. Reading through it and some of his follow up posts, it looks as though the “expansion” will be coming out near the end of November but price and distribution information won’t be released until next week by the marketing folks.
From the EQ2 Forums: There have been several reported issues of players who are unable to get the Nights of the Dead quests from Ponchy. If you have done them in previous years, there seems to be a bug where it won’t let you get them again. While we are working on fixing this, please petition Customer Service to have the old quests removed. We greatly apologize for the inconvenience and will message again when we have this working normally. http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?start=0&topic_id=508575#5649447
From the EQ2 Forums: We are inviting the most fearful, dreadful and simply awful creatures to the frighteningly decorated Community Lounge to celebrate the Nights of the Dead holiday with us. Show off with your costume creations, partake in a variety of unique drinks, and meet new players!
From the EQ2Forums: POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION Temple of Rallos Zek [Challenge] Bosses should no longer get double buff packages. Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundations of Stone [Challenge] During the Statue of Rallos Zek fight the automatons of escalation have reduced abilities and should be easier to handle. The statue itself will wait much longer after its final text before it activates retaliation. Sullon’s Spire [Non-Challenge Mode] Hragdold the Frenzied: Ironclaw Priests now heal for less. Clawstorm mana drain is lessened, and it’s not cast quite so often. Spire of Rage Spells that the Sullonites use now have longer...
When 85% of the news articles on EverQuest2.com are about other games, it’s easy to miss bonafide EQ2 items. That said, a new article has been posted outlining some of the Lore related to the Beastlord class coming in the Age of Discovery expansion. The beastlord class is coming in winter 2011 with the EverQuest II expansion: Age of Discovery! In North America, Winter is defined as the time period from 21 or 22 December and 20 or 21 March. With the last Beta invites scheduled to go out on November 16th, we were assuming that the Age of...
Enemies in EQ2 have always tended to exhibit some odd behavior such as running long distances or zig-zagging around a room in an attempt to reach the player. Destiny of Velious greatly exacerbated this problem, causing enemies to “orbit” the player, or worse, warp or teleport around. Because raid mobs are often able to ignore certain movement speed limitations, this has been a major problem in certain raid zones that require the tank to slowly keep the mob moving in a circle around a room. The mobs will teleport on top of the tank, or start to orbit clockwise...
Information about the upcoming Age of Discovery expansion has been few and far between, however SmokeJumper did take a moment to clear up how XP and loot will work: Actually, you earn XP *and* tokens. The tokens are used to acquire items for any of your characters, not just the one you have currently logged-in. XP and tokens are awarded at the end of the dungeon run and based on a challenge rating system that should prevent exploiting. More on this soon. As we heard at Fan Faire (which may, of course, have changed since then) is that there...
From the EQ2 Forums: BATTLEGROUNDS Fixed an issue with queuing for a battleground as a group.
From the EQ2 Forums: DUNGEON FINDER Dungeons are now broken into categories. If a player declines a DF offer, they must wait 15 minutes before they can queue again. The dungeon finder will now give an indication of how many players of each archetype are queued for each dungeon. Any member of the group can now set group options, but everyone in the group must vote on the changes before they apply. LIVE EVENTS Nights of the Dead The headless Horseman should once again be patrolling Nektulos Forest. An Essence of Fear and an Eerie Essence are now being...
From EverQuest2.com: Closed Beta registration for “Age of Discovery” is now open! Applications are available at this link. Beta testing is vital to ensure a great product launch. We appreciate your participation and welcome any and all feedback. Click the link above, sign in with your Station Account, complete the application process, and your application will go into the queue for approval. Please be sure to read and accept the NDA. All applicants must have accepted the NDA in order to be considered for participation. All applicants will receive an email to confirm that their application was received. Applications...
“All level 90 characters are created equal, but some are more equal than others.” Nobody likes to be picked last for a team, yet the days where any player with level-appropriate gear could contribute in a meaningful way to the majority of dungeons introduced in an EverQuest II expansion are long gone. The straightforward turn-and-burn fights up to and including Kunark zones have given way to heavily scripted 6-person mini-raids. All but the easiest Velious dungeons have substantial checks on Gear, Alternate Advancements, and Skill. I’ve talked to several players over the last week about Dungeon Finder and the...
From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums: Hey, folks, We’ve listened to feedback and there were four areas we agreed needed to be improved to make the feature more useful. Below the list of those four major improvements: 1) The problem: People were joining the DF queue as “Random” and then declining group after group until they got the dungeon they wanted. The solution: If you queue and then receive a group invite…and then decline it…you will then suffer a 15-minute time penalty before you can re-queue again. This solution has no effect on people using the DF normally, but...
From Rothgar on the EQ2 Forums: Thank you for all the feedback you guys have been giving. I'm sorry I haven’t come back and posted a response before now. I’ve been skimming the feedback and talking it over with other members of the team. The purpose of this post was to get a general feeling from you guys on what we need to look at and address in the future. We’re deep into our expansion cycle right now so it’s too early to give dates about when we can make additional changes, but I wanted to start the discussion...