A decidely frumpy thread speculating about the positive aspects of the upcoming Destiny of Velious expansion entitled “So… Has anyone got anything good to say about Velious?” has drawn the attention of SmokeJumper who announced that the main Signature quest telling the storyline of Destiny of Velious was withheld from Beta to keep it a surprise:

Much of this gets explained in the signature quest line. As usual, the sig line was not included in the beta test so that it would be new to everyone at launch. This is slightly risky from a QA perspective, but is traditional with EQII releases, so we did it that way again here.

Destiny of Velious introduces Public Quests. These are interactive battles between NPCs that players can join in and receive a variety of rewards. Drawing inspiration from Warhammer (and possibly Rift, although we don’t know the creative timeline here), these are the opposite of Contested content because everyone who participates receives a reward. If your gear is really limited, then you can even click on NPCs and coordinate fighting with them and use their abilities instead. All those present and participating in the battle gain access to a Loot Chest which can contain a piece of armor commeasurate with the level of the encounter when it was completed, as well as other items including:

• Velium shard — An item that can be turned in for faction
• Potions that instantly grant AA XP
• Relics that you can sacrifice to your Deity
• Trinkets that you can Transmute

At the end of each battle, players will also see green shinies which can be harvested for rewards.

There are two Public Quests going live with Destiny of Velious:

• The Battle of Storm Gorge: The Coldain dwarves need your help fending off the attacks of the Order of Rime
• The Battle of Thurgadin (Echoes of the Ring War): The kromrif army and the defenders of Thurgadin have been slain but their ghosts remain locked in battle. This is the site of the Ring War from EQ1 and also where the 10th War Ring Heritage Quest starts.

When you wander into the active area, you will be automatically offered a quest in your Quest Journal which does not count towards your quest total. The quest will show a timer of when the next Public Quest is going to begin and you can stick around (or go do other things and then come back at the appropriate time) and then jump into the battle.

Your questions answered about the Destiny of Velious Flying Mount:

The Flying Gryphon is a level 86+ solo adventure or tradeskill quest with a 5 day timesink. Cloud of Bats is a level 86+ solo quest available to Freeblood characters to allow flight as a swarm of bats.

You do not need to Pre-Order or meet any special requirement to get the mount, just buy Destiny of Velious, complete the quest, do the 5 day training of your gryphon, and then presto you have a choice of 3 colors of Flying Gryphon. The options are Snow Gryphon, Highland Gryphon, and Tundra Gryphon. The Highland is a brownish color, while the other choices are between a bluish white and more of a grey color.

The color of the gryphons actually changed substantially during Beta. The original was more of a pearlescent gold color. Hopefully it gets added as another color option down the road.

If you are an EQ2X player with Bronze or Silver access (a Gold monthly subscription is roughly analygous to an EQ2 live subscription), and are thinking about buying Destiny of Velious, you may wish to read this excellent post by Claviarm on the EQ2 Extended Forums about some extra fees you may be on the hook for:

So now that the NDA has been lifted, I just wanted to let all the bronze and silver players out there know ahead of time that Destiny of Velious may not be a wise purchase unless you also set aside some money for equipment unlockers. Right from the beginning, the solo quests give out legendary gear. I didn’t spend a lot of time playing the beta, so it’s entirely possible I missed something, but I didn’t run across a single item that was TREASURED or below.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Attention Fan Faire Attendees and EverQuest II: Extended Platinum Members: We have some hot news that we think will make your day!

You’re already slated to receive the EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious Digital Standard Edition on 2/22/11 as part of your EverQuest II: Extended Platinum Membership or Fan Faire 2010 attendance, but we understand that many of you wished to upgrade to the Digital Collector’s Edition of Destiny of Velious so you can enjoy the bonus items and content.

Here’s the great news! It is now possible to pre-order the Digital Collector’s Edition and pay an upgrade cost of just $20.00 (USD). That’s right! You will not be charged the full $59.99 for the pre-order, but rather pay an upgrade cost of just $20.00.

With the screen shot restriction lifting on registered EQ2 Fan Sites, we are now starting to see more updates out there on Destiny of Velious.

One of the first to get updated was Niami’s wonderful EQ2Traders site, which already has screen shots of many of the new Destiny of Velious carpenter recipes. Check out her ever-evolving DoV preview, as well as the new Carpenter Items page.

Flying Mounts are truly one of the best parts of the upcoming Destiny of Velious expansion.

Level 86+ Adventurers can travel to the Goahmari Camp and help a tiny enclave of goat people (no relation to the Gruegach of course). They need your assistance and training to defend against the Order of Rime’s incursions into their territory and they will reward you with no less than a flying gryffon hatchling. Once you have invested a few days training your dragon gryphon, you’ll be soaring across the skies in new and old locales. You are offered a choice of blue, gold, and grey gryphons when completing the quest.

Some areas of Norrath are a natural fit for flying. The Kingdom of Sky, Kunark, Lavastorm, Commonlands, Greater Faydark, and the Enchanted Lands all make great places to stretch your gryphon’s wings. Flight in Everfrost, Thundering Steppes, Lesser Faydark, Moors of Ykesha, and Nektulos Forest are a bit more claustrophobic due to design limitations when those zones were built (it’s planned to eventually add the artwork necessary to some of those zones to allow more freedom). We did not get a chance to try out Antonica.

Tradeskillers will also have an avenue at level 86+ to do their own variation on the flying mount quest (with a different appearance), and Freebloods have a quest unique to them which grants the Swarm of Bats ability to fly.

We are thrilled to be able to share with you some screen shots of flight in Destiny of Velious.

EQ2Wire has just received special authorization to share screen shots with you taken during the Destiny of Velious Beta. We’re still waiting to find out about video. You may also start to see screen shots on other fan sites today as well. This is just happening so please bear with us.

We would like to thank SOE for changing their mind on this issue. Fan Sites provide an opportunity for us to showcase parts of new expansions and we put a lot of effort into informing players.

Thanks for your patience, everyone!

One of the most popular requests during each EverQuest II Expansion Betas is to see screen shots of the Alternate Advancement (AA) Trees. With the dropping of the Destiny of Velious NDA, we thought we’d waste no time and post this information immediately.

NOTE: This information is from the Destiny of Velious Beta and thus is SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

EQ2Wire AA Browser for Destiny of Velious

In-Game Calendar

If you have longed to be able to organize Guild Events into an in-game Calendar, post a Raid Schedule, or get a reminder on which City will be visited next by the roving City Festival, you’ll be pleased to see the addition of a Calendar in Game Update 59. The calendar will be populated with Live Events, possibly Server Events posted by Community Managers, and also your Guild leadership will have the ability to add events (it’s gained a new permission under Guild Ranks).

Ready Check!

From the Update Notes:

Raid Leaders can now initiate a ready-check by right-clicking the raid window. Raid members in the current zone will be asked if they are ready and the results will be displayed in the raid window as well as in raid chat.

This will be a great addition for Raid Leaders to be able to make sure everyone is back from AFK, and probably also a good way to find out who’s watching TV (or worse) rather than paying attention. 😉

NOTE: This is a PREVIEW. Additional features and tweaks may occur to render these screenshots outdated.

How Many Points, Where Can I Spend?

Destiny of Velious increases the number of AAs you can earn from 250 to 300 points, and adds an entirely new “Heroic” tree where additional AA points can be spent.

• The first row of 3 abilities in the Heroic tree are common to all 24 classes. You can raise your Main Stats, Ability Mod, Health/Power. You must first have spent 200 points in the other trees (Subclass, Class, and Shadows).

• The second row of 3 abilities in the Heroic tree are also common to all 24 classes. You can increase your Crit Bonus, Potency, and/or Ability Reuse. You must have spent 225 points in all AA trees combined and 10 points in Heroic.

• The third row opens up your Subclass (Enchanter, Warrior, Crusader, Predator, Druid, etc.) abilities which require 20 spoints spent in Heroic and requires 250 total points to have been spent.

• The fourth row is your Subclass End line abilities. This requires 48 points to have been spent in Heroic, and 275 points to have been spent in all trees combined.

As you can see, you can boost whichever stats you want, and you can buy up several abilities (most are passive buffs).

Big changes to Mechanics and Itemization have coincided with the last 2 expansions and Destiny of Velious is no exception. Today we delve into changes to:

• Procs (Item Effects)
• Adornments
• Critical Chance
• Critical Avoidance
• Primary Stats (Stamina, Intelligence, Agility, Wisdom, and Strength)
• Health
• Power
• Melee Range
• Multiattack
• Ability Mod

Calthine over at EQ2 ZAM has posted their Destiny of Velious Preview, sans screen shots.

Here is our list of dungeons and raid zones from Destiny of Velious and some difficulty indicators provided by developers updated with player feedback. Updated for Game Update 62.

Destiny of Velious Solo Zones:

Great Divide (86-90)
Eastern Wastes (89-90)
Crystalline Breaks (solo)

According to EverQuest2.com, TenTonHammer has scored exclusive screen shots of Destiny of Velious.

EQ2Wire has spent the past several weeks working on articles for release when the Destiny of Velious Beta NDA drops. This includes features on Itemization and Mechanics changes with Developer Quotes, previews of Public Quests, the new Dungeons and Raid zones, new graphics features such as Ambient Occlusion and Sunshafts, as well as an awesome AA browser that lets you browse the new AAs in Destiny of Velious. We have also been preparing a special Destiny of Velious Flying Mounts video which would show you the new flying Gryffons, talk a little bit about the quest to acquire them and showcase how well they do in both old and new zones.

UPDATE: Please see our article Destiny of Velious EQ2Wire Coverage Update regarding our continuing coverage of Destiny of Velious.

From EverQuest2.com:

The Destiny of Velious NDA has officially lifted! If you participated in the Beta test, you’re now free to start talking about Destiny of Velious. We hope you enjoyed the new expansion as much as we’ve enjoyed working on it.

Please remember that all posts made on the Beta forums are still protected under the NDA and should not be shared publicly. In addition, screenshots were disabled in the Beta test so any images taken by bypassing the disabled screenshot feature also fall under this restriction.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Beta test. We appreciate all your feedback and we can’t wait to see you in Velious next week!

In a change that has so far received mostly positive feedback, Destiny of Velious will likely alter the methods Tradeskillers will choose to level up most efficiently. While the Destiny of Velious NDA remains in effect, Domino has been allowed to share this change with the community to provide an opportunity for feedback before Velious (and its associated game update which we are calling Game Update 59 — SOE has yet to name it).

Most tradeskillers level up by first crafting new recipes (thus receiving a 200% Crafting Pristine Bonus), and then move on to writs (Rush Orders or Work Orders), and also fill in the gaps with other Tradeskill quests which have been added in the last 2 years. Tradeskill classes especially the scholars (Sage, Jeweler, Alchemist) have always been at a huge advantage here because of the number of new recipes earned with each level.

After the jump, Domino‘s posting on the EQ2 Forums about the upcoming Tradeskill XP Changes:

Kerane has brought to our attention some special pricing by DLGamer for past customers and families to purchase EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious at a discount. The official SOE (and Direct2Drive) price for the Destiny of Velious expansion is 34,95  €.

EverQuest ® II Destiny of Velious ™ All-In-One X2 (Familly pack) 59,99 €.

Two copies of EQ2 for your friends/family.

And according to an e-mail received by Kerane:

All who ordered the previous expansion from DLgamer can buy Destiny of Velious for 31.99 €“.

If you did not receive such an e-mail from DLGamer, shoot them an e-mail and see if you can get this deal. Alas, the only place to purchase the Destiny of Velious: Collector’s Edition is through SOE.

From EverQuest2.com:

Upcoming Dev Chat Webcast #4:

This Friday, February 18th, members of the EQII Development Team will join us again to give an exclusive tour of Destiny of Velious!

• Friday, February 18 at 4:00 pm PST [Midnight-1:00 GMT on Feb 19]: Live Tour of Destiny of Velious! Join members of the EQII team for a live walkthrough of the new expansion. Producer Dave “Smokejumper” Georgeson and Game Designer Paul “Cronyn” Molina will be on hand to give you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Destiny of Velious.

Tune in on Facebook or on Stickam to watch the fourth webcast this Friday!

Also, don’t miss our Destiny of Velious Launch Day Webcast on Tuesday, February 22nd, from 7:00 am PST [15:00 GMT] until 9:00 am PST [17:00 GMT], where we’ll interview members of the EQII Team and count down to the opening of the servers!

I wanted to bring you an update on an issue we raised over the weekend regarding Direct Debit from your bank as a Payment Option for EQ2 Expansions, Subscriptions, and StationCash. Amnerys, EQ2 Community Manager, has raised the issue with the appropriate departments and is seeking an answer. There is no need to panic yet, as no orders have been cancelled or affected.

From the EQ2 Forums:

I am currently in talks with a few departments so we can get this straightened out.

It sounds like the option to use Direct Debit might be removed for purchasing SC going forward. It was the source of a lot of fraud (much more fraud than valid payments) and unfortunately we may lose that option because of it.

As for the pre-order and monthly subs, it seems like Direct Debit should still be an available option for those two types of purchases. I am getting clarification on that right now. Perhaps the messaging that you’re seeing on your confirmation pages is unclear. It is our standard practice to charge for the expansion on the day it launches, but I will make sure that we get a definite answer on whether or not the Direct Debit charges will go through for those purchases.

Thanks for your patience while I work all this out!

From Cronyn on the EQ2 Forums:

Heya guys!

I just wanted to let you know that as I shut down the EXP07 prelude event, I’m adding the books available on it to the merchant lists for the sages in Freeport and Qeynos, so they’ll be available if you didn’t get a chance to run through the event.

Also, I FINALLY added part three of the Zul’Urid story to the merchant lists as well – I had meant to do this ages ago, but kept forgetting to do so (I’m old! What’cha going to do?), but it’s up there now.

Anyway, let me know if there’s anything that should be there that isn’t, and I’ll look into it, and will get anything that needs to be there up. Hopefully before the NEXT prelude event in any case.

Anyway, just a heads up for you all – especially you book collectors.

In an alarmist posting on the EQ2 Forums, Moonflake of Splitpaw has brought to our attention the disappearance of the Bank Transfer and Direct Debit payment option for purchasing StationCash, monthly Subscriptions, and the upcoming Velious expansion. Bank Transfer may seem unusual in the US for a small amount such as StationCash, subscription, or an expansion, but Bank Transfers and Debit cards are both common means of making even small purchases in Europe.

Payment Options page in Germany (before the changes) showing Bank Transfer (upper right) and Direct Debit (center left).

Here are some notes from Friday night’s live Webcast of Rich Waters, Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson and Salim “Silius” talking about the upcoming Destiny of Velious expansion, including player-submitted questions. Getting into the mechanics and itemization changes, we get very close to a full transcription as there is a lot of detail and information here. We recommend listening to the webcast to get a complete picture of what was said.

Some bullet points:

• The EQ2 team have the next year of Game Updates planned out with more group zones, raid zones, heritage quests, etc. The first Game Update will add more dungeons.

• Items will become a lot more modular and straightforward, with procs largely moved to adornments.

• Group players in Sentinel’s Fate should be able to jump right into grouping in Velious such as Tower of Frozen Shadow.

• Casual raiders in Sentinel’s Fate may want to test the waters with the contested Kael Drakkel dungeon which falls right before the easier raid content.

• High-level raiders who are already doing Underfoot Depths should be able to move into the easier raid zones in Velious without grouping, although Kael Drakkel is a good stepping stone.

• Silius went into detail on the new Adornment scheme including a new type of adornment War Runes.

• We won’t see new Battlegrounds gear or other PvP content until the Game Update after Velious.

• A new mechanic on mobs (NPCs) called Critical Avoidance which means you’ll need well over 100% Crit Chance to succeed harder dungeons and raids. This effect reduces your crit (including healing!).

• Flying mounts start at level 86.

• On March 1st, everyone will be able to fly as a live event. The gnomes are putting in experimental test pilot tracks in Lavastorm, Tenebrous Tangle, and Butcherblock. You’ll be able to grab a tinkered craft and run through the race against time.

We now have confirmation that EQ2 Destiny of Velious Beta ENDS Monday February 14 @ 11:59PM PST. This is, to our knowledge, the first time that the EQ2 expansion beta has ended 7 days before the expansion goes live.

The Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is expected to lift on Tuesday, February 15th. We will post when it is lifted.