When prodded about upgrading the graphics engine of EQ2, if not to improve the graphics, at least to address the spate of flickering graphics and shadows which seem to have plagued the game for some players (including me) since the launch of Velious.

SmokeJumper addressed this concern and others including graphical glitches and performance slowdowns in Public Quests:

We redirected our efforts yesterday to trying to resolve some of the PQ issues. We fixed one issue last night, and although I had been getting similar behavior to what you describe on my home rig, I couldn’t make that duplicate last night, so I’m hoping the improvement we made was a good one. (Admittedly, I was still turning my graphics down to High Performance when multi-raid groups were in the PQ area.) We’re not done yet and there will be more improvements next week.

Engine improvements are also on our list for this year. Those definitely take time to accomplish but there are some obvious things we should do to bring the engine up to par with other modern engines.

Server upgrades are something we want to complete also. In the last six months, we’ve upgraded Antonia Bayle, Crushbone, Nagafen, and Freeport because they were the most highly populated servers. Since the merges, it’s obvious that Splitpaw and Unrest (at least) need upgrades also, and we would like to just go ahead and upgrade all of the remaining worlds. Budget requests have been made.

Stay hopeful.

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.

Despite prophecies and predictions declaring EQ2X overpriced and underdelivered, it seems EQ2X’s popularity has nonetheless led it to be a victim of its own success in recent weeks. Several threads on the EQ2X forums about server crashes, instability, and lag have been created which got some reaction from SmokeJumper. Currently, EQ2X runs on but a single server called Freeport.

• Hmm, lets make SOE notice us..
• Sony, you’re going to have to allow Freeport copies to live.
• Now I keep getting flung back to character select screen….
• BING BANG SONY WAKE UP

After the jump, responses from SmokeJumper…

Believe it or not SmokeJumper posted a bit about Game Update 60, which will be anywhere from 1-3 months after the Destiny of Velious expansion launches. It’s expected to have some Battlegrounds and PvP tweaks. His post also talks about EQ2X marketing and EQ2X PvP servers:

Answers (but you might not like them):

1) We haven’t started spending marketing cash for Extended yet. That’s slated for January. The reason I bring that up is until we bring more people into Extended, we have no plans to open up a PvP server because too many servers dilutes the population and we’re not willing to do that yet. However, we *would* like to do a PvP server. It’s currently slated to be the third server, assuming we can kick start population beyond its current levels.

So it was put forward that the Big Marketing Push for EQ2X that was promised for late summer never materialized. SmokeJumper tackled this one:

The decision was made to delay the marketing spend until January after the Christmas cage fights over banner slots and other advertising have died down a bit.

So…January now.

Karen Bryan, known to us for her involvement in the A View from the Top and Shut Up We’re Talking podcasts, has been providing interviews and in-depth coverage for Massively for several months now, and today she weighs in with an exclusive interview with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson regarding the upcoming Destiny of Velious expansion.

The Tattered Notebook @ Massively — Interview with Dave Georgeson

Is it time to just rip off the Band-Aid™ and be done with it?

Unannounced in this week’s additions to the StationCash Marketplace were the addition of in-game merchant-bought arrows (no great shakes compared to woodworker-made ones) to the StationCash Marketplace. When prompted on the EQ2 Forums, EQ2 Senior Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson had this response:

They’re just the basic arrows you can get from merchants. It’s a convenience thing for folks that run out of arrows in the field.

and later in a similar topic in the Tradeskills forum:

It’s pure convenience. Some players are willing to spend a buck to avoid leaving a raid or dungeon to resupply with arrows.

Player response has varied from “Get this crap off the live servers and put it back on EQ2X“, to “if my group/raid expects me to buy items from the Marketplace to stay competitive, I’ll tell them to pound sand” to “Why not just rip off the Band-Aid and put RMT on the live servers, since that’s where we’re headed anyway.”

UPDATE: In response to player concerns, these arrows have been removed from the StationCash Marketplace. From SmokeJumper:

We never intended to start a fight here, folks.

They’re removed.

I think SOE have demonstrated a lack of self-discipline in what items they will add to the Marketplace. They’ve continued to push the envelope, seemingly until players will accept full RMT on the live servers. Is it time to just rip off the Band-Aid and go full RMT on the live servers? Most of you probably clicked delete on this weekend’s announcement that Pirates of the Burning Sea is going full RMT/Free-to-Play. I read it with interest, because it’s like a pair of binoculars (or a spyglass and sextant, if you will) into the future of EQ2, EQ2Next, and beyond.

EQ2X is no longer in beta.  From the ashes of the EQ2 Live servers comes the newly launched F2P server.  At least that’s what seems to be implied by the free “Staff of the Rising Phoenix” available for a limited time on the EQ2X server.  From Everquest2.com:

It’s official! SOE has removed BETA from the logo and is proud to announce the official launch of EverQuest II Extended.

To celebrate the launch, EQ2X players can claim their free Staff of the Rising Phoenix from the in-game Marketplace on the Freeport server. The staff is an appearance-only item, depicting a phoenix engulfed in glowing flames, and will be available for a limited time only, so be sure to claim yours before 11:59 pm PDT on Sunday, October 3rd.

Read the full article at Everquest2.com.

From EQ2Players.com:

Platinum Memberships are now available for EQ2X players!

With the Platinum Membership, players can enjoy a robust experience in the world of Norrath. Platinum members will get full access to all 19 standard character races, all 24 classes, all spell tiers and equipments grades. They can play up the the current maximum level (level 90) and get 10 character slots for making a variety of characters.

In addition, Platinum members will have six bag slots, an unlimited coin allowance, and can send and receive in-game mail. This level of membership allows unlimited use of the broker system, voice chat and in-game chat, joining and creating guilds, and the use of eight bank slots and 75 active journal quests.

Platinum members get full customer service support and won’t see any in-game pop-up advertising. As an added bonus, they’ll receive 500 SC per month.

For pricing and more details, visit the EverQuest II Extended Membership Plans FAQ and view the Membership Matrix.

Update: Or are they? This has been posted under This Months News on the EQ2Players.com website and is also on the login page for EQ2X but hasn’t made it to the main page and reports are that it isn’t quite live yet.  Will it launch today?  I guess we’ll know soon.

Update 2: It’s now linked on EQ2Players.com and has been announced by Kiara.  Pretty sure that means it’s a go.

EQ2Wire reported last week about individual classes and broker access being available for purchase on EQ2X in the near future.  The future is now.

This just in from Smokejumper on the EQ2X Forums:

If you are a Bronze or Silver member, there are two new features available to you!

Classes, a la Carte!

You can now purchase individual classes for 750 SC each. You can either purchase them in the marketplace or at the time of character creation. All classes outside of the original eight free ones are available for purchase.

(Gold and Platinum members, this doesn’t affect you since you have always had access to all the classes.)

Broker Credits!

If you wish to interact on the Broker system (either listing an item for sale or purchasing something for yourself), you can now do so. A pack of 10 Broker Credits is available for 150 SC. Each time you list an item or purchase something, you expend one credit.

(Again, Gold and Platinum members don’t need these since they have open access to the Broker at all times.)

Here are your hotfix notes for September 1, 2010 after the break:

EQ2 Extended (Free-to-Play) may seem to be “set in stone”, but in fact, changes are still being made and considered during its Public Beta/Soft Launch. Of particular discussion have been the price of race packs and just how limiting the lack of broker access is on the Bronze level. A possibility is to sell races individually, and looking at other options for in-game economy.

One aspect of the EverQuest 2 Live vs. EverQuest 2 Extended (Free-to-Play) debate has been how Station Access fits into the picture. Many Station Access players are using the account not to play multiple SOE games, but for the extra 5 character slots.

With the “EQ2 Subscription Perks” announced by SmokeJumper for monthly, quarterly, and yearly subscriptions, designed to offset and contrast against the EQ2 Extended servers, Station Access players have been feeling left out.

In a thread entitled “Station Access Accounts – No Multi-Month, No Extras, No Nothing“, SmokeJumper has hinted at some possible changes going forward.

One of the changes in today’s hotfix was that some Mastercrafted items now also show a Fabled or Legendary tag. Domino gives us further explanation.

The EverQuest II Extended (Free-to-Play) website and Beta service have officially launched. Of note on the new EQ2X website is a tremendous 2 minute trailer for the game which is getting a lot of positive reaction so far on the EQ2X Forums. The cinematic trailers coming out of EQ2’s PR department are always worth a viewing.

The folks over at DreamStation.cc have posted the EQ2 Extended Trailer in 720p High Definition:

From the EQ2 Forums:

As happens in the world of technology, we’ve experienced some unexpected glitches and unfortunately we will be delaying the launch of EQ2X. We are now hoping to launch on Thursday, August 19th.

We apologize for the inconveniece, and thank you for your patience. Please watch this post for updated information as it is available.