Posts Tagged ‘flying mounts’

Game Update 63: New Flying Drakota Mounts

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance

New Drakota Mounts with Game Update 63: SKYSHRINE!

Everyone loves mounts, and Game Update 63: SKYSHRINE does not disappoint in this regard. With the inclusion of the new Drakota Mounts, players will have new choices for their steed to convey them throughout Norrath. Available in a number of different ways, everything from Collections and Quests to drops in Heroic and Raid instances, you’ll want to pick the Drakota that is right for you. There are even some named Drakota for those of you who are searching for the truly unique and most prestigious of mounts!

Discuss this on the EQ2 Forums.

As these are flying mounts, we expect them to be usable starting at level 86.

   

Game Update 61: The War of Zek Hitting Test Today

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, DGC Wants Feedback, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Raiding, Tradeskill

Bunji dropped the news that Game Update 61 is hitting Test today:

We plan to push the current GU61 content to Test tomorrow morning.

GU61 (or most of it) is scheduled to hit Test around 7-8am PST tomorrow morning, 7/28.

What’s in Game Update 61?

  • Dynamic Dungeon: Silent City [60~90]
  • Dynamic Dungeon: Djinn Master’s Prism [60~90]
  • Plane of War: heroic dungeon (normal and challenge)
  • Plane of War: x4 raid (normal and challenge)
  • Reitemize Level 20-90 dropped, quested, and crafted Items
  • Alternate Advancement (AA) Revamp, especially Subclass (Monk, Templar, Paladin, etc.) tree.
  • Tradeskill AAs [25 pts]
  • House Rating System
  • Dungeon Finder — Dungeons of any level, same-server only
  • Fae/Arasai Flying
  • New content in Eastern Wastes
  • Beastlord Prelude Event for Good or Evil (Exile may choose one)
  • Velious Signature Quest continues

The disclaimer above makes it clear that not all of Game Update 61 will be on Test today, but we’re anxious nonetheless. Read more about Game Update 61 in the Fan Faire EQ2 Panel.

Note: The Freeport Revamp, Tradeskill Apprentices, Item Reforging, Mercenaries, Design Your Own Dungeon, Beastlord Class, etc. are all part of the EverQuest II: Age of Discovery expansion to be released this November.

In Brief: SC Items in Guild Halls, SC Gifting Disabled, Mounts, Servers

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Daybreak Cash

This week, after seeing an alarming uptick in the amount of StationCash being sold in-game in exchange for Plat from shady inviduals, the Gifting of StationCash was disabled. SmokeJumper:

Stopping the use of Gifting for piracy purposes was one of the reasons we shut it off. Piracy = bad. People using our game to launder stolen money = worse. So it’s shut down until we can fix it. We’ll get it back online soon.

A few players have found the 130% runspeed of all mounts even the 1 silver 75 copper horse to be excessive and some players have even reported dizziness or increased falls in difficult-to-navigate areas. Even I have found the Glider mount (the Komodo) to be exceptionally difficult to control due to the high speed turning.

New Mounts Leap and Glide into EQ2

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Game Updates & Maintenance

Leapers and Gliders have come to EQ2 as per Today’s Update Notes., taking advantage of a tremendous effort by the EQ2 animators and programmers to allow mounts to be more quickly added to the game. With the “killer app” of flying mounts at level 86, we’ve been wondering if something would be done about the hodgepodge array of mounts at lower levels. During the week where we could have free flying mounts on all our characters, I certainly took the opportunity to knock out a bunch of quests that would have easily taken twice as long to complete on foot.

Leapers and Gliders

So let’s take a look at the new mounts.

As previously reported, Leapers are mounts which are able to jump very high, and glide for a reasonable distance. They are available at level 30 via either an Adventure or Tradeskill quest, or via the Marketplace. Gliders are mounts which are able to not only jump a remarkable height, but then glide a great distance, possibly across entire zones. They are available at level 60, also via either Adventure or Tradeskill quests.

What’s important to note here is that unlike the 5 day “waiting period” for flying mounts, Leaper and Glider mounts can be acquired through a quest that only takes about 20 minutes.

Update Notes for June 24, 2011 — Leapers and Gliders

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, PvP/BG/Proving Grounds, Raiding

Today brings a substantial update with lots of fixes, tweaks, as well as the much-lauded introduction of Leaper and Glider mounts to EQ2 at levels 30 and 60. In a perplexing move, Ground, Leaper, and Glider mounts will all travel on the ground at speeds of up to 150%, making them as fast as any of the current Flying mounts, only lacking the differentiating ability of flight.

All servers will come down for an update at 7am PDT (3pm BST / 4pm CET) on Friday, June 24, 2011. U.S. servers are expected to be down for one hour. International servers should expect a two hour downtime.

Take Flight, No Lessons — The Pegasus Shortcut

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Daybreak Cash

If I had to sum up what effect the StationCash Marketplace has on EQ2, it feeds impatience. Vitality can be restored without waiting, Evac and Tracking potions can be found rather than grouping with individuals who have those abilities. XP potions make those little XP bars cruise along at a faster rate. Armor appearances normally available only via raiding can be acquired by anyone.

Sure there are some truly unique items, like the Prestige Houses and Furniture which are some of the best in the game. But for the most part, SC is all about time = money.

SmokeJumper responded to a thread “Skip flight school, buy your pilot license…

Here’s our take on the questable mounts vs the marketplace mounts:

Questable mounts are in the game so that players can earn them normally and acquire all the cool abilities of those mounts without having to purchase a marketplace mount. We provide a good variety of tints and appearances of these questable mounts so that we can grant them in different ways and let different niches of players get differing appearances.

Marketplace mounts add a further variety of appearance for those that find that it reasonable to pay for that entertainment value. They are, and always have been, not required.

EQ2 Gets Serious About Mount Options — Leapers & Gliders

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance

Two years ago, if you asked me my top 10 list of things that are missing from EQ2, a decent selection of mounts would have been nearly at the top of said list. We’ve seen the expansion of cat mounts, horse mounts, and all variations in between, with floating discs, and more recently the flying mounts which have been restricted to level 85. What comes in between?

Well, we’ve kept an eye on smarmy silly tantalising comments from Tom Tobey (ttobey) and Dave “Covic” Brown suggesting that they’ve been working hard on something to do with more mount options, but we had no idea just what they were planning. If you saw the screenshots of Hua Mein pandas mounted on T-Rexes, you probably thought it was a joke with no intention of seeing the light of the day. Turns out that’s exactly what was planned. Tom has been working hard to modularize characters and mounts so that when a new mount is created, all races of all sexes just “fit” on the mount without weeks of hard-coding locations, and now we know why.

From EverQuest2.com:

Later this month, we’ll be debuting two new types of mounts in EverQuest II.

Leaper mounts can jump up and forward in tremendous bounds before falling, moving at speeds similar to flying mounts. You can control how high you jump, and you can steer while jumping using the movement keys. Obviously, you don’t take falling damage when landing. Leapers require Level 30 to ride.

Pegasus Mount: No Five Day Waiting Period

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Daybreak Cash

Today marks the introduction of Pegasus as the first premium flying mount available for purchase for StationCash. A bit of  miscommunication led some to believe that purchasers of the mount would need to have completed the Gryphon Flying Mount 5-day quest in order to fly their Pegasus.

We look no further than the press notice released by Amnerys, and confirmed by sources, clearly indicating that purchasers of the Pegasus and Dark Pegasus flying mounts can IMMEDIATELY fly with them provided they are level 85+, and do not need to do the Flying Mount quest timeline.

Pegasus and Dark Pegasus mounts are now available on the Marketplace! These mounts are available to adventurers who are level 85 adventurer or crafter and higher. (Any shoppers who are below these levels will not find them available on the Marketplace, unless they uncheck the Hide Unusable filter. However, you can still use it in your appearance slot if you’re under level 85; you just can’t fly with it.) These steeds increase Ranged, Aggression, Crushing, Piercing, Slashing, Ordination, Focus, Disruption, Ministration, and Subjugation by 5.0. They also increase ground speed by 75% and air speed by 150%.

However, the Pegasus mount does not require the approval of the goahmari and can be used immediately by any adventurer level 85+ adventure or tradeskill level.

Players who wish to fly their Adventure, Tradeskill, and Collector’s Edition flying gryphons will still need to do the 5-day quest, as do Freebloods who wish to use the Cloud of Bats ability.

Note also that characters under 85 who bypass the “Show Usable Items” filter will see the mount and be able to buy it, but it will only be usable as a ground mount until the player reaches level 85.

Commentary

While I wish that my $14.99/month paid to SOE was all they needed to provide me with the full experience of EQ2, I think they would experience a major backlash if customers purchased an item for $19.50 that they essentially could not use for 5 days. If I dropped $19.50 (or $6.50 if I stockpiled StationCash at triple value), I’d expect to fly immediately.

Pegasus Flying Mounts Come to StationCash Marketplace for 1,950SC

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Daybreak Cash

Appearing today on the StationCash Marketplace, we now have our first Premium Flying Mount. It is a Pegasus with choice of light coloration with priest/mage stats, and dark coloration with fighter/scout stats. UPDATE: Both mounts have a +5 increase to skill stats used by priests, mages, fighters, and scouts. The price is 1950SC, which is $19.50 at normal SC rate or $6.50 if you got in on the recent Triple StationCash offer.

The mounts require level 85 either tradeskill or adventure, but do not hinge upon completion of the 5-day flying mount questline.

We expect more flying mounts in the future, although Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson has insisted that, at least for the time being, flying mounts will remain a high-level perk.

Takebacks?

Some players wonder if we will see a wave of post-sale changes to the Pegasus as we saw with the Velium-Saddled Warhog which via 2 updates lost both Featherfall and a unique trait popular with some players of NOT pitching forward and back to match the terrain which was added to all other mounts with Game Update 59/Destiny of Velious.

UPDATE: Some players have allegedly been able to receive refunds for the purchased Warhog mounts since they have undergone changes since they were purchased.

Temporary Flying Mounts Reappear on Marketplace

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Daybreak Cash

Remember those Temporary Flying Mounts available at all levels during the Destiny of Velious launch party? They’re back!! Although there’s been no announcement on the EQ2 forums, players noticed that these mounts are once again available from the Marketplace for 0 (zero) SC. Just type /marketplace , choose Mounts, then Premium, then Flying Mounts.

UPDATE: The free temporary flying mount appears to be part of this weekend’s Memorial Mania TRIPLE  StationCash event, as the EverQuest2.com Announcement has been updated with info on all the in-game items available in all SOE games.

Update Notes for April 19, 2011 — Stockpiling Gryphons is Futile

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance

Today’s update notes remind us that no matter how many temporary flying mounts you buy from the Marketplace for 0,SC, they’re still temporary. Such mounts will all go away when the Take Flight promotion ends.

TAKE FLIGHT PROMOTION

  • The Enchanted Gryphon Call is only available during the Take Flight promotion.  Be aware that any extras that you have stockpiled are not going to last, and will be removed the next time you use an Enchanted Gryphon Call.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Throne of Storms (Heroic)

  • Tribunus-Prime Hagandr will once again cast Decimation at a certain time during the battle.

Come Back to Norrath and Take Flight in EverQuest II

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Live Events

This year’s EQ2 Winback program for players who may be taking a break from EQ2 or are trying other MMOs has a great premise. 1 week of free play, and EVERYONE playing EQ2 gets access to Flying Mounts, with an active or inactive sub at levels 1-90!

From EverQuest2.com:

From April 14th at 9:00 am PDT until April 21st at 7:00 am PDT, all inactive accounts in good standing who logged in between 6-17-10 and 2-28-11 will be able to rejoin the adventure in Norrath!

Check out what’s changed since you left, and take to the skies! Here are three great reasons to log in now and play:

Take to the Skies!

It’s your turn to experience the rich realms of Norrath like never before by taking flight on your very own Gryphon mount. Simply log in, visit the in-game Marketplace, click on the Take Flight Promotion, and grab the free “Enchanted Gryphon Call” to summon your flying mount; yours to fly until April 21st.

New Content to Explore!

We’ve also updated the content on all eligible accounts to include all the expansion packs, up to and including Sentinel’s Fate! Power level through this new content with complimentary XP potions to catch you up faster.

Get Up to 3000 in Station Cash Bonuses!

As a participant in this event, you can earn Station Cash bonuses in the following ways:

  • Earn 500 SC when you re-subscribe for 1 month. You’ll get 1000SC when you choose a multi-month subscription (3, 6, and 12 month plans available).
  • Earn 1000 SC when you buy the Destiny of Velious Expanion pack.
  • Or Earn 2000 SC when you buy Destiny of Velious: Digital Collector’s Edition.

Grabbing Flying Mounts by the Reins

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing

For level 86~90 characters, the introduction of Flying Mounts had a not unexpected result — the vast majority of ground-based mounts have been retired to player stables. Even mounts that grant persistent buffs have been eschewed in favor of the convenience and freedom of flight.

While some players have hotbarred different mounts to be able to choose from their desired mounts on the ground, airborne players have limited options. We can choose one of the 8 gryphon mounts available from adventuring, crafting, the collector’s edition, or raiding. At this time, the only other option for flight is the Enterprise-like tinkered C.R.A.S.H. pad available in the Velious launch days event and subsequently available during City Festivals in the first week of each month.

What a lot of players would like to know is:

  • When will we see other flying mounts introduced?
  • Will existing flying type mounts be upgradeable for use as appearance flying mounts?

More Mounts

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Game Updates & Maintenance

From SmokeJumper regarding new mounts:

We have some really interesting kinds of mounts coming in the next couple of GUs that will become available to players at different levels throughout the game. Things will keep changing and we intend the fun factor of them to increase as well. But true fliers? They’re a level 86+ perk, and they’ll end up staying that way. (Consider it a lure to get to 90.

We are still hopeful that existing flying-type mounts will be usable as appearance flying mounts, such as carpets, clouds, and hover discs.

   

Griffons, Griffawns, Gryphons…Dude, Where’s my Carpet?

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Game Updates & Maintenance

So not everyone is enamored with the Flying Gryphons. Shock!

There has been discussion on the EQ2 Forums about the appearance of Flying Mounts, their origin, and when we might see either our existing flying-type mounts (carpets, hovering clouds, discs, and a selection of flying horses) become flyable as appearance flying mounts, or new flying mounts added as quests. At least on that last question, it appears it is only a matter of time. I’ve personally enjoyed flying on my 2 gryphons (I’m also working on the tradeskill one — although it seems we must repeat the 5 day training of our tradeskill mounts even after getting our adventure mount), as well as the  NCC1701A flying saucer pod racer C.R.A.S.H. Pad tinkered flying appearance mount.


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