Feldon
New Halas Livin’ We are following New Halas (both the level 1-20 starting content, and as a new player city) on Test, and player comments about both the newbie experience, and how Halas works as a full-fledged city. Living up to the expectations and nostalgia of EQ1 veterans was an impossible task, but there has been a raft-load of comments on the EQ2 forums (and presumably through /feedback) and the art team is making some much-appreciated changes. First impressions of New Halas have regarded the buildings (inside and out) as some of the most impressive and realistic in the...
game update 56
Cronyn has jumped into the fray again with some further details about why the Isle of Refuge is being removed in GU56: Heya folks. I wanted to clear a couple of things up really fast, if I may. As I said, we’re not abandoning Freeport and Qeynos themselves. The existing content that is there will not be different with this change, and we are planning even more things for the cities going forward. Players with citizenship currently in either city will retain it – we’re not removing housing, guild halls, the suburbs, or the quests that exist there. They...
Game Update 56 will be imbuing flying carpets, floating discs, and cloud mounts with the power to float. If you are thinking to yourself “Wait, didn’t they already do that?” read on… Carpets, Clouds, and Discs have allowed players to peacefully float throughout Norrath, but only over flat, even, dry surfaces. As soon as the operator of these wondrous mounts attempted to traverse a vertical distance greater than 3 feet, they were suddenly rendered about as effective as concrete shoes. In short, carpets, clouds, and disc mounts have been a virtual death trap over mountainous terrain. I guess they...
The notes for upcoming Game Update 56 included this notation: Many rare drops from the heroic Sentinel’s Fate Zones are now available by speaking to Kaliba Des’Sers in Moonfield Hamlet! Once Game Update 56 was patched onto the Test Server, we were provided screen shots of some of this loot: New Fabled Loot Vendor on Test What’s on the Menu? While a similar vendor was available during the Shadow Odyssey expansion, 150 void shards only gave you access to the most common Fabled drops from each zone (with the exception of the Mistmoore Battle Drums). So this time around,...
Dethdlr
On Tuesday, 27 April 2010, this tidbit made it into the update notes for test: Mounts will now be temporarily suspended while in combat. Basically, in outside zones, mounts would disapear as soon as you enter combat and re-appear a few seconds after combat ended. This had a general negative response on the official EQ2 Forums and led to speculation on how this would effect buffs. Gninja responded with some clarification on the matter: You would not lose any stats or anything you would have normally had your character will just no longer be visually mounted during combat the...
It seems we’ll be parting with two islands by May’s end. And while we’ll still be able to catch John Locke, Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, and Kate in syndication, the Qeynos and Freeport starting islands seem destined for a more permanent fate. We are providing continuing (hopefully not excessive) coverage of the impending removal of the EQ2 starting islands. Share Your Story If you’d like to share your story of your experiences either on the Outpost of the Overlord, Queen’s Colony, or on the original Isle of Refuge, shoot us an e-mail through the Contact Us page, or post a...
There seems to be some confusion in the In Testing Feedback thread regarding the removal of Qeynos and Freeport as starting choices. I stand by the original article I posted, but some clarification is worth mentioning. Qeynos and Freeport Going Away? Qeynos and Freeport are not being removed as cities. Furthermore to my knowledge, none of the level 6-20 quests in these city zones and surrounding suburbs are going away. Although further testing on the Test Server will be needed to confirm this. Players wishing to experience the Qeynos and Freeport level 6-20 content would need to create a...
In February, former EQ2 Senior Producer Alan “Brenlo” Crosby created a thread “What is the Golden Path?” It included this provocative passage: The golden path is the first step in a larger revamp of our new player experience. We took a look at the starting areas, other than Qeynos and Freeport as we plan to move away from those, and reworked content so that it had a better flow. We wanted the quests in Darklight, Timorous and Greater Fay, to give you a better progression path. When asked in the EQ2 ZAM Dev Chat to clarify this position, Brenlo...
Leading up to the launch of Game Update 56, there will be a prelude quest “A Vision of Valor” with a storyline leading to the rediscovery of New Halas. When this quest goes live mid-May, before the launch of Game Update 56, you’ll be able to pick it up in one of the home cities. From Domino on the EQ2 Forums: You will find NPCs in North Qeynos (at the temple), West Freeport (near the inn), Neriak (by the entrance), Kelethin (near Bayden Cauldthorn), and Gorowyn (at the dock) have a prelude quest to offer. As this content is...
Lessing (known on EQ2Flames as mafoe) has taken screen snapshots of the FABLED loot offered by the new Vendor being added in Game Update 56. Here are links to these screen snapshots: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XvWh6xG4qE0/S9LAenf-rcI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/2KuKWlshkgY/EQ2_000868.jpg http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XvWh6xG4qE0/S9LAe1IsMHI/AAAAAAAAAKU/Ttdtjvu6500/EQ2_000869.jpg http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XvWh6xG4qE0/S9LAfTEriRI/AAAAAAAAAKY/MaEJl-oV8RM/EQ2_000870.jpg http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XvWh6xG4qE0/S9LAfsymb7I/AAAAAAAAAKc/HmsbcyoJvm0/EQ2_000871.jpg http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XvWh6xG4qE0/S9LAgXpQbpI/AAAAAAAAAKg/0g0DOHH5GSk/EQ2_000872.jpg
Game Update 56 is looking to be a huge update, with many tweaks and adjustments throughout Norrath. In brief… a substantial Travel Revamp more quests in Stonebrunt Highlands to hopefully fill that level 87-90 solo questing gap a new Storyline feature a new Icy Keep x4 Raid Shaders 3.0 Graphical Revamp Research Assistants can help all your characters Blue PvP Adornments Yellow Adornments on T9 Mastercrafted gear Level 90 Character Traits PvP Warfields new Training Dummy options in your guild hall (solo, group, raid, and AE group) and of course New Halas Also of note, is that a vendor...
Domino has posted some background and lore regarding the new tradeskill society, the Ravens of the North, in New Halas. From the EQ2 Forums:
With the powerful buffs and bonuses of our Mythical/Fabled Epic Weapons safely squirreled away to a separate permanent spell (thanks to the Epic Repercussions quest), we’ve been able to divert our attention towards finding other, better weapons. While the choices are not plentiful (even with their buffs stripped, our Mythical weapons still have some formidable stats), the Sentinel’s Fate expansion is nonetheless supposed to offer us a variety of replacements for our now Enervated Weapons. Thus far, there have been a scant few upgrade choices for healers. Fortunately Kander has responded to these concerns: There will be some new...
Battlegrounds For Levels 30-79 We’ve gotten some more details on the format that Battlegrounds from levels 30-79 will take from timetravelling: After Game Update 56 the Battlegrounds tiers will be: 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-89, and 90 Players in each tier will be auto-mentored down to the lowest common level (30, 40, 50, etc.). Players in each tier will also have armor sets and accessories available for purchase from the existing PvP Merchants in the major cities. The BG ‘starter’ sets will be the already-existing Mastercrafted armor sets (from levels 30 -> 70). Each has had a small...
Gninja wanted to get the word out that the quest Tending to Toxxicology will be getting a revamp which will result in quest progress being reset by anyone still on the quest. If you are on this quest, get it completed before Game Update 56 hits (late May). Or you can just wait until the change when the quest requirements will be reset to resolve the bugs people have been facing in trying to complete it. We are aware of the issues with the quest in Sundered Frontier “Tending to Toxxicology” becoming gated if someone summons Sherra prior to...
It turns out yesterday’s news on changes to the Training Dummies guild hall amenity was just the beginning. Xelgad has updated us with news that one of the choices on the menu when summoning a Training Dummy (in addition to Solo, as well as Heroic and Epic which are new to GU56) will be an Encounter: We’ve added a new set of dummies for GU56 that come as a linked encounter of a total of eight heroic training dummies. Enjoy! This should provide many more options for players wanting to work on what order they cast spells and/or combat...
In addition to the bigger content additions, Game Updates always include smaller, but no less desirable changes and tweaks. Research Assistants Learn to Multitask UPDATE: Oops! Despite appearing in the headline, this item somehow got left out! UPDATE #2: This feature is in the April 20, 2010 Hotfix. Bunji, member of the EQ2 QA Team, has posted this info on the EQ2 In Testing Feedback forums: With the new Test server build, each character on an account can research a spell at the same time (this should not affect existing research). Research times are also being tweaked (lowered). Floating...
EQ2Players has a new video showcasing Halas Reborn. Check it out below. And in case you missed it, here are Screenshots of Halas Reborn Housing.
Game Update 56 is coming soon to the Test and Test Copy servers, and in addition to the expected New Halas starting zone and city, which will have 2, 4, and 6 room housing as well as Tier 1 Guild Halls (unknown if it will be the same or different artwork), and in addition to a new raid zone, some substantial changes are happening to Battlegrounds and PvP combat in general. Battlegrounds in particular are being expanded from level 80-90 to level 30-90. timetravelling gave this Battlegrounds preview: Brand new 1st Campaign armor sets and accessories Many of the...
EQ2Players has a preview up about the housing in New Halas. Andres Rodriguez is the artist responsible for designing the new houses and he took the time to answer some questions and share some pictures. The houses will be available in two, four and six room layouts and there will also be access to T1 guildhalls. They will include some built in bookshelves and even a fireplace. And all the houses in New Halas will include windows with a view to the sea. New Halas Housing @ EQ2Players
Last week, we reported our suspicions about New Halas being delayed, but we now have official confirmation. New Halas will be released as a free content update in Game Update 56. This would likely be in May based on the current GU release cycle. Here is Brenlo‘s official announcement: Halas is indeed delayed until GU 56. We (read I) were a bit ambitious in our grand plans for the year and despite my constant whipping, we could not squeeze in everything we had on the agenda. Thus we are taking our time to get it right and get it...
While we’re speculating, Sigrdrifa has put together a writeup of what we know about New Halas so far. It’s a nice preview while we wait for more official news about this level 1-20 starting zone which we are now expecting in Game Update 56 along with Shaders 3.0. It should be an interesting May. New Halas Demystification on EQ2Forums
We’re now less than 3 weeks from the release of Sentinel’s Fate. There has been no sign of Halas on Test. We’ve already been told that Halas is important to SOE, that they want it to be a starting zone to win new players. And I just don’t see them adding a starting zone with 20 levels of content with less than 2 weeks of testing. So at this point, EQ2Wire is now ready to call Halas for for Game Update 56 a few months after the Sentinel’s Fate expansion. This is purely speculation on our part until there’s...